Munich, Estoril draws show veterans on comeback trail

By its very nature, tennis is a cyclical sport with a new crop of players always ready to challenge the older, more established stars.

Those veterans, though, usually aren’t ready to just cede ground to the up-and-comers. Several of them on the ATP Tour are in the process of working their way back toward their former places in the game after some recent setbacks. Here’s a look at four who took to the courts in Estoril, Portugal, and Munich, Germany, this week in search of past glory. (Photos: Getty Images)

1

Kevin Anderson

“I’m still playing to win a Grand Slam and win Masters series [events],” the former world No. 5 said after his opening-round win against Frances Tiafoe in Estoril. Plagued by injuries the past couple of years, the two-time major finalist is off to a strong start on the dirt, having followed up that first-round win with another to reach the quarterfinals against 2014 US Open champion Marin Cilic.

2

Fernando Verdasco

Directly impacted by the pandemic last year, the former world No. 7 missed two of the season’s three Grand Slams, then came knee surgery. Verdasco made his 2021 debut in Miami, where he was upset by American Bjorn Fratangelo in his first match. Still working the kinks out in his game, the Spaniard lost his opening match to his countryman, Albert Ramos-Vinolas, in Estoril, but will look to get back on track at the Masters event in Madrid, where he was awarded a wild card.

3

Philipp Kohlschreiber

The German, once ranked as high as 16 in the world, started 2020 off perfectly with a Challenger title in Canberra, Australia, his first of any kind in nearly three years. When play resumed after the months-long suspension, however, he only won two matches across six tournaments to close out the year. Getting a very late start to 2021, Kohlschreiber split two matches at the Challenger event in Belgrade, Serbia, earlier this month. Granted a wild card at the BMW Open this week, the three-time champion fell in the first round to Dominik Koepfer in three sets. Provided he gets back up to match-play conditioning, Kohlschreiber, 37, has the ability to take it to some of his potentially younger opponents in the weeks ahead.

Richard Gasquet

2021 has gotten off to a rough start for the Frenchman, who was forced to withdraw from the Australian Open due to injury and recently pulled out of Monte Carlo because of lingering COVID complications. In Estoril this week, Gasquet posted a solid opening-round win over Juan Ignacio Londero to set up a match against the second seed, Cristian Garin, one of the best young clay-courters on tour. It will be intriguing to see what type of veteran tricks Gasquet, the 2015 tournament champ, will bring to the table in this encounter.