Late Season Surge

Some players got into the spooky holiday spirit, others continued to fight for a spot in the year-end Finals, and one got a new coach.

As always, there is plenty to discuss, so let’s get into this week’s topics, presented by SuckerPunch! 🥒

Who Is Elena Rybakina’s New Coach?

Elena Rybakina announced that Goran Ivanisevic would join her team at the start of the 2025 season. 

This is a huge pickup for the world No. 5, as she looks to right the ship after a rocky 2024 campaign. She started this season well with 3 titles and 34 match wins within the first four months of this year, but has not been consistently healthy since. 

Ivanisevic, who is Novak Djokovic’s former coach, should be a great fit for Rybakina as she looks to regain her top form. When asked about this new partnership, Elena said she is “really looking forward to [it]” and “I think he’s a great champion and he has so much experience”.

This is a new partnership that I am really looking forward to seeing next season. Elena is already a world-class player, and the addition of Goran should hopefully help her remain a top player and consistent threat to Iga and Aryna at the big tournaments.

Which Player Had The Best Halloween Costume?

It’s always fun to see how some players spend their time off court, especially when it comes to a holiday like Halloween.

There were plenty of great costumes this year, but there were a few that stood out in particular. 

Coco Gauff went ALL OUT in her Deadpool costume. She even recruited her little brother to be Wolverine!

In my opinion, Andy Murray is one of the funniest people ever. And he is not shy when it comes to self-deprecating humor.  That sentiment was certainly reflected in his Halloween costume.

Former world No. 1 Caroline Wozniacki is no stranger to getting into the Halloween spirit. This time around, her and her family took their own spin on Cruella de Vil and the Dalmatians. 

It’s nice to see players take a break from the grind of the tour and have some fun every once in a while. They definitely deserve it with how long the season is nowadays.

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 questions come from @jonathanuhlenberg1224 & @bearded_goat1745:

Jonathan wants to know how Novak Djokovic will approach the 2025 season, AND which young player is most likely to be next year’s breakthrough player. 

First, let’s address the Djokovic question. 

We have been closely following Novak and his comments about his future intentions for his career. He has made it pretty clear that he will make the slams his main priority going forward, and is not too concerned with playing many other tournaments. This is honestly a smart move for someone who hasn’t always needed a ton of match play to get into slam-winning form. 

However, Novak is not getting any younger, and is entering relatively uncharted territory at 37 years of age. Only 1 male player has won a slam past the age of 37; Ken Rosewall won the Aussie Open at 37 years old in 1972. Obviously, that was a much different time in terms of physicality and playing styles, so for Djokovic it would be a much tougher feat. Also, Novak is one of only 4 players all-time to win a slam past the age of 35, along with Rosewall, Rafael Nadal, & Roger Federer. 

Novak Djokovic has defied the odds so many times already, and showed a lot of heart in winning the gold medal last summer. Even if he only plays the slams and some team competitions next year, don’t be surprised if he picks up a record 25th major next season. 

Now for the second question, which of the next gen players has the best chance of making the jump into the top ten next year. 

Jonathan mentioned Arthur Fils, Ugo Humbert, Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard, & Jakub Mensik as potential candidates.

3 of these 4 players are 21 and under, while Humbert is the oldest of the bunch at 26. Interestingly, based on the graph below, history says that players typically reach their peak ranking between 24-25 years old. 

Humbert is the closest to that age, but keep an eye out for players in that age range like Tomas Machac (24), Alexi Popyrin (25), and Sebastian Korda (24). All three of those players are already in the top 30, and could be poised to make that next leap in 2025.

We have also seen players like Jannik Sinner (23) & Carlos Alcaraz (21) make their breakthroughs well before those ages. 

Obviously, there are so many factors that go into a player making the climb up the rankings, but history says to look out for those in their mid 20s first. 

This next fan wants to know when the last time a lefty was a dominant force on hardcourts. 

Historically, lefties have been successful on tour with 3 of the top 10 all-time Grand Slam winners in the Open Era being left-handed men (Rafael Nadal, Jimmy Connors, & John McEnroe). However, Nadal has been the only lefty to do consistently well on tour in the past 20 plus years.

The highest ranked lefty right now is Ugo Humbert at #14. Jack Draper at #15 and Ben Shelton at #21 are the only other lefties in the top 30.

