The tennis season is winding up even as it winds down.
On the one hand, we’re more than 10 months into the 2025 schedule, with only a couple of major events to go.
On the other hand, this week we have three mid-size, 500-level tournaments that will serve as lead-ins to bigger competitions just ahead.
Who will make it into those bigger year-end competitions? We’ll know more after this week. Here are three takeaways from the draws in Vienna, Basel, and Tokyo, and a look what’s at stake in each.
Elena Rybakina is two wins from Riyadh
Maybe the biggest, or most surprising, news is who isn’t playing this week: Mirra Andreeva, who is currently seventh in the Riyadh chase, hasn’t entered the WTA 500 in Tokyo. That opens the door for the woman in ninth place, Elena Rybakina, to leap past her and snag the final position.
On Sunday, Rybakina helped herself by winning the title in Ningbo. Now, to pass Andreeva, she must make the semifinal in Tokyo. As the highest seed, she gets a bye, which means she only needs to win two matches. She’ll start against either Leylah Fernandez or Maria Sakkari. Then she would face one of four opponents: Victoria Mboko, Bianca Andreescu, Katie Boulter, or Eva Lys. The way Rybakina looked in Ningbo, she’ll be favored against any of them. And I’m guessing no one will would want to face if she’s still at that level in Riyadh.
If Rybakina loses before the semis, Andreeva qualifies for Riyadh.
Jannik Sinner returns in Vienna
The world No. 1 has been Turin-bound for weeks, if not months. But he returns to the tour a week earlier than his rival Carlos Alcaraz.
If he’s going to play a 500, he might as well do it in Vienna. He’s almost from Austria. He won it two years ago, as part of his initial rise to No. 1. He had to cut his previous effort, in Shanghai, short due to cramps. And with a title, he can put himself 500 points closer to Alcaraz at No. 1, with two tournaments to go. Sinner will start against Daniel Altmaier, and could play Alexander Bublik in the third round.