If you’re a tennis nut, or work in the sport, you might be familiar with the following scenario.
Your friends – perhaps casual fans – will have a ground pass during the early rounds of a big tournament and will inevitably ask you: “Who do you think we should go and watch?”
If you’re a superfan, you’ll no double have your favourites to suggest. If you cover the sport for a living, you will know a lot about the players from watching them, interviewing them and telling their stories.
But often, the best people to answer this question are professional players themselves.
They practice with, train alongside, compete against and are constantly watching their rivals. They’re closer to the action than we could ever hope to be, and possess a unique perspective on what makes a tennis player so great.
From their vantage point, we’ve learned that…
Andy Murray loves watching Daniil Medvedev
From one Grand Slam champion and former world No.1 to another, Murray told the ATP Metz tournament media team that he admires Medvedev, a player who leads their head-to-head series 3-0:
“I do really like watching Medvedev play as well. I think he’s got a very different game style to a lot of players. He looks very unorthodox and I like people that are not (your) textbook tennis player. It certainly happens in the UK … (coaches) are very fascinated by technique, and having perfect technique and strokes, but you watch someone like him and he doesn’t. He hits with strange technique and doesn’t look like he should play as well as he does. But he is unbelievably smart on the court, moves very well and he knows where to hit the ball, it’s not just about how you hit it but where you hit it as well.”
Andys love watching Iga Swiatek
Murray is also a big fan of watching women’s tennis, telling Eurosport that world No.1 Iga Swiatek is a particular favourite:
“I love watching Swiatek, she moves great, the shape she plays with on the ball.”
Andy Roddick, another former world No.1 and major winner, was also glowing in his praise for Swiatek during a recent Tennis Channel interview:
“I don’t know anyone on tour who has better footwork, especially those little steps, preparing for balls in the middle that might shift around (in the wind), than Iga Swiatek. I find myself watching her sometimes, I ignore the actual point that’s going on, and just watch her footwork and those mini circle Cs to get the forehands. It’s just perfect. The way that she moves from the middle of the court is just perfect.”
Hubert Hurkacz loves watching Iga Swiatek
The love keeps coming for Swiatek, this time from countryman ATP world No.9 Hubert Hurkacz, Swiatek’s United Cup teammate:
"Iga is incredible. Watching her play from close by, the energy she brings and the positivity and how she can hit the ball is really impressive. It's so much fun to be able to share the court with her and play for Poland."
Coco Gauff loves watching Novak Djokovic and Carlos Alcaraz
During her run to the title at the 2023 US Open, we discovered that Coco Gauff watches a lot of tennis – and rarely misses a chance to follow the world’s top two players:
“Somebody who I look up to a lot movement-wise is definitely Novak and definitely Carlos… I'm hoping I can continue to learn by watching them. I was watching Alcaraz last night. I saw (their) French Open match and I saw the Wimbledon final. I did not see the whole Cincinnati final because I was flying home the same time… but I saw most of their matchups. Obviously I watch them a lot when they're playing other people.
“It's incredible. They're breaking the limits of tennis. I'm watching the matches and I'm like, I don't know how, like, 40 years from now how the level can exceed this. I think it's peak tennis, to be honest. Not just their matchups. I've watched Novak play against Roger, Rafa, those two, it's just peak tennis. Novak is a one-in-a-generation type of player, and so is Carlos, and they're playing each other on two different spectrums.
“I can talk about this all day. It's really cool.”
Carlos Alcaraz loves watching Tommy Paul
Speaking of Alcaraz, the world No.2 and reigning Wimbledon champion has his own favourites, including Tommy Paul – the AO 2023 semifinalist who has beaten Alcaraz twice in the past 18 months:
“I watch a lot of matches from him. I enjoy watching him. He is really talented player. He makes everything easy. And, yeah, I like to watch these kind of players. I mean, he is doing everything well. He move well. He is fast. He hits great shots. Big forehand, big backhand. (When I play him) he's going to be really, really tough.”
Harriet Dart loves watching Ons Jabeur
Dart, who peaked at world No.84 last year, revealed during an interview with Mirror Sport how much she admires three-time major finalist Jabeur:
“I love watching Ons Jabeur. She's a very, very different player to a lot of the females and her touch and skills are just out of this world. I'm sure she will win a Grand Slam very soon. She’s been pushing boundaries for her people, and she's such a nice girl as well. I think that's what really sticks out.”
Jannik Sinner loves watching Jack Draper
Italy’s Sinner enjoyed his best ever season by ending 2023 ranked world No.4. He told the Australian Open at the beginning of that year what he likes about fellow young gun Draper:
“I also like to see new players. Jack Draper I love to see, for example. First of all, he’s a lefty. I predicted at the end of last year that he is going to have a good year this year … I think he has a very smooth tennis. He goes for his shots and he has also a great attitude. So I like this combination.”
Iga Swiatek loves watching Coco Gauff
Writing a column for the BBC during her Roland Garros title run in 2022, Swiatek was glowing in her praise for Gauff, the player she would meet in that final:
“I like watching Coco Gauff … I feel like she's been on tour longer than me and she's only 18 (at the time of writing). Coco has great potential and I hope she will keep improving… I remember Coco winning the French Open juniors in 2018 when I really wanted to win. When Coco won – she was only 14 – I was like 'great, I worked so hard and a girl three years younger than me is winning junior Grand Slams'! When I got to meet her more on the WTA Tour, I could see she was staying on a really good level and she deserves her success. I feel she is really humble and focused on the job. It seems like she is having fun and has good people around her.”