Sports
Tennis Briefing: Davis Cup progress, unlucky Seoul tournament, two remarkably short matches
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, the Davis Cup returned, there were two very short matches — in very different ways — and one women’s tournament bore the brunt of tennis schedule fatigue.
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What’s going on in the Davis Cup?
The final eight for the Davis Cup group stage finals were decided over the weekend, with Canada and the Netherlands joining Italy, Australia, Spain, Germany, Argentina and the United States as the qualified nations. The latter topped their group last week in Zhuhai, China, despite being without any of Taylor Fritz, Tommy Paul, Frances Tiafoe and Ben Shelton.
Spain’s qualification will be a particular relief to the tournament organizers given the finals are taking place in the Spanish city of Malaga. Home fans can look forward to seeing the star quality of Carlos Alcaraz — and possibly Rafael Nadal — with the former looking much more like himself in Spain’s group matches against France and the Czech Republic. Alcaraz produced a consummate performance to beat France’s Ugo Humbert 6-3, 6-3 after his first appearance since losing early at the U.S. Open ended quickly on Wednesday when Czech opponent Tomas Machac was forced to retire with cramp at one set apiece.
After the match with Humbert, Alcaraz reiterated what he said in New York about his performances over the U.S. hard-court swing not being good enough: “I have tried not to do the bad things that I did on the American tour. I had been training well, but training is one thing and competition is another.”
Carlos Alcaraz helped Spain to qualify for the Davis Cup with some sparkling tennis (David Aliaga / NurPhoto via Getty Images)
Others who struggled in New York also had satisfying performances last week.
The Canadian pair of Denis Shapovalov and Felix Auger Aliassime both went out of the U.S. Open in the first round but helped their country into the Davis Cup showpiece in November. Shapovalov recorded an impressive win over Great Britain’s Dan Evans 6-0, 7-5 in Manchester, England, on Sunday, while Auger-Aliassime won all three of his matches during the week, including a straight-sets success on Sunday against U.S. Open semifinalist Jack Draper. It was the first meeting between the two since the controversial ending to their match in Cincinnati last month when Draper won with a shot that video replays showed to have been illegal.
The Davis Cup group stage finals will take place in Malaga between November 19-24, with Italy looking to retain their title. Recent winners Great Britain, France and Croatia all failed to make the cut.
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Thirteen games, 37 minutes, and one Benoit Paire
Scan those details of a men’s tennis match and a longtime tennis fan will likely think something like “Benoit Paire doing Benoit Paire things”. Paire, 35, is one of the most mercurial players in the sport, capable of drop volleys from heaven and tantrums from hell (spitting on a ball mark in a match against Francisco Cerundolo in 2021, packing his bag with at least one game left against Cameron Norrie at the 2022 U.S. Open, things of that nature.)
So look at a 6-1, 6-0 reverse to Britain’s Jacob Fearnley at the Blot Open in Rennes, France, and it’s easy to see all the same stuff. Well, not quite.
In reality, Fearnley got out of a 15-30 and then 30-30 service game in the first set, having broken Paire in the opening game. His misses were largely close to the lines, a few scary forehand returns into the lower part of the net notwithstanding. Make no mistake, this was a one-sided thrashing — it just wasn’t the histrionic kind easily associated with the Frenchman… Until the end. Blowing kisses to the crowd who jeered him to the handshake, Paire was not long off-court when he delivered his ultimate assessment of the match.
😂😂😂
— paire benoit (@benoitpaire) September 11, 2024
Fearnley went on to win the whole tournament, coming back from a thrashing of his own in the final. Quentin Halys won their first set 6-0, before Fearnley took the second on a tiebreak, cruising past the dispirited Frenchman in the third.
In Monastir, Tunisia, fellow Brit Sonay Kartal won her first WTA title, triumphing in the 250-level event against Rebecca Sramkova.
James Hansen
What follows 37 minutes? Thirty-eight minutes
One of the great things about the Davis Cup is the way players somehow bridge huge ranking differentials to pull off major upsets. Or at least find ways to be competitive against far more vaunted opponents.
And then you get matches like the one on Saturday in Belgrade between 24-time Grand Slam champion Novak Djokovic and the world No. 770 Ioannis Xilas, of Greece.
Xilas was playing in the tie against Serbia after Stefanos Tsitsipas pulled out and won a solitary game in a 6-0, 6-1 defeat that lasted 38 minutes. In a sport where the average set lasts longer than that, it was an astonishingly one-sided rout. Though less so given the 766 places Xilas was giving up in the rankings — so maybe the surprise is that this sort of thing doesn’t happen more often.
