For a long time there have been complaints about the calendar and whether the players have enough time to reset, while the off-season has never really been considered long enough as an opportunity to bring in proper recovery methods.
In a sport like Tennis, the World Rankings are formed around the biggest events, and that does make it difficult to find the moments to take time away from the Tour.
And that is why there has long been chatter about significant changes to be made to the structure of the Tour.
As we reach the end of the 2025 season, the players have once again asked the Grand Slam tournaments to come to the table and to speak about how much of the financial gains those events are making are then going to be given back to the players. This looks to be a story that will run and run through to the new season, although the sympathy of some of the fans may have lessened when noting that some of the top names are happy to play in non-Ranking events during the course of the season for huge sums of money.
Having an additional compulsory Masters event added to the calendar in Saudi Arabia also makes it difficult to really understand the point of view of the players, although it is clearly a complicated issue that does need some resolving.
Mentioning the new Masters event in Saudi Arabia leads onto the WTA Finals which will be played in Riyadh for a second year in a row.
The top eight women players are heading over for the event and Coco Gauff is the defending Champion, although the likes of Aryna Sabalenka and Iga Swiatek will be confident in challenging the American.
All three players won Grand Slam events, as did Madison Keys, and this is a tournament that could offer a late boost in confidence that could be very valuable to the winner when the Australian Open comes around in a little over two months time.
The Finals are played in Group format and so it is a rare event in which an opening loss is not the end of the tournament as is the case for 99% of events on the Tour.
The season numbers had a slight improvement made to them at the conclusion of the US Open, but there are still two more events to get through before the final tally is set.
2024 was an awful year for the Tennis Picks, but this one has been better and the task is to complete on a positive run before the break through to the Australian Open in January.
The opening Picks can be read below and any sign-ups needed at Bet365, Bovada or Bodog can be followed from the links provided.
Madison Keys + 4.5 games v Iga Swiatek: These are two of the more surprising Grand Slam Winners of recent times as they prepare to open the WTA Finals in Riyadh.
Madison Keys winning the Australian Open was an upset, but the American fully deserved her success with wins over four players Ranked inside the top 11 and including wins over both the World Number 1 and World Number 2. The margins might have been tight and she has had over a month away from the Tour since losing in the First Round at the US Open, but Madison Keys insists that it has given her the time to refresh.
It has been a long time since Madison Keys last played at the WTA Finals and she will be opening up against Iga Swiatek who surprisingly won the title at Wimbledon having come up short at the other Slams.
The World Number 2 has had another very good year on the hard courts, but the last few tournaments on the surface have not seen Iga Swiatek at her absolute best. Despite that, Swiatek has won a title in Seoul, although the Quarter Final defeats in New York City and Wuhan have also been alongside a Last 16 defeat in Beijing.
The recent losses to Emma Navarro and Jasmine Paolini were in very disappointing performances and Madison Keys has the serving power to keep herself in this opening match.
Madison Keys has not really been able to sustain the form that took her to the Australian Open title- she had room for improvement from the level that was shown in Melbourne, but it has been a steady rather than spectacular year.
It has meant not having much of an impact in hard court tournaments entered since becoming a Grand Slam Champion and Madison Keys reached the Semi Final in Indian Wells and Quarter Final in Montreal, but had lost early in Miami, Cincinnati and New York City.
The American has won the last two hard court matches played against Iga Swiatek, which includes in the Australian Open Semi Final. She also pushed the World Number 2 in a defeat on the clay courts favoured by Swiatek at the Madrid Masters and Madison Keys should enjoy the indoor conditions at the WTA Finals.
The World Number 7 is going to have to serve well and she is going to have to find her rhythm quickly, but Madison Keys has enjoyed this match up on the faster surfaces and she can give Iga Swiatek something to think about.
This feels like Madison Keys is being given perhaps a game too many on the handicap and especially if the underdog can find her comfort on the court reasonably quickly.
Last year Iga Swiatek was upset in the Group Stage of the WTA Finals and she may have to battle to earn an opening win in 2025, which makes the games being given to Madison Keys look too many here.
Amanda Anisimova-Elena Rybakina over 21.5 games: 2025 will be a year in which Amanda Anisimova will look back fondly and perhaps point to the last six months as being the moment when she transitioned from a player with huge potential to joining the elite on the Tour.
This is the debut at the WTA Finals for the 24 year old American, but Amanda Anisimova reached the Final at Wimbledon and at the US Open.
All credit has to be given to Amanda Anisimova for recovering from failing to win a game in the Wimbledon Final to rally and go again in New York City. A title has been earned in Beijing during the Asian swing and a strong first serve is backed up by some aggressive groundstrokes, which should make Anisimova dangerous on the indoor hard courts.
First up is a Group Stage match against Elena Rybakina who was the last of the eight Singles players to take her place at the WTA Finals- the World Number 6 won the title in Ningbo and managed to win another couple of matches in Tokyo to earn her spot in Riyadh and Elena Rybakina withdrew from the tournament in the Japanese capital once that place was secured.
A back injury was the reason given and so there are going to be some concerns about her fitness, while Elena Rybakina is only 2-4 in the last two years in the WTA Finals.
She has a big serve, which will always give Elena Rybakina a chance, although there does need to be a little bit of improvement on the return of serve if she is going to earn another Grand Slam title to add to the Wimbledon title won previously.
One of the big disappointments for Elena Rybakina in 2025 has to be the lack of a real Grand Slam run and that does mean she can improve her World Ranking over the coming twelve months. There is a lot to like about her tennis, but she has lost some matches from winning positions and nothing will come easy for Rybakina against the elite of the WTA Tour.
Picking a winner is tough and the layers are finding it hard to separate two big hitting, aggressive players in the first meeting against one another.
The serve could be a dominant weapon for both players and there is every chance that this is a match that will surpass the total games line set.
It is possible for that to happen in a straight sets win for either player, but both are capable of 'getting hot' for a stretch of games that could see each win a set. A three match would see the two players combining for enough games to cover this line barring something really crazy going on with the scoreboard.
MY PICKS: Madison Keys + 4.5 Games @ 2.10 Bet Fred (1 Unit)
Amanda Anisimova-Elena Rybakina Over 21.5 Games @ 1.72 Bet Fred (1 Unit)
2025 Season: 153-127, + 10.60 Units (376 Units Staked, + 2.82% Yield)
No comments:
Post a Comment