ATP
Coco strikes it rich!
AMERICAN sports media company Sportico released its annual list of top earners in sport during the week, with Coco Gauff topping the list for women with $22.7 million.
Gauff earned $6.7 million on court, including $3 million for winning her first Grand Slam title at the US Open and $16 million in endorsement earnings from contracts with New Balance and Head and deals with Barilla pasta, Bose, UPS and Rolex.
Nine WTA Tour players were on the list, with seven in the top 10.
Pole Iga Swiatek finished with a total of $21.9 million earned, nearly $10 million of which came in her on-court earnings, and through deals with Infosys, Visa, Polish insurer PZU, Rolex and Porsche Poland.
An obscure skier named Eileen Gu ranked third on $20 million.
Amazingly Emma Raducanu and Naomi Osaka were in the list having not played virtually at all in 2023, with Aryna Sabalenka, Elena Rybakina and Jessica Pegula ranked fourth through eighth.
Raducanu’s $16.2 million and Osaka’s $15 million came as a result of strong endorsement deals.
And some still argue women’s tennis is broke or suffering in poverty?
$84 million in earnings from this top ten graphic shows a very different story.
GAUFF, now the darling of US women’s tennis, was also named third most intriguing person in People magazines ‘Most Intriguing People of the Year awards, whatever that means, but it’s woke America, and was also named in the equally woke New York Times’ most stylish people in 2023 list, along with Frances Tiafoe.
SAD to hear Chris Evert has withdrawn from the broadcast booth at the AO, I informing everyone her ovarian cancer has returned.
“While this is a diagnosis I never wanted to hear, I once again feel fortunate that it was caught early,” Evert said in a statement released by ESPN.
“Doctors found cancer cells in the same pelvic region. All cells were removed, and I have begun another round of chemotherapy.”
Evert, 68, was first diagnosed with cancer two years ago. She completed chemotherapy in May of 2022 and was confident the disease would not return.
NAOMI Osaka was courtside at a LA Lakers game last weekend with Aussie Nick Kyrgios, before resuming her preparations for her return to tennis next month at the Australian Open.
Osaka, now 26, dressed in black – including a black pair of sunglasses as Aussie Kyrgios turned up wearing a pair of Lakers shorts and a baggy hoodie.
Osaka sat courtside for the game against the Houston Rockets as LeBron James and his team recorded a 107-97 win.
TENNIS Australia chief executive is not surprised about reports of the formation of a Super League tennis tour, as reported here on Sunday Serve last weekend.
“The premium tour for the future of the sport has been on the table for quite a few years, and getting the sport motivated and activated to look at it more openly is something that is continuing to happen, which is exciting,” Tiley said.
“I think there’s a lot of work that’s got to be done, [and] a lot of parties have got to come together, but there is a big opportunity for the sport of tennis to deliver a product in a more co-ordinated, premium way.
“There have been attempts to do it for years, but the grand slams have done extremely well in this [premium] environment and continue to do well, and they are the times in the year when the players mobilise because this is where they want to make their most money, but also get their biggest profile globally.”
WILL he won’t he? That was the story as Nick Kyrgios’s name was missing from the Australian Open entry list on Wednesday, fuelling rumours he may well not play Melbourne in six weeks time.
By yesterday, it was confirmed that Kyrgios, 28, will miss a second Melbourne event after failing to overcome a wrist injury.
“Obviously had a really tough year with injury, had that knee surgery and came back a little bit too soon and set me back a little bit, then obviously had some wrist issues,” Kyrgios said.
“So this is a very disappointing time for me, but I won’t be able to compete at the 2024 Australian Open.”
AND, will she won’t she…
Former US Open champion Emma Raducanu has announced she will make her comeback from injury at the ASB Classic in Auckland next month as she tries to earn a spot at the Australian Open, where she will have to go through the qualifiers to make the main draw.
She can currently use a protected ranking of 103 to enter tournaments because of injury, but that is not high enough to earn her a place in the main draw in Melbourne.
ONE player who will be there is former champion Caroline Wozniacki.
The Dane, who has not played Melbourne for four years, has received a wildcard in the main draw.
“Melbourne’s one of my most favourite cities in the world, and I can’t wait to share it with my family and my kids,” Wozniacki told media last week.
ON the move again … The Davis Cup could move location to Milan, says Italian Tennis Federation CEO Angelo Binaghi.
“We are ready to compete to bring the Davis Cup Finals to Milan from 2025, as soon as the ITF opens a tender,” Binaghi said last week after Italy won the event in Malaga.
“We are convinced that we have what it takes to put in place a competitive proposal.”
DEBBIE Jevans took to the London Standard newspaper during the week to push for the Wimbledon expansion plans to be approved.
Debbie who? Well the much travelled Ms Jevans, who has been described by many as serial board member with so many sporting portfolios, is the new chair of the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Board.
Jevans, who is a former player, used her opinion piece to argue Londoners would suffer if the expansion plan was blocked.
“It is more than a century since tennis was first played on Centre Court and since then Wimbledon has grown to be at the pinnacle of world sport,” she wrote.
“However, we can’t rest on our laurels, as in that time other events have evolved too. We are now the only Grand Slam that doesn’t host its qualifying competition on the same site as its main tournament.
