ROME — Wealth is everywhere in the tennis ecosystem.<\/p>\n
At the Internazionali BNL d’Italia, high-end sponsors dominate hoardings and luxury brands sell hundred-euro outfits at merchandise outlets. Michelin-starred chefs show off their creations in both hospitality suites and the players’ restaurant.<\/p>\n
This kind of aspirational lifestyle glamour doesn’t impress No. 13 seed Linda Noskova, though. After defeating Oleksandra Oliynykova 6-1, 6-3 to reach the fourth round, the 21-year-old Czech explained why she would rather spend her prize money giving to a good cause than on a new designer handbag.<\/p>\n
To Noskova, those aren’t empty words. Last November, she turned them into action by volunteering with Zanzibar Learning 4 Life, a Tanzanian charity dedicated to education. Noskova researched, planned and organized the trip herself — a week in a school for 350 children teaching English and geography. Her team had assumed she was joking until she actually departed.<\/p>\n
“They were happy that I came back, let’s say,” Noskova said on their reaction.<\/p>\n
The trip itself put Noskova’s life as a tennis pro into perspective.<\/p>\n
“There was a lot of poverty,” she said. “Conditions were not easy. It was hard to see sometimes. When I came back, I was definitely more appreciative of everything that I have\u00a0… \u00a0I would say that for every player, it’s important to see the other side,\u00a0the other lives and the other world, so that we can appreciate this lifestyle that we have a little bit more.”<\/p>\n
Despite that, the moments that stick in Noskova’s memory from Tanzania are ones of joy: the group of seven girls who were particularly happy to see her every morning, the Czech candy she brought them. She also treasures the anonymity of the week — neither the schoolchildren nor the fellow volunteers with whom she shared a dormitory had heard of her.<\/p>\n
“That was super refreshing,” she said. “The children didn’t even know what tennis was.\u00a0The next time that I will be there, I will probably bring some racquets and some balls\u00a0so they can see what the sport is about.”<\/p>\n
Noskova’s involvement with the charity wasn’t just a fleeting one. She continues to support the school financially, and they send her weekly updates on the books they’ve bought and the new classrooms they’ve built.<\/p>\n
“It’s always amazing to see that the money is going for the right reason, which was the reason I was there,” she said.<\/p>\n
Nor will this be the full extent of Noskova’s social responsibility. She’s passionate about environmental issues, and says that she “100%” intends to go into a campaigning or political role once her career is over. Indeed, one of her key motivations is to use her tennis success as a means of gaining a platform — she has set up a separate Instagram profile to post about the environment and human rights — and opening those doors.<\/p>\n
“I feel like my sport can get me to different places,” she said. “I can have a voice off court to talk about these things.”<\/p>\n
As evening falls on the Foro Italico, Baptiste and Siegemund put on a show<\/p>\n
Pietrangeli has a deserved reputation as the Foro Italico’s most scenic, populist courts. But the true tennis hipsters know that the deepest cuts can be found on Courts 1 and 2, the furthest outposts of the venue.<\/p>\n
The\u00a0former\u00a0furthest outposts, that is to say. The tournament’s expansion means that the new BNP Paribas Arena, on the other side of the Stadio Olimpico football pitch, is now the greatest distance from Centrale. It’s not the only new court in town — there’s also the SuperTennis Arena opposite Centrale, and Courts 13 and 14 off the Via Canevaro.<\/p>\n
All this means that the old quadrangle of Courts 1 to 4, surrounded by seats carved directly into the stone — there is emphatically no luxury hospitality here — have been put in the shade, with fewer singles matches scheduled here than previously. But the old magic hasn’t gone quite yet.<\/p>\n
On Friday night, as the sun set on the Foro Italico, two of the WTA’s premier finesse artists were putting on a simultaneous show. On Court 1, Laura Siegemund delivered drop shot after cruel drop shot to upset No. 14 seed Ekaterina Alexandrova 6-4, 6-7(4), 6-1, notching her second Top 20 win of 2026 at the age of 38.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, fresh off a brilliant run to the Madrid semifinals, No. 32 seed Hailey Baptiste was putting together a hard-fought 6-7(9), 6-4, 6-4 win over Swiss qualifier Simona Waltert. The American came up with reflex volleys, front-facing tweeners, behind-the-back gets and — in the final game — a truly outrageous piece of defense; the Rome crowd, always appreciative of tennis as art rather than just sport, responded by roaring her on.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Dogs are everywhere … but not for the tour’s biggest dog-lover<\/p>\n
Increasingly, the WTA Tour Driven by Mercedes-Benz resembles a travelling kennel. Trailblazing canines such as Bianca Andreescu’s Coco — and before her, Venus Williams’s Harold — have helped spread the word that a loyal companion can be a literal creature comfort through the loneliness and losses that are part and parcel of life on the road.<\/p>\n
Tamara Korpatsch plays with her maltipoo, Stella, on a patch of grass outside Centrale. Mirra Andreeva’s Rassy — a present from her mother after she reached the Top 20 — pokes her head out of an oversized pink bag. Marta Kostyuk now travels with not one but two dogs — this year, Chich joined Mander in the Ukrainian’s entourage.<\/p>\n
It’s all somewhat bittersweet for one of the tour’s greatest animal lovers, Elise Mertens. On the one hand — more puppies to fuss over!<\/p>\n
“I just want to pet them all,” Mertens said after dethroning defending champion Jasmine Paolini on Saturday.<\/p>\n
Mertens saves three match points, dethrones Paolini in Rome third round<\/p>\n
On the other, they just make her miss her own pack even more. Mertens owns eight rescue dogs — fans may be familiar with them from her series of videos in which she shows them her Grand Slam trophies — but all are too big to travel with, let alone to carry around in bags.<\/p>\n
“They can’t really go into every country,” Mertens said. “You’d also need a third person with you\u00a0to babysit the dog a little bit.\u00a0And I don’t want to keep them in the hotel room,\u00a0because that’s a bit tight.”<\/p>\n
For now, she has to settle for calling them at her parents’ house, where they live while she’s on tour.<\/p>\n
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