\u201cThe four Grand Slams, though, are the four Grand Slams. There are good reasons for this beyond prestige: the infrastructure, both physical and learned, required to host a two- or three-week event at the scale of a major year in, year out is available to a vanishingly small number of tennis facilities around the world. There is no opportunity for another organization or event to bid to replace one of the Grand Slams by offering a richer purse or other amenities.\u201d<\/p>\n
Matt Futterman<\/p>\n
\u201cSinner and Alcaraz have reconfigured tennis into a hyper-aggressive game of chicken. To hit a neutral ball is to be on defense and to be on defense is to lose (against each other) or to steal the point (against pretty much everybody else).<\/p>\n
\u201cTheir ATP Tour rivals, from Alexander Zverev and Daniil Medvedev to Taylor Fritz, Casper Ruud and all the way down, are at a loss. The tennis they knew has vanished before their eyes.\u201d<\/p>\n
Matt Futterman<\/p>\n
\u201cTrying to explain a phenomenon of which she is at the center, Mirra Andreeva describes an evolution in tennis itself.<\/p>\n
\u2018I think that tennis has changed a lot in the last 20 years. The speed of the ball is different and everyone is playing so powerful and aggressive.<\/p>\n
\u2018I think it\u2019s going to take a bit more time for younger players to come in, because everyone hits the ball so hard. I feel like it\u2019s getting tougher and tougher for everyone to stay in there, stay in the point. For younger ladies, it\u2019s also a bit tough to deal with the speed of the ball.\u2019<\/p>\n
Charlie Eccleshare<\/p>\n
\u201cNot every player in a bad matchup is a pigeon. The tennis rankings rarely lie and some players are just better than others. A head to head starts developing soft grey plumage through a combination of volume and style, especially between higher-ranked players who are more likely to run into each other in the later stages of big events.\u201d<\/p>\n
Charlie Eccleshare<\/p>\n
\u201cKeys was coming for tennis. Instead, tennis sort of came for her. At first, the buzz empowered her, but then it became something like a panic.<\/p>\n
\u2018If I don\u2019t do it, am I considered a failure?\u2019 she said in her news conference of what she had wondered for many of those 16 years.<\/p>\n
Matt Futterman<\/p>\n
![\"Madison](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/Tennis-Madison-Keys-Australian-Open-scaled.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
\n Madison Keys won her first Grand Slam title at the Australian Open in January. (Yuichi Yamazaki \/ AFP via Getty Images)<\/p>\n
\u201cBergs set off an extraordinary chain of events, featuring disputes between Gar\u00edn and his own doctor, debate over tennis\u2019 rules on disqualification and what Chile\u2019s Olympic committee publicly called a \u2018shameful international incident.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
Charlie Eccleshare<\/p>\n
\u201c\u2019I see my game every day,\u2019 she said. \u2018It\u2019s hard to see the changes because they\u2019re little. I know. They only seem big on a bigger horizon.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
Charlie Eccleshare<\/p>\n
\u201cReporting for this story involved interviews with multiple people involved with or briefed on the investigation, as well as people with personal and professional relationships with Elena Rybakina, Stefano Vukov and Goran Ivani\u0161evi\u0107, the coach hired to be Vukov\u2019s replacement.\u201d<\/p>\n
Matt Futterman and Charlie Eccleshare<\/p>\n
![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/0211_Rybakina_v2-scaled.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
\n An investigation into Stefano Vukov and Elena Rybakina\u2019s coaching dynamics. (Eamonn Dalton \/ The Athletic; Francois Nel, Matthew Stockman, Darrian Traynor \/ Getty Images)<\/p>\n
\u201cThe sport needed one of its ugliest stories, one that started in 2001 in the same stadium where Serena Williams and the organizers hoped it might end, to have an ending that was far different than the beginning.\u201d<\/p>\n
Matt Futterman<\/p>\n
\u201cTo come home, to get the familiar feels and the perspective that has always come with growing-up-Gauff in this park, where a small sign on the two tennis courts tells visitors that they are the courts that made her; that the grass and trees and fields were always at the center of her life.\u201d<\/p>\n
Matt Futterman<\/p>\n
\u201cThe tension between official and unofficial content \u2014 and how the rights and deals are made that decide which is which \u2014 is at the center of tennis\u2019 future.\u201d<\/p>\n
Charlie Eccleshare<\/p>\n
\u201cWith the bounce of a ball, tennis finds itself in a quandary that cuts to the heart of how people experience the world. When two different knowledge systems disagree with each other, which one should they believe?\u201d<\/p>\n
