Iga Swiatek finds Billie Jean King Cup joy, ATP Tour Finals sets up Australian Open draw

Welcome back to the Monday Tennis Briefing, where The Athletic will explain the stories behind the stories from the past week on court.

This week, Jannik Sinner further stamped his authority on men’s tennis by winning the ATP Tour Finals against Taylor Fritz. Elsewhere, the Billie Jean King Cup took center stage on the women’s tour and Nick Kyrgios announced his return to the sport.

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The end to a season Iga Swiatek needed?

She split with her coach, breaking up a partnership that won four Grand Slams.

She lost her No. 1 ranking to Aryna Sabalenka.

She lost a match to Coco Gauff, in a rivalry she leads 12-2.

Then Iga Swiatek went to the Billie Jean King Cup in Malaga to play team tennis for Poland and got back on track. She battled back from dropping several healthy leads against Linda Noskova, who knocked her out of the Australian Open in January, then walked on court 30 minutes after that with Katarzyna Kawa for a 6-2, 6-4 win over Marie Bouzkova and doubles world No. 1 Katerina Siniakova to beat the Czech Republic 2-1 and move into the semifinals.

Swiatek skipped the past two editions to recover from the WTA Tour Finals. A flourish of wins and camaraderie in Malaga appears to be just what the doctor ordered at the start of her new partnership with Wim Fissette.

Matt Futterman

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Will rankings help Great Britain at the Billie Jean King Cup?

Great Britain’s doubles players Heather Watson and Olivia Nicholls have been spectators at the Billie Jean King Cup.

Britain have beaten Germany and 2023 champions Canada 2-0 with all four victories in straight sets — thanks to the excellent performances of singles players Katie Boulter and Emma Raducanu.

The pair are No. 24 and No. 58 in the world but their rankings would be closer were it not for Raducanu’s various injuries over the last few years. They play to a very similar level and both raise their game in a team environment.

Great Britain’s singles team effectively features two players worthy of top singles billing, a handy advantage when the second-tier players by world ranking go head-to-head in the opening rubber of a tie. Raducanu led off for Great Britain against Germany and Canada and was a level above her opponent. She thrashed world No. 91 Jule Niemeier 6-2, 6-2 in the win over Germany on Friday and then beat Canada’s world No. 103 Rebecca Marino 6-0, 7-5. Boulter followed up with straight-sets victories of her own.

Next up for Britain is a semifinal on Tuesday against Team USA’s conquerors Slovakia, with world No. 41 Rebecca Sramkova in remarkable form. If Boulter and Raducanu keep playing the way they are then Watson and Nicholls will remain as active on the Malaga match court as the rest of us watching.

Charlie Eccleshare

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How do the ATP Tour Finals affect the Australian Open?

The biggest knock-on from the men’s tour finals to the first Grand Slam of 2025 probably happened before the event started in Turin, Italy. When Novak Djokovic decided not to play — and to relinquish his 1,300 ranking points as defending champion — he sealed his fate of falling outside the top four seeds in Melbourne, making him a pretty nightmarish quarterfinal opponent for anyone in that top four if he goes deep in Australia, the major he has won more than any other.

The rest of men’s tennis has roughly two months to obsess about how far ahead of them Jannik Sinner is. Carlos Alcaraz is excused after beating Sinner three times out of three in 2024 and winning the two majors that Sinner did not, but the Italian’s destruction of the field on Turin’s hard court made plain what all of them have sensed: the era of tennis as chess is on hiatus.

Casper Ruud, a three-time Grand Slam finalist, has declared himself a dinosaur at 25.

“I’m not going to start playing a different style of tennis now,” he said in a news conference in Turin.

“I need to flatten out the shots more. From defense, especially on hard court, I need to take a bit more risk.”

A few other strays: Alex de Minaur knows he needs to take a break and get healthy. Taylor Fritz is going to feel very good about a potential match-up with Alexander Zverev. Alcaraz will kiss the ground knowing that he will be playing an outdoor tournament.

Matt Futterman

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What does Nick Kyrgios have in store for tennis?

While the best players in the world were duking it out in Turin last week, Nick Kyrgios announced that his on-court comeback is imminent.

Kyrgios hasn’t played competitively since reaching the 2022 U.S. Open quarterfinals because of serious knee and wrist injuries, but he has pencilled in a return to tennis at next month’s Brisbane International, one of the tune-up tournaments for the Australian Open. Kyrgios, 29, also intends to compete at his home Grand Slam in January.

“This is probably the best I’ve felt in two years,” Kyrgios said in an interview with Australian broadcaster 9News as he announced his comeback.

“It was a 15 percent chance that I was going to get back to playing at this level and here we are.

