Offseason Revelations

Another HUGE doping ban was revealed, and more players are tying the knot this holiday season.

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

New Videos!!

We have a brand new video out this week! It is a deep dive on Leylah Fernandez that you won’t want to miss! 

Check it out and let us know your thoughts!

What Happened Last Week?

While there were no tournaments last week, there was still a big event that took place.

Madison Keys and former ATP player Bjorn Fratangelo got married!  

Of course, there were plenty of high-profile guests in attendance, including Jessica Pegula, Taylor Townsend, & Desirae Krawczyk.

Congrats to Madi & Bjorn!

Also, Felix Auger-Aliassime, Casper Ruud, & Alexei Popyrin all got engaged to their long-time girlfriends, so another few weddings may be on the way soon!

Live Ranking Update: The Biggest Movers Of The Week

The Challenger-level tournaments are played year-round, and while not many top 100 players compete in them, they do still have some significant ranking implications.

On the ATP side, former top 30 player Damir Dzumhur picked up a challenger title, moving him up 23 places and back into the top 100 at #83. Also, Argentina’s Camilo Ugo Carabelli moved up to #97 with a challenger final. 

There are also still WTA 125 tournaments happening around the world that provide some decent ranking points this time of year. Mayar Sherif moved up to #68 thanks to the title run at the event in Buenos Aires. 

Major Tournament Updates

With the professional tennis season officially in the books, there are no main tour-level events remaining in 2024. 

The next big events to look forward to are the United Cup and the start of the Australian Open lead-up tournaments:

• ATP/WTA United Cup - Perth & Sydney (December 27 - January 5, 2025)

• ATP/WTA Brisbane International (December 30 - January 5, 2025)

• ATP Hong Kong Open (December 30 - January 5, 2025)

• WTA ASB Classic - Auckland (December 30 - January 5, 2025)

Watch Out For These Players

Jacob Fearnley:

This 23 year-old from Great Britain made one of the biggest ranking rises of the year. At the beginning of the year, Fearnley was ranked #646 in the world. Now, at the end of 2024, he is just inside the top 100 at #99. The former TCU standout won 4 Challenger-level titles this season, going 27-4 at that level. He only played 5 main tour-level matches this year, but now with a ranking that will get him into more draws, look out for this Brit in 2025.

Yuliia Starodubtseva:

Another former college player to look out for is this 24 year-old. This Old Dominion grad began the year ranked # 157. She now sits at #100, but got up to as high as #79 in October. Her biggest result of the year was a quarterfinal showing at the WTA 1000 event in Beijing where she took Coco Gauff to three sets. She also successfully came through qualifying to make it into the main draw at ALL FOUR slams this season. Now that she has cracked the top 100, she likely won't have to repeat that feat next year.

Off The Court

Another top player, Iga Swiatek, has been revealed to have tested positive for a banned substance. This infraction actually occurred in August of this season, but was not made public until just last week. 

According to the report that was released by the International Tennis Integrity Agency (ITIA), “the positive [test] was caused by the contamination of a regulated non-prescription medication (melatonin), manufactured and sold in Poland that the player had been taking for jet lag and sleep issues, and that the violation was therefore not intentional.”

Iga was provisionally suspended in September, but successfully appealed the ban. She did miss 3 tournaments in late September and early October, but will not affect her 2025 season. 

The ITIA has been under scrutiny recently due to many fans and players believing that top players get special treatment with these appeals and bans.

Taylor Fritz made his feelings about the matter known on X:

It's certainly a hot topic right now, and a divisive one as well. 

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 @kookerd:

This fan wants to know how high the potential is for the young Frenchman Arthur Fils.

The 20 year-old Fils had a standout year in 2024 with 2 titles, a career high ranking of #20, and an overall record of 37-26. 3 of those wins came against top 10 players, with the biggest win coming against #4 Alexander Zverev at the 500 event in Hamburg, Germany. 

A top 10 finish is certainly possible, and even expected by many at this point. He made a 16 spot improvement in the rankings from the end of 2023 to the end of 2024. 

However, the jump from top 20 to top 10 is arguably the toughest move to make. It takes an incredible amount of maturity and discipline, and Fils has already shown that he is capable of handling the grind of the tour so far.

Interestingly, Fils came close to his first career major quarterfinal at Wimbledon this year. He lost to Alex de Minaur in the round of 16. This is even more impressive when you consider he had never won a tour-level grass court match prior to this year. His ability to utilize his big shots and adapt his game to different surfaces will be crucial if he is to make the leap into the top 10. 

Fils’ best chance to make a quarterfinal will likely be at Roland Garros. Two of his three career titles have come on red clay, and he is someone who thrives off of crowd energy, which the French certainly bring. 

Arthur Fils is another one of those generational talents that is checking off accomplishments and a very quick rate. Avoiding burnout and keeping motivation high will be key if he wants to breakthrough to the very top of the professional game. It’s been exciting to see his rise so far, and the future looks bright.

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Highlights Of The Week

Even though there aren’t any big tournaments going on, there are still some highlights to see.

Check out some of the best moments from the exhibition match between Novak Djokovic & recently retired Juan Martin del Potro!

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!