End of an Era

One of the greatest tennis players of all time is finally calling it a career at the end of the season. Also, a 147-year old tradition is officially over. This is certainly a time of some HUGE transitions and changes.

Enough suspense though, let’s get into this week’s topics
Presented by SuckerPunch! 🥒

Will We Ever See A Player Like Rafael Nadal Again?

Rafael Nadal is in a league of his own. 

The success that he had during his career was incredible and unprecedented. NO ONE in the history of the sport has won a single Grand Slam 14 times. Only a select few players top his 22 Grand Slam titles. And 912 consecutive weeks in the Top 10 will be nearly impossible to replicate. 

The answer to this question is no, there will never be anyone like Rafael Nadal ever again. But that’s okay. His generation produced multiple all-time greats, and we have all been lucky to experience this phenomenon in real time. 

Obviously, many people have already compared Carlos Alcaraz to Nadal, and Carlitos has been tabbed as his “successor”. Regardless of whether or not their careers look similar when it's all said and done, it is safe to say that Alcaraz is the player he is largely because of Nadal’s influence. 

We may never see a player match Nadal’s achievements, but that is even more of a reason why his retirement is so monumental.

Rafa will play his final event in his home country of Spain. The Davis Cup is a fitting format for a player who has so much pride in representing his country and teammates. The end is near, but Rafa fans will have a chance to see him give it his all, as he always has, one last time.

Are Line Umpires On Their Way Out?

Wimbledon made another big announcement last week. Starting from the 2025 Championships, there will be no line judges on any court during the tournament. Electronic line calling (ELC) will instead be used for “fault” and “out” calls.

Other slams, the Australian Open & US Open, both already utilize ELC. Australia has used ELC on all courts since 2021, and the US Open followed suit in 2022. 

While ELC removes human judgment and the errors that may come with it, it is still not a perfect system. There have been several instances where the system has gone down at some tournaments, creating a delay. There have also been times where the system has missed an out call or two. Still, it is much more consistently reliable than line judges.

Roland Garros is now the only slam that still has human line judges. It is unclear whether or not they will make the switch to ELC in the near future. However, it certainly seems that ELC is going to become the new norm and line judges may become a thing of the past sooner rather than later.

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 jermaine1545 & joshheinink.

The first question is “What’s going on with Elena Rybakina?”, and that is a tough one to answer. 

A few newsletters ago, we covered the alleged impact Elena’s former coach had on her mentally, which led to their split. She has not played a match since the US Open, pulling out of multiple tournaments for undisclosed reasons. In her most recent Instagram post, it looks like she is taking some much needed time off. 

Rybakina has always been a private person, so we don’t yet know what her plans are for the rest of the season, but I wouldn’t be surprised if we didn’t see her play again in 2024. Regardless of what she decides to do, I think we can all agree that she deserves a break and should only come back when she is fully ready to. At her best, she can be just as dominant as Iga & Aryna, which will hopefully be a great storyline to follow for 2025.

Another fan wants to know which era is/will be better: “Big 3 or Sinner/Alcaraz”. This is a really interesting one, and another difficult one to answer.

As we all know, the Big 3 era, and the longevity of it was absolutely ridiculous. Winning a combined 66 majors over a span of 20 years, and at least one of the three had won a major EVERY year from 2003-2023. They also hold a plethora of other records, including most Wimbledon titles (8, Federer), most Grand Slam titles at a single event (14, Nadal), & most ATP Masters 1000 titles (40, Djokovic). 

I know that anything is possible, but having three players be that dominant at the SAME TIME will likely never happen again. However, Sinner & Alcaraz are no doubt good enough to be a formidable pair themselves. At just 21 years old, Alcaraz is already a 4-time slam champ, and 23-year old Sinner isn’t far behind with 2. 

I think it is entirely possible for Jannik & Carlitos to be consistently dominant at the slams, I mean they did it this year, so they’ve already begun to separate themselves from the pack. 

