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The Best From The Asian Swing!

The Best From The Asian Swing!

September 24th-30th Recap

Courtside Tennis & Emmanuel Okosun
October 01, 2023

For The Love Of Tennis Insights

I’ve got BIG news for you!

New Videos

We just dropped a new video on Coco Gauff’s incredible rise to the top. Check it out!

Ranking Update: The Biggest Movers Of The Week

Stefanos Tsitsipas and Holger Rune exchange spots with Stef moving up to 4th despite both players seeing early exits at the Beijing Open. Other than that, still no changes in the ATP top 20.

Interestingly, Dominic Thiem is set to move 9 places up to 72 after a quarterfinal run in Astana.. On the women’s side, there are no changes in the top 10 but after her title win in Tokyo over Jessica Pegula, Veronika Kudermetova is set to move 3 spots up to 16.

Meanwhile, Taylor Fritz and Casper Ruud who both had impressive runs in the ATP finals last year are at risk of missing out entirely as they sit on 9th and 10th spots in the ATP race to Turin.

Major Tournament Updates

The three biggest tournaments this week are in Shanghai, Beijing, and Astana.

Shanghai Masters 1000

The event will take place from October 4th to 15th. The singles draw will be done tomorrow. With many top players making their debuts, we are in for an exciting draw.

China Open 500

Carlos Alcaraz, Casper Ruud, Alexander Zverev, Daniil Medvedev, and Jannik Sinner have all made it to the quarterfinals. This has to be one of the most star-studded quarterfinals for a 500 event. Who takes the title?

Astana

Seb Korda is the favorite for the title. If he makes it to the final, he’ll find a strong contender in either Seb Ofner or Adrian Mannarino.

With Novak Djokovic not defending his title and 250 points in Astana, Carlos Alcaraz has begun his quest to close the 3,000+ gap for the number 1 spot. Title wins in Beijing and Shanghai could reduce the deficit by half! Meanwhile, Carlos is on 60 wins for the year.

Watch Out For These Guys

Ugo Humbert: Nice to see Humbert play so well again. The talent has always been there but not the results. But after he overpowered Rublev in their round-of-16 clash in Beijing, we’ll be eager to see what he does against Medvedev in the quarterfinal.

Sebastian Ofner: The Austrian is into the semifinal at Astana. After upsetting Alexander Bublik and Dominic Thiem, Ofner is now set to break into the top 50 for the first time. Are we on to something?

Alexander Zverev: He continues to showcase his mental strength, rallying from a set down in his last two matches and as he continues to secure his spot in the ATP finals, we think he’ll finish the year on a very high note.

Off The Court

Naomi Osaka and Emma Raducanu are set to return to the tour in 2024.🥳

The word on the street is that Carlos Alcaraz is preparing to set up a new tennis academy in his name, following in the footsteps of Rafael Nadal. Some fans say it’s too early for him to do so but what do you think?

Trivia Of The Week

Who is the tennis player with the most titles? It’s not Jimmy Connors or Roger Federer but someone else. Martina Navratilova won 354 titles in a career that lasted 3 decades. She holds the record for the most singles titles with 167 and the record for the most doubles titles with 177. She also won 10 mixed doubles titles.

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