Had a great chat with Morocco's two-time Olympic champion Soufiane El Bakkali, who tells me breaking the 3,000m steeplechase world record is his #1 priority this season. www.thenationalnews.com/sport/2026/0...

Iva Jovic’s advice to young aspiring tennis players is to play football (soccer). Says playing football growing up did wonders for her footwork. Full interview here: www.rolandgarros.com/en-us/articl...

Iva Jovic: “My parents worked really hard, and I think I knew that nothing was waiting for me, you know? I had to go and earn whatever life I wanted.” My full chat with Jovic👇🏼 www.rolandgarros.com/en-us/articl...

This is great from @fortydeucetwits.bsky.social on how Alysa Liu reminded Amanda Anisimova of the mindset that helped her achieve all of those great things last season. forty-deuce.ghost.io/amanda-anisi...

Mirra: You're just going to have to learn how to deal with the pressure when it comes when you defend the title. But if you want to win tournaments, if you want to be a great player or be #1, you're not going to be winning tournaments without defending titles after. www.instagram.com/reel/DU2bjLn...

Been Bageling from Indian Wells. Subscribe for free if you fancy. forty-deuce.ghost.io/daily-bagel-...

How I became a target for right-wing freaks at the Australian Open:

Explains why so many school children are dead

Bublik: They bring coolness to the game. It's cool to see Carlos is like fire, a funny guy, very loud. He’s stylish. He wears this crazy gear. Jannik is more about style & elegance, more of an ice approach on the court. Off the court, I think he's quite nice. www.rolandgarros.com/en-us/articl...

Update from Heliovaara, who tried to go to Oman by car with his family to catch a flight from there but failed and returned to Dubai, where he is now booked on a repatriation flight to Milan on Wednesday morning. www.harriheliovaara.fi/2026/03/03/t...

Via Ilya Ivashka on Instagram. Both Fujairah Challengers have been canceled. There might be a charter flight to evacuate the players. I’m currently in Dubai and there are several loud explosions heard where I am in Um Suqeim 3, which the gov has said are intercepted attacks.

How will the Saudi Masters potentially affect the Middle East swing? 🤔 I spoke to the tournament director in Dubai to get his views on the matter. www.thenationalnews.com/sport/tennis...

Arthur Fils: “A tournament like Dubai. It's a 500 and it's a nice tournament. But when you look at the draw, we don't have the best players here because they make a choice and they skip it because it's too much. So you have to make some choices.” www.thenationalnews.com/sport/tennis...

Have confirmed that Marcos has been added to the team as an additional voice and working with Q on this trip, as Pere Riba is back in Barcelona. Don't get it twisted, Pere still head coach.

Jessica Pegula clears her busy schedule for @reemabulleil.bsky.social www.thesecondserve.com/jessica-pegu...

The ATP Challenger tournament in Fujairah, UAE is going ahead. Top seeds are Lloyd Harris and Jason Kubler. Wildcards include Chung Hyeon and Cruz Hewitt.

Update from Dubai post-DDF Tennis

Daniil Medvedev: “I cannot do anything about it, I played a great tournament, the four matches I played. Of course I wanted to play the final, but it is what it is. I played an unbelievable match yesterday, so I would either way take it as a final for me and I’m happy to win the tournament."

Jessica Pegula on accepting the role of Tour Architecture Council Chair: “People just ask me to do things and I tend to say yes to everything. I don’t really say no very often. I think in a sense I’m pretty laid-back. I don’t get overly stressed very easily.” www.thesecondserve.com/jessica-pegu...

The stat Medvedev is referring to is: Stan is 5-4 against world No.1s at the Grand Slams and 0-18 against No.1s outside of the Slams. I just love that he knows that😂

Daniil Medvedev takes on Stan Wawrinka in the opening match on centre court today in the Dubai round of 16. Here, Daniil tells me what he admires about Stan, and why he has "huge respect for him".

Stefanos Tsitsipas: “I regret certain decisions I jumped into. What I've learnt through it is, it doesn't mean if you're a good tennis player, if you played good tennis in your life, you can be a good coach.” www.thenationalnews.com/sport/tennis...

Dubai update: Arthur Fils has withdrawn with a hip injury. He has been replaced by lucky loser Luca Nardi.

Back to Bageling. Sub for free. forty-deuce.ghost.io/daily-bagel-...

Wawrinka: The new generation is always going to be better than the last. If you look at the level right now of Jannik and Carlos it's been crazy high. I had the chance to play Jannik many times. Last few times was really tough. Hopefully I can play Carlos once before I stop playing.

Roger Federer walked up to Benjamin Hassan after the match and congratulated him on playing a good match against Stan Wawrinka. “I’m never washing my hand again,” said Hassan. www.thenationalnews.com/sport/tennis...

Jack Draper: “I understand the value of my body a hell of a lot more. And I think just learning to maybe slow down a little bit as well and to know that you don't have to always be working ridiculously hard all the time. It's a marathon, not a sprint.” www.thenationalnews.com/sport/tennis...

