ATP Tour

Alcaraz & Djokovic feature as ATP Tour star’s declare their rivals… naughty, or nice?

The donuts on the table may have been light and fluffy, but could the same be said about some of the characters on the ATP Tour?

A host of top stars gave a little insight into several of their Lexus ATP Head2Head rivals by taking on our ‘Naughty or Nice’ cake game. Eight players, including Top 10 stars Felix Auger-Aliassime, Taylor Fritz and Ben Shelton, placed photos on ‘naughty’ donuts or ‘nice’ donuts to reflect their own judgements on rivals including ATP No. 1 Club members Carlos Alcaraz, Jannik Sinner and Novak Djokovic.

So did our participants turn harshly on their on-court foes, or does the ATP Tour locker room remain a place of camaraderie and harmony? Watch the video below to find out, but let’s just say that several judges seemed to have their own unique definitions of both ‘naughty’ and ‘nice’.

Watch Tennis Players Place Each Other On The 'Naughty Or Nice' Cake:

Take the split opinions on Alcaraz, for example. Gabriel Diallo’s decision was swayed by the Spanish star’s tattoos, while Auger-Aliassime declared Alcaraz ‘nice’ due to him having an almost constant smile on his face. When it came to judging Djokovic, Alejandro Davidovich Fokina played it safe: “I don’t want any trouble with him”, laughed the Spaniard, perhaps in fear of some future on-court retribution from the 101-time tour-level champion.

Meanwhile the photo of Alexander Bublik, one of the Tour’s maverick players and biggest characters, repeatedly appeared on the ‘naughty’ donut. Some of the justifications for that, such as the one given by Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard, may not surprise you…

“He did 20 underarm serves against me in two matches,” said the Frenchman of Bublik. “He’s going to be in the naughty side.”