Swiatek defeated Sabalenka, rebellion in WTA, Kostyuk’s wedding and Medvedev’s shame

For men, last week was spent at the Masters in Paris, where the fate of the last tickets of the ATP Final Tournament was decided. At the same time, the best representatives of women’s tennis played a similar WTA Finals tournament in Cancun and fought for first place in the world rankings.

Last WTA tournament

This tournament has probably become the most problematic tournament of this season for the organization. It was only learned at the beginning of September that the eight best tennis players of the season would play in Mexico. Moreover, it was initially planned to be played on an indoor court, but at the last moment it turned out that the arena had too low ceilings to host tennis matches of this level. Ultimately, it was decided to build an open-air stadium that did not meet the high standards of hosting such prestigious competitions. This applied to almost everything, especially plating. In addition, since the location of the stadium overlaps with the hotel’s golf course, the construction of the arena was postponed until the last moment so that guests could enjoy golf for longer. In this way, tennis players had the opportunity to train for the first time on the court, which was built the day before the start of the tournament.

Almost all participants talked about this issue; some were more radical, others toned it down a bit. But absolutely everyone was disappointed with the level of organization. And the rainy season in Cancun only strengthened the negative impression.

Originally, the tournament was supposed to be held in Shenzhen (China) for the first time since COVID-19 restrictions were introduced in the country. Last year the competition was held in the USA. The WTA evaluated options with Saudi Arabia and the Czech Republic in the summer. The first was probably financially more pleasant for the management of the Women’s Tennis Association, but a wave of criticism from fans and athletes forced them to abandon this idea. It is very risky to organize a women’s tournament in a “misogynistic” country. As for the Czech Republic, there was no confidence that “neutral” tennis players would be allowed to participate in the competition. WTA could not accept this either.

As for the events on the field, the clear favorites in the Chetumal group, Iga Swiatek and Coco Goff, did not disappoint their fans. The Polish player, who won all six sets in the group stage by a margin of 38-14, only had problems with Marketa Vondrousova in the first match of the tournament. Goff also lost a set against Marketa and struggled a bit in the second match against Swiatek.

The best performer of the Bakalar quartet was American Jessica Pegula, who arrived in Cancun on a wave of victory after winning the title in Seoul two weeks ago. The US representative, who qualified for the play-offs as the first seed in the group, easily defeated Coco Goff in the semi-finals and achieved the longest winning streak of her career (9 matches). Next was the final match against Iga Swiatek.

According to statistical calculations, world number one Aryna Sabalenka had an approximately 85% chance of remaining in first place after the end of the tournament. Finishing second in his group, he reached the semi-finals in Swiatek, which could not but please all tennis fans. The Polish woman needed only one victory and then to claim the title. The situation became even more unpleasant for Iga when the match was suspended due to rain on the first day. Beating Sabalenka and the momentum-gaining Pegula on the same day is no easy task. However, the final was brought forward one day, everything was done correctly. Iga carried the match to a well-deserved victory on his second attempt, and oddly enough, his first against the world’s current top racquet. In the championship match, Swiatek proved that it is now number 1 in the world. The Polish player lost only 20 matches on his way to the title, something no one had ever done before. Iga ended the first turbulent period in his career with a confident return to the top. And it’s impossible not to be happy for him.

The best doubles winners at the WTA Final Tournament were Laura Siegemund (Germany) and Vera Zvonareva. They won their fourth title together in 2023.

Revolt of tennis players

Overall, it looks like big changes are coming to women’s tennis. Top female athletes are demanding the WTA introduce guaranteed salaries for players, as it does in men’s tennis. But women do not like men’s very low payment thresholds. For example, instead of a guaranteed salary of $300K for the top 100 men, the bar would be set at $500K instead of $150K for players ranked 101st through 175th, and $200K instead of $75K for players ranked 101st through 175th. They demand that it be increased to a thousand dollars. 176th place 250th place – 100 thousand dollars. Additionally, athletes want to receive compensation in case of injury or maternity leave. There are also major complaints about the tournament calendar, this year being particularly notable.

WTA president Steve Simon has already responded to the athletes, saying he’s heard of them. Women were promised they could skip any of the compulsory tournaments (Doha, Dubai, Rome, Canada, Cincinnati and Wuhan) without sanctions. Additionally, players will be able to withdraw from all four tournaments in this category without penalty. Simon said the issue of minimum guaranteed earnings and childcare benefits would also be discussed. So far this issue is only gaining momentum, but Martina Navratilova has already hinted that there should be a woman at the head of the WTA.

ATP 1000 Paris

Paris Masters is traditionally the last tournament on the schedule in this category. Final issues regarding the distribution of places in the Race of Champions are almost always resolved here, according to the results of which the eight participants in the Final Tournament are determined.

Before the start of the tournament, five participants in the ATP Finals were known: Novak Djokovic, Carlos Alcaraz, Daniil Medvedev and Jannik Sinner. Greek Stefanos Tsitsipas is officially sixth after reaching the quarter-finals in Paris. Subsequently, Pole Hubert Hurkacz withdrew from the fight and Alex de Minaur could still prevent Holger Rune and Alexander Zverev from remaining in the top eight. However, he lost to Rublev in the quarter-finals.

The biggest surprise of the tournament was Bulgarian Grigor Dimitrov. Even though all the tennis players in the top 10 participated in the competition, he managed to make it to the final. Already in the second round he stopped Medvedev, who was very infuriated by the behavior of the stands. Daniil angrily threw his racket, refused to play until the audience fell silent, and finally gave them the middle finger. Naturally, the stands did not welcome him.

