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Andy Roddick called it “one of the best junior matches I’ve ever seen.”

It was the Wimbledon junior boys final between Jordan Lee of the United States and Lleyton Hewitt’s son Cruz Hewitt that was won by Lee by a 4-6, 6-4, 7-5 margin.

The win by the 16-year-old Lee, who only got into the junior field at the All England Club via the qualifying rounds, received considerable attention and received a significant conversation by Roddick on his famed “Served” podcast.

Roddick praised Lee on the podcast saying he is “a prospect with which we haven’t had in a long time” but also halted himself for going too far about Lee and not to overhype him. Roddick talked about being ambivalent about talking about junior players too much and urged people to “give him some space” and not label him as “the next” as many pundits like to do when they see junior players have strong results.

“I am hesitant to mention prospects because I think there’s a thirst for an American male that is sometimes out of control,” Roddick cautioned. “I’m not gonna be the only one talking about this kid…I’ve watched him, the kid is so legit, he can move, he can run.”

“Let’s not be in a hurry with the Thirst Olympics,” Roddick continued. “He will have that whether or not we create that hype mechanism or not, he’ll be fine.”

Lee was not on many people’s radar’s prior to his Wimbledon junior win, but now is the current talk of American junior tennis. A review of his final-round win over Hewitt can be read here https://worldtennismagazine.com/american-jordan-lee-16-beats-lleyton-hewitts-son-cruz-in-comeback-win-for-wimbledon-junior-boys-singles-title/28388  In addition to Lee, there are two other top American teenage prospects in his age division Michael Antonius and Andrew Johnson, both of whom won pro tournaments on the USTA Pro Circuit this year, the youngest to win on that leve of pro tennis since Carlos Alcaraz in 2019.

To listen to “Served” click here https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/served-with-andy-roddick/id1727790717?i=1000776734810&r=1728

The post Andy Roddick Praises Potential For Wimbledon Junior Champ Jordan Lee But Cautions Against Too Much Hype appeared first on World Tennis Magazine.

A Nice Story, Cut Short

There was real momentum behind Dimitrov coming into this match. He’d reached the fourth round at Wimbledon just weeks earlier, upsetting Jakub Menšík and Matteo Berrettini along the way, and then opened his clay swing in Bastad with a scrappy three-set win over Dalibor Svrcina — a result that made him the second-oldest match winner in Bastad this decade, trailing only a 38-year-old Rafael Nadal from 2024.

But clay has been rough for Dimitrov all year. He’d lost his first five clay-court matches of the season before that Svrcina win, and Borges — the 2024 Bastad champion who beat Nadal in that very final — was always going to be a tough ask on the red dirt. Borges controlled the match from the baseline, held throughout, and closed it out in just over an hour and a half.

Why This Loss Matters Beyond Bastad

The bigger story here isn’t the scoreline — it’s what this does to Dimitrov’s ranking heading into the US Open. He entered the week at No. 146 in the world, and an early exit in Bastad does nothing to help close that gap before the tournament’s entry deadline arrives later this summer.

Direct entry into a Grand Slam main draw typically requires a ranking somewhere in the neighborhood of the top 100 to 110, depending on how many spots are absorbed by protected rankings, special exemptions, and the various wild-card and qualifying pathways. Sitting in the 140s, Dimitrov is comfortably outside that zone, and Bastad was one of the few remaining opportunities to bank ranking points before the US Open field is finalized.

That leaves him with a narrowing set of options:

                •             Qualifying — grinding through three rounds just to reach the main draw, a tall task for a player managing a body that’s given him persistent injury trouble over the past two seasons.

                •             A wild card — plausible given his name recognition and Wimbledon fourth-round run, but far from guaranteed, and not something a player of his caliber wants to depend on.

                •             A big run at a summer hard-court event — his last real shot to climb back into direct-entry range before the cutoff.

The Bigger Picture

None of this erases what’s been a genuinely encouraging stretch for Dimitrov. Reaching the second week at Wimbledon at 35, after a run of injuries and shaky form, was a real signal that he still has tennis left in him. But the Bastad loss is a reminder of how unforgiving the ranking system is: strong weeks at smaller events matter enormously when you’re outside the top 100, and there’s little margin left before the US Open entry list locks in.

