Consistency has been the defining trait of Francisco Cerúndolo’s rise. The 27-year-old Argentine reached a career-high ranking of No. 18 in 2025 after years spent around the Top 30, and his results this season suggest he is prepared to assume a more prominent role on tour.

Cerúndolo did not produce a deep run at a Grand Slam in 2025, but his best work came on the Masters 1000 stage. He reached consecutive quarterfinals at Indian Wells and Miami, then advanced to the semifinals in Madrid. That Madrid run marked the second time he has reached a Masters semifinal, the other coming during his breakout Miami semifinal in 2022.

He remains understated by temperament and approach. Not the flashiest player from South America, he lost in the Buenos Aires final to Brazil’s 19-year-old Joao Fonseca, whose victory there drew wider attention. Still, Cerúndolo’s game has proven effective against the highest level of opposition.

He is regarded as one of the tour’s top returners, listed at No. 4 on the Infosys ATP Stats Return leaderboard. That strength has helped him secure notable wins, including two victories over world No. 2 Alexander Zverev and wins against Top 20 opponents such as Alex de Minaur, Casper Ruud, Holger Rune and Tommy Paul.

Cerúndolo developed in a collegiate environment at South Carolina and has thrived in team formats like the Laver Cup and Davis Cup. After working with him at the Laver Cup, Andre Agassi said: “Everybody is scared to death when he gets set to unload on his forehand.”

In February he added Uruguay’s Pablo Cuevas to his coaching team, a move that signals an interest in gradual, incremental improvement rather than abrupt change. He has been deliberate about his targets this year. “I actually didn’t set specific ranking goals this year, like saying I want to be Top 10 or whatever,” Cerundolo told press earlier this year. “I did that the past two years and didn’t achieve it, so I didn’t want to repeat that mindset. Instead, I’ve focused on goals in training, improving physically, mentally and in my tennis overall.”

After three seasons near the Top 30, Cerúndolo is quietly positioning himself to move beyond a supporting role and into the center of the conversation.

Both Jack Draper and Mirra Andreeva captured big 1000-level titles at Indian Wells in 2025, but questions remain as the tour turns toward the 2026 season, which begins Friday, January 2 with the United Cup. Our analysts and editors weighed how injuries and form could shape each player’s start to the year.

Victoria Duval: “Mirra Andreeva will have a better year. Draper’s ceiling is high but he was sidelined by a left-arm injury after the US Open, and will be battling some rust early on. Andreeva didn’t play her best after Wimbledon, but the youngster should be able to hit the ground running by Australia.”

Coco Vandeweghe recalled a recent reversal of fortune: “I’ve picked against Jack Draper once before and it happened to be at Indian Wells, where he went on to beat Carlos Alcaraz en route to winning the biggest title of his career. I told him I would never bet against him again.”

David Kane struck a note of cautious optimism about Draper’s ceiling: “The search for a third man to break up the Carlos Alcaraz-Jannik Sinner duopoly will be on and popping in 2026; who will be the Novak Djokovic to this generation’s Fedal? Jack Draper looks to be the one with the greatest amounts of raw talent and competitive ability, but the young Brit has been continually snake-bitten by injuries. Lest we forget, Draper started 2025 under an injury cloud before playing his way into a pair of Masters 1000 finals. He didn’t need a ton of lead time to make that happen this season, so I’m inclined to think he’ll be able to start strong in January if he’s fully healed from his left-arm injury.”

Brett Haber emphasized the uncertainty that physical issues create: “I’ve never had a bone bruise in my serving arm—and I don’t want one. But that’s what limited Jack Draper to just one event post-Wimbledon this year. Mirra Andreeva’s form dipped in the second half of the year, but you could easily chalk that up to a normal “sophomore slump.” Draper’s physical issues leave more questions for me.”

Analysts split on the outlook: Andreeva is favored for a clean start, while Draper’s upside depends on recovery and match fitness as 2026 opens.

Victoria Mboko’s run at the Canadian WTA 1000 event in Montreal was the tournament’s defining storyline. The unseeded, 85th-ranked wild card and 18-year-old Canadian arrived amid broader disruptions to the summer schedule, when both Canadian Masters events contended with high-profile withdrawals and calendar overlap with Cincinnati. Those issues did not stop Montreal from producing a champion who captured the nation.

Mboko had entered the week with momentum from her rookie season, which included four straight ITF titles without dropping a set. She grew into a crowd favorite as she progressed, highlighted by a fourth-round 6-1, 6-4 victory over No. 1 seed Coco Gauff. The final saw Mboko prevail over Naomi Osaka, but the semifinal against Elena Rybakina was the match that defined her title run.

Rybakina dominated early, taking the first set 6-1, but Mboko refused to relent. “I always think of sets as, like, checkpoints,” she said. “Once I finish the first set, I completely put it behind me, and I start a new little chapter…I put a lot more emphasis in my movement and my defending skills and what I’m supposed to do on court, and I try to sharpen up and clean up a lot of my mistakes.”

In the second set Mboko found angles and depth, building leads of 3-1 and 5-3 before converting a break at 6-5 with an inside-out backhand pass on double set point. The third set tested her physically; she fell and hurt her wrist in the second game yet continued to battle. Rybakina reached match point at 5-4, but Mboko answered with a short-hop forehand and forced an error to hold on. At deuce she produced decisive returns to break back and force a tiebreak.

The breaker showcased Mboko’s nerve. After trading errors and momentum swings she produced an inside-in forehand winner at 4-4 that put her two points from the match. Rybakina could not recover from 4-5, and Mboko advanced to the final to a raucous home crowd. “It’s unbelievable to even think about it,” said Mboko, who would finish the season another title, in Hong Kong, and a Top 25 ranking.

“I wanted as much as I can to put as many balls in the court and to fight as hard as I possibly could. I wanted to stay really calm as well.”