Courtside Digest: Team Europe's Ascent!

Welcome to the Courtside Digest!

Powered by SuckerPunch 🥒

Welcome back to the Courtside Digest, powered by SuckerPunch!

The Asian swing kicked off last week with players on both tours battling for a strong finish to the 2024 season. Also, the squads for the Billie Jean King Cup Finals were announced, AND Coco Gauff shared some MAJOR news.

You already know the deal, so let’s get into it!

-This Week’s Topics-

Will Coco Gauff’s split with coach Brad Gilbert help her get back to winning ways?

This year’s Coco Gauff is not the same Coco Gauff that we saw break through to win her first 500, 1000, and Grand Slam titles last summer. 

Brad Gilbert was a huge part of Coco’s success last summer, as he was hired right before the D.C. Open. However, we had begun to see some friction in the partnership this year. There were several instances of Coco getting frustrated with Gilbert, and having some heated comments towards him in the coaching box.

Gauff also just did not look like herself at times on court, especially this summer. She got the yips on serve, and her forehand broke down in pressure moments. Those two areas were ones that seemed to improve significantly when Brad first joined the team. 

But what has changed since then? Honestly, I really don’t know, but it's possible that the pressure of defending all of those points got to Gauff, mentally. And Brad may not have been the best person to help ease those nerves. 

Gauff will be in high demand among many coaches. She needs someone who can first and foremost keep her calm and locked in mentally for an entire match. Once that is established, the confidence in the serve and forehand will hopefully return as a result.

 It will be interesting to see who’s up to the task of getting Coco out of this slump.

Who will be competing at the Billie Jean King Cup Finals?

The official lineups for the 12 teams headed to the Billie Jean King Cup Finals were revealed last week. 

The 12 teams competing in the Finals are Canada, Germany, Great Britain, Australia, Slovakia, Spain, Poland, Czechia, Japan, Romania, Italy, and the United States.

There will be plenty of star power as some of the players competing include Paula Badosa (Spain), Jasmine Paolini (Italy), Leylah Fernandez (Canada), Emma Raducanu (Great Britain), Naomi Osaka (Japan), Jessica Pegula & Danielle Collins (USA).

Canada returns as the defending champions from 2023. The United States, which is the most decorated nation in BJK Cup history with 18 titles, is seeking its first title since 2017. 

Canada opens its title defense in the quarterfinals against either Germany or Great Britain after receiving a BYE in the first round. 

Team USA will be heavy favorites in the first two rounds against Slovakia & Australia. 

The US and Canada could meet in the semifinals, which would be a really exciting matchup. 

The other two first round matchups will be Spain vs Poland (winner to play Czechia), and Japan vs Romania (winner to play Italy).

We’ll have to wait until November to see how it all plays out, but it should be an exciting week of tennis!

A quick note on SuckerPunch

For those who’ve been following our recent newsletters, you’re likely familiar with SuckerPunch by now. For newcomers, we’ve partnered with this tennis-loving hydration brand to bring you more of the content you enjoy.

I’ve been using their hydration shooters during practice, and they’ve truly improved my endurance. Keep an eye out for our upcoming video where we’ll put SuckerPunch to the test on court!

If you’re curious to try it yourself, use code ’Courtside-Punch’ for 25% off. My go-to is the Spicy Pepper shooters, but the Classic Dill is great too.

Click here for the Spicy Pepper shooters!

Click here for the Classic Dill shooters!

Let us know if you give it a try!

Who won last week’s tournaments?

The WTA events in Seoul and Hua Hin crowned their champions over the weekend. 

Beatriz Haddad Maia won her 4th career title in Seoul with a come-from-behind win over #1 seed Daria Kasatkina 1-6 6-4 6-1. This was Haddad Maia’s second final of the year and her first title win since Birmingham 2022. This should provide a huge boost of confidence for the Brazilian, who hasn’t had too many deep runs this season in singles. She will also move back into the top 15, rising 5 spots to #12.

Rebecca Sramkova has been remarkable over the past couple weeks. Fresh off of making the final in Monastir, Tunisia, she flew over to Thailand and made another final. She couldn’t take the title the first time around, but came out victorious in Hua Hin with a 6-4 6-4 win over tour vet Laura Siegemund in the final. She rose 41 spots in the rankings as a result to #61, a new career high. Seriously impressive stuff from the Slovakian, who now has to play qualifying in Beijing… 😵‍💫

Action in Chengdu & Hangzhou is still ongoing with players competing in the semifinals on Monday. 

In Chengdu, top seed Lorenzo Musetti got past qualifier and world no.252 Alibek Kachmazov in straight sets 6-4 6-2. In the other semifinal, Jerry Shang defeated Yannik Hanfmann, also in straight sets 6-4 6-4. Musetti & Shang will meet in the final at 7:00 pm local time on Tuesday.

#6 seed Zhizhen Zhang will face Marin Cilic in the final of the tournament in Hangzhou. Zhang got the better of wildcard Bu Yunchaokete 7-6 (3) 6-4. Cilic took out #4 seed Brandon Nakashima 6-4 7-6 (6). The Hangzhou final will be at 7:30 PM local time on Tuesday. 

Who Won the Laver Cup?

On the exhibition side of things, The Laver Cup provided some incredible matches and nail-biting moments over the weekend. 

In our preview of the event in last week’s newsletter, we highlighted the fact that Team Europe would be heavy favorites. However, that was not the case for a majority of the competition.

