Sweet Victories & Bitter Goodbyes

The American success just keeps coming! Plus, some former top 10ers are rounding back into form, and one is calling it a career.

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

New Videos!!

We have two brand new videos on our channel this week!

One is a deep dive on Jannik Sinner’s Australian Open title run, and the other covers a “hard-hitting” Davis Cup controversy.

What Happened Last Week?

Belinda Bencic won her first title as a mother, picking up the title in Abu Dhabi with a 4-6 6-1 6-1 win over Ashlyn Krueger. In only her second event back, Bencic is already looking like a top 10 player again. The rest of the tour will not want to see her in their draw this year.

Anastasia Potapova secured her 3rd career title with a 4-6 6-1 6-2 victory over Lucia Bronzetti in the Cluj-Napoca final. The top seed won her first 4 matches in straight sets, but did not have to face a seeded player this week. 

Carlos Alcaraz won his first career indoor title this week in Rotterdam. The top seed needed three sets in the final, but eventually got it done 6-4 3-6 6-2 over Alex de Minaur. At just 21 years old, this is already Alcaraz’s 17th career title. He has now won ATP 500 titles on indoor hard, outdoor hard, clay, and grass. This kid is special, but we knew that already. 

Denis Shapovolov fought through a tough draw in Dallas, but was eventually the last man standing. Defeating THREE top ten players in one week is difficult for anyone, let alone someone who hasn’t been a consistent threat on tour lately. He beat one in three sets, and two in straight sets, including a 7-6 (5) 6-3 win over #5 Casper Ruud in the final. 

Live Ranking Update: The Biggest Movers Of The Week

Both Abu Dhabi finalists made big moves in the rankings this week. 

Champion Belinda Bencic is back inside the top 100, up 92(!) spots to #65. It won’t be long until she is seeded in the big tournaments again if she keeps this form up. 

Ashlyn Krueger couldn’t secure the winner’s trophy, but she can be happy about a new career high ranking of #40 (+11 spots).

Denis Shapovalov is continuing his climb back toward the top, up 22 spots this week and back inside the top 50 at #32. 

Jaume Munar & Mattia Bellucci were both rewarded for their deep runs this week. 

Dallas semifinalist Munar is up 11 spots to #53, 1 spot off of his career high. 

Bellucci went all the way from qualies to the Rotterdam semis, and is up 24 spots to a new career high of #68.

Major Tournament Updates

Here’s a quick look ahead to what's coming up this week:

• WTA Qatar TotalEnergies Open (February 9-15)

• ATP IEB+ Argentina Open - Buenos Aires (February 10-16)

• ATP Delray Beach (February 10-16)

• ATP Marseille (February 10-16)

The first WTA 1000 event of the season will be taking place in Doha this week. 9 of the top 10 players in the world will be competing there, led by Aryna Sabalenka, Iga Swiatek, Coco Gauff, & Jasmine Paolini. Other notable names in the draw include Emma Navarro, Qinwen Zheng, Paula Badosa, Abu Dhabi finalist Ashlyn Krueger, & 2-time major champion Victoria Azarenka.

Diego Schwartzman is playing the final event of his career this week at his home event. The former world #8 will try and find that signature fighting spirit one last time in Buenos Aires. El Peque will open his swan song event against #7 seed Nicolas Jarry. The energy in that stadium will be absolutely electric. The top four seeds at this event are Alexander Zverev, Holger Rune, Lorenzo Musetti, & Alejandro Tabilo. A win here for Diego would be huge, but not surprising given that he's made a career as a lovable underdog who never gives up.

In Delray Beach, Taylor Fritz, Marcos Giron, Alex Michelsen, & Matteo Arnaldi are the top seeds. Other players to look out for in the draw are Reilly Opelka, Brandon Nakashima, Cam Norrie, & Learner Tien.

The 250 event in Marseille will have a pretty respectable draw with names like Daniil Medvedev, Hubert Hurkacz, Sebastian Korda, Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard, & Stan Wawrinka all in the mix.

Watch Out For These Players

Denis Shapovolov:

Sometimes it is easy to forget that Shapo used to be one of the best players in the world. That was certainly the case in the first set of his 2nd round match this week in Dallas again top seed Taylor Fritz. He lost that set 6-2, and could barely find the court. 

After that, he caught fire. The 25 year-old Canadian eventually won that match 2-6 6-3 7-6 (2). He backed up that effort with a run to the title, with straight set wins over #6 seed Tomas Machac, #3 seed Tommy Paul, and #2 seed Casper Ruud. 

This result came out of almost nowhere, but Shapo is back. And with his ranking climbing towards the top 30, he won't be unseeded at these events for much longer. 

Ashlyn Krueger:

It seems like all of the American players are trying to one up each other this year so far. 

Krueger is this week’s American star after a run to her first 500-level final in Abu Dhabi. She defeated two seeded players en route to the final; #3 Daria Kasatkina & #8 Leylah Fernandez.

The big-hitting 20 year-old already has a 250 title under her belt, and she no doubt will get another chance at a big match like this one.

Off The Court

Halep Announces Retirement:

Former world #1 and 2-time Grand Slam champion Simona Halep has announced her retirement from professional tennis at the age of 33. 

The Romanian made the announcement immediately after her first round loss at her home country tournament in Cluj-Napoca. 

“My soul is at peace with this decision, and I’ve always been realistic with myself. My body can no longer handle as much as it used to, to get me where I probably once was”, Halep said as she addressed the crowd in Cluj.

Halep lost to Lucia Bronzetti 6-1 6-1 in just over an hour, prior to making the announcement. 

Halep’s career has had some high highs and low lows with multiple slams, but also a lengthy and controversial doping suspension. 

Her former coach Patrick Mouratoglou took some responsibility for the doping ban, and who knows how Simona’s career could’ve gone if they never got together…

Gauff Donates $100k To HBCU Tennis Programs:

Coco Gauff donated $100,000 to UNCF in order to help provide scholarships to students playing collegiate tennis at historically Black colleges and universities.

”My family has a deep-rooted history with HBCUs, going all the way back to my great-great grandfather…supporting UNCF in creating opportunities for student-athletes in tennis means a lot to me. As a young Black athlete, I understand how impactful it is to see people who look like me thriving in both sports and education.”, Gauff said.

UNCF announced on Tuesday that it will administer the Coco Gauff Scholarship Program.

Opelka Could Face Sanction After Calling Umpire “Worst” On Tour:

Reilly Opelka is facing some potential additional consequences after his post match comments about Greg Allensworth, calling him the “worst ump on tour”. 

Opelka was exchanging some choice words with a spectator, saying that the fan was repeatedly coughing to intentionally disrupt his serve. Allensworth hit Opelka with a warning and eventually a point penalty when the American was serving for the match.

The ATP came out with a statement after Opelka made the “worst ump” comment, saying “ audible obscenities directed at members of the public constitute a clear violation of ATP rules. In such instances, the chair umpire has a responsibility to take appropriate action…the ATP will review Mr. Opelka’s post-match comments as part of its standard disciplinary process.”

Opelka says that Allensworth failed to stop the fan from disrupting play, and that “he didn’t do his job, so I had to tell [the fan] ‘Get out of here’”.

Highlights Of The Week

Check out some of the best shots from last week’s tournaments!