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Around the ATP: 3 big headlines from a post-Grand Slam 2020 season

By Brandon Daniels

NEW YORK, NEW YORK - AUGUST 31: Reilly Opelka of the United States serves during his Men's Singles first round match against David Goffin of Belgium on Day One of the 2020 US Open at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center on August 31, 2020 in the Queens borough of New York City. (Photo by Matthew Stockman/Getty Images)
NEW YORK, NEW YORK - AUGUST 31: Reilly Opelka of the United States serves during his Men's Singles first round match against David Goffin of Belgium on Day One of the 2020 US Open at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center on August 31, 2020 in the Queens borough of New York City. (Photo by Matthew Stockman/Getty Images) /
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The post-Grand Slam ATP 2020 season has been filled with tournaments around the world. here are the three biggest headlines across the tour this week.

The ATP’s 2020 season is winding down. With the Paris Masters and the Nitto ATP Finals in London as the only big events left, the top players in men’s tennis have split up and spread out throughout the globe to continue to play following the French Open. There are currently three tournaments in session:

-St. Petersburg Open (ATP 500; St. Petersburg, Russia)

-Bett1HULKS Indoors (ATP 250; Cologne, Germany)

-Forte Village Sardegna (ATP 250; Sardinia, Italy)

Here are the major headlines so far from each event.

St. Petersburg Open

Top-seeded Daniil Medvedev ousted in 2nd Round

Medvedev came into the tournament as a common favorite to take the title given his success on hard courts in 2020. Despite winning an incredible 91% of points off of his first serve (40-of44), his opponent–Reilly Opelka–proved to be the better player in the clutch. The big-serving World #36 only broke Medvedev twice throughout the entire match but both proved to be incredibly important.

The first came at 6-5 in the second set (Opelka leading); Opelka forced. Medvedev down love-40 before taking the game and the set at 30-40. It was by far one of the worst games of the match for Medvedev. Unluckily, it’d happen a second time. Serving at 4-5 to stay in the match, Medvedev found himself down 30-40 and lost the final point of the match, securing a  career win for the American and a stinging loss for the Russian given he was up two sets to one. His hot head took over once again as he smashed his rackets post-match (understandably so).

“It was ugly for the first set-and-a-half. I felt like I barely won any points on his serve, but part of that is just because of my opponent…” Opelka said. “…Daniil is an absolute nightmare to play, especially for a guy like me because he just runs every ball down.”

Opelka moves on to face Borna Coric in the quarterfinals, who has yet to drop a set so far this tournament, whereas the defending champion Medvedev will pack his bags early after a disappointing campaign.

Plenty of off-court news went on, as well, with the controversial Sam Querrey story (we’ll touch on that tomorrow).

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