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Nominees re-established themselves on the ATP Tour following injury layoffs
The Comeback Player of the Year award in the 2019 ATP Awards goes to the player who has overcome injury in re-establishing himself as one of the top players on the ATP Tour. This year's nominees are Andy Murray, Andrey Rublev, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and Stan Wawrinka. The winner, as selected by the players, will be announced later this month.

Player Career-High
Before Comeback Lowest Ranking
In 2019 Highest Ranking
In 2019 (difference)
Andy Murray No. 1 No. 503 No. 125 (+378)
Andrey Rublev No. 31 No. 115 No. 22 (+93)
Jo-Wilfried Tsonga No. 5 No. 239 No. 29 (+210)
Stan Wawrinka No. 3 No. 68 No. 16 (+52)
Andy Murray
The former World No. 1 had missed the second half of the 2017 season and been limited to six tournaments in 2018 due to chronic hip problems. By the Australian Open, an emotional Andy Murray admitted he wasn’t sure whether he could continue on.

“I’ve been in a lot of pain for probably about 20 months now… I told [my team] I can’t keep doing this. That I needed to have an end point because I was just playing with no idea of when the pain was going to stop,” said Murray. He hoped to make it through to Wimbledon, but said following a memorable fight-back against Roberto Bautista Agut in Melbourne, “If today was my last match, look, it was a brilliant way to finish.”

Two weeks later, Murray underwent hip resurfacing surgery. Five months following the procedure, which he called “brilliant, completely life-changing for me”, he was back in tour-level action and teamed up with Feliciano Lopez to clinch the doubles title at The Queen’s Club. He made another step forward in his comeback as he made his singles return in August at the Western & Southern Open (l. to Gasquet), and continued to gain confidence by winning matches at the ATP Challenger Tour event in Mallorca and at each of his three stops during the Asian swing, including a quarter-final run at the China Open (l. to Thiem).

To cap off his 2019 ATP Tour campaign, he triumphed over Stan Wawrinka 3-6, 6-4, 6-4 at the European Open in Antwerp to win his first singles title since 2017 in Dubai. “It means a lot. The past few years have been extremely difficult… I think it was a great match,” Murray said on court after his victory. “I didn't expect to be in this position at all, so I'm very happy.”


Andy Murray
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@andy_murray
Andy Murray: Resurfacing.

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Andrey Rublev
The future seemed bright for Andrey Rublev in early 2018. He began the season by reaching the Doha final (l. to Monfils) and reached a career-high ATP Ranking of No. 31 by February. Two months later though, he was at home, spending three hours a day at a clinic doing magnetotherapy for a lower back stress fracture, eating lunch and sitting on the sofa.

When he returned to action, he reached the semi-finals at the Citi Open and later at the Next Gen ATP Finals, but he still felt lost. “I felt like I wasn’t there,” he said. “I was feeling like I was in the past when I was playing well before the injury. To recover this mental part of being here in this moment took me a couple of months.”

By January 2019, Rublev had dropped outside of the Top 100. He began making his way back up the ATP Rankings during the March Masters, when he reached the third round as a qualifier in both Indian Wells and Miami, but his best tennis came in the second half of the year. He upset World No. 4 Dominic Thiem en route to the ATP 500 final at the Hamburg European Open (l. to Basilashvili), and then earned the biggest win of his young career a month later at the Western & Southern Open, knocking out seven-time champion Roger Federer in straight sets to reach the Masters 1000 quarter-final.

Back inside the Top 50, Rublev continued his climb with quarter-final runs in Winston-Salem and St. Petersburg and a fourth-round showing at the US Open, where he opened with another win over a Top 10 player, Stefanos Tsitsipas. On his 22nd birthday, the Russian celebrated with his hometown title at the VTB Kremlin Cup in Moscow. The next day, he rose to a career-high World No. 22. “I’m at a loss. I can’t find the right words for what it means to me to win here,” he said.


Andrey Rublev
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@AndreyRublev97
What a match against true legend Big honor for me @CincyTennis #masters #ATP1000 #USOpenSeries

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You May Also Like: Nominees Revealed For 2019 ATP Awards
Jo-Wilfried Tsonga
Former World No. 5 Jo-Wilfried Tsonga had fallen to No. 262 by November 2018, his lowest ATP Ranking in 12 years. He had managed to play in only two tournaments early in the 2018 season after struggling with various injuries and ultimately underwent left knee surgery in April. Upon his return in September, he managed to win just one of his six matches, but on a more promising note, five of those clashes went to a deciding set.

In 2019, Tsonga proved he was still a contender in the opening week of the season. He reached the semi-finals at the Brisbane International (l. to Medvedev), including wins over Australians Thanasi Kokkinakis and Alex de Minaur. In February, he returned to the winners’ circle for the first time in 15 months as he defeated Pierre-Hugues Herbert in an all-French final at the Open Sud de France. “It was an amazing moment for me to win here in Montpellier... I have made many efforts to come back [here], so for me it is a good reward and I hope I will be able to continue playing at this level,” he said.

Tsonga also benefitted from his return to the ATP Challenger Tour for the first time since 2007. “Playing in Challenger tournaments helped me find the reasons why I was playing tennis again,” said the Frenchman, whose quarter-final run in May at Bordeaux helped lift him back into the Top 100. “The conditions are always more difficult. There's always a battle.”

In September, the 34-year-old won 13 straight matches, including titles at the Cassis Challenger and at the Moselle Open in Metz, before his streak came to an end in the semi-finals of the Orleans Challenger. He continued to shine on home soil, reaching the quarter-finals at the Rolex Paris Masters (l. to Nadal), securing his return to the Top 30 and another 30+ win season.


