Sunday, January 11, 2026

Wk.1- Act 1, Scene 1 (2026)

The shortest distance between two points was a straight line through Brisbane...







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*WEEK 1 CHAMPIONS*
BRISBANE, AUSTRALIA (WTA 500; Hard Court Outdoor)
S: Aryna Sabalenka/BLR def. Marta Kostyuk/UKR 6-4/6-3
D: Hsieh Su-wei/Alona Ostapenko (TPE/LAT) def. Cristina Bucsa/Ellen Perez (ESP/AUS) 6-2/6-1
AUCKLAND, NEW ZEALAND (WTA 250; Hard Court Outdoor)
S: Elina Svitolina/UKR def. Wang Xinyu/CHN 6-3/7-6(6)
D: Guo Hanyu/Kristina Mladenovic (CHN/FRA) def. Xi Yifan/Yang Zhaoxuan (CHN/CHN) 7-6(7)/6-1
Canberra, Australia (WTA 125; Hard Court Outdoor)
S: Joanna Garland/TPE def. Polina Kudermetova/UZB 6-4/6-2
D: Maria Kozyreva/Iryna Shymanovich (RUS/BLR) def. Ena Shibahara/Vera Zvonareva (JPN/RUS) 6-7(9)/7-5 [10-8]
United Cup (AUS; Hard Court Outdoor)
F: Poland def. Switzerland 2-1




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PLAYER OF THE WEEK: Aryna Sabalenka/BLR
...Sabalenka's offseason follies didn't erase the fact that she's the best women's tennis player on the planet, and in Brisbane she easily discovered the quickest way to make that point: by defending her singles title in the event without droppng a set, improving her record in Australia to 38-2 in her last 40 matches.



A year ago, the world #1 was surprisingly taken to three sets in the Brisbane final by Polina Kudermetova, but over five matches this time around Sabalenka never lost more than four games in any set, knocking off in order the likes of Cristina Bucsa (allowing just one game), Sorana Cirstea, Madison Keys (in an AO25 final do-over), Karolina Muchova and then Marta Kostyuk in a 6-4/6-3 title match, overturning her recent pattern of TB-heavy clashes with the Ukrainian.

After missing out on a three-peat in Melbourne in '25, Sabalenka was by far the most in-form player of the expected '26 contenders (save for maybe Belinda Bencic) in Week 1. She's reached the final at the last six hard court majors.
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RISERS: Karolina Muchova/CZE, Wang Xinyu/CHN and Marta Kostyuk/UKR
...if one believes in good tennis omens, then Muchova might be a player to keep an eye on in Melbourne.

The Czech opened the new season with a SF result that included Brisbane wins over Ajla Tomljanovic (in a 3rd set TB on her fourth MP, three coming in the breaker) and back-to-back Top 10 victories over Ekaterina Alexandrova and Elena Rybakina (ending the Kazakh's 13-match *undefeated* streak... not her "winning streak," as must *always* be pointed out since the misleading labeling of such things never ends).



Muchova ultimately fell to Aryna Sabalenka a win short of the final (she reached none in '25), but it's worth noting that the last time the Czech posted a pair of Top 10 wins in January she ended up reaching the AO semis back in 2021, her first of now four career SF-or-better results in majors.

In Auckland, Wang rode a wave of clutch victories to her second career tour-level final (w/ Berlin '25). The 24-year old CHN #2 twice saved MPs en route to victories over the course of four rounds -- vs. Caty McNally in the 1st Rd., then Alex Eala in the SF -- to earn a face-off with Elina Svitolina for the title.



After threatening to push things to a 3rd set in a no-break 2nd stanza, Wang got within two points (5-4) in the TB of doing so, but the veteran Ukrainian finally put away the title on her second MP.



After a '25 season filled a lot of great tennis, but also a great many tough losses (she failed to reach a SF, despite playing in three 1000 QF and the 4th Round at four other 1000s and the U.S. Open), Kostyuk was a player on a mission for much of the week in Brisbane as she reached her first final since April '24, notching three consecutive Top 10 wins over Amanda Anisimova, Mirra Andreeva and Jessie Pegula. Kostyuk had posted just one Top 10 victory (vs. Gauff in Doha last year) since her Olympic QF run in '24.

