Joao Sousa has been outside the top 100 since March of 2021 and he went into the Tata Open Maharashtra at No. 137 in the world. The 32-year-old had not played in an ATP final since 2018.
From completely out of nowhere, everything turned around for Sousa in Pune. The Portuguese veteran completed an improbable run to his fourth career ATP title by beating Emil Ruusuvuori 7-6(9), 4-6, 6-1 in Sunday’s final.
“[It’s] a great week for me,” said Sousa, who will soar 51 spots to 86th in the rankings on Monday. “As I said yesterday, we’ve had a few tough moments in the past two years and to get the title today is just a dream come true. If you’d asked me six months ago if I would be in a final, I would have said no.”
Albert Ramos-Vinolas also captured his fourth ATP title, going one step further at the Cordoba Open than he did last year. The 2021 runner-up seemed to be in line for another final loss when he trailed Alejandro Tabilo by a double-break in the third set, but Ramos-Vinolas roared back for a 4-6, 6-3, 6-4 victory.
“I’m really happy,” the 34-year-old Spaniard assured. “(It’s) incredible for me to have the fourth title. It was very difficult today. I was almost lost, and somehow I came back. I cannot be more happy.
“I don’t know [how I came back], to be honest. I think I played a little bit more aggressive from 1-4 [down in the third]. He missed some first serves. He was serving [well] and I started to return a little bit more aggressively than before. When [I came back from] 1-4 to 3-4, I was feeling I had a chance.”
Both Ramos-Vinolas and Sousa are now exactly 4-7 lifetime in ATP finals.
There was no such drama in the Open Sud de France championship match. Alexander Bublik had never won an ATP final (previously 0-4 in finals) and he was a heavy underdog against Alexander Zverev, but the 35th-ranked Kazakh cruised 6-4, 6-3 in one hour and nine minutes.
Bublik broke Zverev four times in just 10 return games.
“I played four finals before and [in] the fifth final I have won against a great player against Sascha,” the 24-year-old commented. “It is great. All my game together. I was serving well and returned well and kept my nerve. I was lucky in the moments and when I had my chances I used them.”
Bublik now moves on to the ATP 500 in Rotterdam, where he will go up against Andy Murray in the first round. Ramos-Vinolas, meanwhile, gets right back in action as the Golden Swing continues in Buenos Aires.
nice one, Joao
Rough start to the year for Zverev. Not long ago he was talking about being thr dominant force along with Djokovic and Medvedev, whom he thought made up the new big 3 according to him given the results seen in 2021 post Wimbledon.
The more you see these young talents, the more you end up appreciating the Big 3.Their consistency really has been unearthly.
The online consensus seems to be that Abuserev should talk less about “putting himself in there” and “being one of the “New Big Three” (sorry, boys, the Old Big Three isn’t quite done yet) and more about his play.
I’m in no hurry to be rid of the Big Three. For me, they’ll always be the Big Three. We aren’t going to have a new one. It’s quite clear that they will have to age out. No one’s going to beat them at the majors any time soon. Sorry, Med, but your win vs Djoker gets an asterisk. Guy was fried by the USO.
I dont believe in them but if you allow asterisks then we could add a few … but at the US Open ,Djoko didnt handle it combined with Med playing really well tactically
Please no talk of asterisks!
We don’t want to start sounding like Drysdale…😀😀
Also, Novax has scarcely looked invincible at the last 2 slams. Fried or not he could still have lost.
amy,
Absolutely! You don’t see Novak losing in straight sets very often in slams.
Unfortunately, Abuserev got carried away with himself by thinking he should be included in the new big three! Oh I don’t think so. Rafa showed that he is not done yet.
This is the one I wanted for Rafa. I wanted him to have the double career slam. But it was even better, because he also won his 21st slam.
Abuserev should focus on his tennis and quit talking. The big three did their talking on the court.
hello?
How did you see me while I was goofing around with this silly computer, Ramara?
Ramara, I did watch the Sousa/Ruusuvuori final. Sousa was not having the young guy win.
It was delightful to see Bublick get his first ATP title against Zverev!
For Rotterdam Bublick will play Andy – picked Andy to win. I’m anxious to see Andy back, if at all possible.
He says the pressure of becoming No1 caught him up.. lol. How anyone can think like that while you are in 4th round.. Medvedev had chances to be No1 too.. but it didn’t impact him to get to the final … and almost won.
Zverev is intolerably arrogant.
I said on another thread that banging on about him, Med and Novax as the new big 3 who would share the titles was dumb and inviting hubris.
We are at least a decade away from a New Big 3 because that’s how long it took for the Big 4 to emerge having stayed in the top 4 for nearly a decade. It’s not about them winning 3 tournaments in a row.
I remember the days when the big discussion before a draw was which one of Djokovic or Murray would be in the Federer or Nadal half of the draw. I thought people were diminishing the achievements of the Big 4 by even talking about a Big 5 to include Stan. Stan is nowhere close to what Murray achieved.
Federer, Nadal, Djokovic and Murray were often the last 4 men standing at every tournament be it a slam, M1000, 500 or 250. The NextGen are nowhere close to this.
Shapo was outplayed by a Czech I’d never heard of – 20 year old qualifier called Jiri Lehecka. He’s got a big serve and great ground strokes and Shapovalov’s style of swinging at every ball without targetting his shots didn’t help either as he made loads of UEs.
Shapo complained bitterly about the court afterwards. Did his opponent play on some other, better court? Shapo badly needs to get his head on straight!
He also complained about the ball during play, screaming: “Who made these balls?” As you say, he needs to calm down and work on his game instead of getting angry about nothing.
He is expecting far too much than he can deliver atm. He is a talented player but he still has to work on his UEs and not just swing his racquet hoping for the best.
Lechecka is good
still a bad loss, however
I say the match. I thought I heard him say: “who makes this ball” but you are right Ramara, he was complaining about the court.
https://twitter.com/Some1NamedRyan/status/1491084157380100098?s=20&t=0HDLOrrhUzihBEqF5oz6UA
Corr: I saw the match….
Shapo has to get it together. If he wants to succeed in this sport then he has to deal with conditions. The courts, the balls. Whatever. Without screaming like a shrew all the time.
agreed
Nny, “screaming like a shrew” – I like that!
Shaps’s petulance and self-aggrandizing rhetoric really get on my nerves…
amy,
The problem is that it’s not the courts or the balks or the opponent. It’s Shapo! He made the mistake of thinking the match was over once he won the third and fourth sets against Rafa in the quarterfinal. He thought Rafa was done. All he had to do was stand there and get the win. Wrong! He gif sloppy and careless. Rafa served great and managed to find the strength to win the match.
Shapo was mad in the presser because he knew that he screwed up. But it was easier to take cheap shots at Rafa! He needs to learn lessons in these matches if he wants to be successful. Take responsibility!
I think Shapo went into the match thinking it was his to lose because he beat Rafa in Abu Dhabi. Well I was courtside in AbuDhabi and Rafa was as rusty as they come not having played basically since RG apart from two matches in Washington where he lost to Harris. Even with the rust, Rafa won a set and Shapo won the Champion’s TB.
As we all know, Rafa had Covid in Abu Dhabi but didn’t know it until he returned home. He looked great, I have to say, when he did a Q&A with the public – I had front row seat by the way 😉 and he said he didn’t know whether he’d play well, not so good or awful because he hadn’t been able to train much because of his foot injury.
Shapo got annoyed from the end of the first set which was when he called the umpire corrupt so it wasn’t because he ‘threw’ the final set. In my opinion, Rafa was suffering physically in the 3rd and 4th sets letting Shapo in but after medical treatment, he was able to pick up his form and win the 5th set easily. Didn’t Shapo drop his serve in the 1st game of the 5th set?
I think Shapo has his head in the clouds. A bit of humility would help him. Going into a match with the attitude that the result is on your racquet is pointless unless you deliver. Rafa with his experience and achievements accepts that he has to beat his opponents whether they are qualifiers or top 10 players; he doesn’t expect them to lose just because they are playing Rafa Nadal.
I never quite liked Shapo. His attitude and game style are all the same, meh!!!
What’s up with Zverev?! How much time does he think he has before winning a slam!! I had so much hope for Zverev in the beginning but he has just let me down and again his attitude is just salty!
Zverev believes too much in the hype having been labelled the future #1 from when he turned pro. During his match against Shapo at the AO, the commentators on Eurosport went on and on about the fact that he was the 2nd favourite for the title and it wouldn’t be a surprise because winning a slam has been around him even before he turned pro. He got straight setted by Shapo!
Again humility goes a long way. After winning the 2021 WTF Zverev declared that there is now a new Big 3 i.e Djokovic, Medvedev and him because Nadal and Federer wouldn’t win any more big titles. Lol!!! Nine years after turning pro he’s only made one slam final and he’ll be 25 in April.
will he win one?
Zverev believes in the hype he was told from day 1 that he was the future #1.
Alexander Zverev claims new ‘Big Three’ will dominate in 2022 in Novak Djokovic warning
ALEXANDER ZVEREV is keen to build upon a fine 2021 season.
By Lewis Winter
11:13, Wed, Dec 22, 2021 | UPDATED: 14:28, Wed, Dec 22, 2021
Men’s Tennis has been dominated by the ‘Big Three’ for more than a decade. Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic have won 60 Grand Slam singles titles between them. But Alexander Zverev believes now is the time for a new-look trio to take up that particular mantle.
Zverev is yet to win a Grand Slam of his own but has had a successful 2021.
He won Olympic gold in Tokyo, the ATP Finals and made the semi-final at two majors.
World No 1 Djokovic won three of the four Grand Slams, with Daniil Medvedev grabbing his first at the US Open.
Zverev believes there will be a similar pattern heading into 2022, with the same three dominating at the big tournaments.
https://www.express.co.uk/sport/tennis/1539741/Alexander-Zverev-new-Big-Three-2022-Novak-Djokovic