Howdy y’all and welcome to Tennis Insider!
The North American hardcourt swing, my favorite time of year, is here! I know, I’m biased, but for the most part I can watch live tennis in my time zone for the next six weeks. It kicks off in Washington and Memphis, rolls through back-to-back WTA 1000s in Toronto and Cincinnati, makes a pit stop in Monterrey, and ends with the U.S. Open in New York (where I’ll be representing The IX Sports in the media center. Stay tuned for some great stuff come August!).
With things launching this week, I wanted to discuss three storylines you should keep a closer eye on in the coming weeks. The WTA is super exciting every week, but this part of the season is where things can get crazy, especially with us being over halfway through the season and with three Grand Slams complete.
1. The three-way fight for No. 1 gets its biggest test yet
Right now the WTA Race is basically a photo finish at the top. Mirra Andreeva is clinging to first place with 4,999 points, Aryna Sabalenka is breathing down her neck at 4,945 and Elena Rybakina is close enough in third to strike if either of them slips. A 54-point gap separating No. 1 from No. 2 is nothing. A single early loss can flip that.
What makes the hardcourt swing so interesting for this race is how differently these three are positioned heading in. When it comes to the actual WTA rankings, Sabalenka has the most to defend. She won the U.S. Open last year, so losing those 2,000 points would be a serious blow to her ranking. Rybakina, meanwhile, gets a bit of a break: her hardcourt campaign last year was fairly light, so there’s more upside than risk for her over these next six weeks (though post-U.S. Open is a different story). Andreeva, No. 5 in the rankings, hasn’t been especially battle-tested on North American hardcourts in her career so far, and how she handles the pressure of protecting a No. 1 Race spot she’s genuinely fighting to keep will say a lot about where she’s at as a player. Personally, I wasn’t impressed with how she backed up her Roland Garros title at Wimbledon, so I don’t have the highest hopes for her to really make a dent here.
Don’t sleep on the players just behind them, either. Karolina Muchova, Elina Svitolina and Jessica Pegula are all within shouting distance of the top of the Race, and Linda Noskova grabbed a Wimbledon title to put herself in some serious contention. If any of the top three stumble in Toronto or Cincinnati, this could get crowded fast.
2. Coco Gauff is titleless in 2026, but this is exactly the stretch that’s supposed to fix that
Gauff has actually had a pretty solid year by results (31-12 heading into the swing), but she hasn’t won a single WTA title in 2026, and the same issue that’s dogged her for three years straight hasn’t gone anywhere: the serve. She’s led the tour in double faults in 2024, 2025 and now 2026 again, by a wide margin with 257 so far this season (56 more than anyone else). She brought in biomechanics coach Gavin MacMillan specifically to fix it, and by her own admission it’s still “a learning process.”
Here’s what makes the next six weeks the real test, though: this exact stretch is where Gauff has historically turned things on. Back in 2023, working with Brad Gilbert, she won the D.C. Open, then Cincinnati, then the U.S. Open for the best run of her career, all inside this same swing. Gilbert himself has been publicly saying it’s “time for Coco to have a good summer” after a few years of this stretch going quietly. So there’s a real storyline here beyond just “can she win a title”: can she put together results on the exact surface and in the exact cities where she’s proven she can go on a run, with a revamped serve that’s supposedly better but hasn’t produced a trophy yet. If it clicks in Toronto or Cincinnati, watch out. If it doesn’t, the questions about the serve are going to get loud again right as the U.S. Open comes into view.
3. Naomi Osaka has a mountain of points to defend, but has momentum
Osaka’s comeback story took a real turn last summer: she made her first WTA 1000 final since 2022 in Montreal, upsetting four seeded players before losing to home favorite Victoria Mboko. Then, she rode that form to a U.S. Open semifinal where she fell just short against Amanda Anisimova after serving for the match. That stretch is a major reason why she’s seeded again and back in the conversation as a genuine threat.
