Week 39, 2025

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Gill Gross & Ben Ornstein
September 30, 2025

ATP Events This Week: Shanghai 1000 Week 1

WTA Events This Week: Beijing 1000 Week 2

  • Ethan Quinn’s Reality Check

    Why It’s Interesting: The former University of Georgia 2023 men’s singles national champion had “delusional expectations” but the tour gave him an unwelcome reality check.

After "reality check," Ethan Quinn starts to meet his expectations | Tennis.com

“I had to put my head down," the 21-year-old says about his self-described “delusional” early aspirations for success after college.

www.tennis.com/news/articles/after-reality-check-ethan-quinn-starts-to-meet-his-expectations

  • ATP Players Exploring New Racquets

    Why It’s Interesting: Tennisnerd dissects mystery frames, subtle tweaks, and quiet experiments with new contracts looming. Featuring: Holger Rune, Casper Ruud and Alexander Zverev.

  • Boris Becker — The Curse Of Success

    Why It’s Interesting:  Becker regrets winning Wimbledon at 17 years old because of the pressure it placed on him during and after his playing career. He recently released a book about his 8-month prison sentence in the UK.

    Golden Quote: “I was too comfortable. I had too much money. Nobody told me 'no' - everything was possible. In hindsight, that's the recipe for disaster.”

Boris Becker regrets winning Wimbledon aged 17

Six-time Grand Slam champion Boris Becker says he regrets winning Wimbledon at the age of 17 because of the pressure it put on him.

www.bbc.com/sport/tennis/articles/cgrq1g2gze4o

  • Last Decade’s WTA Slam Champion Developmental Curve

    Analysis: Reddit user Dependent-Effect6077charted Tennis Abstract’s ELO rating progression by age for WTA grand slam winners. One takeaway? Consistency is hard at the top…

What has the typical age/developmental curve for a WTA champion looked like in recent years? 10 female players have won multiple Slams over the last decade of play. The graph below shows their progression by age in Tennis Abstract's ELO rating

www.reddit.com/r/tennis/comments/1ntabmn/what_has_the_typical_agedevelopmental_curve_for_a

  • RIP Nikola Pilić

    His Legacy: The catalyst for the historic Wimbledon boycott of 1973, triumphant German Davis Cup captain and academy teacher of Novak Djokovic.

    More: See Novak’s thoughtful Instagram post about Pilić’s passing

Tennis world farewells Niki Pilic | ATP Tour | Tennis

Niki Pilic, who has passed away 23 September, 2025 in Rijeka aged 86, left an indelible mark on the tennis world as a player, coach, captain and tournament director.

www.atptour.com/en/news/niki-pilic-2025-obituary

  • WTA Ground Zero — The History

Behind the birth of women’s pro tennis: From Houston’s courts to global change

From a fledgling media coordinator to a fearless local reporter, the women who supported the Original 9 helped turn a bold idea into a global movement.

www.wtatennis.com/news/4370234/behind-the-birth-of-womens-pro-tennis-from-houstons-courts-to-global-change

  • Leaving You With Single Shots That Have Their Own Fanbases

On Monday Match Analysis, Gill is joined by TennisViz lead analyst Tom Corrie to dig into analytics behind the Carlos Alcaraz vs. Jannik Sinner matchup, the best volleyers on tour, Ben Shelton's improvement, Holger Rune's enigmatic skillset and Alexander Bublik's top-20 surge.

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Hey everyone, Gill Gross here. While I’m grateful for any amount of success I’ve had talking tennis on the internet for the past half decade, I believe we should all be doing better in this sport as creators and as fans. The tennis content economy is far behind other sports by metrics of engagement and popularity. This newsletter is our effort to DRAW the great things we find in tennis every week- we search for content that teaches us, makes us think, makes us laugh and ultimately makes loving this sport the best possible experience. Our vision is to speed up the growth of a robust content economy in tennis, for the benefit of fans, players and creators alike.