Monday, May 26, 2025

Weekend Tennis Roundup


Titles for Djokovic, Cobolli, Rybakina and Joint. Full report plus all the ATP beef that's fit to post BELOW.



Novak Djokovic rounded off preparations for Roland Garros by ending his long wait for a 100th career title at the Geneva Open in Switzerland. The Serb didn't have it all his own way, though, with Djokovic needing two tiebreaks to defeat Hubert Hurkacz in the final. 


Djokovic becomes only the third men's player to reach triple figures for career title wins, having won his first back in 2006, defeating Hurkacz's current coach, Nicolas Massu, at the Dutch Open. But despite the historic achievement, Djokovic focused most of his post-match speech on his opponent, Hurkacz, dubbing the Pole an "inspiration." 


Hubert Hurkacz lost the Geneva final by a good hair 

Speaking during his on-court debrief, Djokovic, addressing Hurkacz said: "I know it's tough to have a bitter taste in the mouth, to lose the match like this. I'm sorry for that. You were definitely for most of the match a better player. But I want to give you huge credit for playing some amazing tennis this week. Obviously, I know how it feels to be injured with the knee. It's definitely a big challenge to come back, you managed to keep your comeback short. I wish you all the best in Paris, in London. I really enjoyed playing you, but maybe shorter matches in the future would be nice [laughing], just a bit less stress." 


By this point, Hurkacz, standing next to the GOAT, was beginning to well up. Djokovic continued: "Again, thank you for being inspirational to me and all of us as a human being. Most of all, you're an amazing player, all of the tour knows how good a person you are. All of the people here [pointing to the crowd], who maybe don't know you too well, deserve to know how good you are and how kind and respectful you are. A credit to your family and team." 


By the numbers


Flavio Cobolli won the biggest title of his career on Saturday at the Hamburg Open, where he overcame third seed Andrey Rublev 6-2, 6-4 to capture the ATP 500 trophy in Germany. After sealing victory, the Italian collapsed to the ground before he rose to embrace Rublev and the packed crowd.


He then celebrated as you would expect at 23-year-old, by taking a selfie with his prize ...


And then rewarded his fans with this 


In the Geneva men's doubles, Sadio Doumbia and Fabien Reboul rallied from the brink of defeat to claim their first trophy of the season. The Frenchmen saved three consecutive championship points from 6-9 in the match tiebreak to overcome Ariel Behar and Joran Vliegen 6-7(4), 6-4, 11-9. Doumbia and Reboul last week missed a championship point of their own at the ATP Masters 1000 in Rome before falling to Marcelo Arevalo and Mate Pavic.


Relieved and happy afterward! 


And in Hamburg, Simone Bolelli and Andrea Vavassori upended their mid-season dip in style -- I predicted they break up --  by defeating Andres Molteni and Fernando Romboli 6-4, 6-0 to claim their sixth trophy as a pair. 


Bolelli and Vavassori were winless in their opening three matches of the clay swing.


The Italians opened 2025 with a 13-1 record, winning hard-court titles in Adelaide and Rotterdam either side of reaching their second consecutive Australian Open final. Yet they notched just one win in seven tour-level events before arriving in Hamburg, where they turned their form around with an impressive week.


On the women's side, Elena Rybakina -- whom I'd pretty much written off -- won first title in over 12 months, by defeating Ludmila Samsonova in Strasbourg, 6-1, 6-7(2), 6-1. She then proceeded to thank her banned coach and rumored abuser, Stefano Vukov, 


And 19-year-old Australian Maya Joint captured the title in Rabat on Saturday, knocking out Romanian Jaqueline Cristian 6-3, 6-2 in the Morocco Open final.


And then on Sunday, Rafael Nadal was brought to tears by an emotional video played for him on Court Philippe-Chatrier, which included a message from tennis greats Roger Federer, Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray.


All of it, of course, was part of a farewell ceremony for Nadal at Roland Garros, a tournament that the Spaniard has won a record 14 times.


The event included the surprise of having Federer and Murray on hand, who joined him along with Djokovic on the court, to whom he said: “I think we built amazing rivalries but at the same time in a good way. We showed the world that we can fight as hard as possible, but being good colleagues and respect each other very well.”


There pretty much wasn't a dry eye in the house ...


And then even I teared up when Rafa saw this



A fitting sendoff to the Clay GOAT and without question Djokovic's toughest rival 



Even through tears, I was still cruising Carlos's beefy brother


Jo-Willie Tsonga in the house!


Stanimal seal of approval 

Elsewhere around the net ...


Tommy Paul cleavage 


Stan Wawrinka gets in some last-minute practice before the French Open begins


Who's the hottie in red?


