ITST News

ITST 2020 Awards
Written by Pablo Hernandez
01 Jan'21 - 22:11

With the year 2020 coming to a close, we decided to award the players who have stood out such as Player of the year, Comeback player of the year amongst other awards.

ITST No.1 & Player of the year

Richie - The Frenchman finished World no.1 for a record breaking and also extending his own record to 4 year end as No.1 ranked player. He picked up 6 Masters titles this year at BNP Paribas Open, Monte Carlo, Madrid, Rome, Shangai and Paris Masters. In addition to the Master wins he won Wimbledon and the US Open only losing 2 sets in total in both slams. The year only got better as he also won the Olympics without dropping a single set on his way to victory completing his only missing piece adding to his bronze medal in 2016. He finished the year with a 90-10 record the best percentage in the tour. We would like to congratulate on another amazing year and be assured there is more to come from Richie.

Richie1308 - Twitch

Comeback player of the year

Vramvrim former world no.2 multiple Masters winning second most wins behind Richie as well as former World tour Finals (2016) winner and slam winner at the Australian Open 2017. Joining the tour only in wimbledon he made his mark by reaching the QF followed by some strong appearances which culminated in the in a masters win at the Western and Southern Open beating his great rival and good friend Richie in the final. He finished the year by qualifying to the world tour finals in which he bowed out at the RR stage however it showed that he still has plenty to offer and will only get better in 2021. 

Vramvrim - Twitch

Most improved player

The 20 year old Spaniard Tester finished the year as a Slam winner at Roland Garros beating Richie and Tal on the way to the title and with a win at the World tour finals defeating Richie, Vram, Henri and also Pablo in the process. Beggining of the year he made a deep run in the BNP Paribas Open losing to Richie however from there he had a difficult time winning vs the top players until the French Open which he went on a tear and ensured his name was heard. He followed this up by winning in Queens beating Richie 6-2 6-0 in the final as well as being a silver medalist at the Olympics only losing to Richie. He finishes the year as no.4

Tennis Elbow 2020 ITST Mod 1.20 Roland Garros 2020 Final Nalbandian Vs. Nadal - YouTube

Newcomer of the year

Rharm is the newcomer of the year from unranked to no.14 ranked to mark his strides. He has also beaten top 10 players in Said, Henrijames and talwoutte this year, reached the final in Basel and made deep runs in tournaments reaching several Semi-Finals and Quarter-Finals of tournament. He is a player to watch in 2021 with his attacking tennis, will be interesting to see what he can do. 

itstrharm - Twitch

Match of the year

The Wimbledon final was going to make history regardless of the winner as it would make it a record equaling two time Wimbledon winner, with Richie winning it in 2016 and Pablo in 2018. The final started off with Pablo winning it in a straightforward first set 6-1, however followed by a stronger showing in richie taking the second set 7-5. The third set started with a strong start by Pablo taking a 2-0 lead before Richie stormed to take the set 6-2. The fourth set seemed to be the end with Richie serving for it at 5-3 however he was broken by a resurgent Pablo who ended up taking the set 7-6 with an array of attacking tennis. The beggining of the Fifth set started with Richie and Pablo having break points with the latter being aced with a 170kph serve, soon after richie had a double break not before Pablo attempted a late comeback by breaking richie. Despite saving 2 match points on his serve he could not match Richie level and intensity and succumbed in the final set 6-3 in a highly contested match which was one of the rare grand slam finals to ever be played as a 5 setter. This cemented Richie legacy even further as the greatest. 

Tennis Elbow 2020 ITST Mod 1.20 Wimbledon 2020 Final Hewitt Vs. Hewitt - YouTube

Congratulations to all the winners and good luck to everyone in 2021. 

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