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Alcaraz isn’t alone: Sinner matches rival's serve focus ahead of Doha…

  • Posted: Feb 16, 2026

Much has been made about the work Carlos Alcaraz has done on his serve. But the Spaniard is not the only one focusing on the vital stroke. Jannik Sinner revealed on Sunday ahead of the Qatar ExxonMobil Open that he is emphasising his serve ahead of his first ATP 500 event of the season.

“Honestly at the moment [we are working] on the usual stuff. Trying to get a very solid serve at the moment, which is what we work a lot on,” Sinner said during his pre-tournament press conference in Doha. “Also a lot in the gym, the gym sessions are very important. I try to make an extra step forward in that scenario and that’s it.”

Sinner is the second seed this week in Doha, where he leads the field alongside the No. 1 player in the PIF ATP Rankings Alcaraz. The Italian is competing for the first time since he suffered a semi-final defeat to Novak Djokovic at the Australian Open last month, when he made 75 per cent of his first deliveries and won 80 per cent of those points, according to Infosys Stats.

While the loss was a disappointment, the Italian was keen to stress that the work undertaken in the fortnight since has been building on the foundations laid during the team’s pre-season training block in Dubai.

“The season has started. A lot of the work we have done was in the offseason,” Sinner said. “Now of course we try to keep working, but also to maintain the level of fitness, too. I think everything is going quite well. Of course you need to play some matches, trying to have the best feedback.”

That feedback loop, practice intensity translating into match performance, will guide his week in Doha as much as results.

“From my point of view, it also depends how the practice sessions go. If you feel very well there, you want to produce the same intensity also in the match,” Sinner said. “If certain things don’t work well in the practice session, you try to be slightly better than in the practice session. So it depends, but at the same time I’m here trying to go as far as possible. At the same time, trying to improve and then see what’s working well here.”

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Sinner is making his debut at the ATP 500 event in Doha, where he will open against Czech Tomas Machac. The World No. 2, who leads Machac 2-0 in the pair’s Lexus ATP Head2Head series, is excited for the week, having enjoyed success in the city in the past.

“Some years ago I won a junior tournament, so it’s a very familiar place,” Sinner said. “Obviously a different level now playing the 500 event here. But I’m very excited and let’s see what’s coming.”

Sinner trails World No. 1 Alcaraz by 2,750 points in the PIF ATP Live Rankings. However, the Italian has no points to defend between now and Rome in May.

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Alcaraz, Sinner, Fritz among stars in action in Doha, Rio & Delray Beach

  • Posted: Feb 15, 2026

Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner headline a busy week on the ATP Tour, with three tournaments unfolding across Doha, Rio de Janeiro and Delray Beach, respectively.

The top two players in the PIF ATP Rankings spearhead a strong field at the Qatar ExxonMobil Open in Doha, a hard-court ATP 500 event. Meanwhile, Buenos Aires champion Francisco Cerundolo leads the draw at the clay-court Rio Open presented by Claro, and two-time Delray Beach Open champion Taylor Fritz is the top seed at the ATP 250 event in Florida.

ATPTour.com looks at five key storylines at each stop.

FIVE THINGS TO WATCH IN DOHA:
1) Alcaraz the man to beat: Alcaraz returns to competition for the first time since capturing his maiden Australian Open crown, a triumph with which the 22-year-old became the youngest man to complete the Career Grand Slam. Last year in Doha, Alcaraz fell to Jiri Lehecka in the quarter-finals on debut. This year, he begins against Arthur Rinderknech.

2) Sinner’s debut: Second seed Sinner is set for his Doha debut. The Italian will be eager to rebound from his painful five-set semi-final loss to Novak Djokovic in Melbourne and arrives chasing his 25th tour-level title — and first since lifting the Nitto ATP Finals trophy on home soil in November.

3) Former champions in draw: The draw features three past winners: defending champion Andrey Rublev, who also claimed the title in 2020 when the event was an ATP 250; 2023 titlist Daniil Medvedev; and 2024 champion Karen Khachanov.

4) Fils continues comeback: Arthur Fils, the former World No. 14, continues his comeback after an eight-month layoff due to a back injury. Competing in just his third tournament since returning, the unseeded Frenchman could meet third seed Alexander Bublik in the second round.

5) Cash/Glasspool eye response: Julian Cash and Lloyd Glasspool aim to regroup after their surprise second-round defeat at the Australian Open to James McCabe and Li Tu. The top seeds open against singles standouts Ugo Humbert and Arthur Rinderknech.

