Winners of the week
No one must be happier that the clay season is over than USA's Taylor Fritz.
After enduring a torrid time on the red dirt and crashing out in the first round of the French Open to Germany’s Daniel Altmaier, Taylor Fritz rediscovered his missing form to capture his fourth ATP Tour title on grass and ninth overall on Sunday at the BOSS Open in Stuttgart, where he defeated World No. 3 Alexander Zverev 6-3, 7-6(0).
Thanks to the win, Fritz, who has now won his past five meetings against Zverev, will return to No. 4 in the ATP Rankings on Monday, overtaking British lefty Jack Draper following his triumph.
Fritz's performance in Stuttgart was so much more impressive, judging from the fact that he did not drop a set all week at the ATP 250 event in Germany and became the first player to lift a tour-level trophy without losing serve since Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard in Basel last October.
By winning in Stuttgart, Fritz recorded his fourth career title on grass, putting him level alongside Matteo Berrettini and Nicolas Mahut. Only Novak Djokovic has more titles on grass (8) among active players.
At the Queen's Club in London, the 37-year-old Tatjana Maria proved that age is just a number for her as she became the oldest champion on tour since Serena Williams in 2020, when she blew away four top 20 players to capture her first WTA 500 title at the HSBC Championships.
Maria even came through the qualification to earn her ticket for the tournament, but went from strength to strength and capped off an amazing week of upsets to capture the title on Sunday with a 6-3, 6-4 final victory over No. 8 seed Amanda Anisimova of the United States.
Another qualifier, Elena-Gabriela Ruse, made it all the way to the final in 's-Hertogenbosch but had no answer to the power of Belgium's Elise Mertens in the final.
Mertens, who enjoyed plenty of support from friends and family in the final as 's-Hertogenbosch is only about an hour-and-a-half by car from Mertens' Belgian hometown of Leuven, won 6-3, 7-6(4) to secure her 10th career WTA singles title.
The win was the Belgian's second on tour this year after she won the WTA 250 in Singapore in February. She was also runner-up in Hobart at the start of the season in Australia.
Strugglers of the week
Czech tennis star Karolina Muchova is currently going through a challenging period in her career. Following a disappointing loss at Roland Garros where she was defeated by the USA's Alycia Parks, Muchova crashed out of the 1/8-finals at Queen's to the champion Maria.
Muchova has revealed she might need to undergo another surgery due to persistent pain in her left wrist, a procedure that could sideline the world No. 13 again for several months.
Wrist problems continue to be an everlasting problem on the ATP and WTA Tours and should certainly not be underestimated. Just look at former Grand Slam winner Dominic Thiem, who never recovered his form and chose to retire after persistent wrist problems.
Injuries have continued to disrupt Muchova's momentum throughout the season, raising questions if she will be able to recover her consistency which saw her reach the French Open final in 2023 and propelled her to a career-high ranking of No. 8 in September 2023.
"I treated my right wrist conservatively for half a year and then I had surgery anyway. That is always the last option for me, I don’t want to have it. I will try some alternative solutions, but if they don’t work, I will have to go back to the operating room," says Muchova.
Moment of the week
Elise Mertens launched one of the most improbable comebacks in recent WTA history on Saturday at the Libéma Open in 's-Hertogenbosch, when she managed to save no less than 11 match points in her 2-6, 7-6(7), 6-4 victory over Ekaterina Alexandrova in the semi-final.
According to the WTA, it is the most match points saved by a player in a main-draw match in the 2020s. They all came in the second set, and 10 of the 11 came with Mertens serving.
"I didn’t even know it was 11, after one or two I lost count," Mertens said, after her comeback. "I was very focused on the game, which, of course, I like that about me, that I just keep going."
"It was a difficult match, I think she started really well, and it was 6-2, 5-3 for her. I just stayed with my head in the game and gave everything I had. Especially in the third set, I felt like, ‘OK, this is maybe my opportunity.’ So I’m very happy I took that chance."
Rallies of the week
Canada's Gabriel Diallo captured his first ATP Tour title at the Libema Open in the Netherlands on Sunday, when the 23-year-old from Montreal defeated Belgium's Zizou Bergs 7-5, 7-6(8). Diallo sealed the win with a superb backhand cross-court winner after a spectacular rally with the Belgian.
It's not easy to complete a lob over the 1.98 metres tall Alexander Zverev, but Brandon Nakashima still managed to accomplish the virtually impossible challenge when he faced the German during last week's tournament in Stuttgart.
Upcoming events:
Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz will be back on grass for the first time this season at ATP 500 events in Halle and London, respectively.
World No. 1 Sinner leads an impressive field at the Terra Wortmann Open in Germany, where spectators will also enjoy the chance to see Alexander Zverev, Daniil Medvedev and Joao Fonseca in action. Sinner heads into the tournament as defending champion at the ATP 500 event, after beating Hubert Hurkacz in the final 12 months ago.
At the HSBC Championships in London, Alcaraz is the main attraction in a draw that also features British No. 1 Jack Draper and Top 10 stars Taylor Fritz and Holger Rune.
On the WTA Tour, nine of the top 10 players in the WTA singles rankings will compete at the year's second WTA 500 grass-court event, the Berlin Tennis Open while the WTA 250 event at Lexus Nottingham Open features 32 singles players aiming to to get their grass court preparation just right before Wimbledon starts in two weeks time.