ST. PETERSBURG OPEN: PREVIEW & DAY 1 MEDIA NOTES Monday, September 21, 2015 Sibur Arena, St. Petersburg, Russia | September 21-27, 2015 Draw: S-28, D-16 | Prize Money: $1,030,000 | Surface: Indoor Hard ATP Info: Tournament Info: ATP PR & Marketing: www.ATPWorldTour.com www.spbopen.ru Richard Evans: [email protected] Twitter: @ATPWorldTour @SPBOpen_RU Press Room: Facebook: facebook.com/ATPWorldTour facebook.com/saintpetersburgopen +7 812 383 9369 ST. PETERSBURG OPEN TALKING POINTS SPOTLIGHT ON ST. PETERSBURG: The St. Petersburg Open celebrates its 20th edition as it returns to the ATP World Tour Monday following a one-year hiatus. Now staged at the world-class Sibur Arena, the event was held from 1995 to 2013 at the Petersburg Sports and Concert Complex. Australian Open semi-finalist Tomas Berdych, No. 2 seed Milos Raonic and rising star Dominic Thiem lead a star-studded field back to St. Petersburg, which serves as an important event on the road to the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals. A maximum of 4,000 Emirates ATP Ranking points are on the line over the next seven weeks before the season finale in London Nov. 15-22. Berdych, Raonic and Thiem are among those hoping to qualify by finishing the year among the Top 8. Position Singles Player Points 1 Novak Djokovic (Qualified) 12,785 2 Andy Murray (Qualified) 7,510 3 Roger Federer (Qualified) 6,740 4 Stan Wawrinka (Qualified) 5,505 5 Tomas Berdych 3,850 6 Kei Nishikori 3,770 7 Rafael Nadal 3,715 8 David Ferrer 3,005 13 Milos Raonic 1,830 18 Dominic Thiem 1,465 DAY 1 PREVIEW: Main draw singles and doubles action gets underway Monday at the St. Petersburg Open, along with four final-round qualifying matches. Newlywed Andreas Haider- Maurer, who tied the knot on Sept. 12, meets Daniel Gimeno-Traver of Spain in the only main draw singles match of the day. A pair of first-time teams meet in the lone doubles match on the schedule as Frantisek Cermak and Mikhail Kukushkin challenge No. 1 seeds Treat Huey and Henri Kontinen. In qualifying, Russians Alexander Bublik, Alexander Kudryavtsev, Valery Rudney and Evgeny Tyurnev attempt to join four of their countrymen in the main draw. St. Petersburg Open Day 1 – Monday, September 21, 2015 Page 2 of 7 www.ATPWorldTour.com BERDYCH’S ROAD TO LONDON: Headlining the St. Petersburg Open is top-seeded Tomas Berdych, who returned to the Top 5 of the Emirates ATP Rankings on September 14. Berdych is seeking his first title of the season and trying to qualify at London for the sixth straight year. The Czech, who turned 30 on September 17, has won at least two matches at 14 of his 15 tournaments in 2015. Berdych is on pace to post the best win percentage and year-end ranking of his career. Year W-L Ranking* Titles 2015 45-15 (.750) 5 0 2014 55-22 (.714) 7 2 2013 54-25 (.684) 7 0 2012 61-23 (.726) 6 2 2011 53-23 (.697) 7 1 2010 45-26 (.634) 6 0 * Year-end rankings used for 2010-2014; Sept. 21 ranking used for 2015. RAONIC’S ROCKET SERVE: Canadian Milos Raonic owns one of the most effective serves that the ATP World Tour has ever seen according to Infosys ATP Scores and Stats. While aces are often the stat most associated with big servers, Raonic ranks second among all players in a category that leads more directly to match wins. He holds in 91% of his service games overall. Player Service Holds Service Games Percentage Ivo Karlovic 6,606 7,200 91.75% Milos Raonic 3,409 3,744 91.05% John Isner 5,589 6,139 91.04% Andy Roddick 8,836 9,807 90.10% Pete Sampras 9,443 10,641 88.74% * Statistics date back to 1991 and do not include Davis Cup matches. RIGHT PLACE, RIGHT TIME: For one player in particular, the return of the St. Petersburg Open is reason to rejoice. Russian Mikhail Youzhny is the winningest player in event history with 31 victories spread across 12 consecutive appearances (2002-13). Long among the most consistent players on the ATP World Tour, Youzhny is 9-20 this year and fell outside the Top 100 in July for the first time since 2001. Searching for wins, the 33-year-old Youzhny has come to the right place. Player Tournament W-L Champion Runner-Up Mikhail Youzhny 31-11 (.738) 2004 2002, 2010 Marat Safin 20-6 (.769) 2000, 2001 Never Thomas Johansson 18-5 (.783) 1997, 2005 2006 Yevgeny Kafelnikov 17-5 (.773) 1995 1996 Ernests Gulbis 13-5 (.722) 2013 Never PAST CHAMPIONS RETURN: Three former champions