Honestly, Connors & McEnroe were the last lefties to truly dominate on hard courts in the late 70s through the 80s. But, it is about time we get another dominant southpaw. 

Shelton & Draper have both been consistently rising lefties, and their games are tailor made for hard court success. Keep an eye out for them as the best bets for the lefties. No lefty outside of Nadal has won a slam this century, but count on one of these two to end that drought before their careers are over.

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Who Won Last Week’s Tournaments?

4 more trophies were handed out last week, including the final ones for the WTA before the Tour Finals.

Alexander Zverev is the final Masters 1000 champion of the 2024 season, taking the title in Paris with a 6-2 6-2 win over home-favorite Ugo Humbert. The win also moved Zverev past Carlos Alcaraz for the #2 ranking. 

In Hong Kong, the top two seeds met in the final, with #1 seed Diana Shnaider taking down #2 seed Katie Boulter 6-1 6-2. This was Shnaider’s 4th title of the season and moved her up to a new career high ranking of #12. 

Over in Jiujiang, #168 Viktorija Golubic took down #2 seed Rebecca Sramkova 6-3 7-5 to win her first title of the season. The former world No. 35 is slowly making her way back up the rankings, rising 64 spots to #104 following this title. 

The final trophy of the WTA regular season was handed out in Merida. Due to excessive rain, Zeynep Sonmez had to play the semifinal and final on Sunday. However, the Turkish #1 wax unphased, winning both matches, finishing the day with a 6-2 6-1 win over Ann Li. Her first career title launched her up 36 spots to #91.

Who’s Playing This Week?

The WTA Finals in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia kicked off on Saturday. 

On the first day of action, world No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka began group play with a win over #7 Qinwen Zheng 6-3 6-4. Also, #4 Jasmine Paolini defeated #5 Elena Rybakina 7-6 (5) 6-4. On day 2, #2 Iga Swiatek overcame an early deficit to get the better of #8 Barbora Krejcikova 4-6 7-5 6-2. An all-American clash closed out singles action on day 2 with #3 Coco Gauff taking down #6 Jessica Pegula 6-3 6-2.

Elsewhere, the ATP heads into its final week of tour-level tournaments with a pair of 250 events in Metz, France & Belgrade, Serbia.

Andrey Rublev, Casper Ruud, Grigor Dimitrov, & Ugo Humbert are the top seeds in Metz.  Rublev and Ruud need deep runs to ensure qualification for the ATP Finals.

In Belgrade, Alex de Minaur, Francisco Cerundolo, Jiri Lehecka, & Nuno Borges headline the field. De Minaur is another Tour Finals hopeful looking to make one final push. However, it won't be easy with other big names such as Stan Wawrinka, Marin Cilic, & Denis Shapovolov also in the draw. 

What Does The Race To The ATP Finals Look Like This Week?

With the final week of ATP tournaments now upon us, it’s now or never for ATP Finals hopefuls. 

Taylor Fritz can kick his feet up this week, as he has now officially qualified for Turin. 

There are now 4 players competing for 3 spots. #7 Casper Ruud & #9 Andrey Rublev will look to secure their spots with a title in Metz, while #8 Alex de Minaur tries to do the same in Belgrade.

Once again, #6 Novak Djokovic is not competing this week, and may not end up playing the Tour Finals at all. That would be good news for #10 Grigor Dimitrov who is #10 in the Race, and holding on to that last alternate spot. 

Rankings Watch

We saw some great performances and career breakthroughs this past week. As a results, there are a few players who made some big moves in the rankings:

Men:

• Arthur Cazaux #67 (+18)

• Ugo Humbert #14 (+4)

• Alex de Minaur #8 (+2)

• Alexander Zverev #2 (+1)

Women:

• Zeynep Sonmez #91 (+36)

• Ann Li #93 (+18)

• Rebecca Sramkova #43 (+10)

• Katie Boulder #23 (+6)

In Case You Missed It!

As always, there were plenty of hot shots and great rallies in last week’s tournaments.

Check out some of the highlights below from the title runs of Alexander Zverev, Diana Shnaider, Viktorija Golubic, & Zeynep Sonmez!

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 also email us, drop them in the discord, or 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!