WTA - Bad Homburg, Germany, Eastbourne, Great Britain, ATP - Eastbourne, Great Britain, Mallorca, Spain

 

Seven Sisters and Beachy Head Lighthouse, Eastbourne, Great Britain. The headland has been considered a danger to shipping. In 1831, construction began on the Belle Tout Lighthouse on the next headland west from Beachy Head. Because mist and low clouds could hide the light of Belle Tout, it was decommissioned in 1902, after the Beachy Head Lighthouse had been built in the sea below Beachy Head as a replacement.

Winston Salem, North Carolina, Cleveland, Ohio, Monterrey, Mexico

Tennis Abstract Art

Washington, DC, Austria, Croatia and Prague

 

Grass Swing - The Road to Wimbledon 2025 - Final Week

WTA  

WTA - Strasbourg-France, Rabbat-Morocco, ATP - Hamburg-Germany, Geneva-Switzerland

Rolling along to Roland Garros 2025.....

ATP

Merida-Mexico, Austin-Texas, Dubai-UAE, Acapulco-Mexico, Santiago-Chile

Merida Open Akron WTA 500

Merida, Mexico

February 24-March 2, 2025

Surface: Hard

Draws: Singles 32, doubles 16

Founded in 2023, and this year was raised from a 250 tourney to a 500.

Defending champion: Zeynep Sonmez who defeated Ann Li.

Top 4 seeds (of 8): Emma Navarro, Paula Badosa, Beatriz Haddad Maia, Anna Kalinskaya

Wildcards: Include Anna Kalinskaya, Zeynep Sonmez, Sloane Stephens, Marie Bouzkova, Polina Kudertemova

Protected ranking: Julia Grabher

Austria, Singapore, France, Davis Cup

Upper Austria Ladies Linz WTA 500
Linz, Austria
January 27-February 2, 2025

River Danube, Linz, Austria

Getting Ready for 2025

 

Wishing everyone a Safe and Happy Christmas and Hanukkah 

ATP 250 - Croatia, Austria, and USA. WTA 250 - Czechia and Romania

 

Plava Laguna Croatia Open Umag ATP 250
International Tennis Center
Umag, Croatia
July 21- 27, 2024

Primosten Village, Croatia. Primošten is a village and municipality in Šibenik-Knin County, Croatia. It is situated in the south, between the cities of Šibenik and Trogir, on the Adriatic coast

Almost back to Clay - Germany, Switzerland, Sweden, USA, Italy, Hungary

 

Hamburg Open ATP 500
Am Rothenbaum
Hamburg, Germany
July 15-21, 2024

Street Art, Hamburg, Germany

Surface: Clay
Draws: Singles 32, Doubles 16
This is the 118th edition of the tournament.
Most titles: Roger Federer with 4.
Defending champion: Alexander Zverev who defeated Laslo Djere.

Seeds (in order of seeding): Alexander Zverev, Holger Rune, Sebastian Baez, Francisco Cerundolo, Arthur Fils, Mateo Arnaldi, Luciano Darderi, Zhizhen Zhang

Wildcards: Both German players – Rudolf Molleker, Henri Squire

Protected ranking: Kwon Soon-woo

Withdrawals: Alejandro Davidovich Fokina, Dan Evans, Gael Monfils, Corentin Moutet, Lorenzo Musetti

 

Pre Wimbledon 2 - ATP 250 Eastbourne, Mallorca. WTA 500 Bad Homburg, Eastbourne

 

In tennis, it is not the opponent you fear, it is the failure itself, knowing how near you were but just out of reach.  Andy Murray 

The tennis ball doesn't know how old I am. The ball doesn't know if I'm a man or a woman or if I come from a communist country or not. Sport has always broken down these barriers.

Martina Navratilova

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Pre Wimbledon ATP 500 Halle & London, WTA 500 Berlin, WTA 250 Birmingham

 

Pre Roland Garros - France, Switzerland, Morocco

 

JoAnne Embry's dogs.....