The following day, Djokovic teamed up with Hamad Medjedovic to secure victory in the tie with a 6-3, 3-6, 6-3 win in the doubles rubber against Aristotelis Thanos and Petros Tsitsipas.
The win means Serbia will compete in next year’s Davis Cup qualifiers for a chance to return to the group-stage finals.
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How one unlucky tournament bore the brunt of tennis’ long summer
After she won the Seoul title in 2023, Jessica Pegula looked ahead to even better things in 2024.
“Hopefully, we can get even higher-ranked players and more girls to come here and play. The city is amazing and I’ve had so much fun here,” Pegula, who is half-Korean on her mother’s side, said after her victory over Yuan Yue.
The American, who reached the final of this year’s U.S. Open, was discussing the tournament’s elevation from 250-level to 500-level, beginning this year. But by the time it came around, world No. 3 Pegula had to pull out with a rib injury. Elena Rybakina, world No. 4, and Emma Navarro, world No. 8, also withdrew.
Jessica Pegula lost to Aryna Sabalenka in the U.S. Open final (Luke Hales / Getty Images)
And then the coup de grace, when world No. 1 Iga Swiatek informed tournament organizers she too would be skipping the event, citing fatigue. So, all four top-10 players are out in the first year of a newly-elevated tournament. The new top four seeds, Daria Kasatkina, Liudmila Samsonova, Beatriz Haddad Maia and Diana Shnaider will see great opportunity; the tennis calendar will see another example of its gruelling schedule doing more harm to the sport’s infrastructure than good.
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Shot of the week
Carlos Alcaraz looking a bit more like Carlos Alcaraz here.
Recommended reading:
🏆 The winners of the week
🎾 ATP:
🏆 Vit Kopriva (5) def. Andrea Pellegrino 7-5. 6-2 to win the Szczecin Open (Challenger 125) in Szczecin, Poland. It is the Czech’s fourth Challenger title.
🏆 Christopher O’Connell (1) def. Sho Shimabukuro 1-6, 7-5, 7-6(5) to win the Guangzhou Open (Challenger 100) in Guangzhou, China. It is his sixth Challenger title.
🏆 Jacob Fearnley (8) def. Quentin Halys (4) 0-6, 7-6(5), 6-3 to win the Rennes Blot Open (Challenger 100) in Rennes, France. It is Fearnley’s third Challenger title.
🏆 Learner Tien (3) def. Tristan Boyer (6) 7-5, 1-6, 6-3 to win the Las Vegas Tennis Open (Challenger 75) in Las Vegas. It is Tien’s second Challenger title.
🎾 WTA:
🏆 Magdalena Frech (5) def. Olivia Gadecki 7-6(5), 6-4 to win the Guadalajara Open in Guadalajara, Mexico. It is Frech’s first WTA Tour title.
🏆 Sonay Kartal def. Rebecca Sramkova 6-3, 7-5 to win the Jasmin Open (250) in Monastir, Tunisia. It is the Brit’s first WTA Tour title.
🏆 Jil Teichmann def. Nuria Parrizas Diaz 7-6(8), 6-4 to win the Zavarovalnica Sava Ljubljana (125) in Ljubljana, Slovenia. It is her first WTA 125 title.
📈 On the rise
📈 O’Connell moves up 12 places from No. 87 to No. 75 after his title in Guangzhou.
📈 Camila Osorio rises 20 places from No. 81 to No. 61 after her run to the semifinals in Guadalajara.
📈 Fearnley ascends 35 spots from No. 164 to No. 129 after his title in Rennes.
📅 Coming up
🎾 ATP
📍Chengdu, China: Chengdu Open (250) featuring Lorenzo Musetti, Shang Juncheng, Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard, Nicolas Jarry.
📍Hangzhou, China: Hangzhou Open (250) featuring Marin Cilic (WC), Holger Rune, Zhang Zhizhen, Brandon Nakashima.
📍Berlin: Laver Cup featuring Carlos Alcaraz, Daniil Medvedev, Taylor Fritz, Ben Shelton.
📺 UK: Sky Sports; U.S.: Tennis Channel 💻 Tennis TV
🎾 WTA
📍Seoul: Korea Open (500) featuring Daria Kasatkina, Amanda Anisimova, Emma Raducanu, Diana Shnaider.
📍Hua Hin, Thailand: Tournament (250) featuring Wang Xinyu, Katerina Siniakova, Katie Volynets, Mayar Sherif.
