Better of 2024
Greatest ATP Tour upsets of 2024: Nardi, Mensik stage shocks
Machac, Fonseca, Monteiro additionally characteristic
December 02, 2024
Peter Staples/ATP Tour
Luca Nardi celebrates after defeating Novak Djokovic in March in Indian Wells.
By Andy West
The power in depth of males’s tennis ensures there are not any ensures on the ATP Tour.
The PIF ATP Rankings supply a tangible technique to assess the order of issues within the males’s recreation, but the 2024 season nonetheless supplied loads of seismic upsets. There have been outcomes that rocked prime stars, went towards the shape e book and catapulted younger gamers’ names into the worldwide highlight.
As a part of our annual in-review sequence, ATPTour.com counts down the 5 most surprising upsets of the yr. On Tuesday we’ll have a look at the most important upsets on the Grand Slams.
5) Madrid R2: Monteiro d. Tsitsipas 6-4, 6-4
Not even a High 10 opponent in red-hot type was sufficient to cease Thiago Monteiro when he was in full stream on the Mutua Madrid Open.
After coming by means of qualifying on the ATP Masters 1000 occasion, Monteiro surprised Stefanos Tsitsipas with a scientific, clean-hitting show. Tsitsipas entered the pair’s maiden Lexus ATP Head2Head assembly with a 10-1 report for the yr on clay after successful Monte-Carlo and reaching the ultimate in Barcelona, however the Greek was powerless to disclaim the impressed Monteiro from notching the fourth High 10 win of his profession.
The Brazilian’s triumph towards the then-No. 7 within the PIF ATP Rankings was positioned in even higher distinction by the actual fact he had misplaced within the first spherical at an ATP Challenger Tour occasion to then-World No. 255 Jaime Faria only one week prior. Monteiro’s upset was finally an indication of simply how shortly fortunes can change in tennis.
“Each week you’ve gotten a brand new alternative,” mentioned Monteiro, who went on to achieve the third spherical in Madrid earlier than making the fourth spherical in Rome, additionally as a qualifier. “These previous few weeks I wasn’t feeling actually good on the courtroom. I used to be attempting to do properly at Challengers, however it didn’t work. I simply saved up the exhausting work, day-to-day. Even after I was not feeling good and never successful matches, I saved believing in myself, and this week it has paid off.”
4) Rio de Janiero R1: Fonseca d Fils 6-0, 6-4
The best way to seize the quick consideration of your property followers, Joao Fonseca model.
Competing as a No. 655-ranked wild card on the Rio Open introduced by Claro, the 17-year-old charged previous seventh seed Arthur Fils in simply his second tour-level match. Fonseca, who turned the primary participant born in 2006 to win an ATP Tour match along with his commanding victory in his hometown, fell to his knees and put his head in his arms after securing a well-known win.
“I’m so glad. It could not be higher than this to get my first win 10 minutes away from my home and with all my pals, all my household watching,” mentioned the Brazilian, who beat Cristian Garin in his subsequent match earlier than falling to Mariano Navone within the quarter-finals. “It’s extremely particular… I used to be targeted on making each ball. Clearly, I used to be nervous, I used to be shaking, however I wished a lot to win, I made it.”
The standard of opponent Fonseca had overwhelmed was solely emphasised throughout the remainder of 2024, when Fils lifted ATP 500 crowns in Hamburg and Tokyo and rose to a career-high No. 20 within the PIF ATP Rankings. The pair could even meet once more earlier than 2024 is completed, with Fonseca (now at a career-high No. 145 himself) becoming a member of Fils within the lineup for December’s Subsequent Gen ATP Finals introduced by PIF.
3) Shanghai QF: Machac d. Alcaraz 7-6(5), 7-5
Carlos Alcaraz was on a late-season 12-match tear that had seen him go unbeaten throughout the Davis Cup Finals Group Stage, the Laver Cup, and the majority of the 2024 Asian swing. Then the No. 2 within the PIF ATP Rankings bumped into Tomas Machac on the Rolex Shanghai Masters.
