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100% sure this will get deleted because it goes against the narrative

Is there too much of a focus on ATP 500 and 1000 tournaments. Should the number of cup events be expanded?

So Wuhan has been a pretty interesting tournament so far, & I don't think any of us had Kartal beating Bencic & Paolini with a bagel set in each match! She is a player who I wasn't too familar with until last year but, 2025 was after all her first year 'fully' in the main draw and playing every grand slam.

She's 24 but I feel like a lot of players really don't start to peak until around 25 nowadays. Not everyone is 20 and immediately starts cooking on the main draw. Wimbledon 2025 specifically was the first time I saw her play live, & since then she's had a couple of pretty solid performances at 500 and above tournaments.

Unfortunately, she basically was hurt all damn year! But between last year at Beijing and Wimbledon, & this current Asia swing, she looks like a top 20-30 rank level player. I feel like she'd already be up there if not for being hurt... she was cooking at Indian Wells when that happened & I didn't see the match live, but I recall everyone saying she was playing Rybakina really well before she had to retire.

She's only 5'4 but, hey so is Paolini, she's strong as hell & she hits a hell of a lot harder than Jasmine & much taller players, so I wouldn't hold that height against her too much. Regardless of what happens in the remainder of Wuhan, what kind of future do you all see for Kartal? Is she gonna be the type of inconsistent player who goes up and down the 40-100 ranks, or can she do better? Let me know!

Announcement from Nadal academy

• The exhibition will be one mixed doubles match

• Roger Federer will partner former AUS+RG champion Li Na, who is the most accomplished Chinese tennis player of all time

• They will play against Marat Safin and Dinara Safina, who are the only brother-sister pair in tennis history to have both reached world #1

Most of the big ATP names from the mid-90s onwards won a Masters fairly early into their careers (Zverev, Medvedev, Tsitsipas) with the other serial big tournament finalists (Ruud, Rublev) getting over the line eventually. You also have those whose wins were rather surprising at the time (Khachanov, Hurkacz, Norrie, Fritz) but backed it up by entering the top 10 and the more surprising winners (Coric, Vacherot).

Over the last few years, there’s been a lot of first time winners which has got me thinking: who, if any, do we think takes one next? Who will never get there?

Former finalists / top tenners from this generation:
- Matteo Berrettini
- Denis Shapovalov
- Alex de Minaur
- Frances Tiafoe

Top ten but no masters 1000 finals:
- Tommy Paul
- Alexander Bublik

Other masters 1000 finalists:
- Rielly Opelka
- Alejandro Davidovich Fokina
- Ugo Humbert
- Nicholas Jarry
- Arthur Rinderknech

(Although FAA feels like the same gen in many ways have left him off since born in 2000.)

The Chinese characters : Place your AD here.

In tennis, the scoring system means an upset can take many forms. It can be a surprise thrashing, or a tight win that turns on a point or two. Or, as was the case in Wuhan Wednesday for the U.S.’s Ann Li, it can be a roller coaster.

Her scoreline against four-time Grand Slam champion Aryna Sabalenka barely told the story of an up-and-down encounter — before getting to the fact that there were 10 match points.

All of them for Li.

Just confirmed

Diana will play the winner of Fernandez/Ostapenko next.

@HerSport.ie

Starting with the Ann who took a big scalp and in aryna and hasn’t looked back vs Iga who is hot but can go cold on a dime.

Then Elena going up against the return of the Kartal

The best match up of the tournament is Diana not Ross shnaider vs your favourite tennis player’s favourite tennis player ostapenko

Round it out with always the bridesmaid Maria vs how did I get here Maya oops I did it again Chwalinska.