“Currently our qualifying competition takes place on what is ordinarily a cricket outfield at a rented site in Roehampton. This is understandably viewed by the world’s best players as a significant weakness.”
Jevans went to argue the economic benefits of Wimbledon’s grand plan, including creating over 250 job during the construction.
OUR OMG moment….
Serena Williams took to TikTok during the week to confess she has been using her breast milk to cure a retinol-induced sunburn on her under eyes.
Williams said she was going to trial the breast milk treatment out for a week, patting it on her under eyes with a cotton pad.
The idea of breast milk being a treatment for this sort of ailment has been seen as an ‘old wives’ tale’, but apparently there’s been some scientific research that has shown it helps with atopic eczema.
“It already feels better,” Williams added after a week’s treatment.”
Alexander Zverev took a further step towards a defence of his 2025 title at the ATP Munich event with a comfortable 6-1, 6-2 hammering of Canada’s Gabriel Diallo on Thursday.
The German who won his only title of 2025 in his home nation faced an opponent carrying an injury in the 73-minute loss.
“I think he had some issues with his back and wasn’t serving fully in the second set anymore. Very unfortunate,” the 28-year-old world No. 3 said.
“Of course I am happy with the win and getting an easier match today.”
After days of cold weather, the spring sun finally made an appearance in the Bavarian capital.
Zverev advanced the the last eight with five breaks of serve and will bid fro a return to the semi-finals against fifth seed Francisco Cerundolo, a winner over Botic van de Zandschulp 6-3, 6-0.
“I played well from the baseline. I probably didn’t serve well in the first set, but it got better in the second. I am trying to improve every day,” the winner said as he reached a second straight quarter-final here..
Zverev has won their last four meetings.
“I’ve never beaten him on clay, which is his favourite surface, but I am definitely looking forward to the challenge,” Zverev said.
“I’m very happy to be at this stage, facing a tough opponent. That’s what it’s going to be tomorrow.”
Main photo:- Alexander Zverev with his 2025 Munich trophy
Roland Garros will continue to buck the trend of electronic linecalling, with Grand Slam tournament boss Amelie Mauresmo laying down the law on Thursday in Paris.
Unlike the other three majors which have sent teams of line judges into early retirement, the clay major will stick with the tried and true for another edition beginning on May 24.
In addition to tradition, the skid marks left on the dirt by ball makes determining in or out subjective enough to often require a keen eye.
“They are not 100% reliable,” Mauresmo said of the electronic systems currently in use.“Our decision was to stick to our way.”
But the former WTA No. 1 suddenly flipped the script when it comes to the controversial suggestion that women should play best-of-five-sets at the four majors just like the men.
The idea has drawn scorn from top women, but that does not dissuade Mauresmo.
“You can’t change a format overnight to go from best of three to best of five. But if we think about it, would it be only the semifinal, the final, or for all matches?” the former Wimbledon champion said.
“This could be a win-win situation but we have to talk about this with the women players.”
The Wimbledon winner admitted that she had often yearned during her playing days for longer contests.
“When I did the Masters (season-ending) final ( 2005) I would have wanted to do the final in best of five. So maybe one day, you never know.”
The former player would not be drawns out on the dreaded night matches at Roland Garros, formerly a fully daytinem event.
“We will talk about scheduling when the time comes,” she said.“Nothing is closed and nothing is set in stone, it depends on the draws and the lineups.”
Also on the table are likely to be the distribution of night matches, with women barely registering in the night-tiem hours during the 2025 edition.
On the final Saturday there has been one change: The men’s doubles final will be played before the women’s singles final and not afterward.
“We will talk about scheduling when the time comes,” the TD said. “Nothing is closed and nothing is set in stone, it depends on the draws and the lineups.”
In the continuing prize money arms race among the four Grand Slams, Roland Garros announced a rise to a global USD 72 million in player payouts, a rise of USD 6.25 million.
Carlos Alcaraz quit the Barcelona Open with a wrist injury and cast serious doubt on his fitness and availability for run-up events prior to next month’s French Open.
The Spaniard who lost his No. 1 ranking to Jannik Sinner through Sunday’s loss to the Italian in the Monte Carlo Casters final was unable to carry on at his home event in Barcelona.
Alcaraz quit the clay event prior to his second-round match against Tomas Machac. The Spaniard injured his wrist in a first-round win over Finn Otto Virtanen and warned that he could make no solid commitment yet to furue play due to his injury.
“It’s with great sadness I have to go back home to start my recovery as soon as possible with my team, with the doctors, with the physio, and try to be as healthy as possible as soon as possible for (future) tournaments,” he said.
“Let’s hope, that you can see me back on a tennis court as soon as possible.”
Alcaraz is now touch and go for the Madrid Masters oddly starting in a week next Wednesday as the ATP stretches out the Masters events in an unpopular money-spinning exercise.
Alcarraz could face a serious hit to his ranking if he cannot front up in the Spanish capital and next month in Rome, with titles to defend in both venues.
“But I’ve seen today’s tests, and it’s a slightly more serious injury than we all expected.
“In the end I have to listen to my body, what won’t affect me later on: That’s why I have to withdraw from this tournament.
“I never like to withdraw from any tournament, but especially from this one,”
Sun shines as Zverev reaches Munich quarters
RG to retain the human touch in linecalling
Red alert for Alcaraz as wrist injury flares
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