Whether Dimitrov plays himself into the main draw on merit, needs qualifying, or ends up leaning on a wild card, one thing is clear — the clock is ticking, and Wednesday’s loss in Bastad didn’t buy him any extra time.

The post Grigor Dimitrov’s U.S. Open Status Remains Murky After Second-Round Loss In Bastad appeared first on World Tennis Magazine.

A protected ranking helps a player return to tournaments after a long absence, but it does not make the comeback easy. Fans need to separate entry access from match sharpness, seeding, points, and week-to-week form.

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What a Protected Ranking Means in Tennis

A protected status is an entry tool. It gives a returning player a way back into draws after time away, while current results still decide how the player rebuilds a live standing.

Entry Protection

On the ATP Tour, Entry Protection applies when a player misses at least six months because of physical injury, documented medical illness, or compulsory military service. The ATP calculates the protected position from the player’s average ranking during the first three months after his last event.

What It Does Not Do

ATP Entry Protection is used for main-draw entry, qualifying entry, or special exempt consideration. It is not used for seeding, Lucky Loser status, or ATP Finals entry. That difference matters in big events. A returning star may enter the draw through a protected position, then face a seeded opponent early because the protected number does not automatically control draw placement.

When Players Use Protected Rankings After Absence

Players use protected status after a break that removes them from regular competition long enough to damage their current standing. The rule is most visible after injury, pregnancy, illness, and other extended absences.

Injury Layoffs

Injuries create the clearest use case. A player who misses months of events loses the chance to defend points, so the current ranking drops even when the earlier level was much higher.

Pregnancy Returns

The WTA Special Ranking rule covers injury, illness, pregnancy, adoption, surrogacy, and legal guardianship. A player absent for more than six months but less than one year gets up to eight tournaments, while an absence of one year or more gives up to 12 tournaments.

Comeback Planning

A protected position creates a schedule tool. The player still needs to choose surfaces, event levels, travel blocks, practice weeks, and recovery time. The hardest choices come early. A Grand Slam offers prestige and points, while smaller events offer match reps, lower media pressure, and more controlled scheduling.

Tournament Entry, Seeding, and Points

Entry, seeding, and ranking points are different parts of the system. A protected number may open the door, but performance after return decides what happens next.

Entry Lists

Tournament entry lists decide who gets into the main draw, qualifying draw, or alternate list. Grand Slam singles draws are capped at 128 players, with direct acceptances, qualifiers, and wild cards filling the draw structure.

Fans should track several entry details before judging a comeback draw:

• Entry status shows how the player got in.
• Current rank shows the live rebuilding position.
• Protected status shows access after absence.
• Wild card status shows tournament discretion.
• Qualifying entry shows a longer route into the event.

Seeding

Seeding protects top players from meeting each other too early, but protected status does not always work the same way across tours. ATP rules keep Entry Protection out of seeding. WTA rules allow special seeding at WTA events in certain return situations. A player whose special position earns a seed is drawn as an additional seed and does not remove another seeded player.

Ranking Points

A protected position does not add ranking points. The player earns new points only through match wins at events after returning. That is why a comeback still needs results fast. A player may enter major events, lose early, and remain under pressure because the live standing has not recovered.

Why Comebacks Stay Difficult

Protected access solves one problem: entry. It does not solve timing, confidence, match load, movement, serve rhythm, or opponent quality.

Match Fitness

Match fitness differs from practice fitness. A player returning after a long layoff must handle points under pressure, long service games, sudden sprints, and repeated direction changes.

Scheduling

Scheduling becomes a risk-management puzzle. Too many events create fatigue, while too few matches leave the player short of competition rhythm. Surface changes add another layer. Clay, grass, and hard courts place different demands on movement, serve timing, and point construction.

Public Expectations

Fans remember the peak version of a player. A protected entry often brings attention before the player has rebuilt timing, confidence, and durability. That gap creates harsh reactions after early losses. A comeback needs patience because the name on the draw may look familiar while the tennis level is still under construction.

What Fans Should Watch During a Comeback

Protected status gives a returning player access to tournaments, but the meaningful signals appear after the first matches. The strongest comeback stories are built through small steps. A player enters events, earns points, improves match fitness, and replaces protected access with a current standing that reflects real results again.

The post What Tennis Fans Should Know About Protected Rankings and Comebacks appeared first on World Tennis Magazine.

