Cincinnati Masters

Pegula casts doubts on marathon WTA scheduling

Published

9 months ago

July 27, 2025

Two-time titlewinner in Canada Jessica Pegula on Sunday threw shade on the extension of the summer hardcourt swing into a pair of masters events lasting for three weeks in total

The American who won Canadian trophies in 2024 and last summer, is withholding judgement on the WTA move to stretch the formerly one-week Masters events to roughly 11 days each for this event and the last major before the US Open, Cincinnati.

“It can seem really long, especially leading up to a slam, but I’m interested,” the American said.

“It’s not quite two weeks for each tournament, right? It’s 21 days. I think it’s a little bit of a hybrid between what we’ve seen with, like, Madrid and Rome or Indian Wells/Miami.”

She called the challenge “obviously longer than just having one week to finish everything.”

Pegula said she is reserving judgement of the controversial move which has riled some major players.

“I’m, honestly, interested to see how it turns out and how it feels for the players and for the fans; it’s kind of like meeting in the middle a little bit.”

But doubts remain for last autumn’s US Open runner-up.

“I’m not a fan of when they’re two weeks long. It can get really tough. I feel like Slams are two weeks, and so now turning everything almost into a Slam is really mentally draining.

“I’m hoping that these two events feel like a good kind of middle ground, I guess I could say. It’s the first time we’ve done it, and I think we’re all going to have to get used to it, but I guess we’ll see how it goes.”

ATP

Sinner claims full house with Indian Wells win

Published

1 month ago

March 16, 2026

Roger Parker

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

ATP

FAA raises his “standards” to extend QF hot streak

Published

2 months ago

February 25, 2026

Bill Scott

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.

ATP

The heat is on as ATP bows to weather reality

Published

4 months ago

December 17, 2025

Bill Scott

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