Beneath the Surface(s)

10 Reflections on the Sunshine Double and the Cement-to-Clay Pivot

By Richard Osborn

As we move from the hard courts of Indian Wells and Miami to the red clay of Europe, CincinnatiOpen.com looks beneath the surface(s).   

1. MIRRA, MIRRA ON THE BALL…

She’s so at ease on the court, so adept at generating power from the baseline, that it’s sometimes easy to forget that Mirra Andreeva is just 17 (she turns 18 on April 29). She’d already reached a Grand Slam semifinal at Roland Garros (taking out Aryna Sabalenka in the process), already claimed her maiden tour-level title in Iasi, and cracked the Top 20 in the PIF WTA Rankings. But 2025 will likely be remembered as the year Andreeva truly introduced herself to the tennis world at large. In February, the 5-foot-9 Andreeva took out Iga Swiatek en route to becoming the youngest-ever WTA 1000 champion in Dubai. She then turned around and captured a second straight 1000-level title in Indian Wells, dismissing Sabalenka in the championship match. She would win 13 straight matches heading into the Miami Open. A Cincinnati Open quarterfinalist last year, Andreeva has since reached a career-high No. 6 and will be among the favorites come Roland Garros.

2. TRANQUILO, TRANQUILO…

If the tennisphere was collectively concerned by Carlos Alcaraz’s shock second-round loss to David Goffin at the Miami Open, they were soon rebuked when his cement-to-clay turnaround resulted in the Monte-Carlo title, already his sixth at the ATP Masters 1000 level. “When people have really high expectations of you, and you don’t win tournaments or matches, they talk a lot, let’s say,” said Alcaraz, who leapfrogged Alexander Zverev in returning to No. 2 in the PIF ATP Rankings. “I just realized that I don’t have to think about all they are talking about and just focus on myself. I’m not going say I proved them wrong, but I’m really happy to be able to refocus on the important things, just be focused on myself and the part that I have to follow with my team, with my close people. I’m just playing for myself.” The 2023 Cincinnati Open runner-up, 21, joined a prominent group of Spaniards who have won the Rolex Monte-Carlos Masters title, including his coach, Juan Carlos Ferrero, and 11-time champion Rafael Nadal.

3. JESS ON A ROLL…

Jessica Pegula is a momentum player. We saw that last year when the Buffalonian tore through the dog days of summer, defending her title north of the border in Toronto, playing her way into a second consecutive WTA 1000 final here in Cincinnati (l. to Aryna Sabalenka, 6-3, 7-5), then breaking through to her first-ever major singles final in Flushing Meadows. She became only the third American in the Open Era to kick off the North American hard-court swing by reaching back-to-back finals in Canada and Ohio, joining Hall of Famer Rosie Casals and 23-time major singles titlist Serena Williams. The bad news for her tour colleagues? Pegula, 31, is again on a roll in 2025. She has reached finals in three of her last four events, a prolific stretch that includes a WTA 250 title on a hard court in Austin and a WTA 500 crown on the green clay of Charleston. “I think I always play well when I have a lot of matches under my belt,” said Pegula, one of the tour’s most consistent performers since cracking the Top 10 in the PIF WTA Rankings in 2022. “I played a lot last summer and was able to do it. I like getting in that phase where you feel really match-tough.” With her triumph in South Carolina, Pegula usurped Coco Gauff as the top-ranked American woman at No. 3.

4. ‘FIRST OF MANY’…

Some folks were initially taken aback when, after overpowering childhood hero Novak Djokovic in the Miami Open final, Jakub Mensik scrawled “1st of many” across the courtside camera lens. But in retrospect, you have to admire the candor from the 6-foot-5 baseliner, who at 19 gives off Tomas Berdych vibes and appears headed for a long, trophy-adorned career if he can stay healthy and motivated. “I know that this is just the beginning for me,” said Mensik, part of a Czech renaissance that also includes Top-30 cohorts Tomas Mahac and Jiri Lehecka. “I have all of my career in front of me. It feels really great to have this [trophy] next to me, but it’s not just about the one title, one tournament. I’m hungry for more.” Djokovic knows Mensik’s game as well as anyone. He invited the newcomer to train with him in Belgrade when he was just 15. “I could see back then that he was going to be one of the top players of the world,” said the three-time Cincinnati Open champ. “He’s got the complete game.”

5. ARYNA STILL A PLAYER APART…

You could feel the frustration. Though her No. 1 ranking was never really in jeopardy, Aryna Sabalenka was less than pleased with her start to 2025, unaccustomed to title droughts of any length. Her bid for a third straight Australian Open title was extinguished by American Madison Keys (l. 6-3, 2-6, 7-5). And after subpar performances in Doha and Dubai, she again fell short in the Indian Wells title match against newcomer Mirra Andreeva, 2-6, 6-4, 6-3. But it’s funny what a trophy run can do to dull the pain of any perceived shortcomings. Sabalenka, 26, was simply unstoppable last month in Hard Rock Stadium, knifing through the Top-10 likes of Zheng Qinwen, Jasmine Paolini and Jessica Pegula to claim her first Miami Open crown, her eighth WTA 1000 title overall. “I didn’t want to lose another final, to be honest,” said Sabalenka after her 7-5, 6-2 dismissal of Pegula. “I think we should celebrate, because we struggled after those tough finals. We all were kind of depressed. I think after this final, we have to celebrate a little bit just to remember the moment.” Will we see another Sabalenka-Pegula final in Cincy in 2025? Stay tuned.

