Winners of the week
After kicking off the month with a memorable French Open triumph and plenty of celebrating in Ibiza, Carlos Alcaraz’s dream start to the summer continued in West Kensington as the Spaniard made a typically seamless transition onto the grass with his second title at Queen’s.
The world number two extended his winning streak to a career-best 18 matches, as he battled past Jiri Lehecka 7-5, 6-7(5), 6-2 in a competitive, high-quality final.
Alcaraz was fairly comfortable throughout the tournament - barring a brief scare against compatriot Jaume Munar in the second round - and will be full of confidence heading to Wimbledon in pursuit of a historic three-peat.
Over at the WTA 500 in Berlin, it was a welcome return to form for Marketa Vondrousova, who defeated Xinyu Wang 7-6(10), 4-6, 6-2 in Sunday’s final to secure her first title since winning Wimbledon in 2023.
The Czech made it through an incredibly difficult draw including Grand Slam champions Aryna Sabalenka and Madison Keys, as well as Diana Shnaider and Ons Jabeur, before proving too strong for Wang in the decider.
It’s the perfect preparation for Vondrousova as she heads to Wimbledon unseeded and dangerous, making her a nightmare first-round opponent for any of the top seeds.
Staying in Germany, Alexander Bublik was crowned champion in Halle for the second time in his career, ending a seven-match losing streak against Daniil Medvedev to prevail 6-3, 7-6 in the showpiece event.
Having reached his maiden Grand Slam quarter-final in Paris just a few weeks ago, Bublik continued his remarkable recent upturn in form, seeing off the likes of Jannik Sinner, Tomas Machac and Karen Khachanov en route to capturing a fifth career title.
Speaking after his victory, a reflective Bublik admitted he was close to “calling it quits” after losing in the third round of Wimbledon last year.
Finally, in Nottingham, McCartney Kessler claimed her third title in the space of 10 months after a hard-fought 6-4, 7-5 victory over Ukraine’s Dayana Yastremska.
It was a first piece of silverware on the surface for the American, who has now moved up to a career-high ranking of world number 32 and secured her spot among the seeds at Wimbledon.
Strugglers of the week
It was a desperately disappointing start to the grass-court season for Jasmine Paolini in Berlin as last year’s Wimbledon runner-up was soundly beaten by Jabeur in her opening match.
While Jabeur has plenty of grass-court pedigree, having reached back-to-back Wimbledon finals in 2022 and 2023, she has since dropped out of the world’s top 50 after a dismal 12 months on tour, so Paolini winning just four games in their Berlin clash came as a major surprise.
The Italian will be desperate for a more productive week in Bad Homburg ahead of travelling to SW19, where she has a significant chunk of ranking points to defend.
Over in Halle, Sinner looked to be feeling the after-effects of his devastating French Open final defeat as the world number one fell to a shock early exit, albeit to eventual champion Bublik.
Despite a relatively routine win over qualifier Yannick Hanfmann in the opening round, the Italian was deservedly beaten by the mercurial Russian-born Kazakhstani, marking the first time he had lost to anyone ranked outside the top 20 since the summer of 2023.
After a bruising couple of weeks, Sinner will be keen to rediscover his A-game quickly at the All England Club as he targets a maiden Wimbledon crown.
Moment of the week
Team entries for the new-look US Open mixed doubles event were officially announced on Tuesday and they certainly didn’t disappoint.
Some of the most eye-catching pairings included Alcaraz with Emma Raducanu, Sabalenka alongside Grigor Dimitrov and Jack Draper with Qinwen Zheng.
The unprecedented list of star entrants also had Sinner, Iga Swiatek, Novak Djokovic and Coco Gauff all involved.
The event - which is a revolutionary move by the United States Tennis Association in a bid to attract more of the top-ranked singles players - will take place as a standalone event before the start of the US Open on September 24th.
Rallies of the week
Lorenzo Sonego might have fallen short in his second-round clash against Alexander Zverev in Halle, but the Italian produced a remarkable passing shot that will live long in the memory.
Sabalenka showed incredible movement on the grass against Elena Rybakina to win an impressive point in the opening set of their match in Berlin.
Upcoming events
It’s one of the quieter weeks on the tennis calendar, with four tune-up tournaments taking place ahead of Wimbledon.
Nevertheless, there are still plenty of notable names in action at the WTA 500 event in Bad Homburg, as Swiatek, Jessica Pegula and Paolini all look to gain some valuable grass-court momentum.
Taylor Fritz and Daria Kasatkina are the top seeds in Eastbourne, while there’s also an ATP 250 in Mallorca, which includes the likes of Ben Shelton and Felix Auger-Aliassime.
Check out the full schedules in Bad Homburg, Eastbourne (ATP), Eastbourne (WTA) and Mallorca via the links.