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The week after a career milestone, injury suddenly struck Zizou Bergs.

The 24-year-old reached his maiden tour-level quarter-final at the ATP 250 event in Gstaad in July and the next week Bergs was playing a doubles match at the ATP Challenger Tour event in Zug, Switzerland when he tore a ligament in his left wrist.

“I did a first serve and then on the third ball, I hit a backhand and it got torn. That’s something that scares you. A normal backhand and stuff like that can happen,” Bergs told ATPTour.com at the Calgary National Bank Challenger. “From that moment, it was my last backhand and the day after in singles I was doing only slice.”

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Bergs then went home to Belgium to visit a specialist who straightaway knew the problem. “The ligament was broken, so the tendon clicks out and that was the issue,” Bergs said.

ATP Tour events in Dallas, Doha and Munich will be upgraded to ATP 500 status from 2025, part of an unprecedented set of reforms to strengthen the tennis calendar.

The three event upgrades are set to deliver benefits for fans and players alike, with more action and playing opportunities at bigger events. It marks the ATP’s latest move to enhance the sport’s calendar and premium product, a core objective of the OneVision strategy.

The Dallas Open’s upgrade bid, by GF Sports & Entertainment, was headlined by a relocation to a soon-to-be announced new venue. The city has a long track record of hosting major sporting events including All-Star Games and Super Bowls, and is set to be a host city of the 2026 FIFA World Cup.

The Qatar ExxonMobil Open (Doha) is a five-time ATP 250 Tournament of the Year winner, as voted by players, known for its world-class standards and attracting one of the strongest player fields in the category.

The BMW Open (Munich) is set to undergo a full-scale renovation of its facility as part of its upgrade plans. The Munich application was a joint bid between Iphitos (owner of the Munich ATP 250 membership) and Champ AG (owner of Lyon ATP 250 membership).

Lorenzo Musetti is known for his brand of entertaining and flashy shot-making every time he steps onto the tennis court. The 21-year-old Italian is the top seed at this year’s edition of the Sofia Open. As Musetti has risen up the Pepperstone ATP Rankings, he has often received more media attention and spotlight as one of the best young prospects of his generation.

Compared to his previous experiences of pre-tournament press conferences, this one in Sofia had a different twist to it. Musetti took the time to engage with fun questions asked by young kids on Tuesday.

One of the kids asked him how he maintains his focus in the middle of losing a game. Musetti was honest in his assessment of himself.

“Not every game, unfortunately, I maintain the best focus. I am not the best on Tour with that.” He later added, “I am working very hard to practice that, which is really important especially from a young age like yours.”

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Arthur Fils, Dominic Stricker, Luca Van Assche and Flavio Cobolli have qualified for the Next Gen ATP Finals, while Abdullah Shelbayh has received a wild card for the innovative 21-and-under event, to be held in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, from 28-November-2 December.

The 19-year-old Frenchman Fils has broken new ground on the ATP Tour this season after beginning the year at No. 251 in the Pepperstone ATP Rankings. The World No. 36 captured his first tour-level title in Lyon in May and reached the title match in Antwerp last month. Fils also enjoyed runs to the semi-finals in Montpellier, Marseille and Hamburg and is now set to make his debut in Jeddah.

Fils’ countryman Van Assche will also line up at the Next Gen ATP Finals after qualifying for the first time. The 19-year-old has won two ATP Challenger Tour titles this year, with his best result on the ATP Tour a quarter-final showing at the ATP 500 in Hamburg. Van Assche also won a set against Novak Djokovic in Banja Luka.

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Swiss lefty Stricker will make his second appearance at the 21-and-under event after reaching the semi-finals last year. The 21-year-old has continued his development this season, highlighted by his run to the fourth round at the US Open. Stricker cracked the Top 100 for the first time after his performance in New York.

Most elite athletes thrive behind supreme confidence, their self-belief — justified or not — willing them to achieve the impossible.

Andrey Rublev is built different. For any fans who have seen the unique 26-year-old’s affable off-court demeanor, that will come as no surprise. But Rublev is very much his own man inside the lines as well.

This season, when he won his first ATP Masters 1000 title in Monte-Carlo, he battled back from 1-4, 0/30 in the third set to defeat Holger Rune in the final. What was going through his head as the Dane was pulling away?

“That it was over,” Rublev told the ATP Tour’s cameras earlier this season. “It was over, but at least try to play, not to give up. You never know, maybe somehow there will be one chance to come back and maybe somehow you will be lucky and you will make it.”

In the end, Rublev found a way through — though luck had little to do with it. After two previous defeats in ATP Masters 1000 finals, he was brought to tears upon claiming the elusive crown on the Monaco clay.

"I think my tennis didn't improve so much since last year. What I improved a lot is to [handle] the pressure, just to play relaxed. That's the most important thing for me.”

