How did Serena Williams\u2019 comeback feel?<\/p>\n
It was the headbands that got me.<\/p>\n
I can\u2019t think of a moment I\u2019ve been excited about a GOAT coming out of retirement<\/a>. Call me grumpy, but I tend to get bummed out at the idea of a monumentally accomplished athlete returning to see what\u2019s left to squeeze out of their career. I want these all-time greats to be satisfied enough to move on with life; I want them to avoid having to face being fractionally as good as they once were; I want society to be able to let its legends lie.<\/p>\n I also know this type of mindset is utterly opposed to one of the things that makes generational athletes spectacular: The undying desire to push one\u2019s limits as far as possible.<\/p>\n Still, I had mixed personal feelings about Serena Williams\u2019 return<\/a>. As a reporter, I am interested in getting a look at her tennis. As a follower of the sport, I wasn\u2019t quite as swept up with the Queen returning as others seemed to be, though I understood Williams wanting her children to see her play competitive tennis \u2014 to know her fully.<\/p>\n I did not expect to be so transported watching her play.<\/p>\n It wasn\u2019t Williams\u2019 tennis<\/a> that did it at first, but rather the sights and sounds of her game on a grass court in London, coming through my TV on a late summery afternoon, just the way I watched her win so many Wimbledons as a kid \u2014 first as a teen, then as a young adult.<\/p>\n I chuckled to myself when she first walked out and I saw the two skinny headbands bobby-pinned to her bouncy curls, her specific bubble ponytail trailing down her back. A friend texted, \u201cshe\u2019s still loyal to that hairstyle.\u201d I smiled. Then I heard the grunts, the wails, a \u201cYES!\u201d the familiar sounds of Williams competing. Watching her service motion was like climbing into a time machine, though I appreciate its grace and power much more now than I was able to 15 years ago.<\/p>\n Then it was over, and I was watching Williams twirl in victory as she waved at the crowd alongside Victoria Mboko, as she always does after a match. I wasn\u2019t thinking about how far Williams might make it at a Grand Slam, or if she would play singles. I wasn\u2019t trying to analyze the broader impact of a 44-year-old woman playing professional sports.<\/p>\n I was sat on my couch, awash in nostalgia, thinking how lovely it is to spend an afternoon watching Williams play tennis.<\/p>\n \u2014 Ava Wallace<\/p>\n How do best friends cope with one-sided matchups?<\/p>\n For Iva Jovi\u0107<\/a>, last week\u2019s women\u2019s event at Queen\u2019s marked the second straight tournament in which she thrashed Alexandra Eala<\/a> \u2014 one of the 18-year-old American\u2019s best friends on tour. They\u2019ve played doubles together at a couple of events this year, and their friendship goes back to the 2022 U.S. Open girls\u2019 tournament.<\/p>\n That was when they first faced one another, with Eala of the Philippines, who is now 21, and future French Open champion Mirra Andreeva<\/a> beating Jovi\u0107 and compatriot Shannon Lam 6-2, 6-2 in the first round of the girls\u2019 doubles.<\/p>\n Close friends having to face one another is a longstanding tennis dynamic, and can lead to some uneven head-to-heads or strange matchups. Serena and Venus Williams were too close for their matches to have any real edge or needle, which resulted in a few disappointing matches for the neutral. Russian pair Daniil Medvedev, and Andrey Rublev meanwhile are so friendly that the latter is the godfather to Medvedev\u2019s daughter. Medvedev leads the head to head 7-2, creating a \u201cbig brother-little brother\u201d dynamic, in which the older sibling has almost always won out.<\/p>\n So far in their young rivalry, Jovi\u0107, the world No. 19, has won both meetings with Eala, ranked No. 33, handsomely: 6-4, 6-2 in the French Open first round in May and then 6-2, 6-2 in the second round at the Queen\u2019s Club in west London last week.