Top Tennis Stories
The fourth seed, German Jan-Lennard Struff, finally secured his maiden singles title on the ATP Tour on home soil in Munich, Germany at the BMW Open. The title could not have come at a better place, home for Struff. It took the German 15 long years to finally become a singles champion on tour.
Stefanos Tsitsipas is back in the winners' circle as he secures a third Monte-Carlo Masters title against Casper Ruud in straight sets. He dispatched Ruud in just an hour and 36 minutes, winning 6-1, 6-4. It was a tremendous win after an injury-plagued 2023 season and terrible start to his 2024 season. This also marks the 11th tour-level title for the Greek.
Hubert Hurkacz secures his first title on the red dirt for the first time in his career at the 9th edition of the Millennium Estoril Open. He defeated Spaniard Pedro Martinez in straight sets winning 6-3, 6-4 in an hour and 26 minutes. Hubi dishes up a match with serving masterclass once again, this time on his weakest surface, clay.
The Italian Jannik Sinner continues his impressive season as he picks up his third title at the Miami Open, after winning the Australian Open and Rotterdam title earlier this year. The third seed completed the run to victory in just an hour and 13 minutes against the 32 year old Bulgarian Grigor Dimitrov in straight sets, 6-3, 6-1. Sinner extends his lead to 3-1 against Dimitrov in their Lexus ATP Head2Head series.
The Frenchmen dispatched the no. 33 seed Australian Jordan Thompson in a late night thriller at the Miami Open in 3 sets, 6(3)-7, 6-1, 6-2 in 2 hours and 13 minutes. The 37 year old, coming back from an unsatisfactory performance in the first set tie-break, ran off with the match after bringing his game up a notch in the latter two sets.
The World’s Premier Clay Court championship, the French Open, is set to kick off at the end of May 2024. The qualifying rounds begin on Monday, May 20, 2024.
The world no. 4, Daniil Medvedev wins a bizarre match against home hope Tommy Paul in three sets 1-6, 7-6(3), 6-2. He came back from a terrible first set to dispatch Paul in the decider to reach his second final of the season; his first tournament after an incredibly tiring run at the Australian Open early this year.
Young Italian world no. 123 Luca Nardi beats world no. 1 Novak Djokovic in three sets, 6-4, 3-6, 6-3 to secure the biggest win of his young career at the first Masters event of the year. He defeated his idol in 2 hours and 20 minutes, firing a total of 36 winners against the five-time champion, prompting another early exit for Djokovic.
Frenchmen Ugo Humbert continues his impressive form to claim his sixth career singles title on the ATP Tour at the Dubai Duty Free ATP500 event, beating Alexander Bublik in straight sets 6-4, 6-3 in an hour and 25 minutes.
Karen Khachanov becomes the champion in Doha as he beats 18 year old Jakub Mensik from Czech Republic in straight sets 7-6(12), 6,4 at the Qatar Open in Doha. Khachanov needed an hour and 49 minutes to put away Mensik who was looking to win his maiden title.
Aryna Sabalenka cruises her way through to win her second Australian Open title in Melbourne this year. The defending champion did not drop a set en-route to her second Grand Slam title. She is also the only female player since Victoria Azarenka in 2013 to win back-to-back titles at the event.
A new champion arises on Rod Laver Arena as Jannik Sinner completes a comeback from 2-0 sets down against third time AO finalist Daniil Medvedev to claim his first title at a major event. Sinner won in 5 sets 3-6, 3-6, 6-4, 6-4, 6-3, becoming the only third Italian men to have won a Grand Slam title.
The fifth seed Andrey Rublev runs down the Australian tenth seed “speed demon” Alex de Minaur in five grueling sets and advances to the quarterfinals at the Australian Open.
Novak Djokovic puts away 18 year old Croatian qualifier Dino Prizmic after a tough four sets 6-2, 6(5)-7, 6-3, 6-4 in 4 hours to advance to the second round. This was the longest ever first-round match at a Grand Slam for Novak Djokovic.
Grigor Dimitrov outplays world no. 8 Holger Rune to claim his ninth ATP singles title at the Brisbane International in Australia after a 6-year drought since winning the Nitto ATP Finals in November of 2017. He saw off the Dane after 2 tight sets 7-6(5), 6-4 in 2 hours and 16 minutes at the Pat Rafter Arena.