Carlos Alcaraz’s words after becoming champion for the first time at the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells in March reflected a 19-year-old at ease with his relatively newfound status as one of the world’s top players.

The Spaniard’s stunning breakout 2022 season, during which he lifted five trophies en route to becoming the youngest No. 1 in Pepperstone ATP Rankings history, could hardly have been a tougher act to follow. Yet Alcaraz has done just that this year, notching six tour-level crowns and constantly jostling with Novak Djokovic in the race for the coveted ATP Year-End No. 1 presented by Pepperstone honour.

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Although the Serbian enters the Nitto ATP Finals in Turin as heavy favourite to finish 2023 as World No. 1, Alcaraz can look back on another remarkable year in his fledgling ATP Tour career. He wasted little time finding his rhythm on the South American clay after a hamstring injury delayed the start of his season to mid-February, charging to ATP 250 success in Buenos Aires before reaching the final as defending champion in Rio de Janeiro.

Jimmy Connors, John McEnroe, Pete Sampras, Andre Agassi, Andy Roddick, John Isner and Taylor Fritz. Just some of the American stars who have soared to success on the ATP Tour in the Open Era.

Looking to follow in their footsteps is 19-year-old American Alex Michelsen, who has fond memories of watching his countrymen compete.

“I always watched John McEnroe back on tapes because he was kind of the legend and he was super entertaining to watch,” Michelsen told ATPTour.com. “And then I grew up watching Taylor Fritz, Steve Johnson, these guys at the top, they're always pretty good.

“McEnroe was just entertaining. He's a little bit of a hothead and he was very good. I love the serve-volley style back in the day and my dad played like that too, so it entertained me.”

McEnroe enjoyed a storied career, winning seven major titles and climbing to No. 1 in the Pepperstone ATP Rankings. Michelsen has a long way to go to reach those historic heights, but he has made good progress in his first year on Tour.

Canadian Liam Draxl played tennis as soon as he could walk. His father Brian is the head pro at the Newmarket Community Tennis Club, where Liam recalls his parents had to drag him off the court at night because their son could not get enough of the sport.

Now aged 21, Draxl is living his childhood dream, having just turned pro this summer following a standout career at the University of Kentucky.

“I always go back to that little kid with blonde hair at the Newmarket Tennis Club and loving it,” Draxl told ATPTour.com at the Calgary National Bank Challenger. “That was my dream and now I get the opportunity to fulfill my dream.”

Being the son of a teaching pro, Draxl’s upbringing meant he would hang out at the club and hit with anybody who was around.

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Early this week at Il Circolo della Stampa Sporting Torino, the practice facility for the Nitto ATP Finals, Jannik Sinner has been the first singles player on site training for the season finale.

After hitting once on Monday, Sinner practised twice Tuesday. First he shared a session with junior World No. 1 Joao Fonseca, before thrilling fans with a more detail-oriented practice with coaches Darren Cahill and Simone Vagnozzi in the evening.

Preparation day 1 ✅ pic.twitter.com/UKfruA59nk

Sinner this year qualified for the Nitto ATP Finals for the first time two years after competing in the season finale as an alternate. The Italian star will be the fourth seed.

“The crowd is behind me and obviously I will try my best to make all the fans as happy as possible and try to win as many matches as possible,” Sinner recently told the ATP Podcast. “I also have to enjoy the moment. It's going to be a good moment for me and hopefully it's going to be a good tournament.”

#NextGenATP Jordan star Abdullah Shelbayh earned just his second tour-level win of the season on Tuesday when he defeated Frenchman Hugo Gaston 7-6(5), 6-2 at the Moselle Open.

The 19-year-old came through qualifying at the ATP 250 event and made the most of his main-draw chance, saving one set point on serve in the first set and breaking Gaston’s serve five times to advance to the second round after one hour and 41 minutes. His other main-draw tour-level win came in Banja Luka in April.

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Shelbayh, who won an ATP Challenger Tour title in Charleston last month, is up 29 spots to No. 186 in the Pepperstone ATP Live Rankings. He will face sixth seed and defending champion Lorenzo Sonego in the second round.

In other action, Fabio Fognini beat Thiago Seyboth Wild 7-6(3), 7-6(9) to clinch his first tour-level win since Roland Garros in May. Hungarian lucky loser Mate Valkusz also advanced, defeating Daniel Altmaier 6-2, 6-2.

Roberto Bautista Agut won a three-hour, 16-minute epic on Tuesday to reach the second round at the Sofia Open.

The Spaniard triumphed at the ATP 250 hard-court event in 2016 and made a winning start to his campaign against Miomir Kecmanovic, clawing past the Serbian 7-6(9), 6-7(2), 7-6(5).

