This past week marked the final week of March, which means the tennis season is now a full three months old. We’re a quarter of the way done with the season, and there has been a lot that has happened. The Miami Masters just concluded with two new champions and plenty of other highlights, which we will go over in this weekly review.
Miami Masters aftermath
Aryna Sabalenka has added yet another trophy to her cabinet, one she never had before. It’s the Miami Masters, as she made the final this year—her first time ever making the final here—and won it immediately.
She faced Jessica Pegula in the final and bested her in two sets, 7-5, 6-2, once again proving better than the American, much like at the US Open last year. In fact, she is now three from three against Pegula in North American hardcourt finals in the last year.
On the men’s side, Novak Djokovic returned to the final with a really strong week of tennis. He faced Jakub Mensik in the final, who had a serve-bot week par excellence, being almost impossible to break. That continued in the final, with the Czech teen stunning a haggard-looking Djokovic 7-6(4), 7-6(4) to claim his maiden title, and deny the Serb his 100th.
Read more on Mensik and his current gear.
Daria Kasatkina to represent Australia
One of the bigger pieces of news in tennis this past week is Daria Kasatkina representing Australia in the future. The native Russian has represented Russia for the entirety of her career but torpedoed her chances of doing so in the future by doing something deeply unpopular in Russia—announcing that she was gay.
Kasatkina also openly criticized the Russian government and the war in Ukraine, which is a contentious topic back home. It led to a State Duma representative publicly calling for her to be listed as a foreign agent.
This essentially meant that she was unable to ever return to Russia, as she has agreed to play for Australia as a result. She’s not the first to make such a switch either, as many Russian players have opted against playing for the country recently.
She announced it on social media: “I am delighted to let you know that my application for permanent residence has been accepted by the Australian government. Australia is a place I love, is incredibly welcoming, and a place where I feel at home.”
Leo Messi in the house
Leo Messi was there in Miami for the Miami Masters because, after all, he lives in Miami. He plays for Inter Miami and watched Novak Djokovic play, taking pictures with him after the match. Juan Martín del Potro was also there, as was Andy Murray, who also took a picture with Messi and even trolled him with the caption. Murray wrote:
“I asked him if he could do it on a cold rainy night in Stoke. He responded, ‘Cállate la boca,’ which I think means yes in Spanish.”
It doesn’t mean yes, for all those wondering, but something else entirely.
Fan gets ejected from the Dimitrov-Djokovic match
A pretty interesting situation happened in the Miami Masters match between Grigor Dimitrov and Djokovic. At 1-1 in the opening set, a fan could be seen heckling Dimitrov, which the Bulgarian didn’t take too lightly.
They exchanged quite a few words before the umpire stepped in and called security to eject the fan. Dimitrov wasn’t livid, but he was quite angry, which is odd because he’s generally a very calm tennis player.
He doesn’t typically get into any kind of discussions with fans or players, so whatever happened between the fan and him had to be quite personal for him to get upset as much as he did.
Alexandra Eala makes history
19-year-old Eala is a rising Filipino player who has done some amazing things at this year’s Miami Masters. Not only did she make the semi-finals, but she also beat two top-five ranked players along the way, which is a first since Bianca Andreescu did it a few years ago.
She also entered the top 100 with this run and generally showcased a superb level. It earned praise from Rafael Nadal, whose academy she attended and graduated from two years ago, with Nadal in attendance.
Another player who attended that academy was Iga Swiatek, who was beaten by Ela at this event. A full-circle moment for the rising teenager.
Coming up this week
With the Sunshine Double over, it means we are heading into April, when the clay season begins. We have three events on the ATP tour, and all of them outdoors 250s on clay in Houston, Bucharest and Marrakech.
The week after, we have the Monte-Carlo Masters as well, so the clay season is coming in hot, and all the biggest names are going to be in for some grueling tennis in the European sun. As Andrey Rublev would say, clay tennis is real tennis, so buckle up.
