THE BEGINNING OF THE 2020 SEASON

The new ATP tournament started this dawn in Australia, kicking off the official start of the 2020 season. There were some great matchups projected, and overall, it did not disappoint. With a few upsets already in place, we’ll make a quick recap of everything that’s happened so far.

1. A BATTLE BETWEEN FUTURE STARS

The first exciting matchup opposed Stefanos Tsitsipas, winner of the Nitto ATP Finals, against Denis Shapovalov, who had clinched his first ATP title on the final tail of last year. The Greek was considered the favourite, but Shapovalov wasn’t ready to bend over. The 1st set was pretty balanced, as Stefanos was the only player to afford a breakpoint that was a set point at the same time, at 5-4. On the tiebreak, the Canadian disposed of three set points, claiming it on the 3rd one. Even though there were more opportunities for each player to break on the 2nd set, both Tsitsipas and Shapovalov took it to another deciding tiebreak. Neither player could sustain a consistent serve there, with the Greek being more careless, letting Denis win in 2 sets by 7-6(6), 7-6(4).

2. ZVEREV BACK TO HIS OLD WAYS IN THE NEW YEAR

After a rough 2019, Alexander Zverev was trying to start the year on the right foot. However, he had one more monumental breakdown when he was a set and a break up against Alex de Minaur. It seems like nothing changed with the German, as he produced more Double Faults than Aces. People are questioning for quite some time if Zverev’s problem is mental and not something to do with his serving motion. At 22 years old he still has enough time to turn it around, but is he going to be what everyone expected of him? Credit to Alex de Minaur who kept fighting and chasing every ball possible until the end. After the 2nd set collapse, it was notorious that Zverev was mentally broken, as the Demon quickly got to 4-0. The score ended at 6-4, 6(3)-7, 2-6.

3. MEDVEDEV COMES FROM BEHIND TO BEAT FOGNINI FOR THE 2ND TIME

Daniil Medvedev was the player with most wins in the year 2019. His second half of the season was impressive, as he reached almost every single Final, with some titles along the way. He started to fade away on the last tournaments much due to fatigue but promised to come back stronger for the upcoming season. After winning his first exhibition tournament in Saudi Arabia against Fognini, he started the ATP Cup curiously, facing the Italian again. On the first game of the 1st set, he disposed of 3 break points but didn’t capitalize. Fognini went on to produce an incredible run, winning 5 games in a row, closing the set with a 6-1 score. However, things changed after that. The Russian finally took control of the match, letting Fognini win only 4 more games for the remaining of the encounter. It looks like Daniil Medvedev is poised for another great year, and is a serious contender for the Australian Open crown, starting in the middle of January.