Jo-Wilfried Tsonga
✔
@tsonga7
Since my injury last year, I’ve worked a lot to come back at my best level ...
Very happy and proud of this nomination !
Thank you all for your great support everyday, it means a lot to me !
Let’s do it even better in #2020 ! #ATPTour #ATPAwards #TsongaTeam

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Stan Wawrinka
After undergoing two surgeries in August 2017 to treat a knee cartilage injury, Stan Wawrinka managed to climb from No. 263 to No. 66 in the ATP Rankings last season. But the former World No. 3 knew there was more to come, saying repeatedly that he believed he would eventually find his best tennis.

His patience and optimism were rewarded in 2019. The 34-year-old Swiss reached two ATP Tour finals, two Grand Slam quarter-finals and finished the season back inside the Top 20, at No. 16 in the ATP Rankings.

Wawrinka ended a 20-month final drought in February at the ABN AMRO World Tennis Tournament in Rotterdam (l. to Monfils), where he reached his first championship match since Roland Garros in 2017. “This is a big relief for me,” said Wawrinka. “It’s my first final since the surgery, so to show I can still play at this level against the top players is very important for me.” In October, he again played for an ATP Tour title, only to come up short against fellow Comeback Player of the Year nominee Murray in Antwerp.

He compiled a 4-6 record against Top 10 players in 2018, including a victory over then-No. 1 Novak Djokovic en route to the US Open quarter-finals. At Roland Garros, he defeated No. 6 Stefanos Tsitsipas to reach the last eight. Wawrinka also celebrated a big milestone at the clay-court major, becoming just the ninth active player to record 500 match wins. “I’m not done yet,” he told ATPTour.com. “Let’s keep working hard and start the road to 600!”


Stanislas Wawrinka
✔
@stanwawrinka
Im so happy to be nominated for the comeback of the year award this year at the the @atpworldtour Awards!! #ATP #ATPAwards #2019 #ComebackPlayerOfTheYear #TrustTheProcess …

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Former champion Tsonga falls to Kecmanovic
Second seed Andrey Rublev felt nervous entering his second-round opener at the Qatar ExxonMobil Open, but came through his first test of the 2020 ATP Tour season with flying colours as he dismissed Mikhail Kukushkin 6-4, 6-2 on Wednesday in Doha.

Rublev had lost to the Kazakhstani in three of their past four tour-level main draw encounters, and anticipated another “really tough match”. But the 2018 Doha runner-up needed just 69 minutes to clinch the victory as he converted on four of his nine break points and dropped serve once.

“I'm really happy that I could win in straight sets today,” said Rublev. “Both of us were not really feeling the ball as normally we can feel, so it was more about mental.

“It was first match of the season, first match since two months. And, of course, I was a little bit nervous... But in the end, I'm happy that I accepted this and I focussed more on the things [for] how I can win with the game that I have today. And I'm happy with my performance.”

The 22-year-old enjoyed a career-best season in 2019 – reaching a career-high No. 22 FedEx ATP Ranking, winning his hometown title in Moscow and earning a nomination for Comeback Player of the Year – and was pleased he could start the new season with a win.

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“Even when you finish the season well and you don't play for a while, you lose a little bit [of the] rhythm of playing… If you win the first match, you feel like you're back in the rhythm,” he said. “And if you lose, you feel I'm not in the rhythm; I need to win match to feel this feeling, to bring the confidence back. And that's why I think it's important, the beginning of the season.”

Rublev will look to continue his run in Doha when he next meets Frenchman Pierre-Hugues Herbert in their first ATP Head2Head meeting. Herbert, last year’s doubles champion (with David Goffin), dismissed No. 5 seed Laslo Djere 6-1, 6-3 in 62 minutes.

Jo-Wilfried Tsonga’s bid to reclaim the Doha title was cut short as he lost to Serbian #NextGenATP star Miomir Kecmanovic 7-6(9), 6-1. The third-seeded Frenchman held three set points in the first-set tie-break, but was unable to capitalise. Kecmanovic, 20, won five straight games to close out the 74-minute match and oust the 2012 champion.

“It was definitely one of my better wins,” said Kecmanovic. “I've had some exciting wins last year. And to start the year off with such a big name, it's definitely motivating me and giving me a lot more confidence to keep going.”

Kecmanovic, who finished 2019 by reaching the semi-finals at the Next Gen ATP Finals, will next meet Hungarian qualifier Marton Fucsovics, a 6-1, 6-4 winner over Turkish wild card Cem Ilkel.

You May Also Like: Verdasco On Doha: 'This Is My Home'
Spaniard Fernando Verdasco advanced beyond the Round of 16 for just the second time in eight appearances at this ATP 250 tournament, finishing strong to defeat sixth seed Filip Krajinovic 7-5, 4-6, 6-0. The 36-year-old Verdasco, who moved to Doha five years ago, achieved his best result here in 2017 when he reached the semi-finals (l. to Djokovic).

Verdasco awaits the winner between No. 4 seed Milos Raonic and French qualifier Corentin Moutet.

Mixed Results For Doubles Seeds
All four doubles seeds played their quarter-final matches Wednesday in Doha, resulting in two wins and two losses for the top tandems.

Second seeds Henri Kontinen and Franko Skugor battled their way into the semi-finals with a 6-7(2), 6-4, 13-11 victory over Ken Skupski and Neal Skupski. They will face Rohan Bopanna and Wesley Koolhof for a spot in the final after the No. 3 seeds dismissed Frances Tiafoe and Stan Wawrinka, 6-3, 6-4.

Mate Pavic and Bruno Soares, the No. 1 seeds, fell to Frederik Nielsen and Tim Puetz 4-6, 6-2, 10-7, while fourth-seeded Frenchmen and 2017 champions Jeremy Chardy and Fabrice Martin were defeated by Luke Bambridge and Santiago Gonzalez 6-3, 7-6(7).