What Happened This Week In Tennis?
- 22 hours ago
- 7 min read
Hi loves,
Is it just me, or does it really feel like we are well on our way to summer now? Warmer days, longer days, tennis-filled days. This was a busy week in the tennis calendar with four big tournaments underway. The clay court season always feels very go go go and there is no shortage of big and exciting tournaments. We had Stuttgart and Rouen on the WTA side, and Barcelona and Munich on the ATP side this week. Oodles to discuss and it begs the question: what happened this week in tennis?
What happened in Stuttgart? (WTA 500)
Elena Rybakina won her second Stuttgart title this year, beating Karolina Muchova in the final 7-5 6-1. Famously, the winner in Stuttgart takes home a Porsche alongside their points and prize money, but last time Rybakina picked up the title in 2024 she did not have a driving license! She confirmed this week that this has been rectified now and she does have a driving license (she also admitted she used the car she won in 2024 to help her pass her test…oh how the other half live) and she took home her second Porsche in three years - not too shabby if you ask me.
It was anything but smooth sailing this week for the top seeds in Stuttgart. World number one and top seed Aryna Sabalenka pulled out of the tournament before it began, citing an unknown injury. Although we had most of the top seeds still competing late in the tournament, there was no shortage of surprises.
I honestly find Coco Gauff a stressful watch. On her day she is unstoppable but she is incredibly unpredictable. Her first test of the tournament was Luidmila Samsonova; a test she should be overcoming fairly straightforwardly (all due respect to Samsonova), and it was a test she was able overcome in straight sets. Waiting for her in the quarter finals was a player she had never lost to and had only conceded one set to in their six prior meetings; Karolina Muchova. Their most recent meeting came in Miami just a few weeks ago and it was a 6-1 6-1 total domination by Gauff. Before their match this week, Coco said “It’s pro sports. Anybody can win on any day” and she was absolutely correct. Muchova pulled off the shock nobody saw coming and took the win 6-3 5-7 6-3.
Muchova’s semi final opponent was Elina Svitolina, who decided to play Stuttgart this year instead of defending her title in Rouen. Muchova came into her match against Gauff with a ‘Gauff’ problem and it was the same situation against Svitolina, having not beaten her in three attempts. But history did not repeat itself and Muchova came through 6-4 2-6 6-4. Waiting for her in the final was Elena Rybakina and, well, we already know how that turned out. No Porsche for you this year, Karolina.
In the other half of the draw, Iga Swiatek, who has a historically good record in Stuttgart being a two-time champion, was beaten by teenager Mirra Andreeva. A shock on paper and ranking but perhaps not when you take a look at their head to head. Andreeva had a winning record against Swiatek going into this match at 2-1 up. This win for Mirra set up a semi-final against eventual champion Elena Rybakina.
Rybakina did not win the title easily, having also survived a scare in her quarter final against Leylah Fernandez, coming from a set down to win 6-7 6-4 7-6 in a three hour epic. Rybakina was back to her dominating, serving machine self though when she stepped on court against Andreeva and was able to come through in 77 minutes 7-5 6-1.
It is good to see Rybakina back to her winning ways this year, and what a year it has been for her so far. Could she be a contender to win her first French Open?
Who took the title in Barcelona? (ATP 500)
Barcelona has been intriguing this year. It is my favourite tournament of this week in the calendar. The field was a great one at the start of the week; Alcaraz, Draper, Wawrinka, Fils, Rublev and more. This, however, was not the case after just a couple of days of the tournament. The biggest story of the week was the withdrawal of Carlos Alcaraz ahead of his second match against Tomas Machac. Alcaraz is suffering with a wrist injury, and that is not good news. He describes it as “slightly more serious than we all expected” and has subsequently withdrawn from his home Masters 1000 event Madrid for the second year in a row.
Jack Draper made his 2026 clay court debut this week, but unfortunately it did not last long. His first round match against Tomas Martin Etcheverry ended in retirement after picking up a knee injury. I think we all hope this was a precautionary retirement, but he is starting to plummet down the rankings which could spell danger for a Roland Garros seeding. He has final points to defend in Madrid, and although there has been no news of a withdrawal yet, you wonder if he will even try to defend those points if he is carrying an injury. Watch this space.
