ITF World Tennis Tour Player of the Month: Daniel Masur
Daniel Masur has been named ITF World Tennis Tour Player of the Month for January after kicking off 2024 with three titles and going undefeated in singles action.
The 29-year-old German won back-to-back tournaments on home soil at M15 Cadolzburg and M25 Nussloch, and also clinched the doubles title at the latter event to complete a supreme month.
“It's been a great start,” said Masur from Munich, where he bases himself under coach Lars Uebel. “10-0 is something you don’t do every day. The most important thing is to stay healthy and try to move on like that. I will not win every tournament for sure, but it’s definitely a very, very positive start for me to the year.”
Masur’s form was particularly noteworthy given that he was laid low by Covid for the first couple of weeks of the year, which may, he says, have been something of a blessing in disguise.
“Maybe it helped me,” he reflected. “I was a little bit more relaxed than usual. I was a bit more patient because my expectations were not too high. I knew I was sick a couple of days [before] so I was giving myself room for some mistakes and errors. I had a good balance between calmness and readiness on the court. I think it’s always a good thing when you have the right mixture of these things.”
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Masur overcame Ireland’s Michael Agwi 6-3 3-6 6-4 in the final at M15 Cadolzburg before following with a 6-1 6-3 win over compatriot Tom Gentzsch in the M25 Nussloch final.
He also won five matches in doubles alongside Kei Wehnelt, reaching a semi-final in Cadolzburg and clinching the title in Nussolch.
He was the only player to win three titles during the month on the ITF World Tennis Tour, and one of two – alongside Britain’s Kyle Edmund – to win two singles titles.
As a result, he climbed 32 spots in the rankings back into the ATP’s Top 400 at No. 393 this week.
"Everyone who plays professional tennis knows that the level of professional tennis is getting higher year by year"
That, though, remains some way short of the career-high of 176 he achieved in March 2022. Masur missed a couple of months at the end of that year due to injury, and admits re-scaling the ladder has been slow-going.
“Results-wise and match-wise, [2023] was actually a decent year but it wasn’t rewarded through points,” he reflected. “It may sound a bit funny but I didn’t win the right matches. Sometimes it helps more to win two or three matches in one tournament and get 10 times the points instead of winning the same amount of matches but split in two or three events.
“That was the reason I couldn’t improve my ranking so much. Obviously it’s also very hard to climb up the rankings so I stayed in the Top 200, top 300. The competition is growing year by year.”
Masur, who is aiming for a return to the mix for Grand Slam qualifying later this year, has already had a good taste of the four biggest events in the sport.
He has competed in a Grand Slam qualifying draw on 13 occasions, successfully going on to make the main draw at 2021 Wimbledon, where he fell to Soonwoo Kwon in four sets in the first round.
Prior to that he was a talented junior, reaching as high as No. 13 in the boys’ rankings back in 2012 and going on to make the US Open boys’ doubles semi-finals alongside Maximillian Marterer – running into Australians Nick Kyrgios and Jordan Thompson.
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Of course, every player has their own journey in the sport – and Masur sees no reason why his route to the upper echelons of the game can’t come a little later than the likes of Kyrgios and Thompson.
“Everyone has their own way coming up, their own path,” he said. “In my particular situation there was a reason why I wanted to play ITF tournaments again, especially in the beginning of the year.
“On every professional level it’s great for your enjoyment if you do well and you win a lot of matches. Everyone who plays professional tennis knows – and would agree with me – that the level of professional tennis is getting higher year by year.
“I would never take anything for granted and I would also enjoy winning any tournament. If you’re awarded [ITF World Tennis Tour] Player of the Month it means you did something well, so you should definitely be grateful for that. For sure I’m happy about it.”
Masur's magic month
- Compiled a 10-0 win-loss record in singles
- Went 20-4 in sets in singles
- Climbed 32 spots to break back into the top 400
- Went 5-1 in doubles
- Won 13th and 14th pro singles crowns, and 22nd career doubles title