No one came into Riyadh in better form than Elena Rybakina — and she proves it in the final WTA match of the year. Immaculate performance in the final to defeat World No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka 6-3, 7-6(0) and win her biggest title since Wimbledon and one of the biggest paychecks ever cut in tennis.

Just an insane level of hitting between Rybakina and Sabalenka in this final, but it’s the Kazakh who’s keeping just one more ball in play. Takes the first set 6-3 and looking as imperious as she’s been over the past month. Women’s tennis would benefit from Rybakina in this form throughout 2026.

There is... nearly no one in the crowd in Riyadh for this Gauff-Paolini match. Understand the huge investment the PIF has made in the prize money pool and in the tour itself – but the optics here are brutal. If it's staying in Riyadh for the next howevermany years, they have to solve this.

Women’s tennis thriving on the court as season wraps but WTA must catch up - Tumaini Carayol, The Guardian www.theguardian.com/sport/2025/o...

if you see this post, your actions are: - if you have a spare buck, give it to Wikipedia, then repost this - if you don't have a spare buck, just repost your action is mandatory for the world's best source of information to survive

It takes a British tennis live-blogger to tell the truth about America.

Always so surprised at how well Naomi Osaka handles players with variety like Karolina Muchova - but it was a high-quality *battle* out there tonight. Would love more late-Slam matches with those two. Should be able to get it if we can keep a Happy Osaka and Healthy Muchova next year.

Happy Labour Day, y’all.

So where has THIS Felix Auger-Aliassime been hiding since February? Plays his best match in recent memory to upset Zverev in the third round of the US Open. If he’s going to play like that — he’s got a wide open draw to make a run at the semis.

Muchova wins it after nearly three hours. Women’s match of the US Open so far - great drama, great quality.

Karolina Muchova has hit some of the most bonkers volleys in this match — even by her own glorious standards. Awesome R2 battle with an in-form Sorana Cirstea right now.

Extreme mother & daughter energy with this Venus/Fernandez doubles team. And they’re not too shabby despite likely having never even practiced together! On the cusp of knocking out a top doubles team in their opener.

icymi forty-deuce.ghost.io/i-need-26-mi...

Mary Carillo unfortunately has been all kinds of bad in the booth this US Open. Sounds disinterested in most of the matches, overly critical, awkward chemistry with her other commentators. Weird hearing consummate pros Laura Robson and Robbie Koenig struggle to riff with her.

Crazy to see another legend from the early tennis fandom days head into retirement. Will never forget the fear the Petra Kvitova 'pjod' would strike into the hearts of competitors during her peak years. That she ended her career known for her quality character over her quality tennis is a credit.

Massively obsessed with the singles player star power enhancing the mixed doubles draw to the point of it being a $1M prize… only for the defending doubles specialists to win it all. Guess they’ll have to thank those singles players after all. (For context they split $200k last year… big raise.)

*Exact* same energy and I’m so glad 2025 blessed us with both.

Could anyone have ever guessed that Green Light by Lorde (an all-time Millennial classic in the pantheon of yearning dance pop) would have inspired the songwriting of KPop Demon Hunters? It's the unlikely crossover moment I needed to start my week.

CHANGEOVER is out 8/19/25 www.simonandschuster.com/books/Change...

Atmane gives Sinner a Pokémon card before their Cincinnati Masters 1000 semifinal😂 the Frenchman really is trying to catch em all

Fun fact per the commentators on the Cincinnati world feed: Terence Atmane is a huge Pokémon fan, owns a $10k Pokémon card collection… and gave Jannik Sinner one for his birthday today before walking on court. Filed under Most Wholesome Things I Learned Today.

As an ex-industry-but-still-fan tennis guy, I can say confidently that having @fortydeucetwits.bsky.social back on the tennis beat is a credit to the entire sport. Can't wait to see what she's got cooking. 🍳🎾

Heater of a paragraph

Krejcikova gonna win the US Open playing like that.

Literally have never seen Osaka move so well. Drops PM as coach, picks up Tomasz Wiktorowski and suddenly is moving like Swiatek? ⚡️

So much of Mboko to be a fan of from her mental toughness to tactical variety - but her technique has gotta be the biggest X factor to me. By no means traditional, she’s got super short backswings and uses her hands alone to generate pace more than any player I can recall.

Hotttttt day in Toronto but nice to stop by for a lil solo tennis date and catch a Canadian W. 🇨🇦🎾 Event always top notch even without the star players this year.

Gabriel Diallo out here looking very comfortable on the big stage in front of a home Canadian crowd. Big serve helping him on these quick & lively Toronto courts.

Holy shit, they did it. They wrote the headline.

Real tennis ones will know - but Carson Branstine is the next Danielle Collins. But the Canada version. Won’t be elaborating any further, but the main character energy is strong with this one. And the tennis is huge too. 🔥

Completely possible that this is the best quality tennis that Genie Bouchard has ever played in Montreal or Toronto.

anyway, as I wait for it to start, please find my top 10 favourite things that happened at Wimbledon 2025 *(respectfully I do not watch enough ATP to include them here. apologies to all ATP enthusiasts, I look forward to reading your lists if you create one however!)

Need to remember to hedge my bets on very time I feel the need to post something like this mid-match 🤩

Krejcikova, whose comeback has been slow to come to a boil this season, seems to be rounding into form at just the right time in a wide open #Wimbledon draw. 🍓 Game is frankly tailor-made for grass - just a matter of mind and body holding up.

Missing Andrea Petkovic in the booth at Wimbledon this year? I can think of no better person to guide us through the inevitable Laura Siegemund run to a Grand Slam title.

5, because it’s a window seat and I just know she’s gonna have her headphones on the whole time.

The Full 2019 Australian Open Final is on the internet. www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ox8...

Dare I say – replace John McEnroe with him... forever?

Despite the somewhat tired delivery of his commentary, Andre Agassi in the booth for this Musetti-Alcaraz match is a revelation. Amazing insights and his way of dissecting tennis strategy is extremely refreshing. More please.

The tension in this match is sensational. So much jeopardy for both players and love to see each trying to problem solve. Sports!

Absolutely bonkers point from Djokovic to save break point. Rolling back the clock.

A good doubles match is an immensely fun live-sport experience. But it’s a major failure on the ATP Tour’s marketing and investment in growing the doubles game that I look at this lineup of largely doubles-only players at a Slam and feel next to nothing about the results.

Now, I will say typically tournaments put their marquee matchups during the day on the weekend sessions… but, still. All three women’s matches so far today have been high-quality, 2.5h clashes. Each would have been worthy of prime time.

(It’s almost like Swiatek-Rybakina should have been the night match?)

Surely we should get Swiatek vs. Rybakina as the Sunday night match at Roland-Garros? Iga tends to request day sessions but have to think night conditions might favour her against Elena's serve.

Massive upset for Montreal’s Gab Diallo over an in-form Francisco Cerundolo. The Argentine was coming off a SF & R4 in Madrid and Rome, respectively, and is Top 10 in the year-to-date rankings. Diallo dismisses him 7-5, 6-3, 6-4 to reach the second round at Roland-Garros.

Really nice to see Holger Rune serving Calvin & Hobbes realness at #RolandGarros this year.

Over 20 years I saw Rafael Nadal so many different ways - an intruder, a sage, a way through my own pain Farewell Rafa defector.com/rafael-nadal...

It’s still go sens go btw do not get it twisted

Couldn't stop thinking about the bizarre AI mangled images that have been atop the WTA website for the last 12 hours and counting, so I wrote about them here. Free to read, human-made writing here, but please do subscribe! www.benrothenberg.com/p/wta-websit...