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Winners of the week
Team Europe on Sunday successfully defended their Laver Cup title with a dominant 13-5 victory against Team World on the final day of competition at the O2 Arena.
The contest looked to be coming down to the final stretch after two days, with Team Europe holding a narrow 7-5 lead at the start of Sunday. With each match worth three points that day, Europe needed two wins from the four remaining matches to win.
Jakub Mensik and Flavio Cobolli then got Europe off to a fine start with a 7-5, 6-3 win against Alex De Minaur and Taylor Fritz before Alexander Zverev, riding high on confidence after his French and US Open triumphs, closed out the series with a 7-6 (3), 6-3 win against Learner Tien.
Four years after Roger Federer retired from tennis, the Laver Cup is as successful as ever. Spectators flooded through the gates throughout the weekend, and even though the extremely slow courts occasionally made it difficult for the players to produce quality tennis, matches were highly competitive and intense, especially a real thriller in which Carlos Alcaraz saved a match point and beat Fritz.
Far away from London at the Shenzhen Bay Sports Centre in China, the Czech Republic eased past Ukraine to win the Billie Jean King Cup for the 12th time.
Boosted by the presence of this year's Wimbledon finalists Linda Noskova and Karolina Muchova, the Czechs cruised past their opponents to secure a 2-0 victory and deny the Ukrainians a first title in the competition.
Muchova, the runner-up at Wimbledon, had no trouble beating Anhelina Kalinina 6-2, 6-3 in the opening singles match before Noskova secured the title with a 6-3, 7-6 (7-5) win over world number seven Elina Svitolina.
It was the first time the Czech Republic won the event since 2018, which makes them the second-most successful nation in its history after the United States, who have 18 titles. The Czechs only dropped just one set throughout the tournament.
In Singapore, Canada's Leylah Fernandez dazzled spectators with a spectacular display to capture her first title of the season with a 7-5, 6-0 win over Australia's Talia Gibson in the women's singles final at the Singapore Tennis Open on Sunday.
While Gibson put up a good fight against the Quebec native in the first set, Fernandez raced through the second, winning the last nine games to secure the win in one hour and 38 minutes. Fernandez dropped only one set across her five matches in the tournament.
It was an all-Australian affair in the final of the Korea Open, a WTA 250 tournament, where Australia's Kim Birrell won the first WTA title of her career by downing compatriot Maya Joint. Despite winning the final, Birrell still lost her place as Australia's top-ranked women's player after Gibson finished runner-up in Singapore.
Alejandro Davidovich Fokina on Tuesday completed a remarkable return to ATP action after sustaining a back injury in Umag in July by winning the Chengdu Open, where he overcame Hubert Hurkacz 6-4, 7-6(7) to earn his second title of the season.
The 27-year-old Spaniard, who lost his first five ATP Tour finals, added another ATP 250 crown to the title he won in Mallorca in June by winning six of the final seven points from 3-6 down in the tiebreak to seal the title in spectacular manner.
1,540 kilometres (958 miles) east of Chengdu, Daniil Medvedev claimed his third title of the season at the Hangzhou Open, where he got the better of his good friend Andrey Rublev 7-5, 6-4 in a battle between the top two seeds.
Rublev began the match at a blistering pace in the Chinese ATP 250 final, but Medvedev absorbed the early onslaught before gradually seizing the initiative with a stunning display behind his serve. The former No. 1 player in the ATP Rankings struck 23 aces and made just two double faults on his way to claiming his 24th title on the ATP Tour.
Strugglers of the week
After reaching a career-high ranking of No. 20 in early 2025 and starting his 2026 season strong by winning the Adelaide International title, Tomas Machac's momentum completely stalled mid-year. Machac suffered a left foot tear at Roland Garros, which forced his withdrawal from Wimbledon, and upon his return for the North American hard-court summer swing, he looked completely out of rhythm.
He suffered a shocking straight-sets first-round loss at the US Open to qualifier Toby Samuel, and with his current ranking having dropped to 74 in the world, there was no sign in Beijing that he is on his way back to his previous form when he lost to the Frenchman Arthur Gea in the qualification for the ATP 500 tournament China Open.
You can also ask yourself what is happening to Eva Lys in 2026 after only recording seven wins in nine months.
She was kept off the courts for two months after suffering a knee injury in the first round of the Australian Open. Her return in Miami also ended in a first-round defeat, and the struggles continued through the clay and grass seasons, where she won very few matches.
At the Korea Open, she lost in the first round to the Romanian Elena Gabriela Ruse, and after being ranked 39th in January this year, she has now dropped out of the Top 100.
Lys has lived with spondyloarthritis since 2020, an autoimmune condition impacting her spine, joints, training, and schedule. In addition, heavy expectations have weighed heavily on her shoulders as she has struggled to find the joy of tennis.
Moment of the week
After a noticeable physical transformation and weight loss during her training sessions, Amanda Anisimova has been under fire on social media from online trolls who have accused the American tennis star of using the weight-loss drug Ozempic.
Anisimova last week hit back in an Instagram Story post to deny the medication rumours, telling her critics to "please leave me alone."
It's not the first time that Anisimova has had to respond to negative comments about her body. After her third-round loss to Madison Keys at Wimbledon in July, critics suggested her physique caused her lacklustre display. Anisimova subsequently responded with a cheeky picture of herself chilling in a swimming pool.
Anisimova also faced harsh body-shaming in 2024 after reaching the Canadian Open final, where she also took time to respond to social media users criticising her weight and appearance.
Anisimova has publicly spoken about her distress at recording heavy defeats - such as her losses in major finals - which has often resulted in an onslaught of abusive messages online, which has made her dread looking at her phone.
The American tennis star is yet to claim her first title of the season and currently sits 11th in the rankings, with a record of 22 wins and 12 losses.
To compound her recent misery, she announced on Monday that she won't play again in 2026, citing a wrist injury. Anisimova was otherwise set to defend her title at this week's China Open, but pulled out late last week due to the ongoing left wrist injury.
Rallies of the week
Kazakhstan's Yulia Putintseva showed incredible composure to outmanoeuvre Spain's Cristina Bucsa with a superb drop shot volley during their clash at the Billie Jean King Cup.
Team Europe clinched the Laver Cup, but Team World fought hard all the way, illustrated by Learner Tien's amazing 34-shot rally to defeat Flavio Cobolli.
Upcoming events
The spectacular National Tennis Centre, which was originally constructed for the 2008 Beijing Olympics, will open its doors this week for the ATP 500 tournament China Open. Following the withdrawal of defending champion Jannik Sinner, the men's tournament features a mix of veteran legends and rising stars.
Alexander Zverev leads the men's field as the number one seed while Novak Djokovic makes his highly anticipated return to Beijing for the first time since 2015.
The women's singles tournament features a massive 96-player draw stacked with Grand Slam champions. World No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka and reigning Australian Open champion Elena Rybakina lead the impressive participation list while Coco Gauff and Naomi Osaka are also in the mix, alongside breakout star Mirra Andreeva.
Holger Rune returns to ATP action at the ATP 500 tournament in Tokyo for the first time since rupturing his Achilles tendon last year. Former World No. 4 Kei Nishikori will bring down the curtain on his illustrious career in front of his home crowd in the Japanese capital, while Carlos Alcaraz will aim to defend his trophy.
Svend Bertil Frandsen has been Senior News Editor for Flashscore News in Denmark since September 2022. He previously worked for UEFA and FIFA and is a former tennis pro. He specialises in news around football, tennis, badminton and handball. You can also follow him on LinkedIn.
