Fight Falcons vs. Eagles: How tennis players will spend the offseason
There is still a whole month left before the start of the new tennis season, but not all top players are going to devote the next few weeks exclusively to rest and training. After all, the end of November and December are the traditional time for major exhibition tournaments around the world. For Russia at the moment it is the only opportunity to see great tennis players on the court, that's why "Trophies of Northern Palmyra" in St. Petersburg from November 29 to December 1 are of special interest. However, we should not forget about other interesting "exhibitions" of the tennis off-season - the UTS finals in London and the World Tennis League in Abu Dhabi with the participation of Russian tennis players.
Every game counts
"Trophies of Northern Palmyra" will be held in St. Petersburg for the third time, they, we can say, replaced the traditional men's St.Petersburg Open and St.Petersburg Ladies Trophy. ATP and WTA tournaments have not been held in our country since the spring of 2022, but there is no ban on exhibition competitions, including those involving strong foreign players. The organizers of the Trophies approached the format of the event creatively, focusing on team competitions and not being afraid of experiments. At first, in 2022, the participants were divided into six teams, in 2023 the rivalry between two teams called "Lions" and "Sphinxes" began. Now the names of the teams have remained the same, but at the same time not only the composition, but also the scoring system and even the format of the tennis games themselves have changed significantly.
No classical sets, now during three days all matches (eight singles, two doubles and one mixt) will be held in the format of three mandatory games of 20 minutes each. And every game of each match will be counted as a team score: whoever wins the most will get the main prize. The captains of the teams are famous tennis players of the recent past - Russian Mikhail Youzhny and Serbian Janko Tipsarevic.
- First of all, not so many tennis events have been taking place in our country lately, and this upcoming event stands out at all - good players are coming to it, and the format in 2024 is very interesting," Mikhail Youzhny told Izvestia. - So I would be happy to take part in it, and I have a lot of positive memories of St. Petersburg, where I played regularly when I was a tennis player and finished my career here. Of course, the format of the matches is a bit unusual, but it's normal: it's an exhibition tournament and I'm sure there won't be any problem with adaptation for the tennis players.
Perhaps the main stars of the upcoming Northern Palmyra Trophies are Russians Karen Khachanov and Diana Schneider, who are in the top 20 of the ATP and WTA rankings respectively. Currently ranked 19th, Karen Khachanov won two titles last season (Doha and Astana) and had a strong finish to the season. In addition to Astana, he reached the final in Vienna and the semifinals of the Masters in Paris, where he was hampered by a minor injury. But now Khachanov has had time to rest and recover and is sure to please the St. Petersburg crowd with his play.
Schneider achieved a phenomenal breakthrough in 2024: she rose from the bottom of the top 100 to No. 13 at the end of the season, winning four titles (in Hua Hin, Bad Homburg, Budapest and Hong Kong) and doing so on three different surfaces - hard court, grass and dirt. In addition, together with Mirra Andreeva, Diana became the vice-champion of the Olympic Games in Paris in doubles.
Also among the participants of the tournament in St. Petersburg will be Russian Anastasia Potapova, Alexander Bublik and Yulia Putintseva from Kazakhstan, Bulgarian Victoria Tomova, Serbian Dusan Lajovic, Spaniards Roberto Bautista Agut and Pedro Martinez, as well as Australian Tanasi Kokkinakis, who just reached the semifinals of the Davis Cup with the Australian team. Also of interest is the match of legends, where Elena Vesnina, who is finishing her career just at the Trophies, Anastasia Myskina, Nikolay Davydenko and the famous French veteran showman Mansour Bahrami will play.
The Russians are no longer the Eagles
It is noteworthy that after the tournament in St. Petersburg, Bublik and Kokkinakis will almost immediately move to London, where they will become participants of the final tournament of the revolutionary in terms of format Ultimate Tennis Showdown (UTS) series in London on December 6-8. Among their opponents, we will especially emphasize the Russian Andrey Rublev, who last year reached the semifinals at similar competitions, where not without a scandal with the judge lost to the Danish Holger Rune.
This time Rune will also play, unlike last year's champion Briton Jack Draper. In addition, Frenchmen Hugo Humbert and Gael Monfils joined Rublev and Kokkinakis in Group A, while Canada's Denis Shapovalov and Australia's Alex de Minaur joined Rune and Bublik in Group B. The total prize fund of the tournament is $2 million.
The World Tennis League in Abu Dhabi is even bigger. Last year, by the way, it was won almost purely by the Russian team "Eagles", which included Daniil Medvedev, Mirra Andreeva, Andrey Rublev and an American with Russian roots Sophia Kenin.
This time, from December 19-22, Medvedev and Rublev will play for the Falcons along with Elena Rybakina from Kazakhstan and Caroline Garcia from France, while Mirra will represent the Hawks along with world number one Arina Sobolenko from Belarus, American Taylor Fritz and Sumit Nagal from India. Australia's Nick Kyrios, Stefanos Tsitsipas of Greece, Spain's Paula Badosa and Italy's Jasmine Paolini will be the "Kites", while Iga Swiatek and Hubert Hurkacz of Poland, Norway's Kasper Ruud and Czech Republic's Barbora Krejcikova will be the new "Eagles".
