Good / bad week: Delpo, Sveta & the WTA Finals

From tournament winners to injured stars by way of the WTA Finals, it’s been a week of highs and lows in the tennis world.

Good week

Juan Martin del Potro: If there’s one tennis player who seems to conjure up universal goodwill it’s Juan Martin del Potro. So it comes as no surprise that the Tower of Tandil’s first title in 33-months was generally met with happy faces around the world. It’s been a great second half to 2016, and the Argentine (if he can avoid any more injuries) is now perfectly set to make significant waves in 2017.

Svetlana Kuznetsova: Talk about scraping in by the skin of your teeth. With her win at the Kremlin Cup – her second in a row in Moscow – Kuznetsova got the points that she needed to qualify for the WTA Finals and so pick up the resultant bumper pay check that accompanies a trip to Singapore.

Daria Gavrilova: Yes, she lost in the final (twice – singles and doubles), but Gavrilova signed off the season in style. Dasha negotiated numerous banana skins en route to the Kremlin Cup final, and in so doing sealed a career-high ranking of 24 (meaning she’ll be seeded at next year’s Australian Open).

An honourable mention to:
All the tournament winners: Richard Gasquet, Pablo Carreno Busta, Monica Niculescu… you get the picture.

Bad week

The WTA Finals: The WTA Finals took a hit back in March when Maria Sharapova was banned for doping. However, when Serena Williams announced that she was pulling out of the event it was a hammer blow. The WTA not only lost its most marketable star, but also its most compelling narrative (the race between Serena and Kerber for Number One).

Rafa Nadal: After hinting that he might call time on his season after an early exit in Shanghai, Rafa Nadal confirmed that he was done for 2016 late last week. While some might argue that it’s a good thing for the Spaniard, there’s no doubt that he could have done with a strong result to give him some momentum going into 2017.

Nick Kyrgios: Not a good week for the Aussie at all. After his capitulation in the second round of the Shanghai Rolex Masters, Kyrgios copped a massive fine and an eight-week suspension from the ATP (with the asterisk that it could be reduced to three weeks if he goes to see a sports psychologist).

An honourable mention to:
Johanna Konta: (for the flip side of this see Svetlana Kuznetsova). So close. After a stellar year that saw the Brit crack the Top 10 for the first time, Konta fell scandalously short (just 35 points) in the race for the WTA Finals.