Bautista Agut failed to serve out the match at 5-4 in the second set and at 5-4 in the third set, but eventually prevailed in the third-set tie-break, converting his second match point to improve to 5-0 in the pair's Lexus ATP Head2Head series. Bautista Agut will next play Hungarian Fabian Marozsan.

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Marozsan, who upset Carlos Alcaraz in Rome this year, overcame countryman Zsombor Piros 6-3, 6-1 to reach his fifth tour-level second round of the year.

Stefanos Tsitsipas has fond memories at the Nitto ATP Finals, where has has been a constant presence dating back to his triumphant 2019 debut in London. The Greek has not missed the season finale since he claimed the title that season, and his sixth-place position in this year’s Pepperstone ATP Live Race To Turin earned him his fifth appearance at the prestigious event.

His road to Turin this season included a run to the Australian Open final and a milestone 10th tour-level title in Los Cabos, as well as a runner-up finish in Barcelona. As he looks forward to this year’s pageantry in Italy, Tsitsipas is hungry for another deep run.

“It's a whole celebration. The ATP Finals is a commemoration and celebration of the best of the best in our sport,” Tsitsipas said. “We all gather together and we get to play against each other and focus on the fact that we are the best in the world trying to fight for this mega trophy, which is a grand prize in our sport. It means a lot.”

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The coming together of so many great champions makes for a memorable week both on and off the court. But the pride of being among the elite group is paired with the challenge of competing against them.

ATP has announced an unprecedented additional $12.2 million Bonus Pool distribution to players, generated through a new 50-50 profit-sharing formula on the ATP Tour. The game-changing initiative, which aligns the financial interests of players and tournaments, raises the total ATP Bonus Pool to a record $33.5 million for 2023.

The profit-sharing formula is a central pillar of ATP’s OneVision strategy, first conceptualised in 2020 with the election of Andrea Gaudenzi as chairman. The $12.2 million distribution, announced today, represents players’ share of the profits generated across the ATP Masters 1000 events in 2022. It will be distributed to players who participated at the ATP Masters 1000s, based on performance, in addition to on-site prize money already earned at those events.

Under the new formula, the nine ATP Masters 1000 tournaments undergo three separate financial audits each season. For the first time ever, this provides player auditors with full visibility on the economics of the Tour’s biggest events – building unprecedented trust and transparency. Collective profits generated by the tournaments above on-site prize money are then shared equally, on a 50-50 basis, with the players. This is aimed at aligning interests and giving both parties a shared stake in the sport's success.

Andrea Gaudenzi, ATP Chairman, said: "It’s hard to overstate what a seismic shift this represents for the business of tennis. It means greater trust and transparency between players and tournaments, and aligned incentives, for the first time ever. The fact we’re able to distribute $12.2 million to players already in year one is a huge success. This is just the start, and we aim to continue expanding this figure as we grow the economics of the sport in parallel with the expansion of our top tier events. I would like to thank the ATP Board, councils, and members for their trust and support in reaching this landmark moment for tennis.”

Following a record increase of $37.5 million in player compensation from 2022 to 2023, the additional $12.2 million announced today means ATP’s OneVision strategy has delivered an uplift of approximately $50 million in player compensation this year.

What is the 50-50 profit-sharing formula?
The formula was introduced as one of the central pillars of the OneVision strategic plan. In simple terms, the formula means that any net profits (before income tax) above Base Prize Money across the ATP Masters 1000 category are split 50-50 with players. This means that players are sharing in the financial upside of tournaments for the first time in the history of the ATP Tour.

How does it work?
It’s a three-step process:

1. Tournaments take place, with guaranteed Base Prize Money paid out to players as usual.

2. Following each tournament, its financials (incl. all revenues, costs) are fully audited. This is done for each of the nine ATP Masters 1000 tournaments.

3. Profits are aggregated across the whole category (nine ATP Masters 1000 tournaments). If the profits exceed the value of the total Base Prize Money paid out across the category that year, the excess is shared 50-50 with the players via a Bonus Pool payment.

Success on the ATP Tour isn’t always about racking up the most wins. It’s also about who you beat, and when.

Jannik Sinner knows all too well what toppling a close rival on a big stage can do to a player’s confidence. The World No. 4 has won nine of his past 11 matches against Top 20 opponents, including his past four against players who join him in the field at this year’s Nitto ATP Finals.

After becoming an ATP Masters 1000 champion for the first time in August in Toronto, Sinner defeated Carlos Alcaraz and Daniil Medvedev back-to-back to lift the trophy in early October in Beijing, before doing the same against Andrey Rublev and Medvedev later that month to notch another ATP 500 crown in Vienna.

