How one of tennis’ most controversial rules left a player spoiling a highlight-reel shot

Welcome back to the Monday Tennis Briefing, where The Athletic will explain the stories behind the stories from the past week on court.

This week: a particularly devastating hindrance call, a tournament defined by withdrawals, two players making statements and another hitting back.

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How a tennis player spoiled their own brilliance – and lost a match

The hindrance rule in tennis is designed to stop a player affecting their opponent’s shot. World No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka was called on it during her Australian Open semifinal against Elina Svitolina, because she reacted to thinking she had missed a shot after doing her usual grunt.

The ball went in, and chair umpire Louise Engzell deemed that the extra noise hindered Svitolina as she went to hit it. Sabalenka protested — but only a little — and lost the point.

At last week’s Rio de Janeiro Open, there was an even more severe case of a hindrance hindering the player who committed it much more than the player on the other side of the net.

Daniel Altmaier was down 6-4, 6-6 to Dušan Lajović, with the second-set tiebreak at 7-7 and Altmaier two points from either extending the match or losing it. Stuck in his backhand corner, Altmaier was on defense as Lajović whipped an inside-out forehand crosscourt. Deep behind the baseline, the German looked to only have one option: A defensive slice or drive to fend off his opponent.

Instead, he produced a moment of utter genius, with this beautifully judged backhand drop shot that Lajović had no chance of reaching:

A perfect, potentially match-saving shot, and the scoreboard ticked up to 8-7 … To Lajović? After a clear double bounce on his side?

They say seeing is believing, but in this case it is hearing that reveals the truth. Sound up:

After hitting the drop shot, Altmaier wrongly believed he had messed it up, even though the ball never got close to the sideline or particularly low to the net. He let out a cry of anguish, saying “no, no!” Even though Lajović was never going to reach the ball, the chair umpire correctly called a hindrance and awarded Lajović a point he would have lost had Altmaier kept his mouth shut. One point later, the match was over and Altmaier was going home. Silence truly is golden.

— James Hansen

How did Jessica Pegula and Carlos Alcaraz make statements?

From semifinals.jpeg, to champion.jpeg. Jessica Pegula added the gloss her consistency since the 2025 U.S. Open deserved Saturday, winning the Dubai Tennis Championships 6-2, 6-4 over Ukraine’s Elina Svitolina.

Pegula had reached the semifinals of seven consecutive tournaments, including last year’s U.S. Open, without lifting a trophy at the end. Against Svitolina, who had come through a marathon three-hour semifinal against Coco Gauff, she played the devastatingly clean tennis that defines her best performances to earn the fourth WTA 1000 title of her career, the level one rung below the Grand Slams.

When it was over, Pegula credited improvements she had made during the past six months, designed to optimize her style of tennis, instead of just more general improvements.

“’OK, this is how you play, it’s special. How do we make that more efficient?’ That’s a lot more efficient footwork, taking the ball earlier, being able to flow through my shots a little bit better,” she said in a news conference.

The American’s title also emphasizes the strength at the top of the WTA Tour. Pegula now has 6,768 rankings points but is “just” No. 5 in the world, with over 6,000 points needed to get inside the top six. Men’s world No. 3, Novak Djokovic, has 5,280 points, almost 1,500 fewer than Pegula. And despite myriad withdrawals (more on those later) there were four top-10 players in the semifinals.

At the Qatar Open in Doha, which is an ATP 500 tournament, world No. 1 Carlos Alcaraz stepped on the gas to stretch his own points tally to 13,550. After beating Karen Khachanov and Andrey Rublev in two tight matches, in which Alcaraz had to showcase his defensive skills and patience, the Spaniard unleashed against Arthur Fils as the Frenchman, returning from a longterm back injury, found Alcaraz one step too far. Alcaraz won 6-2, 6-1 in 50 clinical minutes, lashing the ball to all corners of the court and proving that he can now win a tennis match just about any way that he wants to.

“On and off the court, I am learning from everything, from every experience in my life. I am a completely different person, even in playing, than I was in 2022 when I first became No. 1 and won my first Grand Slam,” Alcaraz said in his news conference.

“Seeing myself grow as a person and as a player, seeing myself mature and enjoying where I am, that’s true success for me,” he said. Alcaraz is now 30-0 in his last 30 matches on outdoor hard courts, and 12-0 in 2026. His alleged inconsistency was always something of an illusion, appearing in games and sets but rarely swinging ultimate results. Now it appears vanquished entirely.

— James Hansen

How did one player have a very special final(s) day?

