Alex Mann is back with the segment This Week in Tennis (#39). This time the main news is that Team World Wins First Laver Cup.
Team World Wins First Laver Cup
At the weekend, Team World lifted their first Laver Cup title, defeating Team Europe 18-8. Although the biggest talking point at the 02 Arena in London was Roger Federer’s retirement, the event produced some excellent singles and doubles matches.
It was Frances Tiafoe who sealed the win for Team World, as he defeated Stefanos Tsitsipas 1-6, 7-6,10-8.
In Japan, Ludmilla Samsonova continued her impressive hard-court form, battling past the promising Zheng Qinwen, 7-5 7-5, to win her third WTA title of the season.
At the Korea Open, Ekaterina Alexandrova defeated Jelena Ostapenko in the final, 7-6, 6-0.
This Week In Tennis #39
This week sees the ATP and WTA players battle it in a range of ATP 250 events in Tel Aviv, Sofia, Seoul, Parma and Tallinn.
Tel Aviv Open (ATP 250).
Tel Aviv Open ATP 250
Novak Djokovic returns to the ATP tour in Tel Aviv. The Serb, going for his third title of the season, faces the likes of Diego Schwartzman , Marin Cilic and Maxime Cressy. Dominic Thiem is also participating. The Austrian has been showing signs of improvement in the past few weeks so could go deep in this tournament.
Given Djokovic’s lack of match practice, and coming off a loss at the Laver Cup to Auger-Aliassime, I think the Serb will need some more matches before he reaches top gear.
Prediction – Schwartzman to win
Sofia Open (ATP 250)
Two-time defending champion, Jannik Sinner leads the field in Sofia, Bulgaria. The promising NextGen players, Holger Rune and Lorenzo Musetti have both won their tour-level title this year and will be ones to watch. The experienced, and in-form Pablo Carreno Busta is the second seed.
Prediction – Carreno Busta to win
Korea Open (ATP 250)
An impressive group of players have assembled in South Korea for the first ATP event in Seoul since 1996. The top seed, Casper Ruud, recently reached the US Open final and has been playing his best tennis this year. Britain’s Cameron Norrie is the second seed and has stated his aim to reach the ATP finals, so will be looking to gain some ranking points this week.
Taylor Fritz and Denis Shapovalov will also contend for the title.
Prediction – Ruud to win
Emilia-Romagna Open (WTA 250)
The second edition of the Parma Open begins this week. The defending champion, Coco Guaff will not be defending her title. The world number 7, Maria Sakkari is the top seed and will be looking to win her first title of the year. 2017 US Open champion, Sloane Stephens is participating as is Martina Trevisan and Irina-Camelia Begu.
Prediction – Sakkari to win
Tallinn Open (WTA 250)
Annet Kontaveit will be hoping to give the crowd a home win in Tallinn, Estonia. The top seed has had an inconsistent year, having not reached past the second-round of any of the majors in 2022. Can the home support help her over the finish line this week? It will be a tough task given the strength of the field. Belinda Bencic, Beatriz Haddad Maia, Jelena Ostapenko, Barbora Krejcikova, Zhang Shuai and Jil Teichmann are just some of the names Kontaveit will have to watch out for.
Prediction – Bencic to win