The catch is that all those points come due this swing. But unlike a year ago, she’s arriving with real form behind her. The Japanese had her best-ever Wimbledon this July, beating World No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka for the first time in eight years en route to her first quarterfinal at the All England Club before fatigue and a flare-up of plantar fasciitis caught up with her against Karolina Muchova. She’s also been open about the toll of a long, injury-managed season, so how her body holds up across three straight weeks of hardcourts is its own subplot.
If last year was Osaka reminding everyone she could still do this, this swing is about whether she can actually hold onto it. She said herself after Wimbledon that she still thinks there’s “an opportunity to win a Slam” and the North American hardcourts, where her power has always played best, are as good a place as any to make that case. She’s a two-time champion in New York, so if there’s a dark horse to hedge a bet or two, I wouldn’t be mad at you putting a bill on Osaka.
Lots on the line these next six weeks, but who knows how things will unfold in the States and Canada. Until then, on to links!
Listen now to The IX Sports Podcast and Women’s Sports Daily
We are excited to announce the launch of TWO new podcasts for all the women’s sports fans out there looking for a daily dose of women’s sports news and analysis. Stream on Spotify, Apple Podcasts or anywhere you listen to podcasts, and make sure to subscribe!
This week in women’s tennis
At the Livesport Prague Open, Lilli Tagger formally announced herself to the world by capturing her first WTA singles title over Daria Snigur. The doubles title was won by Harriet Dart and Maia Lumsden over Lucie Havlickova and Laura Samson.
For the first time in 34 years, the MSC Hamburg Ladies Open had a German winner in Tamara Korpatsch, who downed Anna Bondar to take her second WTA singles title. Dalila Jakupovic and Nika Radisic stormed back to win the doubles title against Magali Kempen and Alexandra Panova.
Loved this read on the unfortunate disbandment of the tennis.com editorial program.
The grounds at Washington, D.C. are quite the spot, with Naomi Osaka hosting a cookout and Venus Williams and Diana Shnaider teaming up for a first round win.
Leylah Fernandez is hoping to reset her 2026 season as she defends her title at the Mubadala D.C. Citi Open.
World Team Tennis is making their comeback during this year’s post-season.
The first sign-ups of the U.S. Open’s “mixed doubles” event was released:
Laura Robson had to retire early because of injuries but she’s recently found running to replace much of the competitive fire she once had on court.
Alex Eala’s impact on Filipino tennis is going to last far past her career.
The dates for the 2028 Olympic tennis event were unveiled and the bounce back from Wimbledon will be TIGHT:
1997 French Open mixed doubles winner Rika Hiraki was arrested in Japan on suspicion of fraud.
CazéTV has secured the broadcasting rights in Brazil for WTA action through 2030.
The city of College Station honored the Texas A&M women’s tennis team following their NCAA title.
Tweet of the Week
Loved this detail from Katie Boulter’s wedding to ATP player Alex de Minaur:
Rep The IX Sports at your next game!
Shop the logo collection or special “Women’s Sports are Front Page News” collection now on Shopify.
Five at The IX: Washington D.C.
Q. I interviewed your physio, Robbie, recently, and he was talking about how you guys want to sort of reframe the term and concept of a comeback. I was wondering if you could just expand on why you don’t like that idea?
NAOMI OSAKA: I mean, I feel like saying I don’t like it is a little harsh because obviously I feel really grateful for people even thinking about me. But I think when I think of coming back, it kind of, like, washes away the whole process. Also, for me, what am I coming back to, you know?
On my end, I feel like a completely different person. There are things that I’m better at, and maybe there are skills that I’ve gotten to develop a lot more, but I feel like saying you’ve come back is a little bit limiting. Maybe that’s also my way of, like, taking pressure off in some weird mental way.
Yeah, on my end, I just try to, like, see it as a way to continue achieving more.
