ATP Australian Open Grand Slam
Tommy Paul arrives in Melbourne fit, focused and launching a new foundation
Tommy Paul returned inside the Top 20 after a long break, rebuilding body and launching a foundation
Tommy Paul returned to the Australian Open ranked inside the Top 20 after taking most of the last six months off. The break followed a taxing 2025 season and a foot injury at Wimbledon that ultimately sidelined him at the end of August.
“I had a lot of opportunities to play points in December coming into the first couple of tournaments of the year,” Paul told me of his extended pre-season after advancing into the second round of the Australian Open. “I knew my level a little bit better.”
Paul shut his season down after the 2025 US Open and said his rest might have begun even earlier. “I really knew around French Open, beginning of French Open I knew at some point in the year I was going to have to be shutting it down,” said Paul, who made the quarterfinals in Paris despite an abdominal injury. “I kind of just extended maybe a little too long. Probably shouldn’t have gone and played Wimbledon. Probably shouldn’t have played US Open.”
The pause cost him a shot at the Nitto ATP Finals, but it also gave him time to repair his body and reset. By December he was competing again at the Garden Cup at Madison Square Garden; a month later he reached his first tour semifinal since May at the Adelaide International.
“I mean, it was a lot of long days,” Paul said of his pre-season. “Spent a lot of time on the body.
“First thing’s first is getting all the mobility back in your joints and your legs, your hips. Then from there, it’s kind of building a bit of cardio, which is hard to do, because, I mean, you don’t want to do impact when you are hurting, so we’re doing no-impact cardio, which means probably you have to do more of it.”
In his opening match he was efficient, serving 20 aces and dropping just four points on his first serve in a victory over fellow American Alexander Kovacevic. “I don’t know if that was temperature or the courts are just faster, but it took a little while to get in the rhythm from the ground,” said Paul, who struck twice as many winners as errors (38 to 16), “but luckily, I came out serving really well today.”
The time off also allowed him to launch the Kids Outdoors Foundation with fiancée Paige Lorenze. “There’s quite a few tournaments in South Florida, like Delray or Miami, and getting a group of kids that have never been to tournaments and just getting kids excited about tennis, getting kids excited about being outside,” Paul previewed.
“Yeah, it’s an exciting thing. It’s something we talked about doing for a while now. I think it’s something that means a lot to both of us. Both of us had so many opportunities given to us through sports growing up, and I think anything that we can do to help, we’re going to try and do it.”
One of 21 Americans in the men’s draw, Paul reflected on experience and calm. I’m getting older…But, I mean, I think for me it helps. Experience, it means a lot in this sport. I feel like you gain a lot from experience coming down here. Playing in the first round when you are in your younger years, you feel so nervous. You don’t know really what you’re getting yourself into. I mean, I know what I’m getting myself into every time I play.
ATP Masters Miami Open
The Big T Episode 13: Golden Glizzy, Swiatek’s split, Fonseca’s tests and Jovic’s climb
Episode 13 of The Big T examines Miami highlights: Golden Glizzy, Swiatek split, Fonseca and Jovic..
Episode 13 of The Big T podcast turned its attention to a wide range of Miami Open talk, from an extravagant concession item to shifts in the top ranks and the progress of emerging players.
First, the culinary curiosity. For $100, fans could buy an Australian Wagyu sausage topped with crème fraîche, Golden Goat Caviar and edible gold flakes, a creation dubbed the Golden Glizzy. Hosts Andrea Petkovic and Mark Petchey weighed in on the dish and the tournament atmosphere in the episode.
On the women’s side, the conversation focused on Iga Swiatek. Less than a year after claiming her first Wimbledon title with a 6-0, 6-0 final, Swiatek has split with coach Wim Fissette. The six-time Grand Slam champion is 13-9 in her last 22 matches and has not reached a semifinal since last September in Seoul. Her opening-round loss to compatriot Magda Linette in Miami appeared to prompt the change.
Petkovic reflected on that decision in the episode: “Sometimes, I’m connected to witchcraft,” she began, “because I predicted last year that Iga was going to win Wimbledon … and last year I was on a show in Germany, and they asked me to give my hottest take about tennis. And I said I think Wim Fissette and Iga Swiatek will not make it through Indian Wells-Miami.
“It was just an intuition that came upon me.”
Joao Fonseca’s two straight-set losses to Jannik Sinner (7-6, 7-6 at Indian Wells) and Carlos Alcaraz (6-4, 6-4 in Miami) were framed as valuable tests for the 19-year-old. Petkovic said, “That is the ideal scenario for a young guy like him,” Petkovic says of the 19-year-old. “He can now go back home, look at the tape of the matches and say, this is where they are still better, or this is what I still need to work on—and come on the clay and absolutely crush.”
