I really struggle to come to terms with Damian Kust's passing. He was one of the good ones. Very few people can claim to love tennis as much as he did, let alone be as good a person as he was. Rest in piece.

"It hasn't snowed in a couple of days, I can probably bike in this" *heavy snowfall starts 30 seconds after I step outside the door*

You ever seen a cuter Christmas tree?

:(

Both have been sublime this week so the form analysis won't get us far this time. Argument for JS: he can apply the Fritz playbook that troubled CA and execute even better Argument for CA: superb returning all week which will give him an edge especially as JS's serving often lets him down vs CA

I see Alexander "they're making the courts slow to favor Sinner and Alcaraz" Zverev is getting handily beaten by a one-legged Jannik on the quickest court in tennis.

I have a lot of sympathy for players complaining about a long season and the number of mandatory events, but the second they start saying "well if I don't play I don't get as big of a bonus" I immediately stop caring.

If you want so see some clean hitting, tune in to Kovacevic vs Shang. Both players very good to watch.

The Alacarz forehand currently reminds me of Del Potro's. It's insane the level of execution he's hitting his forehand with at the moment. Give him half a second and the ball flies right by you even if you're well positioned.

One thing I like about the Asian swing is that as a European you get a lot of morning tennis. Wu vs Korda with my breakfast on a Saturday? Don't mind if I do.

Right now in the Saint-Tropez Challenger: 40 year-old Stan Wawrinka vs 17 year-old Justin Engel. Engel, ranked #217, turns 18 in a couple of weeks and is one of only two players under the age of 19 in the top 300. You can watch the match here: www.atptour.com/en/atp-chall...

Rather than talking about conditions and surfaces to analyze who of Sinner and Alcaraz has the edge, I think it's more meaningful to talk about current form. At both Wimbledon and now US Open the player who had played at the highest level leading up to the final went on to win it.

The #USOpen has moved the trophy to inside the Rolex suite, which is where Trump is, but surely not where the trophy has ever belonged before during a final.

Anyone else feel like boycotting the final after this farce?

The butterfly effect. How poetic.

Heart says Anisimova, head says Sabalenka. Let's do this.

Goosebumps. What a mammoth effort from Anisimova to make it back to another Slam final after what happened in the Wimbledon final.

I love Adrian Mannarino as a tennis player. It looks like he's barely moving, just poking the ball over each time, and yet he keeps wreaking havoc for some of the best players in the world. Unconventional players are the spice of the tour.

I've struggled to get into the USO these first few days and I wasn't very excited for it all. I've been racking my brain as to why and I think Cincy+Canada are to blame. They were so hard to watch and follow they killed all momentum tennis had post RG+W. These bloated Masters need to end yesterday.

When Fonseca starts opening up the court by hitting his forehand at 80% into big targets instead of constantly trying to thread the needle it's over for the rest of the tour (bar a select few).

Watching Andres Martin at US Open qualies and I'm just gonna say that he beats Holger Rune in the tight shorts division.

The latest at Bounces is a deep dive I've been working on for months, about the hugely overlooked role returners play in how many aces get hit each match. Because in women's tennis right now, aces are likelier with one returner than with any server. www.benrothenberg.com/p/aces-most-...

All the followers you don't want to give up by leaving twitter aren't real.

Match about to be played in Czechia: Challenger qualifying final between Mikael Ymer and Alex Molcan. Two years ago they played in Wimbledon main draw.

POV: you're at a club in Gothenburg but can't help to check the Toronto qualifying draw 📸: @jowlj.bsky.social

Venus coming back and beating a top 50 player in straights is iconic behavior

Kovacevic vs Shapovalov in the Los Cabos final. I've just spent 30+ minutes researching when we last had a final with two one-handed backhands and the most recent example I can find is Tsitsipas vs Thiem in 2019 (tour finals).

Ignacio Buse is officially on my radar. Looks like a really promising prospect.

Happy for Sinner. Unbelievably strong to win here after what unfolded in Paris. These guys are just built different.

Alcaraz is able to anticipate almost every Sinner approach shot. Carlos commits pretty early so you'd think Sinner could either a) hold the contact a little and put the ball the other way, or b) commit to put a portion of the just deep middle to put some doubt in Carlos' mind.

That Sinner hold to win the set was Alcaraz esque. Couple of great counter-attacking hustles and a running forehand DTL winner that painted the sideline.

100 - Aryna Sabalenka is now just the second player in the Open Era to have 100+ consecutive Women's Singles matches at Grand Slams without a straight-sets loss, after Martina Navratilova. Precipice. #Wimbledon | @wimbledonltc.bsky.social @wtatour.bsky.social

Sinner handled that interview well. Very tough situation for him as well.

This would be such a sad way for Dimitrov's run to end. Up two sets to love against the world number one...

Flavio Cobolli is that guy.

In an extremely tight match, Mikael Ymer wins 7-5, 4-6, 7-6. Borg was serving for the match at 5-4, 40-0 in the third set before losing the next nine points and having to save two match points at 5-6 just to take it to a TB. Mikael faces another Swede, Olle Wallin, in the semifinal tomorrow.

Mikael Ymer vs Leo Borg right now in the quarterfinal of the Värnamo 30K futures: www.itftennis.com/en/match/?ma... Ymer is making his comeback this week after a few months off due to injury. Borg is the second seed here. On serve after seven games so far.

One more thought on the final yesterday: I don't remember when I last saw Sinner play that aggressively. It's clear he feels he needs to up the aggression against Alcaraz - hit even harder, take the ball earlier and shrink the margins. It makes the match-up even more entertaining as a viewer.

One of the best matches I've ever seen.

Sinner is 6-9 in five-setters in his career, while Alcaraz is 12-1.

I have no dog in this fight but I don't want this match to end. Give us a fifth, pretty please

This, and he conceded the point. A lot of players would've called for it to be replayed

This is the best men's RG final since Djokovic vs Wawrinka 10 years ago.

The final circle of hell is reserved for members of the crowd who shout between first and second serves on match point.

Energy levels can come and go in matches so I wouldn't panic just yet but there are some tendencies of Sinner's footwork slowing down a little bit. His legs haven't been tested in Paris yet but they might start to be here. Easy to forget we're still relatively early into his comeback.

Godlike returning from Alcaraz in the 3-5 game after his return being one of his biggest problems so far today. He raised to the occasion, keeping him in the set, but let's see if he can maintain the level (got broken back right away after breaking in the first set).

Does anyone know why Bill Lawrence (creator of Scrubs, Ted Lasso, etc) is in Coco's box? I did not see that coming.

I need to stop underestimating Gauff.

Tagger runs away with it in the second set, putting her high-margin offensive tennis to good use. 6-2, 6-0. On the back of this performance I would not be surprised to see Tagger make the tour within the next couple of years.

Tagger takes the first set 6-2 in 50 minutes. Tighter than the scoreline suggests, Tagger fought off 5 break points while converting 2 of the 6 she got on Klugman's serve (including a double fault on set point). Klugman, who's already come back from a set down 3 times this week, is not out of this.