Pegula: We talked about all these withdrawals. But we had 4 top-10 girls in the semis. A few more in the 1/4s. It just shows you the depth of women's tennis. Even when you have a lot of players withdrawing, just because we're missing a few it doesn't mean that we still can't put on some great tennis

Coco Gauff: “I’m very happy to be representing Mercedes. I’m happy the tour is too, it’s cool to see the little symbol on the net. I’m like, OK, we’re moving on up.” Inside the historic deal between Mercedes and WTA: www.arabnews.com/node/2633757...

The Mercedes star made its debut at the net at WTA tournaments this month. Here’s a closer look at the historic 10-year deal between the WTA and Mercedes-Benz. www.arabnews.com/node/2633757...

Elina Svitolina so far this season: Auckland - champion Australian Open - semi-finalist Doha - R16 Dubai - semi-finalist (ongoing) She's 14-2 in 2026.

Alex Eala: At the end of the day, I think there's still definitely a gap in terms of level between me and Coco and other players of her caliber. I think she did great and my job is to try and close that gap and I think I'm doing that quite well. So I'll keep working on it.

Amanda Anisimova on Mirra Andreeva: It's not easy to see someone that gives their all and then to react like that. It made me really sad for her. In my mind, I was just thinking if she keeps playing like this, there's a title around the corner for her. She's going to have a great year...

Coco Gauff: I know there's been conversations online about maybe the enthusiasm of some of the fans. I think tennis needs more of this. It's great just to see a nation so proud of someone, especially a nation that's pretty underrepresented in this sport. It's pretty cool to see.

At 11:30pm, Alex Eala closes out the win 7-5, 6-4 over Sorana Cirstea to book a quarterfinal against Coco Gauff in Dubai. “She’s a great role model for so many so I’ll really looking forward to that match,” says Eala.

With 1 ace, 16 double faults and a 43% first-serve percentage, Coco Gauff defeats Elise Mertens 2-6, 7-6(9), 6-3, saving 3 match points along the way. “I know you guys are probably here for Alex so I’m sorry to make you wait,” Coco tells the crowd after her 2hr 18min win 😄

That was some signature Coco hustle. She loses the 1st set 6-2, landing just 39% of her first serves in. She gets broken early in the second, but comes back and takes the lead, then squanders it. She blows a 5-3 gap in the TB, saves 3 match points and takes the TB 11-9 to force a decider v Mertens

Rybakina retired due to GI illness. Lucky loser Antonia Ruzic, who lost in qualies 1st round is through to QFs: “Last Saturday I was like, what is this? Why am I playing like this? I think every player hated the game at least once in a lifetime and now you're like in the sky.”

Jessica Pegula: Priority is always staying healthy mentally and physically and you never know where a player is at with that. Even if they've been winning matches, you don't know... and that's where you see people maybe be a bit more choosy with that schedule until maybe it changes in the future.

Just in from the WTA: Jessica Pegula is set to chair a newly-established Tour Architecture Council aimed at "developing meaningful improvements to the calendar, commitments, and other core elements of the Tour framework" More here👇 www.thenationalnews.com/sport/tennis...

Dubai update: Ella Seidel retires after dropping the opening set 6-0 against Jaqueline Cristian due to illness. Cristian advances and will face defending champion Mirra Andreeva in the round of 16.

Last year's finalist Clara Tauson, who hit 20 aces vs Sofia Kenin yesterday, hits another 11 against Peyton Stearns today to advance to the round of 16 in Dubai with a 6-2, 6-4 victory. She next faces Magda Linette who knocked out #8 seed Ekaterina Alexandrova 6-2, 4-6, 6-1.

Dubai update: Sara Bejlek has withdrawn from her singles match today versus Belinda Bencic, due to an abdominal injury. Bencic wins by walkover.

Dubai update: Daria Kasatkina has withdrawn from her singles match today versus Mirra Andreeva, due to a right hip injury. Andreeva wins by walkover. The match between Iva Jovic and Diana Shnaider has been moved to Centre Court, up next after Pegula-Gracheva.

Mirra Andreeva: I thought I would feel so much pressure on defending my title for the first time and coming as a defending champion for the first time. But now all I feel is excitement. I don't know why. It kind of took me by surprise as well. 📽️📰 www.thenationalnews.com/sport/2026/0...

Dubai update: Barbora Krejcikova has withdrawn from her singles match tonight versus Amanda Anisimova, due to a left thigh injury. Amanda Anisimova wins by walkover.

Coco Gauff: “I don’t think people should be dying in the streets just for existing.” www.theguardian.com/sport/2026/f...

Dubai withdrawals: Sabalenka (right hip), Swiatek (change of schedule), Cocciaretto (left thigh), Muchova (change of schedule), Sakkari (illness), Zheng (illness), Mboko (right elbow) Lucky losers in: Baptiste (retired in R1), Ruzic, Zakharova, Marcinko, Stearns, Rakhimova, Frech

Victoria Mboko has withdrawn from Dubai due to a right elbow injury. She is replaced in the draw by Lucky Loser Petra Marcinko. The Badosa-Siniakova match has moved to the 7pm slot on centre court. 7 lucky losers have now made it into the main draw in Dubai!

Leylah Fernandez gets a rematch with Janice Tjen in the Dubai 2nd round on Monday. Fernandez lost to Tjen in the Australian Open 1st round last month. “It's nice to see that Janice is doing well, she's super nice. It's good to play against her again, and hopefully it goes well this time.”