(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

Former Arkansas tennis coach, Robert Cox. (Caleb Grieger/NWA Democrat-Gazette) The University of Arkansas' controversial call to scrap tennis at the end of the 2026 spring season has caused widespread uproar. On Saturday, the shocking news was made public. "After considerable reflection and thoughtful discussion, we have made the very difficult decision to discontinue our men's and women's tennis programs," Vice Chancellor and Director of Athletics Hunter Yurachek said. "We

(Getty/AI Bello) Former world No.26 Camila Giorgi has confirmed to fans that she is ready to come out of retirement in 2027, two years after her sudden absence from the tour. In May 2024, the then 32-year-old walked away from the sport without saying a word, reportedly due to being chased by a taxman in Florence for unpaid taxes. She also wanted to pursue a career in lingerie modelling, which she did in the United States. However, she has always denied those rumours of tax ev

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

Patrick McEnroe. (Getty/Roy Rochlin) Former Grand Slam doubles champion Patrick McEnroe has exposed the lack of American youth in the national college tennis system. Patrick, the brother of seven-time major singles winner John, was watching an SEC men's tennis championship match when he noticed a worrying sign. "Just re checked the numbers—ACC + SEC men's team finals: 24 singles players… 3 Americans…HELLO??!!" McEnroe posted on X. "That's a system that's lost its balance. Co

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

There are racquets that perform. There are racquets that feel good. Finding one that does both — without having to choose — has always been the compromise players have had to quietly accept. Today, HEAD has engineered a solution that changes that entirely. SQUARED is built differently — literally. Two tubes, one frame: one engineered for power, the other designed for comfort. The outer tube — built from Toray's Torayca™ T800S carbon fiber — handles the heavy lifting, generati

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

(Getty) Former Wimbledon champion Markéta Vondroušová has been charged by the International Tennis Integrity Agency (ITIA) for failing to attend a doping test after an "acute stress reaction". According to the ITIA conditions, a player is deemed to be non-compliant if they "evade simple collection or refuse or fail to submit to sample collection without compelling justification after notification by a duly authorised person." Listen to The First Serve Live every Monday at 8pm

French Open tournament director, Amélie Mauresmo. (Getty/Mustafa Yalcin) The French Open will be the first Grand Slam to ban cameras in the players' area to protect privacy amid criticism at this year's Australian Open. After Coco Gauff's quarter-final defeat to Elina Svitolina at Melbourne Park, the American let out her frustration by smashing her racquet in the Rod Laver Arena tunnel, not knowing that she was being filmed. Listen to The First Serve Live every Monday at 8pm

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

(Getty/Francesco Scaccianoce) The 2028 grass court season will include a new ATP tournament in Italy, as the country continues to dominate the sport. Already hosting the ATP Finals and Davis Cup Finals in November, along with the Rome Masters on clay before Roland-Garros, Milan's San Siro, which hosts famous football clubs AC Milan and Inter Milan, with a capacity of over 75,000, is expected to be the destination. "There's still time to decide where to play it," Italian feder

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

(Yana Bokyo/X) The Monte-Carlo Masters might be over, but a storm is brewing behind the scenes involving a Ukrainian illustrator and the tournament. Yana Boyko, an illustrator and designer who states in her X bio that she is open to collaboration, was left "shocked" after discovering that the tournament was selling merchandise in stores featuring her illustrations without her consent. Listen to The First Serve Live every Monday at 8pm AEDT in its 18th year on the SEN Network/

(Getty Images - Team GB came and conquered) For the second year running, Sam Stosur's team won't feature in the world's best eight teams in September's Billie Jean King Cup Finals, after Great Britain crushed Australia in their qualifier in Melbourne. Trailing 0-2 coming into today's cut throat doubles encounter, Australia, led by Storm Hunter and Ellen Perez, couldn't rally to keep the tie alive, taken down by Harriet Dart (after her big singles win on Day 1) and Jodie Burra

(Getty/Daniel Pockett) Before Day 1 of Billie Jean King Cup qualifying commenced, Australia were heavy favourites to knock off Great Britain. Now, not so much. The Aussies, captained by Sam Stosur, hosted the Brits at Melbourne's John Cain Arena in the first of two-day ties, with a spot in September's BJK Cup Finals in Shenzhen, China, up for grabs. Australia's top-ranked player, Maya Joint, was made unavailable due to a back injury, while Great Britain has been made to do wi

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