Howdy, y’all and Happy Tennis Tuesday! This week marks the start of the final Grand Slam of the year — the U.S. Open. Fan Week has commenced, which lets fans into the grounds of the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center for free to enjoy qualifying matches as well as player practices. The infamous mixed doubles “tournament,” however, does require a paid ticket to Arthur Ashe Stadium and Grandstand. We’ll talk a little more about that next week, though.
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Now, like I always do with Grand Slam qualifying, I want to highlight three names you might want to keep a look out for. Will they qualify? Possibly, but either their story is worth knowing about, or they might be a name you’re going to want to know before everyone else.
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(1) Francesca Jones
I always have to highlight the top seed in qualifying because 99% of the time, they should be in the main draw based on current form and/or their ranking. For Great Britain’s Francesca Jones, it’s both. Currently ranked No. 86, Jones was unfortunately out of the main draw cutoff when it was done six weeks ago. Since Wimbledon, she’s produced an 11-1 record, winning two WTA 125 tournaments — however, those matches were all on the European red clay, and she hasn’t played a hardcourt match since retiring in the second round of the WTA 500 in Merida (as a qualifier) in March.
What makes Jones so unique is that she was born with Ectrodactyly Ectodermal Dysplasia Syndrome. EEDS is a rare genetic condition that affected the development of her hands and feet. As a result, she has only eight fingers and seven toes — making tennis nearly impossible. In a sport that so often centers around perfect biomechanics, her presence on court is a reminder that there’s no single mold for a tennis player. It’s those special intangibles like grit, determination and inspiration that can take any player to the next level.
(3) Aoi Ito
Speaking of intangibles, Aoi Ito is perhaps the most laid-back and crafty tennis player we’ve seen since Hsieh Su-Wei, whom Ito reminds many of. Her game translates well to hard courts — quick first strikes, aggressive returns, and the willingness to step in on big points. She’s also extremely calm and cool under pressure, and she doesn’t get too upset in the moment. At only 21 years old, the World No. 94 possesses a toolkit players can only dream of.
The Japanese broke out last fall when she qualified for her first WTA main draw in Osaka and advanced all the way to the semifinals, which included an upset over Sofia Kenin. In 2025, she kicked off the year with a WTA 125 title in Canberra and qualified for many WTA events, but failed to advance out of the first round. However, she’s found some form at the last two WTA 1000 events in Montreal and Cincinnati, qualifying for both and advancing to the third round. She upset No. 7 Jasmine Paolini in Montreal and No. 27 Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova in Cincinnati for two of her biggest career wins.
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Janice Tjen
I’m pretty sure none of you have heard of Janice Tjen, but she’s someone who is utterly dominating the ITF World Tour and making her Grand Slam debut this week. Tjen hails from Indonesia and is a product of the NCAA system, having played her freshman year at Oregon and then transferring to Pepperdine. She ended her collegiate career as a five-time All-American and finished her time as a Wave as the 2024 NCAA doubles runner-up. She was ranked top 10 in singles and finished her career in doubles as half of the top-ranked duo in the country.
Since graduating, Tjen has gone from unranked to currently No. 147. In 2024, she won six W15 and one W35 ITF World Tour titles and upped the ante this year by capturing a W15, four W35 and a W50 crown. That’s just in singles, and she’s also won six ITF doubles titles since turning pro. Tjen reached back-to-back finals at the W75 in Lexington and W100 in Landisville, leading up to her WTA debut this week. She has a tough opener in Varvara Lepchenko and could run into Aoi Ito in the final round to make her first main draw.
Of the three, I think Jones has the best chances of qualifying, but to me, Ito has the higher ceiling of going furthest in the draw. Some other names to keep an eye out for are Cincinnati quarterfinalist and No. 6 seed Varvara Gracheva, No. 2 Tereza Valentova, No. 11 Petra Marcinko and recent UGA graduate and NCAA singles champion Darja Vidmanova.
On to links!
This Week in Women’s Tennis
“Becoming Caitlin Clark” is available now!
Howard Megdal’s newest book is here! “Becoming Caitlin Clark: The Unknown Origin Story of a Modern Basketball Superstar” captures both the historic nature of Clark’s rise and the critical context over the previous century that helped make it possible.
Iga Swiatek keeps on surprising by capturing the Cincinnati Open over Jasmine Paolini, qualifying for the WTA Finals along the way. Erin Routliffe won her second consecutive doubles crown in Cincy, this time with regular partner Gaby Dabrowski, who was undergoing cancer radiation this time a year ago.
The WTA shared that the tour will hit 50 WTA 125 tournaments this year, helping bridge a divide between them and the ITF World Tour.
Tara Moore has spoken out since CAS upheld the ITIA’s four-year sentence for her positive drug test from contaminated meat in Bogota. The Brit was able to come back last after 18 months, but the ITIA fought back, and Moore was forced to basically retire when the verdict was announced:
Your U.S. Open main draw wildcards:
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Monica Seles announced her diagnosis with myasthenia gravis, taking it public to be an advocate and raise awareness.
Sloane Stephens spoke to CNN about the groundbreaking fertility and maternity policy the WTA has introduced this summer.
Sofia Sewing struggled with injuries on the tennis court and transitioned well into pickleball, becoming the top player on the APP Tour.
The Cincinnati Open team did quite an incredible job refreshing the grounds within a year, but the tournament went on for too long, and forcing Iga Swiatek to play a Monday final with the U.S. Open mixed doubles tournament the following day wasn’t a good look:
Something the players still struggled with in Cincinnati, though? Their rental cars.
Venus Williams was honored with a Barbie doll for her work towards pay equity at the Grand Slams.
Emma Navarro headlines the WTA 500 field in Guadalajara, while Beatriz Haddad Maia will lead the field at Sao Paulo’s return to the WTA for the first time since 2000.
Tweet of the Week
I mean, Cincinnati just DELIVERED.
Five at The IX: Cincinnati Open
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“If I would have to point to two tournaments that would be the hardest ones to win, it would be Wimbledon and Cincinnati, so I’m even more happy. It’s kind of proved that the greatest moments will probably come when you least expect them,” – Iga Swiatek
“The love from the crowd was amazing….I really like the American crowd. It’s really loud, no matter who they’re cheering for. Even in the bad moments, they were supporting me: ‘Come on, Jasmine! Forza!’” – Jasmine Paolini
“Exactly one year ago, I was going through radiation treatment at the Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville. Erin’s best friend, Asia, stepped in and played this tournament. They took the title, which was really fun to watch from afar, but I feel really fortunate to be able to compete here this week.” – Gaby Dabrowski
“For me, it’s trying to forget the losses, but more so remembering how I lost. With the wins, I try to celebrate myself a little bit. But I’m very much a perfectionist type of person, so it’s really nothing satisfying until you’re holding the big trophy. But I’m doing better about appreciating the little wins along the way, too.” – Coco Gauff
“That’s kind of a very dated mentality, if you’re a singles or doubles player. It’s tennis. It’s very, very demanding, just in different ways. And I have been fortunate and blessed to be able to go very far in doubles tournaments and in singles tournaments, and I’m having to endure the same thing that the singles players are enduring. It’s something that should be respected because it is tennis, and it’s not fair to categorize a person as a singles or doubles player. We’re all tennis players.” – Taylor Townsend
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