Welcome back to the Monday Tennis Briefing, where The Athletic will explain the stories behind the stories from the past week on court.
This week, the ATP and WTA tournaments in Beijing came to a close. One player cemented their return to the top, another said that the tennis balls are unfair, and the Davis Cup changed its rules… again.
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How high can Karolina Muchova go?
She didn’t get the title win she wanted, but the China Open was still a big success for Karolina Muchova — and therefore, for women’s tennis.
The WTA Tour is simply an even more interesting place when Muchova is a factor. There were genuine fears this year that those days were gone, with Muchova recovering from wrist surgery and telling The Athletic that she had been concerned she might never play again.
Reaching the U.S. Open semifinals was huge, but it feels just as significant that she backed up that run by largely easing into the final in Shanghai with few signs of fatigue.
Most impressive was her third straight win over world No. 2 Aryna Sabalenka in the quarters on Friday. She saved set points in the first set and came back from 4-2 down in the decider, playing in her characteristically fearless manner. By rushing the net and disrupting her opponent’s rhythm, Muchova forced Sabalenka to crack as the finish line drew closer. The Belarusian, who is trying to overhaul the absent Iga Swiatek as world No. 1, lost the last 10 points of the match.
Karolina Muchova’s incredible shotmaking has propelled her return to form. (Zhang Long / Xinhua via Getty Images)
In the semifinals, Muchova recorded another notable victory by taking out the home favorite and Olympic champion Zheng Qinwen in straight sets. Zheng had beaten Muchova in the clay-court Palermo final in Sicily earlier in Muchova’s return to the tour, but the faster surface in China negated Zheng’s advantages in their matchup.
Not so in the final against Coco Gauff, who beat Muchova for the third time out of three. “You kicked my butt again,” the losing finalist said afterwards.
Muchova should take a lot from this week, though, and her ranking jumps up 18 places to No. 31 — maintain that position and she will be seeded for the biggest events. If Muchova can stay healthy, there’s no reason she and her hugely stylish and watchable game can’t get back towards the top 10.
GO DEEPER
Karolina Muchova’s U.S. Open run reminds the world of the beauty of her game
Charlie Eccleshare
How is the rain affecting Shanghai?
Remember all those accusations of tennis being a two-tier sport after the original Jannik Sinner verdict, and the sense that it was about a lot more than his individual case, or even doping regulations altogether?
Well, the last few days in Shanghai gave a flavor of why some tennis players might feel the odds are stacked against them. Terrible weather over the weekend meant that while the very best players could get their matches done under a roof on the main court, the rest of the draw had to sit around and wait.
As the rain continued on Monday, some matches were played on indoor practice courts with a manual scoreboard and the general ambience of a couple of amateurs having a hit.
POV: You’re Tennis TV admin on a rainy day in Shanghai ☔️🎾#RolexShanghaiMasters pic.twitter.com/MyvZ3TCpxW
— Tennis TV (@TennisTV) October 7, 2024
Marcos Giron avoided an exit against Karen Khachanov in more ways than one. (Hugo Hu / Getty Images)
No need to cry them a river, sure — it’s just one of those things. But it also means the winners of those matches, such as David Goffin and Roman Safiullin, who beat Lorenzo Musetti and Alexander Bublik respectively, are playing catchup and will play a more congested schedule for the rest of the tournament. Novak Djokovic’s next opponent will be Stan Wawrinka or Flavio Cobolli, either of whom will be coming off two days’ rest fewer than Djokovic, who played his second-round match under the roof on Saturday.
The rain is no one’s fault and Djokovic, Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz have earned their star billing — but when things get squeezed at a tournament it’s always the non-elite players who suffer most.
GO DEEPER
What players’ reaction to Sinner’s doping case says about their trust in their sport
Charlie Eccleshare
What’s going on with international team tennis?
Forgive yourself if you can’t keep track of the Davis Cup and the Billie Jean King Cup.
The team tournaments pitting tennis nations against one another have seemingly been changing their formats every year, trying to fit into an overpacked calendar and player schedules that increasingly provide little time for rest. With all that in mind, the International Tennis Federation, which oversees the events and relies on them for sustenance, last week announced the latest changes to both tournaments.
After an unsuccessful dalliance with playing group matches in nominated venues, the Davis Cup will bring back its “home or away” format, in which one team gets the privilege of playing in front of a partisan crowd. Fourteen teams go into seven qualifiers, each one contested in the home of one of the participants. Add in an automatically qualifying host nation and you get an eight-team finals.