Centre Court doesn’t usually go quiet like this. Arthur Fery walks out for his quarterfinal against Flavio Cobolli and the noise dips into something closer to disbelief — thousands of people who two weeks ago had never heard his name now watching a British wild card, ranked outside the world’s top 100, stand across the net from a Roland Garros finalist. The grass under his feet is the same grass every Wimbledon champion has walked on since 1877, and for a moment, it looks like it might swallow him whole. It doesn’t. Fery takes Cobolli apart in straight sets, and by the time he’s on his back on the turf, arms out, the silence has turned into a roar.

That’s the thing about this place. Wimbledon conjures these kinds of stories more than any other major on the planet has managed. Over the last decade alone, Nick Kyrgios, Sam Querrey, Roberto Bautista Agut, and Lorenzo Musetti: four men who walked into the fortnight as afterthoughts and walked out as the story. What is it about this tournament — the grass, the silence before a serve, the weight of 140 years pressing down on Centre Court — that keeps making believers out of sceptics?

Nick Kyrgios — 2022

Novak Djokovic headed into Wimbledon in 2022 as the top seed and the dominant force. The Serbian sensation had won each of the last three championships at the All-England Club and was still enraged from a year that began with deportation from the Australian Open. Rafa Nadal had just ground out an emotional 14th Roland Garros through visible pain, and it was those two the narrative centred around, not the brash Nick Kyrgios.

The controversial Aussie was ranked outside the top 40, a walking headline, and the kind of player commentators discussed in terms of talent wasted rather than titles won. And truth be told, his fortnight nearly came apart before it began.

He needed five sets to get past Paul Jubb, picked up a fine for spitting toward a spectator, and the tournament spent the better part of a week holding its breath, waiting to see whether Kyrgios would combust or do something nobody else in the draw was capable of. Numbers like that — five-set survivals, a ranking outside the top 40, a run to a first Slam final — rarely tell the full story on their own.

A betting odds calculator can help fans stitch those individual data points into a clearer picture of just how improbable a run like this actually was. Variables like ranking gaps, surface form, or set-by-set momentum can turn the odds on their head when placing a bet on Wimbledon, and that is exactly where such a tool that crunches odds into implied probability and more can help punters make far more informed decisions as to who the true favourite is.

Then came Stefanos Tsitsipas, who was the favourite in every sense of the word. Four sets of open hostility followed, sets that ended with one of tennis’s most measured players calling him “evil” on camera — not a squabble, a war, the kind of match that alters how a player is talked about for years. Kyrgios survived Brandon Nakashima in five more sets, then swept Cristian Garin aside to become the first unseeded Wimbledon men’s semifinalist since 2008.

And then the strangest twist of all: Nadal’s abdominal injury handed Kyrgios a walkover into the final. No match, no fight — just a phone call, and suddenly the Aussie was standing in a Grand Slam final he hadn’t technically earned his way into. Djokovic beat him there in four, dropping the first set before winning 4-6, 6-3, 6-4, 7-6(3) to claim a seventh title and a 21st major. But for one fortnight, chaos very nearly won Wimbledon.

Sam Querrey — 2017

Andy Murray was the defending champion, the top seed, the man an entire nation needed to see through to the second week — except his hip was failing him, quietly, match by match. Sam Querrey was a big serve with question marks attached, a journeyman American who’d nonetheless beaten world No. 1 Djokovic at the same tournament twelve months earlier. It should have told everyone something. Mostly, it didn’t.

Then came the quarterfinal, Murray ailing on Centre Court, and what happened next wasn’t really a result but more so a rupture. Querrey dropped two of the first three sets, then simply took over: twelve of the final thirteen games, the crowd’s hope draining out with every point, until Murray’s reign ended 3-6, 6-4, 6-7(4), 6-1, 6-1. Querrey became the first American man in a major semifinal since Andy Roddick in 2009.

Marin Cilic beat him there in four — the run stopped, but the door had already been kicked open. Roger Federer walked through it in the final, sweeping Cilic aside 6-3, 6-1, 6-4 for a record eighth title.