Ben Shelton who hails from Georgia, United States, burst into the tennis scene in 2022 as a 20-year-old and in just a year, he has attained a career-high ranking of number 15, claimed his maiden title at the Tokyo Open 2023 and made deep runs at both the Australian Open and the US Open on debut. Tennis runs deep in his genes as his dad Bryan Shelton who is also his main coach, was a former ATP professional reaching a career-high rank of no. 55, and had won two singles and two doubles titles.
Just days after the Nitto ATP Finals match between Novak Djokovic and Jannik Sinner, the pair met again at the Davis Cup semi-finals. Only this time, Sinner got the better of Djokovic, defeating him in three sets 6-2, 2-6, 7-5.
Novak Djokovic successfully beat Jannik Sinner and scored revenge after losing in their epic 3-sets group match on Tuesday. This time, Djokovic beat Sinner in straight sets 6-3, 6-3 taking an hour and 43 minutes to claim his record-breaking 7th title win at the ATP Finals.
Novak Djokovic defeated world No. 8 Holger Rune in his opening match at the Nitto ATP Finals in 3 tough sets to win 7-6, 6-7, 6-3 in 3 hours and 4 minutes. Djokovic is confirmed to end this season with a record-extending eighth year-end No. 1 presented by Pepperstone after securing the win over the Dane in the round-robin.
Novak Djokovic ends Grigor Dimitrov’s dream run at the Paris Masters in straight sets 6-4, 6-3 in 98 minutes on their 13th meeting on tour. It was a finals matchup that no one had expected, and a battle between two of the oldest guys in the top 20. Djokovic continues to dominate their Lexus Head2Head meeting now leading 12-1.
Jannik Sinner prevailed at the Vienna Open in Austria as he defeated defending champion Daniil Medvedev in three thrilling sets 7-6(7), 4-6, 6-3 in 3 hours and 5 minutes. This was the fourth finals meeting between Sinner and Medvedev in 2023.
Holger Rune is a Danish tennis player born on 23 April 2003. He is currently ranked number 10 on the ATP Pepperstone Rankings. He turned pro in 2020 and currently has 3 titles under his belt all claimed in 2022: Munich, Stockholm and the ATP Masters 1000 in Paris. Holger is one ambitious guy looking to become the best and has the potential to climb the rankings this decade. He is one of the next-gen players to be looking out for!
Ben Shelton, a new champion at the Japan Open after defeating former world No. 14 Aslan Karatsev in straight sets 7-5, 6-1, taking just 84 minutes to lift his maiden tour-level title. The young American proves himself to be not only a great entertainer on the court but also a player who can win and consistently make deep runs on tour.
Hubert Hurkacz defeated world no. 7 Andrey Rublev to become a Masters 1000 Champion again at the Shanghai Masters event. Hurkacz solidified his status as a masterclass server with insane serve quality throughout the tournament. He is also a truly amazing defender and movement for a player of his height.
Poland no. 1 Iga Swiatek marches on in an amazing season with her fifth title despite losing the World No. 1 ranking to Aryna Sabalenka at the US Open as she was unable to defend the title this year. This was Iga Swiatek’s China Open debut and her seventh final match of the season.
Alexander Zverev and Daniil Medvedev will meet for the 17th time in their career in the semifinals at the China Open in Beijing, Medvedev currently leads 9-7 on their Head 2 Head meetings. They both were forced to play a 3-set match in the quarters before securing a spot in the final 4.
Team World successfully pulled off a title defence as Ben Shelton and Frances Tiafoe secured their last 3 points from winning the first match out of the four scheduled matches on Day 3. They played the fiery pair Andrey Rublev and Hubert Hurkazc who played extremely well, but Team World kept their composure and managed to clinch the win after playing to two-set tie-breaks, 7-6, 7-6.
Novak Djokovic was crowned champion for the fourth time in Flushing Meadows at the US Open. Djokovic crushed Daniil Medvedev's dreams of a second Slam trophy in straight sets, 6-2, 7-6(5), 6-3.
The defending champion and top seed Iga Swiatek crashed out of the US Open as Jelena Ostapenko came back from a set down to win 3-6, 6-3, 6-1 in their fourth round clash. Jelena Ostapenko continues to hold a perfect record against Iga Swiatek, and she now leads Swiatek 4-0 on their head to head records and will play the quarterfinals at the Flushing Meadows for the first time in her career.
The world number 6 Casper Ruud secured revenge against Stefanos Tsitsipas in the finals of the Barcelona Open just a week after missing out on the Monte Carlo crown last Sunday against the Greek. Ruud secured the title in straight sets 7-5, 6-3 in an hour and 29 minutes.