After losing in arguably 2025's two *best* two-set matches (w/ three total tie-breaks) vs. Aryna Sabalenka, Kostyuk couldn't replicate or better her result vs. the world #1 this time around, falling 4 & 3 in her fourth career tour final appearance.

Such form should serve her well in Melbourne, though, as the Australian Open has been a career-long bright spot for Kostyuk. She won the junior title in 2017, then reached the 3rd Round in her slam MD debut a year later. In 2024, she reached the QF, and with at least 3rd Round finishes in five of her six MD appearances her twelve AO match wins are double her career total at any of the other three majors.



Hmmm, and it (thankfully) wasn't an *underarm* service ace, either.
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SURPRISE: Joanna Garland/TPE
...over the past two seasons, Garland has gone 9-1 in ITF finals, made her slam MD debut last year at Roland Garros (and got a 1st Rd. win) and reached her maiden tour-level SF in Chennai (where she unfortunately lost a 5-0 3rd set lead vs. Kimberly Birrell and couldn't convert any of five MP to reach her first WTA final).

The 24-year old, British-born Taiwanese player, opened '26 by reaching her first career 125 final after notching wins over Diane Parry, Tamara Zidansek and Daria Snigur. In the title match, #129-ranked Garland downed Polina Kudermetova 6-4/6-2 to pick up her biggest crown to date.


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VETERANS: Elina Svitolina/UKR and Belinda Bencic/SUI
...Svitolina has yet to win a major or even reach a slam final, but she's been one of the tour's best tournament closers over the course of her career. In Auckland, where she lost in a three-set final to Coco Gauff two years ago after winning the opening set, the Ukrainian returned to the title match and wrapped up some unfinished business by finally claiming the tournament's title, improving to 19-4 in career WTA finals (for an 82.6% winning percentage that rivals that of Iga Swiatek's 83.3% at 25-5, though the Pole's opportunities have often come in the major finals that have eluded Svitolina).

Svitolina dropped just one set on the week, getting straight sets victories over Varvara Gracheva, Katie Boulter, Iva Jovic and Wang Xinyu (in the final). Her lone three-setter came in a spirited QF against Sonay Kartal in which Svitolina rallied from 4-2 down in the 1st (winning it), 5-2 back in the 2nd (to force a TB), and 5-3 in the 3rd en route to the win.



In this year's version of the United Cup, Bencic wasn't able to complete a Career Triple Crown of team titles (after a '22 Fed Cup crown, and two Hopman Cup titles), but her 9-0 combined s/d mark (5-0 singles) on the week earned her MVP honors for the event despite Switzerland's runner-up finish behind Poland.



Two of Bencic's singles wins came vs. Top 10 players (the Swiss entered the week at #11, but should bump up a spot on Monday), vs. Jasmine Paolini in round robin play and then Iga Swiatek in the WS match in the final, giving her 40 career Top 10 victories but her first over a Top 2 player since 2019.

The victory over Swiatek included a comeback from a set down and a bagel 2nd set win. It's just Bencic's second win in seven meetings vs. Swiatek, of which she'd lost the last four while claiming just a single set. The Swiss' last win over the Pole had been in the U.S. Open Round of 16 in 2021.


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COMEBACKS: Maria Sakkari/GRE and Kristina Mladenovic/FRA
...it may not mean a *true* comeback campaign is on deck for Sakkari, who spent 125 straight weeks in the Top 10 from 2021-24 (and 182 in the Top 20 during the same stretch) before finishing '25 at #52, but the Greek surely had a Week 1 to build on at the United Cup.

A season ago, Sakkari went 2-5 Down Under (0-2 in UC play), and she's already matched her win total in '26 with UC round robin wins over Naomi Osaka (who was dealing with an illness) and Emma Raducanu (against whom she'd lost four straight) before a loss to Coco Gauff in Greece's QF exit at the hands of the U.S. team.



