Good morning, Court Theorists! ☕️☀️
Today’s tennis mood: Stunned by Shelton’s coaching news and tallying one more time how we never know what’s happening in someone’s life at any given moment.
Let’s tennis!
-Allen
🎾 On tap: New week, new tournaments. The women have a pair of WTA 250 events in Chennai and Hong Kong. Top seeds are Janice Tjen and Sorana Cirstea, respectively. Speaking of Cirstea, this is expected to be the final tournament of her career, despite having her best year on tour and currently ranked 15th in the world. On the men’s side, we have the Paris Masters 1000 event, which is filled with anticipation for its impact on the ATP Tour Finals field. Currently, only four of the eight spots are filled.
🎾 ICYMI: If you unplugged for the weekend or you were totally booked up with Halloween parties, here’s how last week’s action shook out…
Tokyo: Diana Shnaider fought through some tough stretches against a resurgent Leylah Fernandez to win in three: 6-4, 5-7, 6-2.
Guangzhou: Harriet Dart came all the way through qualifying and won a total of seven matches to take the title over Lilli Tagger 4-6, 6-3, 6-4.
Basel: Valentin Vacherot bounced back from a couple of disappointing tournaments to win over Jiri Lehecka 2-6, 6-3, 6-3.
Vienna: Carlos Alcaraz owned the stage in Vienna, maintaining his perfect record against Alex de Minaur with a 6-1, 6-4 scoreline.
🎾 Come again?: In news that nobody expected over the weekend, Ben Shelton and Juan Carlos Ferrero announced that they would be joining forces for the 2027 season following a report from The Times of London.
What he said: “Ben has extraordinary talent, power and character,” Ferrero posted on Instagram. “I’m very happy to join Bryan and the team in this exciting new chapter. I’m really looking forward to contributing my experience and working with everyone to achieve ambitious goals.”
And what he said: “Huge addition to my team for the upcoming season,” Shelton posted on Instagram. “Excited to get started and put in the work this offseason…let’s get it.”
The risk of talking too much: For months, Ferrero had been suggesting that he would be returning to the tour as a coach sooner rather than later. So, last week, when he teased a forthcoming announcement to be revealed on November 9th, reporters started asking questions.
Noteworthy: Most expected the former coach of Carlos Alcaraz to pick up another young Spaniard such as Rafa Jodar or Daniel Merida — or perhaps a player from his academy. The Shelton partnership seemingly came out of left field.
🎾 One brutal data point: In Vienna last week, Alexander Zverev sealed his spot as the year-end number one player in the world. He then lost to world number 10 Alex de Minaur in the semifinals. That loss revealed a brutal stat: Zverev will be the year-end number one player in the world with a current 3-9 record against top 10 opponents.
Noteworthy: Those three wins were over Taylor Fritz at Wimbledon, over Ben Shelton at the U.S. Open, and over Alex de Minaur in Shanghai. And he won Roland-Garros without facing a top 10 opponent.
Yes, but: The year isn’t over. Paris is this week, and the ATP Tour Finals will be filled with opportunities to face top 10 opponents.
Yes, but (again): What does this say about the current state of the top 10? Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz each missed about half of the year. It’s not a good sign that only one player could take advantage of those absences.
And that’s game.
