Running tennis thread 2026

[da man]

Christmas is past, which means the new tennis season is on and the runup to the Australian Open is at hand.

A lot of interesting stuff took place in the post-U.S. Open season -- which might be my favorite part of tennis year because it seems like no one but me is paying attention -- but the biggest story broke after the season ended in mid-November with Sinner defeating Alcaraz for the ATP Finals championship.

A couple weeks ago, Alcaraz (still ranked No. 1 despite the ATP Finals loss) parted ways with coach Juan Carlos Ferrero, who he's been working with since Alcaraz was 15. In their seven years togther, Alcaraz has won six majors, beginning with the 2022 U.S. Open at age 19. He finished that year with the No. 1 ranking to become the youngest player ever to finish a year as the ATP No. 1.

In his announcement, Alcaraz said he and Ferrero "have decided to end our time together," but Ferrero has made it quite clear the split was not his idea. In his social media statement, the coach said, "I wish I could have continued." In an interview with Spanish sports publication Marca, he said, "Everything seemed like it was set to continue" but a disagreement over their contract led to the breakup. He said money was not the issue but did not elaborate on what the problem was.

"Right now, I'm hurting," he said. "I gave it my all. I poured my heart and soul into this project."

For now, Samuel Lopez, who came on board a couple years ago as an assistant to Ferrero, is serving as Alcaraz's coach, but Carlito is reportedly looking for a new coach. One potential candidate you can count out is Rafa Nadal, who said he's done with the constant travel of the tour and is not interested in coaching -- at least for now.

What does this mean for Alcaraz's game? We'll get the first indication Jan. 10, when he faces No. 2 Sinner in an exhibition match in Seoul. And then, of course, it's on to Melbourne.

 

[BTExpress]

What? No mention of today's epic Battle of the Sexes match between Sabalenka and Kyrgios?

Critics have been kind of harsh about it. One was bemoaning Sabalenka's side of the court being 9% smaller as evidence it should have an asterisk (vis a vis Billie Jean King and Bobby Riggs).

At least Kyrgios is a semi-recent Wimbledon finalist. Playing a then-55-year-old man (as opposed to a contemporary pro) wasn't asterisk worthy?

 

[da man]

What? No mention of today's epic Battle of the Sexes match between Sabalenka and Kyrgios?

Critics have been kind of harsh about it. One was bemoaning Sabalenka's side of the court being 9% smaller as evidence it should have an asterisk (vis a vis Billie Jean King and Bobby Riggs).

At least Kyrgios is a semi-recent Wimbledon finalist. Playing a then-55-year-old man (as opposed to a contemporary pro) wasn't asterisk worthy?

I confine my posts to things related to actual competition.

 

[MileHigh]

Pam Shriver (36 years) and Brad Gilbert (23 years) out in revamped ESPN coverage of the Aussie Open.

ESPN parts ways with Pam Shriver and Brad Gilbert in Australian Open shakeup

 

[TheSportsPredictor]

Someone Bill Ackerman could beat?

Worst tennis player ever? Wildcard entrant at £22K event goes viral

 

[BTExpress]

Never been a Shriver fan. One of her many eye-roll moments came when she was booed by the stadium crowd with her dismissive "Wickmayer" (former Belgian player Yanina Wickmayer) reference, then goes all "What did I say??"

 

[da man]

Some intriguing developments in the first week of Aussie prep events.

It has not been a good week for Taylor Fritz, who won just one of his four matches in the United Cup team event. He lost to Argentina's Sebastian Baez, Greece's Tsitsipas and Poland's Hubie Hurkacz and beat Jaume Munar of Spain in three sets, winning two tiebreaks. According to the live rankings, he will no longer be the top-ranked American, falling to ninth in the rankings, behind No. 8 Ben Shelton.