It wasn't *that* long ago that Mladenovic was generally viewed as the best doubles player in the world, reaching #1 in 2019, becoming a Fed Cup heroine on the doubles court en route to France's '19 title run and claiming nine majors (6 WD, 3 MX) and two WTAF doubles crowns. But, after a series of injury issues and seemingly many (unspectacular) attempts to revive her past success in singles, the Pastry came into 2026 having won just a single tour-level doubles title since 2022 (and *that* only came last fall in Tokyo). Mladenovic, who finished in the WD Top 3 four times from 2016-20, was ranked just #59 in doubles as the season began.

But career title #30 came quickly for her in the new year, as she teamed in Auckland with Guo Hanyu to get the win, defeating Wang Yifan & Yang Zhaoxuan in the final, 7-6/6-1.

While Mladenovic's tour titles have been few and far between of late, this is Guo's sixth tour win since September '23.


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FRESH FACES: Alex Eala/PHI and Iva Jovic/USA
...all eyes on are on Eala to see what she can do as an encore to her breakout '25 campaign. Well, so far, so good... but she left a bit on the table.

In Auckland, the 20-year old opened with victories over a pair of Croatians -- Donna Vekic and Petra Marcinko -- and a Pole (Magda Linette) en route to her third career WTA SF (w/ her Miami SF star-turn, and maiden final in Eastbourne). In a wild semi clash with Wang Xinyu, Eala rallied from 5-1 down to win the 1st set, and had a MP in the 2nd, only to ultimately fall in three sets.



In Auckland, 18-year old Jovic was the lone bright spot amongst the eight Bannerettes in the MD. The group went 1-7 in the opening round, with only Jovic advancing with a season-starting win over Gabriela Knutson. She then followed up with additional victories vs. Sara Bejlek and Sofia Costoulas to reach her second career WTA semifinal (w/ her '25 Guadalajara 500 title run).

After leading Elina Svitolina 4-2 in the 1st set, Jovic lost a set-deciding TB and went on to fall in straights. She's set to be seeded (#29 at the moment) for the first time in a major at AO26, the lowest of the seven U.S. women in the group of seeds.


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DOWN: Iga Swiatek/POL
...Swiatek was celebrating along with the rest of the Polish team after the squad finally won a first United Cup crown after playing in a third consecutive final. But after a good start, Swiatek didn't contribute much down the stretch other than moral support from the sidelines.

Following a pattern that has often played out in tour events the last year or so, Swiatek picked up steam in the early going of the event, dropping the 1st set of her opening '26 match to Eva Lys, but then dispatching the German in three sets and handling Suzan Lamens and Maja Joint with ease as Poland rolled into the event's SF. From there, everything changed as the eyebrow-raising pattern of her '25 pre-grass season downturn popped up once again.

Against Coco Gauff, Swiatek fell in straight sets (4 & 2), losing to Gauff for the *fourth* straight time (dropping eight consecutive sets) after previously holding an 11-1 edge in their head-to-head; then in the final vs. Switzerland, Swiatek followed up a 1st set win against Belinda Bencic by dropping the 2nd at love and falling 6-3 in the decider. Swiatek had beaten Bencic four straight times, losing just one set, and hadn't lost to the Swiss in nearly four and a half years.

Despite Swiatek's 0-2 mark in the "money" stages of the event, Poland rallied to bail Iga out and swept the men's singles and mixed matches vs. *both* the U.S. and SUI to take the title, but all the excited anticipation from Iga Nation about Swiatek possibly completing her Career Slam with an AO title in a few weeks might need to be tempered quite a bit.
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ITF PLAYER: Mananchaya Sawangkaew/THA
...in December, 23-year old Thai Sawangkaew was a double Silver medalist at the Southeast Asian Games, losing in the Gold Medal Match in both singles (to Alex Eala) and doubles. She somewhat rectified a bit of that situation in the $75K challenger in Nonthaburi (THA) in Week 1, defeating Italian Lisa Pigato 6-1/6-4 to pick up her fourth career ITF singles win.

Last season, Sawangkaew reached her first 125 final (Mumbai) early in the year, played in a tour-level QF in Singapore in January (her third in four months after two late '24 runs) and cracked the Top 100 last summer, but was out with injury after Roland Garros until late November. She entered the week ranked all the way down at #247.

