Courtside Digest: Kicking Off The Asian Swing!

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Week of September 16

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There were no ATP tournaments this past week, but there was still Davis Cup action going on. On the WTA side, post-US Open action kicked off in Mexico and Tunisia. This week, the women are in Seoul & Thailand, while 250 action in Chengdu & Hangzhou awaits the men. Laver Cup kicks off at the end of the week.

Also, Naomi Osaka shared some HUGE news this weekend. Needless to say, we again have A LOT to talk about, so let’s get into it!

-This Week’s Topics-

Naomi Osaka just split with her long-time coach Wim Fissette. It looks like she is now working with Patrick Mouratoglou. Thoughts?

This announcement definitely took me by surprise. 

Naomi Osaka and Fissette have had plenty of success together, winning 2 slams over a four-year partnership. Also, Fissette left Qinwen Zheng when Naomi came back on tour earlier this year, so this split has to hurt for him especially. The circumstances around the split are still relatively unknown, but I have a feeling that it was mainly Osaka’s choice.

Naomi’s comeback season hasn’t really gone to plan. Prior to the start of this season, she announced that she was going to be playing a lot more tournaments than she normally did pre-maternity leave. This was an exciting announcement for Naomi fans because it meant that she was really wanting to compete for slams again. 

Unfortunately, the results just did not materialize on a consistent basis for the former World No.1. In 17 events played this year, she has only made it to the quarterfinals twice, and lost in her opening match 5 times. She has shown glimpses of her peak form, especially in her Roland Garros defeat to Swiatek. 

When Osaka and Fissette first began working together, Osaka was inside the top ten and in good form. However, she only played 4 events in their first year together in 2020 due to the pandemic. She did win the US Open that year though. She won the Australian in 2021, but that is also when her mental health challenges began. Despite their success together, Naomi and Wim never really had a full season on tour together.

A coaching change could bring some better mojo to the Osaka camp, but I am not quite sure if Patrick is the best choice for that. He has received plenty of backlash for how he handled Simona Halep’s doping suspension, and has had mixed results overall since he and Serena split.

This partnership has the potential to be successful because Naomi has a very similar game style to Serena Williams. Also, Patrick started working with Serena when she was struggling a bit, so maybe this could be just what Naomi needs. But it is almost equally as likely to not work out at all.

A Note on Suckerpunch

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Spicy Pepper hydration shooter:

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Classic Dill hydration shooter:

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Give them a try next time you’re on court and let me know what you think! (or end up like Jack Draper ;) 

Who is going to the Davis Cup Finals?

The Davis Cup Finals Group Stage got underway on September 10.

16 teams competed in 4 groups. The top two teams in each group advance to the Davis Cup Final 8 in Malaga in November. 

The 8 teams that advanced out of group play were Germany, Spain, Australia, Italy, Argentina, Canada, the Netherlands and the United States. 

The United States was especially impressive, going 3-0 against Germany, Chile, & Slovakia. Brandon Nakashima went undefeated individually with straight set wins over Marterer (Germany) & Kovalik (Slovakia). He needed three sets to get past Tabilo. (Chile), but it was overall a seriously impressive week from the young American. Reilly Opelka also won both of his singles matches, which is nice to see from the American after a long injury layoff. 

Italy will be returning to the Finals in Malaga with the goal of defending its title from 2023. Jannik Sinner was not on the squad this week, but Matteo Berrettini was so impressive with a 3-0 singles record. Matteo Arnaldi & Flavio Cobolli also contributed to Italy’s success this week.

Carlos Alcaraz got back to winning ways with wins over Ugo Humbert & Tomas Machac to help lead Spain back to the Finals.

This is a really exciting field for the Finals, and I can’t wait to see who gets the nod to compete this November for the biggest team title in our sport.

Who won last week’s WTA tournaments?

There are two new first-time title winners on the WTA Tour this week!

Qualifier Sonay Kartal won the 250 title in Monastir, and Magdalena Frech took home a 500 title in Guadalajara. 

Kartal only dropped one set in 7 matches through qualifying and the main draw. She had never made it to the quarterfinals of a Tour-level tournament prior to this week, which makes this result that much more impressive. She defeated Slovakia’s Rebecca Sramkova in the final 6-3 7-5. Kartal also made her top 100 debut in the PIF WTA rankings thanks to this title, rising 55 places to #96.

Magdalena was the #5 seed in Guadalajara, but was not one of the favorites at the start of the tournament with three top 20 players in the draw (Ostapenko, Collins & Azarenka). Frech also only dropped a single set in her 5 matches this week. She got the best of Australia’s Olivia Gadecki 7-6 (5) 6-4, who came all the way through qualifying to get to the final by the way. Frech also rose to a new career high ranking, up 11 places to #32. 

