Sports
Tennis players, the ATP, WTA and the Grand Slams are on a collision course as season begins
It became clear that the fractured dysfunction that courses through professional tennis was getting worse on a bright November morning in Turin, Italy.
Andrea Gaudenzi, the chairman of the ATP Tour who views himself as the sport’s ultimate mover and shaker, was holding court in the sparkling hospitality dining area at the 2024 men’s Tour Finals before the room filled for lunch with corporate guests. White tablecloths, crystal stemware and silver flatware covered the tables.
About 100 yards away in the Inalpi Arena, a couple of exercise bikes and some rubber mats jammed into the dark corner of a basement corridor comprised the warmup and cooldown area for the players who are the lifeblood of men’s tennis. Just two months before, the men’s game’s most important young star, Carlos Alcaraz, had added his voice to the chorus of complaints about the inability of the people in charge of the sport to fix the 11-month, globe-crossing schedule.
“Probably, they are going to kill us in some way,” he said in a news conference at the Laver Cup in Berlin.
Players on both the ATP and WTA Tours spent most of the year in that chorus, largely lamenting the expansion of most 1,000-level tournaments — the rung below the four Grand Slams — from nine days to 12. The essentially two-week events reduce unbroken time off; the tours say that having a day of rest between matches in-tournament makes up for it. In 2025, just two of nine ATP Masters 1000 tournaments will finish in one week and players must play eight of them. On the WTA Tour, three of 10 are shorter; all 10 are mandatory.
In Turin, Gaudenzi had his chance to chime in. There is flexibility and space for change, he said. There was a but.
“We also have to consider that, if you do that, you’re destroying the product.”
Gaudenzi, who played in the 1990s, also lamented that five-set tennis matches are now reserved for Grand Slams.
“We started taking off, taking off, taking off from the product,” he said.
“Taking away from that product, in my opinion, is the wrong strategy. We have to take away somewhere else. Our commitment at the Masters is eight tournaments. Eight tournaments per year is not a lot.”
So says the man in the suit in the hospitality suite.
Andrea Gaudenzi with compatriot Jannik Sinner at the 2024 ATP Tour Finals. (Valerio Pennicino / Getty Images)
Players do not agree — even Stefanos Tsitsipas, who not so long ago sat down with Gaudenzi for a video promoting the changes to Masters 1000 tournaments. “The two-week Masters 1000s have turned into a drag,” the Greek wrote on X in November.
Alexander Zverev, a member of the ATP Player Council who was also in Turin, said he was already focused on 2025 and described his results as secondary to his preparations for the next season. He was spending a good hour practicing after his matches because the off-season offers so little time for rest and preparation.
Gaudenzi had thoughts on this, too.
“You need as a player a couple of weeks of holiday, a couple of weeks of rebuilding your body,” he said, “and then another couple of weeks where you start hitting the ball before you go to competition and head out towards, you know, Middle East and Australia.”
A reality check. Baseball players finish at the latest by the first week in November. They report to spring training in mid-February. NFL Players are done by early February. They have a handful of off-season workout weeks, but training camp begins in July. NBA players are done in mid-June. The vast majority finish by mid-May. Training camp begins at the end of September. The best golfers are largely done at the end of September and don’t start up again until January.
Gaudenzi was pitching a two-week holiday at the end of a nearly 11-month season, plus, potentially, the inclusion of a new 1000-level tournament to open the season in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, one week before the Australian Open and eight time zones away from Melbourne. It was this concept that sent the sport into turmoil in 2023, exposing the fissures that make it fractured and the inertia that keeps it so.
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When Gaudenzi spoke among the silverware, more than a year had passed since tennis’ latest reckoning with its endless schedule, its nonsensical governing structure, and the competitive infrastructure that even devout fans sometimes struggle to understand. This exercise occurs roughly every 10 to 15 years.
Through an endless string of meetings, phone calls, negotiations, and sidebar dealings among allies and enemies in the alphabet soup of nine organizations that rule the sport, tensions and disagreements appeared to be giving way to a consensus around a more streamlined tour and schedule then billed as the ‘Premier Tour‘. It would take in the four Grand Slams and 10 further events that would always have the best ATP and WTA players in the same city at the same time, all with the same prestige as the current 1000-level tournaments. The fractured professional ranks of tennis would head in the direction of Formula One, offering fewer events and more money, but locking out much of the globe from the sport.
