What might be next for the next Saudi Sports Bet is terrifying. Break Point provides a rare opportunity to turn back the clock on Sabalenka’s thoughts on Ukraine. Racquet sport variations gone wild.
After LIV Golf, What Will Be the Next Saudi Sports Bet? Tennis is probably the best candidate for a rival tour. Like golf, it’s an individual sport, which makes it easier for P.I.F. to lure athletes with big checks. And while there’s a smaller cohort of stars to recruit than in golf, a rival league would need only about a dozen players for an elite tour. Full Story: The New York Times
Sabalenka on Ukraine War in New Break Point Episodes: Aryna Sabalenka opened up on the Ukraine war’s impact on her as a Belarussian tennis player in Netflix’s Break Point series. These episodes were recorded last year. Full Story: The Express (UK)
Tennis Channel looking for VP/DTC & Streaming: The tennis channel is looking for a new VP over Direct to Consumer and Streaming. Full Story: Sports Business Daily
The Royal Origins of Tennis: The strict etiquette at Wimbledon and other tournaments is a reminder that the sport’s first players were French kings and aristocrats. Full Story: The Wall Street Journal
Why tennis fashion owes it all to Suzanne Lenglen: In an era in which women’s sporting “costumes” were cumbersome and restrictive in the name of modesty, Lenglen dispensed with corsets and petticoats. The first Wimbledon fashion scandal – of which there have been many owing to the All England Club’s vigorous sartorial rules – saw Lenglen arriving for her 1919 debut in a low-cut dress and rolled-down stockings; an outfit the London press deemed “indecent.” Full Story: The Guardian
On The Line: The Richard Williams Story: The documentary premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival last year and continues to garner rave reviews at exclusive events ahead of its public release. The documentary promises an “emotional reckoning” with unaired interviews spanning the 1980s to the present day. Full Story: Marca
What’s tennis golf? Meet the new sport: The rules are pretty simple: you use a tennis ball and racquet to play a course and use golf scoring. Full Story: WHNT (Editorial note: The article claims the sport was invented in Huntsville, but this concept has existed for decades.)
Road tennis rising: How the revival of a street sport empowers Barbados: The game is likened to a combination of table tennis and lawn tennis. Players use what look like oversized wooden table tennis paddles with flat handles, which makes wrist work key. The “net” is so low to the ground that players must be, too. That means backs, buns, and knees get a thorough workout. Full Story: Christian Science Monitor
‘Pickleball Tourism’ Takes Off Across the U.S.: Tour companies catering to “picklers” have sprung up and are organizing pickleball-focused trips to other countries. Resorts and hotels are serving up amenities around the sport— “pickleball and pinot” anyone? Full Story: The Wall Street Journal
Can pickleball and tennis really co-exist? Pickleball advocates need to get off their collective duffs and begin a concerted effort to fast-track the creation of courts specifically geared for their sport. Too often, this group is all about descending upon tennis facilities like locusts and too rarely about doing the enlightened thing of building properties of their own. Full Story: The Escondido Times Advocate
Black bear seen walking across tennis court near Florida resort: A black bear was sighted strolling through a recreation area in Destin, Florida, just a day after another black bear was seen frolicking in the ocean alongside beachgoers. Full Story: Fox 5
This Week in Professional Tennis
| Date | Tournament | Tour/Level | Location |
| 6/19-25 | Cinch Championships | ATP 500 | London |
| 6/19-25 | Terra Wortmann Open | ATP 500 | Halle, Germany |
| 6/19-25 | bett1open | WTA 500 | Berlin, Germany |
| 6/19-25 | Rothesay Classic | WTA 250 | Birmingham, Great Britain |
| 6/19-25 | Veneto Open | WTA 125 | Gaiba, Italy |
