Champs & Controversies

The Asian swing is in full force, we now know when we will see Rafa Nadal on court again, and there are some interesting developments regarding Elena Rybakina & Jannik Sinner.

Anyways, we have plenty to discuss, so let’s get into it!

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Will Jannik Sinner actually be suspended?

The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) has appealed to the Court of Arbitration for Sport against the decision by an independent tribunal to clear Jannik Sinner of wrongdoing following his failed drug tests. 

In a statement, WADA said that the tribunal’s findings of “no fault or negligence” was not correct under the applicable rules. WADA is seeking a 1 to 2 year suspension for Sinner. 

This topic has been a divisive one in the tennis community over the past month or so when the news first came out. 

Just a quick recap of the situation for those who aren’t aware, Sinner tested positive twice for an anabolic steroid in March. He was not banned in a decision by an independent tribunal announced by the International Tennis Integrity Agency (ITIA) on August 20. Sinner’s explanation was that the banned substance entered his system unintentionally through a spray on his physiotherapist’s finger that transferred through a massage. 

An appeal verdict probably won’t be reached for another few months, which means he will finish the season as-planned and will likely be in Australia to defend his title. It is also important to note that WADA is not seeking disqualification of results, so a decision won’t affect Sinner’s ranking. 

It will be VERY interesting to see how this all plays out because a suspension would shake up the ENTIRE tour next year and beyond. This is definitely a story that we will be keeping close tabs on going forward. 

Who is Coco Gauff’s new coach?

Coco Gauff has added Matt Daly to her coaching team. Daly is a former collegiate tennis player, playing at Notre Dame, where he graduated from in 2001. Last season, Daly coached ATP player Denis Shapovolov. Gauff and Daly began working together a week before this week’s tournament in Beijing.

In an interview with WTA Insider, Coco said that she is “really excited” for this change, and that this partnership will last into the 2025 season. 

She also had some nice things to say about Brad Gilbert: “working with Brad was really great and obviously had a great partnership… it was just time to do a reset, a refresh.”  

Her top priority at the moment is her serve. In her 4th round loss at the US Open, she hit 19 double faults. This was an area that seemed to improve under Gilbert, but the yips have come back.

This new partnership is off to a good start so far with Gauff winning her opening match in Beijing, taking down Clara Burel 7-5 6-3. She only had 1 ace in that match, but also only 1 double fault. 

It will be interesting to see how much of a positive impact Daly will make on the Gauff serve, and possibly even the forehand. According to Gauff, it’s all good so far, which is an encouraging sentiment for Gauff fans.

Who will be competing at the Davis Cup Finals?

The lineups for the 8 teams competing at the Davis Cup Finals in Malaga this November were announced last week. 

Arguably the most exciting part of this announcement was that Rafael Nadal will be competing for Spain! He will be joined by Carlos Alcaraz, Roberto Bautista Agut, Pablo Carreño Busta, & Marcel Granollers. Will we see the return of Nadalcaraz??? I sure hope so.

Other top players competing in the Finals include Jannik Sinner, Lorenzo Musetti, Taylor Fritz, Francisco Cerundolo, Felix Auger-Aliassime, Alexi Popyrin, and more!

The final 8 teams will compete in the knockout stage. The quarterfinal matchups will be Italy vs Argentina, USA vs Australia, Germany vs Canada, & Netherlands vs Spain. Italy are the defending champions from 2023, and the US is seeking a record-extending 33rd Davis Cup title.

There should be a lot of good storylines to follow when action kicks off in a little over a month, and I cannot wait to see how it all plays out!

What is going on with Elena Rybakina?

Elena Rybakina has not been in great form or health at all post-Wimbledon. 

Since her semifinal run on the grass in July, the Kazakh has only played 2 completed Tour matches. She lost her opening match in Cincinnati to Leylah Fernandez, and then won her first round at the US Open before withdrawing from the tournament. 

Right before the US Open, Rybakina announced that she was parting ways with longtime coach Stefano Vukov. The relationship between the two was not always positive, and Vukov came under fire several times over how he talked to Rybakina during matches. Elena has publicly defended her coach in the past, but it seems now that their journey together has run its course.

The most recent development in this story came just a few days ago when journalist Sofya Tartakova provided more details on how Vukov’s behavior has allegedly impacted Rybakina. She said that “right now Elena is under a lot of stress, it is something psychosomatic… she is in a completely disorganized state, she cannot play.” Tartakova went on to say that “all these difficulties…come from the tremendous pressure associated with her former coach Vukov.”

If these statements are at all true, it is quite a disturbing and difficult situation. Rybakina has been through a lot in terms of physical injuries, so I cannot imagine having to also deal with these mental challenges. We can all only hope that Elena can find peace, and coach that gives her the full respect that she deserves. 

What’s The Dill???

Welcome to the What’s The Dill portion of this week’s newsletter, brought to you by Suckerpunch! Every week we will feature the best question(s) asked on our “What’s The Dill” post which can be found under the Community tab on the Courtside Tennis YouTube channel.

