Not Done Yet

One of the fiercest competitors on tour has announced their retirement, ANOTHER new player-coach relationship has been announced, and the Tour Finals lineup is almost set.

This week has been full of news, so lets get into this week’s topics, presented by SuckerPunch! 🥒

Will Danielle Collins Replicate Her 2024 Success in 2025?

Danielle Collins made a surprising announcement on Friday, revealing that she will NOT be retiring at the end of 2024. “The DANIMAL story has not reached its conclusion” she wrote, and we could not be more excited to see more “epic matches” from the American.

After she initially announced in January that 2024 would be her final year on tour, Collins played some of the best tennis of her career, winning titles in Charleston & Miami. She also had a 15-match winning streak at one point. 

Danielle had repeatedly said that despite this success, 2024 was still her last year on tour. She has struggled with health issues throughout her career, and wanted to start a family after retiring from the tour. However, after meeting with more specialists, she realized that it may take a little longer for that dream to become a reality. That is a big reason why she is choosing to return to tour.

But, will Danielle have another stretch like the one she had this Spring? She has been on and off tour since sustaining an injury at the Olympics in August. She has not won a match since the Olympics, and is on a 4-match losing streak. 

Regardless of whether or not we see Danielle winning big titles again, it will be so great to have her back competing and yelling huge COME ONs for another year.

What Should We Expect From Iga Swiatek’s New Coach?

Iga Swiatek announced that Wim Fissette would be joining her team ahead of the WTA Finals and the 2025 season. This announcement didn’t come as much of a surprise as many tennis experts & commentators, including us 👀, predicted this pairing would happen. 

Fissette is adding to his already impressive resume, as he has coached Kim Clijsters, Simona Halep, Victoria Azarenka, Petra Kvitova, Angelique Kerber, Qinwen Zheng, and most recently Naomi Osaka. 

As we discussed previously, Iga has only 1 slam title outside of the French Open, and has not consistently done well all 4 slams. The other players that Fissette has coached have won multiple US Opens (Clijsters & Osaka), Australian Opens (Also Clijsters & Osaka), and made deep runs at Wimbledon (Lisicki (final), Kerber (champion).

Iga’s Wimbledon performance in 2025 is one that I will be looking at in particular. Despite being a former champ in the Juniors, Iga has never made the second week there as a pro. 

Hopefully this partnership will be a successful one for both parties. We will see in Australia, where Iga lost in the 3rd round last year, just how immediate of an impact Fissette’s coaching will have on Iga. 

His record indicates high levels of success, will Iga keep the streak going? This will be another interesting storyline to follow next season.

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 @Sinnerforthewin:

This fan wants to know who will have the upper hand when it's all said and done in the rivalry between Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz.  

This rivalry has already been incredible to witness, and both are still under 24 years of age. Carlos currently leads the Tour-level head-to-head 6-4, winning all 3 meetings between the 2 in 2024. Yes, Sinner beat Carlitos last week, but that win doesn’t officially count in the H2H because it was an exhibition event. 

Sinner has won 7 titles this year pairing it with a 65-6 overall record. Alcaraz isn’t far behind with 4 titles and a 51-10 record. They split the slams this year, with Jannik winning in Australia & New York, and Carlos taking the trophies in Paris & London. To top it off, they are also No. 1 & No. 2 in the rankings right now.

It is never easy to predict the future, especially in tennis. If these two both continue the trajectory they are on, this debate will swing one way and then another for 10+ years. They both have their own strengths and weaknesses, and bring out some of the best tennis against each other. 

Right now, they are the best 2 players in the world, and it will likely stay that way for the foreseeable future. Of course, there are so many factors that could change this (injuries, doping bans, etc.). 

The bottom line is, we must make sure that we are not spending too much time comparing the two, and spend more time appreciating the incredible entertainment their rivalry is providing us as fans.

Also before I forget, make sure to check out some of my favorite products from SuckerPunch linked below! Use code ‘Courtside-Punch’ for 25% off!

Click here for the Spicy Pepper shooter!

Click here for the Classic Dill shooter!

Who Won The Six Kings Slam?

The Six Kings Slam exhibition in Saudi Arabia took place last week. Jannik Sinner, Carlos Alcaraz, Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal, Holger Rune & Daniil Medvedev competed for a chance at $6 million.

Sinner emerged as the winner in the end, defeating Alcaraz in the final 6-7 (5) 6-3 6-3 to claim the top prize. 

In the third place match, we got one last Djokovic v Nadal clash before Rafa calls it a career next month. Novak got the better of Rafa one last time 6-2 7-6(5), closing the book on one of the greatest rivalries of all-time.

Each of the six players was guaranteed $1.5 million just for showing up. 