“When you [feeling] confident, it's always a little bit easier to play, but you have to gain the confidence,” Sinner told ATPTour.com last month. “It's not that you can buy it. It's a very important part. Obviously [it builds up] the more matches you win, but also against what kind of players you win is important. So [the Beijing wins] were very important.”

Sinner had arrived in Beijing with starkly contrasting records against Alcaraz and Medvedev. His straight-sets semi-final win against Alcaraz in the Chinese capital moved the Italian into a 4-3 lead in their Lexus ATP Head2Head series, but he entered the championship match against Medvedev without a win in the pair's six previous tour-level meetings.

The best things in life come in twos.

Just ask Hugo Dellien, who has earned a pair of ATP Challenger Tour titles this season and whose wife Camila is expecting twins.

The 30-year-old, who triumphed at the Santiago and Curitiba Challengers this season, will always remember another memorable moment from when he was in Luedenscheid, Germany. Dellien was eating dinner with his team when his phone rang.

“My wife called me two or three times and I didn’t answer because I was at dinner but then she sent me the picture of the sonography and she said, ‘What did you see in this picture?’” Dellien told ATPTour.com. “I opened the picture and I said, ‘No, no, no, it’s impossible.’ I took my phone and called her and she said, ‘Yeah we have two, not one!’ and I was like, ‘Wow, unbelievable!’

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Jack Draper claimed his first title at any level since March 2022 on Sunday when he triumphed at the ATP Challenger Tour event in Bergamo, Italy.

The 21-year-old rallied past former World No. 7 David Goffin 1-6, 7-6(3), 6-3 in the Trofeo Perrel - Faip final after fending off 14 of 19 break points faced to earn his fifth career ATP Challenger Tour crown.

“David came out playing incredibly well. I felt a bit sluggish after a long match yesterday. I had to really fight hard and change my energy to find my way back,” Draper said. “I’m really proud of the way I competed. My competitive spirit brought me back.

Draper, who hit a career-high No. 38 in the Pepperstone ATP Rankings in January, was poised to continue his rapid rise in 2023. But injuries soon struck the Briton and have been an unfortunate theme this season for last year's Next Gen ATP Finals semi-finalist. Now with another trophy in his hands, Draper hopes to maintain his form heading into next season.

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“It’s almost like a first [title] again,” said an emotional Alexander Zverev in July after becoming champion at his hometown event, the Hamburg European Open, for the first time. “It’s such a long time, 18 months, and I’m just super happy right now.”

If an ATP Tour career can be broken up into chapters, the German has followed up one of the most tumultuous of his career with a stirring comeback storyline in 2023. One that has seen him lift his 20th and 21st tour-level trophies in Hamburg and Chengdu, respectively, and qualify for the season-ending Nitto ATP Finals for the sixth time.

Zverev had no such expectations at the start of the season, when he returned to competitive action after missing the second half of 2022 with a serious ankle injury sustained during his Roland Garros semi-final against Rafael Nadal. Although the three torn ligaments in his right ankle may have physically healed, Zverev’s 3-6 start to 2023 reflected the fact that after-effects from such a serious injury remained.

"I think at the beginning of the year I was still managing pain, I was still dealing with pain,” Zverev told the ATP Tennis Podcast. “I was not moving the way I wanted to move, I was not sliding around the court, if you look back at the matches that I played. It was more that for me.”

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Former finalist Dominic Thiem made a winning start at the Moselle Open on Monday when he brushed past French lucky loser Matteo Martineau 6-4, 6-2 to reach the second round.

The former World No. 3, who advanced to the title match on debut in Metz in 2016, saved the one break point he faced and won 80 per cent (28/35) of his first-serve points to advance after 84 minutes.

Thiem has now won eight of his past nine tour-level first-round matches, with his best result a final run in Kitzbühel in August. Chasing his first title since his US Open 2020 triumph, the Austrian will next play Frenchman Ugo Humbert.

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In other action, defending champion Lorenzo Sonego made a winning start to his title defence, clawing past American Marcos Giron 2-6, 6-3, 7-6(3).

The Nitto ATP Finals will award a record $15 million in prize money at the 2023 season finale, which will be played at the Pala Alpitour in Turin from 12-19 November. 

If the champion at this year’s tournament lifts the trophy with a perfect record, he will earn $4,801,500, an increase over the previous record, which was set in 2022 when Novak Djokovic won $4,740,300. That remains record prize money for a champion in all of tennis.

Like in the 2022 edition of the tournament, three matches at this year’s Nitto ATP Finals will be worth more than $1 million. Each semi-final victory will be worth more than $1.1 million and the championship match will yield the winner $2,201,000.

*Singles Participation Fee Schedule (2023)
1 match: $162,750
2 matches: $244,125
3 matches: $325,500

If a doubles team lifts the trophy without losing a match en route to the title, it will split $943,650.