How will the Saudi Masters potentially affect the Middle East swing? 🤔
I spoke to the tournament director in Dubai to get his views on the matter.
www.thenationalnews.com/sport/tennis...
How will the Saudi Masters potentially affect the Middle East swing? 🤔
I spoke to the tournament director in Dubai to get his views on the matter.
www.thenationalnews.com/sport/tennis...
Arthur Fils: “A tournament like Dubai. It's a 500 and it's a nice tournament. But when you look at the draw, we don't have the best players here because they make a choice and they skip it because it's too much. So you have to make some choices.”
www.thenationalnews.com/sport/tennis...
Have confirmed that Marcos has been added to the team as an additional voice and working with Q on this trip, as Pere Riba is back in Barcelona. Don't get it twisted, Pere still head coach.
02.03.2026 22:05 — 👍 17 🔁 3 💬 0 📌 0
Jessica Pegula clears her busy schedule for @reemabulleil.bsky.social
www.thesecondserve.com/jessica-pegu...
The ATP Challenger tournament in Fujairah, UAE is going ahead.
Top seeds are Lloyd Harris and Jason Kubler.
Wildcards include Chung Hyeon and Cruz Hewitt.
Update from Dubai post-DDF Tennis
01.03.2026 16:08 — 👍 42 🔁 4 💬 7 📌 3
Daniil Medvedev: “I cannot do anything about it, I played a great tournament, the four matches I played. Of course I wanted to play the final, but it is what it is. I played an unbelievable match yesterday, so I would either way take it as a final for me and I’m happy to win the tournament."
28.02.2026 13:35 — 👍 8 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
Jessica Pegula on accepting the role of Tour Architecture Council Chair: “People just ask me to do things and I tend to say yes to everything. I don’t really say no very often. I think in a sense I’m pretty laid-back. I don’t get overly stressed very easily.”
www.thesecondserve.com/jessica-pegu...
The stat Medvedev is referring to is:
Stan is 5-4 against world No.1s at the Grand Slams and 0-18 against No.1s outside of the Slams.
I just love that he knows that😂
Daniil Medvedev takes on Stan Wawrinka in the opening match on centre court today in the Dubai round of 16.
Here, Daniil tells me what he admires about Stan, and why he has "huge respect for him".
Stefanos Tsitsipas: “I regret certain decisions I jumped into. What I've learnt through it is, it doesn't mean if you're a good tennis player, if you played good tennis in your life, you can be a good coach.”
www.thenationalnews.com/sport/tennis...
Dubai update:
Arthur Fils has withdrawn with a hip injury. He has been replaced by lucky loser Luca Nardi.
Back to Bageling.
Sub for free.
forty-deuce.ghost.io/daily-bagel-...
Wawrinka: The new generation is always going to be better than the last. If you look at the level right now of Jannik and Carlos it's been crazy high. I had the chance to play Jannik many times. Last few times was really tough. Hopefully I can play Carlos once before I stop playing.
23.02.2026 20:16 — 👍 7 🔁 0 💬 1 📌 0
Roger Federer walked up to Benjamin Hassan after the match and congratulated him on playing a good match against Stan Wawrinka.
“I’m never washing my hand again,” said Hassan.
www.thenationalnews.com/sport/tennis...
Jack Draper: “I understand the value of my body a hell of a lot more. And I think just learning to maybe slow down a little bit as well and to know that you don't have to always be working ridiculously hard all the time. It's a marathon, not a sprint.”
www.thenationalnews.com/sport/tennis...
💯
22.02.2026 19:25 — 👍 1 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0Jess didn’t know the video dropped when I spoke to her about it. She was so excited 😂 i love everything about it
22.02.2026 19:15 — 👍 2 🔁 0 💬 1 📌 0I got an answer from JPeg for the Chinese fans btw. Coming soon 😂
22.02.2026 19:13 — 👍 2 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0She’s hilarious from the second she joined them and went to look at herself in the camera to see if she looked good enough to be on camera. Just content gold!
22.02.2026 19:13 — 👍 1 🔁 0 💬 1 📌 0Pegula: We talked about all these withdrawals. But we had 4 top-10 girls in the semis. A few more in the 1/4s. It just shows you the depth of women's tennis. Even when you have a lot of players withdrawing, just because we're missing a few it doesn't mean that we still can't put on some great tennis
21.02.2026 18:29 — 👍 72 🔁 4 💬 1 📌 0
Coco Gauff: “I’m very happy to be representing Mercedes. I’m happy the tour is too, it’s cool to see the little symbol on the net. I’m like, OK, we’re moving on up.”
Inside the historic deal between Mercedes and WTA: www.arabnews.com/node/2633757...
The Mercedes star made its debut at the net at WTA tournaments this month.
Here’s a closer look at the historic 10-year deal between the WTA and Mercedes-Benz.
www.arabnews.com/node/2633757...
Elina Svitolina so far this season:
Auckland - champion
Australian Open - semi-finalist
Doha - R16
Dubai - semi-finalist (ongoing)
She's 14-2 in 2026.
Alex Eala: At the end of the day, I think there's still definitely a gap in terms of level between me and Coco and other players of her caliber. I think she did great and my job is to try and close that gap and I think I'm doing that quite well. So I'll keep working on it.
19.02.2026 18:29 — 👍 11 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0Amanda Anisimova on Mirra Andreeva: It's not easy to see someone that gives their all and then to react like that. It made me really sad for her. In my mind, I was just thinking if she keeps playing like this, there's a title around the corner for her. She's going to have a great year...
19.02.2026 18:27 — 👍 10 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0Coco Gauff: I know there's been conversations online about maybe the enthusiasm of some of the fans. I think tennis needs more of this. It's great just to see a nation so proud of someone, especially a nation that's pretty underrepresented in this sport. It's pretty cool to see.
19.02.2026 18:23 — 👍 470 🔁 41 💬 4 📌 5
At 11:30pm, Alex Eala closes out the win 7-5, 6-4 over Sorana Cirstea to book a quarterfinal against Coco Gauff in Dubai.
“She’s a great role model for so many so I’ll really looking forward to that match,” says Eala.
With 1 ace, 16 double faults and a 43% first-serve percentage, Coco Gauff defeats Elise Mertens 2-6, 7-6(9), 6-3, saving 3 match points along the way.
“I know you guys are probably here for Alex so I’m sorry to make you wait,” Coco tells the crowd after her 2hr 18min win 😄
That was some signature Coco hustle.
She loses the 1st set 6-2, landing just 39% of her first serves in. She gets broken early in the second, but comes back and takes the lead, then squanders it.
She blows a 5-3 gap in the TB, saves 3 match points and takes the TB 11-9 to force a decider v Mertens
