NEW EPISODE: Best Serves With Chris Eubanks

The final installment of Served's trilogy on the ATP's greatest shots.

Feb 24, 2026

Context-free soundbite: “I’m not wearing a tie. Just put that out there.”

This week on Served, Andy, JW and Producer Mike break down the weekend results with a special focus on Sebastian Korda’s and Jessica Pegula’s understated smoothness. They also weigh in on two of the biggest ongoing stories in tennis: the Craig Tiley situation and the Serena Williams reinstatement buzz. Then Andy and Chris Eubanks close out their debate trilogy with the best ATP serves of all time.

There’s more Served coming your way this week:

Love All With Kim Clijsters on Wednesday will break down Jessica Pegula’s game and dig into the Alexandra Eala effect on tennis
Q&Andy on Thursday will focus on serve questions—submit yours to askandy@servedmediagroup.com or on Instagram
5 Setter on Friday—all things racquet sports in 10 minutes

Watch the full episode below, then read today’s stories and join our Substack chat.

Watch the New Served on YouTube

Playing Through Chaos in Mexico

Both the Acapulco ATP 500 and Mérida WTA 500 in Mexico are pressing ahead—without any player withdrawals as of this morning—despite the cartel violence erupting in the country following the killing of drug lord El Mencho.

Acapulco sits in the state of Guerrero, which carries a Level 4 Do Not Travel advisory from the U.S. State Department—its most severe designation—and was subject to Sunday’s shelter-in-place order for Americans. Qualifying matches continued through the weekend as violence flared elsewhere in the western part of the country. Main draw play began yesterday.

Brett Haber, the high-profile tennis broadcaster, was in Mexico when the violence broke out and publicly called on the tours to evacuate players.

Several airlines suspended flights to and from Guadalajara, and soccer matches were postponed. Sebastian Korda and Tommy Paul were still competing in the Delray Beach final Sunday, meaning neither had yet traveled to Acapulco.

In Acapulco, tournament officials have implemented heightened security protocols and stated that players, staff and fans are safe within the tournament perimeter.

(Read More: BBC)

Etcheverry Breaks Through

Tomás Etcheverry finally captured his first ATP title at age 26, and he had to earn it the hard way. The Argentine won the Rio Open at the end of a marathon day Sunday in Rio de Janeiro that stretched nearly five hours on court.

First, Etcheverry finished a rain-delayed semifinal against Vit Kopriva, then a heat-delayed three-set final against Alejandro Tabilo, logging six hours and 49 minutes of match time across two days.

The backstory makes the title sweeter. Etcheverry had lost three previous finals—most painfully in Lyon in 2024, where he held a championship point against Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard and came up short. He was five-for-five in tiebreaks this week, including the final set against Tabilo, who was playing for his first title, too.

🎤 Tomás Etcheverry
“I lost three finals before, so it was in my head. One of the goals of this year was to be ATP Tour champion, and I did it."

The South American clay swing has produced back-to-back Argentine champions: Francisco Cerúndolo in Buenos Aires, Etcheverry in Rio. The Chile Open is underway to wrap up the Golden Swing. Will it be a Golden Sweep?

(Read More: ATP Tour)

Perfect Delivery

Jessica Pegula, Zheng Qinwen and Des Krawczyk on The Players Box

A few days before Jessica Pegula won the Dubai title, Zheng Qinwen sat next to her on The Players Box podcast and said the quiet part out loud.

🎤 Zheng Qinwen
“In China, some people wonder why such a rich girl got into tennis. They say that because it’s an extremely demanding sport. Like: ‘Why not just live a high-society life?’”

As if answering the question, Pegula went out in Dubai and beat four Top 20 players—Iva Jovic, Clara Tauson, Amanda Anisimova and Elina Svitolina—to claim her fourth WTA 1000 title and 10th career title.

Pegula left Dubai $665,000 richer and is now 5-0 against Anisimova lifetime, 13-2 on the season and 32-3 against Americans since 2023. Dubai is also her first WTA 1000 title outside of North America.

🎂 Happy birthday, Jess!

Numbers Don’t Lie

Carlos Alcaraz def. Arthur Fils 6-2, 6-1
Qatar Open final, Doha

50

Minutes the match lasted—tied for fifth-shortest ATP final ever

Fils’s new coach. Goran Ivanisevic, can relate: Boris Becker once beat him in three sets in 50 minutes.

24

Points Alcaraz allowed Fils—tied for fifth-fewest ever in a best-of-three final

The record belongs to Mikhail Youzhny, who held—of all people—Rafael Nadal to 17 points in the 2008 Chennai final after Nadal had played a four-hour semifinal.

5

Points Fils won on Alcaraz’s serve

82

Alcaraz’s first-serve percentage, 14 points higher than it was against Andrey Rublev in the semifinal

26

Career titles for Alcaraz at age 22, drawing level with Andy Murray for the most ATP 500 titles since the category launched in 2009

14

Countries in which Alcaraz has won a title

28

Current ranking of Cam Norrie, the last player not named Jannik Sinner to beat Alcaraz (Paris final, October 2025)

12–0

Alcaraz’s record in 2026, halfway to his career-best winning streak of 24

30

Alcaraz’s current winning streak on outdoor hard court

From the Qatar Open final laden with gaudy numbers, this is the most relevant just eight days before the Sunshine Double starts.

The streak extends back to Alcaraz’s Cincinnati title last year. If he runs the table at Indian Wells and Miami, he would extend the streak to 40 matches. He would need to win Canada, Cincinnati and New York this summer to pass Roger Federer’s record of 56.

Quick Hits

Emma Raducanu has signed with Uniqlo, continuing Nike’s ghosting of tennis. (The Athletic)
Roger Federer watched Stan Wawrinka break his record as the oldest man to win a match in Dubai. (Tennis TV)
Andre Agassi presented the trophies to Rio Open doubles champions João Fonseca and Marcelo Melo. (ATP Tour)
Venus Williams is playing singles and doubles at the ATX Open in Austin this week—her doubles partner is Peyton Stearns, the same player she beat for her first win back on tour last year in Washington, D.C. Next up: wild cards into both singles and doubles at Indian Wells, where she will partner Leylah Fernandez. (WTA Tour)
Speaking of Austin, University of Texas alum Peyton Stearns hit with Longhorns/tennis superfan Matthew McConaughey last week. (ATX Open)
Speaking of the University of Texas, the men’s tennis squad won its first National Team Indoors last week over Ohio State. The week before, Georgia won the women’s title, also over Ohio State. College tennis team season is in full swing—it’s fast, passionate and worth your time. (ITA)
Andys support Andys ⬇️

PADEL: Patrick Mouratoglou is coming to Middle America. The Mouratoglou Tennis Center Indianapolis will be the megacoach’s second standalone facility in the States (not operating at a resort, tennis club or school) and open to the public. It will be his second U.S. site with padel. Former WTA player Tara Moore will run the center and lead high-performance junior training. (Mouratoglou.com)
PICKLEBALL: Are triple crowns endangered? Regular three-peaters Ben Johns and Anna Leigh Waters fell short last week at the Mesa Cup in Arizona. With competition getting tougher, it's harder to win three finals on a single Sunday now. (Pickleball.com)
TABLE TENNIS: The WTT Singapore Smash, one of the sport’s four Grand Smash events, is underway through March 1 with $1.55 million on the line. China has owned this tournament: All eight finals last year featured only Chinese players on both sides of the net. World No. 1 Wang Chuqin and women’s top seed Sun Yingsha are both in the draw, with France’s Felix Lebrun as the top non-Chinese threat. (Daily Racquetball)