BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — The crowd was tiny, but the emotions were quite the contrary. As Korey Lovett finished off his comeback victory in the first round of the Player’s Choice Open here this month, one of his coaches at the University of Alabama, Ryler DeHeart, rushed to congratulate Lovett’s father.
“First point!” DeHeart said.
The eight singles players in London for the ATP World Tour Finals, which begin Sunday, have thousands of rankings points: more than 15,000 in the particularly acquisitive case of No. 1 Novak Djokovic.
But down on the desert floor of men’s professional tennis, players worldwide are scrapping for just 1 point.