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“Jack Draper announced this week that he is out of Roland Garros. The 24 year old has been dealing with a knee tendon issue that forced him to retire mid match in Barcelona earlier this month, and the team has decided that getting healthy for the rest of the 2026 season matters more than chasing Paris. The world number 28 took to Instagram saying, quote, my knee is on the mend and I've started hitting balls, but unfortunately, I have been advised not to play Roland Garros. As gutting as it is to miss another slam, the advice is not to rush straight back into playing 5¢ tennis on clay. See you soon. This story has layers beyond just losing Draper from the draw. It is about rankings math, and the math is brutal. Draper made the fourth round of Roland Garros last year on his way to a career high ranking at four in June. Right now, every point the Brit does not defend, he loses. Now you're probably asking, why doesn't he just take a protected ranking? Quick refresher. The ATP rule says if you are physically injured or ill and do not compete in any event for twenty six consecutive weeks, you can petition to use your protected ranking to enter tournaments when you come back. The catch is that word, consecutive. Draper has been in and out all season. He returned in Dubai, beat Djokovic to reach the quarters in Indian Wells, retired in Barcelona with the knee. That stop star pattern means the clock keeps resetting. He has not strung together six straight months off the tour, so he does not qualify for the protected ranking.”

“Three women punched their first ever WTA one thousand semifinals tickets. Let's run through it. First, Hailey Baptiste, the 24 year old American faced world number one, Irina Sabalenka in the quarters. Irina had not dropped a single match all clay season and did not let this one go easily. Baptiste saved six match points before closing out the upset, giving the world number 32 the biggest win of her career and punching her ticket to the semis. Second, Anastasia Potipova. She came in as a lucky loser, meaning she lost in qualifying and only got into the main draw because somebody pulled out. Anybody say tacos? One week later, she is in her first WTA one thousand semifinal with a huge statement win over Alina Rybakina. Talk about taking advantage of a second chance. And third, Marta Kostya. Also into her first WTA one thousand semi, she paired it with a press conference where she opened up about therapy work she has been doing on the mental side of the game in recent years.”

“The USTA and Oura, the smart ring company, announced a deal this week making Oura the official wearable of The US Open. Every player in the twenty twenty six main draw will receive an Oura ring. The partnership is built around recovery education, sleep tracking, and helping players manage the load of a slam fortnight. Per an article published by the Sports Business Journal, this also locks Oura in as a USTA coaching education partner, meaning the data those rings collect will feed into how the USTA develops the next wave of American players. Now here is a wrinkle. A lot of these players already have personal deals with other wearable brands. You may remember the Australian Open controversy earlier this year when they asked top players to remove their Whoop devices mid match. Since then, both the French Open and Wimbledon announced wearables would be allowed during play in the twenty twenty six tournaments. And now here's the USTA pushing it even further with a tournament and federation wide partnership, waiting to hear if the Australian Open will change their policies heading into 2027.”

“Last week, Arkansas announced it is dropping both its men's and women's programs at the end of this spring season. This week, Illinois State announced it's dropping its men's program but keeping the women's program. More than a dozen division one schools now have cut their tennis programs since 2023. Okay. Now, onto the good ish side of the story. The NCAA division one tennis championships start today with regional rounds kicking off across the country. Now get this, Arkansas, the program that just got the rug pulled out from under it, is in the men's bracket. The Razorbacks earned an at large bid and will face off in round one against Cornell in Fort Worth today. So this apparently is going to be the last ride for the Arkansas tennis program. If I'm being honest, I am channeling hard the positive energy for this to turn into a Hollywood ready story where the Razorbacks go on a run to the finals and save their program.”