Nicolas Barrientos at RG


Lorenzo Musetti was a winner Sunday in Paris 


Rafa with Joao Fonseca


Patrick Zahraj and friends


Sebastian Ofner gets ready for Paris after a great week in Geneva 


Manspread Monday with Jakub Mensik


Dutch treat Tallon Griekspoor


Andreas Mies sure knows how to pick him



Follow fellow German and Type 1 diabetic Patrick Zahraj HERE


Luciano Darderi is vision in brown, or any color really


With Holger Rune 


Need to know more about Matthew Story


Taylor in Paris


The department store heir's cute smile 


Two Skupskis are better than one 


Call me a daddy chaser, but Christian Ruud might still be hotter than Casper




Not so fast, says the younger Ruud! 


No shorty robes for Nole


Quentin Halys is in to the second round after Tomas Machac had to retire far behind my French boyfriend 






Hot for Jan Zielinski


Follow HERE






Fede Gomez is one hot lucky loser! 


I'm also in love with Hugo Gaston


Alexis Galarneau is lucky I wasn't online to ask him anything 


More to lust HERE


Jack Sock 2.0: Tell me you're an embarrassing American without telling me ...


Part 2


Mariano Kestelboim has a big "friend"


God bless Robert Cárdenas for peddling his wares 


Surprised the crowd didn't "Suddenly, Last Summer" Julian Cash alive 


More of the pretty boy Brit HERE


Britain's Jay Clarke won a Skopje Challenger over Nerman Fatic of Bosnia and Herzegovina


Andrew Paulson and Michael Vrbensky won the doubles


Federico Iannaccone defeated Daniel Masur in the Regio Emilia Challenger final


Woof! 


Jamie Murray in Paris 


Big Henry Patten 


Albano Olivetti & Co.


Taylor takes a tumble 


Hady Habib and his father


In action 


Simone Bolelli and Fabio Fognini share a screen


In praise of Casper's shorts


38 years and still doing this?


Flexy Terence Atmane




Mariano Navone celebrates his win over Brandon Nakashina 


Carlos and Daniel Altmaier


Wake Forest: The middle guy for Damian and the one of the right for me


Camilo Ugo Carabelli strikes a pose 


Luciano Tacchi looks good enough to eat 






Arthur Bouquier's first Grand Slam 


How do I put the meat in a Hugo Nys/Arthur Rinderknech sandwich 



James "Red Beard" O'Hare


Jaime Faria looked like a million bucks losing to Jensen Brooksby 


Imagine being as beautiful, talented and educated as Colton Smith and setting your photo to a song called "Ni**as in Paris" 🥸



Zizou Bergs for Golden Goose 


More HERE


Luka Mrsic and Filip Misolic in the City of Lights 


Brayden Schnur and his friends clean up nicely 




Between the fishing, pickup truck and tragic influencer, I can't imagine someone more depressingly straight than Tommy Paul


... but he does look like this


I'd like to see Arthur Fils go deep ...



and play well in Paris


Karol Drzewiecki heats up 


With Fryderyk Lechno-Wasiutyński


Adam Jones on his back


Woof 













OMAR JASIKA Omar Jasika with Stephen Kaldawi, whose IG account I find confusing


Does anyone know what's going on here?


Retirement agrees with Horia Tecău


We feel your pain, Luca!


Watch HERE


Vava-vroom! 


Cooling down 


I wanna play with Pavel Viks in Turkey


Justin Gimelstob has this right 


Is Tommy Haas a sauna queen?


Pedro Martinez with Casper & Co.


Mama mia! Andrea Picchione


Follow HERE




Flavio Cobolli has a word with Tomas Etcheverry


Watch HERE


How do I get Ethan Quinn's sexy coach to tell me what to do next?
 





Grigor in Daddy mode 


You're so vein: Andrea Pellegrino 







Sleeveless Darderi 




Luca Nardi


Taylor and Tommy for the Motorola Razr


Watch HERE


Those Alejandro Moro Cañas legs


More HERE


Is Franco Agamenone already a daddy?





Model Machac 


Practice day with Max Marterer & the boys


Yannick Hanfmann looked great through qualies before falling to Musetti in the first round




Model Novak


Yes, queen


Second Serve Squad


Austrian Lucas Miedler's best asset 






I'd engage in polygamy for Nicolas Moreno





Felix Auger Aliassime, Ugo Humbert, Lucas Van Assche and Casper Ruud for 




Andreas in action 


Flavio tastes victory 


I've been told that Alexandre Muller's PG-13 OnlyFans may be more risque than he lets on ...


Let me know if you subscribe and/or have gotten any special photos


Looks like Djokovic picked a winner in Dusan Vemic


Nice to see J.J. Wolf again 


Chilling out with Nathan Ponwith


Who is an ASU grad born in Chandler, Ariz.!


Not even Bruce Weber can clean up their messy act 


ICYMI: If you don't understand why Margaret Court's majors record is beyond having an asterisk next to it, be sure to read this five-year-old article about 1979 champ Barbara Jordan, who still can't even get a trophy for her title, the only pro event she ever won!

(With wire services) 

No comments: