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Novak Djokovic will begin his chase for a record-extending seventh title at the Rolex Paris Masters when he competes on Wednesday. Before focusing on singles, though, the Serbian took to court on Tuesday in doubles, teaming with countryman Miomir Kecmanovic to reach the second round.

Djokovic and Kecmanovic swept past Gonzalo Escobar and Aleksandr Nedovyesov 6-4, 6-2 in 68 minutes at the ATP Masters 100 event.

The Serbians won 67 per cent (12/18) of points on Escobar and Nedovyesov’s second serves, breaking four times to set a second-round meeting against third seeds Rohan Bopanna and Matthew Ebden.

Djokovic will face Tomas Martin Etcheverry in his opening singles match on Wednesday. The 36-year-old is aiming for another deep run in Paris to boost his ATP Year-End No. 1 presented by Pepperstone chances. The Serbian leads Carlos Alcaraz by 500 points in the Pepperstone ATP Live Race To Turin, which serves as a barometer for the year-end World No. 1 battle.

Second serves to the forehand.

Players typically stay away from this higher-risk strategy and kick the second serve to the less potent backhand return.

Not Novak Djokovic. Not by a long shot.

An Infosys ATP Beyond The Numbers analysis of 41 matches against right-handed opponents this season shows that Djokovic actually prefers to hit second serves to the forehand wing. By going against the grain, he collects more second-serve aces, extracts significantly more return errors and wins a higher percentage of second-serve points overall.

Opponents are sitting on a heavy kick to the backhand return. A hard slider to the forehand is what comes at them more often than not. Djokovic hit 55 per cent (382/690) of his second serves at the forehand corners versus backhand corners in both service boxes, while opponents only hit 26 per cent (164/622) to the forehand corners against him. Interestingly, Djokovic served more to the backhand return against left-handers.

Taylor Fritz withdrew from the Rolex Paris Masters on Tuesday due to an abdominal strain. The withdrawal puts his hopes of qualifying for the Nitto ATP Finals in jeopardy.

"Devastated to have to pull out with so much on the line," Fritz wrote on social media. "All I wanted was the chance to fight for my potential Turin spot but after getting scans today on my oblique it’s just not possible for me to play. Time to rehab and hope to be back on court as soon as I can be ❤️‍?"

Get well soon, Taylor ?@Taylor_Fritz97 has withdrawn from the #RolexParisMasters due to an abdominal injury. pic.twitter.com/iDlqyUYiUM

The American, who was not scheduled to play Tuesday, advanced to the second round on Monday with a straight-sets win over Sebastian Baez, but received treatment during the second set on his abdominal region.

“It’s something that’s been bothering me for a little bit... I didn’t think it was anything too bad going in [to this match], but one where I slid out and sliced that forehand, I felt like I did something that I had never done to it before," Fritz said after the match. "Like maybe I tore something or pulled it. So I’m going to have to get it checked out and see what’s going on.”

Novak Djokovic is returning to action this week at the Rolex Paris Masters, but first he took advantage of cool opportunities off the court in Paris.

On Monday evening, the Serbian presented the Women's Ballon d'Or award to Spaniard Aitana Bonmati.

Photo Credit: AFP/Getty Images
Djokovic enjoyed the evening and even caught up with David Beckham, who is the co-owner of Inter Miami, the club for which Men's Ballon d'Or winner Lionel Messi plays.

Before taking to the football spotlight, Djokovic enjoyed the final of the Rugby World Cup between South Africa and New Zealand.

On Tuesday, the 36-year-old will take to the doubles court alongside countryman Miomir Kecmanovic against Gonzalo Escobar and Aleksandr Nedovyesov. He will open his singles event against Argentine Tomas Martin Etcheverry.

Alexander Zverev looked as if he was going to miss the chance to fully cement his Nitto ATP Finals qualification claims after 40 minutes of play on Tuesday at the Rolex Paris Masters.

