Good week / bad week: Wozniacki, Rafa & Serena

Despite the dearth of amazing tennis tournaments over the last seven days, news around the Tours has been rife. And while some players have had great weeks, others have struggled, and some have been just a little bit ‘meh’. This is good week / bad week (with a healthy dollop of ‘can’t decide’).

Good week

Caroline Wozniacki: Wozniacki? More like Wozni-backi (sorry, couldn’t resist). After a wretched 2016, Caroline Wozniacki walloped her way through the Tokyo draw to claim her 24th career title (she’s now won a WTA title every year since 2008). If the Dane is back, it can only be a good thing for tennis.

Alex Zverev: If you’re going to win your first ATP title there are two things you need to make sure of:
1. The trophy is massive.
2. You beat someone worth beating.
Alex Zverev clearly paid attention to both when he handed Stan Wawrinka his first defeat in 12 straight finals to hoist the monster that is the St. Petersburg trophy above his head – the first ATP title of his career. A week well done.

Naomi Osaka: Way to make a breakthrough, Naomi. Last week, Osaka grabbed attention by reminding people on Twitter who she was. This week she grabbed them for storming into the Tokyo finals. The Japanese teen has made enough waves to give the Land of the Rising Sun plenty of cause for optimism.

Bad week

Rafa Nadal: Those pesky Fancy Bears struck again, this time leaking Rafa Nadal’s Wada records online. While there was no suggestion Rafa did anything wrong, the Spaniard has once again been forced to defend himself against allegations of doping.

Milos Raonic: There’s an imposter on the ATP Tour. He looks like Milos Raonic. He sometimes plays like Milos Raonic. He just can’t seem to win (like Milos Raonic used to do). The Canadian’s run of rubbish form continued in St. Pete, where he was bundled out far too early for a man who nearly won Wimbledon.

The Davis and Fed Cups: The ITF want cities to bid for the Davis and Fed Cup finals, meaning they will all be played at a neutral venue. Why? Aside from rampant profiteering it’s apparently an effort to move the Cups to a Superbowl / Champions League final model. The problem is that neither Cup is even close to being the Superbowl or Champions League final. The end product will likely be a final played in front of largely empty Chinese stadiums without the raucous atmosphere that makes these competitions so special.

Can’t decide week

Serena Williams: When Serena announced she was pulling out of everything until Singapore, she pretty much surrendered the year-end No.1 to Angelique Kerber (barring a freakish freak of nature). Yet it’s not all bad news for the 35-year-old. She’s missing a swing she never seems to enjoy, and has been nailing fashion week over the last seven days.

Varvara Lepchenko: Um… After rumours aplenty about Lepchenko’s sudden disappearance from Indian Wells, the American was somewhat exonerated by the ITF last week who explained that she had been taking loads of meldonium and she had failed tests, but only because of the residual presence of the drug in her system (which she was fine not taking after the ban come into effect). In short, she was in the clear. Kinda.