Welcome to the Monday Tennis Briefing, where Competitor will explain the story behind what happened in court last week.
The European Clay Court Tour officially kicks off this week on the ATP and WTA tours, with tournaments taking place in France, Germany, Portugal, Spain and Romania. Four of the best women’s players faced off in Stuttgart, Barcelona saw Nadal’s return and we saw a zero-gravity serve.
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Will the WTA and ATP Tours exchange their data?
Over the past year, there has been some discussion about the formation of a “Big Four” in women’s tennis. It was the “Big Three” consisting of Iga Swiatek, Elena Rybakina and Aryna Sabalenka, but then Coco… Coco Gauff won the U.S. Open and maintained consistent performances in tournaments including the Australian Open semifinals. Her ranking also climbed to third place. Meanwhile, the meteoric rise of Carlos Alcaraz, succeeded by the slow-burning Jannik Sinner, Daniil Medvedev being Daniil Medvedev, and the elastic continuity of Novak Djokovic , forming a new rivalry on the ATP Tour.
The past few months have shattered that thinking. Despite not winning a Grand Slam title since last year’s French Open, Swiatek has still shown dominance as the world’s No. 1 for a long time. The other three haven’t shown the kind of consistency that really warrants using names stemming from the Roger Federer/Djokovic/Nadal/Andy Murray dominance of the 2010s.
Ten years on, it’s easy to forget how often these names appear on the final weekend of a major event. Take 2012 as an example: Murray, Federer, Nadal and Djokovic occupied 12 of the 16 semi-final seats in the four Grand Slam tournaments that year. Murray, Djokovic and Federer also occupied three semi-final spots at the London Olympics that year.
A rare intermediate event in Stuttgart last week attracted the top four women who looked like they might sweep the semi-finals. But then Marketa Vondrousova beat Sabalenka, Gauff lost to Marta Kostyuk, Elena Ray Elena Rybakina won the match.
Next up, Madrid. Maybe this time the quartet will be the last.
deeper
Top female tennis players say the sport is broken.that’s why
What’s behind Andrei Rublev’s eight-set slump?
Excellent tennis players can see their form decline dramatically. Now, it’s Rublev’s turn.
Rublev was ranked fifth in the world at the start of the year. He was seeded at the Australian Open but has been in poor form since missing his last match in the semi-finals against Alexander Bublik in Dubai in February.
Rublev angrily protested the call to the line judge. Another referee claimed the Russian used a curse word in his native language.
He didn’t.
Tournament officials refused to review the tape before ruling Rublev in breach of contract and stripping him of ranking points and prize money.
The video went viral and the ATP eventually restored his ranking points and the money he had earned – but the damage had been done. Since then, Rublev has won just one match, and that was against players ranked well below him, including Alexei Popyrin, ranked 44th in the world, and last week’s world No. No. 87 Brandon Nakashima, who ruined his racket after losing match point.
The encounter wasn’t even close. Rublev is clearly healthy, but he’s just not playing well, having lost four straight games since his absence, dropping eight of ten sets.
Those statistics aren’t stellar, but the decline isn’t as severe as his game results. However, look at something else…
“Odds Ratio” is calculated by dividing the return points won by the percentage of service points lost. The last time Rublev’s dominance was this low was in 2015, when his highest ranking for the year was 185th in the world and his lowest ranking was 438th.
What Coco Gauff did…how long did it last?
Gauff has received many accolades for his courage, competitiveness and ability to overcome tight matches, especially in three-set matches.
An American may have all these qualities, but she can also do math.
Goff played in 25 games, winning 19 and losing 6. Of those 25 games, 8 have ended, and of those 8 games, she has lost 4.
That’s two losses in 17 two-set matches and four losses in eight three-set matches.
What does it mean?
Goff took the wrong turn in a chaotic game (Alex Green/Getty Images)
Of course, her coach Brad Gilbert is the biggest proponent of ugly winning, but it has to include the “winning” part. Gauff almost always appears, and it’s worth remembering that of those two straight losses, one came against Sabalenka in the Australian Open semifinals.
She still needs to be calmer. As exciting as it is to watch Goff fight, as crazy as it is to watch her win fights when she’s nowhere near her best, the slim margins eventually catch up to the player. That’s what happened against Kostelijk in Stuttgart. Gauff defeated Kostelijk in three sets in Australia, but he also got his reward in Germany.
It was the epitome of the coin flip that her three-set match became.
deeper
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Stefanos Tsitsipas and Casper Rudd reach their peak – but at the right time?