FIVE THINGS TO WATCH IN RIO DE JANEIRO:
1) In-form Cerundolo: Fresh from winning his maiden title on home soil in Buenos Aires, where he did not drop a set, Cerundolo enters the ATP 500 event in Rio brimming with confidence. The Argentine reached the semi-finals in 2022 and 2024, but the top seed will hope to go deeper during this campaign. He opens against countryman Mariano Navone. 

2) Baez eyes three-peat: Sebastian Baez made history last year by becoming the first man to successfully defend the Rio crown. Now, the two-time reigning champion is pursuing his eighth ATP Tour title. After a semi-final showing in Buenos Aires — where he fell to Luciano Darderi — a potential rematch could loom in Brazil at the same stage.

3) Fonseca seeks first win of 2026: Joao Fonseca has endured a stop-start beginning to 2026, withdrawing from Brisbane and Adelaide before a first-round exit at the Australian Open and opening-match defeat in Buenos Aires, where he was defending champion. The 19-year-old Brazilian will draw confidence from his breakthrough moment in Rio in 2024, when he earned his first tour-level win against Fils.

4) Can Darderi push on? Luciano Darderi has enjoyed a strong start to the season by reaching the quarter-finals in Auckland, the fourth round at the Australian Open and the final in Buenos Aires. Set to rise to a career-high World No. 21 on Monday, the Italian will chase his fifth ATP Tour title in Rio, where he is the second seed.

5) Fonseca/Melo feature in doubles: Fonseca teams with veteran Marcelo Melo in doubles, giving the home crowd plenty to cheer. Melo lifted the trophy last year alongside Rafael Matos. French duo Sadio Doumbia and Fabien Reboul are the top seeds.

FIVE THINGS TO WATCH IN DELRAY BEACH:
1) Fritz targets third title: Taylor Fritz arrives in Florida riding high after a positive run to the Dallas final. The top seed is aiming for a third Delray Beach trophy, having won back-to-back editions in 2023 and 2024. He holds a 12-6 event record, according to the Infosys ATP Win/Loss Index.

2) Ruud’s return: Second seed Casper Ruud competes for the first time since he and his wife, Maria, welcomed their first child. The Norwegian reached the fourth round at the Australian Open and now looks to rediscover that level in his Delray debut.

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3) #NextGenATP Jodar: The 19-year-old Rafael Jodar recently turned professional after one season at the University of Virginia. The Spaniard impressed at the Next Gen ATP Finals presented by PIF in Jeddah and entered Delray Beach through the Next Gen Accelerator, designed to expand opportunities for rising stars aged 20 and under.

4) Strong American presence: Thirteen Americans feature in the main draw. Among the leading seeds are former champion Frances Tiafoe, 2024 finalist Tommy Paul and past Next Gen ATP Finals winners Learner Tien and Brandon Nakashima.

5) Johnson/Zielinski top seeds: Luke Johnson and Jan Zielinski return for the first time since their run to the Australian Open semi-finals. The pair sit fifth in the PIF ATP Live Doubles Teams Rankings and headline the doubles competition.

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Shelton saves 3 championship points for gripping Dallas final win vs. Fritz

  • Posted: Feb 15, 2026

Ben Shelton brought the thunder when it mattered most on Sunday at the Nexo Dallas Open, where he saved three championship points to defeat Taylor Fritz and capture his first title of the season.

The 23-year-old roared back to earn an explosive 3-6, 6-3, 7-5 victory for his second ATP 500 trophy, saving all three championship points in a nervy 10th game of the decider. After that pivotal hold, Shelton dropped just three more points en route to winning his fourth ATP Tour title, and first indoors.

In a high-octane matchup between the top two seeds that ebbed and flowed right until the last ball, Shelton showed supreme composure under pressure. He let slip a break lead in the final set and then looked down and out, but showed some gutsy tennis at the dying embers to dish Fritz a painful defeat.

With the one-hour, 51-minute victory, Shelton improved to 2-1 in his Lexus ATP Head2Head series with Fritz.

More to follow…

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Hometown hero Cerundolo wins Buenos Aires title in ‘best moment of career so far’

  • Posted: Feb 15, 2026

Francisco Cerundolo put a history of Buenos Aires heartache behind him in style on Sunday afternoon, when the top seed eased to his maiden title at the IEB+ Argentina Open.

A defeated finalist in 2021 and 2025, hometown favourite Cerundolo overcame second seed Luciano Darderi 6-4, 6-2 to seal an emotional triumph at the clay ATP 250 event. Cerundolo held his nerve in a see-saw final set, in which all but two games featured at least one break point, to lift his fourth ATP Tour trophy and his first on Argentine soil.