Roberto Bautista Agut — 2019

Picture the phone call. A pre-wedding bachelor trip to Ibiza, flights booked, friends waiting — and Roberto Bautista Agut has to ring around and say he isn’t coming, because he’s still alive in a Wimbledon semifinal nobody, least of all him, had planned for. That’s the whole story of a compact, unglamorous baseliner who’d never been considered a grass-court threat suddenly finding himself two matches from a Grand Slam final, having dropped just a single set on his way past Peter Gojowczyk, Steve Darcis, ninth seed Karen Khachanov, Benoit Paire and finally Guido Pella, 7-5, 6-4, 3-6, 6-3.

Djokovic ended it in four sets. But the final he went on to play against Federer remains one of the greatest matches this sport has produced — nearly five hours, 7-6(5), 1-6, 7-6(4), 4-6, 13-12(3), championship points saved on Federer’s own serve before Djokovic finally closed it out for a fifth title. Bautista Agut never got there. He just made sure everyone remembers he almost did.

The post Arthur Fery and the Best Wimbledon Underdog Runs of the Last Decade appeared first on World Tennis Magazine.

It was a match that had everything Wawrinka’s farewell season has come to represent: flashes of the one-handed backhand that once toppled the best players in the world, a raucous, adoring home crowd willing him through every point, and ultimately, a body and a level of consistency that could no longer match a hungry 22-year-old ranked 25 spots above him. Wawrinka had his chances — three break points in the very first game, another at 2-2 in the decider — but Faria weathered each storm before closing out the match on his first match point after two hours and 38 minutes.

“Sorry to spoil the party,” said Faria in his post-match on-court interview where he praised the career of Wawrinka and the honor to play him.

For the three-time Grand Slam champion, it marked the end of a 14-tournament love affair with Gstaad, a place where he reached the final all the way back in 2005 and where, over two decades, he became something close to a folk hero on the red clay of the Bernese Oberland.

A Sendoff Fit for a Legend

If the tennis ended in disappointment, the reception afterward did not. The Roy Emerson Arena crowd rose for a lengthy ovation, and tournament organizers used the occasion to stage a farewell celebration honoring Wawrinka’s history with the event and his career at large. Among the gifts presented on court: a custom pair of skis finished in the same bold, geometric print Wawrinka wore on his shorts during his 2015 Roland Garros title run — a wink to one of the most talked-about fashion moments of his career and the Grand Slam that many still consider the finest tennis of his life.

It was a fitting tribute for a player whose career has always blended fierce competitiveness with an easy sense of humor about himself — and a reminder, on Swiss soil, of just how much this tournament and this player meant to each other.

What It Means for the US Open

The loss carries consequences beyond sentiment. Wawrinka came into Gstaad ranked No. 117, and an early exit does little to move that number in the right direction. With the US Open’s direct-entry cutoff historically landing well inside the top 100 by the time late-summer entry lists are finalized, Tuesday’s defeat all but closes the door on Wawrinka qualifying for the main draw at Flushing Meadows on ranking alone.

That leaves him with two realistic paths to one more Grand Slam appearance:

                •             A wild card from the United States Tennis Association, the kind of courtesy invitation often extended to accomplished veterans, especially those playing out a farewell season. Wawrinka’s résumé — three major titles, a place among the game’s most respected champions of the last generation — makes him a plausible, sentimental candidate.

                •             Qualifying, the unforgiving three-round gauntlet players outside the cutoff must survive just to reach the tournament proper — a tall order for a 41-year-old managing a body that has fought injuries for years.

Wawrinka is expected to find out his fate on the wild card front in the coming weeks, as the USTA finalizes its main draw invitations ahead of the tournament’s late-August start. Whichever path he takes, if any, New York would represent one of the last chances to see him compete on the biggest stage before he closes out his career at home in Basel this fall.

For now, though, Gstaad got its goodbye — applause, tears, and a pair of skis that will outlast every scoreline.

The post One Last Battle on Swiss Clay: Wawrinka’s Gstaad Farewell Ends in Defeat appeared first on World Tennis Magazine.

Grigor Dimitrov, Stan Wawrinka and Qinwen Zheng are three of the most recognizable names in tennis — a former World No. 3 and Wimbledon semifinalist, a three-time Grand Slam champion, and an Olympic gold medalist and Grand Slam finalist. Right now, none of them sit inside the top 104 in the world rankings, which is the line that determines direct entry into the 2026 US Open. The cutoff is set on Monday, July 20, and this week’s tournaments are effectively their last real chance to punch their way in on merit before that number is locked.

