Alcaraz & Swiatek on Top in the Desert

After two entertaining weeks in the (rainy) desert, the first stop of the Sunshine Swing came to a close with trophies hoisted by Carlos and Iga. Alcaraz (who I will remind everyone is still only 20 years old), defended his title, and won his fifth Masters 1000 event. Iga (who is also just 22 years old), won her 8th WTA 1000 event, leads the tour in singles wins this year, and has now been the top ranked player for 95 weeks. Damn. That’s more than Serena Williams and Martina Navratilova had at the same age. The sky is the limit for Iga and Carlos. It’s a safe bet that we’ll see them biting/eating/kissing more trophies in the coming years.

Next stop: Miami 🏝️😎

Trivia: Which player below has not had a child and then returned to the tour?

• Naomi Osaka

• Caroline Wozniacki

• Taylor Townsend

• Karolina Pliskova

• Angelique Kerber

Find out the answer at the bottom!

One to Watch: Emma Navarro

New York born but South Carolina raised, Emma Navarro has had a meteoric rise to the top of the WTA. Ranked No. 149 at the beginning of 2023, she is now at a career high of No. 20, and beat world No. 2 Aryna Sabalenka last week at Indian Wells. Watch out Jessica (Pegula) and Coco. Navarro is coming for you as the top-ranked American 😈

Notable: Navarro is one of the few top-ranked professionals to have played college tennis. Winner of the NCAA singles title in 2021 while at the University of Virginia, she joins a short list of college-to-pro players like Danielle Collins (UVA), John Isner (Georgia), Steve Johnson (USC), Ben Shelton (Florida), and a few more.

In Case You Missed It

• 20 year old Luca Nardi beat Novak last week in the round of 32. Novak subsequently pulled out of Miami (queue doomsday Tweets re Novak’s career)

• Watch Andrey, Ons, Sakkari, Medvedev, De Minaur and Rune act as staff at Indian Wells 😂

• Check out the shot of the tournament, brought to you by none other than Carlos in the finals against Medvedev

Answer: Karolina Pliskova

Thanks for reading!

DP 🤠