NEW EPISODE: Indian Wells Recap

Plus: The Miami Open draw delivers.

Mar 17, 2026

Context-free soundbite: “I got some questions about a couple nights out in the early 2000s.”

As tennis’s version of March Madness heads to Miami, Andy, JW and Producer Mike break down the outstanding Indian Wells Final Four and check in on the Cinderellas that made moves in the desert. Aryna Sabalenka’s record in finals—problem or not?—also gets heavy airtime.

Plus, Andy makes a ruling on the Jack Draper hindrance call. Find out if he agrees with you guys or Pat McAfee.

📣 Programming notes:

Please send questions for James Blake on Q&Andy by the end of the day to askandy@servedmediagroup.com or DM them to us on socials. Bring the heat, Chuckers.
WTA sensation Alex Eala is on deck for next Tuesday’s show.

Enjoy the new episode, then read today’s stories below.

Watch the full episode on YouTube

The latest stories that matter right now

The Canadian Wave, Part 2

In this episode, Andy makes a bold prediction about Victoria Mboko, the 19-year-old Canadian who broke into the Top 10 with her quarterfinal run at Indian Wells—she’ll win a slam by the end of 2028.

Mboko’s consistent results, impressive defense and ability to win without her A-game have convinced Andy that she is majors material.

Her fast rise recalls Naomi Osaka’s and Bianca Andreescu’s breakout years. Both women, like Mboko, exploded audaciously onto the scene by winning their first WTA Tour title at the 1000 level.

Both Osaka and Andreescu went on to win the US Open after their Indian Wells shocks. Mboko didn’t equal their feat, but she has made deep run after deep run since her breakout. She left Montreal last summer with a wrist injury that hampered her through September. Then she closed out the season with a final and a title. Since regaining full health, she has lost only to Elena Rybakina, Mirra Andreeva, Aryna Sabalenka and Karolina Muchova, and not before the quarterfinals.

All of which leads us to wonder if Andy’s two-and-a-half-year window might be a conservative prediction.

In Mboko’s shadow, Andreescu—who played doubles with Mboko last fall—has quietly been stacking wins this year, too. After starting the year ranked No. 227, she has gone 17–4 in WTA 125 tournaments and shaved 60 spots off her ranking in just 10 weeks.

Winning begets winning. Andreescu is only 25 years old. An all-Canadian final in Toronto at some point isn’t a crazy thought.

Jump to Andy's Mboko Prediction

Singles Players Even the Mixed Doubles Score

Unlikely 2026 headline: Mixed doubles is hot!

Belinda Bencic and Flavio Cobolli ran through four experienced doubles teams to win the Indian Wells title and the $360,000 check.

The result added a new wrinkle to the surprising boost in mixed doubles popularity that began in New York, when a revamped format and $1 million prize attracted top singles players. But when a seasoned doubles team—Sara Errani and Andrea Vavassori—won the title, it looked like doubles specialists have an edge on singles champions on their own turf.

Bencic and Cobolli said not so fast.

Bencic, ranked No. 12, and Cobolli, ranked No. 14, beat the best of the best in the desert—this after playing together just once before, at an exhibition in December. Their path:

Jelena Ostapenko and Evan King
Kristina Mladenovic and Manuel Guinard, the Australian Open finalists this year
No. 4 seeds Errani and Vavassori, the reigning US Open champs
No. 1 seeds Gabriela Dabrowski and Lloyd Glasspool

Leaning into the mixed doubles trend, Indian Wells increased the purse to $1 million this year, more than seven times what it was two years ago. Two teams of singles players entered and did well. In addition to the eventual champs, Maria Sakkari and Stefanos Tsitsipas made the semifinals, where they lost to Dabrowski and Glasspool 13–11 in the match tiebreak.

Cobolli revealed another upside of the new mixed doubles opportunities. He said playing alongside Bencic, the 2020 Olympic gold medalist, taught him that he isn’t focused enough in his singles matches.

🎤 Flavio Cobolli
“I saw what she does outside the court. On court, she is completely different. She changes the attitude, she changes her face and the eyes are more on focus, you know. So I miss that part on my game. Sometimes I cannot stay focused for a long time, but with her, it’s another thing. I think I stayed focused for all four matches.”

Will the impression show up in Cobolli’s singles game? Something to watch for this season.

Ethan Quinn Wins in Phoenix

Ethan Quinn had a moment at the Australian Open this year. The 23-year-old American upset Hubert Hurkacz to make the third round and jump 12 spots in the rankings to No. 68.

Quinn made another leap this week with a win at the Arizona Tennis Classic Challenger in Phoenix, beating fellow American Marcos Giron 7–6, 4–6, 7–5. He won five of six tiebreaks en route to his second Challenger title and is now ranked No. 56.

The 2023 NCAA champ celebrated by cannonballing into the pool at the host country club, a tournament tradition.

The day before, Corentin Moutet celebrated his semifinal loss by cannonballing his racquet out of the stadium.

