Alex de Minaur arrives in Acapulco as the defending champion and leaves with a 1st round loss.

Emma Raducanu lands a reported $3.3 million deal with Uniqlo, becoming the first woman in the brand's tennis stable.

Plus, Craig Tiley trades the Australian Open for the US Open, taking over as the new CEO of the USTA.

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😱 Kypson's Coup American qualifier Patrick Kypson stuns #2 seed Alex de Minaur, 6-1, 6-7⁴, 7-6⁴, in the 1st round of Acapulco. De Minaur serves for the match at 5-3 in the decider and leads the tiebreak 2-0, but Kypson refuses to go away. The win snaps de Minaur's 5-match winning streak (he arrives fresh off the Rotterdam title) and ends 17 consecutive wins over players outside the Top 20.

🎾 Olé, Jódar 19yo Rafael Jódar dismantles #6 seed Cameron Norrie, 6-3, 6-2, committing just 6 unforced errors and never facing a break point. The Spaniard, who won the 2024 US Open boys' title, climbs to #101 in the live rankings after sitting outside the Top 900 a year ago. Jódar is the 4th man born in 2006 or later to win at ATP 500 level, joining Joao Fonseca, Justin Engel, and Diego Dedura. He turned pro after the Next Gen ATP Finals in December, where he took down Learner Tien and Martin Landaluce.

🔄 Jack's Back Jack Draper makes a winning return to ATP tournament play, edging Quentin Halys, 7-6⁸, 6-3, in Dubai. The former world #4 is playing his first main draw match since the US Open after shutting down his 2025 season with bone bruising in his left arm. He also debuts a buzzcut that one Reddit fan describes as looking "like your character before you customize it." Draper saves 3 set points in the 1st set before cruising through the 2nd.

🎾 Stef's Slide Ugo Humbert ends Stefanos Tsitsipas' Dubai title defense with a 6-4, 7-5 1st round victory, snatching a break in each set to seal the deal. Humbert improves to 7-1 in Dubai and already owns 4 Top 30 wins in 2026, matching his total for all of 2025. The loss means Tsitsipas, once world #3, drops out of the Top 40 for the first time since May 2018.

💔 Birthday Blues Jessica Pegula pulls out of the ATX Open with a left knee injury on her 32nd birthday, just days after winning Dubai (her 10th career title and 4th WTA 1000). Back in Austin, the 2025 champion (Pegula) is replaced by a lucky loser... 2024 champion Yuan Yue.

👟 Boots & All Oksana Selekhmeteva takes down Alycia Parks, 6-4, 3-6, 6-3, in her Austin opener, then uses her on-court interview to crowdsource shopping advice. "I'm honestly looking where to buy the boots," the world #76 tells the crowd. "I already got the hat yesterday from the players' party, but I'm looking for boots." Selekhmeteva faces Kamilla Rakhimova next, after the Russian-turned-Uzbek upsets #6 seed Anna Bondar, 6-3, 7-5.

👟 New Threads Emma Raducanu joins Uniqlo as a Global Brand Ambassador in a deal reportedly worth $3.3 million a year, making her the first woman on the company's tennis roster (alongside Roger Federer, Kei Nishikori, and Novak Djokovic). Though the marketing calculus in a sponsorship deal is always layered, Raducanu does have a unique appeal to a key market - China. Her mother is Chinese, she speaks Mandarin fluently, and Uniqlo is currently the #1 fast fashion brand in China. She'll debut the new kit at Indian Wells next month.

✊ Man vs Machine Nicolás Jarry drops his 10th consecutive 1st-round match, falling to Dino Prizmic, 6-3, 5-7, 6-2, at the Chile Open, then unloads on live electronic line calling. "It doesn't make sense to me that a machine is in charge. It's ridiculous," the world #155 says. Before leaving the court, he addresses the chair umpire in English: "Let's make machines more important than humans, right? Congrats!" Jarry hasn't won a match since the 3rd round of Wimbledon last July. Ten losses is a slump. Ten 1st-round losses is... something else.

📺 Mic Check One Chris Eubanks signs a 3-year deal with Tennis Channel as an on-air commentator and host, debuting at Indian Wells on March 4. "I've always loved talking tennis almost as much as playing it," the 29yo says. If you've ever heard Eubanks break down a match, you know he's not just saying that.

📺 Mic Check Two Eubanks isn't the only one trading a racquet for a microphone this week. Andy Roddick joins ESPN as a match commentator and studio analyst under a multiyear deal, starting at Wimbledon in late June. The 2003 US Open champion (still the last American man to win a slam singles title, in case that wound needed reopening) also covers the US Open.

🏆 Tiley Goes West The USTA names Craig Tiley its new Chief Executive Officer, plucking the man who ran Tennis Australia for 13 years and served as Australian Open Tournament Director since 2006. Tiley calls it "a full-circle moment," which tracks: he started in American tennis as head coach at Illinois, where his 2003 squad went 32-0 and won the NCAA championship. He inherits an organization riding 6 consecutive years of participation growth (27.3 million players in 2025, up 54% since 2019). The question everyone in Melbourne is asking: who fills the biggest shoes in Australian sport?

As Ben Lewis writes in his Substack Court Chronicles, Bianca Andreescu is back. Again. The 25yo Canadian, still the only singles slam champion in Canadian history, enters her first WTA event of 2026 at the ATX Open ranked #164. (Spoiler: She lost to Dalma Galfi today.) She skipped Australian Open qualifying to grind ITF events in Florida, winning titles at the W35 in Bradenton and the W75 in Vero Beach.