“Probably the best moment of my career so far,” declared Cerundolo after his 97-minute win. “I really wanted to win here in my hometown, in my country, with my friends and family and all the people here in Argentina. This feeling is amazing. I really fought throughout these past years and tried to win. I couldn’t do it, and today I played one of the best matches probably of my career.”

The No. 19 player in the PIF ATP Rankings, Cerundolo is the seventh home champion in the history of the IEB+ Argentina Open, which was first held in 2001. The 27-year-old has now won a Tour-leading 46 matches on clay since the start of the 2024 season, two more than second-placed Darderi.

Cerundolo saved six of seven break points he faced, according to Infosys ATP Stats, including all five in the opening set. He now leads 24-year-old Italian Darderi, who himself was born and spent much of his childhood in Argentina, 3-2 in their Lexus ATP Head2Head series.

“I think I played really good, really aggressive. I didn’t let him take initative of the points,” said Cerundolo. “It’s a final. You have to go for it. Nobody wants to lose, and everybody wants to win. I played for every point today.”

Despite falling short of his fifth ATP Tour title, Darderi will rise to a career-high World No. 21 on Monday after his run to the championship match in Argentina.

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What McEnroe ‘really respects’ about Djokovic, Nadal & Federer

  • Posted: Feb 15, 2026

John McEnroe is one of the most prolific members of the ATP No. 1 Club, having spent 170 weeks atop men’s tennis and earning four ATP Year-End No. 1 presented by PIF finishes. But decades after his retirement, the American continues to learn about the sport.

During an interview with ATP Media at the Nexo Dallas Open, McEnroe explained how much he “really respects” one thing in particular about Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal, Roger Federer and more recently Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner.

“They keep pushing. It might be a little late but the lesson I learned is maybe I should have pushed a little harder then instead of waiting to see what would happen,” McEnroe said. “So you get life lessons as you’re dealing with all this stuff that, later on, probably makes you a better person in the end.”

The legendary lefty first became the No. 1 player in the PIF ATP Rankings in March 1980,

“The first time that I hit No. 1 on the computer was a different time than when I was the No. 1 and that there was no doubt about it,” McEnroe said. “There was probably a year and a half between that happening in Memphis in February of ’80 to September at the US Open of ’81 when I supplanted Bjorn at that time as No. 1.”

When McEnroe became No. 1 his great rival, Bjorn Borg, was still at the top of the sport. But 1981 would prove to be the iconic Swede’s final full-time season.

“When it did happen, it coincided unfortunately as it turned out with my greatest rival deciding not to play any more. So it was gut-wrenching in a way,” McEnroe said. “That led to me struggling with feeling a bit like I’d walked into something that was a little bit overwhelming. And it took me a while to figure it out. And then by the time I figured it out, I was still out there finishing No. 1 the third, fourth year. But then after that, lifting myself to that level I was like, ’Alright, now I’ve shown them’.”

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McEnroe’s final stint at World No. 1 ended in September 1985. More than 40 years later, he still is seventh of 29 ATP No. 1 Club members for weeks at the top of the sport.

“I appreciated it then, but I also appreciated being No. 2 in the world. I had this conversation with Bjorn quite a bit,” McEnroe said. “He was like, ‘Look, if you’re not No. 1, what the hell difference is it being No. 2 or 100?’ I go, ‘Well, [No.] 2 is a lot better than 100’. So it’s just sort of the way you look at it.

“To me, there are a lot of people out there trying to do their thing. So if you gave it the best you can give and you were 5 in the world or you’re 50, whatever it is, the pride you have to take is that moreso than, ‘Okay I’m No. 1 and therefore I’ve got to act a certain way’.”

Nobody will ever be able to take away what McEnroe accomplished in tennis and those achievements are a big reason why fans still flock to see the New Yorker.

McEnroe said: “To me, ultimately, I think that being able to say that for a period of three, four years, that I was the best and then there were other years I was one of the two of three best, that feels better as you get older.”

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Bolelli/Vavassori successfully defend Rotterdam crown

  • Posted: Feb 15, 2026

Fourth seeds Simone Bolelli and Andrea Vavassori successfully defended their ABN AMRO Open title on Sunday with a revenge win.

Three weeks after losing to Ray Ho and Hendrik Jebens in the second round at the Australian Open, Bolelli and Vavassori beat the qualifiers 6-3, 6-4 to win the trophy in Rotterdam. With the win, they became the first team to successfully defend the title at the ATP 500 since Daniel Nestor and Nenad Zimonjic achieved the feat in 2009-10.

