Welcome to Monday's Tennis Briefing, explaining the story behind last week's stories on the court.
This week the European clay court tournament on the ATP and WTA tours began in earnest with tournaments in France, Germany, Portugal, Spain and Romania. The 4 best players competed against one another in Stuttgart, Barcelona saw the return of Rafael Nadal and we saw a serve from zero gravity.
If you desire to more tennis coverage, please click here.
Are the WTA and ATP tours swapping their metas?
Last 12 months there have been rumors in regards to the formation of the “Big Four” in women's tennis. It was the “Big Three” of Iga Swiatek, Elena Rybakina and Aryna Sabalenka, but then Coco Gauff won the US Open and have become a fixture within the business end of tournaments, including the semi-finals of the Australian Open. She also climbed to number 3 within the rankings. At the identical time, the rapid rise of Carlos Alcaraz, followed by the slower rise of Jannik Sinner, Daniil Medvedev being Daniil Medvedev and the elastic continuity of Novak Djokovic, led to latest rivalries on the ATP Tour.
The previous couple of months have put a stop to this pondering. Despite not winning a Grand Slam title since last 12 months's French Open, Swiatek continues to indicate every sign of being the dominant world No. 1 for quite a while. The other three haven’t delivered the form of consistency that will justify using a reputation that has its roots within the Roger Federer/Djokovic/Nadal/Andy Murray dominance of the 2010s.
A decade later, it's easy to forget how often these names appeared on the ultimate weekends of the most important events. Let's have a look at the 12 months 2012: Of the 16 semi-final places within the 4 Grand Slam tournaments that 12 months, twelve went to Murray, Federer, Nadal and Djokovic. Murray, Djokovic and Federer also claimed three semifinal spots on the London Olympics this 12 months.
In Stuttgart last week, a rare middle-class tournament that drew the highest 4 women, it looked like they may make the semifinals. But then Marketa Vondrousova defeated Sabalenka and Gauff lost to Marta Kostyuk, with Elena Rybakina winning the tournament.
Next we go to Madrid. Maybe this time the quartet might be the last 4 standing.
GO DEEPER
The top women in tennis say the game is broken. For this reason
What's behind Andrey Rublev's eight-sentence collapse?
Good tennis players can see their form plummet. Now it's Rublev's turn.
Rublev was ranked No. 5 on this planet at the beginning of the 12 months. He played to his seeding position on the Australian Open, but has fared poorly since falling in the ultimate games of a semifinal match in Dubai against Alexander Bublik in February.
Rublev angrily protested the decision to a linesman. Another linesman claimed the Russian used swear words in his native language.
He didn’t do it.
Tournament officials refused to review the tapes before putting Rublev on default and stripping him of his rating points and the prize money he earned.
The video went viral and the ATP eventually restored his rating points and the cash he earned – however the damage was already done. Since then, Rublev has won only one match and he has lost to players ranked much lower than him, including world No. 44 Alexei Popyrin and, last week, world No. 87 Brandon Nakashima, by which Rublev destroyed his racket after had lost a match point.
The encounters weren't very close either. Rublev was apparently healthy, but he's just not playing particularly well, having lost eight of 10 sets for the reason that loss in a run of 4 straight defeats.
These stats aren't great, but in addition they aren't declining as much as his match results. However, take a have a look at something else…
The “Domination Ratio” is calculated by dividing the proportion of return points gained by the proportion of service points lost. The last time Rublev's dominance ratio was this low was in 2015, when his annual high was No. 185 on this planet rankings and his low was No. 438.
Coco Gauff does what Coco Gauff does… and for a way long?
Gauff receives tons of praise for her courage, competitiveness and talent to win close matches, especially over three sets.
The American could have all of those qualities, but she also can do math.
Gauff played 25 games, won 19 and lost six. Of those 25 games, eight went the gap, and of those eight, she lost 4.
That's two defeats in 17 games with two sets and 4 defeats in eight games with three sets.
What does all of it mean?
Gauff emerged from a turbulent match on the mistaken end (Alex Grimm/Getty Images)
Sure, their coach Brad Gilbert is the most important proponent of winning ugly, but that has to incorporate the “winning” part too. Gauff almost at all times shows up, and it's price remembering that one in all those two consecutive defeats was against Sabalenka within the Australian Open semifinals.
She could still be a bit of more clinical. As exciting because it is to observe Gauff fight, as wild because it is to observe her win games when she's removed from her best, the players eventually meet up with narrow margins. That's what happened in Stuttgart against Kostyuk, a player Gauff beat in three sets in Australia but who got revenge in Germany.
It's a microcosm of the coin toss their three-toss players have change into.