On day 1 Team World got an immediate upset with Francisco Cerundolo taking out Casper Ruud in straight sets 6-4 6-4. Team Europe quickly responded with two straight set wins of their own, which included Stefanos Tsitsipas & Grigor Dimitrov getting past Thanasi Kokkinakis & Alejandro Tabilo, respectively. The doubles tandem of Taylor Fritz & Ben Shelton ended the day on a positive note for Team World with a 7-6 (5) 6-4 win over Carlos Alcaraz & Alexander Zverev. The score finished tied after day 1 at 2-2.

Day 2 began much like day 1 as Team World’s Frances Tiafoe came from behind to take out world no. 5 Danill Medvedev 3-6 6-4 10-5. Again though, Team Europe bounced back into the lead thanks to Alcaraz’s straight sets win over Ben Shelton 6-4 6-4. Then, Team World made their big push winning the final 2 matches on day 2. Taylor Fritz defeated Zverev 6-4 7-5, and Shelton/Tabilo dominated Ruud/Tsitsipas 6-1 6-2. Since matches were worth 2 points on day 2, Team World finished the day ahead 8-4. They only needed to win 2 more matches…

The pressure was on for Team Europe on day 3, needing to win 3 of the 4 matches in order to win the Laver Cup. They got off to a great start with Alcaraz/Ruud getting the better of Shelton/Tiafoe 6-2 7-6 (6). With these final matches being worth 3 points each, Europe closed the gap to 1 with this win. Shelton then got the win over Medvedev 6-7 (6) 7-5 10-7 to re-extend Team World’s lead 11-7. Frances Tiafoe was 2 games away from sealing the win for Team World at 4-2 in the second set, but ultimately fell to Zverev 6-7 (5) 7-5 10-5.

The final points came down to the Alcaraz vs Fritz match in a winner-take-all scenario. Unfortunately for Team World, Alcaraz was just too solid on the day. Carlitos took care of Fritz 6-2 7-5 to seal the Laver Cup victory for Team Europe, ending the hopes of a 3-peat for Team World. 

This was a heartbreaking loss for Team World because they were soooo close and held the lead for a majority of the competition. They will be back on Team World territory next year though, when the Laver Cup is played in San Francisco, California. Until then, Team Europe can celebrate being Laver Cup champs once again, and both teams can prepare for another tough, but exciting encounter.

Speaking of Laver Cup, what would a women’s version of the event potentially look like?

I think it's about time the WTA gets in on the action of a “Laver Cup style” event. Women’s tennis has been trending upwards in terms of popularity in recent years and could definitely have the fan support for an event like this. 

Think about it, Team Europe with Swiatek, Sabalenka, Paolini, Rybakina, Sakkari, Krejcikova, & Ostapenko on the SAME TEAM?? 

Adding in a Team World roster with Gauff, Pegula, Zheng, Navarro, Haddad Maia, Jabeur, & Fernandez would make for must-see TV.

The captains for this new nameless cup could follow the lead of Laver Cup and pit two former rivals against each other. Evert vs Navratilova, Seles vs Graf, Serena vs Sharapova???

 I might be getting a little too delusional with that last one, but seriously, this event just sells itself on the star power alone at this point. 

Who’s playing this week?

This week the men are headed to Tokyo and Beijing for a pair of 500-level tournaments. The women will be in Beijing as well for the first of two consecutive 1000 events in China. 

Jannik Sinner, Alexander Zverev, Carlos Alcaraz, Daniil Medvedev, Andrey Rublev, Grigor Dimitrov, Lorenzo Musetti, & Karen Khachanov will be the top 8 seeds for the men in Beijing. This should be a really fun tournament with Alexander Bublik, Gael Monfils & Flavio Coboli among the dangerous unseeded players in the draw.

Top Americans Taylor Fritz, Tommy Paul, Frances Tiafoe, & Ben Shelton will be in action in Tokyo. Hubert Hurkacz & Casper Ruud round out the list of top ten players in action this week. Unseeded players to look out for in this tournament are Jack Draper, Brandon Nakashima, Matteo Berretini & Alexei Popyrin.

On the WTA side, a majority of the top players will be in action in Beijing. Defending champion Iga Swiatek withdrew from the tournament, and fellow top ten players Elena Rybakina & Danielle Collins will also be absent. Aryna Sabalenka & Jessica Pegula will be the top 2 seeds, and a new champion is quite possible because Naomi Osaka is the only former champion in the tournament (2019).

Other players to look out for in this event include Seoul champion Beatriz Haddad Maia, home favorite Qinwen Zheng, and WTA Most Improved Player of the Year frontrunner Jasmine Paolini.

What’s next for Ons Jabeur?

Ons Jabeur has announced that she is ending her season due to her ongoing shoulder injury that has plagued her for much of the year. 

It is safe to say that 2024 has not been a successful one for the Tunisian. She only made 5 quarterfinal appearances in 15 tournaments played this year, and hasn’t played since Toronto at the beginning of August. Her overall record in 2024 finished at 16-15.

This is pretty much the complete opposite of her 2023 season where she won 2 titles, made the Wimbledon final, and qualified for the WTA Finals, finishing the year in the top 10.

Jabeur also mentioned that she is going to dedicate her time away from the tour to charity work. She didn’t mention any specific charities, but says that she hopes to “[ensure] that we make a real difference in the world.”

I think this extended break will be just what Jabeur needs to get back on track. Up until this year, she has steadily improved season to season, but has seemed to hit a bit of a wall. Taking time to improve not only her physical, but also mental health will hopefully get her back to the top 10 form we all know she is capable of. 

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!