Two hours later and the German’s position in the Pepperstone ATP Live Race To Turin became comfortable again after he rallied past Hungarian qualifier Marton Fucsovics 4-6, 7-5, 6-4 to reach the second round in Paris.

"It was just one or two points [that made the difference]," Zverev said. "He was playing incredibly well and tactically I think he was unbelievable... His slice was effective as I did not know what to do on this surface here. It was a very difficult match and I am happy to be through. I found my level and I am happy with that."

Zverev recovered from a slow start at the ATP Masters 1000 event in France, where he won 63 per cent (15/24) of his first-serve points in the opening set. He recovered well, improving on serve as the match went on to earn his 52nd tour-level win of the year after two hours and 40 minutes.

[SWEEPSTAKES]

Reilly Opelka is set to return to action for the first time in 15 months at this week’s ATP Challenger Tour 75 event in Charlottesville, Virginia.

The 26-year-old, who has been sidelined with a hip and wrist injury, will meet Tennys Sandgren on Tuesday in the opening round of the Jonathan Fried Pro Challenger, Opelka’s first tournament since August 2022.

A four-time tour-level titlist, Opelka enjoyed a career-best season in 2022 before suffering injury. The 6’11” American claimed two titles and reached a career-high No. 17 in the Pepperstone ATP Rankings in February 2022.

Fans can visit Challenger TV to watch all ATP Challenger Tour matches live and on demand at no cost. At the indoor hard-court event in Charlottesville, Opelka and Sandgren will follow seventh seed Denis Kudla and Chris Rodesch, who are scheduled to play at 4pm ET.

Dominic Thiem and Stan Wawrinka did not play for six and a half years entering their clash Monday evening at the Rolex Paris Masters, but the return of their Lexus ATP Head2Head rivalry proved well worth the wait.

Thiem saved a match point at 3-5 in the third set before rallying past his fellow former World No. 3 3-6, 6-3, 7-5 for a place in the second round. The tantalising encounter between two of the best one-handed backhands in recent memory ultimately ended after two hours and 31 minutes at 2:22 a.m. Tuesday morning.

"It's very nice to share a great and close match like that with Stan because we have a history together of many great matches," Thiem said. "Obviously he's one of my big idols backhand wise."

What a finish ?

After saving a match point, @domithiem edges past Wawrinka 3-6 6-3 7-5.@RolexPMasters | #RolexParisMasters pic.twitter.com/aGn92D8Gsa

While Thiem hit highlight-reel shots throughout the match, especially with jaw-dropping passing shots, it was Wawrinka who was first on the verge of victory. The Swiss held match point at 5-3, 40/30 in the decider, but double-faulted long. It was one of six double faults he hit in the match.

Fifteen months ago, Roman Safiullin had never cracked the Top 100 in the Pepperstone ATP Rankings. Now the World No. 45, he will face one of his biggest challenges yet on Tuesday at the Rolex Paris Masters against Carlos Alcaraz.

Having played Novak Djokovic in last year's Tel Aviv semi-finals, Safiullin has gone from outside the Top 100 to consistently competing against the best players in the world.

“For this year, I made different preparation. So during the season, we changed maybe two or three times the preparation for tournaments, and it worked very well. For the next year, we're going to change something and adapt to be even better,” Safiullin told ATP Podcast. “Like training schedule, training hours, fitness, tennis, physio, everything. We were mixing it up regarding the time and quality, everything.

“So we were changing, adapting, see what's working, what doesn't work. And slowly we were finding the solution which worked the best.”

[SWEEPSTAKES]

Daniil Medvedev finished runner-up in the Erste Bank Open final Sunday but still left Vienna a winner after topping the inaugural ATP 500 bonus pool standings for the 2023 season.

Implemented this year as part of ATP’s OneVision strategy, the bonus pool distributes $1.3 million to eligible players who earned the most Pepperstone ATP Rankings points at the ATP 500 level, which comprises 13 events.