That was meant to be proposed in November 2023. It was pushed to March 2024, when meetings and a fractious presentation in Indian Wells, California, revealed that the commercial underpinnings of the plan did not yet exist. By April 2024, in London and Madrid, the finances were there, with the leaders of the Australian, French and U.S. Opens and Wimbledon pledging to commit a portion of their lucrative media and sponsorship rights to the premium tour plan. The ATP and WTA were not enthusiastic, with their 250- and 500-level events essentially relegated to the minor leagues under the proposal.
For the rest of the season, there were many discussions but little more than detente. The players played more two-week 1000s; the Cincinnati and Canadian Opens prepared to expand to join their ranks from 2025. The ATP and WTA counter-proposals to the Grand Slams’ plan, hinging on an event for and sizeable investment from Saudi Arabia along with a commercial merger between the two tennis organizations, stalled too.
And then by the end of the year, as Gaudenzi and Alcaraz looked at the same sky, one said it was blue and the other said it was gray. Nearly a year and a half had passed since the turmoil began and everyone was back where they started. By some measures, a few steps behind that.
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As tennis traveled across the globe while its own inertia sapped the momentum at the top of the sport, the ATP and WTA Tours and their players spent much of 2024 engaged in a perennial shadowbox.
It was as early as April that Zverev, the highest-ranked player with some sway inside ATP meetings, said in an interview at the Madrid Open: “Four weeks is not enough for a body and for an athlete to recover, but also to get ready.”
“Days between matches are not recovery days, they’re not days that you’re resting.”
Iga Swiatek, then the world No. 1, had raised similar concerns, calling the switch to the 12-day events a big problem. The tours dug in on their increased prize money and commercial value to tennis, contending that guaranteeing top-ranked players makes selling tickets and securing money from broadcast and sponsorship easier. When criticized for the disparity in prize money between Sinner and Sabalenka in 2024, the Cincinnati Open attributed the difference to broadcast and sponsorship.
With those financial promises came stringent and, at times, arcane rules, which in the autumn helped Aryna Sabalenka take over the world No. 1 ranking because Swiatek lost points for missing the quota of six mandatory 500-level tournaments, as well as much of the Asian hard-court swing.
It was later revealed that Swiatek was sidelined for the latter because she was appealing a provisional suspension after a positive doping test, but it was the points deductions, imposed without explanation overnight into Monday, October 21, that first robbed the sport of the spectacle of Sabalenka and Swiatek battling for its top ranking.
“These rules have been changed without us even knowing about them,” Swiatek said during a news conference at the U.S. Open. “These decisions about mandatory tournaments were shown to us after. We spoke to WTA about it: that we want to at least be in the loop. I don’t think our sport is going in the right direction because of that.”
Iga Swiatek is one of the players to criticize changes to the WTA Tour rules. (Valerio Pennicino / Getty Images)
The WTA said it discussed the changes with members of the Players Council before enacting them. The organization’s new chief executive Portia Archer, who replaced Steve Simon, is still in her first months on the job and it is too soon to assess the impact of any changes she has made or has planned.
In a broader context, women’s tennis continues to struggle with something of a self-inflicted identity crisis. There is plenty of work for the WTA to do, from promotion to media management. The French Open largely refuses to schedule a women’s match for the prestigious Court Philippe Chatrier night session. The ITF held this year’s Billie Jean King Cup Finals in a pop-up bubble in the parking lot of the arena for the Davis Cup.
More broadly, vast swaths of empty seats at women’s tournaments during so many weeks of the season make the sport look less than important when television viewers happen upon it. A potential merger with the ATP that might provide some more juice on the commercial side in sponsorship and media sales remains a long-talked-about work in progress, as does the looming but far-from-confirmed 1,000-level combined event for Saudi Arabia.
