Jannik Sinner of Italy and Benjamin Bonzi of France at the end of the Men's Singles Round of 64 match during the Mutua Madrid Open 2026 tournament celebrated at La Caja Magica on April 24, 2026 in Madrid, Spain.
1. the us open trialed their new mixed doubles format which featured an entry process based on singles rankings (effectively blocking most doubles players from entering). nevertheless, the sole doubles specialist team triumphed. 2024 champs sara errani and andrea vavassori defended their mixed doubles title—“playing for all the doubles players who couldn’t”.
among others things, fly high raducaraz. they were defeated first round by jessica pegula and “i don’t know why it’s a crime to lock in” jack draper.
2. in newport, rhode island, maria sharapova was inducted into the international tennis hall of fame. and who was there with her? her long-time rival serena williams of course! serena introduced her with a heartfelt speech that reflected on their relationship.
3. alvaro alcaraz’s barber skills raised eyebrows and dropped jaws when carlos alcaraz revealed himself as completely bald (a terribly short buzzcut).
unknowingly, alvaro’s mistake created something amazing. (more on that later)
4. alex eala earned her first GS main draw win after defeating fellow next gen prodigy clara tauson from 1-5 down in the deciding set. in a dramatic third set tiebreak 7-6(11), she continued to make tennis history for the philippines.
coleman wong also became the first man from hong kong to win a GS singles match in the main draw.
5. scheduling daniil medvedev during the late night slot at the us open is bound to cause trouble. scheduling the 2025 version of medvedev (complete headloss) was comically disastrous. after going two sets to love down against benjamin bonzi, on match point (bonzi serve) a photographer mistakenly went on court. due to such distraction, umpire greg allensworth gave bonzi his first serve back, a call which daniil disagreed with and set him off. medvedev encouraged a “circus” in armstrong, suspending play for 6 minutes as the crowd boo-ed allensworth. bonzi lost the set, got bageled in the fourth, but persevered and won the match in 5 sets.
i say this as someone who usually likes daniil: his behavior was outright embarrassing. sadly, he seems to be completely lost. this first round loss is representative of his current career trajectory yet this may be a potential turning point. he has now parted ways with his coach of 7 years, gilles cervara, clearly in search for change.
6. jelena ostapenko said some choice words at the net upon losing round 2 to taylor townsend. telling someone they have no class and no education entirely unprovoked (not apologizing for a net cord point does not warrant such reaction) is disgusting behavior, not to mention the racial undertones of said comment, intentional or not. taylor, however, responded perfectly in kind.
7. at the 2019 us open, coco gauff and naomi osaka faced each other for the first time, this match-up well-remembered due to a beloved post-match interaction. 6 years later, coco and naomi faced each other again, coco now a 2x slam champ and naomi on one of her best slam runs since 2021. naomi put on an incredible performance to defeat coco and take over her quarter of the draw.
8. venus williams and leylah fernandez were an unexpected but powerful and fun doubles pair, eventually reaching the doubles quarterfinals.
venus played all 3 possible draws—singles mixed doubles and women’s doubles—at 45 years old. insanity.
9. kamil majchrzak’s second round win against khachanov was not just a two sets-love down comeback but also resulted in the public humiliation of another CEO.
10. by the fourth round, taylor fritz was the remaining american man in the singles draw. unfortunately, the american men did not have a spectacular run this year. notably, ben shelton was forced to retire due to a left shoulder injury R3, terribly unlucky considering how in form he was.
11. sascha bublik came into round 4 with an 11 straight match streak and without getting broken all tournament. unfortunately he faced jannik sinner, who despite feigned nonchalantness told anna wintour it was “time for revenge.” which ?????? okay then. jan broke sascha’s opening service game and it went downhill from there. 6-1 6-1 6-1.
bublik also called him AI, a metaphor which im sure will follow jannik for the rest of his career. lovely…
12. 2x slam champ barbora krejcikova defeated taylor townsend in the match of the tournament, 1-6 7-6(13) 6-3. she saved 8 match points in the second set tiebreak (multiple of them winners) to reach the quarterfinals. incredible clutchness and performance under pressure. after an injury ridden season, she proved once again that although she is unseeded, she is still dangerous.
taylor was incredible at her home slam, reaching the second week in singles in addition to the doubles final. that was her best singles run since 2019.
13. it was czech excellence at the uso this year as 4 players reached the quarterfinals: marketa vondrousova, karolina muchova, barbora krejcikova, and jiri lehecka. incredible stat given that these 4 in particular are always injured, (update: like marketa is now :( if only their bodies weren’t made of glass.