Michael Zheng, the 22yo Columbia University senior and world #149, writes a first-person diary for Tennis.com about balancing a psych degree, Ivy League tennis, and a budding ATP career. Named after Michael Chang and Michael Jordan by his parents (who emigrated from China), Zheng is a 2-time NCAA singles champion and the first man from an Ivy League school to win the title in 102 years. Next stop: Indian Wells.

Hanlon Walsh at Tennis Tribe profiles Venus Williams' doubles career beyond Serena, cataloging all 13 non-sister partnerships across her 33-year career. The latest addition: Peyton Stearns, the 2022 NCAA singles champion and hometown favorite at the ATX Open. The two are in the doubles draw together this week in Austin.

"It feels amazing. Everything was important. I had to serve well. I had to return well. I hit my forehand really big." - Patrick Kypson on defeating #2 seed Alex de Minaur in Acapulco ¹

"I'm honestly looking where to buy the boots. I already got the hat yesterday from the players' party, but I'm looking for boots." - Oksana Selekhmeteva after her Austin opening-round win ²

"Beating Jannik and basically being at the same level as him showed me a lot and showed me that I'm going the right way." - Jakub Mensik on his Doha quarterfinal upset of Jannik Sinner ³

"I'm old, you can say it. I hope I can inspire girls to show that you don't have to be 20 years old. You can still play really good tennis if you take care of your body and keep improving." - Jessica Pegula after winning her 10th career title in Dubai ⁴

"I'm fulfilling two dreams that my parents and I have shared since I was a kid going to public school in a small town in New Jersey: to get the best education that our adopted country has to offer, and to become a pro tennis player." - Michael Zheng in his first-person Tennis.com diary ⁵

"It doesn't make sense to me that a machine is in charge. It's ridiculous." - Nicolás Jarry on electronic line calling after his 1st-round loss in Santiago ⁶

DUBAI DUTY FREE TENNIS CHAMPIONSHIPS - 2nd Round

◆ Daniil Medvedev (3) vs Stan Wawrinka (WC)

◆ Felix Auger-Aliassime (1) vs Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard (Q)

◆ Andrey Rublev (5) vs Ugo Humbert

◆ Jack Draper (4) vs Arthur Rinderknech

◆ Karen Khachanov (7) vs Jenson Brooksby

◆ Jiri Lehecka (8) vs Pablo Carreno Busta (Q)

◆ Alexander Bublik (2) vs Tallon Griekspoor

◆ Jakub Mensik (6) vs Alexei Popyrin

MERIDA OPEN - 2nd Round

◆ Magda Linette (8) vs Victoria Jimenez Kasintseva (Q)

◆ Marie Bouzkova (4) vs Emiliana Arango

◆ Katie Boulter (WC) vs Camila Osorio

◆ Cristina Bucsa vs Marina Stakusic (WC)

ATX OPEN - 2nd Round

◆ Rebeka Masarova (Q) vs Whitney Osuigwe (Q)

◆ Taylor Townsend (WC) vs Nikola Bartunkova (Q)

◆ Yuan Yue (LL) vs Dalma Galfi

◆ Oksana Selekhmeteva vs Kamilla Rakhimova

BCI SEGUROS CHILE OPEN - 2nd Round

◆ Camilo Ugo Carabelli (4) vs Yannick Hanfmann

◆ Francisco Comesana (7) vs Andrea Pellegrino (Q)

◆ Luciano Darderi (2) vs Mariano Navone

◆ Dino Prizmic (Q) vs Vilius Gaubas (LL)

ABIERTO MEXICANO TELCEL - 2nd Round

◆ OOP still TBD at 10pm EST!

¹ Addicott, Adam. "Shocks Galore In Acapulco As Two-Time Champion De Minaur, Sixth Seed Norrie Exit." UbiTennis, February 24, 2026. link

² Kallet, Brad. "Selekhmeteva asks crowd for cowgirl boots recs after Austin win." WTATennis.com, February 23, 2026. link

³ Coombe, Jerome. "Mensik reflects on 'hype' from Sinner win as he pushes toward Top 10 debut." ATPTour.com, February 24, 2026. link

⁴ Kallet, Brad. "Pegula pulls out of Austin with left knee injury." WTATennis.com, February 24, 2026. link

⁵ Zheng, Michael. "From the desk of Michael Zheng: The diary of an American hopeful." Tennis.com, February 24, 2026. link

⁶ Varela, Sebastián. "Jarry fires at electronic line calling and the ATP: 'It's ridiculous that a machine is in charge!'" CLAY, February 24, 2026. link

Additional Sources

Kane, David. "Debuting new hairdo, Jack Draper kicks off ATP comeback with Dubai victory." Tennis.com, February 23, 2026. link

West, Andy. "Humbert wins battle of former champs against Tsitsipas in Dubai." ATPTour.com, February 24, 2026. link

Jacot, Sam. "Jodar closes in on Top 100 following Norrie Acapulco win." ATPTour.com, February 24, 2026. link

Addicott, Adam. "Uniqlo Signs Emma Raducanu As Brand Ambassador." UbiTennis, February 24, 2026. link

TENNIS.com. "Chris Eubanks inks three-year on-air deal with Tennis Channel, debuts at BNP Paribas Open." Tennis.com, February 24, 2026. link

ESPN News Services. "Andy Roddick joins ESPN's coverage of Wimbledon, US Open." ESPN, February 23, 2026. link

TENNIS.com. "USTA Appoints Craig Tiley as Chief Executive Officer." Tennis.com, February 24, 2026. link

Lewis, Ben. "Bianca Andreescu Is Back... Again. Will 2026 Be Different?" Court Chronicles (Substack), February 23, 2026. link

Walsh, Hanlon. "Venus Williams in Doubles: A Look at 13 Non-Serena Partnerships." Tennis Tribe, February 23, 2026. link