The Oklahoma State tennis product will return to the Top 200 on Monday, and will make her slam MD debut at AO26 using her protected ranking.
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DOUBLES: Hsieh Su-wei & Alona Ostapenko, TPE/LAT
...last season, Hsieh & Ostapenko reached a pair of finals at the Australian Open and Dubai only to come up title-less on both occasions (w/ two losses to Siniakova/Townsend). Meanwhile, Ostapenko (who also won once in singles in Stuttgart) claimed a pair, one each with Aussies Erin Routliffe (Charleston) and Ellen Perez (Abu Dhabi).

The duo made up for their early-season misses this time around, taking the opening title of the year in Brisbane, finishing off Perez & Cristina Bucsa in a 2 & 1 final to take the crown. It's the 36th in the career of the newly-turned-40 Hsieh (tying Sara Errani for the active player lead), while Ostapenko adds one to make her haul an even dozen.


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WHEELCHAIR: Yui Kamiji/JPN
...Week 1 was the first foray into a new wheelchair schedule which has reworked the tournament designations (to fit the 250-500-1000 categories of the main tours) and added a number of concurrent roller events at the sites of many ATP/WTA tournaments.

The women's opening event in this new format took place in Sydney with a 500 designated WC competition that was won by #1 Yui Kamiji. After wins over Zhu Zhenzhen and Kgothatso Montjane, Kamiji received a walkover in the final from Li Xiaohui.

Kamiji and Zhu had teamed to win the doubles, defeating Li & Wang Ziying in a 6-2/6-2 final.

Diede de Groot makes her season debut in the Victorian Open this week, but Kamiji won't be in the field.
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1. Brisbane 3rd Rd. - Madison Keys def. Diana Shnaider
...6-7(5)/7-6(5)/7-6(4). And the season's first three-TB clash (the first in a MD tour match since '23, actually) goes to... hmmm, New Madi, the sequel?

In a nearly three-hour match, Shnaider grabbed the 1st after rallying from 4-2 down, only to see Keys reclaim her Aussie form of a year ago and storm back to get the win. It took some work, as the reigning AO champ had two MP at 5-4 in the decider, but finally put away the "W" on #3 in the TB. So, it an AO repeat on deck?

Well, let's not get ahead of ourselves...

Brisbane QF - Aryna Sabalenka def. Madison Keys
...6-3/6-3. In the following round, in a match-up of last year's AO finalists, Sabalenka got some belated revenge against Keys in a straight sets victory.

A year ago, Keys went 14-1 in Australia, winning titles in Adelaide and Melbourne, as part of an 18-1 start to her '25 campaign. She went 19-15 after her hot start, including 0-4 to end last year.
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2. Auckland 1st Rd. - Wang Xinyu def. Caty McNally 6-2/3-6/7-5
Auckland SF - Wang Xinyu def. Alex Eala 5-7/7-5/6-4
...Wang's pair of comebacks from MP down en route to the Auckland final.

In her '26 opener, she completed the rally vs. McNally after trailing 5-3 in the 3rd, and being MP down at 5-4.

In the semis vs. Eala, she won a crazy back-and-forth affair, squandering a 5-1 lead in the 1st as the Filipina won six straight games, then after losing a 3-1 edge in the 2nd it was Wang who came back from 5-3 (and MP) down to level the contest with a four-game winning streak. In the 3rd, Wang again threatened with losing a 5-1 lead, as Eala closed to 5-4 before the Chinese player finally held to reach the final.


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3. Auckland QF - Elina Svitolina def. Sonay Kartal
...6-4/6-7(2)/7-6(5). Svitolina rallies from deficits in the 1st (4-2, winning 6-4), 2nd (from 5-2 to force a TB, won by Kartal) and 3rd (5-3, with Kartal serving at 5-4) sets before finally advancing to a season-opening SF/F for the second time in three seasons ('23 Auckland RU).


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4. Brisbane 1st Rd. - Magdalena Frech def. Marketa Vondrousova
...7-5/6-7(3)/7-6(0). In the longest MD match from Week 1, Frech staged 1st and 3rd set comebacks vs. the Czech to get the win, taking the 1st after initially trailing 4-2, and then saved two MP down 6-5 on the serve in the 3rd.

