Top tennis tips of the week. What names should you definitely not miss from the events of the past seven days?

The tennis carousel is unstoppable and brings great things. We have selected six players who are definitely worth remembering because they have written stories that should not be forgotten at the ATP tournaments in Barcelona, Munich and Banja Luka.

Barcelona

Carlos Alcaraz

Who else to start with but the 19-year-old Spaniard? The tournament’s number one defended his triumph at last week’s biggest tournament. Last year’s phenomenon hasn’t known the taste of a lost set all week and is deservedly rejoicing in his tournament title.

For the third time in 2023. In the final against Greece’s Tsitsipas, he sparked trouble after losing his serve in the third game and was finally done with it in an hour and twenty minutes. He won 6::3, 6::4 and defended his tournament triumph for the first time in his career.

Alejandro Davidovich Fokina

Another Spaniard in the bunch. Without much trouble, he advanced to the quarter-finals for the fifth time this year over the Argentine Etcheverry (59th in the rankings) and the Finn Ruusuvuori (40th). He failed in the one with Alcaraz, but he was only two balls away from winning the whole set four times in the first set and lost it in the tiebreak.

No one forced Carlos Alcaraz to spend more than two hours on court all week. Only this guy with Russian roots.

Munich

Holger Rune

This doesn’t happen often. Two 19-year-old players defended their titles from last year on the same day. In the Bavarian capital, Holger Rune did it. The Danish player made his way through the tournament with ease, but the final round brought a plot twist.

Against Dutchman Van De Zandschulp, Rune had a break lead in a repeat of last year’s final when the turning point of the first set, the eighth game, came. Here the Danish opponent produced some phenomenal shots and earned a standing ovation from the crowd, but the younger of the two finalists eventually held the pivotal serve and the first set was soon his.

The Dutchman, however, shifted into a higher gear from the start of the second set and won 11 of the next 14 games. He even reached two match points, which Rune turned away, and when he did the same at 5::6, the shortened game was decided by the Dane, who had already taken control.

The native of Gentofte has his fourth title in 365 days and it will be very interesting to see what he will show in the next (not only) clay tournaments.

Botic Van De Zandschulp

The name of the defeated finalist cannot be missing here this time. The Dutchman didn’t finish the fairy tale and didn’t win his first tournament on the circuit. However, he was an equal opponent to his final rival and even recorded more balls won, but he couldn’t win the last one.

Let’s hope we see Van De Zandschulp in a final soon, at the latest in Munich next year would perhaps not be a surprise.

Banja Luka

Dusan Lajovic

It would be a sin not to name Dusan Lajovic at this point. The unseeded Serb had a great week in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The tournament mission of seeded eight Barrere, world number one Novak Djokovic and world number six Rubljov ended on his racket.

But the 32-year-old Belgrade native came closest to elimination against another opponent. That was his compatriot Mimir Kecmanovic. The late winner of the whole event faced a difficult situation after losing the first set. His opponent served out the second set to win the match.

Lajovic saved himself and eventually won the second set in a tiebreak. He won the deciding set 6::4 and can celebrate his second triumph on the ATP circuit after four long years.

Abdullah Shelbayh

A member of the Rafael Nadal Academy, he became the first Jordanian to reach the semi-finals of a Challenger last year and later became the first representative of his country to enjoy a win over a world 100 player.

In the past week, he successfully made it through the qualifying rounds and crossed another threshold. At the tournament in Banja Luka he managed to advance to the second round. By the way:: he is 19 years old, just like Alcaraz and Rune.

Source: ATP, Rafa Nadal Academy