“To get back out there in front of the home fans is going to be sick.”

Kyrgios, who also reached the Wimbledon final and won the men’s doubles at the Australian Open in 2022, may struggle to make a major impact straight away, but he could play a big part in Melbourne as a disruptor; no one will want to face him in front of his home fans in the early rounds.

Some of the wider tennis community will also have misgivings about his return. In early 2023, Kyrgios pleaded guilty to assaulting former girlfriend Chiara Passari in 2021, but was not convicted. In March this year, he suggested in a post on X that Sinner should be “gone for two years” following his two positive tests for clostebol, an anabolic steroid; in September 2024, Kyrgios was criticized for writing “second serve” under a picture of himself and Sinner’s girlfriend, top-20 WTA player Anna Kalinskaya.

Ridiculous – whether it was accidental or planned. You get tested twice with a banned (steroid) substance… you should be gone for 2 years. Your performance was enhanced. Massage cream…. Yeah nice 🙄

— Nicholas Kyrgios (@NickKyrgios) August 20, 2024

Kyrgios, who has been praised for his analysis as a broadcaster for ESPN and the BBC at the Grand Slam tournaments during his lay-off — including interviewing WTA players on court in post-match interviews — was fined $10,000 in 2015 after on-court microphones picked up the Australian telling Stan Wawrinka that Thanasi Kokkinakis had “banged his girlfriend” during a Rogers Cup match in Montreal, Canada.

Kyrgios later apologized for the remark on Facebook, writing: “My comments were made in the heat of the moment and were unacceptable on many levels.”

Charlie Eccleshare

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Shot of the week

Viktoria Hruncakova slingshotting Slovakia into the last four in Malaga.

Power 🆙

Unbelievable shot from Hruncakova🔥#BJKCup pic.twitter.com/sGrNuVFLdG

— Billie Jean King Cup (@BJKCup) November 17, 2024

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🏆 The winners of the week

🎾 ATP: 

🏆 Jannik Sinner (1) def. Taylor Fritz (5) 6-4, 6-4 to win the ATP Tour Finals in Turin. It is the Italian’s eighth title of 2024.
🏆 Kevin Krawietz / Tim Puetz (8) def. Marcelo Arevalo / Mate Pavic (1) 7-6(5), 7-6(6) to win the ATP Tour Finals in Turin. It is the German pair’s third ATP title together.
🏆 Alexander Blockx def. Jurij Rodionov 6-3, 6-1 to win the Hyogo Noah Challenger (Challenger 100) in Kobe, Japan. It is the Belgian’s first ATP title.
🏆 Ethan Quinn def. Nishesh Basavareddy 6-3, 6-1 to win the Paine Schwartz Partners Challenger (Challenger 75) in Champaign, Il. It is the American’s first ATP title.

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📈📉 On the rise / Down the line

📈 Fritz moves up one place to No. 4 in the world, a career-high ranking, while Casper Ruud moves up to No. 6 ahead of Novak Djokovic.
📈 Caroline Garcia benefits from compatriot Diane Parry dropping 56 ranking points, moving up one place and returning to the top 50.
📈 Blockx reaches a career-high of No. 204, up 45 places from No. 249.

📉 Daniil Medvedev falls one place from No. 4 to No. 5; Djokovic falls from No. 6 to No. 7.
📉 Harriet Dart drops out of the top 100, falling 13 places from No. 88 to No. 101.

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📅 Coming up

🎾 ATP 

📍Malaga, Spain: Davis Cup featuring Rafael Nadal, Jannik Sinner, Carlos Alcaraz, Taylor Fritz.
📍Rovereto, Italy: Citta’ Di Rovereto (Challenger 100) featuring Borna Coric, Martin Landaluce, Luca Nardi, Dino Prizmic.
📍Montemar, Spain: Il Montemar (Challenger 75) featuring Fabio Fognini, Sumit Nagal, Pablo Carreno Busta, Albert Ramos-Vinolas.

📺 UK: Sky Sports; U.S.: Tennis Channel 💻 Tennis TV, Challenger TV

🎾 WTA

📍Malaga, Spain: Billie Jean King Cup featuring Iga Swiatek, Emma Raducanu, Jasmine Paolini, Rebecca Sramkova.
📍Colina, Chile: LP Open (125) featuring Robin Montgomery, Mayar Sherif, Suzan Lamens, Chloe Paquet.
📍Charleston, South Carolina: Fifth Third Charleston (125), featuring Renata Zarazua, Alycia Parks, Iva Jovic, Varvara Lepchenko.

💻 WTA Unlocked

Tell us what you noticed this week in the comments below as the men’s and women’s tours continue.

(Top photo: Angel Martinez / Getty Images; Design: Eamonn Dalton)