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This week, the\u00a0<\/strong>Japan Open witnessed a perfect game from Carlos Alcaraz<\/a>, tennis fans in Beijing showed love to their WTA Tour<\/a> favorites, and Alexander Bublik<\/a>, a mercurial maverick, became \u201cMr. Consistent.\u201d<\/p>\n If you\u2019d like to follow our fantastic tennis coverage, click here<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n When Alcaraz hurt his left ankle early in his first Japan Open match against Sebasti\u00e1n B\u00e1ez<\/a> in Tokyo and fell to the floor with a grimace on his face, his tournament was in jeopardy.<\/p>\n By the end of his quarterfinal against Brandon Nakashima, the world No. 1 was grimacing again \u2014 not at his injury, but at the absurd heights he can reach when in full flow. The 6-2, 6-4 scoreline against the American did not do justice to how Alcaraz alternated between diamond-edged forehands and gossamer drop shots, luring Nakashima into seemingly neutral rallies before blasting the ball past him, or angling it away on seemingly impossible trajectories.<\/p>\n The highlight-reel winners, of which Alcaraz hit 39, get the acclaim and the awe. But it\u2019s Alcaraz\u2019s technical tweaks, making his serve more fluid and going from a rushable backhand to a too-compact backhand, to somewhere in between, that allow the flashiest parts of his game to glint off a backdrop of even greater security and consistency. He is 65-7 in 2025, has reclaimed the world No. 1 ranking from Jannik Sinner, and has buried the already creaky belief that he is a player of inconsistency.<\/p>\n The final game against Nakashima epitomized the completeness of his tennis. Serving for the match at 5-4, an absurd crosscourt backhand flick took Alcaraz to 15-0. Two inside-out forehands into the American\u2019s backhand then forced Nakashima to change direction down the line, looking for the apparent safety of a neutral, crosscourt forehand exchange. Alcaraz marmalized the ball for a winner. 30-0. Fleet-footed movement across the service boxes and another silly angle on a drop volley. 40-0. And then, after Nakashima sent a first serve back into the middle with good depth, slightly tucking the Spaniard up, Alcaraz shuffled backward and detonated an inside-in forehand to win the match.<\/p>\n The perfect game to close a match \ud83e\udd29@carlosalcaraz<\/a> #kinoshitajotennis<\/a> pic.twitter.com\/Y6CNBzBll1<\/a><\/p>\n \u2014 Tennis TV (@TennisTV) September 28, 2025<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n Alcaraz\u2019s ceiling has been the highest on the ATP Tour for some time; now he is raising his floor, too. Nakashima is not his most illustrious opponent of the year, but that is in many ways the point: Alcaraz is throwing off his tendency to adapt too much to the level of his opponent. Some brutal early wins at the U.S. Open showed off this trait, and his performances in Tokyo have done so, too.<\/p>\n James Hansen<\/em><\/p>\n The start of the run of hard-court tournaments in Korea, China and Japan has brought racially insensitive comments from players on the ATP and WTA Tours: Taylor Townsend\u2019s about Chinese food culture<\/a> and Lorenzo Musetti about Chinese fans<\/a>. Both players apologized; Townsend has since pulled out of the China and Wuhan Opens, citing an ankle injury, while Musetti appealed to fans for forgiveness after beating Adrian Mannarino over the weekend.<\/p>\n In the aftermath of Townsend\u2019s comments, some fans brought signs to her matches at the Billie Jean King Cup, suggesting that if she ate more bullfrogs she would play better. Townsend had said \u201cthese people are literally killing frogs\u201d after seeing bullfrog, a delicacy, on a menu at a buffet in Shenzhen. This witty, direct retort \u2014 and the speed with which others like it spread not just through stadiums, but through social networks Weibo and RedNote \u2014 is typical of how the country\u2019s fans embrace tennis beyond the on-court action by leaning into the online culture and backstory that is so vital an entry point for casual fans.<\/p>\n Jessica Pegula, the 2024 U.S. Open finalist and daughter of Buffalo Bills owners Terry and Kim Pegula, has learned that her player nickname is Da Fu, meaning \u201cbig\u201d or \u201dfirst rich.\u201d Emma Navarro, whose father, Ben Navarro, is also a billionaire, is Er Fu, meaning \u201csmall rich.\u201d Coco Gauff is Fruit Salad Queen and was gifted a massive fruit basket in a video ahead of the tournament; Kate\u0159ina Siniakov\u00e1 is Instant Noodles(ov\u00e1) because of her hair; Yuliia Starodubtseva is Alphabet Lady because of her many letters and vowels.<\/p>\n \u201cI think they\u2019re so creative with a lot of off-court stuff, doing stuff for the podcast that we started,\u201d Pegula said of the support in a news conference.<\/p>\n The home fans also got to greet their biggest star\u2019s return to the sport, with Olympic gold medalist Zheng Qinwen returning from elbow surgery. After beating Emiliana Arango of Colombia, Zheng said in a news conference that her injury was not yet fully healed, and that \u201ccoming here to the China Open really depends on the support of the fans, because my team wasn\u2019t really supporting me in playing this tournament.<\/p>\n \u201cIn every training session, I see those fans and I said, I really want to play in front of these people,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n James Hansen<\/em><\/p>\n After Alcaraz, the man with the most ATP titles in 2025 might surprise a few people. The mercurial, sometimes maverick Alexander Bublik<\/a> has also been \u201cMr. Consistent\u201d over the past few months, during which he has won four titles. The most recent came last week at the Hangzhou Open in China, taking Bublik clear of Luciano Darderi\u2019s three and putting the Kazakh behind only Alcaraz\u2019s seven.