14. novak djokovic defeated taylor fritz in the quarterfinals to become the oldest player to reach all 4 grand slam semifinals in a single season. from being the youngest to achieve this stat to the oldest, this is a testament to his career longeveity.
15. although she didn’t win a big title, this summer featured naomi osaka’s comeback. since returning from her mental health break and maternity leave in 2024, the former multi-slam champ reached her first masters final and went on an incredible run to the uso semis, defeating seeds kasatkina, gauff, and muchova. she is now back into the top 20. throughout the tournament, we were blessed with glimpses of the old naomi and with no doubt, she will soon be back and even better than before.
she also made headlines fashion-wise with another incredibly composed custom kit + her 6 labubus aka billie jean bling, andre swagassi, arthur flashe, labillieboo, althea glitterson, & john mcenglow.
16. felix auger-aliassime, although undoubtedly talented, had an erratic season with multiple early round GS losses. post-uso, felix has achieved his best slam result since his 2021 USO semis run by defeating and taking over 3rd seed alexander z*rev’s quarter. he beat rublev and de minaur to reach the semis, where he put up an incredible fight against the unstoppable force known as jannik sinner. he was one of only two people to take a set off sinner. what an unexpected but incredible run.
*the other player to give sinner a scare was fellow canadian and close friend, denis shapovalov (R3).
17. amanda anisimova proved that her wimbledon run was not a fluke. one month after receiving criticism for her performance in london, amanda reached the uso final by straight-setting iga swiatek (her wimby double-bageler) in the quarters and persevering against naomi osaka in the semis. although she lost to sabalenka, her fighting spirit and massive baseline game made aryna work hard for it (she hit 22 winners to aryna’s 13!) with improvement to her performance under pressure, amanda will be even more dangerous. and besides—she is now the new world no. 4!
18. wheelchair tennis prodigy tokito oda completed the career golden slam at NINETEEN YEARS OF AGE. he earned his 5th grand slam by defeating his doubles partner, gustavo fernandez (who he also won the doubles title with a day prior), saving two match points.
19. although aryna sabalenka is the world number. 1, her slam season had been full of heartbreak. she reached the finals of melbourne and paris, as well as semifinals of wimbledon, but was ultimately defeated by madi keys, coco gauff, and amanda anisimova respectively. all insanely close matches. unable to defend cincy, she came into her last grand slam of the season with the intent to defend and defend she did. dropping only one set on route to victory, she overcame her grand slam scar tissue, defeating anisimova in the final (amanda has a winning h2h against her). she continues her now 20-straight tiebreak winning streak and became the first player since serena williams in 2014 to defend the women’s title. she now holds her 4th GS title and continues her run as world number one with a ~3000 points gap.
funnily enough, after being stopped by americans all year, she took their home slam. how poetic
20. carlos alcaraz came into his first round with an unplanned new look (baldness). despite the uproar, however, it appears alvaro’s mistake created an entirely new specimen. carlos, known for his early round concentration lapses, did not drop a set on-route to the final. baldcaraz instead displayed a new version of himself. rarely did he have to dig himself out of trouble; instead, he maintained powerful consistency and still embraced the showman that he loves being. he once again faced jannik sinner in the final and this time, the match wasn’t close. carlos’ improvements to his serve and baseline game shone through as he forced sinner into a position he’s not used to being in: unable to dictate play. carlos was pure magic and comfortably defeated jannik in 4 sets, earning his 2nd us open title and 6th grand slam. he further demonstrates his all-surface excellence (2x grand slams each on clay, grass, and hard court) and returns to world number one. he’s won 6/8 tournaments he’s played in since april. fucking hell
and yes. federer’s curse holds strong.
*jannik sinner, although unable to defend his title, is now the youngest male player to reach all 4 grand slam finals in a single season. did he lose? yes. did he play his best tennis? no. but his GS season is nothing to complain about.
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honourable mentions (many)
-jess pegula being the only person to take a set off aryna sabalenka (+defeat carlos alcaraz)
-gabriela dabrowski and erin routliffe won the women's doubles title, and marcel granollers and horacio zeballos won the men’s doubles title
-rafa’s children brilliance (caspiga) and unexpected duo hilarity (jack/jess)
-2x slam champ petra kvitova and former world no. 4 caroline garcia saying their last goodbyes to the tennis tour, retiring.
-renata zarazua earning the biggest win of her career over madison keys
-taylor fritz SSOB
-musinner QF
-djokocaraz semi (carlos finally beating nole)
-rybacanu match
-sincaraz dinner rumors
-novak dancing to sodapop
-sinner/cipolla bullying
-aryna/carlos tiktok + interview
-the us open crowd booing donald tr*mp during their national anthem
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and that’s it for the grand slams. time for the last stretch of the season!
