Big Ben Brings the Bacon Home

October 15th - 21st Tennis Recap

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Courtside Tennis
October 22, 2023


For The Love Of Tennis Insights
Big Ben Brings Home The Bacon

Here’s the best way to start your week

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Catch up on our LATEST video on Carlos Alcaraz and find out what’s going with him at the moment because something isn’t right.

What Happened Last Week?

  • Ben Shelton became an ATP title winner for the first time in his career after beating Aslan Karatsev in the final of the Japan Open to win the 500 event. What a season! Remember Shelton started the year as World no. 96 and he’s now inside the Top 15, which makes him one of the standout performers of the year.

  • Alexander Bublik defeated Arthur Fils to clinch the 250 title in Antwerp for the 3rd ATP singles title of his career.

  • Carlos Alcaraz got injured and pulled out of the Swiss Indoors in Basel citing fatigue and foot injuries as the problem. This essentially leaves his hopes for the year-end world no. 1 in tatters

Ranking Update: The Biggest Movers Of The Week

There are no changes in the top 10 but someone within the top 20, jumps 5 spots up to number 14 and it’s none other than Ben Shelton. On the women’s side, Caroline Garcia is set to drop out of the top 10 as she wouldn’t be able to defend her WTA finals title from last year.

With just 3 weeks to go, the ATP race to Turin is getting heated by the day. Andrey Rublev could confirm his qualification this week while the likes of Hubert Hurkacz, Ben Shelton, Tommy Paul, Casper Ruud, and Alex De Minaur would need title-winning performances to sneak into the top 8.

Major Tournament Updates

This week will see two ATP 500s provide fresh opportunities for players to end their season on a high note.

Erste Bank Open (Vienna 500)

Daniil Medvedev is the defending champion at the event and he’ll be joined by Jannik Sinner, Andrey Rublev, Stefanos Tsitsipas, and Alexander Zverev at the event, which is scheduled to take place from October 23rd to 29th, while the likes of Matteo Berrettini, Pablo Carreno Busta, and Borna Coric have all pulled out due to injuries. Tsitsipas faces Dominic Thiem in a mouthwatering clash in the first round.

Swiss Indoors Basel 500

Holger Rune is the top seed in Basel but he has only won one match since Wimbledon and is clinging to the final spot in the ATP finals with just a little over 100 points. With Boris Becker as his new coach, he’ll be looking to overturn his terrible run of results and qualify for the ATP finals.

Other top players in Basel include Taylor Fritz, Casper Ruud, Hubert Hurkacz, and Alex De Minaur who are all part of the chasing pack. And then, we have home favorite Stan Wawrinka who is set for a 16th appearance.

Watch Out For These Guys

  • Arthur Fils: After he defeated Stefanos Tsitsipas to reach his second ATP final in Antwerp, we knew we were on to something special from the Frenchman who also has 2 top 10 wins.

  • Shintaro Mochizuki: The world no. 215 dumped the top seed Taylor Fritz and made it to the semis of the Japan Open. Looks to be the start of something new for the Japanese.

Off The Court

  • Saudi Exhibition: Saudi Arabia continues to announce its presence in the world of tennis as the ATP next gen finals is taking place there but the biggest news at the moment is that Carlos Alcaraz and Novak Djokovic will have a face off in an exhibition match in December. Obviously, there’s a lot of money in it for both players but do you care about exhibition matches anyway?

  • Naomi Osaka: Meanwhile, 4-time major winner Naomi Osaka has reportedly split with her boyfriend Cordae, months after welcoming their baby. After a series of cryptic messages, Naomi has removed all their pictures together from Instagram. What do you think about the situation?

  • Rafael Nadal back at it: Nadal’s recent comments about Djokovic reveal that he didn’t expect his biggest rival to win 3 majors this year. Here’s what he said “In the end, we all know that Djokovic is what he is and that he has achieved something historic, something that had never been achieved before and we can only congratulate him. The truth is that I imagined Djokovic winning Grand Slam this season, but I did not imagine him winning three because I think there is another young generation that is very powerful. Alcaraz had a great opportunity at Roland Garros to prevent Djokovic from winning, but what happened physically happened to him, although after he made up for it and achieved something historic at Wimbledon. What do you make of those comments?

Trivia Of The Week

Maria Sharapova’s loudest on-court grunt has been officially recorded at a volume as high as 101 decibels, which is louder than a motorcycle, a lawnmower and a small aircraft landing. Who else hates unnecessary grunts from players?

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

Highlights Of The Week

Machac Madness

Monfils Madness

Hugo Gaston Unreal

Until next time, keep smashing those goals.

For The Love Of Tennis