The tennis schedule is moving back into focus after a quiet spell since Wimbledon, and the Washington Open is first up as the North American hardcourt swing gets underway.

The ATP 500 event is often treated as a launch pad for the bigger events that follow. Over the next six weeks, players will look ahead to the Canadian Open, the Cincinnati Open, and the US Open, which is why Washington regularly draws a strong field.

This year, though, the picture is different. Only two players from the top 10 are set to compete in the US capital: Alex de Minaur and Taylor Fritz. That limited elite presence comes after Felix Auger-Aliassime and Daniil Medvedev withdrew just three days before the tournament was due to begin.

They are the only main-draw withdrawals listed so far, but qualifying has also lost several notable names. Mattia Bellucci, Arthur Fery, Luca Van Assche, Adam Walton, and Eliot Spizzirri are all confirmed absentees.

Fery is the most eye-catching withdrawal among them after his memorable run to the Wimbledon semi finals at his home Grand Slam. Even so, he had already indicated that Washington was not part of his main North American plan. “Cincinnati, Winston-Salem and the US Open, they’re pretty much locked in,” said the British star when asked which tournaments he would be playing on the North American hardcourt swing.

He also spoke about the US Open seeding picture, saying, “I might already be in there [the top 32] if I’m lucky, a few withdrawals,” he said. “I don’t think I will be able to contribute to the ranking anymore before the list comes out for the US Open, because it’s going to come out soon.

“Being seeded obviously protects you a little bit from the top guys, but it’s my first main draw that I qualify for directly with my ranking so just going to take it as it goes.”

With so few top-ranked players in the draw, the Washington Open could still offer a breakthrough moment for someone lower down the list. The entry sheet also includes Lorenzo Musetti, Learner Tien, Jakub Mensik, Frances Tiafoe, Arthur Fils, Tommy Paul, Rafael Jodar, Arthur Rinderknech, Ugo Humbert, Brandon Nakashima, Tomas Etcheverry, Alejandro Tabilo, Matteo Arnaldi, Zizou Bergs, Adrian Mannarino, Kamil Majchrzak, Alex Michelsen, Tallon Griekspoor, Ethan Quinn, Terence Atmane, and wildcard entries Ben Shelton, Jack Draper, Stefanos Tsitsipas, and Kei Nishikori.

Among the names to watch, Rafael Jodar will be aiming for his first hardcourt title, while Jack Draper is hoping to show the US Open that he deserves a wildcard. Arthur Fils, Tommy Paul, and Learner Tien, meanwhile, will be trying to extend the strong form they have shown throughout 2026.

Stefanos Tsitsipas’ split from his father and long-time coach Apostolos has been cast in a new light after his title run in Gstaad, with Rennae Stubbs suggesting the move had become overdue.

The four-time women’s doubles major champion said the Greek’s recent revival supports the decision to end a difficult partnership that had stretched across a testing spell on the ATP Tour. Tsitsipas briefly worked with former Wimbledon champion Goran Ivanisevic last year, but that arrangement lasted only two months before he returned to his father.

Three weeks after ending that latest partnership with Apostolos, the 27-year-old ended a 16-month wait for a title by winning the ATP 250 event on Sunday. He beat Raphael Collignon in three sets to lift the trophy.

After the final, Tsitsipas said, “It’s a crazy feeling right now. I survived a marathon and it was a long week. I played some crazy matches in the past couple of days. Every single match felt like it was never finished, and somehow I managed to convert every single time and get the victory.

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“Today I couldn’t be more blessed, couldn’t be more happy. It’s been an incredible effort from my side to go out there and do that over and over again. I’ve dealt with some pain in the past couple of days. So I’ve had to withstand a lot of different things. The result was obviously the best thing I would have imagined at the beginning of the week.”

Tsitsipas, who dropped to 87th in the world after Wimbledon, now has Thomas Perrin in his team. Perrin has spent many years coaching at Patrick Mouratoglou’s academy.

Stubbs, whose own coach Serena Williams won in Switzerland, moved back to 49th in the rankings after his victory. She called it the right choice to “finally flick his dad as his coach”, then offered her view of what matches looked like from the players’ box.

On the latest episode of The Rennae Stubbs Tennis Podcast, she said, “Some would say his dad’s gotten him here and there, and I am like, but the problem is Stef loses his s*** on the court and half the time it’s not even at his tennis, it’s at his dad, and his dad is yelping at him from the sideline… that is so negative. I know because I was told what he was saying at times by somebody who speaks Greek.

“So maybe you need someone out there who is making you feel good, and half the time, that’s what coaches do. There are certain things you have to tell your player, whether it be Xs and Os and what we’re going to work on and what we’re gonna get better at.

“But in the end you have to have someone supportive of you, who really believes in you when you get into the trenches and when you get down those five match points in the second round, and you look up, and Sven Groeneveld (Karolina Muchova’s coach) is pounding his chest and saying ‘Keep fighting’.

“You need to look up and see a coach who believes in you, who thinks that you can still win, and not someone who is going to yelp negative s*** at you that makes you feel terrible on the court. Clearly that is finally working for Stef, and it’s nice to see him back.”

Tsitsipas’ previous title came at the Dubai Open in March 2025.

Victoria Mboko has moved quickly through the professional ranks and believes the addition of Wim Fissette to her team can accelerate her quest for a major title.

The 19-year-old Canadian debuted the partnership last week at the Internationaux de Strasbourg, reaching the final before losing in three sets to Emma Navarro. It was an immediate sign of progress after a season that included setbacks and adaptation to clay.

Mboko first played a Grand Slam in Paris last year, when she qualified and reached the third round. That breakthrough helped spark a rapid rise that has her sitting in the Top 10 12 months later.

Fissette brings a long résumé. He has coached major winners including Victoria Azarenka, Kim Clijsters, Naomi Osaka and Iga Swiatek, among others. His partnership with the last of those ended after the Miami Open in March, and Mboko hopes her name will soon join that list of decorated champions.

“I think bringing in someone who has the experience of working with such high-ranked players, and he has such a history of working with Slam champions, and he kind of knows what it takes to get there,” she said Monday ahead of her first-round Roland Garros match against Nikola Bartunkova. “So bringing in that kind of experience for me kind of gives me a different perspective of what I can do to be in those kinds of positions.”

If Strasbourg was any indication, the new combination is already producing benefits. Mboko admitted she did not expect to reach the final after an “unlucky” stretch that included wisdom teeth surgery and an illness that forced her to withdraw from the WTA 1000 in Rome, as well as a limited background on clay.

“When I first started training, I mean, I never really felt comfortable with my movement on clay,” she said. “So I think before even getting to the tennis part, I would try to work on the sliding and what not.

“I wouldn’t say I’m still that great at it, but I think it’s having the fitness to kind of compensate for how you play on court and to kind of help you in those certain aspects. I think right now I’m a lot better than how I started the training, so I think in those ways I’ve improved.”