The 24-year-old Czech had loved a powerful season as much as that time. He reached his maiden ATP Masters 1000 quarter-final in March in Miami, upset Novak Djokovic en path to his maiden ATP Tour ultimate in Might in Geneva, and had returned to a joint profession excessive of No. 33 within the PIF ATP Rankings forward of Shanghai. But the way in which he blew away the in-form Alcaraz on the Chinese language Masters 1000 was nonetheless one thing to behold.
Machac powered 20 winners previous the Spaniard within the opening set alone, and later saved his cool to seal victory after Alcaraz reclaimed an early break within the second set. The Czech, who turned the fourth lowest-ranked semi-finalist in Shanghai match historical past, had given one other reminder of his potential to push additional in direction of the highest of the sport.
“I knew that the extent of my tennis can be nice as a result of I’m taking part in one of the best proper now, for certain,” mentioned Machac, who completed his season at a career-high World No. 25. “I beat Tommy Paul [in my] final match with an unbelievable efficiency. With these kinds of gamers, I’ve to play this degree in any other case it’s 6-2, 6-3 [and] you go house, there isn’t a different possibility. I’m glad I managed to play like this for 2 units.”
2) Doha QF: Mensik d. Rublev 6-4, 7-6(6)
Jakub Mensik’s emergence as one the ATP Tour’s brightest skills has occurred steadily throughout the previous 18 months. But it was arguably his maiden High 5 win, clinched in model towards Andrey Rublev at February’s Qatar ExxonMobil Open, that cemented his standing as a bona fide star within the making.
The 18-year-old Mensik downed Alejandro Davidovich Fokina and former World No. 1 Andy Murray in Doha to achieve his maiden ATP Tour quarter-final. His subsequent opponent, Rublev, was the proprietor of a powerful report on the ATP 250: he reached the ultimate there on debut in 2018 earlier than successful the trophy in 2020. Competing because the World No. 5 and prime seed, Rublev was undoubtedly the favorite in his maiden Lexus ATP Head2Head assembly with a #NextGenATP star.
Because it was, Mensik had no hassle bringing his big recreation to one of many greatest matches of his younger profession. The Czech, who used a Subsequent Gen Accelerator Programme wild card to achieve entry into the occasion, saved all six break factors he confronted within the match, in response to Infosys ATP Stats, and sealed a straight-sets victory that assured his rise into the High 100 of the PIF ATP Rankings for the primary time.
“It is simply been an unbelievable week from the start. I performed very properly and I knew I may play with the massive gamers,” mentioned Mensik, who reached the ultimate in Doha earlier than falling to Karen Khachanov. “It is an incredible feeling to achieve the semi-finals after beating these good gamers.”
1) Indian Wells R3: Nardi d. Djokovic 6-4, 3-6, 6-3
Luca Nardi could have felt he had already ‘gained’ just by setting a third-round conflict with World No. 2 Novak Djokovic on the BNP Paribas Open. After dropping in qualifying, the Italian was granted a main-draw spot as a fortunate loser, instantly capitalised by defeating Zhang Zhizhen for his first High 50 win, after which set about getting ready to tackle his childhood idol Djokovic within the third spherical.
Issues solely bought higher from there for Nardi in Indian Wells. Competing because the World No. 123, he surprised the tennis world by sinking the five-time champion in a see-saw battle in Tennis Paradise. The 20-year-old outhit Djokovic by 16 winners to 2 within the ultimate set to snap Djokovic’s 11-match successful streak at Masters 1000 occasions.
Nardi was simply the ninth participant from outdoors the High 100 to defeat a High 2 opponent since 2015. His shock win helped him surge into the High 100 for the primary time after Indian Wells, whereas it additionally made his identify immediately acquainted with tennis followers the world over.
“I believe that earlier than this evening nobody knew me,” Nardi mentioned after recording simply his fifth tour-level match win. “I hope that the group loved the sport. I am tremendous pleased with this one.”