Level: WTA 250 | Prizemoney: $267,082 | Surface: Clay | Singles: 32 | Doubles: 16 With the beginning of the clay season in full swing, we turn to Rouen in France for the 2024 Capfinances Rouen Metropole Open. This is an interesting tournament on the WTA tour as it’s played on indoor clay, posing an exciting deviation from the usual clay court grind. The surface means players will benefit from the ball speed and consistency that an indoor court provides, crossed with the topspin friendly, grippy nature of clay. It’s the perfect clay court for a big server with an …
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The twenty-five year old Greek followed up his win over Jannik Sinner to advance to the finals with a commanding performance and win over Casper Ruud 6-1, 6-4. Stefanos Tsitipas joins other tennis greats as a three-time winner of the ATP’s clay court Monte Carlo Masters Tournament. Tennis Channel’s Jason Goodall stated, “Stefanos Tsitsipas is back with a vengeance this week in Monte Carlo”, with a statement from Paul Annaconde stating, “Third time champion, and he has his confidence back”. Tsitsipas better from the start From the beginning Tsitsipas appeared to be the more confident player even though Ruud had …
The Monte-Carlo Masters, an annual Masters 1000 event, began in 1896 and is held at the Monte Carlo Country Club in the Principality of Monaco in April every year. It is the first Masters 1000 event on the tennis calendar which is held on clay and marks the beginning of the high-stake European clay season. Greatest Players and Records Rafael Nadal When you think about players and records at Monte Carlo, one man stands alone at the helm – Rafael Nadal. The tournament has been so heavily dominated by the Spaniard, that he holds almost all the plausible records at …
Today in round sixteen of the 2024 Monte Carlo Masters number 1 ranked Novak Djokovic toppled number twenty-four ranked Lorenzo Musetti in straight sets to move through to the quarter finals. Djokovic yet to reach peak form The Thirty-six year old Serbian suffered a surprise exit at the hands of Musetti at this stage last year and for a while a repeat looked on the cards. Djokovic had to fight back from 2-4 down in the opening set before going on to defeat Musetti 7-5, 6-3. Twenty-two year old Italian Lorenzo Musetti has won two ITF World Tennis Tour titles. …
This New Balance 996 V4 Review by guest writer Sebastiano Sali deals with the all court edition. There is now a V5 version out, which we hope to review as well. If you want to check out our other shoe reviews, go here. You can check out the New Balance 996 V5 at Tennis Warehouse or Tennis Only. Tennis Warehouse Europe does not currently carry it, but you can find them on Amazon and other retailers (potentially). The New Balance 996 V4 Review deals with one of the flashier tennis shoes on the market. Its purple, neon green, and marine …
Emma Raducanu is poised to return to action for Great Britain in this weekend’s vital Billie Jean King Cup tie against France. The 2021 US Open Champion has been absent from the side since making her debut against the Czech Republic in 2022. Raducanu appeared to have the tennis world at her feet when winning the US Open as a qualifier. She did so without dropping a set to become the first British woman to win a Grand Slam singles title since Virginia Wade won Wimbledon in 1977. That victory secured massive endorsements off the court with numerous sponsorship deals …
We have a guest string review from Christopher Conte. It’s a Tecnifibre Razor Code hybrid review. Is it a great poly/poly? Tecnifibre Razor Code hybrid – the Ultimate Poly/Poly? As a long time tennis player, there is always the racket journey process to go through. To me, that seemed much easier than finding the best strings that gives me control, comfort, and playability. Over the past few years, I’ve adapted well to a few strings, but none seem to last as long as Razor Code in the 1.25MM gauge. As a fan of Daniil Medvedev, I started buying a reel …
Fellow tennis nerd, Konstantinos Kalfountzos, has written about Kirschbaum strings. He has tested a bunch of them and shares his opinions below. You can check out Kirschbaum strings from our friends at Tennis Warehouse Europe (10% off using TNERD10), Tennis Warehouse and Tennis Only. You can check out Konstantintos on his YouTube channel. Intro to Kirschbaum strings Kirschbaum is a tennis string brand from Germany that has been around for many years. Most of us know their original Super Smash Honey, now called Super Smash Orange. Kirschbaum in my experience seems to concentrate on durable (pre-stretched), control-oriented strings. A quick look at their lineup and one …
Indian Sumit Nagal became the first ever Indian to win a main draw match at the Monte Carlo Masters by defeating Italian Matteo Arnoldi. Currently ranked 93 in the world, Nagal defeated a player ranked 38 when battling back from a set down to win 5-7, 6-2, 6-4. Nagal is the first male Indian player to win an ATP Masters 1000 match on clay. His reward is a clash with seventh-seeded Dane Holger Rune who finished runner-up in this event 12 months’ ago. 26-year-old Nagal first caught the eye when winning the Wimbledon Boys’ Doubles title in 2015 in partnership …
The Road to Roland Garros 2024 has begun, with the main draw of first ATP Masters 1000 of the clay season kicking off on April 07, 2024. The other prime clay court tournaments to follow are Barcelona Open (ATP 500), Madrid Masters 1000 and Rome Masters 1000, before we head to Paris at end of May for the second grand slam of the year. Rafael Nadal, who has cumulatively won above mentioned 5 tournaments a whopping 52 times, is still not fit and has recently also withdrawn from Monte Carlo. This comes after successive withdrawals during the whole of the …