<\/p>\n Three of Bublik\u2019s titles this year have been ATP 250s, the lowest rung of tournament on the tour, but he also won a 500-level title at the Halle Open in Germany, beating world No. 2 Jannik Sinner<\/a> in the process to end the Italian\u2019s 49-match winning streak against players not named Carlos Alcaraz. The level of event should not diminish Bublik\u2019s achievements, especially since he has also won on all three surfaces \u2014 grass, clay and hard\u00a0 \u2014 in the same season. He is just the third man to do that since the start of 2019; the other two are Alcaraz and 24-time Grand Slam champion Novak Djokovic.<\/p>\n Bublik\u2019s ability to make his at-times absurd talents more repeatable have taken him to a career-high ranking of world No. 16. He is also No. 13 for ranking points won in 2025, giving him a reasonable chance of qualifying for the ATP Tour Finals in Turin, the competition that is the benchmark of consistency over the course of a season.<\/p>\n Quite the turnaround for a player once defined by his volatility.<\/p>\n Charlie Eccleshare<\/em><\/p>\n \ud83c\udf40 When France\u2019s Arthur Rinderknech<\/strong> lost 6-3, 6-2 to Belgium\u2019s David Goffin<\/strong> in China Open qualifying, he thought his time in Beijing was done. Instead, Rinderknech got into the main draw as a lucky loser after someone pulled out. His first-round opponent? Goffin, of course, and Rinderknech duly took his revenge with a 6-4, 3-6, 6-4 win. Such a strange turn of events must have last happened years ago \u2026 No, this is tennis. M\u00e1rton Fucsovics<\/strong> defeated Luca Nardi<\/strong> in Dubai Open qualifying in March, only for the Italian to beat the Hungarian as a lucky loser in the first round.<\/p>\n \ud83e\udd6f Iga \u015awi\u0105tek <\/strong>is back in bagel mode<\/a>. She has won a set 6-0 in four of her past five matches, and after serving 10 bagels in her first 51 matches of 2025, she has baked seven in her past 20.<\/p>\n Carlos Alcaraz\u2019s otherworldly performance against Brandon Nakashima had plenty of highlights. This crosscourt backhand flick on the full run was the most ridiculous:<\/p>\n \ud83c\udfbe\u00a0ATP:\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n \ud83c\udfc6 Alejandro Tabilo (Q) <\/strong>def. Lorenzo Musetti (1) <\/strong>6-3, 2-6, 7-6(5) to win the Chengdu Open <\/strong>(250) in Chengdu, China. It is his third ATP Tour title. \ud83c\udfbe\u00a0ATP\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n \ud83d\udccdBeijing: China Open<\/strong> (500) featuring Jannik Sinner, Learner Tien, Alexander Zverev, Daniil Medvedev. \ud83d\udcfa UK: Sky Sports; U.S.: Tennis Channel \ud83d\udcbb Tennis TV<\/p>\n \ud83c\udfbe WTA<\/strong><\/p>\n \ud83d\udccdBeijing: China Open<\/strong> (1,000) featuring Iga \u015awi\u0105tek, Zheng Qinwen, Mirra Andreeva, Emma Raducanu. \ud83d\udcfa UK: Sky Sports; U.S.: Tennis Channel<\/p>\n Tell us what you noticed this week in the comments below as the men\u2019s and women\u2019s tours continue.<\/p>\n (Top photo: Koji Watanabe \/ Getty Images; design: Eamonn Dalton \/<\/em> The Athletic)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n \/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js<\/a> Welcome back to the Monday Tennis Briefing, where The Athletic\u00a0will explain the stories behind the stories from the past week on court. This week, the\u00a0Japan Open witnessed a perfect game from Carlos Alcaraz, tennis fans in Beijing showed love to their WTA Tour favorites, and Alexander Bublik, a mercurial maverick, became \u201cMr. Consistent.\u201d If you\u2019d … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4529,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4528","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/Carlos-Alcarazs-tennis-masterclass-at-the-Japan-Open-and-an.png","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4528","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4528"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4528\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4530,"href":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4528\/revisions\/4530"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/4529"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4528"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4528"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4528"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nHow did Carlos Alcaraz hit something close to his peak?<\/strong><\/h2>\n
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\nWhat makes Chinese tennis fan culture so special?<\/strong><\/h2>\n
\nHow did a mercurial talent become \u2018Mr. Consistent?\u2019<\/strong><\/h2>\n
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\nDrop shots<\/h3>\n
Shot of the week<\/strong><\/h3>\n
\n\ud83c\udfc6\u00a0The winners of the week<\/strong><\/h3>\n
\ud83c\udfc6 Alexander Bublik (3) <\/strong>def. Valentin Royer (Q) <\/strong>7-6(4), 7-6(4) to win the Hangzhou Open <\/strong>(250) in Hangzhou, China. It is his fourth title of the season.<\/p>\n
\n\ud83d\udcc5 Coming up<\/strong><\/h3>\n
\ud83d\udccd<\/strong>Tokyo: Japan Open <\/strong>(500) featuring Carlos Alcaraz, Casper Ruud, Taylor Fritz.
\ud83d\udccd<\/strong>Shanghai: Shanghai Masters <\/strong>(1,000) featuring Alcaraz, Sinner, Novak Djokovic, Ben Shelton.
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