The Served team collectively spent 680,000 hours watching Roland Garros and the digital coverage over the last three weeks. That’s an unscientific number, but it feels about right. Here are the moments we’ll remember most.

Flower Power (Producer Ella)

Flavio Cobolli stopping mid-match in the final to eat a flower.

Magic Maya (Newsletter Megan)

Maja Chwalinska’s run. If she didn’t steal the show from Mirra Andreeva in the end, she shared it with such natural charm. I loved her moment at the TNT desk with Agassi. She was star-struck, and when he gushed about her game, she said playfully, “Andre! Stop!” She handled the competition, the attention and the occasion amazingly well.

Senta a Púa! (Social Emmy)

The 19-year-old star João Fonseca coming back from two sets down to take the victory over the one and only Novak Djokovic in the third round. The Brazilian crowd cheering on Fonseca created a truly dopamine-inducing atmosphere. South American players are definitely the ones to watch in the upcoming years.

Doing It for the Kids (Social Sophie)

After Matteo Arnaldi’s semifinal withdrawal, Flavio Cobolli practicing on Philippe Chatrier and finding himself with an open spot on court. So he did the logical thing: pulled a fan out of the stands for a few rallies, turning a canceled match into one of the most wholesome moments of the tournament.

Viva l’Italia (Marissa)

The other Italian players stepping up in the wake of Jannik Sinner’s early exit. As encouraging as it was to see Matteo Berrettini back in form, it was equally exciting to see the younger Flavio Cobolli and Matteo Arnaldi make deep runs. If the USWNT has Triple Espresso, what can we call this trio?

Down But Not Out (Newsletter Megan Again)

Felix Auger-Aliassime tripping into the shot of the tournament.

We have been following the University of Arkansas story closely since the school abruptly cut its men’s and women’s tennis programs without discussions with coaches or alumni. On Thursday, the university reversed its decision after a feverish fundraising effort by former players and other supporters. They came up with $5 million to fund the teams for two years, and the money will buy more than uniforms—it also buys the program time to find a long-term solution and keep college tennis at Arkansas.

Served talked to one of the alums behind the reinstatement effort, Simon Robinson, who played for the Razorbacks in the 1980s. The New Zealander explained how the group convinced the chancellor to reconsider the decision.

Robinson choked up several times discussing the ordeal of the last 20 days and what it meant for the Northern Arkansas tennis community to come together.

“You got to fight like a tennis player. You’ve got to grind. You’ve got to compete. You can’t give up. Our analogy was, Man, we’re down a set and a double break and John Isner is serving and it doesn’t look good. But you know what, you still have a chance. And we made it work,” Robinson said.

It’s an emotional and powerful interview that reveals how important NCAA tennis is to the greater American tennis community—and what other tennis alumni bases might face soon in the new age of college sports.

Here’s your chance to beat Andy Roddick at tennis…predicting. It’s really not that hard. During Served’s Roland Garros Bracket Challenge, 4,467 people outperformed him. We want even more Chuckers to bury him in Served’s first Wimbledon Bracket Challenge, so to help out, we asked previous Top 3 finishers for their strategies.

The Served Bracket Challenge is free to play. Brackets are due by the start of main-draw matches on Monday, June 29. That’s 11 a.m. in London, or 6 a.m. Eastern time in the United States. You can save your results and change your bracket until then.

Enter the Served Bracket Challenge

Don’t Overthink the Early Rounds

The points structure in the Served Bracket is progressive, increasing by 10 for the first four rounds and 20 for the last three. What you get right in the Round of 16 and quarterfinals matters far more than what you nail on Day 1.

“Bracket challenges are not won on Day 1, so the focus is more on picking players who have chances to advance to the third or fourth round. There are many players who are consistent and have a track record of making the second or third round. “ —Henry from Roselle, Illinois

“My main rule of thumb? Never overthink the early rounds, because the tennis gods love destroying a perfectly logical bracket by day three.” —Steve from Chicago

Even though most points are available in rounds 1 and 2—640 points each—those toss-ups are harder to predict. That’s when you might use one player’s secret trick.

