Taylor Fritz received an unusual and spirited reception at the Nexo Dallas Open when dozens of fans on center court wore his signature black BOSS headband.

BOSS, Fritz’s apparel sponsor and an official partner of the Dallas Open, distributed the headbands during Tuesday’s first-round match against Marcos Giron. “It’s crazy tonight! Everywhere I look everyone’s dressed like me,” Fritz said, laughing during his on-court interview. “After what happened at the Open, I’m not surprised.” The stunt referenced a viral moment from last year’s US Open, when Fritz accidentally wore his BOSS headband upside down in his quarterfinal versus Novak Djokovic. Blair Henley’s own headband was upside down during the interview in a cheeky nod to that incident.

“The second I saw it, I was just like…” he said, mimicking a facepalm. Fritz later logged on to X and asked, “why’d nobody tell me?” “No one said anything to me, so that was crazy,” he recalled in Dallas. “Even when I went in to change after the second set, and I looked in the mirror myself and I didn’t notice. I just changed headbands, but I put it on right that time!”

Fritz returned to competition for the first time since reaching the fourth round of the Australian Open, where he fell to No. 5 seed Lorenzo Musetti in straight sets. He opened in Dallas with a gritty 6-4, 5-7, 7-6 (1) win over Giron, firing 21 aces in a match that lasted nearly two and a half hours. He followed that with a 6-3, 6-4 victory over Brandon Nakashima.

There was a brief scare in the opener when Fritz felt a “sharp pain” after a “strange twist” in his right knee during the first set against Giron and called for the physio, raising concerns as he manages lingering tendinitis. “It had nothing to do with the tendinitis, the knee issue that I’ve been dealing with for a while now,” he said afterward. “It was weird… It was (during) the first point of his service game in that changeover. I felt like I tweaked my knee. I was getting a sharp pain.

“It got a little better the next game that I served and I just called Clay over to make sure it was good. And after he worked on it, honestly, no problems. It was just a weird little tweak.”

Elena Rybakina took a lighthearted detour into Winter Olympic talk after a gritty night win at the Qatar TotalEnergies Open. The Australian Open champion reached the quarterfinals in Doha by defeating reigning Olympic champion Zheng Qinwen in three close sets under the lights, and reporters asked which winter sport she might try.

ELENA RYBAKINA: Maybe skiing because I never actually did it. I know how to ski on the flat, but not the other way. So, that would be interesting to try. I did ice skating when I was young, but I’m too tall for this sport, for sure!

The often-introverted Rybakina played along with the question, acknowledging a curiosity about skiing while ruling out a return to ice skating. Standing well over six feet, she would clearly face challenges in a sport built around smaller stature and low spinning jumps. She quipped that slopes would likely suit her better than a triple salchow.

Still, the exchange was a moment of levity amid serious business on court. The Kazakh advanced into the last eight in Doha and will carry the momentum of a tough three-set victory into the next round. For now, Rybakina appears intent on continuing the career that produced the Australian Open title and the additional Grand Slam success already on her résumé.

Between a growing collection of major trophies and steady tour form, a Winter Olympic switch seems unlikely. The conversation did, however, reveal a player willing to joke about her limits and interests off the tennis court, even as she prepares for the next match at the Qatar TotalEnergies Open.

Marin Cilic produced the opening upset at the Dallas Open, defeating No. 6 seed Learner Tien in straight sets, 7-5, 7-6 (4), in the first round of the ATP 500 indoor event. The result marked a major career milestone for the 2014 US Open champion: his 600th tour-level match win.

That total places Cilic in an exclusive tier of the game. He is the first man born in 1988 or later to reach 600 wins and the second active men’s player to do so, after Novak Djokovic, who was born in 1987. Cilic also becomes the first Croatian man in the Open Era to reach the mark. Goran Ivanisevic, the 2001 Wimbledon champion, finished his career with 599 tour-level victories.

The milestone also has broader historical context: Cilic is the 29th man in the Open Era to win 600 matches and the 10th man born in 1980 or later to achieve that total. The win in Dallas extended a long and consistent career for the 2014 Grand Slam winner, reinforcing his status among the sport’s longstanding competitors.

On the day, Cilic’s victory saw him close out the second set in a tiebreak and avoid a deciding set, moving safely through the opening round while collecting the landmark win. The match combined the immediate significance of an upset at the ATP 500 level with the personal importance of a rare career achievement.