A cat and dog playing tennis meme.  Who woulda thought?......

Slip sliding on Clay - Germany - ATP, Spain - ATP, Romania - ATP, France -WTA, Germany-WTA

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Porsche Tennis Grand Prix WTA 500
Tennis Sporthalle Filderstadt
Stuttgart, Germany
April 15-21, 2024

Jupp-Wiertz Vintage German art deco

Charleston South Carolina-WTA500, Bogota, Columbia-WTA250, Houston, Texas ATP-250, Marrakech, Morocco-ATP-250, Estoril, Portugal-ATP250.

 

So long from Miami but first a hearty Congratulations to our Winners in what I thought turned out to be a good tourney with quite a bit of excitement and of course upsets.    Our 2024 Miami winners are:

Men's Singles             Women's Singles              Men's Doubles                    Women's Doubles

J. Sinner                    D. Collins                         M. Ebden/R.Bopanna         S. Kenin/B.Mattek-Sands

ATP: Chile, Dubai & Acapulco; WTA: Austin & San Diego, USA

 

This week is full once again with five tournaments - two ATP 500s in Santiago and  Acapulco, along with a 250 in Dubai. The WTA hosts a 250 in Austin, Texas and a 500 in San Diego. A lot of activity right before 12 days in Indian Wells next week. 

I'd say the biggest surprise was the WTA 1000 in Dubai where the top seeds fell, leaving the Final a battle between qualifier Kalinskaya (who dispatched three Top 10 seeds to reach the Final) and the unseeded victor Paolini (who defeated Haddad-Maia and Sakkari on her way, but likely benefited from a W/O by Rybakina in the SF,). Interesting that Paolini lost to Kalinskaya in the 4R of the AO and lost in the 1R of both Linz and Doha before lifting her 2nd title here) However, both ladies made a dramatic rise in the rankings as a result -  #14 for Paolini and #24 for Kalinskaya (who I'm hoping to see much more of)!  

On the men's side perhaps we should all take notice of the surprising performance of the Czech teen Jacub Mensik who defeated the #1 seed Rublev to face the #2 seed and victor Khachanov. IMO, results and surprises like these in Dubai and Doha make tennis much more interesting (and more difficult for some MCM prognosticators).

Congratulations to this past week's Champions:

WTA 1000 Dubai 

Singles: Jasmine Paolini d. Anna Kalinskaya

Doubles: Hunter/Siniakova d. Melichar-Martinez/Perez

ATP 500 Doha

Singles: Karen Khachanov d. Jakub Mensik

Doubles: Murray/Venus d. Musetti/Sonego

ATP 250 Los Cabos

Singles: Jordan Thompson d. Casper Ruud

Doubles:Purcell/Thompson d. Nedovyesov/Escobar 

ATP 250 Rio

Singles: Sebastian Baez d. Mariano Navone

Doubles: Barrientos/Matos d, Erler/Miedler

A lot of tennis coming up for you👇

ATP 500 Rio de Janeiro, ATP 250 Qatar and Mexico, WTA 1000 Dubai

One of the Miracle Gardens of Dubai, UAE

ATP Rotterdam 500, Argentina 250, Delray Beach 250 and WTA Qatar 1000

 

Sunshine Skyway Bridge, St. Petersburg, Florida

Theme for the thread - Bridges. Bridges serve to join and connect different people or things - just like  sports...  

With four tourneys this week we are humming along in 2024. Grigor Dimitrov is I think determined to create and sustain his revival.  Am keeping fingers crossed for him while hoping that Frances Tiafoe and FAA can really make their mark this year, without injuries.  Can Emma Radacanu have her own revival?  I hope so.  So far I don't see major story lines emerging in 2024 so will be patient.  