“A non-zero percentage of my picks were decided by who had the cooler kit or who I’d rather have a beer with.” —Steve from Chicago

Bonus Points Tip the Scales

The scoring system rewards two types of upsets:

• Correctly picking an unseeded player to beat a seeded player doubles the round’s points.

• Picking a lower seed to beat a higher seed yields a bonus equal to the seed difference (e.g., No. 20 beating No. 10 is worth an extra 10 points).

The unseeded bonuses are the bigger prize, and they can compound. An unseeded player who makes the fourth round could rack up 60 bonus points by taking out seeds along the way.

The Australian Open Bracket winner illustrated this perfectly, finishing with 186 bonus points, more than double what the second- and third-place finishers accumulated. The key was correctly predicting unseeded Wang Xinyu to upset two seeded players in the women’s draw.

“Since I’m from Hong Kong, I saw comments and discussions from Hong Kong and Chinese players about Wang Xinyu, which helped me successfully predict some of her upset wins.” —Gaile in Hong Kong

In the Australian Open contest, Andy’s seed bonuses (Victoria Mboko over Clara Tauson for +3 , Iva Jovic over Jasmine Paolini for +22) gave him the edge on JW.

The lesson: Look for one or two unseeded players with legitimate upset potential and back them to make a run, and target high seeds who are struggling for an upset.

Find Your Upsets in the Middle Rounds

A common bracket mistake is fixating on the winner while sleepwalking through the quarterfinals.

“In order to win, you need to have the players playing at the end. First-round upsets are great to have, but finding those milder upsets where players go multiple rounds is more important.” —Henry from Roselle, Illinois

This holds even more true when there is a runaway favorite for the title (Jannik Sinner). Everyone will have him at the end. Correctly picking a fourth-rounder, quarterfinalist or semifinalist that most others pass on can give you a bounce.

The reason Andy beat JW in the Australian Open women’s bracket is that he had a perfect fourth round. He nailed all the winners, whereas JW missed two. Those points, combined with his 25 bonus points from seed differentials, gave him 165 points more than JW, enough to overcome JW’s 104-point edge from picking the champion (Andy went with Sabalenka).

Remember the Best-of-Five Factor

The longer format changes the calculus for the men. Consider experience and fitness.

Use the Bracket’s Data Feature

Served’s bracket has valuable data built right in. Hover over any match to pull up the head-to-head and each player’s seven most recent results. You can also hover over each match result to see the opponent, score and tournament. The square with an arrow next to the player’s name pulls up full results for the year.

If you can make an informed pick in a handful of matches, those wins can easily add up to an extra 100 or 200 points.

“When it comes to the later rounds, I do take into account matchups and head-to-head records. I also take into account performance on surfaces.” —David from Stamford, Connecticut

“How a player handles their last loss and their confidence level going into a major will factor heavily in my choices.” —Kris from Ruby, New York

A note on the form tool: Matches are listed from most to least recent, so interpret accordingly.

Watch for Withdrawals

Keep tabs on any late withdrawals and revisit your draw in case they change your choices. Otherwise, whoever takes that person’s spot in the draw will replace the pick in your bracket. This affected the Roland Garros Bracket this year. Arthur Fils pulled out at the last minute, and lucky loser Jesper de Jong took his place. Many Chuckers had Fils going deep—Kim even had him in the final. If they didn’t change their picks, they had Jesper de Jong going deep instead.

You can change your brackets up until the first ball—Monday, June 29, 11 a.m. London time, 6 a.m. U.S. Eastern time.

Note the Served House Rules

1. Qualifiers are good early-round picks. They are battle-tested and confident after three wins. If they are drawn against an opponent of a similar ranking, don’t assume the higher-ranked player is the favorite.

2. Getting Meddied is the new Cerundolo’d. Andy swore off picking Francisco Cerundolo after getting burned by him in the US Open Bracket Challenge. He’s over it, and now he’s wary of Daniil Medvedev. You have been warned.

