#24szn

Jannik after losing to Carlitos in Paris: radio silence

Jannik after losing to Carlitos in Beijing: I think about him when I wake up… I’m glad we’re friends off court. we’re like fire and ice :)

all three players separated from their coaches post-USO, with Coco’s 14-month partnership being the shortest of the three, and what with each of those partnerships having produced at least one major title (Elena and Coco won their singular titles with their most recent former coaches while Iga won 4 out of her total 5), the significance of cutting such a partnership short before the season technically ends cannot be overstated.

these are the best of the best tennis players in the entire world and the odds of the three of them all individually making the same huge mistake are so low as to be negligible. these are women who have, for the majority of their lives and certainly for all of their adult lives, prioritized their tennis to the exclusion, most likely, of developing other skills. these are players who have the results on paper to back up their sacrifices, and these are players who looked at their recent results, looked at their teams, and thought, something has to give.

they know what they’re doing. they know separating from their coaches, whether by mutual decision or by their own or by their coaches’ own, would best be done in the off-season when they have time to decompress & then begin to search for a new coach to spend their pre-season acclimating to. of course, these are also players who want and expect to play in the WTA finals. which takes place in October. so, again, something has to give.

in Elena’s case, much of her season was overruled by her poor health, and that is really sad bc that is out of her control and out of anyone’s control. I don’t want to speculate ab what she or anyone could do better to manage or treat her symptoms since I don’t know the cause and I’m not licensed to dispense medical advice. all I can say is that I hope she finds a coach who can work with her to prioritize her health and maximize her results.

I can also say that given how she split with her former coach immediately post-USO withdrawal and given how he was removed from the list of approved WTA coaches, it would appear to me that something was going on behind the scenes which she felt could better be handled by another coach. I’m sure she didn’t start her season thinking any of this would happen, and I sincerely hope she’s able to play the finals although certainly above that I would really hope she’s healthy. for my own selfish enjoyment, I want to watch Elena Rybakina crush balls and deliver exquisite serves for many more years, not just the parts of the year where she’s able to push through her health issues. I want her to be a happy and healthy person who plays tennis because she wants to and because she’s so fucking good at it that it’d be a shame for her not to.

as for Coco, her split w/Brad Gilbert was also coming from a ways away. she brought him on after losing in the 1R of 2023 Wimbledon and won her biggest title to date three times within two months (DC 500, Cincy 1000, USO slam). but her results this year have only produced one title, and while it is probably important to factor in the extra surface changes with the Paris Olympics & the shortened hard court prep, I don’t think anyone would have reasonably expected her to defend the US Open title. she & Gilbert seemed outwardly frustrated with each other during her 4R loss to Navarro at Wimbledon — so when she again lost to Navarro at the US Open, it was really a matter of how quickly are they getting the press release out.

she has, in fact, stated explicitly that she’s not concerned too much with her results in the Asian swing and is instead focusing on technical improvements. (hey, any time she wants to work on her serve, I’m happy!) but still. the point I’m trying to make here is, she should be afforded the time off court to work on technical adjustments. she shouldn’t be punished for not putting up good results when the pre-season is shorter than the time it takes to renew your fucking passport. she’s obviously taken a sage view of this situation and said fuck it, I need to do this so I’m doing it. she’s controlling what she can control and that’s admirable in the face of a sporting season during which an entire healthy human fetus could develop and emerge into the world as a whole human being. and tennis is still going on.

Iga’s reasons for splitting with her coach are less clear, although reading between the lines one might be tempted to speculate she’s been unsatisfied with her performances on faster courts. that’s an easy way to say she hasn’t put up anywhere near the wins on grass & faster hard courts (we remember the Cincy slaughter, and that was decidedly not a slaughter-by-Iga, as is certainly more typical) as she has on clay & slower hard courts. I think it would be fair to follow that line of speculation and then say — well, she’s made her feelings on the calendar clear.

the longer the season goes, the more tournaments the WTA mandates a player has to go to, which in turn increases their time on court and their expenses off, plus for those who go far week to week (and I think we can all agree the dominant No. 1 of the past three years is that exact type of player). so in a way, a longer season punishes those players who excel at the sport because it demands more and more and then oh yeah, more! you won this week? get on a plane & get to the next tournament because it’s mandatory and you will be fined for not showing up unless you’re injured. also, playing so much & traveling so much makes you likelier to be injured.

this year for the first time, the WTA has made all ten 1000 level events mandatory. so Iga is being fined for missing Beijing and Wuhan. she’s obviously elected to take this on the chin because she’s done the math and knows she’ll have a longer and more successful career if she is deliberate with her training & mindful of when her body needs rest. she isn’t saying it in so many words, but what she’s doing right now is depriving Asian fans of her brilliance because she needs to and deserves to rest. she’s lucky she’s good enough at tennis to be wealthy enough where she can say fuck it and eat the fines.

I say good for her.

I can’t imagine what it’s like to be on the road, essentially a nomad, for your entire professional career. to play a sport as mentally and physically grueling as tennis is away from your friends and family, surrounded by people you pay whom you probably like but don’t love, in foreign cities all the time and never sleeping more than two weeks in one bed.

I don’t want to watch tennis at anyone’s expense and helloooo!! when I do want to watch tennis, Tashi Duncan & I agree — we want to watch some fucking good tennis. happy, healthy, well-rested people play fucking good tennis.