Though top men’s and women’s players descended on Riyadh this season — the former for the Six Kings Slam exhibition and the latter for the first of three WTA Tour Finals there — the biggest asset of Saudi Arabia’s three-headed push into tennis remains just an idea, with uncertainty on both sides over the tournament’s size, timing and financing. It is still not expected before 2027 at the earliest, as was the case in October this year.
With the ‘Premier Tour’ in suspension, three of the four Grand Slams have continued their evolution into three-week events, building high-profile exhibitions and boosting up qualifying matches on-site during the week before the main draw. Wimbledon has made progress in joining their ranks by securing planning permission to add 39 courts — but they won’t be built for several years and the approval is under challenge from community groups. Everything in this sport takes time.
More challenges are in the works. Lawyers working with the Professional Tennis Players Association, co-founded by Novak Djokovic, have spent 2024 scouring the sport’s rules and structure, preparing for a possible anti-trust litigation with the potential to remake the sport. It has exchanged stern letters with the International Tennis Integrity Agency, which controls anti-doping regulations, in the wake of cases involving men’s world No. 1 Jannik Sinner and Swiatek, with allegations including officials acting outside the norms of due process. The ITIA has denied those allegations.
One of those antitrust lawyers, James Quinn, who has worked on suits against the NBA and the NFL, described the structure of tennis as “classic monopolization.”
It’s not hard to understand why tennis is in this position. Each of the organizations that influence the structure and oversight of the sport has its own interests to protect.
The Grand Slams want to maintain and expand their primacy. The 1000-level tournament owners have lobbied Gaudenzi, Archer and Simon not to devalue their events by giving in to player pressure on their length. Those tournaments fought to get those extra days as they agreed to raise prize money, with the events in Rome, Cincinnati and Canada pledging to equalize the women and the men by 2027. Those extra days mean selling extra tickets for extra fans who spend extra money on those tickets and at the events, as well as extra content to sell to networks and streamers.
The Cincinnati Open in Ohio will expand to two weeks for the 2025 season. (Al Bello / Getty Images)
Owners of the 250- and 500-level tournaments want to make sure Gaudenzi, Archer and Simon don’t agree to a premium tour and devalue their events. The International Tennis Federation, which controls the national team tournaments, the Billie Jean King Cup and the Davis Cup, is fighting to keep its spots on the calendar. It’s already not pleased about being right at the end.
Then, for the players who create the product, there’s the fact that they are given a smaller percentage of revenues than their counterparts in other sports. Those outside the top 50 or so are often a few bad months from having to think about cutting back on coaches and support staff. They get paid to play. There isn’t a lot of short-term incentive to rest. For 2025, ATP players in the top 30 will have to play five 500-level events to qualify for the bonus pool attached to those tournaments, instead of four. That bonus pool is growing to almost $3million (£2.4m) from just over $1m.
Add it all up and there is no shortage of intransigence and little room for optimism.
The result, at least for the time being, is something of a circular stand-off, with every side pointing at everyone else and the sound of revolution feeling more and more inevitable. For now, there is silence.
(Top photos: Getty Images; design: Eamonn Dalton)
The NHL season is nearing its midway point, with all 32 teams playing between 35 and 41 games. By now, we generally know what each team is and isn’t and whether the rest of the season should be focused on title contention, short-term progress or the long-term future.
What better time to break out our red pens and hand out some grades? That’s exactly what The Athletic did this week when it asked its NHL staff to assign a grade to every team with expectations in mind. You’ll definitely want to show some of these to your parents (or general managers). Others … maybe not.