Fortunately for the U.S. team, Coco Gauff went 3-1 in singles -- her one loss, to Spain's Jessica Bouzas Maneiro, happened to come in the same tie as Fritz's win -- and 3-1 in mixed doubles with Christian Harrison, carrying the defending champion Americans to the semifinals. The U.S. lost to Poland, 2-1, with Gauff providing the only win -- a big one over No. 2 Swiatek, 6-4, 6-2.

In Brisbane, Jessica Pegula took a beating, getting destroyed by Marta Kostyuk 6-0, 6-3 in the semis. Kostyuk is making a case for herself as a threat to make a deep run in Melbourne, having won three consecutive matches over top 10 opponents, following victories over Mirra Andreeva in the quarters and Amanda Anisimova in the Round of 16. Kostyuk will face No. 1 Sabalenka in the final tonight/tomorrow morning.

The men's semis in Brisbane included three Americans -- 21-year-old Alex Michelson, Aleksandar Kovacevic and Brandon Nakashima -- and the only seeded player left, Daniil Medvedev. Nakashima beat Kovacevic but Medvedev prevented an all-American final, stopping Michelson 6-4, 6-2.

Medvedev had a disappointing 2025 season, but after the U.S. Open he parted ways with longtime coach Gilles Cervara and hired Thomas Johansson and Rohan Goetzke, and he finished the year strong. He is now 19-4 in his past 23 matches, including his first tournament title since his win on the clay of Rome in the summer of 2023, at Almaty, Kazakhstan. With a win in Brisbane he would also make a statement that he could be a factor at the Aussie Open.

 

[da man]

Medvedev closed the deal in Brisbane, beating Nakashima 6-2, 7-6. Now it's on to Melbourne. The past two years he went into the Australian Open without playing a tuneup event -- last year it was because his wife gave birth to their daughter just days before the tournament began, and the crashed out early. Will this make a difference?

Kostyuk returned to earth with a straight-sets loss to Sabalenka.

Poland won the United Cup, but Swiatek lost again, this time to Belinda Bencic, and she got bageled in the second set. Not sure what's up with Iga -- once the dominant women's player, she's been very inconsistent over the past year.

And finally -- and yes, @BTExpress, I know it's not real competition -- Alcaraz beat Sinner 7-5, 7-6 in an exhibition in Incheon, South Korea. According to the reports, it wasn't exactly intense. They concentrated more on putting on a show than winning. Reuters called it a "largely light-hearted hit-around" that included trick shots and bringing fans from the stands to play. Still, its the only event for both before the year's first major.

 

[da man]

Youth is the theme of the two finals of the women's tournaments tonight/tomorrow (depending on your point of view) in Australia. Three of the four players are teenagers, and all of them are looking like potential stars.

One of them -- 18-year-old Mirra Andreeva -- has already arrived. She's been a presence on the tour for three years now and is ranked solidly in the top 10 (No. 7 in the live rankings). But she'll face a fast-rising force in big-hitting Canadian Victoria Mboko, who at 19 has stormed up the rankings to her current career high of 17 (she's 16 in the live rankings and would move up to 14 with a win). She posted two tournament titles last year, including the 1000-level Canada tournament, during which she beat No. 5 Rybakina and trounced No. 3 Gauff. This should be a terrific match, a real heavyweight battle.

In Hobart, the youngest of the three, American Iva Jovic, takes on Elisabetta Cocciaretto. Jovic just turned 18 Dec. 6 but already has a WTA tournament championship under her belt after winning a 500 in Guadalajara last fall. She's soared from 206 to open 2025 to her current ranking of 30, and a win will lift her all the way to 24. She's seeded 29th in the Australian Open draw.

 

[da man]

Andreeva took care of business with a convincing 6-3, 6-1 victory over Mboko. Not so much for Jovic, who let one get away in a 6-4, 6-4 loss to No. 80 Cocciaretto.

The year's first major is underway with matches going on now. Two seeds out already -- men's No. 20 Flavio Cobolli, who lost to qualifier Arthur Fery of the U.K., and women's No. 26 Dayana Yastremska, who fell to 79th-ranked Elena-Gabriela Ruse.

