UTR Sports Senior Vice President, Chase Hodges. (Georgia Gwinnett University) Universal Tennis Rating (UTR) officially began the UTR Pro Tennis Tour on January 1, 2021. Since its inception, it has actively shaped the game of tennis for collegiate and lower-ranked professional players for over half a decade now. While the foundations of the UTR Pro Tennis Tour have always been to provide opportunities and incentives where they have traditionally lacked in professional tennis,

(Getty/Alberto Pizzoli) In the men's game, 2026 has, so far, been the Sinner era. It started as the Alcaraz era after the Spaniard completed the set of Grand Slam titles at the 2026 Australian Open, before more silverware at the Qatar Open. Then, after a couple of surprising losses and a wrist injury that he sustained in Barcelona, the Spanish superstar is now on the sidelines until at least Wimbledon. Since then, Jannik Sinner has not only been dominant but largely unchallen

Tristan Schoolkate. (Getty/Darrian Traynor) For players around the edge of the top 100, they can miss the automatic entry needed for the biggest ATP events on clay. Staying in Europe can mean missing main draw or even qualifying cut-offs, then trying to chase points on a surface that may not suit their game. "The swing is attractive simply because it's played on hard courts, the events are still relatively strong and are filled with a lot of players who have the same idea," S

Heath Davidson and Andy Lapthorne after finishing runners-up in the Quad Wheelchair Doubles final. (Getty/Kelly Defina) The talk of the town at this current minute involves the world's best singles players fighting hard for a larger slice of the Grand Slam revenue pie. Respective world No.1's Aryna Sabalenka and Jannik Sinner, along with Novak Djokovic, Iga Świątek, and Coco Gauff, have expressed their disappointment over Roland-Garros' decision to offer players just 14.9 per

Ajla Tomljanović spending time with the Hot Shot Tennis for Kids program. (Tennis Australia) There has been a lot of discussion recently around junior development and whether Australia is truly developing players or simply developing good ball strikers. Recently, there were comments suggesting that there are plenty of coaches capable of teaching strong clay court skills. To be fair, every state in Australia does have access to clay in some capacity, even if some regions nat

(Getty/Oscar J. Barroso) There must be something in the water in Spain. Just when we thought Spanish tennis couldn't get any stronger, we seem to have stumbled across another future superstar. He goes by the name of Rafael Jódar, and he's just 19 years of age. The Spanish teen had a remarkable rise in 2025, rising over 700 spots in the rankings before turning professional at the end of the season. So far in 2026, Jódar has put on one of the most impressive debut seasons in A

(Getty/Simon Skafar) September to December is the most dreaded period on the calendar for hay fever sufferers, with symptoms ranging from just a few sneezes to severe headaches. From April to June, the season of clay fever hits Australian tennis like a ton of bricks. The Madrid Open was yet another example of just how far behind Australia is in terms of the execution of clay court tennis. All 10 Aussies failed to surpass the second round of the ATP/WTA 1000 main draw, with mo

Spend an hour at any high-level junior tennis session, and you'll see excellent coaching. Players repeating forehands and backhands, working on serve technique, refining movement patterns. The standard of ball-striking continues to improve, and there is no question that technical coaching in the modern game is, generally, at a high level. But if you step back and ask a different question — how many of those players can clearly explain how they are trying to win points, how th

(Getty/Clive Brunskill) Cameron Norrie's tennis career has never followed a straight path. Born in South Africa, he was raised in New Zealand, but due to a lack of funding, chose to represent Great Britain. His development took another turn through the American college system at Texas Christian University, bringing him late to the ATP Tour and eventually breaking into the top 100 just before turning 23. That steady build began to accelerate to a standout year in 2021. Norrie

(Getty/Clive Brunskill) Injuries have long been synonymous with the professional tennis scene, but it has become increasingly evident that tennis has shifted from reacting to injuries and toward preventing them through the utilisation of technology to analyse, track, improve, and maintain technique, physical and mental health, and performance. Wearable player metric technologies, such as smart watches, trackers, biophysical sensors, and even clothing technologies, are being