“Very happy. It’s one of our favourite tournaments of the season. For sure the best indoors, and we love to play in this beautiful stadium,” Vavassori said. “We played a great level all week, improving match by match and we will try to continue this way and go with confidence to Doha and Dubai.”

“Really happy with the trophy,” Bolelli added. “Back to back is always nice, we defended the title really good this year and this is our first trophy of 2026. So this is good confidence for us for the rest of the season.”

The Italians dropped their only set of the week in the semi-finals. In the championship match, they saved three of the four break points they faced, according to Infosys ATP Stats, and converted all three break points they earned, emerging victorious in 67 minutes. With the win, they claimed their eighth trophy as a team.

Arribage/Olivetti claim Dallas trophy

Theo Arribage and Albano Olivetti maintained their impressive start to the season by winning their third title of the year at the Nexo Dallas Open on Sunday.

The Frenchmen, who triumphed at the ATP 250 event in Montpellier last week, stunned top seeds Marcel Granollers and Horacio Zeballos 6-3, 7-6(4) in the Dallas final. They fired 10 aces and won 83 per cent (40/48) of their first-serve points in their maiden Lexus ATP Head2Head meeting with Granollers and Zeballos. They also defeated second seeds and Australian Open champions Christian Harrison and Neal Skupski in the quarter-finals.

They are up two spots to third in the PIF ATP Live Doubles Teams Rankings with their Dallas triumph and are the first Frenchmen to win the doubles title in event history.

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Luz/Matos win in Buenos Aires

Orlando Luz and Rafael Matos ended Andrea Collarini and Nicolas Kicker’s hopes of winning a title together on home soil at the IEB+ Argentina Open on Sunday when they defeated the Argentines 7-5, 6-3 to clinch the Buenos Aires crown.

“We were happy to have a lot of Brazilians here,” Luz said. “They pushed us since the first round…We are very happy that people were cheering for us today.”

The duo fended off the challenge posed by the Argentines in one hour and 32 minutes, saving four of the five break points they faced.

“We had to fight a lot during the points and all the matches,” Matos said. “It was very tough to play, tough conditions.”

Collarini and Kicker were competing in their maiden tour-level final and were aiming to become the first all-Argentine team to clinch the title in Buenos Aires since Maximo Gonzalez and Horacio Zeballos achieved the feat in 2019.

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De Minaur downs Auger-Aliassime for Rotterdam title: 'Third time lucky!'

  • Posted: Feb 15, 2026

Persistence eventually paid off for Alex de Minaur at the ABN AMRO Open on Sunday.

The top-seeded Australian fittingly produced his sharpest performance of the week to defeat Felix Auger-Aliassime 6-3, 6-2 and secure his maiden indoor title at the ATP 500 event. De Minaur fell in the past two Rotterdam finals, but he was crisp and clinical in all departments against Auger-Aliassime, who required an off-court medical timeout midway through the second set.

“That’s what it’s all about: just doing my best to rise to the occasion,” De Minaur said of his final performance, in which he did not face a break point, according to Infosys ATP Stats. “As the tournament goes on, you try and find ways out of solutions and try to give yourself the best chance to play better the following day, and I did exactly that. I’m super pleased with the performance today.

“Third time lucky… I’m super stoked, super happy. It ended up being a great week here in Rotterdam. It’s a place where I always feel really good. I was just a step short in the previous years, so it feels great to finally be able to lift the title.”

Auger-Aliassime was on an eight-match winning streak having lifted the title in Montpellier last week. The Canadian was targeting a ninth career indoor title to further strengthening his reputation as one of the most dangerous players under a roof. De Minaur, however, has been a consistent force at ATP 500 level in recent years, and his title charge in the Rotterdam final proved too much for the Canadian.

“Congrats to Alex and your team,” Auger-Aliassime said during the trophy presentation. “We’ve played a lot of matches throughout the years… I tried my best today, but you were just a little bit too good. [It’s your] third time in the final here, so congrats on the win.”

ATP 500 Win Leaders (since the start of 2023)

 Player  Wins  Titles
 Alex de Minaur  53  4
 Carlos Alcaraz  44  6
 Jannik Sinner  43  6
 Alexander Zverev  43  2

After a cagey start between the tournament’s top two seeds, the final ignited in the sixth game of the opening set when De Minaur struck two inspired winners to earn the decisive break — the first time Auger-Aliassime’s serve had been breached since his second-round win over Stan Wawrinka in Montpellier.

