Archives for March 2026

Jannik Sinner is on fire, again, winning everything in Miami. In the final, he has to play versus Jiri Lehecka  , who is growing, all the time.

However, Sinner is very fast, and his forehand and his backhand can crush it, and throw it very deep. His first serve is gigantic, and even at the net, he can bend down and touch it, another winner.

Yet the Czech Jiri Lehecka  easily beat Arthur Fils 6-2, 6-2 in the semis. The 24-year-old Czech is a high-grade up, each day, nailing his forehand and his backhand. He returns are also pretty attractive, and he is swiftly.  However, this year, he has lost early, until now.

“When it’s going well, it’s easy. But what I’m very happy about, even this week, there were some moments when I wasn’t feeling great,” he said, who won. “[But] my start to this year wasn’t very good. In Australia, I wasn’t playing good tennis. I was coming back from an injury that happened to me in the first match of this year. But I was practicing a lot, spending a lot of hours on the court and also in the gym. So I knew that a few matches will not go your way, but the work is there. The work will not be  disappeared.”

Yet Sinner was so steady in the semis when he beat Alexander Zverev 

  6-3, 7-6(4) . It was 4-4, and Zverev saw Sinner throw it up in the air, but he missed it, in the net.  He missed another, and then Sinner bullied it. The man is so intense, with his serve, hit forehand and his backhand. 

He is 3-0 versus Lehecka , and he has not  lost a set, pretty each, crushing him 6-0, 6-1, 6-2 on Roland Garros. But now, he is playing much elite.

“When playing tennis you are alone, you have to try to find a solution by yourself,” Sinner said.

Carlos Alcaraz lost to Daniil Medvedev in the semis at Indian Wells, in the second set, 6-3, 7-6 (3). This year, he hadn’t lost a match, but the Russian went so high, and he knocked him off. It happens,

Each year, the best players play well somedays and then cannot play well, or mediocre.

Alcaraz is very intense, and he mixes it up a lot, side to side. Yet the Spaniard was tired, and it was super hot, on the court, and he struggled at the end. In a sense, week after week, he can play awesome, but he also can win, when he can be more patient.

The same thing goes Medvedev, who can clap his huge forehand and his backhand, and he can rally. His serve is solid, or very good, but he is mediocre at the net. But he is enhancing, finally.

“I just have to give credit to Daniil. I think he just played an amazing match. He was playing unreal,” Alcaraz . “I have never seen, to be honest, playing Daniil like this. He was going to play aggressive, but how, the way he did it, surprised me a lot, because he didn’t miss any or he didn’t miss as much as I expected.  So it was tricky.”

Alcaraz said that he was a little bit unfulfilled, but he was to learn in the practices. He also said that against him, they will have to beat him to stun him. That is the No. 1.

“I have been playing great tennis. I just show the players and show the people that if they want to beat me, they have to play at his best level one hour and a half, two hours in every match.”

Medvedev was thrilled going into the final, and he was darn close but Jannik Sinner climbed up, down 0-4 in the second set, and he jumped up as fast as he could, and he beat Medvedev  7-6 (6) 7-6 (4).  Sinner never backed off. His first serve, his massive forehand and his backhand, and he striked. 

“He’s a very unique style of playing. Seeing him back at this level, it’s great,” Sinner said. “He’s improving a lot. Very aggressive player at the end. He has two different game styles when he serves and when he returns. You have to face that. It’s great for the sport having him again playing this level.”

Sinner did say about going to Miami, this week, a ATP and WTA 1000, and to win it, again. Not many people have done that but  Aryna Sabalenka, who just won IW, and he took it in Florida in 2025. 

That was an incredible match, when Sabalenka edged Elena Rybakina 3-6, 6-3 7-6 (5) in the final in California. Rybakina had a match point, but at the net, right there, and she hit it long. Sabalenka can be disgruntled, but she thinks about, and change it. The No. 1 is so darn, good.

“I learned to be mentally strong no matter what. And even though I lost so many big ones and so many painful ones, I’m still able to go out there, and even when things are not going well, I’m able to stay focused and I’m able to just to fight for it,” Sabalenka said.

NOTES
Rybakina  has played very well, but she can miss of few. In Miami, she reached the final in 2023 and 2024, and she lost, looking good, but then she missed a lot.

But not Serena Williams, who won it eight times. Wow…

How about Iga Swiatek, who won it 2022? She is a terrific player, and she won six Grand Slam,s but is she more thoughtful.

If you cannot play fantastic, at the various tournaments, then you will have to understand to change it up. Some of them, men and women, can ignore it, and if you do that, you will not go further. 

However, all of them have made an effort,. That is why you are in the ATP Tour and the WTA. They practice all the time, but when you are playing in a match, they could panic. 

Right now, in Indian Wells, some of the players won some terrific matches. One of them, Learner Tien, who lives in San Diego, was down two breaks in the third set, but he came back, beating Alejandro Davidovich Fokina 4-6, 6-1, 7-6(4). The lefty can really spin it with his forehand, backhand and first serve. He came back, strong. Believe it or not, he is now being coached by Michael Chang, who won a Grand Slam at Roland Garros a long time ago. However, Chang is very patient, and thoughtful. Tien is doing the same thing.

 “I think it’s a big part of my game. If I had to define it, I would say it’s a lot of problem-solving, a lot of adjusting, which is, both of those things are huge parts of tennis,” Tien said. “I think it’s really good for me, because I get to play through these matches where I could be down, could be losing, and I’m not playing phenomenal, but just problem-solving and trying to find a way through these matches. It just builds my confidence that I can make it through these matches, when I’m not feeling my best. I think, in general, it just gives me a lot of confidence moving forward.”

How about the No. 2 

Jannik Sinner edged Joao Fonseca, 7-6(6), 7-6(4) in the night session. It was a very tough match, but he came through, over  the young Brazilian, Joao Fonseca, 7-6(6), 7-6(4) . Over the past three years, Sinner became much more control, hitting some tremendous shots, and also, he now mixes it up, a lot.

It was highly close, but Sinner swung it, and he nailed his forehand and his backhand.  

“You have always to improve in a way, because everyone is changing small details, so you also have to be quite present in every practice session. But I like the way we’re approaching the practice sessions and matches. Is something what I always look up to, so there are still certain areas where I need to improve, where I need to feel like more confident in a way, but in the other way, I’m very happy to compete, and that’s the most important,” Sinner said.

Aryna Sabalenka is winning all the time, beating the other No. 1,  Naomi Osaka 6-2, 6-4. Her forehand and her backhand is mammoth, and years ago, her serves was mediocre. But now, she can do almost all of it, except at the net. Plus, often, she can block the crowds.

“Sometimes they can be really annoying, and I can hear them. But I can really recognize well if it’s my opponent or if it was from the crowd.

Never happen to me, actually,” Sabalenka said. “I feel like in this case they should have just replayed the point because it was, the player got distracted by someone.  That’s tricky.

If it’s like you’re about to make your shot and someone yelled super loud something, then yeah, you can get distracted, just like shocked by the noise, and then of course you can miss your shot.” 

The last one was the Canadian, Victoria Mboko, who won it. She is going up towards the top. But as she said, all of them, the younger players, to win a Slam, someday.

“Everyone wants to, of course, beat you. They want to play well against you. I feel like anything can happen. It’s not like I expect to win every single tournament every single week, and that’s almost quite impossible. I just take it week by week. If it’s not my week, then you just move on. You just try to find the positives in it.