The land of withdrawals and opportunity
As the North American hard-court swing kicks off, top-seed withdrawals open doors for everyone else.
Pulse Check
The post-Wimby, pre-USO carnage has shaken out over the past few days, with many top players pulling out of the upcoming 500 and 1000-level hard-court tournaments. Depending on which player you are (or are a fan of), it’s either a bummer, a much-needed respite, or a golden opportunity.
Jannik Sinner (1), Novak Djokovic (6), and Carlos Alcaraz (2) were never slated to play the 500-level DC Open, which starts today, but they’ve pulled out of the subsequent Masters 1000 tournament in Toronto. Sinner and Djokovic are nursing Wimbledon injuries, while Alcaraz is likely just taking a well-deserved break after a busy first half of the year that saw him on a 24-match win streak until he lost to Sinner in the Wimbledon final. More surprising was an announcement from Jack Draper (5) that he’d picked up an injury in his left arm sometime after Wimbledon and would be skipping both Toronto and Cincinnati (also a Masters 1000). I wouldn’t be shocked if Djokovic pulls out of Cincy, too.
On the WTA side, Qinwen Zheng (6) announced that she’d undergone arthroscopic elbow surgery to help with niggling pain she’d been playing through for several months. Her return is TBD, but it’s unlikely she’ll be ready in time for the US Open. Paula Badosa (10), who’s been struggling with back pain for years, pulled out of both Washington and Montreal, while her close friend and World No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka pulled out of Montreal, citing fatigue. “I’m looking forward to kicking off the North American hard-court swing, but to give myself the best chance for success this season, I’ve decided it’s in my best interest to skip Montreal,” she said. Given the burnout invading both sides of the tour and Sabalenka’s “struggle” (she’s not exactly unimpressive) to pull out a win in the last three Slam finals, this sounds like the right move.
Alas, this is sports, so one person’s shitty injury or exhaustion is another player’s opportunity to shine—particularly on the men’s side, where Sinner and Alcaraz have been a concrete wall barring other talented players from scooping up big wins. With four of the best players in the world sitting out Montreal, other top guys like Alexander Zverev (3), Taylor Fritz (4), Lorenzo Musetti (7), and Ben Shelton (8) will be gunning to make the most of it and snag a Masters 1000 title. American bias aside, recent form combined with overall hard-court prowess has me banking on either Fritz or Shelton (the latter will be especially hungry as he’s yet to win a 1000).
We’ve seen more varied wins on the women’s side this year (which is delightful, BTW), but Sabalenka sitting out Montreal is still one less dominant player to worry about for the likes of Coco Gauff (2), Iga Swiatek (3), and Jessica Pegula (4), as well as everyone else who might hope to make it deep.
What’s On
As I mentioned, the DC Open main draw starts today, and it’s already shaping up to be a fun one. We’ve got the much-discussed and aggressively debated return of Venus Williams, who’ll be playing fellow American Peyton Stearns (35) in her first-round singles match today and joining local native Hailey Baptiste in doubles. I will be seated.
Baptiste’s pal and fellow hometown favorite, Frances Tiafoe (11), will also be gunning to take it all after reaching the semis last year, and he’s sure to put on a show along the way. Adding to the fireworks? He’ll be joining his friend and fellow on-court entertainer Ben Shelton on the doubles court starting tonight.
Speaking of which, in the ultimate embodiment of a love-hate viewing experience, the beloved Gael Monfils (49) is playing doubles with…Nick Kyrgios (640), hater extraordinaire. Not a combination any of us asked for, but if we turn off our moral compass for a bit, it could be fun? Sigh.
And because the tennis gods have put a hex on Taylor Fritz, he’s got a good chance of playing Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard (45) in his first match again, just weeks after the serve and serve return heard ‘round the world. GMP faces Aleksandar Vukic (90) in the first round, and he leads the head-to-head 1-0. It’s very hard to see Vukic beating him unless Perricard has an off serving day. Fritz, who has a first-round bye, will meet the winner in the second round. If it is GMP, at least we know it’ll be a banger.
Other first-round singles matches to watch today and tomorrow: Jaume Munar (51) vs. Marcos Giron (46), the winner of which will face Alejandro Davidovich Fokina (26); former DC title winner Dan Evans (145) vs. Zizou Bergs (53); the form-seeking Naomi Osaka (49) vs. Yulia Putintseva (43), who have a tied H2H; an increasingly in-form Emma Raducanu (45) vs. Marta Kostyuk (27); and an all-American faceoff between Sofia Kenin (26) and Hailey Baptiste (50). After taking a week off from watching tennis (because I do, at times, need to live my life), I’m ready.
Net Gains
Two of the ATP’s biggest on-court characters won titles last week. Kazakh Alexander Bublik (30), who’s having arguably the best year of his career, won his first tour-level clay court title at the Swiss Open in Gstaad, beating the impressive young player Juan Manuel Cerundolo (brother of Francisco). “This was not tennis, it was complete torture,” Bublik joked in his speech, giving props to Cerundolo for his fight.
Meanwhile, Canadian player Denis Shapovalov (28) continued his strong comeback year after a knee injury saw his ranking drop to 140 by winning the Los Cabos Open. He beat American Aleksandar Kovacevic (66) to snag his second title of the year. I love these two little freaks (IYKYK) and am pumped to see them succeed. Do you think they can work their way back to their career-high rankings (17 and 10, respectively)? As Jannik Sinner would say, “let’s see what’s coming.”
Kitted
I’ll leave you with something aesthetically pleasing. I feel like WTA players get short shrift when it comes to fashion magazine spreads (among many other things). The styling of this recent Tatler feature on Emma Navarro (11), for example, was so terrible and dated-but-not-in-a-cool-way, it made me cringe. Please, fashion editors, do our girls the same justice you do the guys — making them look extremely cool, even if they don’t actually care about fashion. Why? Because whether we like it or not, it’s good for their brand.
I was pleased with this mini shoot of rising Filipina star Alexandra Eala (56) for Vogue Philippines. Rocking a custom Nike t-shirt featuring the national flower of the Philippines, the sampaguita (which she also wore in her hair for Wimbledon), with oversized denim and a pair of Nike Air Superflys, Eala looks effortlessly cool while evoking her incredible run this year of “firsts” (she’s the first Filipina to rank in the world’s top 100 and play in the main draw of Wimbledon, for starters). It’s “a reminder of where I come from and everything that brought me here,” said Eala. Sadly, the t-shirt is only on sale in the Philippines.
With Sinner, Alcaraz, and Djokovic out, guys like Fritz and Shelton have a real shot to shine. On the women’s side, Sabalenka resting and Zheng’s surgery shows the toll this season is taking. I am excited to see Venus’ return. Nice article!
Cincinnati and Canada expanded their tournaments as a result of negotiations between the players and the tour This has resulted in less time between the end of Wimbledon and the start of the Canadian tournaments The trade off has been increased opportunities for the forty additional players in the draws of Cincinnati and Canada versus the withdrawal of top players who go deep at Wimbledon
In my view this has been a net plus for the players The fans who want to see the top players in Canada will be the losers but I remember Djokovic dropping out of Canada to limit his schedule before the US Open Even under the prior formats players adjusted their schedule to give them the best chance at the US Open