Where they’re playing — and why it matters Dimitrov in Båstad. The Bulgarian is into the Nordea Open field on a wild card, coming off a strong run to the fourth round at Wimbledon that showed his game is still there even if his ranking hasn’t caught up. He’s currently outside the direct-entry line, and a deep run on the Swedish clay — where he’s a former finalist — would go a long way toward closing the gap before Monday’s cutoff.

Wawrinka in Gstaad. The 41-year-old Swiss is playing what may be his final tournament in front of his home fans, and there’s real weight behind this run beyond sentiment. Wawrinka is well outside the top 104 at this stage of his career, and a big week in the Swiss Alps — where he’s competing on home soil at altitude — is close to his last realistic shot at forcing his way into the main draw at Flushing Meadows without needing outside help.

Zheng in Athens. The Chinese star, who has reached a Grand Slam final and won Olympic gold, is dealing with a rougher ranking picture than her résumé would suggest after a stretch of inconsistent results and injury interruptions. Athens is hosting its first WTA event in decades, and Zheng needs points on the board this week to push back toward direct entry rather than needing a different route into New York.

What’s actually on the line

The US Open ranking cutoff is one of the more unforgiving mechanisms in tennis. There’s no grace period and no sentimentality attached to a resume — just a number on a Monday. Players ranked at or inside the cutoff (expected to fall around the top 104) get straight into the 128-player main draw. Everyone else has two options left:

                •             A wild card from the USTA, which is limited, competitive, and typically reserved for a small handful of past champions, rising Americans, or marquee names the tournament wants in the draw for storyline and box-office reasons.

                •             US Open qualifying, a brutal three-round gauntlet played the week before the main event, where even top players can lose early and miss the tournament entirely.

Neither path is guaranteed. A wild card is a request, not a right, and qualifying means playing three extra best-of-three matches against players hungry to make the main draw themselves — with zero cushion for a bad day.

Why this week is the real deadline

Rankings are cumulative over 52 weeks, but from a practical standpoint, this is the last full tournament week before points are tallied for the cutoff. A title, or even a strong quarterfinal-to-semifinal run, could be worth enough points to leapfrog several dozen spots. A first-round loss, on the other hand, locks in the current picture and pushes all three toward the USTA’s wild card committee or the qualifying draw in Flushing.

That’s what makes Båstad, Gstaad and Athens more than just routine ATP 250 and WTA 250 stops this week. For most of the field, they’re a chance to build momentum heading into the US hard-court swing. For Dimitrov, Wawrinka and Zheng, they’re something closer to a referendum — one more week to answer, on the court, whether they’ll walk into the US Open as direct entrants or have to go ask for a way in.

The post A Week That Matters: Dimitrov, Wawrinka and Zheng Race the Clock Toward the US Open appeared first on World Tennis Magazine.

For seven straight weeks from May 25 to July 12, six different venues in Los Angeles, Orange and San Diego counties played host to $15,000-purse World Tennis Tour and USTA Pro Circuit men’s and women’s tournaments which comprise the SoCal Pro Series. These events offer a critical pathway of player development at a professional level and invaluable opportunities and experience for these talented young players.

This year, five women and three men—who are either Southern California residents or played collegiate tennis in Southern California—earned their first WTA/ATP world ranking point in singles through the circuit hosted and managed by the USTA Southern California section. That brings the five-year total to 41 women and 24 men who have established a world ranking in singles through the SoCal Pro Series.

UCLA’S JOHNSON WINS THIRD STRAIGHT TITLE: UCLA senior Spencer Johnson, from Ladera Ranch, wrapped up his 2026 SoCal Pro Series run on a 15-match win streak after squeezing out a 7-6(2), 7-5 victory over San Diego native Noah Zamora in the men’s singles final of the $15,000 USTA Pro Circuit and World Tennis Tour event hosted at Rancho Santa Fe Tennis Club. Johnson finished the SoCal Pro Series winning his first three pro singles crowns in each of the last three events he played – in Irvine (Week 4), Claremont (Week 5) and on Sunday. Johnson, 23, received a wild card into this week’s ATP Challenger Tour $75,000 event in Lincoln, Nebraska.

