Nurein

Tennis Writer

[US Open Tennis @usopen]

RYBAK1NA 🥇

Elena Rybakina will become the 30th woman to be ranked world No.1 in singles since the WTA rankings began in 1975!

[Oleg S. @AnnaK_4ever]

That Chwalinska herself seems to be the only player in the entire draw who's familiar with the concept of taking moonballs out of the air is, frankly, hysterical.

[Manchester United @ManUtd]

Sir Matt Busby Player of the Year ✅
United Players' Player of the Year ✅
FWA Footballer of the Year ✅
Premier League Player of the Season ✅

That's our Bruno 🐐

[wta @WTA]

The story continues! 📖

Lilli Tagger secures her first clay court quarterfinal spot after defeating Samsonova in straight sets.

#WTALinz

[Nurein @Nuren94]

😂😂😂

[Scott Barclay @BarclayCard18]

The way Bublik is absolutely baffled by Ruud's US Open 2022 draw here never fails to make me laugh.

"What the hell is this draw?!" 💀

[Nurein @Nuren94]

Aryna Sabalenka breaches 5 million Instagram followers after completing the Sunshine Double.

Sabalenka is the most-followed active female tennis player on IG and is now the third-most-followed in WTA, behind Serena Williams and Sania Mirza.

https://t.co/3x51BXq2vO

[wta @WTA]

Next level unlocked 🔓

Karolina Muchova captures her first WTA 1000 title after defeating Mboko in straight sets in Doha.

#QatarTotalEnergiesOpen

[Novak Djokovic @DjokerNole]

Bravo Carlos, little titan, young wizard of Oz. A worthy champion, a huge talent, wonderful person and history-maker 🙌

And Australia, so much love 🫶🏼. No place like the happy slam. Forever grateful.

[#AusOpen @AustralianOpen]

Buckle up 🍿

@ROLEX #rolex #starttimesfinals

[#AusOpen @AustralianOpen]

#Sponsored. A message to her fans by @lenarybakina 💙

#madebygoogle @madebygoogle

[Glenn Greenwald @ggreenwald]

Elena Rybakina's triumph seems like a pretty compelling argument for allowing a highly accomplished 26-year-old woman to make her own decisions about who she wants in her life as her coach and otherwise, rather than having a bunch of self-important busybodies decide -- in the name of feminism -- that they somehow know better than this adult woman does about what's best for her. She vehemently and repeatedly insisted Vukov treated her well but somehow the WTA decided her opinions didn't matter. They knew best, even though the key leaders of that lynch mob barely knew Rybakina (as she often pointed out).

Rybakina with Vukov is a completely different player than the mediocrity she became when the WTA banned him. He's finally allowed back as her coach and she quickly starts winning: leading to the WTA Finals title and now the AO. Obviously the player deserves most of the credit, but, as in any sport, tennis coaches are vital.

What's so hilarious is that the pivotal moment of the match was so clearly when Vukov berated her in the 3rd set for playing with "no energy" -- that was at 0-3, 30-30 and she looked resigned to defeat; she then immediately became a different player: she hit two aces and went on a major roll to win the set and title. The ESPN team had to acknowledge this obviously key instruction but kept referring to the moment when "her team" told her she was playing with no energy. They used every awkward phrase to avoid giving Vukov the credit by name for providing her with the perfect coaching words at the crucial moment (and doing so in a way that most WTA mavens regard as "too negative").

The delicious cherry on the top of all of this is the AO included (I believe for the first time) giving the winning coach a trophy as part of the award ceremony, and, in front of the world, they had to honor and put on the podium Stefano Vukov -- whom the WTA spent 18 months trying to drive out of the sport based on allegations that he was "abusive" to Rybakina despite her insistence that he never was.

This should all be a good lesson about honoring the autonomy of adult women to make their own choices in life, but it's doubtful it will be. Anyway: amazing win for Rybakina and "her team" as well as for the autonomy of adults to decide what's best for themselves.

[Nurein @Nuren94]

Sabalenka was cooked after this Vukov-inspired pep talk. Where are the haters?

[Pablo Puente @SoyPabloPuente]

@josemorgado “You need to put energy. There is no energy”.

This is when Rybakina took control.

[Pavvy G @pavyg]

The WTA banned Elena Rybakinas coach, Stefano Vukov for 8 months last year because Pam Shriver thought he was emotionally abusing her.

Rybakina denied all of the allegations, on his return Rybakina has now won the WTA tour finals and the AO title! 👏 🏆

[Nurein @Nuren94]

Elena Rybakina was simply too good to be a one-slam wonder. The race for the No. 1 ranking is very much ON.

[#AusOpen @AustralianOpen]

ICE. COLD. ELENA 🥶

From 0-3 down to 6-4 and an Australian Open champion 🏆

[#AusOpen @AustralianOpen]

ALGA! 🇰🇿

Elena Rybakina makes history in Melbourne.

#AO26

[Nurein @Nuren94]

Sabalenka is going to bottle this..

[#AusOpen @AustralianOpen]

First AO main draw. First top-20 win 👏

After three hours and 31 minutes on court, Elsa Jacquemot secures the biggest win of her career!

[#AusOpen @AustralianOpen]

When your brain calls match point before the umpire does...

[United Cup @UnitedCupTennis]

POLAND ARE YOUR 2026 UNITED CUP CHAMPIONS 🇵🇱 🏆

[Tick Tock Tennis @TickTockTennis]

I have always considered Damian as the most knowledge "tennis person" I've ever gotten to know in the online tennis world. I cannot believe he's gone so soon.

Just unbelievably tragic.

The ATP Challenger Tour, especially, has lost its greatest and most passionate champion.