Boosted by titles early in the season in Rotterdam and Dubai, and a runner-up finish to Jannik Sinner in Sunday’s Vienna final, Medvedev earned more points than any other player this year at the ATP 500 level.

[SWEEPSTAKES]

World No. 3 Medvedev moved past Carlos Alcaraz into first place of the bonus pool during his run to the Vienna final. The 20-time ATP Tour champion will receive a $600,000 bonus. Other players to finish in the top five of the bonus pool – Alcaraz, Sinner, Alexander Zverev and Alex de Minaur – will share $700,000 in bonus pool prize money.

Taylor Fritz delivered a clinical display to keep alive his Nitto ATP Finals qualification hopes on Monday at the Rolex Paris Masters.

The ninth-seeded American wrapped a 6-1, 6-4 first-round triumph against Sebastian Baez at the ATP Masters 1000 event in the French capital. Fritz converted all three break points he earned to improve to 54-23 for the season and set a second-round meeting with #NextGenATP home favourite Arthur Fils or Daniel Altmaier.

“I’m pretty happy, especially with how the match started in the first set,” said Fritz, whose best Paris result is a quarter-final run in 2021. “I got an early break of serve in the second and luckily I was just able to hold on serve and finish it up.”

Moving on ?@Taylor_Fritz97 knocks out Baez 6-1 6-4 to advance to R2 in Paris!
@RolexPMasters | #RolexParisMasters pic.twitter.com/oqGBDp0kaf

However, it was not all plain sailing on Monday for Fritz, who received treatment from the physio mid-way through the second set on his left abdomen. The 25-year-old spoke candidly after the match about the issue and he will hope it is nothing too serious as he next looks to move past Fils or Altmaier to set a potential third-round showdown with his Pepperstone ATP Live Race To Turin rival Holger Rune.

Daniil Medvedev and Grigor Dimitrov treated the Vienna crowd to an Austrian National Day treat Thursday at the Erste Bank Open.

The top seed and defending champion Medvedev dug deep for a 3-6, 6-2, 6-4 triumph in front of a packed crowd at the Wiener Stadthalle, hauling himself back into the second-round contest after Dimitrov had made a lightning-fast start at the ATP 500.

Defiant Daniil ✋

Reigning champion @DaniilMedwed reels in Dimitrov 3-6, 6-2, 6-4 ? QFs@ErsteBankOpen | #erstebankopen pic.twitter.com/ihckSwN3Y1

Medvedev is now 3-0 against Dimitrov indoors, having dominated the Bulgarian in the semi-finals in Vienna a year ago and in Rotterdam in February. Although Dimitrov ensured Thursday’s clash was a far closer affair, the World No. 3 Medvedev held firm to set a quarter-final clash against eighth seed Karen Khachanov.

More to follow…

The people of Vienna have the option of a unique backdrop for their lunchtime sandwiches this week, thanks to the Erste Bank Open.

Since 2021, the ATP 500 in Vienna has been the home to one of the most unique second courts on the ATP Tour. While the main stadium court is located in the city’s west inside the Wiener Stadthalle, the tournament’s second arena, the #glaubandich (German for ‘Believe In Yourself’) Court, is nestled right in the middle of the Austrian capital’s historic city centre.

The temporary stadium is erected on one half of the ice rink at the Vienna Ice Skating Club. Its location not only gives the tented court an interesting backdrop outside, but also ensures that top-level tennis is as accessible as possible for busy Viennese going about their days.

“I had in mind to activate tennis in the city centre,” tournament director Herwig Straka told ATPTour.com. “Vienna is a pretty big city, and the Stadthalle is not in the city centre. The feeling was that inside the tennis community, everybody knows about the event, but outside not. Positioning a second match court in the city centre attracted a lot of new fans, young fans, a new audience. This was the basic idea.”

The #glaubandich Court is located at the Vienna Ice Skating Club. Photo Credit: Andy West/ATP Tour.