3. Don’t pick against a Served or Love All guest before the third round.

4. Producer Mike’s Moneyball Method: picking whoever leads the head-to-head. What happens when there isn’t one?

   

There’s Time to Do Some Homework

It’s pretty hard to roll up to a Bracket Challenge cold and made a deep run. Cue up the Served and Love All tournament recaps to get your bearings. Our live-draw show has good intel on the nuances of grass and how they affect the draw.

“I try my best to follow results and watch highlights of the matches I don’t get to watch throughout the season so that I have a sense of who is playing well. Also, listening to the Served podcast every week definitely helps keep up with everything going on.” —Franco from New York City

The Redraw Is Just for Fun

You can redo your picks once we reach the Round of 16, but only your original picks score points.

Log In and Save Often

Make sure you’re logged in before you begin, or you will lose any selections. Also, save your Bracket as you work through it. The Save button is on the left side of the Bracket. Don’t wait until you’re finished to save. Technical errors happen.

The Bottom Line

Previous Served Bracket Challenge winners weren’t necessarily the most knowledgeable tennis fans in the field of 5,000. They were the ones who understood how points are actually earned—by surviving the middle rounds, chasing bonus points strategically and resisting the urge to play it safe when the scoring system rewards risk.

And every one of them said luck was a big factor. So pick your favorite player. Go with your gut. Back a dark horse. Take big swings. Good luck!

“My strategy was 40% tennis data and 60% pure chaos.” —Steve from Chicago

Join our Wimbledon Chat

Nike referred to the feat Sinner accomplished on Sunday in Rome, completing the Golden Masters 1000, the box set of all nine Masters tournaments, at some point in his career. The Italian Open was the only one missing from his resume. Masters 1000s rank one tier below the majors in tennis. There are nine of them, from March through November, on three different surfaces and three different continents. Novak Djokovic won all nine, but neither Roger Federer nor Rafael Nadal did. Carlos Alcaraz has bagged six of them.

Now we have to wonder: Could Sinner actually win them all…this year alone? The Grand Masters1 has never been done. Before we turn the page to the summer Slams, let’s preview where Sinner will stand when the Masters resume in August.

In Sinner’s favor, the remaining four Masters are on hard court, his best surface, and he has already won each once. He is likely to improve throughout the year, just as he did from 2025 to 2026. His first-serve percentage could tick up—it’s 63 percent for the year, No. 42 on the ATP leaderboard. Listen to Andy talk about Sinner’s recent upgrades above.

Cutting against his chances is the certainty that Sinner will eventually lose. The question is, when and where is he most vulnerable? Each remaining Masters 1000 poses a challenge.

Canada Is Early

The National Bank Open in August, the next Masters 1000, is the biggest threat to Sinner’s Grand Masters quest. When it became a 12-day tournament last year, the start date moved up a week. Now there are just three weeks between the Wimbledon final and first ball in Canada on August 2. Even with his first-round bye, if Sinner plays deep at Wimbledon, he would have just three weeks and change to be ready to begin his North American hard court swing. Three weeks for family time (which Sinner prioritizes), a vacation, recovery from playing nonstop since March, sponsor obligations and hard court preparation. He skipped Canada last year.

• Times played: 4

• Titles: 1 (2023)

• Career record: 7-3

💪 Sinner won his first Masters 1000 in Canada, kicking off his run to world No. 1.

🍌 Sinner lost early to Pablo Carreño Busta in Canada in 2021 and 2022. At least the second time, Carreño Busta won the title.

Cincinnati Is Hot

Other than Carlos Alcaraz, Sinner’s toughest opponent is heat. We have seen him struggle in muggy marathons. Cincinnati, held in mid-August, can be oppressively hot and humid during the day session. Last year, Sinner was sick during the final against Alcaraz and retired in the first set down 0-5. He wasn’t in any shape to play.

• Times played: 6

• Titles: 1 (2024)

• Career record: 12-4

💪 Sinner has reached the final in the last two years.

🍌 In 2022, he lost to Felix Auger-Aliassime after holding two match points.

Shanghai Can Be Hotter

Sinner’s last loss in a Masters 1000 was last year in Shanghai, which takes place in October. He retired from his third-round match with cramps brought on by sizzling heat.

• Times played: 3

• Titles: 1 (2024)

• Career record: 9-2

💪 Sinner won Shanghai in 2024 without dropping a set.

