This Week's Drop Shots: December 9th, 2020
“This Week’s Drop Shots” details the latest results, hot takes, and breaking news from around the tennis world in a quick and easy-to-read format.
It may be the offseason and almost time for holidays, but we’re still covering the world of tennis! Here are some of the best stories, topics, and events we’ve got for you this week:
College Tennis - ITA Indoors
On Monday, the ITA held its Kickoff Weekend draft! While you can (and should) listen to the full breakdown that covers Men’s/Women’s picks here, here are a few headlines from the Men’s side:
Stanford decided to go to NC State, allowing us to believe that they don’t think they'll face travel restrictions and sought to play indoors.
Wake Forest electing to play at TCU instead of NC State shows the level of respect the top teams have for Stanford.
Pepperdine choosing to play at Michigan shocked many, and with Baylor joining, this region is arguably the most interesting one to keep an eye on.
We’re pumped for the indoor action in 2021! With the Australian Open moving to February (see below)…good college tennis is exactly what fans need.
USP Virtual Showcase - College Recruiting
Staying on the theme of college tennis…our friends at University Sports are putting on a great event for you to get recruited by college coaches! With the difficulties that COVID has presented to the recruiting process, this showcase allows you to have face-to-face conversations with coaches from across the country, all in one event. Register for the event and save $$$ with our discount code CR2020 or CR2020PLUS.
Carla Suárez Navarro
The former top-10 WTA player announced her diagnosis of Hodgkin lymphoma in September and added that she faces 6 months of chemotherapy treatment. She’s been keeping fans in the loop with updates on treatments and her activity, most recently in a video of her back on court! She had already announced that 2020 would be her final season of play early in the year, but it’s still great to see the former star in action. If you want to read more, check out the story here.
Australian Open
Though many reports have indicated that the first slam of the year will begin on February 8th (3 weeks later than the original start date), many questions remained. A large one was around qualifying: how will it function in this atypical slam setup? The answer appears to be that qualifying matches will be held outside of Australia, prior to the mandatory quarantine upon arrival. Locations have not been confirmed, but many have pointed to Doha and Dubai as serious options for qualifying. Stay tuned for more updates regarding the Australian Open!
Featured Content
We’ll see you all next week for another recap, but be sure to check out some of our favorite recent articles and episodes!
Vicky Duval’s Interview with Former World #17 Bernard Tomic