Andrey Rublev has qualified for the Nitto ATP Finals for the fourth consecutive year. The 26-year-old guaranteed his spot at the season finale on Thursday when he defeated Matteo Arnaldi to reach the Vienna quarter-finals.

Rublev is the fifth player to earn his place in Turin from 12-19 November. Novak Djokovic, Carlos Alcaraz, Daniil Medvedev and Jannik Sinner have also qualified for the year-end championships.

"It feels great," Rublev said. "It's great news. After the match I didn't know that if I would win the match I would qualify for sure, so I didn't know that and it's a great feeling, great news. Looking forward [to it] and happy to be part of the Nitto ATP Finals for one more year."

See you in Turin, @AndreyRublev97 ?

Rublev has sealed his spot at the Nitto ATP Finals for the fourth consecutive year! ?#NittoATPFinals pic.twitter.com/hoFuCTy4Yk

It has been a consistent season for Rublev, who reached the 50-wins mark for the third straight season. He has also broken new ground in 2023, claiming his first ATP Masters 1000 title in Monte-Carlo.

The unseeded duo of Sadio Doumbia and Fabien Reboul upset top seeds Wesley Koolhof and Neal Skupski on Wednesday at the Erste Bank Open, where the all-French pair clinched a Match Tie-break opening-round.victory.

Despite not creating a break chance in the match, the Frenchmen pulled out a 2-6, 7-6(5), 10-4 win by owning the crucial moments of the one-hour, 47-minute match. Doumbia and Reboul stayed within touching distance by saving nine of 11 break points they faced, and made their move late to earn the upset.

Fourth-seeded Belgians Sander Gille and Joran Vliegen were also knocked out at the ATP 500, with Americans Nathaniel Lammons and Jackson Withrow scoring a 6-4, 6-4 victory.

Lammons/Withrow face a crucial week in their quest to qualify for the Nitto ATP Finals. They are currently 10th in the Pepperstone ATP Live Doubles Teams Rankings, just 25 points behind ninth-placed Marcelo Arevalo and Jean-Julien Rojer and 35 points behind eighth-placed Jamie Murray and Michael Venus.

Arevalo and Rojer maintained their Turin push after they avoided becoming the third seeded pair to fall on Wednesday in Vienna. They defeated Nikola Mektic and John Peers 6-7(3), 6-4, 10-8 to set advance to face home wild card pair Sebastian Ofner and Philipp Oswald.

Carlos Alcaraz announced on social media on Wednesday that he is fit to play the Rolex Paris Masters and the Nitto ATP Finals.

“I have good news!” Alcaraz posted. “I am feeling better every day and I will play Paris-Bercy and be in Turin for the ATP Finals! Excited to finish the year on a high!”

I have good news! ?? I am feeling better every day and I will play Paris-Bercy and be in Turin for the ATP Finals! ? Excited to finish the year on a high! ?? pic.twitter.com/RC1pCzr237

The Spaniard withdrew ahead of the Swiss Indoors Basel due to a left foot injury and muscle fatigue to his lower back. He most recently competed in Shanghai, where he lost to Grigor Dimitrov in the Round of 16.

Alcaraz will hope to find his form immediately in Paris, where he will resume his battle for ATP Year-End No. 1 presented by Pepperstone with Novak Djokovic. The Serbian currently leads the Pepperstone ATP Live Race To Turin, a good barometer for the year-end No. 1 battle, by 500 points with a maximum of 2,500 points up for grabs in Paris and Turin.

Felix Auger-Aliassime’s most recent title came in Basel one year ago. Based on his form Wednesday, the Canadian is keen to add another Swiss Indoors Basel trophy to his collection.

The defending champion eliminated Swiss wild card Leandro Riedi 6-3, 6-2 to reach the second round. The sixth seed will next play Dutchman Botic van de Zandschulp, who ousted Roberto Bautista Agut in three sets.

All aboard the Felix Express ???

