The term Fan Week is increasingly popular in sports. Aimed at energizing tennis and making it attractive in everyone’s eyes, this event—now indispensable at certain major tournaments—is enjoying growing success.
Long regarded as a simple appetizer before the main show, qualifying week has now established itself as an event in its own right. Between raw emotions, spectacular innovations, and record attendance, Opening Week is shaking up the codes of world tennis.
In 1973, Billie Jean King did far more than beat Bobby Riggs: she toppled a symbol. Five decades later, the “Battle of the Sexes” is reborn between Aryna Sabalenka and Nick Kyrgios, but this time, the battle seems to have lost its soul.
Social networks have opened an unprecedented era for tennis: one in which notoriety is built as much on the court as on Instagram. But how far can this quest for visibility go without shaking the players’ balance?
Before flying to Auckland and then Melbourne, Gaël Monfils shared an emotional message with his daughter. The Frenchman, who will play his last season on the tour, speaks tenderly about this unbreakable bond that pushes him to surpass himself one last time.
The Auckland tournament promises to be thrilling: Ben Shelton will lead the way, but the spotlight will be on Gaël Monfils, the defending champion, and Stan Wawrinka, prestigious invitees.
In an emotional interview, Monfils discusses fatigue, his family, but also the difficulty of announcing his retirement to the one who has always supported him: his father.