Q. In about a month and a half we’re coming up on the 25th anniversary of your second US Open win, and it was a really historic win, as you took the final over your sister, Serena, a very historic final. I know it’s been maybe a little bit of time, but can you reflect on that moment? Then, also, second part of the question, would you have ever thought 25 years later that you and Serena would both still be playing?
VENUS WILLIAMS: Yeah, never say never, right? I think that that final was a dream come true for us for all the things that we had been preparing for and the things that we dreamed of. So from a personal standpoint for our family, it was all the stars aligning.
From a personal standpoint, I was really happy to have won the match. I think I felt like she was getting so good, it was going to be hard to win those matches and hold her off, and I was right. We saw what happened.
Q. A year ago this was Venus Williams’ comeback tournament, and you’ve spent a lot of time with her in the last year. I’m wondering what that’s been like for you to get to spend time on court and maybe a little often court with Venus?
LEYLAH FERNANDEZ: It’s been super fun. Venus has definitely a welcoming aura where she always wants to support and help as much as possible.
I always see her or her husband or someone from her team sometimes watching my matches. At the end of my matches, they would send me a message either congratulating me or, like, telling me to keep my head up. That definitely helps in those tough moments, in those good moments to keep going because I know she’s gone through those wins and losses, and she’s always found a way to bounce back.
So it motivates me. It encourages me, and it definitely kind of brings me back to why I play tennis. It’s more like I just want to enjoy my time on court, just the same way that she’s doing right now playing tennis and competing and winning matches. I always see her smiling, so it’s always nice.
Q. Can you share what maybe new or different routines you have been doing to get yourself back in top physical shape, both physically and mentally, to be able to, as you say, stay on top of your game for a longer period of time?
ZHENG QINWEN: Yeah, I said that many times after I coming back from injury, the most challenge for me actually is the mind. The body, the fitness actually I could recover, but the mind, you only can do that during the match, which I don’t have that after I got injury.
But we’ve been working hard together with my team, you know, trying to practice a lot of hours with a good focus and trying to don’t let myself down, because if one day I practice good, one day not, you know, in the match we’ll show the same thing. Right now I’m trying to be the same every single day.
Q. You mentioned you were back home in the Philippines, and I know your influence there and the passion of Filipinos for their athletes and their sport. There’s a large population of Filipino-Americans, both here in the D.C. area, up and down the East Coast, that will be coming to see you play. Does it feel like a burden? Does it feel like you’re carrying a flag for them and representing them on the court and off the court? I wonder just how you manage and balance that as you go on and try to win matches?
ALEX EALA: It’s definitely not a burden. I would describe it more as a privilege, you know, and I’m very privileged to be able to carry my flag and to represent everything that comes with that.
I’m very grateful to everybody who comes out to see me. I think it’s great for them to also experience, because I know a lot of them have never been to tennis events. So I’m happy also to be able to, in one way or another, introduce a tennis event in their life. Yeah, I think that it’s a beautiful thing.
But, you know, when I approach these things, it’s always kind of what I have to do, what do I need to be prepared, what do I need to — how do I need to work and so on and so forth. I know what I need to do to get where I want to be, and I trust my team, so yeah.
“Becoming Caitlin Clark” is out 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, including interviews with Clark, Lisa Bluder (who also wrote the foreword), C. Vivian Stringer, Jan Jensen, Molly Kazmer and many others.
Soccer: Annie Peterson, @AnnieMPeterson, AP Women’s Soccer
Tennis: Joey Dillon, @JoeyDillon, Freelance Tennis Writer
Basketball: Howard Megdal, @HowardMegdal, The IX Sports
Softball: Maren Angus-Coombs, @Maren-Angus, The IX Sports
Golf: Marin Dremock, @MDremock, The IX Sports
Hockey: @TheIceGarden, The Ice Garden
Gymnastics: Jessica Taylor Price, @jesstaylorprice, Freelance Writer