Medvedev said at the press conference that he was only looking at his nails. Nothing new, Russians’ favorite pastime: shitting somewhere and proving that it’s not them. Back to Grigor, he also managed to beat Lorenzo Musetti, Alexander Bublik, Hubert Hurkacs and Stefanos Tsitsipas. Four of the five victories in the tournament were achieved in tough three-set matches, only the Kazakhstan representative was defeated without attracting much attention.

In the second part of the group, the fighting was no less intense. Novak Djokovic suffered no less after winning the first match. Tallon lost the first sets to Grixpor and Andrey Rublev but somehow found his way to victory. It was also not easy to beat Holger Rune, who had won two previous matches against the Serbian, including the final in Paris last year. Novak attributed his difficulties to the fight against an intestinal virus that caused him great problems for several days. You will laugh, but after the Rublev match, the Serb said that he strangled him like a snake strangles a frog. The best example is the famous frog viper meme, you don’t even need to invent anything.

It is unlikely that anyone will really believe Dimitrov in the final. More than 10 years have passed since Grigor’s last and only victory against Djokovic (second half before the match – 1-11). During this time, Novak won 18 Grand Slam tournaments. Therefore, the result was clear. Still, it was an extremely successful tournament for the Bulgarian and only the second Masters final of his career. Djokovic won his 40th title in this category of competitions, where he has already begun to break records. Meanwhile, Novak’s trophy total is only six less than Roger Federer and 12 fewer than Jimmy Connors. Even in this rating, if he plays at a good level for 2 seasons, he can be first.

ATP Challenger Tour, WTA 125 and ITF tournaments

Yulia Starodubtseva made her debut in the WTA 125 category tournament and reached the second round of the main tour in Midland, where she lost to the world’s 66th racket Taylor Townsend from the USA. This was only the second meeting with an opponent in the top hundred and the second defeat.

Alexey Krutykh continued his winless streak and could not make it to the second round of the tough opponent in Ismaning (Germany). The Ukrainian player lost his fourth match in a row. Spoiler: He still managed to break that streak in the next tournament, but we’ll have more on that in the next review of the game week. In Ismaning, Vitaly Sachko completed the fight in the first round. Ilya Marchenko, on the other hand, lost to Cem İlkel from Turkey in three sets in the first round of the tough match in Bergamo, but before that he managed to qualify successfully.

Veronica Podrez competed in the main draw of the ITF W60 tournament for the first time, starting from the qualifiers. In the first round of the main event in Nantes, the 16-year-old Ukrainian lost to top seed Oceane Daudin from France (6:7, 3:6). Before this, Veronica won her 25,000th ITF.

Daria Lopatetskaya became the finalist of the ITF W15 competition in Sweden. In the championship match, the Ukrainian player lost to Andre Lukosiute from Lithuania (1:6, 4:6). Daria played in the singles final of the ITF tournament for the second time this season. She hasn’t won a championship since 2019. In the doubles at Näsbypark, Lopatetskaya was also one step behind the championship.

Vladimir Yakubenko played doubles for the first time in a professional tournament; this took place at the ITF W15 competition in Al-Zahra (Kuwait). Vladimir and his Belgian partner made it to the final, where they lost to a couple from Slovakia. In singles, Yakubenko reached the second round.

Youth

Polina Gumenyuk became the champion of the ITF J100 tournament held in Saint-Cyprien, defeating the number one seed, Ukrainian Anastasia Firman, with 3:6, 6:4, 6:2 in the final.

Anastasia Kolyada became the champion of the ITF J60 Mariupol Cup tournament organized by the Ukrainian Tennis Federation in Leszno, Poland. In the final, she defeated sixth-placed Ukrainian player Amelia Pazhun (6:4, 6:3). For 16-year-old Anastasia, this is her second ITF junior singles title.

off the field

Ukrainian tennis player Marta Kostyuk got married at the age of 21. Previously elected Kostyuk played tennis, and now he is a financial trader. The engagement was announced in April, the wedding took place in Cyprus.

Olympic champion Belinda Bencic announced that she is pregnant. The child’s father is 41-year-old Martin Hromkovich, who is his physical education coach.

Former top 10 player Pablo Carreno Busta underwent elbow surgery. He recently returned after an eight-month break, but stopped performing again after playing three matches. Pablo will not be on the field for the next few months.

Well-known tennis expert Patrick Mouratoglou admitted that he feels guilty over the 4-year disqualification of former world number one Simona Halep. It was he who suggested that the Romanian take collagen, which ultimately turned out to be contaminated with a banned drug. If Patrick had a lot of questions before, he has even more now.

World No. 9 Alexander Zverev was fined 450,000 euros by a German court for causing bodily harm to his ex-girlfriend during an argument in Berlin in May 2020. These are not the first accusations against Zverev, but fines have not yet been introduced.

Elina Svitolina came to Ukraine for her grandmother’s birthday and managed to meet other famous names. For example, she talked about Kharkov and literature with Ukrainian writer Sergei Zhadan. The final of the Svitolina & Stakhovskyi Tennis Tour by Nova Post tournament for Ukrainian children in the U14 age category will take place this week. Meanwhile, Elina celebrated a kind of anniversary – she has been in the top 100 of the world rankings for 500 weeks. Not in a row, of course, because pregnancy made its own adjustments, but still this is the best result in the history of Ukrainian women’s tennis.