The Ducks are more competitive in Greg Cronin’s second season. Tangible proof exists with a minus-19 goal differential through 37 games compared to the minus-91 in 2023-24. They’re also starting to close the gap between shots on goal and against, and their defending in five-on-five play is improving, as evidenced by their goal share bumping up from a brutal 42.19 percent to a more respectable 47.79 percent. But their special teams remain horrid, ranking 31st on the power play and 26th in penalty killing (as of Thursday). The lowly offense is keeping them from winning more close games, but wins this week against Edmonton, New Jersey and Winnipeg point to resiliency and positive momentum being created. — Eric Stephens
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The Bruins have improved under interim coach Joe Sacco. They are in a playoff position. They are far tighter defensively. David Pastrnak and Brad Marchand are looking more like themselves. But it does not excuse their start under ex-coach Jim Montgomery. That they went 8-9-3 has put them in a position where every point matters. — Fluto Shinzawa
After how this season has gone for the Buffalo Sabres, it’s hard to give them a passing grade. (Nick Turchiaro / Imagn Images)
The Sabres were supposed to be in win-now mode, ready to take the next step under new coach Lindy Ruff. Instead, they are in last place in the Eastern Conference after a 13-game winless streak derailed their season. It’s tough to justify anything other than a failing grade for a team that had 91 points two seasons ago and is on track to regress for the second straight season. — Matthew Fairburn
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It’s a season above expectations in some regards for the Flames. They’re in the hunt for a playoff spot instead of being in the basement. Their young players — Dustin Wolf, Connor Zary and Matthew Coronato — are taking steps forward. Even Jonathan Huberdeau is having a better season than expected, having already surpassed his goals total from last year. But they still need to make some crucial decisions for their rebuild/retool, including obtaining a game-breaking talent. — Julian McKenzie
Most everyone expected the Hurricanes to take a step back this season, with some even suggesting Carolina would miss the playoffs. It didn’t take long for the Hurricanes to silence the doubters with a red-hot start to the season. Carolina has struggled some of late due to a combination of injured and inconsistent goalies and difficulties scoring at five-on-five. Still, the Hurricanes have firmly established themselves as Metropolitan Division contenders and a threat in the Eastern Conference. There are facets of the game Carolina can improve upon, but Rod Brind’Amour again has the Hurricanes near the top of the league. — Cory Lavalette
The Blackhawks didn’t have a high bar to meet this season. All they had to do was show better than last season. That was the expectation from Blackhawks general manager Kyle Davidson. So far, they haven’t even reached that. They’re at the bottom of the league in the standings and have already gone through a coaching change. Another top-three draft pick would help the rebuild, but that wasn’t the goal for this season. — Scott Powers
The Blackhawks didn’t have a high bar to meet this season, and they still have disappointed. (Daniel Bartel / Imagn Images)
After a disastrous start, the Avalanche appear to have righted the ship. They’ve rounded into form and climbed into a comfortable playoff position in the Central. Colorado has played solid hockey all season but was undone by poor goaltending early. Since GM Chris MacFarland reworked the crease in late November, the team is 11-3-1 with one of the best save percentages in the league (.912). Combine that with Nathan MacKinnon, who leads the league with 64 points, and Mikko Rantanen, who isn’t far behind with 56, and the Avalanche are right on track with room to grow. — Jesse Granger
The Blue Jackets were expected by many to be a lottery team, perhaps the worst club in the NHL. When held to that standard, they deserve high marks for hovering around .500 and hanging in the race for a wild-card spot. One more reason for the solid report card: Their young forwards have started to look like difference-makers, especially Kirill Marchenko, Dmitri Voronkov and Kent Johnson. So why is this not an A? The Jackets are one of the NHL’s worst road clubs (4-12-3), and they’ve had two stretches — a six-game winless streak (0-5-1) in November and a five-game skid (0-3-2) in December — in which they lost their way. — Aaron Portzline
The Stars are good, but we’re grading on a curve based on expectations. They seem to have reached that stage of contention in which they realize the regular season doesn’t really matter. But they might want to flip that switch a little earlier this time around because they’re hovering around the periphery of the playoff picture a little too often. A putrid power play, Tyler Seguin’s injury and some underperforming forwards have the team underachieving. But it’s still picking up points at a .600-plus clip, and with reinforcements likely on the way at the deadline, the Stars will still be a team nobody wants to see come playoff time. — Mark Lazerus