GO DEEPER
Listening to Women: The Slow Rise of Female Tennis Coaches
Stefanos Tsitsipas and Casper Ruud reach their peak – but at the fitting time?
Tsitsipas and Ruud are two of the perfect clay court players on this planet. Ruud reached the finals of the last two French Opens. Tsitsipas did this before. Unfortunately, their opponents in these finals, Nadal and Djokovic, have won a combined 46 Grand Slam titles, 17 of them at Roland Garros.
Still, Tsitispas and Ruud have earned the fitting to construct their clay-court season to culminate on the French Open, as each are expected to be alive well into the tournament and, depending on how the draw goes, they might be have a likelihood of winning.
Ruud took control of this final after a poor performance last week (Joan Valls/Urbanandsport/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
The way things are going, it's possible they're out of fuel of their tanks.
For the second time in a row, Ruud and Tsitispas met in the ultimate of a tournament, this time in Barcelona, where Ruud avenged his defeat against the Greek in Monte Carlo. It was Ruud's third event of the clay-court season and Tsitispas' second, with Madrid and Rome – each competitions slightly below Grand Slam level – taking over the subsequent 4 weeks of the calendar before Roland Garros begins. That's numerous tennis, even for twenty-somethings like Ruud and Tsitispas.
Yes, that is the time of 12 months when standout clay court players attempt to rack up rating points and prize money, but is it an excessive amount of? Djokovic thinks so, not less than for him. Djokovic is a master at conserving energy and acting at his best in the most important events. He played in Monte Carlo and lost to Ruud within the semifinals. However, last week he took some day without work and in addition withdrew from Madrid. He will probably play against Rome after which travel to Paris – fuel reserves are high.
Kick it, really good
This is a truth universally acknowledged – not less than by readers of beloved British children's creator Michael Rosen If you may't go above or below it, you’ve got to undergo it.
Brazil's rugged but rising star Joao Fonseca doesn't recognize this truth.
How high does that go?! 😳
Joao Fonseca's kick serve jumps OVER Sonego 🚀#TiriacOpen pic.twitter.com/t7X7OOI3CC
— Tennis TV (@TennisTV) April 16, 2024
Literature recommendations:
🏆 The winners of the week
🎾 ATP:
🏆 Casper Ruud def. Stefanos Tsitsipas 7-5, 6-3 to win the Banc Sabadell Open (500) in Barcelona. It is Ruud's first ATP 250 title.
🏆 Jan Lennard Struff def. Taylor Fritz 7-5, 6-3 to win the BMW Open (250) in Munich. It is Struff's first ATP title.
🏆 Marton Fucsovics def. Mariano Navone 6-4, 7-5 to win the Tiriac Open (250) in Bucharest. It is Fucsovics' second ATP title.
🎾 WTA:
🏆 Elena Rybakina def. Martha Kostyuk 6-3, 6-3 to win the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix (500) in Stuttgart, Germany. It is Rybakina's third title in 2024.
🏆 Sloane Stephens def. Magda Linette 6-1, 2-6, 6-2 and won the Capfinances Rouen Metropole Open (250) in Rouen, France. It is Stephens' first title since 2022.
🏆 Suzan Lamens def. Clara Tauson 6-4, 5-7, 6-4 and won the Oeiras Ladies Open (125) in Oeiras, Portugal. In a wild final, Tauson trailed 5-0 within the second set before winning seven straight games, but Lamens then recovered from a 4-1 deficit within the third set to win five straight games for the title.
📈📉 On the rise / Across the board
📈 Marta Kostyuk moves up six places from twenty seventh to twenty first.
📈 Marton Fucsovics moves up 29 places from 82nd to 53rd.
📈 Magda Linette moves up 12 places from sixtieth to forty eighth.
📉 Carlos Alcaraz stays in third place, but loses 1,000 points, reducing his gap to Daniil Medvedev in 4th place.
📉 Karolina Pliskova falls six places in the highest 50, from forty seventh to 53rd.
📉 Dan Evans drops 20 places from #49 to #69.
📅 Coming soon
🎾 ATP:
📍Madrid, Mutua Madrid Open (1000) April twenty fourth – 5 ft. Jannik Sinner, Carlos Alcaraz (..?) Rafael Nadal (..?).
📺 UK: Sky Sports; USA: Tennis Channel 💻 Tennis TV
📍Savannah, Savannah Challenger (75) ft. JJ Wolf, Bernard Tomic
🎾 WTA:
📍Madrid, Mutual Madrid Open (1000) April twenty fourth – May seventeenth Iga Swiatek, Aryna Sabalenka, Elena Rybakina, Coco Gauff.
📺 UK: Sky Sports; USA: Tennis Channel 💻 Tennis TV
Let us know within the comments what you noticed this week because the tours proceed.
image credit : theathletic.com