And in case you missed it, we dropped a video a few weeks ago on the reasons behind unpredictability in women’s tennis. Definitely give it a watch if you haven’t seen it already. (Linked in the thumbnail below!)

Who’s playing this week?

The ATP Tour heads to Chengdu & Hangzhou China this week for a pair of 250 events to kick off the Asian swing. 

Lorenzo Musetti & Gael Monfils highlight the field in Chengdu, while Marin Cilic returns to ATP action in Hangzhou. Yibing Wu and Zhizhen Zhang will also be home country hopefuls, with Hangzhou being Wu’s hometown tournament as well.

On the WTA Tour, top players will be in action in Korea and Thailand.

World No.34 Dayana Yastremska & World No.37 Katerina Siniakova are the top two seeds at the 250 event in Hua Hin, Thailand. Americans Katie Volynets & Alycia Parks will also be in action there this week.

The 500 event in Seoul was originally going to include the likes of World No.1 Iga Swiatek & defending champion Jessica Pegula, but they have pulled out of the event. The tournament still has a strong field though with World No.13 Daria Kasatkina as the top seed. Beatriz Haddad Maia, Diana Shnaider, Marta Kostyuk, Sloane Stephens, Amanda Anisimova, & Emma Raducanu are also a part of the strong field at this year’s event.

There are 4 American women who could qualify for the WTA Finals. How many of them actually will?

Jessica Pegula, Coco Gauff, Emma Navarro, and Danielle Collins are currently in the #5, #6, #7, & #8 spots, respectively, in the live WTA Finals Race rankings. Collins had a chance to gain some much needed points in Guadalajara, but lost in her opening match to Olivia Gadecki. 

Less than 1300 ranking points separate #5 Pegula from #8 Collins, and there are still 2 100 events and 2 500s that could provide some much needed separation down the stretch.

I feel pretty confident about Pegula’s chances, she may not even need to win another title before the Finals. 

Gauff needs to string some wins together, even just to regain some confidence in her game. She will probably make the cut, but she can’t afford too many more slip ups. 

Swiatek, Sabalenka, and Krejcikova have already qualified. Rybakina and Paolini aren’t qualified yet, but at #3  in the Race, it’s just a matter of when, not if. Also, for those wondering, Krejcikova is #10 in the Race, but qualifies as the Wimbledon champ as long as she finishes in the top 20 of the Race.

With all that being said, the final spot will likely come down to either Collins or Navarro, not both. Navarro is in much better form right now, but Collins will fight as hard as she can to make the cut in her final season. It is going to be close, and it should be an exciting storyline to follow over the next month and a half.

What should we make of Djokovic’s recent comments on the ATP Finals?

Novak Djokovic was asked about his thoughts on the ATP Finals during a press conference at the Serbia v Greece World Group 1 Davis Cup tie. He said that the ATP Finals are “not my goal at all”. “I am ‘done’ with those tournaments. Whether I’ll play it this year or next, I don’t know. From now on, [my] priorities are going to be Grand Slams and playing for Serbia.”

These comments pick up a little bit on the question we had last week about Novak’s chances to win another major. We now know for sure that the motivation is still there, and that winning the elusive 25th major is still a primary goal for him. 

Saving his body for the majors is definitely a smart move, and it will be really interesting to see what his actual tournament schedule ends up looking like for 2025.

Will Team World 3-peat as Laver Cup champs, or will Team Europe reclaim the title?

Team World, led by John McEnroe, will take on Bjorn Borg and Team Europe in Berlin this weekend. This will be the 5th edition of the event, and Team World has won back-to-back titles the past two years in London (2022) and Vancouver (2023). 

This year, Team World will feature Americans Taylor Fritz, Frances Tiafoe, & Ben Shelton. They will be joined by Francisco Cerundolo (Argentina), Alejandro Tabilo (Chile), and Thanasi Kokkinakis (Australia). 

Team Europe’s squad will consist of 4-time major champ Carlos Alcaraz, & 4 more top ten players in No.2 Zverev, No.5 Medvedev, No. 9 Rudd, and No. 10 Dimitrov. Oh, and they have Stefanos Tsitsipas on the roster too.

It’s no secret that Team Europe has the stronger squad this time around. However, Taylor Fritz should be full of confidence after making it to his first Grand Slam final at his home slam. Frances & Ben love these types of competitions and atmospheres, so expect them to up their play and rise to the occasion. The other three need to step up their games as well, and the play of Cerundolo, Tabilo & Kokkinakis could determine how good of a chance Team World actually has to defend the title.

Expect a lot of heart and fight from Team World, but don’t be surprised if Borg’s stacked lineup gets the job done and brings the title back over to European soil. 

One last thing!

Once again, If you guys want your questions answered in next week’s newsletter email us, drop them in the discord, or leave a YouTube comment. Make sure to put Courtside Digest before the comment so that way we can find it more easily. Thanks!