Charlie Eccleshare<\/p>\n
\u201cA high, netted fence juts above the wall, stretching a few meters across. It would not deter anyone who had just overcome 12 meters of vertical brickwork, but it is not there to protect the Pope, the Cardinals, the Swiss Guard and Vatican staff.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is there for the benefit of the people walking below: to stop a bad shank, an over-enthusiastic lob or a spiked smash sending a tennis ball plummeting to earth and onto the heads of passing pedestrians.\u201d<\/p>\n
Matt Futterman<\/p>\n
\u201cThe drop shot has always been important, but it was recently considered a bit of a last resort. Frequent use was seen as a novelty or a cop-out, the preserve of players who lacked proper power.\u201d<\/p>\n
Charlie Eccleshare<\/p>\n
\u201cTwilight has fallen in Paris on a cohort of tennis players whose window of opportunity has less slammed shut than never truly opened.\u201d<\/p>\n
Charlie Eccleshare<\/p>\n
\u201cDebilitating back pain has a new cure: 10,000 people chanting your name in song, before delivering a perfect rendition of the La Marseillaise. For it to work, it needs to be administered in the fifth set of a five-hour tennis match, on one specific court.\u201d<\/p>\n
Matt Futterman<\/p>\n
![\"Fans](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/French-Open-Crowd-Suzanne-Lenglen-scaled.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
\n The Court Suzanne-Lenglen crowd roars for Arthur Fils at this year\u2019s French Open. (Burak Akbulut \/ Anadolu via Getty Images)<\/p>\n
\u201cOn her first match point, Boisson sent a forehand inside-in and raised her arms to a roar that shook Court Philippe-Chatrier. It was her roar after the handshake, arms out and screaming into the sky, that made the past 12 months melt into air.\u201d<\/p>\n
James Hansen<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was just like tennis dreamed it. Five and a half hours of thrilling play and unrelenting drama between the two new stars of men\u2019s tennis.\u201d<\/p>\n
Charlie Eccleshare<\/p>\n
\u201cWhile the twang of ball on racket soundtracks player preparations for the third Grand Slam of the year, it\u2019s the noise of ladders being unfurled, pressure washers blasting floors clean and an occasional bit of drilling in the distance that stands out. This is the sound of Wimbledon\u2019s green and purple wonderland getting ready for edition No. 138.\u201d<\/p>\n
Caoimhe O\u2019Neill<\/p>\n
\u201cThe ball will arc from his opponent\u2019s right to their left, cutting through the air and getting lower and lower. As it floats, Alcaraz moves. The opponent might not realize it yet, but the point is flipping. The balance of power shifts, as the ball crosses the net and Alcaraz follows it forward.\u201d<\/p>\n
Matt Futterman<\/p>\n
\u201cPlayers look for any edge they can find, and there are countless individuals and countless methods, too many to fully enumerate here.\u201d<\/p>\n
Charlie Eccleshare<\/p>\n
\u201cAnisimova\u2019s career will outlast and exceed this moment. But in its immediate aftermath, and as it unfolded, she became one of the most sympathetic and relatable characters in the world.\u201d<\/p>\n
Charlie Eccleshare<\/p>\n
\u201cA\u00a0stubborn myth had attached itself to conversations around \u015awi\u0105tek, mostly on the fringes but at times bubbling up during broadcasts: a clay-court specialist who couldn\u2019t find a way out of her head, with little chance of ever being able to adapt her strokes to the fast, skidding, bounces of the All England Club.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe statistics explode it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Matt Futterman<\/p>\n
![\"Iga](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/Iga-Swiatek-Wimbledon-Champion-scaled.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
\n Iga \u015awi\u0105tek celebrates beating Amanda Anisimova 6-0, 6-0 in the Wimbledon final. (Clive Brunskill \/ Getty Images)<\/p>\n
\u201cThe youngest by seven years of four tennis-playing siblings, Mboko has been winning more than just about anyone in professional women\u2019s tennis since the start of the year.\u201d<\/p>\n
Matt Futterman<\/p>\n
\u201cThe sport cannot eliminate the characteristics that attract behaviors that tip from fandom into fixation without eradicating the essential nature that makes it one of the most captivating in the world.\u201d<\/p>\n
Charlie Eccleshare<\/p>\n
\u201cJannik is the duck\u2019s back, water sliding off; Siglinde is the feet whirring below the surface, shock and awe etched on her face.\u201d<\/p>\n
Matt Futterman<\/p>\n
