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There’s nothing fairly like a very good rebound, a very good revival. Our Comeback Participant of the Yr nominees within the 2023 ATP Awards — Dominik Koepfer, Gael Monfils, Jan-Lennard Struff and Alexander Zverev — will attest to that. All 4 gamers discovered a technique to overcome harm and battle again towards the highest of the Pepperstone ATP Rankings in 2023.
Nominees for Comeback Participant of the Yr are decided by an Worldwide Tennis Writers’ Affiliation (ITWA) vote. The winner is chosen by gamers from the shortlist.
Keep tuned: ATP Awards winners will likely be introduced throughout Awards Week, beginning Monday, 11 December.
Accidents are by no means straightforward — particularly when the problem at hand is rarely totally identified.
That’s been the case for Dominik Koepfer the previous couple of years. After reaching a career-high No. 50 within the Pepperstone ATP Rankings in 2021, the German started to expertise a nagging discomfort in his left arm, particularly when serving. Regardless of closing out that 12 months with a powerful Spherical of 16 displaying on the Rolex Paris Masters, the place he defeated Andy Murray and Felix Auger-Aliassime in succession, the ache lingered and he was compelled to take break day.
An MRI, repeated physician visits, and painkillers did nothing for the previous Tulane All-American, and his rating plummeted as little as No. 262 earlier this 12 months.
“No physician actually is aware of what it’s,” mentioned Koepfer. “It’s most likely instability in my shoulder and simply perhaps some nerve stuff, too, that’s a little bit caught. Nothing actually helped. I’ve actually tried every part I may. There was no surgical procedure you might do as a result of if there’s no analysis, actually, you may’t actually do something to repair it.”
Credit score the dogged Koepfer, 29, with discovering a technique to play via the ache. Starting with the Challenger title on the Mexico City Open in March, he steadily climbed his approach again up the rankings. He would attain 5 ATP Challenger Tour finals altogether in 2023, earn an opening-round shot in opposition to defending champ Carlos Alcaraz on the US Open, and end the 12 months at No. 77.
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Dominik Koepfer in Winston-Salem. Picture: Grant Halverson/Getty Photographs
There was ample motive for the emotion in Stockholm, the place tour vet Gael Monfils turned the oldest BNP Paribas Nordic Open champion in event historical past, a 4-6, 7-6(6), 6-3 winner over shock finalist Pavel Kotov.
The ever-athletic Frenchman has skilled greater than his justifiable share of bodily setbacks since turning professional almost twenty years in the past. The 2023 marketing campaign was no exception. Monfils struggled with accidents within the first half of the season, and arrived in Sweden at No. 140 Pepperstone ATP Rankings. His trophy run was a testomony to his longevity, his career-long dedication to the game. In spite of everything, it was La Monf’s second Stockholm title, having gained the ATP 250 occasion again in 2011. That 12-year hole between titles is the largest in historical past. He turned simply the fourth participant age 37 or above to win an ATP Tour title since 1990, becoming a member of Roger Federer, Ivo Karlovic and Feliciano Lopez.
Monfils devoted the win to his mom, Sylvette; spouse, WTA star Elina Svitolina; and child daughter, Skaï.
“It’s the primary time I’ve gained a title as a father. She may be very particular,” mentioned Monfils, who additionally notched High 25 wins over Stefanos Tsitsipas, Alex de Minaur, Cameron Norrie, Alexander Bublik and Adrian Mannarino in 2023.
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Gael Monfils in Stockholm. Picture: Alexander Scheuber/BNP Paribas Nordic Open
Jan-Lennard Struff, 33, was within the midst of a profession 12 months, buoyed by runner-up finishes on the Mutua Madrid Open (the place as a fortunate loser he upended Stefanos Tsitsipas and pushed Carlos Alcaraz in a three-set closing) and in Stuttgart. However after a No. 167-to-No. 21 catapult, the German was compelled to close it down because of a hip harm.
“It was a terrific 12 months to this point. I couldn’t have anticipated this, going this quick as much as the High 30 from outdoors the High 150,” he mentioned. “It was loopy how briskly it went. It was a tremendous 12 months, so it was very laborious to just accept.”
The proper-hander didn’t choose up a racquet for seven weeks whereas rehabbing, lacking three months in all starting in late June.
All this made his September return that rather more significant, a 6-3, 1-6, 6-4 win over Chile’s Cristian Garin in Zhuhai in his first match again. Final month, Struff powered via to his third semi-final of 2023 in Sofia, very a lot again on monitor.
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Jan-Lennard Struff in Madrid. Picture: Getty Photographs
The pictures from Paris are nonetheless recent, Alexander Zverev crumpled on the terre battue, screaming in ache after rolling his ankle within the second set of his semi-final match in opposition to Rafael Nadal. His 2022 Roland Garros — his complete 12 months, for that matter — was over.
Quick ahead a year-and-a-half and the German may be very a lot again in enterprise, comfortably contained in the High 10 within the Pepperstone ATP Rankings. Success was not quick. In reality, Zverev would win simply three of his first 9 matches in 2023. However not solely would he return to the Roland Garros semi-finals (l. to Casper Ruud), he would seize the twentieth and twenty first titles of his profession in Hamburg and Chengdu, and qualify for the Nitto ATP Finals.
“After the harm final 12 months, my first season again, to be again with the highest eight gamers, to be again in Turin, is an achievement for me,” mentioned Zverev on the year-end showdown, the place he registered two of his 4 High 10 wins on the 12 months over Carlos Alcaraz and Andrey Rublev.
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Alexander Zverev on the Nitto ATP Finals. Picture: Corinne Dubreuil/ATP Tour
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