Emma Raducanu thrived in the Billie Jean King Cup while representing Great Britain against France this year. (Aurelien Meunier / Getty Images for ITF)
The Billie Jean King Cup likes that number too, so beginning next year, eight teams will make its finals, compared with 12 this year. Those eight teams will emerge from seven groups of three teams, who will play a round-robin competition over three days in April. Add in the automatically qualifying host nation, and you get to eight teams.
Just don’t get too attached. The ITF has already announced another change to the Billie Jean King Cup for 2026. It will ditch the round-robin competition, and copy the Davis Cup’s home-or-away ties instead.
Check back in 12 months for more forgiveness over failing to keep track of these formats, and for the next round of changes to those formats.
GO DEEPER
Iga Swiatek and Coco Gauff out of Billie Jean King Cup Finals
GO DEEPER
Davis Cup Finals squads: Nadal for Spain, Sinner could face Alcaraz
Matt Futterman
What’s in a can of balls?
It’s easy to dismiss players’ complaints about tennis balls because there is a bit of a Goldilocks phenomenon going on: there’s always a reason they aren’t just right. As Jessica Pegula joked at the U.S. Open: “I don’t really seem to like any of the balls, that’s what girls tell me. They’re like, ‘Yeah, but, Jess, you don’t like any of them’. I’m like, ‘Yeah, I don’t’.”
Daniil Medvedev put the issue back on the agenda this weekend in Shanghai. While there was a comical edge to his complaints about the Wilson balls — he wrote, “Nice balls” on a television camera after his arduous win over Matteo Arnaldi on Sunday and said during the match, “You can only wipe your bum with them” — there was a more serious, broader message too.
In his on-court interview, Medvedev said: “Now even when I make a good return, there are one of two where I can’t hit a better return and the ball stops through the air. It basically favours people who can generate power from dead balls, and some have a better quality with this.
“The two best players who are already the best players in the world — and I’m sure they would be without the balls — with these balls they are the only players who can generate crazy power, it’s Jannik (Sinner) and Carlos (Alcaraz) so it gives them an extra edge.”
Daniil Medvedev has been dissatisfied with the balls in Shanghai. (Zhe Ji / Getty Images)
In his press conference, Medvedev said the slower balls tied into a wider issue on tour. “The last two or three years, the matches are longer on the ATP Tour because the balls don’t go that fast — longer rallies, longer games. You cannot serve aces.”
Japan’s Yoshihito Nishioka expanded on Medvedev’s comments in posts on X. “Recently, there are many balls and courts that have this tendency, and powerful players have an overwhelming advantage,” Nishioka said.
“From the side that fights with timing and speed, there are more and more moments when nothing works.”
GO DEEPER
Men’s grand-slam matches are 25% longer than in 1999. Does something need to change?
Charlie Eccleshare
Shot of the week
Matteo Arnaldi seems pretty happy with those balls, Daniil.
Recommended reading:
🏆 The winners of the week
🎾 ATP:
🏆 Carlos Alcaraz (2) def. Jannik Sinner (1) 6-7(6), 6-4, 7-6(3) to win the China Open (500) in Beijing. It is Alcaraz’s third win over Sinner in 2024 in three matches.
🏆 Arthur Fils def. Ugo Humbert 5-7, 7-6(6), 6-3 to win the Japan Open (500) in Tokyo. It is his second ATP 500 title.
🎾 WTA:
🏆 Coco Gauff (4) def. Karolina Muchova 6-1, 6-3 to win the China Open (1000) in Beijing. It is Gauff’s second WTA 1000 title.
📈📉 On the rise / Down the line
📈 Coco Gauff moves up two places from No. 6 to No. 4 after winning the title in Beijing.
📈 Carlos Alcaraz returns to No. 2 in the world after his title, replacing Alexander Zverev.
📈 Karolina Muchova reenters the top 40 after rising 18 spots from No. 49 to No. 31.
📈 Mirra Andreeva ascends two places and back into the top 20, from No. 21 to No. 19.
📉 Maria Sakkari falls a further five places from No. 17 to No. 22.
📉 Caroline Garcia drops eight places and out of the top 30, from No. 36 to No. 44
📅 Coming up
🎾 ATP
📍Shanghai: Shanghai Masters (1000) featuring Jannik Sinner, Carlos Alcaraz, Novak Djokovic, Alexander Zverev
📺 UK: Sky Sports; U.S.: Tennis Channel 💻
🎾 WTA
📍Wuhan, China: Wuhan Open (1000) featuring Aryna Sabalenka, Coco Gauff, Karolina Muchova, Jessica Pegula.
📺 UK: Sky Sports; U.S.:
Tell us what you noticed this week in the comments below as the men’s and women’s tours continue.
(Top photo: Getty Images; design: Eamonn Dalton)