📺 UK: Sky Sports; U.S.: Tennis Channel
Tell us what you noticed this week in the comments below as the men’s and women’s tours continue.
(Top photo: Getty Images; design: Eamonn Dalton)
Sports
Tom Izzo explodes on former Michigan State player in wild scene: ‘What the f— are you doing?’
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Michigan State head coach Tom Izzo has been known to get visibly angry with his players over his years in East Lansing, but what happened Monday night against USC was different.
Izzo let loose his frustration on a former player.
During the Spartans’ blowout over the Trojans, 80-51, Izzo was spotted unloading on former Michigan State center Paul Davis, who played for the team from 2002-06, after he caused a disturbance in the stands.
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Head coach Tom Izzo of the Michigan State Spartans reacts to a call during a game against the Nebraska Cornhuskers during the first half at Pinnacle Bank Arena Jan. 2, 2026, in Lincoln, Neb. (Steven Branscombe/Getty Images)
Referees pointed out Davis, who was a spectator, from his courtside seat after he was among many in the building who disagreed with a call in the second half. Davis stood up and shouted at referee Jeffrey Anderson.
Anderson responded with a loud whistle, stopping play and pointing at Davis. Then, Anderson went over to Izzo to explain what happened, and the 70-year-old coach went ballistic.
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First, he was motioning toward Davis, and it was clear he asked his former center, “What the f— are you doing?”
Davis was met by someone asking him to leave his seat, and that’s when Izzo went nuts. He shouted “Get out of here!” at Davis, who appeared to gesture toward Izzo, perhaps in apology for disturbing the game.
Izzo was asked about Davis’ ejection after the game.
“What he said, he should never say anywhere in the world,” Izzo responded when asked what happened. “That ticked me off. So, just because it’s 25, 20 years later, I’m going to have to call him tomorrow and tell him what I thought of it. And you know what he’ll say? ‘I screwed up, coach. I’m sorry.’”
Izzo quickly clarified that what Davis said “wasn’t something racial” and “it wasn’t something sexual.”
Michigan State Spartans head coach Tom Izzo protests a call that benefited the Iowa Hawkeyes during the first half at Jack Breslin Student Events Center Dec. 2, 2025. (Dale Young/Imagn Images)
“It was just the wrong thing to say, and I’ll leave it at that.”
Davis later met with reporters Tuesday, apologizing for his actions.
“I’m not up here to make any excuses. I’m up here to take accountability, to own it,” Davis said. It was a mistake that will never happen again. It was a mistake that’s not me, but, unfortunately, last night it was.”
Izzo said Davis was one of his “favorite guys” during his time playing for the Spartans. He had a breakout sophomore campaign with 15.8 points, 6.2 rebounds and two assists per game in 30 starts for Izzo during the 2003-04 season.
Head coach Tom Izzo of the Michigan State Spartans reacts during a game against the Nebraska Cornhuskers during the second half at Pinnacle Bank Arena Jan. 2, 2026, in Lincoln, Neb. (Steven Branscombe/Getty Images)
In his senior year, Davis averaged 17.5 points, a career-high, in 33 games.
He was taken in the second round of the 2006 NBA Draft by the Los Angeles Clippers. Davis played just four seasons in the league, his final one with the Washington Wizards.
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MADISON, Wis. — Can a team be in crisis just a handful of games into conference play?
UCLA is testing that possibility given what happened here Tuesday night as part of a larger downward trend.
Lacking one of their top players with guard Skyy Clark sidelined by a hamstring injury, the Bruins also were deficient in many other areas.
Defense. Heart. Toughness. Cohesion. Intelligence.
In a game that the Bruins needed to win to get their season back on track and have any realistic chance at an elite finish in the Big Ten, they fell flat once more.
Another terrible first half led to another failed comeback for UCLA during an 80-72 loss to Wisconsin on Tuesday night at the Kohl Center, leaving the Bruins in search of answers that seem elusive.
There was a dustup with 10 seconds left when UCLA’s Eric Dailey Jr. pushed Wisconsin’s Nolan Winter after absorbing a hard foul, forcing a scrum of players to congregate along the baseline. Winter was assessed a flagrant-1 foul and Dailey a technical foul that was offset by a technical foul on Badgers guard Nick Boyd.
About the only thing to celebrate for the Bruins was not giving up.
Thanks to a flurry of baskets from Dailey and a three-pointer from Trent Perry that broke his team’s 0-for-14 start from long range, UCLA pulled to within 63-56 midway through the second half. Making the Bruins’ rally all the more improbable was that much of it came with leading scorer Tyler Bilodeau on the bench with four fouls.
