Less than a year after stepping away from professional tennis, former world No. 4 Caroline Garcia and her husband, Borja Duran, announced they are expecting their first child. The couple shared the news in a joint social-media post showing them walking along the beach at the Hotel Fairmont Mayakoba Riviera Maya in Mexico, wearing blue and holding sonogram photos. The images and caption made clear they wanted to celebrate the moment together.

Garcia, 32, married Duran last summer in Spain. The pair have also collaborated off court as producers of the “Tennis Insider Club” podcast, which debuted in 2024, and the new arrival will be the first family addition since they launched the show.

Reaction from peers in the WTA community was warm. The news was received positively by players including Paula Badosa, Barbora Krejcikova and Jasmine Paolini, along with former world No. 1 Garbiñe Muguruza, who just had a son, and Ons Jabeur, who will welcome a son next month. Those responses underscored Garcia’s standing among colleagues and the wider women’s tour.

The couple did not explicitly state the baby’s gender, though their coordinated blue outfits in the announcement photos prompted speculation. Beyond the public announcement, the post focused on family and the next chapter of life away from the weekly demands of tour travel.

For Garcia, who reached a career-high ranking of world No. 4, this marks a significant personal milestone in the months after retirement. For listeners of their podcast, and for followers who have tracked her career, the pregnancy announcement is a reminder that many athletes reshape their priorities after leaving the tour. Garcia and Duran’s joint reveal blends personal joy with the same direct, collaborative approach they brought to their media project.

In a Dubai semifinal against Elina Svitolina, Coco Gauff’s frustration boiled into a rare on-court outburst. At 2-2, 15-all in the second set, a double fault prompted Gauff to stride toward her guest box and Gavin MacMillan, the biomechanics guru who joined her team last summer, and say, “I’ve been doing everything you’ve wanted for the last six months, and it’s gotten not better at all, bro.”

The moment underscored a persistent issue. For more than two years Gauff has led the WTA in double faults by a wide margin. Last summer she struck 23 double faults against Danielle Collins and 14 against Veronika Kudermetova on her way to the round of 16 in Montreal. In 2023 she hit 219 double faults and ranked 18th on the tour for that stat. In 2024 she leapt to 430, and she recorded 431 the following year.

Where the problem begins is debated. Is it a bio-mechanical flaw that can be adjusted, or a mental block commonly referred to as the yips? Brad Gilbert, who coached Gauff for 14 months ending in late 2024, offered perspective: “Coco, to me, is more resilient than a lot of those people,” and added, “Even with the serve issues, she still won the French. She still won two majors. She’s still finished in the Top 3 in the world. I feel like if you got the yips, this mental thing, your ranking is dropping, and fast.”

Analyst Rennae Stubbs sees a largely mechanical problem: “I think [her problem], it’s 90 percent mechanical and 10 percent mental,” she wrote. “The problem is that the 10 percent becomes 50 percent once the serve starts going off, because bad technique breaks down under pressure.

“There are so many mechanical issues with Coco’s serve that it’s really difficult to change at this point, but I do think it’s possible. I know Gavin is trying his best.”

Jimmy Arias recalled his own serving anxieties: “She should come talk to me,” he said. “I got the yips near the end of my career. I got so anxious serving that my right hip flew open too early, making it hard to hit a good second serve. I knew what the problem was, but I couldn’t stop it, even though I kept closing my serving stance more and more, until I looked like (John) McEnroe.”

Paul Annacone urged perspective and suggested a different focus: “No doubles, yet she was still annoyed at her serving,” he said. “What she said to MacMillan shows that she’s got baggage, she sees the serve as a big issue. But let’s be honest. How many majors has she won with, quote, unquote, a bad serve? Is it really bad? It’s not great, but so what?” He proposed “reprogramming her vision,” aiming for serving strategy over sheer power.

Experts differ on fixes, but all underscore that the problem is both technical and psychological. As Arias put it, “The most mystifying thing about all of this is how good Coco is in spite of everything.”

Aryna Sabalenka begins her 80th career week as the WTA No. 1, a milestone that places the four-time major champion among an elite group in the sport’s ranking history. She is the 11th player to reach 80 weeks at the top since the WTA rankings began in 1975, and only the sixth woman to do so this century alongside Martina Hingis, Serena Williams, Justine Henin, Ashleigh Barty and Iga Swiatek.

Sabalenka’s advantage at the summit has in fact inched higher over the last month despite not competing since the Australian Open. A month ago she led Iga Swiatek by 3,012 points (10,990 to 7,978); the current gap reads 3,087 points (10,675 to 7,588). She will keep the No. 1 position through Indian Wells, where she is defending 650 points from a runner-up finish last year. The top ranking could be contested in Miami, where she defends 1,000 points as the reigning champion.

Last week’s WTA events produced significant upward movement in the rankings. Cristina Bucsa, who captured her first WTA title in Merida, climbed from No. 63 to No. 31 and eclipsed her prior career high of No. 50. Runner-up Magdalena Frech moved from No. 57 to No. 36. Victoria Jimenez Kasintseva entered the Top 100 for the first time, advancing from No. 122 to No. 97 after reaching the quarterfinals in Merida as a qualifier.

In Austin, Peyton Stearns claimed her second WTA title and rose from No. 62 to No. 48. Taylor Townsend, the finalist at the WTA 250 event and making her first WTA semifinal and final of her career, returned to the Top 100 for the first time since last summer, moving from No. 119 to No. 87.

On the ATP side, Flavio Cobolli recorded a notable rise to No. 15 after winning the ATP 500 in Acapulco, surpassing his previous best of No. 17. Jakub Mensik continued his steady climb: he reached No. 13 after a Doha semifinal and moved to No. 12 following a Dubai quarterfinal.