Most expected some kind of step back for the Red Wings, but their first half still fell well short of expectations. Detroit has issues with its roster, but there’s still more talent on the team than its bottom-10 record suggests. We’ll see if new coach Todd McLellan can help the Red Wings get back on track in the new year, even if the playoffs look tough to reach. — Max Bultman
The Oilers have been one of the NHL’s best teams since starting the season 0-3. Even with that initial blip, they’re comfortably inside the top third of the league when it comes to points percentage. Still, there’s room for continued improvement on the power play, in net and at a few key spots in the lineup. Get those improvements and the Oilers might attain their goal of tracking down Vegas for the top spot in the Pacific Division. — Daniel Nugent-Bowman
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It’s a testament to how good the Panthers have become that their B-game still makes them a top-10 team. We know what they’re capable of; we don’t necessarily need to see 82 games’ worth of it to be convinced. Eventually, they’ll need better from Sergei Bobrovsky (.899 save percentage, minus-1.75 goals saved above expected), and the bottom of the lineup is a bit dodgy, but the defending champs are doing just fine. — Sean Gentille
Credit should be thrown coach Jim Hiller’s way, as he has the Kings in a firm playoff position despite not having Drew Doughty all season. Just once have they dropped consecutive games in regulation play, and they’re an impressive 12-2-2 after any defeat. Anze Kopitar is a 37-year-old wonder, and Adrian Kempe, Vladislav Gavrikov and Mikey Anderson are also leading the way. Offseason adds Warren Foegele, Darcy Kuemper, Joel Edmundson and Tanner Jeannot have contributed to varying degrees, and youngsters Alex Laferriere, Brandt Clarke and Alex Turcotte have stepped up. Quinton Byfield and Jordan Spence are trending up. If anything, the 27th-ranked power play (as of Thursday) doesn’t get a passing grade. — Eric Stephens
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Some predicted the Wild to finish in the lower tier of the Central Division. The fact that Minnesota has the third-most points in the Western Conference says two things: (1) Kirill Kaprizov is a Hart Trophy candidate. (2) The Wild get a high grade for exceeding expectations. They hit a recent rut after a hot start, but they’ve put themselves in a good spot thanks to Kaprizov, a big bounce-back year from goaltender Filip Gustavsson and plenty of resilience, including being tested by injuries to Kaprizov, captain Jared Spurgeon and Jake Middleton. — Joe Smith
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A late surge to close out 2024 helped achieve this grade, but the Canadiens’ stated goal for the season was to be in the playoff mix and learn winning habits. In that sense, the Canadiens are achieving their goals, beginning 2025 with a .500 record and within earshot of a playoff spot. Thus, a strong grade. The best part of this Canadiens season is there is still room for improvement from some of their best players. — Arpon Basu
The season that started with arguably the most talented roster in franchise history, with some of the highest expectations, has a chance to be the worst season in franchise history. How can it be anything other than an F? The Preds have picked it up a bit lately, but unless they make a miraculous turnaround to make the playoffs, the F will stand. — Joe Rexrode
New Jersey has integrated its offseason additions well and is near the top of the Metro Division standings. Coach Sheldon Keefe has brought a detailed approach, and the Devils have draft picks with which they can work ahead of the deadline. They look like legitimate contenders. — Peter Baugh
The worst power play in the league. The worst penalty kill in the league — and potentially in NHL history. Blown leads. Missing offense. A tired No. 1 goalie. The Islanders are only in shouting distance of a playoff spot because half the East is mediocre, but they’ve separated themselves of late to be even worse. — Arthur Staple
The Rangers’ collapse is impossible to justify. There’s blame to spread up and down the organization, from the owner to the general manager to the coach to the players. This team was two wins from the Stanley Cup Final in June and started 12-4-1. Now it feels almost certain the Rangers will be sellers at the deadline. They’ve already moved Jacob Trouba and Kaapo Kakko, and more changes are coming. — Peter Baugh
Despite a wonky November, the Senators look to be back on track and playing to their potential. They’ll need to survive without Linus Ullmark for some time. But the confidence surrounding their team under Travis Green’s coaching could help. Ullmark, Tim Stützle, Drake Batherson and Brady Tkachuk are at the forefront of their team’s success with occasional contributions from their supporting players. They’ll need good goaltending back and a few roster tweaks to cement their place in the playoffs. — Julian McKenzie