The 2022 champion @felixtennis eases past Riedi 6-3 6-2 ?#SwissIndoorsBasel pic.twitter.com/KCedaHX1yS

The 23-year-old Auger-Aliassime stayed out of trouble on his service games for the most part, relinquishing just one break in the match. He consistently challenged his opponent’s serve, winning 50 per cent of his return points and earning four breaks in the 75-minute match.

Auger-Aliassime has long thrived indoors, winning all four of his titles in such conditions. This is his first indoor appearance outside of Laver Cup since Rotterdam in February.

Jannik Sinner held firm for victory in a hard-hitting opening-round clash against Ben Shelton on Wednesday at the Erste Bank Open.

The Italian prevailed 7-6(2), 7-5 in Vienna by striking 28 winners and offering just six unforced errors across the one-hour, 44-minute encounter. With his win, Sinner avenged his defeat to Shelton in the Shanghai fourth round two weeks ago.

“It was a very tough match. He always serves really well, and today was obviously the same,” said Sinner. “He is confident, he is a very tough player to beat. I was looking forward to it. I lost the last matchup, so I’m happy that I won this one. I’m already looking forward to the next one.

“I wish him the best for the rest of the season, I think he will finish the season strong. I’m very happy about the performance and happy to be in the next round.”

Although Shelton, who flew straight to Austria after winning his maiden ATP Tour crown on Sunday in Tokyo, understandably showed some signs of fatigue in the second set, he pushed Sinner all the way inside the Wiener Stadthalle. An intense first set was only settled when Sinner raised his level in the tie-break and the Italian was forced to fend off four break points overall during his win.

The schedule for the 2024 United Cup in Perth and Sydney has been released.

PERTH GROUP PLAY - RAC ARENA

PERTH QUARTER-FINALS

SYDNEY GROUP PLAY - KEN ROSEWALL ARENA

SYDNEY QUARTER-FINALS

Daniil Medvedev is a 20-time tour-level singles champion, but he has yet to win a single event more than once. If his opening performance at the Erste Bank Open is any indication, Medvedev could put an end to that statistical anomaly this week in Vienna.

The top seed earned a dominant 6-4, 6-2 win against #NextGenATP Frenchman Arthur Fils on Wednesday in the pair's first Lexus ATP Head2Head meeting. In a masterful performance, Medvedev lost just five points on serve and recorded a clean stat line of 16 winners and eight unforced errors.

"I was a little bit nervous coming into the match," Medvedev said, explaining that he took a week off from practice following Shanghai, during which time he celebrated his daughter's birthday. "Arthur wants this top win and he's going to get it one day. But luckily I managed to serve well, play well, kind of work him out during the match and it worked, so I'm very happy."

"Mesmerising Medvedev" ?

Top seed @DaniilMedwed bringing top drawer tennis up a set and break on Fils@ErsteBankOpen | #erstebankopen pic.twitter.com/wNdEpK98MH

Medvedev was clinical in all aspects of his game in the 75-minute match, using his forehand to do the most damage with seven winners off that wing. His relentless yet steady game drew 31 unforced errors from Fils, who made the final in Antwerp last week.

“I don’t expect myself to do well on any tennis trivia when we are taking it back before I played!” Taylor Fritz joked in the latest edition of ATP Uncovered’s Test The Tour series. The American was one of five ATP Tour stars to be quizzed on their Nitto ATP Finals knowledge.

Former champions Andy Murray, Stefanos Tsitsipas and Daniil Medvedev were also among the panel.

“I know nothing about it!” Medvedev joked. But would the World No. 3 surprise himself as he was asked who the youngest champion in event history is, which country has the most Nitto ATP Finals titlists and more?

“I remember it! I’m kidding, I wasn’t even born then,” Tsitsipas said, while cracking a smile.

Watch the full video below to find out which of Fritz, Medvedev, Murray, Casper Ruud and Tsitsipas answered the most questions correctly.