return to Russia this week: local favorite Mikhail Youzhny (2004), Mikhail Kukushkin (2010) and Ernests Gulbis (2013). Youzhny (9-20) and Gulbis (8-20) have struggled this season, though the Latvian may receive a confidence boost as the defending champion. Kukushkin, on the other hand, arrives in good form after upsetting No. 17 seed Grigor Dimitrov en route to the third round of the US Open (l. to Cilic in 5 sets). St. Petersburg Open Day 1 – Monday, September 21, 2015 Page 3 of 7 www.ATPWorldTour.com RUSSIA’S RUBLEV RISING: At 17, Andrey Rublev is the youngest player in the Top 200 of the Emirates ATP Rankings. The World No. 178 has already won more tour-level matches before the age of 18 than every teenager ranked ahead of him, including 38th-ranked Borna Coric (7 wins as a 17-year-old). Rublev’s eight pre-18 wins are also more than each member of the Top 5 posted. Rank Player 18th Birthday W-L Before 18 1 Novak Djokovic May 22, 2005 4-7 (.364) 2 Roger Federer August 8, 1999 7-14 (.333) 3 Andy Murray May 15, 2005 0-1 (.000) 4 Stan Wawrinka Mar. 28, 2003 0-0 5 Tomas Berdych Sept. 17, 2003 1-1 (.500) 178 Andrey Rublev Oct. 20, 2015 8-11 (.421) THIEM AMONG WORLD’S BEST: Entering the 2015 season, Dominic Thiem had yet to win an ATP World Tour singles championship. The 22-year-old Austrian makes his St. Petersburg Open debut this week with three titles to his name, putting him in elite company this year. Player Age Titles 2015 Championships Novak Djokovic 28 7 Aus. Open, Indian Wells, Miami, Monte-Carlo, Rome, Wimbledon, US Open Roger Federer 34 5 Brisbane, Dubai, Istanbul, Halle, Cincinnati Andy Murray 28 4 Munich, Madrid, London/Queen’s Club, Montreal David Ferrer 33 3 Doha, Rio de Janeiro, Acapulco Rafael Nadal 29 3 Buenos Aires, Stuttgart, Hamburg Kei Nishikori 25 3 Memphis, Barcelona, Washington Dominic Thiem 22 3 Nice, Umag, Gstaad Stan Wawrinka 30 3 Chennai, Rotterdam, Roland Garros STORIED PAST IN ST. PETERSBURG: Seven Grand Slam champions have also won the St. Petersburg Open title, most recently 2014 US Open winner Marin Cilic, who reigned in Russia three years earlier. Looking for a breakout of their own this week are Spaniard Roberto Bautista Agut, Australian teen Thanasi Kokkinakis and Frenchmen Benoit Paire and Lucas Pouille. o Bautista Agut: Extended eventual champion Djokovic to four sets in US Open 4R o Kokkinakis: 19-year-old has qualified for six ATP World Tour events this season o Paire: Won first title at Bastad; defeated Nishikori en route to US Open 4R (l. to Tsonga) o Pouille: Reached first 2 SFs of career as lucky loser at Auckland and qualifier at Hamburg St. Petersburg Open Day 1 – Monday, September 21, 2015 Page 4 of 7 www.ATPWorldTour.com ARRIVING FROM DAVIS CUP: Eleven of the 28 players in the St. Petersburg Open singles draw are arriving after representing their respective nations in Davis Cup this past weekend, including Evgeny Donskoy, Andrey Rublev and Teymuraz Gabashvili of Russia. Gabashvili’s singles win over Simone Bolelli was Russia’s only point in its 4-1 loss to Italy in a World Group Play-off tie. Player Davis Cup Location Team Result Player Results Roberto Bautista Agut (ESP) Odense, DEN ESP d. DEN 5-0 d. Nielsen 63 64 Benjamin Becker (GER) Santo Domingo, DOM GER d. DOM 4-1 d. Cid 64 76(4) d. Manafov 64 62 62 Ricardas Berankis (LTU) Vilnius, LTU UKR d. LTU 4-1 l. to Marchenko/Molchanov (w/Grigelis) l. to Marchenko 75 62 62 l. to Gabashvili 76(2) 61 63 Simone Bolelli (ITA) Irkutsk, RUS ITA d. RUS 4-1 d. Donskoy/Kravchuk (w/Fognini) Evgeny Donskoy (RUS) Irkutsk, RUS ITA d. RUS 4-1 l. to Bolelli/Fognini (w/Kravchuk) d. Bolelli 76(2) 61 63 Teymuraz Gabashvili (RUS) Irkutsk, RUS ITA d. RUS 4-1 l. to Fognini 76(4) 63 76(5) d. Johnson 61 36 76(5) 67(3) 75 Denis Istomin (UZB) Tashkent, UZB USA d. UZB 3-1 l. to Johnson/Querrey (w/Dustov) l. to Sock 62 26 64 64 d. Gombos 76(1) 64 67(5) 62 Jerzy Janowicz (POL) Gdynia, POL POL d. SVK 3-2 l. to Klizan 63 76(4) 63 l. to A. Murray 63 60 63 Thanasi Kokkinakis (AUS) Glasgow, GBR GBR d. AUS 3-2 d. Evans 75 64 Andrey Rublev (RUS) Irkutsk, RUS ITA d. RUS 4-1 l. to Fognini 76(8) 62 62 l. to Gerasimov 06 16 62 62 64 Joao Sousa (POR) Viana do Castelo, POR POR d. BLR 3-2 d. Betov/Mirnyi (w/Elias) d. Ignatik 61 61 64 NOTE: Doubles players Sergey Betov (BLR), Konstantin Kravchuk (RUS) and Igor Zelenay (SVK) also played Davis Cup Sept.