paula badosa keeps trying to break down lilli tagger's one-handed backhand and lilli tagger keeps saying "i will hit this for a winner actually"

Negative Tennis | Owen Lewis Any intrigue is not over a win or loss, but tiny details: Can the opponent break Sinner’s serve? Reach a break point? Win more than two or three points against Sinner’s first serve? Get that first ser...

As Jannik Sinner has made extreme improvements to his game over the past few years, he's gone from a player I enjoyed watching to one whose tennis inherently drains the tension from his matches. I wrote about that, and lots more, for n+1:

www.nplusonemag.com/online-only/...

Think it's already happened

terminal nostalgia is one of the most dangerous things for tennis' longterm popularity and the sport's powers are doing next to nothing to counter it

Petchey was saying he was *shocked* by the odds giving Sinner an 86% chance to win; I'm curious what he thinks would be fair given that Zverev has won two of their last 13 sets. 82%?

How to smash a tennis racket: Style, control, damage, aggression — and danger The racket smash is a staple of tennis, for better or for worse. Here's how players find creative ways to do it.

arthur fils with the lesser-seen bounce smash, smash, throw triptych against alexander zverev www.nytimes.com/athletic/561...

With the caveat that Karolína Muchová is not an acid test of patience on a slow court, that was a brilliantly restrained, intense performance by Iga Świątek

Two absolutely gorgeous points from Iga Świątek to break Karolína Muchova.

One masterpiece of construction; one super-awkward chipped return off a very good first serve to draw an error

Night conditions just gave Linda Nosková more time to uncork on Alex Eala. 6-2 6-0 and it was never that close, really.

Record attendances, long lines and empty stadiums: Tennis ticketing's conundrum hits Indian Wells

In statement sent to The Athletic, BNP Paribas Open will "carefully evaluate" Stadium 2 ticketing policy come end of the event.

“Like every decision we make, we carefully evaluate it after each tournament’s conclusion,” it said of removing 2 from grounds passes.

www.nytimes.com/athletic/709...

It's more of an unintended consequence than a direct error but it has really not been great. Tournament yet to comment on it, have asked twice.

At Indian Wells, tennis crowds, tickets and show courts form a complex equation A new ticketing policy has caused controversy, as tournaments across the world try to find the balance between economics and fan experience.

They changed grounds passes, which used to cover courts below Stadium 1, to cover courts below Stadiums 1 and 2.

They anticipated Stadium 2 tickets staying through the whole OOP, but it's an awful lot of tennis. So night matches there have been under-attended.

www.nytimes.com/athletic/709...

While on a desultorily empty Stadium 2, with the bananas ticket policy not resolved, Victoria Mboko balls out to beat Amanda Anisimova 6-4, 6-1. Mboko's greater rally dexterity helped out with the nighttime conditions — she can just do more with a tennis ball

Jannik Sinner played his two service points impeccably at 6-3 and 6-4. João Fonseca will probably only regret that he lost the 6-5 point at neutral rather than by going for broke.

Great set.

Talia Gibson goes 17-5 in 2026 by knocking out Jasmine Paolini, who appears to be undergoing a mean-reversion.

Gibson is now 3-0 against top-20 players in 2026. In her entire career, she is 3-1.

The "stop hyping João Fonseca there are other players too" overcorrection in tennis has been a bit exhausting for a long time.

Fils and Mensík are both very good and will be even better. So will Tien and many others. But they don't have Fonseca's ceiling! They just don't!

Compression bandage on Gauff's left forearm. She slugged some painkillers down 5-2. Having an injury to that side affects her backhand, which is the shot she uses to bend matches against left-handers.

Peyton Stearns has split with Rafael Font de Mora, coach under WTA Tour misconduct investigation Peyton Stearns declined to “dive in” to why she and Rafael Font de Mora are no longer working together.

Peyton Stearns confirms split with Rafael Font de Mora, who denies all wrongdoing while under WTA investigation of misconduct allegations from earlier in his career.

Stearns declined to "dive in" to split during Indian Wells interview with @cdeccleshare.bsky.social

www.nytimes.com/athletic/709...

Tennis player shares threats sent to personal phone, WTA Tour says no breach of private data Panna Udvardy is the second WTA player to detail receiving menacing communications on her personal device in a few days.

In an email sent to players seen by The Athletic, the WTA says recent menacing communications sent to Panna Udvardy and Lucrezia Stefanini, which included photos of firearms, did not come from a data breach www.nytimes.com/athletic/709...

Iva Jović is just so good at adding 5 percent to her level of supremacy within a point over and over until her opponent is either hopelessly out of position or makes an error (he writes with her serving at 0-40)

Rising talent Arthur Fils adds Goran Ivanišević, Novak Djokovic’s former coach, on initial trial Ivanišević, who recently had ill-fated stints with Elena Rybakina and Stefanos Tsitsipas, has been impressed thus far.

Goran Ivanisevic added to Arthur Fils' team for this week, in addition to Fils' main coach since Jan 2025 Ivan Cinkus.

Ivanisevic + Fils will make decision on whether to extend after this week, but both said to be feeling very positive at this point ⬇️

www.nytimes.com/athletic/705...

Good by Giri. The most striking thing about Mboko for me is how damn fast she plays, and how that can propel her to wins or see her lose her serve in what feels like the 25-second window she has to hit one.

How that translates under greatly increased expectations will be ... Interesting

We are one match from the semifinals of the Australian Open and the most tense match of the tournament remains Elsa Jacquemot vs. Marta Kostyuk in R1

Tennis players and coaches: The telepathy of tactics, emotional support – and jawing Some players want ceaseless encouragement; some want silence; some want to vent — and it can change from point to point.

“I just expect them to read my mind.”

On the telepathy of tennis coaching ⬇️

www.nytimes.com/athletic/700...

Alexander Zverev deciding to accept variance in the fourth set of a match in which he just steamrolled a 20-year-old in their first Grand Slam quarterfinal? It checks out

Weird, weird, weird approach shot from Zverev at 5-5

Women’s tennis tour to investigate misconduct allegations against Peyton Stearns’ coach They concern Rafael Font de Mora’s alleged misconduct and inappropriate relationships with players during his previous time on the tour.

WTA to investigate misconduct allegations against Peyton Stearns' new coach, Rafael Font de Mora.

Font de Mora denies wrongdoing.

Exclusive by @mattfutterman.bsky.social and @cdeccleshare.bsky.social

www.nytimes.com/athletic/699...

Incredible performance by Learner Tien to defenestrate Daniil Medvedev. Medvedev's ball did zero damage and Tien's did 100.

The fascinating part is that this feels seismic on both sides ... But the matchup is so specific that it probably isn't

Something striking about Mboko, Jović, Valentová and Bartůňková is how in tune with their strengths they are.

They so rarely try and force something that isn't in their interest on the court. They know what they are good at and they build their matches around it.

Mboko thinks she's hit an ace T, misses same-direction second serve way wide, cleans the line with a short backhand gets to net to take it.

A super match