The ATP and WTA Tours are suspended indefinitely–along with just about every other sport around the world–during the coronavirus crisis.
If there is any good news, it’s that this happened during the era of social media. As such, we are able to keep up with the athletes and find out where and how they are spending their time away from sports.
Here’s an update on the current Top 10 players on the ATP Tour:
1. Novak Djokovic – The reigning Australian Open champion is with his family at a home in Marbella, Spain. He has donated 1 million euros worth of medical supplies to fight the spread of coronavirus in Belgrade, while also playing some makeshift indoor tennis.
2. Rafael Nadal – There will be no spring clay-court swing, but on the bright side the French Open is currently postponed instead of cancelled. For now, Nadal is at home in Mallorca. He set up a fundraiser with fellow Spaniard Pau Gasol with the goal of raising 11 million euros to fight the coronavirus in Spain.
3. Dominic Thiem – The two-time French Open runner-up is at home in Austria with his family and dog, who is “the happiest about this situation because he can see us now for a long time.” Thiem says he is also working out and perfecting his FIFA skills.
4. Roger Federer – In Federer’s case, for a moment it looked like this would as good a time as any for a stoppage of play. The 38-year-old Swiss was going to be out until the grass-court swing, anyway. But then Wimbledon got cancelled. Nonetheless, Federer still appears to be in a decent mood at home in Switzerland. He has also donated 1 million francs to families in need in Switzerland.
5. Daniil Medvedev – Unfortunately it looks like we will never find out how Medvedev would have followed up his breakthrough 2019 campaign. Instead of playing tennis, the Russian is at home in Monte-Carlo trying to keep up with Thiem in the race for worldwide FIFA domination–and doing some artwork.
6. Stefanos Tsitsipas – After continuing his world travels that he began during the offseason, Tsitsipas has realized the merits of staying at his home in Monte-Carlo (at this point it’s not like he has a choice!). The Greek has created a quarantine fitness program for anyone to see and use themselves. He is also trying (and failing?) to learn French.
7. Alexander Zverev – Zverev is at his home in Florida along with his brother, Mischa, and Marcelo Melo. The German has asked for television show and board-game recommendations from his Twitter followers.
8. Matteo Berrettini – In California last month for the Indian Wells Masters, Berrettini did not fly home to Monte-Carlo. He has remained in the United States (presumably somewhere in California) with girlfriend Ajla Tomljanovic and also Felix Auger-Aliassime.
9. Gael Monfils – Monfils and girlfriend Elina Svitolina were in California for a while but reportedly got on one of the last flights back to France in mid-to-late March. The Frenchman has been busy playing video games and he recently set up a Twitch account, while Svitolina has been making plenty of TikTok videos.
10. David Goffin – Unlike the case of Monfils, it had not been the best of seasons on the tennis court for Goffin. Some down time might be of use for the Belgian. He does not say a whole lot while on tour and he has not said much during this time away, but he is at home in…you guessed it…Monte-Carlo.
Stan will get a post all to himself soon
Rafa has played makeshift outdoor tennis with his sister, Maribel Nadal.
They played a match against each other and the best Spanish experts analyzed it (the video is in Spanish):
https://twitter.com/rnadalacademy/status/1246801558509170688
RN Academy’s tweet translated from Spanish via Google: “EXCLUSIVE! We have ALL the details of the Manacor Terraza Open 2020 [‘Manacor Terrace Open’ in English].
We present special programming dedicated to the duel between Rafael and Maribel Nadal. Don’t miss the analysis from the best experts!”
🙂
The venue of the Manacor Terraza Open 2020 (the seafront house of Rafa’s family, where they have lived since he was a teenager; pictured in 2010):
https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-SilfsqXs0c8/TyhWGnqVuFI/AAAAAAAADUc/dvHIq0gD7fk/s1600/tumblr_lyobe2l0zd1qb3lvja.jpeg
H’mm. Action a bit brief but plenty of commentary and some canned audience. Good job, Movistar! Could this be the shape of things to come? (Hope not, I’m still holding out hope for the Real Deal in the not terribly distant future. Sept is 5 months away and we can hope that summer will help flatten the curve.
Fun to read about the Top 10….glad they are safe, and staying in shape. How about 11-20?
Monfils hilarious. But what he maybe doesnt know,is that GEM actually used to stand for Garlic Eating Muppet , in the early days of Bracket competitions, because of the French players general unpredictability. Nothing personal.