Connect with us

Cincinnati Masters

Iga worried by crowded calendar

Published

on

Iga Swiatek has voiced her fears about the upcoming expansion of an already crowded tennis calendar, warning that burnout and injury among players will surely rise.

The WTA No. 1 who reached the semi-finals of the Cincinnati Masters in straight sets, said that player fitness will be at stake.

Already at the ATP/WTA stop in the flatland American Midwest, a handful of both men and women players have quit mid-match with various injuries and fitness problems.

Those handing in walkovers have included Holger Rune, Alejandro Davidovich Fokina and Dusan Lajovic on the men’s side while women who have been unable to finish comprise 2022 Wimbledon champion Elena Rybakina, Donna Vekic and Czech Marie Bouzkova.

Changes to the calendars for 2025 are set to include extensions of Masters events on both the ATP and WTA to nearly two weeks, with several sets of them staged back-to-back over the course of a single month (March and August).

“If they are longer, we have less time in between tournaments to recover,” Swiatek said.

“I think it’s going to be pretty extreme if all the 1000 tournaments are going to be like almost two weeks.

“I don’t think it’s a coincidence.”

The concerned player added: “This is a sign for WTA and ATP to kind of take it easy on us. On the other side there’s business that they need to take care of.

“I guess we are the ones that should be responsible and know when to take a break and not really push because it’s a race and it’s a pretty long one.

“This (summer hardcourt) swing is hard, especially with the delays and the weather that messed up the schedule (last week) in Montreal.

“It’s hard to recover from playing two matches a day.”

ATP

Sinner claims full house with Indian Wells win

Published

on

World No. 2 Jannik Sinner became the youngest man to complete the full set of hard-court victories by beating Daniil Medvedev 7-6 (8) 7-6 (7) in the searing heat of Indian Wells.

The 24 year old Italian, didn’t face a break point during the final nor did he drop a set on his way to claiming his first title of the year and his 25th overall.

Sinner has won both hard court Grand Slams, with victories at the Australian Open in 2024 and 2025 and at the US Open in 2024.

In addition he has lifted all six Masters 1000 series hard court titles – adding the Indian Wells title to victories in Miami, Toronto, Cincinnati, Shanghai and Paris plus the season-ending ATP Finals.

Only Novak Djokovic and Roger Federer have achieved the same feat.

Main photo:- Jannik Sinner lifts Indian Wells Trophy – by ATPTour.com

Continue Reading

ATP

FAA raises his “standards” to extend QF hot streak

Published

on

Felix Auger-Aliassime bounced back after a slow start, with the Canadian raiding his game along with his expectations on Wednesday at the ATP Dubai event.

The top seed survived the loss of his opening serve to prevail 6-4, 6-4 over France’s Giovanni Mpetschi Perricard.

Victory marked the 10th quarter-final or higher at 11 tournament for FAA dating to Cincinnati last August.

The seed’s game is on the mend after a hiccup in the form of an Australian Open first-round loss, with FAA winning the Montpellier title and reaching this month’s Rotterdam final against Alex de Minaur.

Auger-Aliassime said that he tries to set an example to his team by way of keeping his tennis standards high.

“I’m responsible, I’m the one stepping onto the court – I’m the (support) team leader.

“I need to uphold the standards I want for my career.”

The winner who broke three times, said the ball reacted differently as he played for the first time in the afternoon.

“I couldn’t find my serve in the first few games, I needed to get some rhythm. he also made it difficult for me. I’m glad I was able to find a way back into the set.

The Canadian No. 1 improved his record against French opponents to 15-1 since the start of 2025.

Continue Reading

ATP

The heat is on as ATP bows to weather reality

Published

on

The ATP has bowed to the inevitability of weather, with a new heat rule for men’s matches due to be put into place for the start of the 2026 season.

While the WTA has long provided a pause after the second set of matches played in extreme hot weather, that’ not been the general case for the men.

Now, players will get a break when temps and humidity factors reach 30.1 C (86.18 F) or higher in the first two sets of a best-of-three-setter.

That triggers a 10-minute cooling break which can be called by either payer and which will apply to both. Competitors can use the brief pause to hydrate, change clothes, shower and receive coaching.

Should the heat exceed 32.2 C the match is called off.

.The new policy will replace the previous system where ATP tournament supervisors made the call with input from on-site medical staff.

The ATP will now fall into line with the WTA system as well as that of the four Grand Slams.

The tipping point came last season, when Jannik Sinner had to quit his third-round October match in Shanghai due to heat exhaustion in admittedly freak conditions for China in the autumn.

Novak Djokovic vomited during a match while France’s Ugo Humbert said players could “die on court” due to the torrid conditions. At the August Masters in steamy Cincinnati, Arthur Rinderknech collapsed on court, another data point which apparently led to the policy change

Main photo US Open New York 06/09/2023 Daniil Medvedev cools down
Photo Roger Parker International Sports Fotos Ltd

.

Continue Reading

Trending