<\/p>\n \u201cI wish we could play at later stages of the tournaments,\u201d Jovic said in a news conference after her latest win. This echoed a sentiment offered by America\u2019s Tommy Paul a couple of years ago, when asked how he found facing good friends like fellow Americans and contemporaries Frances Tiafoe and Taylor Fritz. \u201cI hate playing them first or second round,\u201d he said in an interview.<\/p>\n \u201cPlaying semis or finals of a big tournament? That\u2019s what we dreamed about when we were young.\u201d<\/p>\n During an interview ahead of Wimbledon 2024, Fritz said that he hates such matchups.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s tough to get into it when you\u2019re playing a friend. I\u2019ve had a good record in these matches, but it\u2019s definitely uncomfortable.\u201d<\/p>\n Jovi\u0107 and Eala will hope they\u2019ll soon be meeting when the stakes are even higher.<\/p>\n \u2014 Charlie Eccleshare<\/p>\n Why are tennis players\u2019 dogs back in the spotlight?<\/p>\n Tennis players\u2019 dogs<\/a> were everywhere at the French Open this year. They were sitting in boxes on Court Philippe-Chatrier, running around the players\u2019 lounge, napping in news conferences and, in the case of one dog, celebrating on court with Mirra Andreeva after she won her first Grand Slam title. Luna, canine companion to Conchita Martinez, Andreeva\u2019s coach, surely made Andreeva\u2019s own pup, Rassy, jealous watching from home.<\/p>\n Roland Garros treated the pups like royalty. Responding to a notable uptick in recent years of players traveling with their dogs on tour, the French Open partnered with a luxury dog concierge who provided individualized care for players\u2019 pups. Roland Garros viewed the service as an extension of how they take care of their players, who got to focus on their day jobs while knowing their beloved pets were being pampered.<\/p>\n Wimbledon, in keeping with its stately tradition, isn\u2019t quite as dog friendly.<\/p>\n \n Anastasia Potapova\u2019s dog, Bula, even got to feel the clay between her paws. (Roland Garros Media)<\/p>\n Chief executive Sally Bolton reiterated the tournament\u2019s policy earlier this week.<\/p>\n \u201cThe only dogs that we permit on site are service dogs, and those security and search dogs,\u201d Bolton said in a news conference. \u201cWe\u2019re in constant communication with the players and we don\u2019t anticipate that being a problem, but that\u2019s our policy and always has been our policy.\u201d<\/p>\n That doesn\u2019t mean there won\u2019t be any dogs at Wimbledon. Several of the dogs who travel the tennis circuit are registered service animals. But will Wimbledon be catering to pups in the same manner as Roland Garros? It doesn\u2019t sound like it \u2014 and it\u2019s a bit hard to imagine a four-legged friend sitting at Centre Court.<\/p>\n Still, Wimbledon is known as the tournament that dotes on its players most. It\u2019s hard to imagine their reputation for impeccable player care taking a hit because there isn\u2019t a doggy pool on site.<\/p>\n \u2014 Ava Wallace<\/p>\n How much should tennis fans pay attention to viewing figures?<\/p>\n It\u2019s tempting to draw conclusions about the state of tennis by using viewing figures from its most important matches, but their sensitivity to stardom means that context is key.<\/p>\n This year\u2019s French Open men\u2019s final<\/a>, in which No. 2 seed Alexander Zverev beat No. 10 seed Flavio Cobolli over five tense sets, delivered 1.3 million viewers across TNT and truTV, according to data from Sports Business Journal<\/a>. It was the least-watched French Open men\u2019s final in more than 20 years, and was also down 25 percent on last year, when the two best players and biggest stars in men\u2019s tennis, Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner,<\/a> played out one of the most dramatic matches in the history of the sport.<\/p>\n That\u2019s not exactly a surprising outcome.<\/p>\n![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/1781528353_708_Untitled-ezgif.com-video-to-gif-converter-1.gif\")
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\ud83c\udfc6\u00a0The winners of the week<\/p>\n