Running tennis thread 2025

Another one: Who is the only player in the Open Era to be an ATP No. 1 without ever winning a Grand Slam tournament?

Spoiler

Marcelo Rios

 

BTW, the answer is Stan Wawrinka.

I mean to do a little follow-up on the Aussie Open, but never got around to it. I will note that one of my favorite players -- Taylor Townsend -- won her second major championship, taking the women's doubles title with Katerina Siniakova (they won Wimbledon together last year). She has now risen to No. 3 in the doubles rankings (Siniakova is No. 1).

This week, all the top American men -- fourth-ranked Taylor Fritz (the No. 1 seed), No. 9 Tommy Paul, No. 13 Ben Shelton and No. 18 Frances Tiafoe -- were playing in Dallas, and... it didn't go so well. Fritz, Shelton and Tiafoe, as well as seventh seed Alex Michelsen, didn't last through the second round. Paul, the 3 seed, got to the semis by beating Americans Ethan Quinn and Reilly Opelka before losing to Shapavalov. Shapavalov will play Ruud for the championship tomorrow.

 

Admits to doping but doesn’t miss a major? Gotta love the world of justice these days.

 

"WTF?"

[/sharapova][/halep]

 

He's no saint...

 

Another American breaks into the women's top 20. Amanda Anisimova, a big-hitting 23-year-old beat Ostapenko in straight sets yesterday to win the Doha tournament, her first 1000-level championship and third title overall. She jumps from No. 41 to 18th in the new rankings. Just a year ago, she was ranked 213th.

That gives the U.S. six women in the top 20 -- No. 3 Gauff, No. 5 Pegula, No. 6 Keys, No. 8 Navarro, No. 12 Collins and Anisimov at 18 -- more than any other nation. The U.S. and Russia (4) are the only countries with more than one.

While the Doha tournament included nine of the top 10 players in the world, including the top five (Sabalenka, Swiatek, Gauff, Paolini and Pegula), Anisimova had to beat only one seeded player (ninth seed Paula Badosa, world No. 10) in her title run. Sabalenka and Gauff went down in the second round, Pegula in the third and Ostapenko (a former world No. 5) took out Paolini in the quarters and Swiatek in the semis. With that last win, Ostapenko is now 5-0 against Swiatek for her career.

Now it's on to Dubai for another 1000.

 

Djoker slams the establishment for "favoritism."

https://apnews.com/article/novak-djokovic-jannik-sinner-doping-3407d7dc8b961ae3962fec4f5055a864

 

Not sure what's going on in tennis this year, but things are not going as one might expect.
For the second consecutive week, the women's 1,000 tournament including almost all the big dogs -- this one in Dubai -- had a very unexpected final. Teenager Mirra Andreeva, one of the tour's fastest rising stars, beat Clara Tauson 7-6 (1), 6-1 to claim her first career 1,000-level title. She beat second-ranked Iga Swiatek and No. 7 Elena Rybakina to get to the final.

The victory, which makes the 17-year-old the youngest player to win a 1,000-level tournament (the format started in 2009), will move Andreeva into the top 10 for the first time in her career at No. 9.

Tauson, BTW, is off to a great start this year. She won the Australian Open tuneup event in Auckland, beating Aussie winner Madison Keys along the way, and has a 15-4 match record this year. Aftr startingt the year at No. 49, she's now knocking on the door of the top 20 (career-high 23 in the new rankings).

In Dubai, Tauson took out No. 1 Sabalenka, who has lost three of her past four matches.

 

A week after getting knocked out of the top 10 by Andreeva, Emma Navarro responds by winning the 500 tournament in Mexico to bounce back up to No. 8 and push Andreeva back down to 11. Navarro posted the rare double bagel in the final against someone named Emiliana Arango (No. 80), who managed to get to the final thanks to a couple of upsets on her side of the draw.

Next up, starting tomorrow, is Indian Wells, the first of the back-to-back "mini-majors" (men and women at the same site) that mark the end of the hard-court season. All the big dogs will be there -- except the No. 1 man, the suspended Jannik Sinner.

 

Great battle of big-hitting lefties coming up in the Indian Wells quarters after Jack Draper took out Taylor Fritz yesterday. Draper, who’s up to No. 12 in the live rankings, next faces Ben Shelton, the current No. 12, in what should be a real fun one.