Heather Watson reaches a significant milestone in the Billie Jean King Cup; Alycia Parks is the latest WTA debutante; LTA coach Miles Daley talks about the IDEA Group; and we look ahead to events in Barcelona and Stuttgart
Round-up Coco Gauff and Sloane Stephens make deep runs in Charleston at the Volvo Car Open – both reached to the quarter-finals with Coco losing to Ons Jabeur and Stephens losing to eventual champ Veronika Kudermetova.
– Felix Auger-Aliassime adds Toni Nadal to his team in a move that signifies his intent to take his game to another level.
– Rafa Nadal and Novak Djokovic both lost early in Monte-Carlo – Dan Evans beat Novak and Rafa fell to eventual runner-up Andrey Rublev.
– Heather Watson secured win number 22 in the Billie Jean King Cup, taking her to second on the all-time list for most singles wins in the competition for Great Britain.
– Away from the court, Serena Williams signs a TV deal with Amazon which includes a docuseries on her personal and professional life.
WTA Debutante Alycia Parks The 20-year-old American qualified for the MUSC Health Women’s Open (WTA 250) after beating two players ranked inside the top 200. She then beat Grace Min in round one in straight sets, before going down to top seed Ons Jabeur in the second round. Parks is definitely a name we should be looking out for.
Miles Daley Interview Among other things, we talk to the British coach about his journey into tennis; passion for coaching; involvement with the Lawn Tennis Association (LTA) IDEA Group; and his pursuit to get more women involved in the sport.
Upcoming Events Barcelona ATP 500 (Barcelona Open) Rafa’s the top seed, Stefanos Tsitsipas is the second seed. Auger-Aliassime is seeded 10th and receives a bye into round two where he awaits wildcard Lorenzo Musetti or Feliciano Lopez.
– Frances Tiafoe takes on wildcard Carlos Alcaraz and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga faces Egor Gerasimov.
– Stuttgart WTA 500 (Porsche Tennis Grand Prix) Ashleigh Barty and Simona Halep are the top seeds.
– Noma Noha Akugue, the 787th ranked German, got a huge win in qualifying, taking out world No 89 Margarita Gasparyan in straight sets. Akugue, 17, unfortunately, lost in the final qualifying round.
Subscribe and download to your phone, tablet or computer via Audioboom, iTunes, Spotify or any podcast app.
Black Spin Global 