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The Flyers are probably about where they should be at this stage of their rebuild, hovering around .500 while experiencing some growing pains as a team and individually. Rookie Matvei Michkov looks like the real deal despite some ups and downs under coach John Tortorella, and Travis Sanheim and Travis Konecny have shown why they are franchise cornerstones. Conversely, other young players such as Jamie Drysdale, Tyson Foerster and Owen Tippett have struggled with their consistency. What drops the Flyers a bit below average is their goaltending, as Sam Ersson hasn’t yet shown he can handle a No. 1 workload, and projects Ivan Fedotov and Aleksei Kolosov have been brutal. — Kevin Kurz
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The Penguins started the season with a brutal October, and though they’ve played much better since, making the playoffs will be a chore because of that horrific start. Goal prevention, because of leaky goaltending and an overall inability to defend, remains the Penguins’ biggest issue. Sidney Crosby has come alive in recent weeks after a slow start, which offers some hope. — Josh Yohe
The Penguins’ Sidney Crosby has come alive in recent weeks after a slow start, which offers some hope. (Justin Berl / Getty Images)
It feels weird to give a good grade to a team near the bottom of the standings, but this season is going to plan. The Sharks had low expectations going in, and they’ve been much more competitive most nights, but there have been enough blown third-period leads to keep them in the mix for another top-three pick. Macklin Celebrini is a leading Calder Trophy candidate. Pending UFAs have provided potential trade value, with Mikael Granlund and Luke Kunin having strong seasons. Cody Ceci should be a depth add for a contender on defense. Jake Walman has been a steal from Detroit, and Yaroslav Askarov is getting NHL action and showing, as he did Thursday against Tampa Bay, he’ll soon be their No. 1 goalie. — Eric Stephens
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The Kraken are shaping up to be an also-ran side for a second consecutive year, sapping the momentum the franchise was able to generate during its dream second season. Poor backup goaltending, young players not taking a significant step (or not bouncing back as hoped, in Matty Beniers’ case) and a high-profile UFA who has massively underperformed in Chandler Stephenson have hurt the Kraken’s efforts to take a step forward this season. The club is still technically in the mix for a playoff spot, but it’s going to be a steep climb over the balance for a team that has mostly underwhelmed in the first half. — Thomas Drance
This is where most of us expected the Blues to be near the halfway point of the season: hovering around .500 and within reach of a wild-card spot. That probably means they deserve an average “C” grade, but I’m giving them a slight bump because of their .618 points percentage (through Thursday) since Jim Montgomery took over on Nov. 24 — which is tied for 10th in the NHL in that span — and also because of the jolt Cam Fowler has given them on the blue line since being traded from Anaheim. — Jeremy Rutherford
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The Lightning’s playoff chances hinge on their elite core, and big offseason additions have helped elevate them. Jake Guentzel is bringing the heat on the top line, Ryan McDonagh has been a stout shutdown force, and J.J. Moser has solidified the top four. This team looks like it could do some damage in the postseason, but it still needs a little help. Andrei Vasilevskiy isn’t playing at his best yet, and the Lightning could use more scoring depth and need some injury luck after Victor Hedman left Thursday’s game. — Shayna Goldman
The fact the Leafs have hung around the top of the Atlantic Division all season despite their best player, Auston Matthews, either missing time or playing at less than 100 percent is deserving of praise. This team has bought into Craig Berube’s approach, playing a less risky, lower-event brand of hockey. With improved personnel and much better goaltending, the Leafs give up less than they did last season, including on a penalty kill that has made a leap. The trade-off has been a less potent offense, though stars Mitch Marner, William Nylander and John Tavares are having strong seasons. — Jonas Siegel
Utah’s season has been a bit all over the map, especially lately. A 6-0-1 stretch in mid-December gave way to a frustrating losing skid that has made the playoffs a long shot. After Thursday’s win against the Flames, the Hockey Clubbers are on pace for just 86 points, which is below preseason expectations. There have been mitigating circumstances, with injuries to two of their top four defensemen and goaltender Connor Ingram, but Utah’s offense has been surprisingly impotent (21st in goals per game as of Thursday), and that has wasted a strong season from Karel Vejmelka in net (fourth in the NHL in GSAx as of Thursday). But it’s an A-plus for the new owner and fans so far. — James Mirtle