After holding to force a TB, the Pole shut out Vondrousova by a 7-0 score to win in 3:23.
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5. United Cup SF (WS) - Coco Gauff def. Iga Swiatek
...6-4/6-3. The U.S. squad didn't reach the final to play for a third straight UC crown, but Gauff's win over Swiatek was likely the most significant single result of the event as we go forward.

In 1:41, Gauff claimed her fourth consecutive victory over Swiatek -- w/ all four coming in straight sets -- after previously having been 1-11 in the series and having lost 23 of 25 sets vs. the Pole. Poland advanced to the final for a third straight year with the help of MS/MX victories, and got the win over Switzerland via the same formula as Swiatek *also* lost her singles match vs. Belinda Bencic.


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6. Brisbane Final - Aryna Sabalenka def. Marta Kostyuk
...6-4/6-3. While this edition of the tour's "most compelling head-to-head series looking for a 3rd set" didn't live up to the two tie-break filled chapters of last year (Kostyuk is now 0-5 vs. Sabalenka, having never won a set), it had an interesting combination of expected intensity, a sip of levity...



And a final dose of seriousness...



Now, if we can just somehow produce a 3rd set.
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7. United Cup RR (WS) - Solana Sierra def. Jessica Bouzas Maneiro
...6-4/5-7-5/6-0. The first forehead-slapping result of the new season didn't take long, with this Day 1/first-women's-match-up at the '26 UC in Perth involving Bouzas Maneiro, who has had quite a few similar situations over the last year or so.

In this case, the Spaniard rallied from a 6-4/5-2 deficit to force a 3rd set vs. Sierra, only to then faile to win a single game in the decider.



But Bouzas Maneiro, unlike in a regular knock-out event, *did* have a second chance to produce a moment or, in this case, take a turn in the Sierra role vs. Coco Gauff.

United Cup RR (WS) - Jessica Bouzas Maneiro def. Coco Gauff
...6-1/6-7(3)/6-0. The Spaniad lost a 6-1/4-1 lead vs. the (new) world #4 (Coco dropped below Anisimova in the first '26 rankings), only to lose the 2nd in a TB. But this time *she* rebounded by winning a love 3rd for her biggest career win.


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8. Brisbane 3rd Rd. - Marta Kostyuk def. Amanda Anisimova
...6-4/6-3. Kostyuk just missed out on some huge moments in 2025, but gets off on the right Big Name-topping foot for '26, picking up her tenth career Top 10 victory with her win over #3 Anisimova, her first over a Top 10 player since February. It's Kostyuk's third career win over a world #3 (the other two came vs. Gauff).

Kostyuk improves to 3-1 vs. Anisimova, with her first win over the Bannerette since AO23 (in a 1st Rounder!).



Kostyuk followed up with two more Top 10 victories over Mirra Andreeva and Jessie Pegula, but couldn't get a fourth against Aryna Sabalenka in the final.
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9. Brisbane 1st Rd. - Anastasia Potapova def. Dasha Kasatkina
...6-5/4-6/6-4. Both now former Russians/Hordettes, these two even "shared" pretty much the *exact* same official announcement of their new tennis national representation. In Brisbane, they met up for the first time with *both* sporting their (currently odd-looking) new flags.



Not the start to her "bounce-back" season that Dasha was surely hoping for, but the item is officially out of the package and ready to be played with a bit more.


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10. Auckland 1st Rd. - Kaitlin Quevedo def. Peyton Stearns
...6-2/7-5. 19-year old Quevedo, Florida-born and representing Spain, carried over her '25 surge (two $100K finals with one win, and a Top 150 ranking) into the opening week of '26. She qualified to reach her maiden WTA MD, where she got a win over Stearns.


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11. Auckland 1st Rd. - Sofia Costoulas def. Whitney Osuigwe
...6-4/3-6/6-1. Former AO junior finalist (2022) Costoulas qualified and made her tour MD debut, where the Belgian knocked off Whitney Osuigwe en route to her maiden QF (a 6-2/7-6 loss to Iva Jovic).


