The Sunshine Double is well and truly behind us, as the first tournament along the long road to Roland-Garros began this week. It was a bit of an odd one on the ATP Tour as most of the big names took the week off, while for the women there was a fiercely-contested WTA 500 in Charleston. Read on for a breakdown of all the action, on and off the court, plus a look ahead to the coming week.
Champions corner
As always, we have to mention some of the players who managed to win trophies this week because there were quite a few events, albeit small ones.
On the men’s side of the sport, we had tournaments in Bucharest, Marrakech and Houston. The event in Bucharest saw Flavio Coboli win the trophy as he bested Sebastian Baez in the final. In Marrakech, it was Tallon Griekspoor who emerged victorious by beating Luciano Darderi in the final.
As for Houston, Jenson Brooksby completed a stunning run, coming from qualifying to beat Frances Tiafoe in the final, and saving match points in three of his five main draw matches. More on Jenson Brooksby and his current racquet.
On the women’s side of the sport, there was the Bogota Slam, where native player Camila Osorio triumphed once again. In Charleston, on green clay, it was Jessica Pegula who claimed victory by defeating Sofia Kenin in an all-American final.
Casper Ruud wins UTS Nimes
As often happens before some of these bigger events, we had a UTS tournament organized by Patrick Mouratoglou. The French coach selected Nîmes as the host city, with the venue being a Roman arena. The event was, of course, played on clay, and Casper Ruud emerged as the winner.
Other players who participated included Andrey Rublev, Gaël Monfils, Tomáš Machá? and Alex de Minaur.
Roland Garros creates controversy for using AI
There is an ongoing trend online where people use AI to convert or create images in the Studio Ghibli style, which is highly controversial because the creator has famously denounced using AI to produce art. Now, AI is essentially infringing upon his copyrighted style without any consequences.
The part that concerns Roland Garros is that the social media profile of the event jumped on the trend, posting images created in that style with AI on X. Many fans called this out as problematic, especially since such an event can afford to hire actual artists instead of relying on AI.
Eva Lys comes out against electronic line calling on clay
Noted WTA pro Eva Lys of Germany has come out against electronic line calling, thinking it unnecessary on a surface where almost every mark can be seen. This year marks the first time electronic line calling will be officially used on clay, which some don’t particularly favor.
It’s a technology that has proven to be controversial because some players oppose it while others don’t object. It’s a relatively safe system in the sense that it performs its function quite well, and the consensus is that it’s more reliable than human eyes.
While some might think it’s unnecessary, it’s here to stay, and generally, as with everything in tennis, even the most stubborn people who are against something will simply have to adapt to it to the best of their abilities.
In fairness to Lys, she’s not really against the technology as she’s a big proponent of it on hard courts, but seemingly feels that on clay, it doesn’t make much sense.
Coming up this week
This upcoming week marks the start of the Monte-Carlo Masters. We’re about to witness some premium tennis at arguably one of the most amazing venues in the world, with some of the wealthiest spectators you’ve never seen before. What’s not to like?
On the tennis side, most of the top players will be competing, with Alexander Zverev as the top seed, Carlos Alcaraz as the second seed, and Novak Djokovic, a former Monaco resident, also in attendance. Another Monaco resident, Jannik Sinner, won’t be competing though as his suspension is not yet over.
The event has already begun, as three main draw matches were played on Sunday, including one featuring a native Monegasque player, which is a rare sight.
