Season Of Change

A HUGE decision was made in a high-profile doping case, and the American success in 2025 is just getting ridiculous.

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

New Videos!!

We have a brand new video on our channel this week!

It is a full recap of last week’s action across both tours!

Check it out and let us know what you think!

What Happened Last Week?

Amanda Anisimova has won her first WTA 1000 title in Doha this week. The 23 year-old American got the job done with a 6-4 6-3 win over a surging Jelena Ostapenko in the final.  No one will want to see either these players in their draw anytime soon.

Joao Fonseca is continuing a successful start to his professional career, winning his first ATP title in Buenos Aires. The 18 year-old Brazilian got the job done with a 6-4 7-6 (1) win over #5 seed Francisco Cerundolo. In a tournament that saw one of South America’s best retire in Diego Schwartzman, Fonseca proved that the continent won’t have to look far for its next big-time star.

Miomir Kecmanovic picked up his 2nd career title in Delray Beach this week. The Serb was a bit of an unlikely champ in a field that included world #4 Taylor Fritz. In the final, the 7th-seeded Kecmanovic defeated #8 seed Alejandro Davidovic Fokina in an instant classic 3-6 6-1 7-5.

Ugo Humbert thrilled the home crowd, winning the title in Marseille with a 7-6 (4) 6-4 win in the final over first-time finalist Hamad Medjedovic. This was Humbert’s first hard court title, and 2nd title overall.

Live Ranking Update: The Biggest Movers Of The Week

It seems like Amanda Anisimova has been around too long to have never cracked the top 20 before this week. But, she can cross that off her to-do list now, along with “1st 1000-level title”. The young American is up 23 spots to #18 this week.

Fellow Doha finalist Jelena Ostapenko was rewarded for her efforts this week with a +11 boost in the rankings to #26. She still has a bit of a ways to go to get back to her career high of #5, but a few more weeks like this one would help. 

Alex Michelsen is up 4 spots to #33, just one spot shy of ensuring he is seeded at the majors, which would be huge.

Ugo Humbert is back into the top 15 at #14, up three spots. Also, Miomir Kecmanovic moved up 14 spots this week to #42, Alejandro Davidovich Fokina is up to #50, and Hamad Medjedovic had the biggest jump (+23) to #73.

Major Tournament Updates

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

• WTA Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships (February 16 - February 22)

• ATP Qatar ExxonMobil Open (February 17 - February 22)

• ATP Rio Open presented by Claro (February 17 - February 23)

Dubai will conclude the two straight weeks of WTA 1000 tournaments, and again the draw is loaded. 9 of the world top 10 will be in action, as well as 27 of the top 30. Top seed Aryna Sabalenka could face Ekaterina Alexandrova, who she lost to last week, in the second round. Plus, 2019 champ Belinda Bencic is back for the first time as a mom, and Karolina Muchova is back after skipping Doha last week.

The ATP Doha draw has some pretty brutal first round matches. #1 seed Carlos Alcaraz will face Marin Cilic, #7 Grigor Dimitrov gets Jiri Lehecka, and #3 Novak Djokovic drew Matteo Berrettini. Add in Alex de Minaur, Stefanos Tsitsipas, Daniil Medvedev, Felix Auger-Aliassime, & Jack Draper and this should be a really fun tournament to follow.

Alexander Zverev will be the top seed in Rio, his second straight tournament as the #1 seed. Lorenzo Musetti, Alejandro Tabilo, Francisco Cerundolo, Sebastian Baez, Nicolas Jarry, Pedro Martinez, & Tomas Etcheverry round out the seeded players.

Watch Out For These Players

Amanda Anisimova:

I’m starting to wonder if there is some kind of bet going on between the Americans for who is going to have a breakthrough tournament each week. Anisimova was definitely the winner this week. 

In all seriousness though, there’s something to be said about players gaining confidence by seeing their peers do well. Not that long ago, Anisimova was one of the best juniors in the world and poised to be the next American star. However, her professional career has so far been littered with injuries and a very personal tragedy.

She has seen players around her age like Iga Swiatek, Coco Gauff & Bianca Andreescu win major titles. Maybe, with a 1000 title under her belt, the time is now for Amanda to make that next big step.

Hamad Medjedovic:

The 2023 Next Gen ATP Finals champion played sparingly in 2024, going 9-8 at tour level in an injury-ridden season. However, he was rounding into form at the end of the year when he made the final in Belgrade, a tournament that accounted for 4 of those 9 aforementioned wins.

Earlier this season, Medjedovic earned his biggest win by ranking when he took down then-no. 12 Holger Rune in Davis Cup action. He one-upped himself this week in France, securing his first top 10 win with a dominant 6-3 6-2 win over world #5 Daniil Medvedev.

The Serb couldn’t get the job done in the final, but going up against a Frenchman in France is a tough assignment for any player. 

But if the 21 year-old stays healthy, he’s going to be a problem on tour this season…

Off The Court

Sinner Accepts 3-Month Doping Ban:

Jannik Sinner will be banned from competing on the ATP Tour for 3 months. 

The world #1 accepted the ban in a settlement with WADA, the World Anti-Doping Agency. He said that the agreement ended a case that was “hanging over [him]” since his two positive doping tests nearly a year ago.

WADA was seeking to ban Sinner for at least 1 year, and had challenged a decision by the ITIA when it decided not to ban Sinner for what it judged was accidental contamination by a banned anabolic steroid.

Interestingly, the timing means that Jannik will not miss any Grand Slam tournaments, or the 1000 event in Rome. 

Sinner will lose at least 1600 points due to the ban. He will lose 1000 points from his 2024 Miami title, 400 from the Monte Carlo semis, & 200 from the Madrid quarterfinals.

The ban will run from February 9 through May 4.

US Open Changes Mixed Doubles Format; ‘24 Champs Not Pleased:

Last Tuesday, the US Open announced that it was completing changing the format for the mixed doubles event, beginning at this year’s tournament. 

The changes include moving the event to “Fan Week”, which is normally reserved for singles qualifying and top player practices.

The draw will still be comprised of 16 teams, but 8 teams will receive direct entry based on combined singles rankings, while the other 8 will be wildcards. 

Every match, except the final, will be best-of-3 sets to 4 games with a 10-point match tiebreak third set. The final would have regular 6-game sets.

The reasoning behind this decision, according to the US Open, is to give doubles a bigger spotlight and players more opportunities to make big money. 

The 2024 mixed doubles champions, Sara Errani & Andrea Vavassori, put out a joint statement with their thoughts on the change that you can read in full on their Instagram accounts.

In short, they are worried that since they don’t have a high combined singles ranking, that they won’t even have the opportunity to defend their title. 

The Italians weren’t the only ones with concerns though:

The US Open has not responded to any of these concerns as of now.

WTA Upholds Vukov Suspension:

Following an internal investigation, the WTA announced that the suspension of Elena Rybakina’s former coach would be upheld. 

The WTA did not specify how much longer the ban would be as a result of their findings. Vukov was initially provisionally suspended. 

When asked about the suspension, Rybakina said “I’m just disappointed with the situation, and how the process went. I’m not going to comment much on that anymore.”

Rybakina’s coaching situation has been complicated in recent months, to say the least. 

Prior to the start of this season, Rybakina announced that she was beginning a partnership with Goran Ivanisevic, who had coached Novak Djokovic for many years. However, Goran announced that he would no longer be her coach following her Australian Open 4th round loss.

The WTA further commented that it would not provide further details “to protect the confidentiality and integrity of the investigation and its findings.”

Highlights Of The Week

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