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12. Canberra 125 Final - Maria Kozyreva/Iryna Shymanovich def. Ena Shibahara/Vera Zvonareva
...6-7(9)/7-5 [10-8]. Venus isn't the only fortysomething still showing up in draws, as 41-year old Zvonareva returned to the court in late '25 after a 18-month absence, reaching $100K singles/doubles finals in Dubai. She'd earlier posted a singles qualifying victory over Carson Branstine.


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HM- Brisbane 1st Rd. - Emerson Jones def. Tatjana Maria
...6-3/6-3. Save for maybe a handful of matches involving 45-year old Venus Williams, there won't be too many larger age gaps between opponents this season than the 21-year span that seperated 17-year old Jones and 38-year old Maria. In this case, youth served the prevailing Aussie teenager well.



Of course, in this weekend's qualifying rounds in Adelaide, 41-year old Vera Zvonareva faced off with 18-year old Tereza Valentova. The Czech won 7-6/6-0.
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1. Auckland 1st Rd. - Magda Linette def. Venus Williams
...6-4/4-6/6-2. The key to getting a win over an "on" Venus Williams at this stage of her career -- once her opponent gets over the immediate starstruck moment of being on the opposite side of the net -- is to manage to get the contest to three sets.

That scenario played out again here, as Linette handed Williams her fifth straight three-set loss (her last win came over the now-retired Camila Giorgi in Birmingham in 2023). Venus is 1-8 in her last nine three-set affairs, and 2-16 since late 2019. She'd won three straight three-setters before the current stretch.

She still managed to claim the Shot of the Day...


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2. Brisbane 3rd Rd. - Mirra Andreeva def. Linda Noskova
...5-7/6-4/7-5. After a 20-3 start last year, Andreeva dragged a shell of her early-season self across the 4Q finish line (going 20-13 the rest of the year, 4-6 from her Wimbledon loss forward).

The (still-a) Hordette was immediately once again bright eyed and shining in the new season, dashing Noskova's hopes after saving a pair of MP at 5-4 in the 3rd before going on to sweep the final three games to get the win.



Andreeva's run ended a round later at the hands of Marta Kostyuk.
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3. Canberra 125 Final - Joanna Garland def. Polina Kudermetova
...6-4/6-2. New Uzbeki Kudermetova didn't get the title in Canberra, but the former Hordette's good Australian form from a year ago has returned in '26.

Last year, Veronika's younger sister opened the season with her maiden final appearance as a Brisbane qualifier, then qualified for the AO MD in Melbourne, as well, as she started '25 with an 11-2 burst out of the gates. Here she notched four wins on her way to her first singles final on any level since Week 1 a year ago.


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The correct answer...




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Meanwhile, the steep learning curve makes one wonder if there's no hope for Sabalenka in *some* areas...




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Wholeheartedly yes, of course. Just exchange "can be" with "is," and "if not more so" with "usually" (or nothing at all). There's no need to fall into the habit of defending while also feeling any need to appease the fragile egos on the other side of the conversation. Those in opposition would not return the gesture in kind.

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Taking things out of context and running with it aside, Coco *is* correct about U.S. tennis fans not cheering as much for the nation's players as those from other countries do (see Romania, Brazil and others), but I personally think that's a good thing because maybe actual U.S. fans -- not counting the casuals, or those who show up without much knowledge in hand -- cheer for the *player* and not the *flag.* I've always found it offensive that the likes of ESPN thinks a U.S. tennis fan is more interested in a U.S. player over any other simply *because* they're a U.S. player.

The network doesn't insult its viewers by trying to pull the same trick by pushing U.S.-born basketball, baseball and/or hockey players over the (often more talented) foreign-born stars.

This situation is an interesting facet to tennis fandom in particular, and I wonder if -- aside from, say, big international events like the Olympics or something like that -- it's largely because that's mostly what U.S. sports fans do in other sports (many of the team-related, but not nationally affiliated), too, so most don't put a lot of importance on overly supporting U.S. players since it's taken for granted that there are almost always an overabundance of U.S. athletes in almost any sports event.

I will often root for a player(s) based on their nation, including sometimes in tennis (i.e. Czechs, Romanians), but I can't say that I ever do such a thing when it comes to *U.S.* athletes in tennis.



Also, I wonder if with some fans (esp. in the recent/current moment) there's a little of not wanting to necessarily possibly play the "ugly (or at least overbearing) American" part so willingly in public, which is also a good thing.

