Sabadell loses the crown again, feeling down; Djokovic withdraws, granting Musetti entry to Turin; Shapovalov wins his first career title

Three minutes daily to catch up on global tennis news. Hello tennis fans, today is Sunday, November 9, 2025. Welcome to the news midday report brought to you by "Tennis Home."

Early this morning Beijing time, the 2025 WTA Finals wrapped up impressively in Riyadh. In the singles final, sixth seed and Kazakh star Rybakina defeated top seed and world number one Sabalenka 6-3, 7-6(0), delivering a bagel tiebreak to claim her first Finals title with an 11-match winning streak.

This marks Rybakina’s third singles title of the season and the 11th of her career. Having won the tournament undefeated, she earned the highest single prize money payout in women’s sports history—$5.235 million—making her the biggest winner at the Riyadh Finals. Following her victory, her world ranking is set to return to the top 5 next week.

Sabalenka once again missed out on the year-end Finals crown. After the match, she admitted she was feeling down, saying, “After a while, I started to feel better. I lost the match, and she played amazingly. I felt I gave my best today, but it just didn’t work out.” She added, “Sometimes the opponent simply performs better on the day. How do I recover from such a tough defeat? The positive side is that I always reach this stage, but the downside is that this season I lost most of the important finals.”

In the doubles final, former champions and fourth seeds Kudermetova/Mertens defeated seventh seeds Babos/Stefani 7-6(4), 6-1, claiming their second title together after Wimbledon and earning their first Finals doubles crown in three years.

Let’s turn to the men’s court. Early this morning Beijing time, two ATP 250 indoor hardcourt events concluded this week. In Athens, top seed Djokovic overcame second seed Musetti 4-6, 6-3, 7-5, sealing the victory by converting his second match point in the final set. This marked his sixth consecutive win over Musetti, his second tour title of the season, and the 101st ATP singles title of his career—just two shy of Swiss legend Federer’s 103.

Although the Italian runner-up did not qualify for the year-end Finals singles based on points, shortly after the match Djokovic announced his withdrawal from this year’s Finals, passing his spot to Musetti—turning disappointment into opportunity. This will be the Italian’s debut at the Finals, where he will replace Djokovic in the Jimmy Connors group, competing with Alcaraz, Fritz, and de Minaur for a spot in the knockout stage.

In his withdrawal statement, Djokovic said, “I was really looking forward to competing in Turin and giving my best, but after today’s final in Athens, I regret to announce that I must withdraw due to injury. To the fans hoping to see me play, I am deeply sorry—your support means the world to me. I wish all participants great success and can’t wait to return to the court and reunite with everyone!”

In Metz, 19-year-old American rising star Learner Chan came back from a 1-5 deficit in the deciding set tiebreak to narrowly defeat British veteran Norrie 6-3, 3-6, 7-6(8), claiming his first career tour singles title. With the ranking points earned from this win, Learner will break into the top 30 in the world rankings for the first time next week.

Additionally, last night Beijing time, the ATP announced the best tournaments of 2025: ATP1000 event: Cincinnati Masters in the USA; ATP500 event: Qatar Open in Doha; ATP250 event: Bastad Open in Sweden.

Finally, let’s play a guessing game. The photo below shows two players as children. Without any hints, can you identify who they are?

In the last guessing game, a fan from Shanghai known as “Grey Wolf” correctly identified the player. That’s right, the person in the picture is the American star Anisimova.

(Source: Tennis Home Author: Maverick)