The Canucks’ results have been disappointing, and their perch in the standings is modest relative to preseason expectations. But given all the team has dealt with on the injury front and the off-ice drama, the fact the Canucks are still clear of the playoff bar in the West is probably a strong indicator of roster quality. We’ll fairly ding their grade for their game-to-game inconsistency, struggles to generate offensively, defensive regression and lack of answers in non-Quinn Hughes minutes, but we expect this club to be more formidable down the stretch. — Thomas Drance
The Golden Knights have won 11 of their last 13 and have the best record in the NHL at 26-9-3. They’ve been strong in nearly every phase of the game, with the fifth-ranked offense and sixth-ranked defense (as of Thursday). Vegas’ best players have been excellent, with Jack Eichel entering the Hart conversation. Players down the lineup — such as Brett Howden and Keegan Kolesar — are having career years, and goaltender Adin Hill has been solid in net with 8.28 GSAx. It’s hard to find a weakness on this team through 38 games. — Jesse Granger
There are things not to love about the Caps’ season; they’re 4-4-1 with a goal differential of zero in their last nine. Alex Ovechkin missed a chunk of time that could push his record chase into next season. The power play is just OK. Other than that, though? Smashing success. They’re leading the Eastern Conference in points as of Thursday, and they’re doing it sustainably. A no-brainer “A”-worthy showing thus far. — Sean Gentille
When the season began, I thought last year’s 110 points were out of reach but that an improved power play could make up for any trouble at even strength. I thought the Jets would be a playoff team, but the chance of finishing first in the standings is beyond my expectations. Connor Hellebuyck is having another fantastic, Vezina Trophy-caliber season, Davis Payne’s power play is firing on all cylinders, and Winnipeg’s top skaters — Mark Scheifele, Josh Morrissey, Kyle Connor, Nikolaj Ehlers and Gabriel Vilardi — are all playing like game breakers. Jets fans know second-half slides all too well, but for now, this season is beyond most fans’ wildest dreams. — Murat Ates
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Grades summary
(Illustration: Eamonn Dalton / The Athletic. Photos: Jonathan Kozub / NHLI; Bruce Bennett / Getty Images)
The miracle is alive in Cincinnati.
All has gone right for the Bengals so far, as they kept their playoff hopes alive with their 19-17 win over the Pittsburgh Steelers on Saturday night.
The Bengals offense didn’t get many big splashes aside from an early touchdown to Ja’Marr Chase, but for once, it was the defense that stepped up throughout the game. In fact, the Bengals had gotten out to a 10-0 lead in the first quarter, but then mustered just four field goals the rest of the way.
The Cincinnati Bengals recover a Steelers fumble in the second quarter of the NFL Week 18 game between the Pittsburgh Steelers and the Cincinnati Bengals at Acrisure Stadium in Pittsburgh on Saturday, Jan. 4, 2025. (Sam Greene/The Enquirer / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images)
After the Steelers got a touchdown of their own in the second quarter, both offenses stalled for awhile – Cincy added a field goal just before the half ended, and they added two more on each of their first two drives of the second half to lead, 19-7 early in the final quarter.
But the Steelers offense finally got going, as Russell Wilson led a nine-play, 65-yard touchdown drive that ended in Pat Freiermuth finding the end zone, making it a five-point game.
The Steelers, with 5:24 left in the game, went three-and-out and punted the ball away. However, the ball was muffed by the Bengals and recovered by Pittsburgh on the opposite 38, giving them life again. But they were unable to take advantage, and on 4th and 18, they had to settle for a 54-yard field goal to trail, 19-17 with 2:39 to go.
Cincinnati Bengals defensive end Trey Hendrickson (91) sacks Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Russell Wilson (3) in the first quarter of the NFL Week 18 game between the Pittsburgh Steelers and the Cincinnati Bengals at Acrisure Stadium in Pittsburgh on Saturday, Jan. 4, 2025. (Sam Greene/The Enquirer / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images)
The Steelers were able to get a three-and-out and got the ball inside the two-minute warning, needing a field goal to win. On a 3rd down, Wilson saw an open George Pickens to get into field goal range, but the pass went through his hands continuing his rough night full of drops (he finished with one catch for five yards). On 4th down, Freiermuth was unable to squeeze a pass, and the Bengals kneeled out the clock to get the win.