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*WTA SINGLES TITLES - 2020-26*
25 - 1/2/8/6/5/3/0 = Iga Swiatek
17 - 3/2/0/3/4/4/1 = ARYNA SABALENKA
10 - 0/1/0/4/3/2/0 = Coco Gauff
10 - 1/0/1/2/3/3/0 = Elena Rybakina
8 - 1/5/2 = Ash Barty (ret.)
8 - 0/3/2/2/1/0/0 = Barbora Krejcikova
8 - 0/0/1/2/2/3/0 = Jessie Pegula
6 - 0/1/1/2/0/2/0 = Belinda Bencic
6 - 0/2/2/0/2/0/0 = Dasha Kasatkina
6 - 0/1/1/1/2/1/0 = Alona Ostapenko
[2020-26 finals]
32 - 3/3/3/6/7/9/1 = SABALENKA (17-15)
29 - 1/2/9/8/5/4 = Swiatek (25-4)
20 - 5/0/3/4/5/3 = Rybakina (10-10)
18 - 1/0/2/5/4/6 = Pegula (8-10)
14 - 0/4/2/2/6/0 = Kasatkina (6-8)
13 - 0/1/1/4/3/4 - Gauff (10-3)

*CAREER WTA SINGLES TITLES - active*
49 - Venus Williams, USA (2016)
30 - Caroline Wozniacki, DEN (2018)
25 - Iga Swiatek, POL (2025)
22 - ARYNA SABALENKA, BLR (2026)
21 - Victoria Azarenka, BLR (2020)
19 - ELINA SVITOLINA, UKR (2026)
17 - Karolina Pliskova, CZE (2024)

*CAREER WTA DOUBLES TITLES - active*
36 - Sara Errani
36 - HSIEH SU-WEI
33 - Latisha Chan
32 - Katerina Siniakova
30 - Bethanie Mattek-Sands
30 - KRISTINA MLADENOVIC
29 - Timea Babos

**RECENT BACKSPIN WEEK 1 PLAYERS-OF-THE-WEEK**
2016 Victoria Azarenka, BLR
2017 Karolina Pliskova, CZE
2018 Simona Halep, ROU
2019 Julia Goerges, GER
2020 Serena Williams, USA
2021 Aryna Sabalenka, BLR
2022 Ash Barty, AUS
2023 Aryna Sabalenka, BLR
2024 Elena Rybakina, KAZ
2025 Aryna Sabalenka, BLR
2026 Aryna Sabalenka, BLR

**CAREER WEEK 1 TITLES - active**
5...ARYNA SABALENKA, BLR
3...Karolina Pliskova, CZE
2...Victoria Azarenka, BLR
2...Coco Gauff, USA
2...ELINA SVITOLINA, UKR
2...Venus Williams, USA
1...Ekaterina Alexandrova, RUS
1...Amanda Anisimova, USA
1...Katerina Siniakova, CZE
1...Sloane Stephens, USA
1...Clara Tauson, DEN

**MOST CAREER AUS/NZL WTA TITLES - active**
5 - ARYNA SABALENKA
4 - Victoria Azarenka
3 - Madison Keys
3 - Elise Mertens
2 - Coco Gauff
2 - Sofia Kenin
2 - Naomi Osaka
2 - Elena Rybakina
2 - ELINA SVITOLINA
2 - Venus Williams

**UNITED CUP FINALS**
2023 United States def. Italy 4-0
2024 Germany def. Poland 2-1
2025 United States def. Poland 2-0
2026 Poland def. Switzerland 2-1






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Waiting for Wimbledon to announce the banning of all U.S. players from this year's event, or for U.S. players' names to appear without flags in tennis draws. Yeah, that wait will be an eternal one.


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This probably should be posted everyday, but it feels especially necessary today.

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— Steven Beschloss (@stevenbeschloss.bsky.social) January 7, 2026 at 9:53 PM


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Read whatever books you like. That’s all.

— Chandra (@minaandmiddy.bsky.social) December 29, 2025 at 7:11 PM


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All for now.

posted by Todd.Spiker @ 6:38 PM 

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