🍌 It’s the Masters 1000 Sinner has played the least.

Paris Is Late

If Sinner keeps up his run this year, he will surely be tired and nursing injuries by the last week of the regular season in November. He will still have the ATP Finals and Davis Cup ahead of him (although he skipped Davis Cup last year and Italy still won). Will he even post at the Paris Indoors? It’s a long way away, and that’s the point—he has a lot of tennis to play between now and then. It’s extremely hard to have enough left in the tank in November for Paris, the ATP Finals and Davis Cup. That’s why Paris has produced so many one-time Masters 1000 winners.

• Times played: 4

• Titles: 1 (2025)

• Record: 6-2

💪 Sinner’s winning percentage on indoor hard is 81.1%, fourth all-time.

🍌 World No. 61 Marc Andrea Huesler beat him in 2022, one of Sinner’s worst losses in the last five years.

Jannik Sinner on his affinity for playing indoors

“You don’t have the wind, you don’t have the sun. You always have the same feeling on the court.”

Carlos Alcaraz Is Lurking

If Alcaraz returns from his wrist injury healthy and rested, he will have something to say about Sinner running the table at the Masters 1000s. He leads Sinner 6-2 on hard courts and hasn’t lost to Sinner on a hard court since 2023.

Stay Tuned

Our focus turns from the Masters to the majors as Sinner tries to complete his career Slam at the French Open in three weeks and then defend his Wimbledon title. We’ll pick this conversation back up in July.

Jannik Sinner bent over in the corner of Campo Centrale Friday night in his Rome semifinal against Daniil Medvedev. Only the cameraman next to him knows for sure, but it looked like the world No. 1 was getting sick. Certainly close enough. He wouldn’t talk about it in the press conference afterward.

“I cannot answer this question,” he said in Italian when asked for specifics on his ailment.

Deep in the second set, Sinner struggled physically, breathing so heavily and rapidly that some observers, including Flavia Pennetta, speculated about an anxiety attack. Sinner took an injury timeout in the third set for a leg massage, sparking cramp talk. He eventually won the match.

For tennis fans, the No. 1 player puking on court isn’t news. It’s a footnote, like when someone pulls off a tweener passing shot. Perhaps decorum compels us to overlook barf breaks. More likely, it happens so often that it barely registers.

We should stop to think about this for a minute. What other sport routinely pushes its athletes to the point of spilling their guts during the competition? Endurance races, sure. But even professional eaters don’t vom as often as tennis players.

Sinner wasn’t the first to toss his biscotti in Rome. Hamad Medjedovic experienced the unfortunate rite of passage on Monday during his third-round match versus Mariano Navone. Three hours in, he retreated to the backstop and heaved the contents of his stomach onto the red clay. It was so— how to put this delicately?—cascading that Sky Sports apologized for airing it.

It’s common enough that any longtime tennis fan can recall a player getting sick mid-match. The famous incident is Pete Sampras’s series of hurls during his 1996 US Open quarterfinal against Alex Corretja, but there are scads of others. Two weeks ago, it was Coco Gauff succumbing to food poisoning on the court. Carlos Alcaraz spewed in his Australian Open semifinal this year. Oscar Otte puked his way through qualifying at the 2021 US Open. Ask Alexander Zverev about his sick days and he’ll have to ask which one you mean, last year in Halle or 2021 in Cincinnati.

Long matches in the heat are the primary culprit, but there are other factors, such as the toll that traveling takes on the body. Sometimes it’s a conditioning issue. Sometimes nerves. A stomach bug. A combination.

In Sampras’s case, arguably the most famous for the drama and stakes, he also had to deal with millions of eyeballs. He wrote about it in his biography, A Champion’s Mind. “Shit, I’m going to throw up. I’m going to throw up, in front of the entire world!” he was thinking.

Here’s the even crazier part: In all of the cases mentioned in this story, the players didn’t just soldier on. They won.

Whatever it is, and wherever it happens (the flower beds, the tunnel, the towel, the back of the court), it’s something we take for granted in tennis, how often a player takes the queasy way out.