\u201cAll across the net-cord taxonomy, a player who wins the point thanks to one of these outcomes is expected to raise a hand in a brief gesture of apology \u2014 and they better do it while their opponent is looking.\u201d<\/p>\n
Matt Futterman<\/p>\n
\u201cTo adapt the old saw about people going broke, Taylor Townsend\u2019s rise to fame was fast, and then it was slow. At this summer\u2019s U.S. Open, it has happened all at once.\u201d<\/p>\n
Matt Futterman<\/p>\n
\u201cPlayers have long been synonymous with certain kits, from Bj\u00f6rn Borg\u2019s Fila outfit and Serena Williams\u2018 catsuit to Roger Federer\u2019s monogrammed blazers, and luxury brands have coveted its biggest stars as ambassadors. But the businesses of tennis, fashion and beauty have never been as indivisible as they are now.\u201d<\/p>\n
Charlie Eccleshare<\/p>\n
![\"Naomi](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/Tennis-Outfits-Fashion-US-Open-Looks-scaled.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
\n Naomi Osaka\u2019s red-rose outfit at the U.S. Open was one of the most striking of the year in tennis. (Robert Prange \/ Getty Images)<\/p>\n
\u201cWinners receiving praise and sharing their joy with everyone watching is a fixture of just about every sport. Asking the beaten finalist to stick around, watch their rival be presented with a trophy and adulation, and, hardest of all, have a microphone thrust in their face and sum up how they are feeling is a form of emotional laceration unique to tennis.\u201d<\/p>\n
Charlie Eccleshare<\/p>\n
\u201cUnderarm serves and serves such as this one are increasingly being seen for what they are: A legitimate way to disrupt an opponent, rather than an obnoxious piece of trickery.\u201d<\/p>\n
Matt Futterman and Charlie Eccleshare<\/p>\n
\u201c\u2019I was lost in this world,\u2019\u201d Borg said of the period after he officially left the sport in January 1983. \u2018I didn\u2019t have any help. I didn\u2019t have a team or agents to push me in the right way. I did everything by myself, I didn\u2019t really have any help during that time and it\u2019s very tough to fix yourself.\u2019<\/p>\n
Charlie Eccleshare<\/p>\n
\u201cThe most difficult thing about using court speed to understand tennis is that players don\u2019t always agree with the objective data, because it is also a sport of perception.\u201d<\/p>\n
James Hansen<\/p>\n
\u201cThis nail-biter of a match, and the days leading up to it, crystalized the bargain that the WTA struck when it decided to bring its flagship event to a tennis nation in a different league to every other financially, but still in the incipient stages of its adoption and understanding of the sport.\u201d<\/p>\n
Matt Futterman<\/p>\n
\u201cIn addition to on-the-record interviews, reporting for this story involved discussions with a half-dozen people at the highest levels of tennis who had direct involvement in Andrea Gaudenzi\u2019s push to expand the sport\u2019s biggest events, and with its fallout. Several of them spoke on the condition of anonymity to protect relationships in the sport.\u201d<\/p>\n
Matt Futterman<\/p>\n
\u201cTennis will always be his passion. Not because of the titles he won, or his part in the rivalries that made men\u2019s tennis so culturally relevant in the 2000s, but because of something more visceral. \u2018Sport is all about emotion,\u2019 he said.<\/p>\n
Charlie Eccleshare<\/p>\n
\u201cNot coming back, but subjecting herself to tennis\u2019 whereabouts rules, which entail accepting the possibility of random drug testing, and remaining in a certain place for an hour a day, every day? If Williams has an explanation for that, she wasn\u2019t sharing it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Matt Futterman<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Happy holidays, and prepare for the greatest gift: All the best tennis stories of 2025. In the spirit…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":656799,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4105],"tags":[2766,79,25711,1068,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-656798","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-tennis","8":"tag-culture","9":"tag-sports","10":"tag-sports-business","11":"tag-tennis","12":"tag-uk","13":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115788592315769820","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/656798","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=656798"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/656798\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/656799"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=656798"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=656798"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=656798"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}