This week’s question comes from nickb853:

This fan wants to know what skills will determine the top ten in the next few years. What strengths equal success? A huge serve? Big ground strokes? Net game?

In order to answer this question, we have to look at the current top ten. Across both tours, big groundstrokes and big serves are plentiful. Fritz, Hurkacz, Sabalenka, & Rybakina can serve anyone off the court when they’re on. All four of these players, along with Rublev, Sinner, Swiatek, & Collins can blast winners and utilize serve plus one tennis as well as anyone.

I feel that a solid net game is what will be needed to become a mainstay in the top 10. Alcaraz, Dimitrov, Pegula, Gauff, & Krejcikova are all comfortable up there, and that has largely contributed to their success. However, other members of the top ten, especially the younger ones, sometimes look like a deer in headlights up there.

Court speeds are getting faster, while concurrently rising young players are not honing their net skills enough anymore. First strike tennis is what is needed in these faster courts, and fishing points at the net is a huge part of that. 

Players who are aggressive, but also comfortable on every part of the court should become the norm in the future among the top players in the world. 

Who won last week’s tournaments?

Some of these Asian swing tournaments haven’t been having the traditional Sunday finals this year, so last week’s finals in Chengdu & Hangzhou were actually contested on Tuesday.

In Chengdu, Jerry Shang thrilled the home crowd, taking the title with a 7-6(4) 6-1 win over top seed Lorenzo Musetti in the final. The win moved Shang up 15 spots to #52 in the rankings. Unfortunately, he couldn’t keep the momentum going in Beijing, losing in the first round to countryman Yunchaokete Bu in three sets 6-7(3) 6-2 6-4.

The Hangzhou title went to world no.777 Marin Cilic. Yes, you read that number correctly. Cilic became the lowest ranked title winner in ATP history after his 7-6(5) 7-6(5) victory over 6th seed Zhizhen Zhang. Cilic was a wildcard into this event and made good on the opportunity, picking up his first title in three years. The win launched him up to #373 in the world.

Cilic also lost in the opening round of his next tournament in Tokyo, in a throwback matchup with Kei Nishikori, falling 6-4 3-6 6-3. Regardless, It’s always nice to see Cilic healthy and playing well. Hopefully he can stay injury-free and continue to build his ranking in 2025.

Who’s playing this week?

Again, these Asian swing tournaments are operating on a bit of a different schedule, so tournaments from last week are still ongoing. 

On the ATP side of things, both Beijing & Tokyo are in the semifinal stages as of Monday. 

In Beijing, 3 of the top 4 seeds are still in action. In one semifinal, #2 seed Carlos Alcaraz will face #3 seed Daniil Medvedev; Alcaraz has won both meetings in 2024 so far. In the other semifinal, top seed Jannik Sinner will take on a surging Yunchaokete Bu who took down #4 seed Andrey Rublev in the quarterfinals. 

In Tokyo, the final matchup is set. Arthur Fils will take on Ugo Humbert for the 500-level title. Fils took down #6 seed Holger Rune in the semifinals 7-6(8) 7-6(10), while Humbert bested Tomas Mahac in three sets 6-3 3-6 6-2. The final will be tough for Fils, who hasn’t beaten Humbert in 4 career meetings.

9 of the world’s top 10 players will be in action at the ATP Masters 1000 event in Shanghai this week as well. There is certainly no shortage in tour action this time of year!

At the WTA 1000 event in Beijing, players are gearing up for the round of 16. There are some HUGE matchups coming up that include Aryna Sabalenka vs Madison Keys, Amanda Anisimova vs Qinwen Zheng, & Paula Badosa vs Jessica Pegula. However, the most anticipated match in my opinion is Naomi Osaka vs Coco Gauff. This will be their first matchup in over 2 years! It will be very interesting to see how both of their new coaches prepare them for this tough matchup.

Also, Simona Halep is returning to action this week at a 125 event in Hong Kong. This will be her first tournament since May, and only her 3rd of 2024. 

What are Wimbledon’s expansion plans?

The All England Lawn Tennis Club was given the green light for a large expansion project by the Greater London Authority last week. The expansion will include 39 new grass courts, including a new 8,000 seat show court. These courts will go on the adjacent land that currently includes a golf course and Wimbledon park.

The expansion will enable the tournament to bring the qualifying matches to the main site. Those matches are traditionally played at Roehampton, which is a few miles down the road from the AELTC. 

The All England Club says that moving the qualifying tournament onsite will be popular among players and fans with as many as 10,000 able to attend each day. Roehampton can only host 2,000 spectators max.

Seven of the new grass courts will be open for community use. So, if you’re in the area, you could soon play on the same standard of courts as the best of the best! Pretty cool stuff if you ask me. 😎

One last thing!

Once again, If you guys want your questions answered in next week’s newsletter check out the post in the Community tab of the Courtside Tennis YouTube channel. You can leave a comment on our most recent Youtube video. Make sure to put Courtside Digest before the comment so that way we can find it more easily. Thanks!