Table of Contents
Welcome back to the Monday tennis briefing, where Athletics Will explain the stories behind the stories of the past week on the field.
This week the Miami open its champions, with Aryna Sabalenka and Jakub Menšík Take the singles titles. Elsewhere Jannik Sinner, World Nr.
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How did the absence of Sinner leave him unprocessed as World No. 1?
Addition of the ranking points earned by players of gentlemen during the Australian Open of this year, BNP Paribas Open and Miami Open, the highest count is of someone who has participated in only one of those events. The big ATP winner of the first Grand Slam of 2025 and then the post-Melbourne ‘Sunshine Double’ in California and Florida is Sinner, who played none of the last two tournaments because of his three-month anti-doping ban.
While the back-to-back Australian Open Champion received some training representatives before his return to the Tour in May, his rivals could not all benefit from his absence. It is almost guaranteed now that Sinner will still be number 1 when he starts his comeback in five weeks at home clay in the Italian Open in Rome.
The nominal world no. 2 Alexander Zverev was also last given the playing of the right tennis in Melbourne – the difference between him and Sinner is that he has played in five events since then. But the German looked like a shadow of himself from the moment the sinner defeated him in that Australian Open -Final, and after losing his first game in Indian Wells, he went to Arthur Fils in the Miami Open Round of 16, despite the fact that he was a collapse in the last set.
The most important rival of Sinner, Carlos Alcaraz, was defeated in his first game in Miami. In Indian Wells he had not recovered from a first -class horror show in the semi -final and lost to final champion Jack Draper. Alcaraz saw occasionally lost during both matches – as he did when losing the Australian Open Quarterfinals against an injured Novak Djokovic.
Djokovic looked refreshed in Miami after his own early exit in Indian Wells, but did not have to beat a top 14 player to reach the final. When he arrived there, he lost exactly the kind of competition he made a career to win. His opponent in that final, Menšík, was fantastic in a 7-6 (4), 7-6 (4) victory, but neutralizing large servers and winning tiebreak have long been two of Djokovic’s telephone cards.
Menšík, 19, had a breakthrough tournament, just like Draper in Indian Wells, but among the established rivals of the Sinner it is generally a pretty challenging month.
Sometimes the most useful results of players come in sport when they are not even present.
March 2025 undoubtedly strengthened the position of the sinner at the pinnacle of men’s tennis, without playing a single point.
Charlie Eccleshare
How does Andreeva use double to keep her grounded?
It was also a types of Sunshine Double for Andreeva, who followed her Indian Wells -Singles title by winning the Miami Open Doubles, with her good friend and countryman Diana Shnaider.
Andreeva, the 17-year-old Russian, is unusual under the top 10 in the world in continuing to play regular doubles, and for a long time it can continue that the benefits go beyond her tennis.
She and the 20-year-old Shnaider play together with the kind of frivolity that generally does not exist in the one-on-one fight of singles, and can only be beneficial for two young people who get a grip on the grind of professional tennis. The timeline of the WTA tour has burned out with miracles due to the stifling pressure of the sport.
The sense of humor of the couple came in handy on Sunday, during the long-term rain delay that interrupted their 6-3, 6-7 (5), 10-2 last victory over Cristina Bucsa and Miyu Kato from Japan in Spain.
It is the second title of Andreeva and Shnaider as partners, after they first bundled the forces when they laughed at Olympic silver medals in August. Since then, both have talked about how much they like to play together and the way in which it benefits them.
Diana Shnaider and Mirra Andreeva with the Miami Open Doubles Trophy. (Matthew Stockman / Getty images)
“If we play twice, we both don’t like when it is very tense,” Andreeva said in an interview in Melbourne Park in January. “So for example when the score is 5-4 and we have to serve for the competition, we both try to say some jokes or just chill a little.
“We are always fooling ourselves, so if she makes a great shot. I am:” Have you seen that? Are you Roger Federer? I mean, come on, stop. ” And then I feel that she has originated and takes even better photos.
Shnaider, who has a difficult singles season after a breakthrough 2024, also feels the benefits and said in an interview in New York before the US Open of last year: “I need some jokes on the field. I need some smiling. I have to have some conversations with a partner who enjoys Doubles. Because I have just been released from the stress and some tightness.
“And I knew she is a very open person. She is very emotional. She likes talking, loves jokes and loves smiling. So I had something like:” This is the right fit “.”
Before their Doubles win in Miami, Andreeva had passed a stressful singles defeat against Amanda Anisimova in the third round, while Shnaider lost to Anna Blinkova in the second of Anna Blinkova.
They had both packed and left Miami for some rest or exercise. Instead, both found something more valuable on the Dubbels court.
Charlie Eccleshare
Not the ‘Sunshine Double’ that the American men hoped for
A few months ago this seemed like it could be a pretty special Indian Putten and Miami Swing for American men.
