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Bercy’s Bogeyman: Tennis Insights

Bercy’s Bogeyman: Tennis Insights

October 29th - November 4th Tennis Recap

Courtside Tennis & Emmanuel Okosun
November 05, 2023

For The Love Of Tennis Insights
Bercy’s Bogeyman

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New Video‼

We decided to go down memory lane and count our blessings, one of which was getting to see Roger Federer in his PRIME. I thought that he was unbeatable at his peak but not everyone agrees. Here’s the video, drink it in.

What Happened Last Week?

Rolex Paris Masters (1000)

Novak Djokovic returned to competitive action last week for the first time since mid-September at Paris Bercy and although it was far from a walk in the park, we kinda saw it coming - a record-extending seventh title at the indoor event and 40 masters 1000 titles and 70 big title wins. This man is truly a master of all.

On his way to the title, Djokovic had to beat a resurgent Tomás Martín Etcheverry, before surviving three-setters against all of Tallon Griekspoor, Holger Rune, and Andrey Rublev. He then beat Grigor Dimitrov in straight sets to deny the Bulgarian his 2nd Masters 1000 title. Meanwhile, Carlos Alcaraz will need to win all of his matches in Turin and hope that Djokovic loses all his matches if he’s to end the year as number 1. That doesn't look likely, so it’s a safe bet to say that Djokovic has another Year-end No. 1 in the bag.

WTA Finals

Amid all the controversies surrounding the event in Cancun, Jessica Pegula showed us one of the best versions of herself to progress through a group that also had Aryna Sabalenka and Elena Rybakina before beating Coco Gauff convincingly to reach the final where she’ll either face Iga Swiatek or Aryna Sabalenka after they play their rescheduled match on Monday.

The weather conditions were horrible and the match had to be suspended because Iga almost got blown away by the wind. Doubt me? See for yourself here. Meanwhile, I kinda fancy Pegula winning the title but what do you think?

Ranking Update: The Biggest Movers Of The Week

Casper Ruud is set to drop out of the top 10 after a run of poor results while Hubert Hurkacz will be back to his career high world no. 9 when the ranking gets updated. Holger Rune drops to the 8th spot after failing to defend his Paris Masters 1000 crown. After reaching the final in Paris, Grigor Dimitrov is set to move 3 spots up to number 14.

Meanwhile, the race to the final in Turin is all over. Hurkacz narrowly missed out on the 8th spot and will now serve as the first alternate while Holger Rune, Alexander Zverev and Stefanos Tsitsipas all held on to join the rest of the top 5.

But what tournaments do we have coming up?

Major Tournament Updates

ATP 250 Tournaments (5 November - 11 November)

We have two ATP 250 events taking place in Metz, France and Sofia, Bulgaria this week and although we won’t see any of the Top 10 players, Alex de Minaur leads the field at the Moselle Open in Metz, with Karen Khachanov, Ugo Humbert, and Stan Wawrinka also featuring in the draw. At the Sofia Open, we have Lorenzo Musetti, Adrian Mannarino and Jan-Lennard Struff leading the way.

Nitto ATP finals (12 November - 19 November)

We are one week away from the season finale. Four former champions will be competing in Turin. Six-time champion Djokovic can break his tie with Roger Federer for the most titles at the event and with only one win, he’ll reach a staggering 400 weeks as world number 1.

The Finals will award a record $15 million in prize money and the champion gets to take home more than $4.8 million if he doesn’t lose a match. That would be the largest prize money for an individual player in the history of the sport. Crazy. The draw is set to take place on Thursday 9 November at 3pm CET, so keep it locked in here.

Watch Out For This Guy

Stefanos Tsitsipas: The Greek played on an extremely high level in Paris, taking out Felix Auger-Aliassime, Alexander Zverev, and Karen Khachanov in straight sets. Tsitsipas also reached a landmark 300 ATP tour level wins. I’d love to consider him a dark horse for the title in Turin, after all he’s won it before?

Off The Court

Navratilova wants WTA President Fired

The tennis legend would rather have a female presiding over affairs. Hmmm. You can find more details on this Reddit thread.

Djokovic Presents Women's Ballon d’Or

Novak Djokovic made the most out of his stay in Paris after he got the chance to present the Women's Ballon d'Or award to Spaniard Aitana Bonmati while also enjoying the evening with soccer (football) legend David Beckham.

Trivia Of The Week

Did you know that tennis balls weren’t always fluorescent yellow? Up until 1972, the balls were either white or black but they could hardly be seen on a television screen, so it just made sense to switch colors.

But before we go, we’ll leave you with some of the best highlights of the week.