Congratulations to this past week's winners:

Abu Dahbi, UAE:

Singles - Elena Rybakina
Doubles - B. Mattek-Sands/S. Kenin

Cluj-Napoca, Romania

Singles  - K. Pliskova
Doubles  - A. Muhammad/C. McNally

Cordoba, Argentina

Singles  - L. Daderi

Doubles  - A. Molteni/M. Gonzalez

Dallas, Texas

Singles  - T. Paul

Doubles  - M. Purcell/J. Thompson

Marseille, France

Singles  - U. Humbert

Doubles  - T. Machac/Z. Zhang

Who is playing and where?...

WTA in UAE & Romania - ATP in Dallas, Argentina & Marseille

 

Get ready for a very busy week with 5 tournaments on 4 continents - WTA 500 in Abu Dhabi and a 250 in Cluj-Napoca and ATP 250s in Dallas, Cordoba and Marseille. 

Congratulations to this past week's winners:

WTA 500 Linz, Austria

Singles: J. Ostapenko d. E. Alexandrova

Doubles: Errani/Paolini d. Melichar-Martinez/Perez

WTA 250 Hua Hin

Singles: D. Shnaider d. Zhu L.

Doubles: Kato/Sutjiadi d. Guo/Jiang

ATP 250 Montpellier

Singles: A. Bublik d. B. Cornic

Doubles: Doumbia/Reboul d. Olivetti/Weissborn

Play ball!👇

Out of Australia On to Austria, France & Thailand

 

Our first major of the season is under our belts. Some have described this year's AO as 'bizarre' considering the upsets, although at the end the top seeds prevailed in the finals. The biggest surprise was the #1 WTA player - Iga Swiatek - losing the 3R to #50 Czech youngster Linda Noskova in her debut at the AO. Noskova went on to the QF after a 4R retirement by Elina Svitolina, where she lost to Dayana Yastremska. Noskova joined a number of young Russians and Czechs making their marks here. It may be safe to assume that with their level of play, there may to be more parity among the WTA field going forth. The last woman standing, World #2 Aryna Sabalenka, successfully defended her 2023 title here and proved unbeatable, not losing a set.

On the men's side, some consider Novak Djokovic's loss in the SF to Jannik Sinner an upset. Which is understandable considering prior to this SF loss, Novak had won 34 consecutive AO matches dating back to 2018. He's won 10 of the last 22 slams he's contested and reached the Final in every major he appeared since Wimbledon of 2022. With that record and 10 AO trophies, I expect that Novak is the one upset. But Sinner will go down as the one to break a mighty powerful streak. Another upset was Carlos Alcaraz losing in the QF to Alexander Zverev, although the latter was impressive up to and including the 4 1/2 hour SF where he lost to Daniil Medvedev after being up the first two sets, then losing two very close TB'ers in sets 3 and 4 before Daniil finished him off in the 5th to face Sinner in the Final.

Besides this year's upsets, there were an inordinate number of 5-setters and an impressive surge of young players outplaying their more-vetted opponents. There's many who we should keep an eye out for this year (there's a handful  - Frenchman Arthur Cazaux is one, although he's certainly not the only one, but I saw little of this year's AO, but those of you who did without sleep this fortnight know who I'm talking about!)

Finally, perhaps 'bizarre' or tennis poetry, the Final between the #3 and #4 seeds almost mirrored the Zverev/Medvedev SF - Jannik, having not lost a set before the Final went down the first two sets to Medvedev before finding gears, answers and magic to take the last three sets and lift his first Major trophy! IMO Sinner's win may announce an official changing of the guard. Novak is no longer seen as indomitable and Jannik and his generation seem poised to take the mantle going forward. Not to write off some veterans since on any given day anyone can be beat, but there seems to be new sheriffs in Tennis Town. 

Congratulations to this year's AO Champions:

Men's Singles: Jannik Sinner d. Daniil Medvedev

Women's Singles - Aryna Sabalenka d. Zheng Qinwen

Men's Doubles: R. Bopanna/M. Ebden d. S. Bolelli/A. Vavassori

Women's Doubles: E. Mertens/Hsieh S.W d. J. Ostapenko/L. Kichenok

Mixed Doubles: Hsieh S.W./J. Zielenski d. J. Krawczyk/N. Skupski

On to this week👇