Tsitsipas and Rudd are two of the best clay court players in the world. Rudd has reached the finals of the past two French Opens. Tsitsipas had done one before that. Unfortunately, their opponents in the final, Nadal and Djokovic, have won a combined 46 Grand Slam titles, 17 of which came at Roland Garros.
Still, Thetis Pas and Rudd have earned the right to have the peak of their clay-court seasons at Roland Garros, as both should be at the top of the tournament and, depending on the draw, may also have a chance to win it.
Ruud took control of this final after a lackluster performance last week (Joan Valls/Urbanandsport/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
The way things were going, they might not have any fuel left in their tanks.
For the second week in a row, Ruud and Thetis Pas met in the championship final, this time in Barcelona, where Ruud avenged his loss to the Greeks in Monte Carlo. This was Ruud van Nistelrooy’s third match of the clay-court season and Thetis Pas’s second. Both events in Madrid and Rome were slightly below Grand Slam level and occupied the next few days before the start of the French Open. four weeks. Even for players in their twenties like Rudd and Thetis Pas, this is part of a lot of tennis.
Yes, it’s that time of year when the best on clay are trying to rack up ranking points and prize money, but is it too much? Djokovic certainly thinks so, at least for him. Djokovic, a master of conserving energy and peaking at big tournaments, competed in Monte Carlo and lost to Rudd in the semifinals, but he took last week off and also withdrew from Madrid. He will likely play Roma and then head to Paris – fuel reserves are high.
Kick it up, it’s great
It’s a truth universally recognized – at least by readers of beloved British children’s author Michael Rosen – that if you can’t rise above it or fall below it, you have to live through it.
Brazilian rising star Joao Fonseca doesn’t acknowledge this fact.
How high can this go? 😳
Joao Fonseca’s kick bounces past Sonego 🚀#TiriacOpen pic.twitter.com/t7X7OOI3CC
— Tennis TV (@TennisTV) April 16, 2024
Recommended reading:
🏆This week’s winners
🎾 Adenosine triphosphate:
🏆 Casper Luther definition. Stefanos Tsitsipas Won the Banc Sabadell Open in Barcelona (500) 7-5, 6-3. This is Van Nistelrooy’s first ATP title above 250.
🏆 Jan-Leonard Straff definition. Taylor Fritz Won the BMW Open Munich (250) 7-5, 6-3. This is Straff’s first ATP title.
🏆 Marton Fucovich definition. Mariano Navone Won Bucharest Tiriac Open (250) 6-4, 7-5. This is Fucsovich’s second ATP title.
🎾 Women’s Tennis Association:
🏆 Elena Rybakina definition. Martha Kostyuk Won the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix (500) in Stuttgart, Germany, 6-3, 6-3. This is Rybakina’s third title in 2024.
🏆 Sloane Stephens definition. Magda Lynette Won the Capfinances Rouen Metropole Open (250) in Rouen, France, 6-1, 2-6, 6-2. This is Stephens’ first title since 2022.
🏆 Susan Ramens definition. Clara Towson Won the Oeiras Women’s Open (125) in Oeiras, Portugal, 6-4, 5-7, 6-4. In the fierce final, Towson won seven games in a row after falling behind 0-5 in the second set, but Ramens tied the score from falling behind 1-4 in the third set and won five games in a row to win the title. champion.
📈📉 rise/fall
📈 Marta Kostyuk moved up 6 places, from 27th to 21st.
📈 Marton Fucsovics moved up 29 spots, from 82nd to 53rd.
📈 Magda Linette moved up 12 spots, from 60th to 48th.
📉 Carlos Alcaraz remains in third place, but is down 1,000 points, closing the gap on fourth-placed Daniil Medvedev.
📉 Karolina Pliskova dropped 6 spots from the top 50, from 47th to 53rd.
📉 Dan Evans dropped 20 spots, from 49th to 69th.
📅Coming soon
🎾 Adenosine triphosphate:
📍Madrid, Mutua Madrid Open (1000) April 24 – May 5ft Jannik Sinner, Carlos Alcaraz (..?) Rafael Nadal (..?).
📺 UK: Sky Sports; US: Tennis Channel 💻 Tennis TV
📍Savannah, Savannah Challenger (75) ft. JJ Wolf, Bernard Tomic
🎾 Women’s Tennis Association:
📍Madrid, Madrid Mutual Open (1000) April 24 – May 5ft. Iga Swiatek, Aryna Sabalenka, Elena Rybakina, Coco Gauff.
📺 UK: Sky Sports; US: Tennis Channel 💻 Tennis TV
As the tour continues, let us know in the comments what you noticed this week.
(Top Photo: Alex Green/Eric Alonso/Robert Prange/Getty Images)
