For most of the tennis season, the world’s best women compete for themselves. Their ranking. Their prize money. Their titles. Then comes the Billie Jean King Cup, where the equation changes. Players compete for their countries, teammates watch from courtside and individual matches combine to decide something much bigger: whichContinue Reading
There are thousands of professional tennis tournaments played around the world, but four stand above everything else. The Australian Open, Roland Garros, Wimbledon and US Open are tennis’s Grand Slam tournaments — commonly called the majors. Winning any one of them can define a career. Winning all four puts aContinue Reading
Most of professional tennis is built around individuals. Players travel the world under their own names, accumulate their own ranking points and compete for their own titles. The Davis Cup is different. Players represent their countries. Singles specialists become teammates. Doubles can suddenly decide everything. Matches can be played inContinue Reading
For almost the entire tennis season, the world’s leading players are rivals. Then, for three days, some of those rivalries are temporarily put aside. The Laver Cup divides six leading men’s players from Europe and six from the rest of the world into two teams: Team Europe and Team World.Continue Reading
Professional tennis can make its biggest stars extraordinarily wealthy. Win a Grand Slam and the prize cheque can run into millions. Reach the later stages of the biggest ATP and WTA tournaments and a player can earn substantial sums in a single week. But that is only one end ofContinue Reading
Why can a player win a tournament and barely move in the rankings, while another jumps 30 places after one exceptional week? Why can someone lose in the first round and still move higher? And why does a player sometimes fall dramatically in the rankings exactly one year after producingContinue Reading
A serious injury can keep a professional tennis player away from competition for months — sometimes more than a year. During that time, their world ranking can fall dramatically. A player who was ranked inside the Top 20 before an injury might return to find themselves outside the Top 100,Continue Reading
Follow a major tennis tournament and you will regularly hear that a player has moved into the Top 10, reached a career-high ranking or dropped several places — even though the official rankings haven’t been updated. That’s because commentators and fans increasingly follow live tennis rankings. Live rankings calculate howContinue Reading
For most of their careers, professional tennis players compete for themselves. At the Olympic Games, everything changes. Players compete under their national flag. Doubles partners must represent the same country. Rankings can get a player into the tournament, but a high enough ranking doesn’t necessarily guarantee a place. And losingContinue Reading
The ATP Tour is the highest level of professional men’s tennis. It brings together the world’s best players to compete in tournaments across every continent, with ranking points, prize money and prestige on the line. Whether you’re watching the World No. 1, No. 50, or No. 100, every ATP eventContinue Reading