RUSSIAN’S STREAK STOPPED: University of Oklahoma product Alina Shcherbinina emerged as the top women’s player on the circuit, but her bid for a fourth SoCal Pro Series title fell just short on the final Sunday. Her 22-match SoCal Pro Series winning streak was halted by Ukrainian Veronika Miroshnichenko, who ousted the Moscow native, 6-3, 6-4, in the final. An Irvine resident and former Loyola Marymount star, Miroshnichenko completed a weekend sweep of the singles and doubles titles in the same World Tennis Tour event for the first time. Since entering the SoCal Pro Series in Week 3 at Jack Kramer Club as a qualifier, Shcherbinina, 22, ran off three singles crowns and 22 consecutive victories through two qualifying draws and main draw play over the past five weeks. She did not play Week 5 of the series in Claremont.

MOVING UP THE LADDER: Johnson’s third singles title on Sunday placed him second all-time in SoCal Pro Series men’s singles titles, moving beyond two-time winners such as La Jolla natives and brothers Zach Svajda and Trevor Svajda, and 2026 University of San Diego graduate Oliver Tarvet. Irvine native Learner Tien is the circuit’s all-time leader with five singles titles. Through his five 2026 SoCal Pro Series events, which began with semifinal appearances at Lakewood Tennis Center and Jack Kramer Club, Johnson’s ATP ranking has climbed almost 300 spots, from No. 965 (when he began in Lakewood) to No. 682.

DOUBLES TROUBLE: Ukrainian Anita Sahdiieva, 22, won her 10^th career SoCal Pro Series doubles title, and 15^th overall pro doubles title, while teaming with Miroshnichenko for a 6-4, 6-3 triumph over Sophia Webster and Jessica Bernales in the final event in Rancho Santa Fe, Calif.

NAME GAME: There were some big-name players who took part in the SoCal Pro Series, including last year’s Wimbledon doubles junior finalist Jagger Leach, who is currently a sophomore at Stanford. The son of International Tennis Hall of Famer Lindsay Davenport, Leach was given a wild card into Week 5 at Claremont and advanced to the semifinals where he fell to Johnson. Leach’s Stanford teammate, Nico Godsick, whose mother is tennis great Mary Joe Fernandez, qualified for the Claremont event with two wins before falling in the first round. Bryce Nakashima was watched by his older brother, Brandon, on the way to his first professional singles crown during Week 6 at Barnes Tennis Center in his native San Diego. Ranked No. 32 on the ATP Tour, Brandon’s lone ATP Tour singles title came at the 2022 San Diego Open, also played at Barnes Tennis Center.

TIES THAT BIND: El Segundo’s Sophia Webster, who plays for Vanderbilt, is the daughter of Stella Sampras Webster – UCLA’s women’s tennis coach for the past 30 years as well as a four-time NCAA All-American and a 1988 NCAA individual doubles champion with the Bruins. Webster won her first WTA singles ranking point during Week 4 at the Racquet Club of Irvine. The niece of 14-time Grand Slam champion and American tennis legend Pete Sampras, Webster also made it to the doubles final in Rancho Santa Fe. Read more here https://worldtennismagazine.com/the-niece-of-pete-sampras-just-earned-her-first-wta-tour-ranking-point/27897

FIRST POINTS: The following players with SoCal ties won their first WTA and ATP singles points during the SoCal Pro Series (not including Webster listed above): Zoe Olmos (San Diego State), Natalie Kha (Chino Hills), Tanvi Pandey (Irvine), Abigail Haile (Los Angeles), Roshan Santhosh (Newbury Park), Jean-Baptiste Badon (Los Angeles), Alexander Guajardo (San Diego)

ZOOM INTERVIEWS: Kaylan Bigun and Andrew Johnson, two of the most promising young American players, competed in the USTA SoCal Pro Series and conducted zoom interviews with Randy Walker from the Jack Kramer Club. Watch the Bigun interview here https://youtu.be/tjY57x-wpdo?si=_vgR4E0fNIlDJVW-and the Johnson interview here https://youtu.be/NvYMYGDjX7I?si=WNL85VL_XlwccOd9

NOTABLE ALUMS: Current pro players who have used the series to catapult onto the professional tour include:

• Learner Tien (Irvine): Current ATP No. 15; 2026 Australian Open Quarterfinalist.
• Alex Michelsen (Aliso Viejo): Current ATP No. 46.
• Iva Jovic (Torrance): Current WTA No. 16; 2026 Australian Open Quarterfinalist.
• California natives: Ethan Quinn (Fresno) – Current ATP No. 47; Zach Svajda (Pacific Beach) – Current ATP No. 72; Tristan Boyer (Altadena) – Current ATP No. 164; Keegan Smith (San Diego) – Current ATP No. 204; Stefan Dostanic (Irvine) – Current ATP No. 276; Brandon Holt (Rolling Hills Estates) – Current ATP No. 657; Julieta Pareja (Carlsbad) – Current WTA No. 317; Katherine Hui (San Diego) – 2023 US Open Girls’ Singles champion.

The post Inspiring Storylines Highlight Seven-Week USTA SoCal Pro Series appeared first on World Tennis Magazine.

By Randy Walker

@TennisPublisher

The margins between victory and defeat are often razor thin in tennis matches.

The 2026 Wimbledon final between Jannik Sinner and Alexander Zverev is no different – and one point may have made the difference.

Sinner was able to successfully defend his men’s singles title with a 6-7, 7-6, 6-3, 6-4 victory in the final at the All England Club. The match was a virtual server’s duel with neither player able to break serve through the first two sets and half way through the third set …. until…..

Zverev faced break point when serving at 3-4 in the third set and after Sinner hit a return of serve slipped on his next shot in the rally hitting a backhand in the corner. He appeared to be on the verge of falling to the ground.

Zverev, lining up for a backhand, no doubt noticed this and probably felt as though all he needed to do was not miss his backhand up the line to hit a winner with Sinner potentially being on the ground and not able to move to the open court to get to the ball. Zverev gently hit his normally lethal backhand down the line at what appeared to be about half pace, but Sinner had not fallen to the ground and was able to scamper and return the relatively gentle backhand hit by Zverev. The German then shanked a forehand long two shots later and then slammed his racquet to the ground having his serve broken for the first time in the match, giving Sinner the 5-3 advantage.

The Italian then served out the third set to take the crucial third set and lead two sets to one and putting him in the driver’s seat to take the match, which he did with one other service break in the middle of the fourth set.

Had Zverev hit through and slammed his backhand at full speed down the line on that shot, he perhaps could have escaped and held serve, which of course, is a hypothetical. Of course anything could have happened had the score returned to deuce and Sinner was still the favorite to win the title, but this is probably the one shot that Zverev will rue when he thinks back about his experience playing in the 2026 Wimbledon final.

The post The One Point That May Have Cost Alexander Zverev The Wimbledon Title appeared first on World Tennis Magazine.

Jannik Sinner is once again Wimbledon champion. The world No. 1 defeated Alexander Zverev 6-7, 7-6, 6-3, 6-4 in a gripping men’s singles final on Sunday, becoming just the 10th man in the Open Era to successfully defend the title at the All England Club. The victory also gave the Italian his fifth career Grand Slam title and extended his dominant head-to-head record over Zverev to 10 straight wins.

A Final Defined by Elite Serving

From the opening game, both players showed why they had reached the sport’s biggest stage. Neither man could find a break of serve through the first two sets, producing back-to-back tiebreakers — a feat last seen at a Grand Slam final in the 2015 Wimbledon showdown between Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic.

Zverev, who arrived at the final having led the ATP Tour in tiebreaks won this season, took the opening set in a tense breaker. But Sinner answered immediately, delivering a brilliant tiebreak performance of his own to level the match at one set apiece. The German’s power serving was on full display throughout, including a crucial ace to save a break point deep into the match, while Sinner’s precision and consistency off both wings kept the pressure constant.

Sinner Breaks Through in the Third Set

The deadlock finally broke in the third set. After trailing 15-40 on Zverev’s serve, Sinner seized his opportunity at 4-3, converting his first break of the match as Zverev’s error count crept up under pressure. Visibly frustrated, Zverev double-faulted and sprayed a forehand long to hand Sinner the set at 6-3.

The moment carried extra weight given Sinner’s had not broken Zverev’s serve in 86 consecutive service games between the two players. Once the dam broke, though, Sinner’s control of the match grew.