Argentina’s Tomás Martín Etcheverry is this year’s Rio de Janeiro Open champion, but that only tells part of a remarkable story.

The tournament’s semifinals were scheduled to be played Saturday, but persistent rain meant that only 50 minutes of Etcheverry’s semifinal against Vít Kopřiva of the Czech Republic went ahead. At what proved to be the end of the day’s play, Kopřiva led 5-4.

The players returned Sunday and Chile’s Alejandro Tabilo opened play, winning 6-3, 6-3 in short order against Peru’s Ignacio Buse. The Chilean was then able to recover while Etcheverry and Kopřiva played out a match that lasted a total of three hours and 57 minutes, with another delay, this time for heat. Etcheverry came from a set down to win in two tiebreaks, 4-6, 7-6(2), 7-6(4) — and then had to face the more rested Tabilo with the trophy on the line.

When Etcheverry went down 3-6, 1-3, the inevitable appeared to be happening, with Tabilo’s longer rest time set to prove the edge. But Etcheverry fought through fatigue like he had fought through Kopřiva, dragging Tabilo into a third set, via yet another tiebreak and a wonderful passing shot:

The shot that sparked @tometcheverry‘s comeback quest ⚡️@RioOpenOficial | #RioOpenpic.twitter.com/mH8LmBelHH

— ATP Tour (@atptour) February 22, 2026

Then rain began to fall, and the Chilean began to hit a physical wall of his own.

Etcheverry triumphed 3-6, 7-6(3), 6-4, for his first ATP title, at 26.

— James Hansen

Is this part of the tennis calendar unsustainable?

The withdrawals from the Dubai Tennis Championships that Pegula won came in waves. World No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka and world No. 2 Iga Świątek announced their withdrawals simultaneously. Olympic gold medalist Zheng Qinwen withdrew. Karolína Muchová, who won the previous week’s Qatar Open in Doha; Victoria Mboko, who Muchová beat in the final, and Maria Sakkari, who Muchová beat to reach the final, all skipped it.

Elisabetta Cocciaretto, who defeated Coco Gauff in Doha, pulled out too. Two-time Grand Slam champion Barbora Krejčíková withdrew after winning her opening match, giving Amanda Anisimova a walkover, as did Krejčíková’s compatriot Sára Bejlek and Australia’s Daria Kasatkina.

Hailey Baptiste (U.S.), Ella Seidel (Germany) and Paula Badosa (Spain) then retired injured mid-match against Alex Eala, Jaqueline Cristian and Elina Svitolina respectively, before Australian Open champion Elena Rybakina exited her match against Croatia’s Antonia Ružić at the start of the third set.

That totaled 10 late withdrawals and four mid-match retirements from an entry of 56 players for the WTA 1000 tournament, one rung below the Grand Slams. It carries prize money of just over $4 million.

Its director, Salah Tahlak, called for “harsher punishment” for withdrawals during an interview with The National after Sabalenka and Świątek announced they would not be present.

“Not just fines, they should be docked ranking points,” he said, even though Sabalenka and Świątek will receive zero points for the event on their world ranking under WTA rules.

The Qatar Open and the Dubai Tennis Championships are the first two WTA 1000 events of the 10 played in the category per season, all of which are mandatory. Last year, there were two weeks between the end of the Australian Open and the start of the Qatar Open, but this year there was just one, compressing players’ recovery time and travel time after the first Grand Slam of the year.

In her news conference before the Dubai tournament, Gauff said that a harsher punishment would not be fair on players.

“We already have the mandatory. We get zeros on our ranking for everything. For this point in the schedule, I think it’s hard to play all the tournaments now that they’re two weeks. I think the asks of players are becoming more and more and more,” she said. The Qatar Open and Dubai Tennis Championships remain one week, but the majority of WTA 1000s are now 12 days.

“I do understand the tournament side,” Gauff said.

“They obviously want the players there. In the past I think top players have always come to Doha and Dubai. This draw has historically been a tough draw. I understand it’s unfortunate this year. I don’t think it’s fair for players to get docked points.”

Gauff ultimately reached the semifinals of the tournament, before losing a thrilling match to Svitolina 6-4, 6-7(13), 6-4.

— James Hansen

Why did Paula Badosa hit back at a tennis fan on social media?

A couple of days after Australian player Destanee Aiava took aim at internet trolls in a pointed retirement announcement, Badosa defended herself from online criticism after retiring from her Dubai Tennis Championships second-round match against Svitolina.