The only concerns I have is potential burnout, and Sinner’s doping case that is still ongoing. They are both still so young and it takes so much mental strength to keep up that dominant play. Plus, if Sinner does end up getting suspended, that could change the course of his entire career. It’s one thing to be out with an injury, but not being allowed to play missing out on so much would take a toll on anyone.

Overall, the Big 3 era was just insane and probably won’t ever be replicated again. But tennis is still as exciting as ever, and Sinner & Alcaraz are great for the sport and are generational talents. Even if their accolades don’t match the Big 3’s when it's all said and done, they are extraordinary players in their own right.

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Who Won Last Week’s Tournaments?

There were two thrilling finals that took place over the weekend. They were big ones too with 1000 points on the line.

In Shanghai, Jannik Sinner continued his incredible season with a 7-6 (4) 6-3 victory over Novak Djokovic. Sinner was impressive all week, notching straight set wins over Ben Shelton, Daniil Medvedev, & Tomas Machac. The win over Machac was especially impressive considering that the Czech was coming off a straight sets upset of Carlos Alcaraz in the previous round. This was Sinner’s 3rd Masters 1000 title of the season and 7th title this year overall. Very impressive from the Italian who is continuing to build his Player of the Year resume.

Over in Wuhan, Aryna Sabalenka outlasted Qinwen Zheng in a grueling final 6-3 5-7 6-3 in almost 3 hours of play. This was Aryna’s third title in Wuhan, and she is actually undefeated at this tournament with an outstanding 17-0 record. The Wuhan title is her fourth this year, and her 2nd 1000 title of the year. This is the first time in her career that she had won multiple 1000 titles in the same year. She may not be #1 right now in the rankings, but she is definitely playing like the best player in the world. 

Who’s Playing This Week?

It’s hard to believe that there are only a handful of weeks of tournaments left until the Tour Finals. There won’t be any shortage of action this week. The women will remain in Asia for tournaments in Ningbo, China & Osaka, Japan. The men are headed over to Europe for 250 action in Almaty, Kazakhstan, Stockholm, Sweden, & Antwerp, Belgium.

Frances Tiafoe, Tomas Machac & Alejandro Tabilo headline the field in Almaty. Andrey Rublev, Casper Ruud, Tommy Paul, & home favorite Leo Borg will be in action in Sweden. Finally, Alex De Minaur, Stefanos Tsitsipas, & Felix Auger-Aliassime are among those competing in Antwerp. 

The Ningbo Open was upgraded from a 250 to a 500 event this year, and the entry list certainly reflects that. All 8 seeds are ranked inside the top 15, headlined by #6 Jasmine Paolini, #7 Qinwen Zheng, #8 Emma Navarro, & #10 Barbara Krejcikova.

Leylah Fernandez, Amanda Anisimova, & Bianca Andresscu are among those in a strong field at the 250 event in Osaka.

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

It goes without saying that the Race to the Tour Finals is as competitive as ever this year. 3 men have qualified for the Finals so far and 21 (!) players are still mathematically alive in the Race. On the WTA side, 7 players have qualified as of this week, and 7 players still technically have a shot at the final spot. 

Of course, even if some players are not actually eliminated from the Race yet, many of them would need to potentially win back-to-back-to-back tournaments. They would also need players above them to not do well. For example, Alexi Popryin, who is #23 in the Race, would have to win at least 4 of the tournaments left on the calendar to get up to #7 at best. Not impossible, but highly unlikely.

After the conclusion of Wuhan & Shanghai, there were several shifts in the standings. 

Djokovic moved up 3 spots to #6 thanks to his run to the final in Shanghai. #4 Danill Medvedev is on the cusp of qualifying, only trailing the qualification cut by 275 points. 

On the women's side, Sabalenka is already qualified, but her Wuhan win actually moved her up a spot to #1 in the Race rankings. This could prove to be significant in the seeding at the Finals. #7 Qinwen Zheng moved ahead of #8 Emma Navarro thanks to the Wuhan final points. Zheng is now almost 500 points ahead of Navarro and the firm favorite to make her WTA Finals debut next month. 

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!