Petchey added context and a note of caution: “This was a great learning curve, for him to play those two stars,” Petchey agreed. He also warned Fonseca’s many fanatics with another comment: “I still feel as though we need to temper our enthusiasm, of how quickly he may be in the world’s Top 10, and really in amongst it against Carlos and Jannik. I think it’s going to take 18 months to two years before he’s comfortably feeling—particularly in a best-of-five—that he’s got a realistic shot of winning.”
The episode also highlighted 18-year-old Iva Jovic, who rose from No. 191 at the 2025 Australian Open by winning the USTA Wild Card Playoff and later reached the Australian Open quarterfinals, moving into the Top 20. Jovic said simply, “I love talking, in general,” says another teenage tennis sensation, Iva Jovic. She reflected on travel and growth: “I’ve done a lot of great training, and played some tough matches after Australia, but I think I learned a lot from it. I’m happy with where I’m at.” She added a candid note about life off court: “I’m a little bit clumsy, and all over the place outside of the court,” she admitted. “I lose everything, that’s my thing—I can’t keep track of my things. I oversleep sometimes, I’ve overslept on match days!
“Hopefully one day, I can be as responsible and mature as I sound.”
Episode 13 is available on major streaming platforms for listeners who want the full discussion and extra segments.
ATP Grand Slam Wimbledon
Wimbledon to introduce video review on six courts for 2026
Wimbledon will introduce video review on six courts in 2026 and add visual out and fault signs. Also
The All England Club confirmed that video review will be available on six courts at Wimbledon in 2026. The announcement came on Saturday during a media briefing 100 days from the start of the event.
Review capability will be installed on Centre Court, No. 1 Court and four additional show courts: No. 2 Court, No. 3 Court, Court 12 and Court 18. Players will have unlimited opportunities to challenge specific chair-umpire decisions. The system will allow reviews of whether a ball bounced touched, whether a player touched the net, and other rulings either on a point-ending call when a player immediately stops play, or immediately after the completion of a point in the case of hindrance.
Video review is distinct from electronic line-calling, which Wimbledon adopted in 2025 to replace line umpires. That change proved controversial at times; the tournament later blamed “operator error” when a ball hit well long by Brit Sonay Kartal was not called against Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, and another point required a replay because of a system failure during a quarterfinal match between Taylor Fritz and Karen Khachanov.
The technology first appeared at a Grand Slam at the 2023 US Open and was used at the Australian Open in 2025. The ATP Tour rolled out video review at all Masters 1000 events last year after deploying it at the NextGen ATP Finals since 2018 and at the year-end ATP Finals since 2020.
In addition to introducing video review on six courts, Wimbledon will add a visual indication on scoreboards when a ball is out or a serve is a fault, supplementing the audible call.
1000 ATP Miami Open
Miami Open Preview: Pegula vs. Rybakina and two close quarterfinal tests
Pegula and Rybakina meet again in Miami; we also assess Paul-Fils and Lehecka-Landaluce. Read picks!
The Miami Open brings another chapter in the recent rivalry between Elena Rybakina and Jessica Pegula. The pair have met at the Billie Jean King Cup, the WTA Finals, the Australian Open, Indian Wells and now Miami, with Rybakina holding a 4-0 edge in those meetings. Pegula has challenged her, taking sets and pushing tiebreaks, but Rybakina’s serve and court craft have remained decisive.
Both women arrive in Miami unbeaten in three matches and comfortable on the courts. Rybakina reached the final here in 2023 and 2024; Pegula made the final in 2025. One variable that could matter is the start time: the match is scheduled for 1:00 P.M., when conditions are expected to be warmer and quicker. Pegula prefers quick conditions and has not had them in recent meetings with Rybakina, which came at night in Melbourne and on the slower Indian Wells courts. That switch could help the American and add a few miles per hour to her game. Winner: Pegula
The bottom half of the ATP draw has produced intriguing quarterfinals. Martin Landaluce, a 20-year-old product of the Rafa Nadal Academy and the 2022 US Open boys champion, has been one of Miami’s breakthrough players. Counting qualifiers, he has won six matches here, three in three sets, and in his last match he recovered from a 6-2 first-set deficit to beat Sebastian Korda and saved a match point en route.
Landaluce meets Jiri Lehecka for the first time. Both play with efficient, easy power; Landaluce has momentum, while Lehecka, the 22nd-ranked veteran, has just beaten Taylor Fritz in his best match of the season. Fuel and composure are the deciding factors. Winner: Lehecka
Tommy Paul and Arthur Fils present another difficult call. The players are close in the rankings, with Paul 23rd and Fils 31st. Both are athletic, strike the ball well and have shown solid form this season — Paul at 14-6 and Fils 12-4 as he returns from a lengthy layoff. In Miami each survived at least one three-set match. Paul will have a home crowd and the evening conditions, while Fils is still rebuilding his rhythm. This one is a coin flip.
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