The Draw
Posts
Week 7, 2024

Week 7, 2024

Gill Gross & Ben Ornstein
February 20, 2024

Jannik Sinner is still yet to lose in 2024, and Swiatek finally beat Rybakina. Here’s what we found interesting this week.

In Tibet, tennis balls explode on impact (altitude)...
Why It’s Interesting: You’re going to want to read about how Fnu Nidunjianzan, of Tibet, is thriving for Princeton Tennis. He’s also the first ever Tibeten to earn ATP rankings points.

'How did I get here?' To Princeton from Tibet, one tennis player's remarkable road

In the 50 years since the ATP started its singles ranking system, no player from Tibet had earned a single ranking point. Until now.

theathletic.com/5263283/2024/02/16/fnu-nidunjianzan-princeton-tibet-tennis/?source=emp_shared_article

An Amazon doc on Roger Federer is coming
Why It’s Interesting: We’ve reached the point of craving Roger Federer nostalgia, and we’re getting it. You’ll need to scroll down on this piece to find the reporting we’re interested in, but make sure to read the details behind this production. This should be awesome.

Amazon Is Making a Roger Federer Documentary, Moving Deeper Into Sports

The tennis great thought he was making a home movie about his last 12 days as a pro. It turned into a documentary by award-winning filmmaker Asif Kapadia.

www.bloomberg.com/news/newsletters/2024-02-18/amazon-is-making-a-roger-federer-documentary-moving-deeper-into-sports

Jenson Brooksy’s Reduced Suspension
Why It’s Interesting: The punishment didn’t seem to fit the crime from the very start. Turns out the ITIA agrees. Brooksby will be available to play as early as March 4th.

Jenson Brooksby, an American tennis player, has his whereabouts suspension cut. He can play in March

American tennis player Jenson Brooksby’s suspension for missing three doping tests will end on March 3. That is 10 months earlier than the original date.

apnews.com/article/jenson-brooksby-doping-suspension-e9153f7c59e5df27d29e70c55b1504ff

Jon Wertheim’s Mailbag
Why It’s Interesting: It’s impossible to summarize this neatly, because… ya know, Mailbags. Jon’s words on Rune’s camp, Saudi developments and the shift in mentality amongst today’s athletes are worth your time. Long live Sports Illustrated.

The Shake-up in Holger Rune’s Camp and a Shift in Tennis’s Mentality

The Danish 20-year-old is making big changes to start the year. Plus, tracking the evolution in player outlook.

www.si.com/tennis/2024/02/14/tennis-mailbag-shake-up-holger-runes-camp-and-shift-player-mentality

Andrea Petkovic weighs in on the mentality of tennis and Ons Jabeur’s tearful moments on court
Why It’s Interesting: Petko’s writing draws from her own experiences and is extremely poignant.

You still have some anger to expiate

The night might be dark, a tennis match is darker

andreapetkovic.substack.com/p/you-still-have-some-anger-to-expiate?utm_source=post-email-title&publication_id=2322138&post_id=141723809&utm_campaign=email-post-title&isFreemail=true&r=e801j&utm_medium=email

TennisAbstract blog on Ugo Humbert’s Surface Sensitivity
Why It’s Interesting: Jeff whipped up an objective metric for surface dependence on tour, and you’ll want to check out that list as well as a ranking of serve impact by tournament (a fantastic measurement for court speed).

Surface Sensitivity and Ugo Humbert’s Serve

Ugo Humbert in 2023. Credit: Hameltion Let’s start off with a couple of puzzles. I realize they aren’t the sort of things that keep most of you up at night, but they were odd enough to …

www.tennisabstract.com/blog/2024/02/16/surface-sensitivity-and-ugo-humberts-serve

This was a sweeeeet Underarm Serve by Big Foe. The sidespin!

First one of the week 😜
@FTiafoe slices up a wicked underarm 2nd serve in Delray Beach!
#DBOpen
— Tennis TV (@TennisTV)
9:27 PM • Feb 16, 2024

The Death of the One-Handed Backhand
Why It’s Interesting: I loved the responses I received on this post. Folks came in with some interesting stats, and Amanda Anisimova’s Coach Marc Lucero weighed in.

Is there an ATP player under age 25 with a one-hander who even feels like a top-10 prospect right now?
Musetti will have a chance to get there down the road, but you’re pretty lost after that.
Today doesn’t feel like a blip in history, it feels like the result of trend.
— Gill Gross 🧋 (@Gill_Gross)
7:17 PM • Feb 17, 2024

🎙️ I’m on T2 this week starting at 10 AM ET Monday-Thursday. You can find it on YouTubeTV, Fubo, Amazon Freevee, Samsung TV Plus.

This week’s Monday Match Analysis covered the one-handed backhand situation along with championship Sunday action in Rotterdam and Buenos Aires:

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.

Want to sponsor this newsletter? Reach out to [email protected].

Want to send us content? Send an email to [email protected].

Week 7, 2024

Jannik Sinner is still yet to lose in 2024, and Swiatek finally beat Rybakina. Here’s what we found interesting this week.

Why It’s Interesting: You’re going to want to read about how Fnu Nidunjianzan, of Tibet, is thriving for Princeton Tennis. He’s also the first ever Tibeten to earn ATP rankings points.

Why It’s Interesting: We’ve reached the point of craving Roger Federer nostalgia, and we’re getting it. You’ll need to scroll down on this piece to find the reporting we’re interested in, but make sure to read the details behind this production. This should be awesome.

Why It’s Interesting: The punishment didn’t seem to fit the crime from the very start. Turns out the ITIA agrees. Brooksby will be available to play as early as March 4th.

Why It’s Interesting: It’s impossible to summarize this neatly, because… ya know, Mailbags. Jon’s words on Rune’s camp, Saudi developments and the shift in mentality amongst today’s athletes are worth your time. Long live Sports Illustrated.

Why It’s Interesting: Petko’s writing draws from her own experiences and is extremely poignant.

Why It’s Interesting: Jeff whipped up an objective metric for surface dependence on tour, and you’ll want to check out that list as well as a ranking of serve impact by tournament (a fantastic measurement for court speed).

Why It’s Interesting: I loved the responses I received on this post. Folks came in with some interesting stats, and Amanda Anisimova’s Coach Marc Lucero weighed in.