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Week 9, 2025
Gill Gross & Ben Ornstein
March 04, 2025
Indian Wells 1000 — Week 1
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WTA’s Early 2025 Top Stories
Why It’s Interesting: Joel Drucker with a thoughtful recap on some of the storylines to monitor this year.
Concerning News About Dominic Stricker’s Tennis Future
Why It’s Interesting: There’s a lot to unpack here, but we hate to see this happen to any player with such a high ceiling. Recall, the 22-year-old lefty beat Tsitsipas in the 2023 US Open to reach the QF.
The WTA Has Rebranded
Video Promo: See here
Gill’s Take: Revamped color schemes, fonts and graphic designs will do little to grow the WTA’s footprint. I hope the WTA couples this ‘rebrand’ with an investment in content that showcases the sport and the athletes beyond traditional broadcast and media coverage. The ATP seems to have the right strategy, announcing a partnership with a well-established social media content powerhouse, Overtime, just this week.
Christopher Clarey’s Rafael Nadal Book Is Available For Pre-Order
More: The longtime New York Times Tennis Correspondent previously published a full-length biography on Roger Federer. "The Warrior: Rafael Nadal and his Kingdom of Clay" goes on sale May 13.
Elena Rybakina’s Fitness Coach Has Departed
If You Didn’t Get Sick, Did You Even Acapulco?
Why It’s Interesting: The ATP 500 in Mexico this week was decimated by illness. Therefore, the most valid and effective coverage of the event had to come from infected journalist on the ground, Ben Rothenberg.
It’s Refreshing To Hear Solutions, Not Complaints, Regarding Tour Schedule
Tsitsipas Explains Racket Change Ahead Of Dubai Final
Tsitsipas: It was kind of a no-brainer... It's foolish of me not to try and make the change because it's too obvious that it doesn't really benefit me or help me. These changes sometimes are necessary because you don't want to be stuck in the same pattern over and over again.
— Reem Abulleil (@ReemAbulleil)
10:17 PM • Feb 28, 2025
Get Well Soon Kokki!
On Monday Match Analysis, Gill dissects Stefanos Tsitsipas's splashy Dubai title run over Felix Auger-Aliassime for a maiden ATP 500 title. He talks about why Tsitsipas didn't need to hit any backhands on the big points, why the racquet change could help him and the overall significance of the title. He then discusses Tomas Machac's triumph in Acapulco. The Czech's first title was only a matter of time, while Alejandro Davidovich Fokina continues to wobble in pressure situations.
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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.