With World No. 1 Sinner Sidelined and the best Djokovic of the sport ever something of a question mark and to be 38, it seemed that there could be an opening for a group of rivals that are often on their best at home. The best Americans are Hard-Court players who want to make hay during the North American hard fluctuations, especially these, which precedes a three-month trip to Europe and the organic surfaces.
Ben Shelton came from a run to the semi -final of the Australian Open. Taylor Fritz was not far from finalist at the US Open of last year, second at the ATP Tour Finals of November and winning the United Cup with his country in January. Tommy Paul was a top 10 player. Frances Tiafoe is always fired for the home fans.
When it was over, Fritz, who still fought against a right -hand -belly injury, had shown the best about the two events and fell to Menšík in the semi -finals of Miami in a third set of tiebreak. He managed to lose in while he had not broken his serve all night. A few bad decisions in the first and third set Tiebreak kept him out of the final.
Shelton fell against the final champion Draper in the neighborhoods of Indian Wells. Not bad, and he seemed to have found his groove on the sandy, high-chick courses in California. But then he lost his opening match in Miami to a wildcard, Coleman Wong van Hong Kong.
Paul disappeared during his round of 16 match in Indian Wells against Daniil Medvedev. In Miami he lost his second competition to Francisco Cerundolo. He is 7-4 since he entered the top 10. Tiafoe? He went 2-2 in the Sunshine Double, with losses for Fils and Yosuke Watanuki.
And it went.
Student ten did not win any competition. Alex Michelsen won only one.
Not good weather for the home players in March.
Matt Futterman
Danielle Collins gets a victory
Danielle Collins could not keep her title in Miami, but eventually got away with a different kind of trophy.
Collins met a dog that had hit a car in the city during her time. She stopped, took the animal to a local veterinary hospital and saw that it received the care it needed, through surgery and five days on oxygen.
While the puppy pulled through, Collins announced that she had adopted it and called it ‘crash’.
“His breathing is normal again, his wounds are healing, and he absolutely enjoys all the love he receives,” Collins shared on Instagram and showed the latest addition to her family who hugs her in bed. Crash joins Quincy, who has been accompanied by Collins during the Tour for a while.
“He is curious, affectionate and grateful for a second chance of life. It was so incredibly painful to see a dog in so much pain after he was hit by a car and was left in the middle of the road with so many people who drove through his rolled -up body.
Maybe not another trophy. But maybe something better. And a good thing for crash that Collins decided not to retire at the start of this season.
Now she has a title to defend this week in Charleston, SC, where she is looking for the top 32 in the world and sowing a sow for the next Grand Slam in Paris next month.
Matt Futterman
Recommended Reading:
🏆 The winners of the week
🎾 ATP:
🏆 Menšík def. Djokovic (4) 7-6 (4), 7-6 (4) to the Miami Open (1,000) in Miami. It is his first ATP 1,000 title.
🎾 WTA:
🏆 Sabalenka (1) def. Pegula (4) 7-5, 6-2 To the Miami Open (1,000) in Miami. It is the 19th WTA Tour title of De Wit -Russia.
📈📉 At the row
📈 EALA 65 places up from No. 140 to a career height of No. 75 after running to the Miami Open Semifinals.
📈 Menšík Be in 30 places from No. 54 to No. 24 after winning the Miami open.
📈 Tereza Valentová Increases 41 places from no. 211 to a career height of No. 170 after winning the ITF W75 event in Murska Sobota, Slovenia.
📉 Medvedev Three places from no. 8 to no. 11, which means that the ATP Top 10 will remain behind for the first time since 2019.
📉 Caroline Garcia Drops 27 Places from No. 74 to No. 101, which means that the WTA Top 100 remains for the first time since 2013 for the first time.
📉 Thiago Seyboth Wild Tumbles 15 places from No. 96 to No. 111, leaving the ATP Top 100 behind.
📅 Come up
🎾 ATP
📍hourston: Our Clay Court Championship for Men (250) with Paul, Tiafoe, Michelsen, ten.
📍Marrakech, Morroco: Grand Prix Hassan II (250) With Tallon Griekspoor, Lorenzo Sonego, Otto Virtanen, Pavel Kotov.
📍Bucharest, Romania: Tiriac Open (250) With Sebastian Baez, Gabriel Diallo, Botic van de Zandschulp, Nishesh Basavareddy.
📺 UK: Sky Sports; US: tennis canal 💻
🎾 WTA
📍charleston, SC: Charleston Open (500) With Pegula, Madison Keys, Zheng Qinwen, Belinda Bencic.
📍Bogotá, Colombia: Copa Colsanitas Zurich (250) with Marie Bouzkova, Camila Osorio, IVA Jovic, Alycia Parks.
📺 UK: Sky Sports; US:
Tell us what you have noticed this week in the comments below while the men’s and ladies’ tours continue.
(Top photo: Patrick Hamilton / AFP via Getty Images; Design: Eamonn Dalton)