De Minaur carried his momentum into the second set and broke again in the fifth game, stepping inside the baseline and dictating rallies with increased aggression. Shortly after, Auger-Aliassime left the court for medical treatment and returned looking short of his usual explosiveness. De Minaur sensed his opportunity and remained ruthless, closing out the match to reduce his Lexus ATP Head2Head deficit against the Canadian to 2-3.

With his 78-minute win, De Minaur also jumped two spots to No. 6 in the PIF ATP Live Rankings.

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Alcaraz taking nothing for granted on return to action: ‘I see myself with weaknesses’

  • Posted: Feb 15, 2026

Given Carlos Alcaraz is the No. 1 player in the PIF ATP Rankings and has just completed the Career Grand Slam with his Australian Open win, he could be forgiven for sitting back and admiring his work so far in 2026.

The Spaniard, of course, has other ideas. Alcaraz is infused with the relentless desire to improve that has always characterised the greatest players in tennis history, and that is what will be at the forefront of his mind next week when he returns to action as the top seed at the Qatar ExxonMobil Open in Doha.

“Obviously I can see myself that [I have had] a lot of success so far, winning the biggest tournaments in the world,” said Alcaraz on Sunday at his pre-tournament press conference in Qatar. “But I just see myself with weaknesses. A lot of players, I know that they’re trying to catch me up in terms of they are studying my game, they study how I play, trying to beat me, trying to challenge me.

“I have to be ready for that, and I have to see where my level is, where my tennis is. I have to try to put myself in their minds and think what they could do when playing against me. So that’s what I mean about saying I have to improve some things. Obviously, you cannot be lagging in the level, you just have to keep it going.”

One obvious example of the rivals Alcaraz was referring to is Jannik Sinner. The Italian lines up as the second seed in the Doha field, presenting the possibility of a 17th chapter of the pair’s electric Lexus ATP Head2Head rivalry in the championship match. Yet the 22-year-old Alcaraz has no intention of getting ahead of himself as he looks to better the quarter-final run he forged on Doha debut a year ago.

“I know how difficult every match is. Every match is different, our play is totally different,” said the Spaniard, who takes on Top 30 star Arthur Rinderknech in his opener. “I think this draw is a really tough one for a 500 tournament. We can see the first matches how good matches that we have in the first round.

“So [I’m] just thinking about a match at a time, and let’s see how far I can go. Obviously my mind is trying to go as far as I can. If it’s possible to play a final, obviously that would be great, and that’s what I’m looking for, so let’s see. I’m not thinking about playing or just putting myself in the final too early. I want to think day by day.”

Alcaraz headed to Doha with a 7-0 record for the season, according to the Infosys ATP Win/Loss Index, following his Melbourne title run. He first enjoyed a stopoff in Bahrain, where he visited his fellow Spanish sporting superstars Fernando Alonso and Carlos Sainz at F1 pre-season testing, but his focus has now fully shifted to trying to take his game to even greater heights in the Qatari capital.

“Coming here, these days, my team and I, just we set up some goals for this tournament,” revealed the 25-time tour-level champion. “We are not talking about results at all. It’s just more about the process to be better, still in the process to grow up. There are some things that I really want to be better and [I want to] develop my game in a way that I really want to show up and to pull off here in this tournament.

“That would be a really successful week for me, besides results. I [want to] see myself that I’m just doing the right things on and off the court.”

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Ben Shelton & Trinity Rodman get dancing after Dallas win

  • Posted: Feb 15, 2026

When Ben Shelton advanced to the Nexo Dallas Open quarter-finals earlier this week, the American was asked about his girlfriend, football star Trinity Rodman, who recently got her U.S. Women’s National Team coach Emma Hayes to do a celebratory dance with her after scoring a goal.

Would Shelton ever get his father and coach, Bryan Shelton, to do the same?

“I think there’s a better chance of a lot of things in life,” Shelton said. “I think that’s one thing that would never happen, so that’s not something I would even ask.”

But the second seed never said anything about himself. So when Rodman arrived for Shelton’s semi-final at the ATP 500 event in Dallas and the lefty battled past defending champion Denis Shapovalov, she did the same celebratory dance in the stands.

What was Shelton’s response? To smile and do the same.

“This is the second tournament that my girlfriend has shown up on the semi-finals day,” Shelton said. “I’m 2-0 in semis when she shows up for that, so happy Valentine’s Day!”

Shelton will play Taylor Fritz Sunday for the trophy. They have split their two previous Lexus ATP Head2Head meetings.

It is safe to say if Shelton emerges victorious, another dance could be on the cards.

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