John Fitzgerald at the 2024 Newcombe Medal Awards. (Getty/Graham Denholm) The first time I watched doubles tennis, I was instantly hooked. Walking around the grounds of the Sydney tennis tournament in my early teens, I stumbled upon the Bryan Brothers, the identical twins who had firmly established themselves as the GOATs of doubles, with their silky smooth volleys, perfect single-handed backhands and a synergy that was hard to believe as they moved in unison around the court

Aryna Sabalenka after winning the Miami Open. (Getty/Carmen Mandato) The first three months on the tennis calendar hit at a frenetic pace with a plethora of tournaments spanning across most continents. Across those events, players have announced themselves for the first time or once more, while some have regressed in ways that very few saw coming. Here are some of those winners and losers from the first three months of the year. WINNERS: It is very easy to talk about

Casper Ruud holding his first Masters 1000 trophy in Madrid. (Getty/Jose Breton) For Casper Ruud, returning to the Madrid Open this week should feel like a celebration of a career breakthrough. Instead, it shapes as something far more consequential. Twelve months ago, Ruud claimed the biggest title of his career in Madrid, defeating Jack Draper in a hard-fought final. It was the big final win he had been chasing for years. He had lost three Grand Slam finals, an ATP Finals de

Mirra Andreeva learning from her coach, Conchita Martínez. (Getty/Tim Clayton) Can former players be decisive for current players when it comes to long-term success, and how does the dynamic in current partnerships work between coaches and former players turned coaches in relation to their players? The landscape of tennis coaching in professional tennis across both the WTA and ATP tours has evolved drastically over the decades. One facet of said coaching has always been the

Tennis has a problem. It is slowly losing ground to pickleball and padel. Not because tennis is a worse sport, but because those sports have figured out something we haven't. They've figured out how to make people feel part of something. If you have a friend who plays pickleball, you'll see it. Medals on Facebook. Division wins on Instagram. Monthly tournaments. Constant engagement. There's always something happening. Tennis, by comparison, has gaps. We've got fixtures sorted

(Getty/Cameron Spencer) The whispers around a potential return of Serena Williams have grown louder in recent months, shifting from nostalgic hope to something far more tangible. And few have tracked those developments as closely as American tennis journalist Ben Rothenberg, whose reporting via his online newsletter Bounces has offered rare insight into what may be unfolding behind the scenes. Speaking to Rothenberg, the sense is not that a comeback is guaranteed — but that

Dubai has been impacted by the ongoing war in the Middle East. (Getty/Muhammad Owais Khan) For the better or worse, the nature of tennis' global tour sees it often find itself in the midst of events – celebratory, political, or crises. The top-flight tour alone visits various cities almost every week of the year, and the tiers below – Challenger and ITF tours – span multiple continents every day. There are simply no athletes that travel quite like tennis players. It hit m

The great Billie Jean King in attendance for the 2025 BJK Cup Finals. (Getty/VCG) As Billie Jean King once told Lindsay Davenport during a Fed Cup tie in 2000, "pressure is a privilege". To represent your country in any capacity is a privilege. Wearing your nation's colours should be a spine-tingling occasion, no matter if it's a debut or a 100th appearance. Not to say that players aren't invested or that they don't care at all, but it's getting to the point where the Billie

(Getty/Hanne Vandewinkel) I have spoken quite a bit over the last year about Australia's talent stocks going forward, and the jury is very much out long term whether we can produce a decent group of players to reach the top 100 in the next 5-10 years on both the men's and women's sides. But for you, the tennis fan, your eyes and interests are also global as we are all curious about the names that will rise through the ranks and make their mark on the game going forward. Looki

(Getty) There is no denying it. Australians currently find themselves in uncertain times. Cost of living and inflation (expected to rise as high as six per cent as the war in the Middle East drags on) are taking a stranglehold on households. Rising fuel and supermarket prices, along with an uptick in interest rates, have forced many families across the country to be extra cautious about how they spend their hard-earned cash. When it comes to sports subscriptions in a mad-lovi