No. 3 Zverev just closed out a four-set win over Canadian Gabriel Diallo.

 

[da man]

First round complete. Biggest casualty so far is men's seventh seed Felix Auger-Aliassime, who retired due to cramps, sending Nuno Borges to the second round. A couple of young Americans took out seeds on the men's side, with Ethan Quinn beating No. 23 Tallon Griekspoor in a surprisingly easy 6-2, 6-3, 6-2 match, and Eliot Spizzirri ousting Brazilian phenom Joao Fonseca, the 28th seed.

On the women's side, No. 15 Emma Navarro, who made it to the quarters or better in three consecutive majors in 2024-25, crashed and burned in round 1 to Magda Linette, who, to be fair, is not a nobody. She was a top-25 player as recently as 2024 and last year was ranked as high as 27th before struggling with illness and burnout the last half of the year. Still, Navarro has fallen way off her form of a year ago. She's lost four of her six matches this year.

Meanwhile, teenagers Mboko and Jovic both opened with convincing victories. If Jovic gets by Australian wild card Priscilla Hon tonight/tomorrow morning, it potentially sets up a very intriguing third-round match with No. 7 Jasmine Paolini.

 

[da man]

A lot of good stories as we head into the second week in Melbourne. My favorite: The kids are growing up fast.

Teenagers Victoria Mboko and Iva Jovic both beat higher seeds to advance to the round of 16. Jovic, who turned 18 last month, took out No. 7 Jasmine Paolini in straight sets, dominating in a 6-2 first set and holding off a Paolini comeback to win the second in a tiebreak. Jovic, whse father is Serbian and mother is Croatian, grew up idolizing Djokovic, who since they've met is now giving her advice on her game -- specifically, telling her to open up the court and make her opponent run more. So far it seems to be working. She'll face Yulia Putintseva tonight.

Nineteen-year-old Mboko, the 17th seed, outlasted No. 14 Clara Tauson, 7-6, 5-7, 6-3, in an absolute war, setting up maybe the most mouth-watering matchup of the entire tournament: tonight's duel with No. 1 Sabalenka in Rod Laver Arena. The hard-hitting young gun takes on the current top gun and biggest of the "big babes", as Mary Carillo called her, in what should be a big-time fireworks show. Starts at 7:30 ET.

 

[da man]

While Mboko-Sabalenka is the juciest fourth-round matchup, there are a few other juicy ones. Like No. 11 Medvedev vs. Learner Tien -- now seeded 25th -- in a rematch of Tien's five-set epic upset in last year's Australian Open. No. 3 Zverev has a tough draw in 18th-seeded Francisco Cerundolo of Argentina, Taylor Fritz, who's dropped to No. 9, gets No. 5 Lorenzo Musetti, who in his last match struggled through a five-set marathon against tough Tomas Machac, and Djokovic meets 20-year-old Czech Jakub Mensik, another up-and-comer with top 10 potential, in a past vs. future match.

On the women's side, Gauff vs. Muchova should be a good one, as should No. 8 Andreeva-No. 12 Svitolina, and the all-American matchup of ninth seed and defending champion Keys vs. No. 6 Pegula.

Paolini had a rough couple of days. Not only lose to Jovic, she also got ousted from the doubles draw -- she and Sara Errani were the No. 2 seeds -- losing to Australian wild cards Kimberly Birrell and Talia Gibson in a third-set tiebreak.

 

[da man]

That was a fun one. Sabalenka dominated the first set and got up two breaks at 4-1 in the second, but Mboko showed what she can do from there, winning five consecutive games to take a 6-5 leads. But when Sabalenka got it to a tiebreaker, it was all over -- she played perfect tennis in grabbing the first six points and won the tiebreak 7-1. Not a surprise, as she has now won 20 consecutive tiebreaks in major championships, the longest streak of any woman in the open era.

 

[da man]

Updates: Jovic obliterated Putintseva 6-0, 6-1 and now gets her shot at Sabalenka in the quarters. She's currently up to 20th in the live rankings and would move up to 14th if she can manage to take out the world No. 1. BTW, Mboko's three wins lifted her to No. 13.

