Courtside Weekly

A Parisian Dream

With Djokovic relaxing in the Maldives and Jannik Sinner’s withdrawal, due to a virus, before his opening match on Wednesday, Alcaraz had a fantastic opportunity this week to take the Paris Masters title. The final Masters 1000 event on the ATP calendar has long-been know for its mercurial results. We have seen Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic lose to much lower ranked opponents here over the years. Perhaps, its the lack of motivation, or fatigue or prioritising the ATP Finals – Turin (ATP top eight players), which begins the following Sunday after the final of the Paris Masters.

Bercy has not been a good hunting ground for Carlos Alcaraz since he appeared onto the Tour a few years ago. The fast court conditions do not do his game justice, whereas the slow high-bouncing red dirt in Boulogne-Billancourt suits the Spaniard’s tennis moreso. Having won his first Roland Garros title in May, spain’s highest ranked male player has won a large number of matches on clay, with titles in Barcelona, Madrid and Roland Garros.

The Semi Finals today in Bercy include Zverev, who is having a fantastic season, Holger Rune, France’s Ugo Humbert, who knocked out Alcaraz on Thursday evening and Khachanov who has not had the best season, however has been winning a lot over the last month, taking the title in Almaty, Kazhakstan and reaching the final of Vienna the following week.

Out of the four remaining contenders, they are all in with a chance of winning the title. Rune and Khachanoc have both won this trophy before, with Humbert and Zverev having never won it. Who wins? We shall see in the Sunday showdown in the last ever Paris Masters held at the Accor Arena in Bercy. 2025 sees the event moving to a brand new venue in La Defense, in Paris’s Financial District where the arena will hold an additional 5000 attendees, allowing for more tennis fans to enjoy this wonderful event.

Laver Cup in Berlin

As the ATP Tour begins its indoor swing in Europe, the seventh edition of the Laver Cup takes place in Berlin this week. After Rafael Nadal pulled out last week, the event feels like its lost its strong appeal it normally has. Still, the exciting team event will feature some star-studded names such as Carlos Alcaraz, Grigor Dimitrov (replacement for Nadal) and Daniil Medvedev. Alexander Zverev will alsp be playing for Team Europe in front of a home crowd this weekend, as the German tennis star competes to bring the Laver Cup trophy back to Europe. Click here for grab the last remaining tickets for this event.

Next year’s edition of the Laver Cup will be hosted by San Francisco, USA. Click here for information on packages for this event.

Post-Wimbledon Blues

As Wimbledon draws to a close, Novak Djokovic can reflect back on his fourth Wimbledon title with even more significance compared to usual. The Serb’s long journey back from his elbow injury last year has gathered a lot of media attention due to his lack-luster performances earlier in the Spring of this year. As the ATP Tour turns to the American hard-court swing, the season is shaping up to be quite interesting with all players back from their respective injuries. In particular, Andy Murray and Stan Wawrinka will be in the spotlight for the first weeks of August, as both players are expected to play in the Washington D.C. 500 event in late July into early August.

Following the two Masters 1000 events in Toronto and Cincinnati in mid-August, the ATP and WTA players will head to New York City to battle it out for the biggest hard-court trophy in tennis – the US Open Championships. Battling the elements will be one of the toughest obstacles as temperatures can rise to 35 degrees celsious in the summer in The Big Apple.

Who will be crowned the Men’s and Ladies’ US Open Champion in 2018?
It certainly looks as if Novak is back to his best following his recent success in London and on the Ladies’ side – it’s anyone’s guess. However, Serena will have had many more matches under her belt and will look to match Margaret Court’s record of winning twenty-four singles Grand Slam titles.