Badosa, who is a former world No. 2 but considered retiring from the sport in 2024 because of a chronic back problem, was forced to pull out from the match down a set because of a right-thigh injury. When an X user accused Badosa of being “disrespectful to the game” because “you cannot retire/withdraw from every tournament,” Badosa’s patience snapped.

“You have no idea what it’s like to live with a chronic injury and still choose to keep going,” she wrote, as her injury-hit season that has seen her plummet from No. 10 a year ago to the 80s continued.

“To wake up every day not knowing how your body will respond, searching for solutions, and fighting for something you love and give everything even when it’s so difficult. Trust me I’m the first one suffering with pain and having endless nightmares to try to find solutions every single day and for me after all stepping on a tennis court, makes worth everything every time. So I’ll keep trying. Because it’s all about trying and that won’t change. I’ll always try one more time.

“I’m doing this for my passion and for myself. And if there’s even a 1 percent chance to keep going, I’ll take it. That’s just how I see and understand life.

“If you don’t like it, you don’t have to follow me. And I’m so sorry to inform you I won’t retire so you’ll keep seeing me for a while. Change channel next time.”

Other players like Britain’s Katie Boulter have called out the social media abuse they suffer. A joint report from the International Tennis Federation (ITF) and Women’s Tennis Association last year showed that in 2024, using data from data science firm Signify, about 8,000 abusive, violent or threatening messages were sent publicly to 458 tennis players through their social media accounts, with 40 percent coming from disgruntled gamblers.

Badosa has since pulled out of this week’s Mérida Open in Mexico, with the possibility of returning for next month’s BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells, California — an event she won in 2021.

— Charlie Eccleshare

Shot of the week

Carlos Alcaraz may have fended off Karen Khachanov’s surge to beat him at the Qatar Open in Doha, but Khachanov won the highlight battle with this impudent forehand flick:

🏆 The winners of the week

🎾 ATP: 

🏆 Carlos Alcaraz (1) def. Arthur Fils 6-2, 6-1 to win the Qatar Open (500) in Doha, Qatar. It is his second title of 2026.

🏆 Tomás Martín Etcheverry (8) def. Alejandro Tabilo 3-6, 7-6(3), 6-4 to win the Rio de Janeiro Open (500) in Rio de Janeiro. It is his first ATP Tour title.

🏆 Sebastian Korda def. Tommy Paul (5) 6-4, 6-3 to win the Delray Beach Open (250) in Delray Beach, Florida. It is his third ATP Tour title.

🎾 WTA:

🏆 Jessica Pegula (4) def. Elina Svitolina (7) 6-2, 6-4 to win the Dubai Tennis Championships (1,000) in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. It is the American’s fourth WTA 1000 title.

📈📉 On the rise / Down the line

📈 Alex Eala moves up 15 places from No. 47 to No. 32, a new career high.

📈 Alejandro Tabilo ascends 26 spots from No. 68 to No. 42 after reaching the Rio de Janeiro Open final.

📈 Antonia Ružić enters the top 60 after rising 15 spots from No. 66 to No. 51, a career high.

📈 Moïse Kouamé rises 115 spots from No. 507 to No. 392 after reaching the ATP Tour Lille Challenger semifinals, also a career high.

📉 Sebastián Báez falls 20 places from No. 32 to No. 52 after failing to defend his Rio de Janeiro Open title.

📉 Sofia Kenin drops 14 places from No. 30 to No. 44.

📉 Alexandre Muller tumbles 26 spots from No. 52 to No. 78.

📉 Paula Badosa moves down 15 spots from No. 70 to No. 85.

📅 Coming up

🎾 ATP 

📍Dubai, United Arab Emirates: Dubai Tennis Championships (500) featuring Félix Auger-Aliassime, Alexander Bublik, Daniil Medvedev, Arthur Fils.

📍Acapulco, Mexico: Mexican Open (500) featuring Alexander Zverev, Alex de Minaur, Frances Tiafoe, Gaël Monfils.

📍Santiago, Chile: Chile Open (250) featuring Francisco Cerúndolo, Sebastián Báez, Luciano Darderi, Lorenzo Sonego.

📺 UK: Sky Sports; U.S.: Tennis Channel 💻 Tennis TV

🎾 WTA

📍Mérida, Mexico: Mérida Open (500) featuring Emma Navarro, Diana Shnaider, Ann Li, Camila Osorio.

📍Austin: ATX Open (250) featuring Venus Williams, Jessica Pegula, Iva Jović, Peyton Stearns.

📺 UK: Sky Sports; U.S.: Tennis Channel

Tell us what you noticed this week in the comments below as the men’s and women’s tours continue.

This article originally appeared in The Athletic.

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