Expect to see many more of these events in the future, and more tennis in Saudi Arabia in general. The WTA finals will be in Riyadh in a couple weeks, and the Next Gen ATP Finals are taking place in Jeddah through 2027.

Hopefully this Saudi partnership will continue to help fund the growth of the sport, and bring fans more entertaining events like this one.

Who Won Last Week’s Tournaments?

It was another great week of tennis in Europe and Asia. 5 titles were handed out across both continents and both tours.

In Japan, it was an all-qualifier matchup between #150 Kimberly Birrell & #125 Suzan Lamens. Lamens came out on top in the end with a dominant 6-0 6-4 win over the Australian. Lamens will make her top 100 debut as a result, continuing a season-long steady rise up the rankings.

Over in Ningbo, China, Daria Kasatkina captured her 8th career title with a 6-0 4-6 6-4 win over Mirra Andreeva. 6 of Dasha’s titles have come at the WTA 500 level, so it's something about these events that just works for her. The WTA Finals lineup is already set, but these wins keep Kasatkina in one of the alternate spots in case of any withdrawals.

A trio of champs were crowned on the ATP Tour as well. 

In Almaty, #3 seed Karen Khachanov got back to winning ways with a 6-2 5-7 6-3 victory over Gabriel Diallo. The win moved Khachanov up 2 spots to #24.

The Stockholm final was a high profile one with #3 seed Grigor Dimitrov facing off against #4 seed Tommy Paul. In the end, the American was just too strong, taking down the Bulgarian in straight sets 6-4 6-3. This final was big for both players because they are both just outside the top 8 in the ATP Finals Race Rankings. Tommy also moved up a spot in the official rankings to #12, matching his career high.

Over in Antwerp, Roberto Bautista Agut continued his comeback by making the final and taking on the always dangerous Jiri Lehecka. The Spaniard turned back the clock for a convincing 7-5 6-1 win over the young Czech. This title was RBA’s 13th of his career, and first in over 2 years. He will move up 12 spots, and back into the top 50 at #48 as a result.

Who’s Playing This Week?

Action in Europe for the men and Asia for the women will be the norm again this week. A pair of ATP 500 events in Basel & Vienna & a WTA 500 tournament in Tokyo plus a WTA 250 in Guangzhou await.

Andrey Rublev, Casper Ruud, Stefanos Tsitsipas, & Holger Rune are the top four seeds in Basel, but there is just a plethora of talent in this draw. Ben Shelton, Stan Wawrinka, Felix Auger-Aliassime, Alexander Bublik, and more are also in this tournament! Should be a really fun week.

Vienna won’t be short on talent either. Alexander Zverev, Alex de Minaur, Grigor Dimitrov, & Tommy Paul are the top 4 seeds here. Frances Tiafoe, Matteo Berrettini, Gael Monfils, & Lorenzo Musetti will also be in action in the Austrian capital. Another storyline to follow is that Vienna will be the final tournament for former world No. 3 Dominic Thiem. The 2020 US Open champion was granted a wildcard and faces Luciano Darderi in the first round. He is one of the most likable players on tour, and it's a real shame that his career didn’t exactly pan out the way most of us believed it would’ve.

The Tokyo 500-level tournament will feature some top WTA talent. Qinwen Zheng & Beatriz Haddad Maia are the top 2 seeds, and Leylah Fernandez, Sofia Kenin, Bianca Andreescu, & Daria Kasatkina will also be in action.

In Guangzhou, Katerina Siniakova, Marie Bouzkova, Yue Yuan, & Elina Avanesyan headline the player field.

What Do The Races To The ATP & WTA Finals Look Like This Week?

The Race to the ATP Finals is still very much alive, but the WTA Finals lineup is officially set as of this week.

Aryna Sabalenka, Iga Swiatek, Coco Gauff, Jasmine Paolini, Elena Rybakina, Jessica Pegula, Qinwen Zheng, & Barbora Krejcikova will be the 8 players competing in the WTA FInals in Riyadh. Additionally, Emma Navarro & Daria Kasatkina will be the 2 alternates in the event of withdrawals. I have a feeling that we will not see Rybakina play again this year, so Navarro would get that final spot if Elena withdraws. This is such a fun lineup, and I can’t wait to see how it all plays out in a couple weeks.

Daniil Medvedev is now officially qualified for the ATP Finals, meaning that there are only 4 spots left up for grabs. Taylor Fritz is next in line at #5 in the Race, but is not playing this week. #6 Djokovic is also off this week, but #7 Ruud, #8 Rublev, #9 de Minaur, #10 Paul, #11 Dimitrov, & #12 Tsitsipas are all competing this week, with a chance to make a big push down the stretch.

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!