Home & Away

Philipp Kohlschreiber x Kitzbühel, Austria

Career: 1999-2022. 

As defending champion, losing at a favoured venue would normally represent a bad day and a bad mood. But not for Kohlschreiber. On August 18, 2018, when the German lost on the Austrian clay, rather than skipping town, he decided to marry his fiancé, Lena Alberti, there on the same day. It’s little wonder he had a soft spot for the place: he who won two of his eight ATP titles in Kitzbühel, thanks to being “more of an altitude player.” 

Martina Navratilova x Eastbourne, UK

Career: 1992-2005

Navratilova’s Eastbourne debut came in the event’s inaugural year, 1974. It was to be the first of her 23 entries at Devonshire Park, where she won 11 titles from 13 finals. She twice lifted the trophy here as world No.1 and her last appearance was as a 47-year-old wild card, ranked No.993. "I have a soft spot for Eastbourne because I've got lots of great memories. I’ve played since its conception, so I feel we have grown up together,” said Navratilova, who reached ten consecutive finals here from 1982.

Image: Getty

John Isner x Atlanta, USA

Career: 2007-present

Perhaps you think Wimbledon’s Court No 18 is John Isner’s spiritual home? True, his record-breaking 6-4, 3-6, 6-7 (7-9), 7-6(7-3), 70-68 three-day victory against Nicolas Mahut will always have a place in our hearts, but Atlanta is closest to the big-serving American’s heart. He went to the University of Georgia in nearby Athens, which might explain why he always plays his best here: six of his 16 titles have come at the ATP 250 event. Only two other Americans, Pete Sampras and Andre Agassi, have won six or more titles at the same tournament, at Wimbledon and Miami respectively. That’s some good company to keep.  

Daniela Hantuchová x Indian Wells, USA

Career: 1999-2017. 

The Slovakian, who peaked at world No.5 in 2003, won Indian Wells in 2002 and 2007. Her other results on the WTA premier mandatory circuit (now the WTA Tier I) pail in comparison. She won the 2002 title as an 18-year-old who’d never competed in a WTA final, beating the No.2 seed, “Swiss Miss”, Martina Hingis 6-3, 6-4. “In all my years on tour I have had ONE day that I ‘felt it’. That morning I woke up and just knew I was gonna win… this feeling didn’t happen to me before and never afterwards,” she said after taking the 2002 title.

Víctor Estrella Burgos x Quito, Ecuador

Career: 2001-18

The Dominican won the Ecuador Open in 2015, 2016 and 2017. The right-hander won 16 out of 17 matches in the four-year spell that the ATP 250 event was played in Quito (it was abolished in 2018). He is the only player in ATP history to win three-plus titles at one event and zero titles at any other. “Quito has become a very special spot for me. I always feel the love,” he said.

Image: Instagram

Chris Evert x Paris, France

Career: 1970-1989

Rafa is not the only one to have a love-in with Roland Garros. Evert, the 18-time grand slam champion, won a record seven of those titles at the French Open. She made the final in her first appearance at Roland Garros, then went on a 24-game winning streak to collect each of the next four French titles she competed for, dishing out 22 bagels along the way. The American is unquestionably the best female to have competed on clay.

Roger Federer x Halle, Germany

Career: 1998-2002 

It’s funny that Federer never played at Wimbledon’s main warm-up tournament at Queens. He was too busy at Halle. The Swiss legend’s first title there came 27 days before his first Wimbledon title, in 2003, so perhaps it became a good omen for him. In 2019, he won Halle for the tenth time, making him only the second man (after Nadal) to hit double digits at the same tournament. Federer (who sends a personalised letter every year to the tournament director of this grass-court ATP 500 event) signed a contract in 2010 that ensured he played here every year until his retirement. “In case you can't tell, playing here in Halle makes me pretty happy,” he said in 2017.

Alfie Hewett & Gordon Reid, New York, USA

Careers: 2015 - present & 2013 - present

The wheelchair duo have won 16 doubles titles together since 2016, and five of those have been the consecutive wins they took at the US Open from 2017 to 2021 (their US Open title in 2019 also started a run of ten straight grand-slam titles). In addition, Hewett has three US Open wheelchair singles titles to his name, and Reid has a sixth US Open doubles title there, which he won in 2015.

Image: Getty

Roberto Bautista Agut, Doha, Qatar

Career: 2009-present

The Spaniard has won in Dubai and twice in Doha since 2018. Five Doha appearances have returned two titles (2018 and 2022, when he hammered Andy Murray 6-0, 6-1 in the last 16), and a final defeat (in 2021). He’s won 17 of 20 games at the ATP 250 event here. "This is one of my favourite courts,” Bautista Agut said of Doha. “I love playing here. I play great tennis here.”

Serena Williams x Miami, USA

Career: 1995-2022

The 23-slam winner might have seven titles from Wimbledon and seven from Melbourne, but she still won more at Miami’s WTA 1000 event. Nine finals returned eight trophies, the first of which was won by defeating the top three players in the world. At this Key Biscayne tournament, she’s produced winning streaks of 21, 20 and 17. "I love playing here," said Williams, who lives a 90-minute drive away in Palm Beach Gardens. "I have so many friends that come down. Some can only come at the end, so I always joke that I've got to be playing at the end.”