6. DRAPER’S DESERT DELIGHT…

Jack Draper’s arrival last summer, when he claimed his first two tour-level titles, reached his first major semifinal at the US Open, and rose to a career-high No. 15 in the PIF ATP Rankings, couldn’t have been better timed. The tennis world, after all, had just bid farewell to Scotsman Sir Andy Murray, a three-time Grand Slam singles titlist, two-time Olympic gold medalist and one of the most successful players in the history of British tennis. Could we have a seamless Henman-to-Murray-to-Draper arc in play? Draper has since cracked the Top 10, the 2025 BNP Paribas Open crown his launching point. All the 23-year-old did was oust the likes of Carlos Alcaraz, Taylor Fritz, Ben Shelton, Joao Fonseca and Holger Rune in the desert en route to his maiden ATP Masters 1000 title. “I’m not really thinking about any outcomes, ranking-wise or events-wise,” said Draper. “I feel like I’ve achieved a lot in the last year, and it’s been nothing to do with setting goals. Setting goals and saying you’re going to do something, it’s important to believe it, but if you’re not putting in the work, and putting the sacrifice and the days of consistency together, you’re not going to achieve anything.”

7. AMANDA’S TIME…

Some wondered if, after stepping away from the tour for a much-needed break, Amanda Anisimova would be able to return to the kind of form that saw her reach the Roland Garros semis in 2019 and Wimbledon quarters in 2022. The Jersey-bred baseliner has put those concerns to rest since rejoining the tour in early 2024. In February, Anisimova captured her first WTA 1000 title in Doha, defeating Jelena Ostapenko, 6-4, 6-3. And after kicking off her clay-court campaign with a run to the semis at the Credit One Charleston Open, she finds herself at a career-high No. 16 in the PIF WTA Rankings, a threat on any surface. “Some people told me, ‘If you take a long time away from tennis, you might not get back to this level.’ But despite that being a fear in my head, I knew it was the right thing for me to do,” said Anisimova, 23. “It felt right in my gut that I just needed to step away, and whatever happened after that I was okay accepting if I came back and never returned to that level.”

8. JENSON’S FEEL-GOOD RETURN…

No one knew what to make of Jenson Brooksby the first time around, when, as an 18-year-old rookie with an unorthodox game, he reached the main draw of the 2019 US Open as a qualifier and promptly dismissed former world No. 4 Tomas Berdych. He would surprise the likes of Felix Auger-Aliassime, Frances Tiafoe and Taylor Fritz in 2021, even taking a set off Novak Djokovic in Arthur Ashe Stadium in the Round of 16. He stunned Stefanos Tsitsipas in Indian Wells in 2022. But since then, we haven’t seen a whole lot of the Californian due to a pair of left wrist surgeries and a 13-month suspension for missing tour-mandated doping tests. He was away from the match court for almost two full years. Now 26, he continues to befuddle opponents since rejoining the tour. Since his return in January, he has shown that he is still very much capable of playing elite-level tennis. Earlier this month, Brooksby saved multiple MPs across three matches to claim his first career ATP title on red clay in Houston, topping his countryman Tiafoe, 6-4, 6-2, in the final. “I’ve had a lot of different life adversity, whether it’s on the court or off the court,” said Brooksby, who in December revealed that he was diagnosed with autism as a child. “It gives you a different perspective once you’ve had to face other difficult things in life.”

9. THE ITALIAN JOB…

Jannik Sinner’s 2024 was so prolific (think a 73-3 season with a tour-best eight singles titles), that even a three-month suspension couldn’t affect his No. 1 ranking. When the three-time Grand Slam champ makes his return to the tour next month in Rome, he’ll be in good company. Italy now boasts nine players in the Top 100 in the PIF ATP Rankings, a crop that incudes Rolex Monte-Carlo Masters finalist Lorenzo Musetti, a resurgent Matteo Berrettini (who this year has topped Novak Djokovic and Alexander Zverev), Bucharest titlist Flavio Cobolli, and Marrakech winner Luciano Darderi. All eyes will be on Sinner, the reigning Cincinnati Open champ, when he re-takes the court on home turf at the Italian Open.   

10. NOVAK IS STILL NOVAK…

It’s been an odd and title-less year thus far for Novak Djokovic, whose best results include a trip to the Australian Open semis and an appearance in the Miami Open final. Following a 6-3, 6-4 second-round loss to Chile’s Alejandro Tabilo in Monte-Carlo, an out of sorts Djokovic, a record 24-time major singles titlist, even went so far as to apologize to tennis fans. Said the 37-year-old, “[I’m] just sorry for all the people that have to witness this.” But even without career-long rivals Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Andy Murray to motivate him, the Serb likely won’t be kept down for long. His form on the hard courts of Miami was vintage Nole, and even in this era of surging young guns like Joao Fonseca (18), Jakub Mensik (19) and Learner Tien (19), he’s still very much in the mix for the sport’s most cherished trophies.