Onto better, non-injury related news. Arthur Fils continues to come back strong after his long injury lay off. His last 3 tournaments (Miami, Indian Well and Doha) have ended in semi-final, quarter-final and final appearances. He took that one step further this week taking home the title beating Andrey Rublev 6-2 7-6(2). Fils is so exciting, bringing so much energy to the court and powering through matches. His goal is bound to be securing a seeding for his home slam at the French, and pushing as high as he can to hope a deep run is on the cards. Roland Garros is where he sustained his back injury last year, so he will be returning with vengeance. Currently sitting at 25 in the rankings, solid runs in both Madrid and Rome make a seeding almost a certainty.
We had another hometown hero this week, following in Valentin Vacherot’s footsteps from last week in Monte Carlo. Wildcard Rafael Jodar became the lone Spaniard in the draw following Alcaraz’s withdrawal, and a huge amount of pressure was heaped onto his shoulders. Fear not though, because he can certainly handle it. At 19 years old Jodar was at a career high ranking of 55 in the world at the start of the week and has now risen to 42 after his semi-final run. He came into Barcelona full of confidence after winning his first ATP title last week in Marrakech and is clearly a real talent. I will definitely be keeping my eye on him for the remainder of the clay court season.
Munich
Ben Shelton won the title in Munich this week, beating his runner up placing of last year. He beat Flavio Cobolli in the final 6-2 7-5. Cobolli had a rollercoaster of a week, playing the match of his life against home favourite and defending champion Alexander Zverev before almost immediately bursting into tears. It was later revealed Cobolli lost a good friend of his from his home tennis club this week. Cobolli posted on Instagram after the final saying ‘so many emotions…my heart is full’. A great week of tennis for both players.
We all know my love of Joao Fonseca’s tennis. He is a clay court player through and through having grown up on the clay courts in Brazil which makes the next few weeks an exciting prospect. He is making steady steps to continue moving up the rankings with the hope of being seeded at the French Open a short term goal, I am sure. Currently sitting at 31 in the rankings, he needs to take his chances at these 500 tournaments to gather as many points as possible and gain some momentum and consistency. Consistency is something he seems to have found this last few weeks, reaching the round of 16 in Indian Wells (beaten by Sinner 7-6 7-6), quarter finals in Monte Carlo (beaten by Zverev 7-5 6-7 6-3) and quarter finals in Munich (beaten by Shelton 6-3 3-6 6-3). He has only been stopped by top 10 players in the last four tournaments which is pretty good going. He will be looking to take this good form into the next three big tournaments.
Rouen (WTA 250)
The final tournament of the week was Rouen in France. Admittedly, I saw almost none of this tournament so cannot give too much information. What I do know though is that too seed Marta Kostyuk took home the title beating fellow Ukrainian and qualifier Veronika Podrez 6-3 6-4 in the final. It is a bigger result for Podrez than Kostyuk, one could argue, as with her runner up spot she has risen 62 places in the rankings to #147. One to look out for, perhaps.
From what happened this week in tennis, to what's happening next week...
Tennis never stops. Next week we have the first joint 1000 event of the clay court season. Alongside the withdrawal of Carlos Alcaraz came the news Novak Djokovic has also pulled out with injury. There are a multitude of injury doubts, with Draper retiring last week and last year’s champion Caspar Ruud injured also. The draw has not been done yet, so we need to be patient to see who is due to face who. Madrid 2025 was full of surprises with the field wide open due to neither Sinner or Alcaraz playing and intrigue once again surrounds the Spanish Capital.
You can read our review from Madrid 2025 here.
From a British perspective, Cam Norrie leads the Brits on the men's side, with Sonay Kartal still out with a back injury and Emma Raducanu withdrawing due to a viral illness she has had for months reducing the number of British women in the draw.
On the WTA side, another player we won’t be seeing is Marketa Vondrousova. The 2023 Wimbledon champion has announced on social media she is taking a bit of time away from tennis to deal with her potential doping ban case. No information has been released around the potential ban as far as I can see, aside from us knowing it is due to missing a test. Will keep you posted.
Feel free to read this BBC Sport article if you want to read the nitty gritty.
Aaaand breathe. It was a busy week with lots of tournaments to juggle, but that’s why we love tennis! Madrid should be calmer, but hopefully drama-filled.
Until next time, keep serving!
E x
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