Now, the Bengals make the playoffs if both the Denver Broncos either tie or lose to the Kansas City Chiefs, and the Miami Dolphins lose to the New York Jets.
As for the Steelers, they are still sitting at the No. 5 seed, but would fall to No. 6 if the Los Angeles Chargers win on Sunday.
Burrow made one more case for a longshot MVP nod, going 37-for-46 for 277 yards and a touchdown – Chase made 10 receptions for 96 yards and the first quarter score.
Cincinnati Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow (9) is pulled back to his feet after being sacked in the second quarter of the NFL Week 18 game between the Pittsburgh Steelers and the Cincinnati Bengals at Acrisure Stadium in Pittsburgh on Saturday, Jan. 4, 2025. (Sam Greene/The Enquirer / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images)
Wilson was 17-for-31 for 148 yards, but his weapons didn’t do him many favors. Freiermuth led the way with eight catches (for 85 yards), but the next closest was Najee Harris with four.
Best believe the Bengals will be tuned into NFL RedZone on Sunday to become the third AFC North team to make the playoffs.
Kawhi Leonard took the final shot of his pregame routine Saturday and ran off the Intuit Dome court. With fans chanting, “Kawhi! Kawhi! Kawhi!” he glanced up at the crowd and pointed his finger in acknowledgment before running into the tunnel toward the locker room.
It was a rare show of excitement by a player usually devoid of emotion.
Leonard had reason to be joyful because he was about to make his season debut after missing 34 games because of inflammation in his right knee.
Leonard started and played a total of 19 minutes, finishing with 12 points and three rebounds for the Clippers in a 131-105 rout of the Atlanta Hawks in front of a crowd that seemed to appreciate having the healthy All-Star back in action.
Leonard was on a minutes restriction in his first game back in eight months, but the Clippers (20-15) didn’t need much from him once they built a 20-point lead at halftime. He made his first shot, a three-pointer from the wing with 9:58 left in the first quarter, and finished four for 11 from the field and three for five from three-point range.
“This is like his preseason, it’s like his training camp, because he hasn’t had that,” Clippers coach Tyronn Lue said before the game. “So, everybody that is playing tonight had a training camp. They’ve played 30, 35 games and so we are going to treat it like a preseason. Like, we’re going to make sure we bring him back slowly, make sure he’s feeling well, make sure we don’t get any of the swelling back.
“It’s a great step in the right direction tonight. We got to make sure we’re doing it the right way, and I have full confidence in our medical staff that we’ll do that.”
Leonard played in just two of the Clippers’ six playoff games against the Mavericks in April. He worked out with USA Basketball in July for the Paris Olympics, but was sent home because of his knee.
That led to a long, arduous rehabilitation for Leonard that included plenty of five-on-five practices.
Lue said they grew encouraged after Leonard spent the past few days playing five on five with the San Diego Clippers, L.A.’s G League team.
“This is the most serious he’s taken playing five on five and pickup since he’s been here over the course of doing his rehab,” Lue said. “But he really went full speed. He was really locked in on just testing it out, seeing how he felt. He really did a good job in his rehabbing process and just making sure that we checked every box, because if he didn’t go hard we wouldn’t let him come back.”
Clippers forward Kawhi Leonard, center, tries to shoot over Atlanta’s Clint Capela, left, and De’Andre Hunter during the second half Saturday.
(Jayne Kamin-Oncea / Associated Press)
The Clippers are basically whole now, with Leonard and key reserve Terance Mann back. Mann, who finished with 12 points on five-for-five shooting, had missed 11 games with a finger injury.
With so many options at his disposal, James Harden had 13 of his 15 assists by halftime. Norman Powell led the Clippers with 20 points on eight-of-16 shooting.
Trae Young led Atlanta (18-18) with 20 points, 14 assists and four rebounds.
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