OM DENNE EPISODE
Calvin Betton, George Bellshaw and James Gray are back with another look at the week in tennis. This week: the doubles fightback starts in Washington, more Masters 1000 withdrawal fallout, the 2028 Olympic schedule is announced, the most epic Davis Cup finish ever, and three new tour title-winners.
Here's what they discussed
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Washington tournament owner Mark Ein has been doing the media rounds this week (including a stop on Ben Rothenberg's Bounces), and it caught our ear when he declared himself a doubles superfan.
- Ein says Washington has gone as far as almost any tournament to promote doubles, including proactively engineering eye-catching pairings rather than leaving it to chance
- His pitch: nothing beats watching top players mixing it up in doubles on a 1,500–3,000 seat side court, right on top of the crowd.
- He acknowledges the counter-argument other tournaments make that doubles soaks up a lot of prize money, but argues the format needs to "add unique value" to earn its keep.
- Washington will live mic doubles players again this year, the third year running.
Tournament director Valerie Tetreault has called for change after both Jannik Sinner and Novak Djokovic pulled out of the Canadian Masters 1000, a repeat of last year, when both skipped Toronto.
- Tetreault is disappointed but understanding of the players' need to prioritise health given the schedule.
- Her broader point is that repeated last-minute withdrawals from Masters 1000s raise a real issue for the sport, since fans "rightfully expect to see the world's best compete."
- She's calling for adjustments to better protect the integrity of Masters 1000 events.
The 2028 Olympic tennis event, to be held in Carson, near where the Williams sisters grew up in Compton, will start just three days after the Wimbledon men's final.
- Kicks off the Wednesday after Wimbledon, running as a 10-day event
- Mixed doubles starts July 19, singles draws begin July 20, doubles from July 21
- Will top players get involved in the mixed? Not likely
World No. 1043 Ammar Alhogbani was serving for the match against Malaysia when he was violently sick on the baseline, and then a monsoon hit at 5-3, 40-15 in the third set.
- Play resumed seven hours later. Alhogbani came back and won it
- Saudi Arabia are promoted to World Group 2 in the most dramatic fashion imaginable
Kitzbuhel: Quentin Halys
- Wins his maiden title at 29. Once a highly-rated junior with four Grand Slam finals (singles and doubles), he never translated it into a senior career until cracking the top 100 four years ago - and has now broken into the top 50.
Estoril: Luca van Assche / Titouan Droguet & Kyrian Jacquet
- An all-French sweep: Van Assche took the singles, while Droguet and Jacquet won the doubles as alternates — including a first-round win over Calvin's pair Luke and Jan.
Prague: Lilli Tagger
- Beat Daria Snigur 7-6, 6-2 to win the title, becoming the youngest player in the top 50 at 18 and the first player born in 2008 to win a WTA title.
- Also beat home favourite Barbora Krejcikova in the semis. Won the girls' French Open title last year.
- Austrian, trained at the Schiavone academy near Milan and coached by Francesca Schiavone.
Hamburg: Tamara Korpatsch
- Beat Hungary's Anna Bondar 6-3, 6-3 to become the first German champion in Hamburg since Steffi Graf in 1992. Germans had gone 0-4 in finals there since.
- Born in Hamburg. Her dad was a truck driver and the pair used to tour ITF events around Germany in a borrowed camper van to save money
EXTRA, EXTRA
- Australian Open caps cheap tickets after overcrowding problems
- US Open mixed doubles entries have been announced so far, but could change before the deadline
- Jiri Lehecka has snapped up Fred Fontang as coach, freshly departed from Felix Auger-Aliassime's box
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