Comebacks That Shaped 2025 ATP Seasons
From sun-soaked hard courts to echoing arenas, five players in 2025 turned match points into milestones, revealing the grit that redefined their years on the ATP Tour.
The 2025 ATP Tour wrapped with a pulse of raw determination, where every deficit tested the edge of collapse and comeback. Packed schedules amplified the stakes, turning routine matches into psychological sieges that could salvage or sink a season. As ATPTour.com launches our annual ‘Best Of’ series, these five non-Grand Slam escapes—from Delray Beach’s humidity to Paris’s intensity—stand as blueprints of resilience, each one flipping momentum with tactical fire and unyielding belief.
Every reversal here hinged on split-second adjustments, where players read the court like a map of escape routes. Hard courts rewarded speed and precision, clay demanded endless retrievals, and indoors amplified raw power. These moments, away from Slam glare, still shifted rankings and mindsets, proving that true breakthroughs often hide in the unlikeliest finals and quarterfinals.
“Daniil is kind of my kryptonite, I don’t like playing him,” Zverev said. “He’s somebody who has had my number for the last couple of years. The thing I’m most pleased with is the match points saved, the way I continued being brave and in the important moments, winning the match myself.”
Scrappy saves end title waits
Miomir Kecmanovic stepped into the Delray Beach Open final carrying five years without a trophy, his baseline game honed but hungry for proof. Against Alejandro Davidovich Fokina, the Serbian dug into a 2-5, 15/40 hole in the third set, mirroring his opponent’s tenacious defense with deep crosscourt returns that stretched rallies into errors. He clawed back two championship points—the second on a volley that grazed the net cord and trickled over—then surged with five straight games, breaking at love via a slice backhand into a heavy topspin forehand down-the-line for his second ATP title since 2020.
The Florida heat clung to every point, but Kecmanovic’s shift to aggressive net play neutralized Davidovich Fokina’s inside-in threats. Hours later, pairing with Brandon Nakashima, he claimed the doubles as well, transforming a solo drought into a day of doubles triumph. This hard-court breakout eased months of frustration, positioning him for a stronger push through the North American swing.
Rivalry nerves fuel indoor edges
Alexander Zverev confronted Daniil Medvedev in the Paris Masters quarterfinals like a shadow he couldn’t shake, their head-to-head at 8-14 after five losses. Trailing 4-5 on serve in the decider, the German reset with booming first serves averaging 130 mph, holding off the first match point with an unreturned ace and seizing the second via a crosscourt backhand winner that pinned the Russian deep. He edged the tiebreak 7-5 for a 2-6, 6-3, 7-6(5) win, his first over Medvedev since Cincinnati 2023, under the arena’s hum where every echo amplified the tension.
The indoor hard amplified Zverev’s 1–2 patterns, slicing through Medvedev’s return symmetry and restoring confidence amid a fall schedule thick with fatigue. As the No. 3 in the PIF ATP Rankings, this redemptive hold trimmed the rivalry gap and steadied his year-end charge. Zverev’s forward momentum here hinted at deeper layers, ready to unsettle old foes in 2026 battles.
Clay gauntlets build unbreakable wills
Jenson Brooksby entered the Fayez Sarofim & Co. U.S. Men’s Clay Court Championship in Houston as a fighter scarred by setbacks, his path to the title a series of near-misses on the red dirt. He saved one match point in qualifying, two against third seed Alejandro Tabilo in the second round with looping topspin that turned defense into counters, and another versus top seed Tommy Paul in the semis by extending points until errors cracked. The final against Frances Tiafoe flowed 6-4, 6-2, his patient returns absorbing flat forehands and opening angles for inside-out backhands.
“I’m just someone who hates to lose and loves to win in general — obviously tennis being most important, but even in other games, and I think that’s just how I’m wired as a person,” Brooksby told ATPTour.com. “I just really love winning, so that transfers over into when I’m in tough positions and maybe you should lose in those situations, I’m able to at least find a way out of it sometimes.”
At 24, this maiden ATP crown addressed his clay vulnerabilities, vaulting him toward the top 50 and proving endurance could rewrite a stop-start career. The Houston sun baked in lessons of persistence, setting Brooksby up for broader surface threats ahead.
Joao Fonseca brought teenage blaze to the IEB+ Argentina Open quarterfinal against home crowd favorite Mariano Navone, the Buenos Aires air electric with partisan cheers. Down a set and twice broken in the second, the Brazilian rallied with patient baseline exchanges, forcing a third where at 3-5, 15/40 he saved two match points—the second drilled via a backhand winner that silenced the roars. He claimed four straight games for a 3-6, 6-4, 7-5 edge, his topspin absorbing pace and countering with crosscourt opens.
“Those are the victories that we work for,” Fonseca said after his quarter-final win. “I was not playing my best and I fought until the end. Since the beginning I was believing I could win, even if I wasn’t playing my best, but I fought and now I’m in the semi-finals.”
Two days later, he toppled Francisco Cerundolo for the title, the youngest South American champion since 1990 at 18, his serve-volley mixes exploiting return depth on the clay. This South American swing escape blended hype with maturity, launching Fonseca into the top 100 and signaling a prodigy poised for global stages.
Alex de Minaur hunted his 10th ATP title at the Mubadala Citi DC Open final, the Washington humidity mirroring a season of steady climbs laced with injury shadows. He broke back from Davidovich Fokina’s 5-3, 30/0 serve in the third, then in a 10-minute return game thick with deuces saved three championship points—one on a lob that clipped the line by 16 millimeters. The 7-3 tiebreak sealed a 5-7, 6-1, 7-6(3) denial of his opponent’s third final loss that year, flat groundstrokes piercing spin defenses with down-the-line fire.
“I just backed myself and I told myself to commit no matter what and if I lost this match it was going to be on my terms,” De Minaur said. “Today it went my way. I’ve had a couple of brutal ones not go my way, so I’m glad this one went my way.“
This hard-court stand locked his top-10 perch, the speed suiting his counterpunching to disrupt patterns and buffer mid-year dips. De Minaur’s defiance capped a summer of expectations, forging mental steel that promises sharper edges in the seasons to come. Across these escapes, 2025’s ATP narrative bent toward those who thrive on the brink, their stories fueling the Tour’s endless chase.