But Wisconsin countered with five consecutive points and the Bruins (10-5 overall, 2-2 Big Ten) never mounted another threat on the way to a second consecutive loss.
Dailey scored 18 points but missed all five of his three-pointers, fitting for a team that made just one of 17 shots (5.9%) from long range. Bilodeau added 16 points and Perry had 15.
Boyd scored 20 points to lead the Badgers (10-5, 2-2), who won in large part by their volume of three-pointers, making 10 of 30 attempts (33.3%) from beyond the arc.
Unveiling a turnover-choked, defensively challenged performance, UCLA played as if it were trying to top its awful first-half showing against Iowa from three days earlier.
It didn’t help that the Bruins were shorthanded from tipoff.
With Clark unavailable, UCLA coach Mick Cronin turned to Perry and pivoted to a smaller lineup featuring forward Brandon Williams alongside Bilodeau as the big men.
For the opening 10 minutes, it felt like a repeat of Wisconsin’s blowout victory over UCLA during the Big Ten tournament last March. The Badgers made seven of 11 three-pointers on the way to building a 20-point lead midway through the first half as Cronin continually tinkered with his lineup, trying to find a winning combination.
It never came.
He tried backup center Steven Jamerson II for a little more than a minute before yanking him after Jamerson committed a foul. He put in backup guard Jamar Brown and took him out after Brown gave up a basket and fumbled a pass out of bounds for a turnover. Backup guard Eric Freeny got his chance as well and airballed a three-pointer.
Wisconsin surged ahead with an early 13-0 run and nearly matched it with a separate 11-0 push. The Bruins then lost Perry for the rest of the first half after he hit his chin while diving for a loose ball, pounding the court in frustration with a balled fist before holding a towel firmly against his injured chin during a timeout. (He returned in the second half with a heavy bandage.)
Just when it seemed as if things couldn’t get worse, they did. Williams limped off the court with cramps late in the first half and the Bruins failed to box out Wisconsin’s Andrew Rohde on two possessions, leading to a putback and two free throws after he was fouled on another putback attempt.
UCLA almost seemed fortunate to be down only 45-31 by the game’s midpoint, though being on pace to give up 90 points couldn’t have pleased a coach known for defense.
Another comeback that came up short didn’t make things any better.
Sports
Dolphins’ Tua Tagovailoa open to fresh start elsewhere after disappointing season: ‘That would be dope’
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Tua Tagovailoa appears to be ready to move on from the Miami Dolphins – a feeling that seems mutual between the two sides.
Tagovailoa was benched for the final three games of the season due to poor performance. A day after the Dolphins’ season ended with a 38-10 loss to division rival New England, the sixth-year signal-caller appeared open to the idea of a “fresh start.”
Mike McDaniel speaks with Miami Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa (1) in the fourth quarter of a game against the Buffalo Bills at Hard Rock Stadium on Sept. 25, 2022, in Miami Gardens, Florida. (Megan Briggs/Getty Images)
“That would be dope. I would be good with it,” Tagovailoa said Monday, according to The Palm Beach Post, when asked specifically if he was “hoping for a fresh start.”
When asked by another reporter if he understood “fresh start” as playing “elsewhere,” Tagovailoa reportedly confirmed it.
The remarks came the same day that head coach Mike McDaniel confirmed that the team would be approaching the 2025-2026 season with a competitive mindset for the position.
“In 2026, I think there will be competition for our starting quarterback. What that is and how that looks, there’s a lot that remains to be seen. It’s the most important position on the football field, and you have to make sure you do everything possible to get the best person out there on the field.”
Miami Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa runs off the field during the first half of an NFL football game against the New England Patriots in Foxborough, Massachusetts, on Jan. 4, 2026. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty)
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“Who that is – whether they’re in-house or somewhere else, that’s something that we’ll be extremely diligent on,” he continued. “But I know there will be competition for those reins. That much I do know.”
Tagovailoa threw for 2,660 yards with 20 touchdowns this season, but he struggled with accuracy and mobility, throwing a career-high of 15 interceptions. His poor performance comes just one season after signing a four-year, $212.4 million contract extension in July 2024.
Miami Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa speaks during a press conference after an NFL football game against the Baltimore Ravens, Thursday, Oct. 30, 2025, in Miami Gardens, Florida. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)
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The Dolphins face a serious decision regarding Tagovailoa, as releasing him next year would result in a $99 million dead cap charge. If the move is designated as a post-June 1 release, those charges would be split over two years, with $67.4 million allocated to the 2026 cap and $31.8 million in 2027.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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