🏆 Ongoing Tournaments

Hey, Tennis Pro! It is Thirstday!

Stricker the striker. The Next Gen Finals' 7th seed is having an outstanding run. Yesterday he doubled down on his good pace by beating Milan's favorite, Lorenzo Musetti (ATP #23).

Stricker (ATP #111) comes from a sturdy win against Jack Draper on the first day, another of the favorites to reach the Next Gen final.

As much as Musetti tried to find support with his local status, the Swiss repeated the dose of aces he delivered to Draper on his tournament's debut and managed to hit 20 serve winners against the Italian.

Although Musetti and Brandon Nakashima remain the favorites to take the trophy home, Stricker's recent performance calls into question the supremacy of the top seeds.

Stricker doesn't seem to care about odds or top picks. He just keeps hittin' that fire lefty forehand that has his opponents running all over the court.

🎢 The Full ATP No. 1 Cycle

Okay, sooo… this graph took a lot of work.

However, it was worth it. The age trend visualization of the No. 1 over time shows a cycle that repeats itself as the years progress.

A positive slope can be noted four times since 1975, displaying one of the most important indicators of a newborn generation for the tennis world. The first wave is marked by Jimmy Connors, then Lendl, followed by Sampras and Agassi, ending with The Big Three.

What I find the most juicy is to pinpoint the fact that we (confirmed) are at the beginning/end of a new narrative for the white sport. The graph exhibits The Big Three's best period well in the past and the curve indicates the birth of younger vacancies for the top spot on tour.

The most uniform slopes are marked by the spectacular non-stop records of names like Lendl, Federer, Nole, Sampras, among others.

On a final note, a shoutout to Alcaraz who currently holds the record for the youngest player to reach the top of the rankings. A little reminder that we really are looking at history with this Spaniard.

🤝 Rafael Nadal and Iga Swiatek confirmed for the United Cup

The replacement of the ATP Cup already has a new name and has just confirmed the participation of big tour players. Following the tenor of Nadal and the women's number one, the new inaugural tournament of the 2023 season boasts the attendance of four ATP Top 10 players.

Additional notables include Tsitsipas, Kyrgios and Fritz from the men's side and recent WTA Finals champion Caroline Garcia.

The tournament has a mixed team dynamic and promises a series of matchups not usually seen in the regular season.

Additionally, we can expect the most anticipated return of Alexander Zverev to the courts, in addition to Stan Wawrinka appearing in the draw.

However, the non-attendance of Serbia, Tunisia and Canada is striking. This means the absence of Novak, Ons Jabeur (WTA) and Auger-Aliassime and Shapovalov, respectively.

Russia is not invited for obvious reasons.

The tournament will award up to 500 ranking points and $15,000,000 in prize money. Not bad, huh?

🚨 Yesterday’s Spotlight

[Updated 06:00 a.m. GMT]

⏱️ Today’s Order of Play

[Updated 06:00 a.m. GMT]

👋 So long, and thanks for all the tennis!

→ Stricker strikes hard in Milan.

→ Court-level view of Medvedev's practice in Turin.

→ Ball kid has no mercy on a bug.

→ Federer's practice is a beauty.

→ Borna Coric's throwback to the 2017 Next Gen ATP Finals.