Tien similarly destroyed Medvedev, 6-4, 6-0, 6-3, raising him to 24th. Next up: No. 3 Sasha Zverev, who dispatched Cerundolo in straight sets. Musetti cruised to an easy win over Fritz, who seems to be headed back down the ladder

Gauff-Muchova was indeed a tight one, with Gauff pulling out a three-set win to set up a quarterfinal against Svitolina, coming off a surprisingly straighforward win over teen phenom Andreeva. Pegula beat Keys 6-3, 6-4 and is looking very strong. She'll need to be strong in her next match against No. 4 Amanda Anisimova, a finalist in the two most recent majors.

The Djokovic-Mensik match never happened. Mensik withdrew from the tournament with an abdominal muscle injury, giving Djoker a walkover -- a huge help for a 38-year-old trying to navigate the seven-match grind it takes to win a major.

 

[Della9250]

Coco Gauff currently Coco Gauffing....

 

[da man]

Wow. Haven’t seen the match yet (I’m an insomniac but clearly not as much of one as Alma), but the numbers are stunning. 6-1, 6-2 in 59 minutes. Serve broken six times in eight service games. Three winners vs. 26 unforced errors in 15 games. Got 74% of first serves in but won just 41% of those points, and won 2 of 11 on second serves (but just five double faults, so there’s that ).

She’s the first top-four seed to exit. No. 1 Sabalenka crushed Iva Jovic 6-3, 6-0. All of the men’s top four are still in with Sinner playing No. 8 Shelton and Djokovic facing No. 5 Musetti in what I’m hoping will be a really good match tonight/tomorrow morning.

I did watch Zverev beat Learner Tien last night. Zverev won in four but the kid (not really a kid anymore) made him work for it, with two sets going to tiebreaks.

 

[qtlaw]

Coco somehow some way has got to find a serve. Please do so so we can celebrate your highs and forget the lows.

 

[qtlaw]

All of the men’s top four are still in with Sinner playing No. 8 Shelton and Djokovic facing No. 5 Musetti in what I’m hoping will be a really good match tonight/tomorrow morning.

In this day of big serves and relentless groundies, Musetti is a thing to savor. The ultimate contrast. I’m rooting for him.

 

[da man]

Just watched the Coco-Svitolina match and, again, wow. Gauff got her serve broken in game 1 but broke Svitolina's right back, looking confident and solid. Then it was her turn to serve and she just completely crumbled from that point on. That first set was an absolute mess. One of the stats they put up on the screen showed she lost 13 of her first 16 serve points -- she finished the set having won just five of her 21 service points. All five of her double faults and 14 of her 26 unforced errors came in the first set.

She actually served better in the second set --21 of 22 first serves in -- but by then she was already beaten in her head. She was frustrated, angry, clearly flustered. She dumped balls in the net early in the set and sprayed three wide in the final game as Svitolina broke to close it out. What's funny to me was that in one of her earlier matches, Chrissie Evert (whom I despise as a commentator) talked about how Coco never loses her composure. She did in this match, and especially afterward, when this happened:



BTW, to be fair, Svitolina played terrific tennis. She was aggressive, sharp, hit her spots and attacked Gauff's weak spots -- her forehand and second serve. She is now 10-0 for the year, having won the title in Auckland a couple weeks ago. She's beaten Andreeva and Gauff back-to-back -- easily. She's now up to No. 10 in the live rankings. She now moves on to her fourth major semifinal, her first since Wimbledon 2023, and will face Sabalenka.

One of the things I like about watching a game/match after the fact is noting commentary that doesn't age well. In her pre-match analysis, Caroline Wozniacki said this of Coco: "She hasn't played her best tennis so far in this tournament. Every match she's gotten a little bit better. Now that we're in the quarterfinals, the pressure's kind of gone off of her shoulders. This is where she thrives. She will go in here, she'll play a lot more freely."