Zverev Fights Through Pain, But Sinner Closes It Out

Zverev’s afternoon was complicated by a scare at 3-3 in the third set, when he lost his footing and slid hard onto the grass, appearing to jar his right knee. Sinner crossed the net to help his opponent to his feet — a sportsmanlike moment amid a fiercely contested final — before going on to hold serve.

Despite the knee scare, Zverev continued to battle into the fourth set, but Sinner’s composure proved decisive. Two late breaks of serve sealed the fourth set 6-4, and with it, the Italian’s second consecutive Wimbledon crown. The win was especially meaningful given Sinner’s own admitted stamina concerns; entering the final, he was 0-9 in his career in matches that stretched beyond three hours and 50 minutes.

What the Win Means

•  Second straight Wimbledon title: Sinner joins an elite group of players to defend the title since the Open Era began.

•  Fifth Grand Slam championship overall for the 24-year-old, cementing his status as the game’s dominant force on grass and beyond.

•  10th consecutive win over Zverev, a staggering run that included two more Grand Slam finals this season alone.

•  Redemption arc: The title comes just weeks after a shock second-round exit at the French Open, showing Sinner’s ability to reset and peak at the majors that matter most.

For Zverev, the runner-up finish comes on the heels of his breakthrough Grand Slam title at Roland-Garros, and while the Wimbledon final ended in defeat, his run through the draw — including wins over top-tier competition — signaled his continued rise as one of the sport’s most dangerous competitors on any surface.

Looking Ahead

With this win, Sinner further tightens his grip on the world No. 1 ranking and heads into the North American hard-court swing as the man to beat. Zverev, meanwhile, will look to build on a season that has already delivered his maiden major title, with the US Open now looming as his next chance at Grand Slam glory.

The post Jannik Sinner Defends Wimbledon Crown in Thrilling Four-Set Final Over Alexander Zverev appeared first on World Tennis Magazine.

Lee came back from a 4-2 deficit in the final set to defeat Cruz Hewitt, the 17-year-old son of 2002 Wimbledon champion Lleyton Hewitt 4-6, 6-4, 7-5 in the championship match played on Court 1 at the All England Club. Lee broke Hewitt at love to close out the match after saving a break point the previous game that would have given Hewitt the chance to serve for the title himself.

Lee did not directly qualify for the Wimbledon junior boys singles field and had to win two matches in the event’s qualifying tournament just to get into the 64-player field. He joins fellow American Noah Rubin, the Wimbledon junior champion in 2014, as the only players to win the Wimbledon junior boys singles title as a qualifier. He is first American player to win the boys’ singles title at Wimbledon since 2021, when Samir Banerjee defeated Victor Lilov in an all-American final. He also becomes the 13th American player to win the boys’ singles title at the All England Club, and the fifth American player to do so since 2000 – after Donald Young (2007), Rubin (2014), Reilly Opelka (2015) and Banerjee.

Lee has been described as “A Legend at the USTA National Campus” as the 100-court facility in Lake Nona, just outside of Orlando, has been in his home courts, mainly because his mother, Tina Lee, is the center’s head tennis professional. He has excelled in junior events on the campus – and elsewhere – and even earned his first ATP ranking point at $15,000 pro event held on the campus in November of 2025.

“He’s been on the radar with some of the USTA coaches but even more so now on the scene and even more people will take notice,” said former top 10 star James Blake on ESPN.

Lee’s ITF junior ranking is No. 47 and he has an ATP singles ranking of No. 1768 on the basis of two ranking points in the four pro events he has played. He earned the second of his two ATP points in May, just days after his 16^th birthday, when he reached the second round of the $15,000 Mardy Fish Children’s Foundation Tennis Championships ITF USTA Pro Circuit event in Vero Beach, Florida where he lost 6-4, 6-2 against former top 40 star J.J. Wolf. “He’s got so much firepower for someone so young” said Wolf of Lee after their match in Vero Beach.

Lee’s win will certainly open up many opportunities in events and also with corporate brands. His win will give him strong consideration on its own for a wild card entry into the U.S. Open qualifying tournament later this summer, but if Lee is able to win the USTA National Boy’s 18s Championships in Kalamazoo, Michigan in August, he would earn the traditional main draw U.S. Open singles wild card invitation.

The post American Jordan Lee, 16, Beats Lleyton Hewitt’s Son Cruz In Comeback Win For Wimbledon Junior Boys’ Singles Title appeared first on World Tennis Magazine.