Week 12, 2024

Renaming it the Rainy Double until further notice. Here’s what we found interesting this week.

• The Man Overseeing Premier Tour Plans, Interviewed

  Why It’s Interesting: Jon Wertheim hurled some questions for USTA CEO Lew Sherr, who has taken the reins as Premier Tour leader from Craig Tiley.

• Chris Eubanks With The Match Point Save of the Year

  There’s More: Dipping down to the Challenger Level, this escape from Pierre Hughes Herbert was just as remarkable. Seven!

• The Architect of American Tennis, Concerned for Its Future

  Why It’s Interesting: Jose Higueras led Player Development at the USTA, pioneering a program that helped produce Frances Tiafoe, Tommy Paul, Reilly Opelka, Taylor Fritz, Sloane Stephens and Madison Keys to name a few. There have been major cuts to said program. Jose’s accusations should have everyone’s attention. At the same time, the USTA deserves a chance to defend and explain the decisions that have been made.

• Your ATP 2025 Calendar Has Dropped

  At A Glance: Jose hits the major changes here.

• An Excellent Observation on FAA’s Backhand

• Halep’s Return and Wozniaki’s Scrutiny

  Why It’s Interesting: This piece is a worthwhile overview. Caroline Wozniaki was one of many to criticize the showering of wild cards for Maria Sharapova upon her return from a reduced doping suspension. Years later, she has taken the same stance with Halep.

  Gill’s Take: I’ve said it time and time again regarding wild cards. You cannot expect Tournament Directors to take moral high grounds at a cost of generating interest in their event. I’m not even sure such high ground exists in this case. Halep technically served even longer than her suspension dictated; I see no need to make her play ITFs as further punishment.

• Leylah Fernandez Joins Vlogger Gang

  Who Else?: Daria Kasatkina and touring girlfriends Paige Lorenze (Tommy Paul) and Morgan Riddle (Taylor Fritz) are already in the space. Active athletes delving into media is a relatively new trend that has proliferated way beyond tennis.

On this week’s Mailbag, Gill covers Alcaraz vs. Sinner Questions, rates the WTA 1 Slam Winners of the last decade, talks TopSpin 2K25, and discusses Serena vs. Steffi.

Hey everyone, Gill Gross here. While I’m grateful for any amount of success I’ve had talking tennis on the internet for the past half decade, I believe we should all be doing better in this sport as creators and as fans. The tennis content economy is far behind other sports by metrics of engagement and popularity. This newsletter is our effort to DRAW the great things we find in tennis every week- we search for content that teaches us, makes us think, makes us laugh and ultimately makes loving this sport the best possible experience. Our vision is to speed up the growth of a robust content economy in tennis, for the benefit of fans, players and creators alike.

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