Perfect Delivery

World No. 1s, they’re just like us. Aryna Sabalenka revealed low-maintenance celebration plans in her press conference after the final.

🎤 Aryna Sabalenka
"I guess a couple espresso martinis, probably, and Five Guys to go. Basically, that’s why I’m never in good shape, because it’s Five Guys and espresso martinis in celebration (laughing).”

No need to explain, Aryna. You played for two-and-a-half hours in near-100-degree heat. We played for an hour in air conditioning yesterday and ate pretty much the same thing.

91

Percentage of first-serve points Jannik Sinner won in the Indian Wells final

Daniil Medvedev did just one thing wrong in the final—he left a makeable volley at 5–5 in the first-set tiebreak, and it dropped in. Yet he still lost the match in straight sets.

Sinner’s serve carried him past a nearly perfect Medvedev. Winning 91% of first serves for the match—43 for 47 points—is preposterous. In the first set, Sinner lost just one point on his first serve. He never faced a break point in the match and hit 10 aces to two double faults.

Sinner has retooled his serving footwork and has been hitting his spots much more frequently this season, sharpening his serve into a serious weapon. Throughout the tournament, 59% of his serves were unreturned, an 11% increase on his average last year.

That’s what happens when you play doubles with Reilly Opelka.

Miami Open Draw Preview

The Miami Open draws are out. Here’s our preview, based around the likely paths of the top two seeds in each draw.

🍿 Carlos Alcaraz and Joao Fonseca could play an ATP match for the first time, just a week after Fonseca played Jannik Sinner for the first time. They will meet in the second round if Fonseca beats Fabian Marozsan on Wednesday. Marozsan won their only previous meeting, on clay last year.

WTA Draw

Aryna Sabalekna (1)

Madison Keys, fourth round (or Zheng Qinwen)
Elina Svitolina, quarterfinal (or Jasmine Paolini)
Elena Rybakina, semifinal (or Jessica Pegula, Naomi Osaka or Iva Jovic)

Iga Swiatek (2)

Karolina Muchova, fourth round
Victoria Mboko, quarterfinal (or Mirra Andreeva)
Amanda Anisimova, semifinal (or Coco Gauff or Linda Noskova)

Scouting Notes

Rybakina’s quarter is stacked. She, Pegula, Osaka and Jovic are all on a collision course in that section.
Rybakina and Pegula played in the Australian Open semis and Indian Wells quarters, with Rybakina winning both.
Osaka and Jovic could meet in the third round.
Swiatek could meet Alex Eala in the third round.
Mboko and Andreeva could meet in the fourth round.

ATP Draw

Carlos Alcaraz (1)

Karen Khachanov, fourth round
Taylor Fritz, quarterfinal (or Jack Draper or Casper Ruud)
Lorenzo Musetti, semifinal (or Alex de Minaur, Arthur Fils, Tommy Paul or Alexander Bublik)

Jannik Sinner (2)

Andrey Rublev, fourth round (or Alex Michelsen)
Felix Auger-Aliassime, quarterfinal (or defending champ Jakub Mensik)
Alexander Zverev, semifinal (or Daniil Medvedev or Ben Shelton)

Scouting Notes

Musetti’s section is loaded. In the fourth round, he’ll likely play the winner of Flavio Cobolli and Tommy Paul.
Medvedev is in Sinner’s half and could have to beat Shelton and Zverev for the Indian Wells final rematch.
Learner Tien is in Zverev’s quarter and could have an Indian Wells rematch with Alejandro Davidovich Fokina in the third round.
Sebastian Korda got another brutal draw. He could play Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard in the second round, then the winner of Alcaraz/Fonseca in the third.
Draper and Fritz could meet in the third round.

Quick Hits

The PongBot, seen at the Racquet X showcase in Florida over the weekend, is on our wish list.
Speaking of robots, scientists in China have re-created the skittish beginner club player.
Aryna who? ⬇️

PADEL: The Rafa Nadal Academy Padel Tour, an amateur competition circuit in Spain and Italy, landed stateside last weekend with its first American event at Padel X in Miami. Three more stops are scheduled this year: Austin in April, back to Miami in May and New York at a date to be announced.
PICKLEBALL: Major League Pickleball has launched an amateur league. Minor League Pickleball will operate as Regional Showdowns and give winners a pathway to MLP tournaments. The competition format includes four-person coed teams and three-person gendered teams.

TABLE TENNIS: Marty Supreme may have been shut out at the Oscars, but the sport itself is winning from the movie’s popularity. Major League Table Tennis, an American league launched in 2023, sold out events for the first time in January, and clubs have seen an increase of 20 to 40 percent in reservations, according to The Guardian.
BADMINTON: The sport is still buzzing about Wang Zhiyi ending a nine-match skid in title matches to world No. 1 An Se-young to win the All England crown earlier this month.
SQUASH: Sivasangari Subramaniam won the Australian Open, solidifying this season’s “complete comeback” narrative that started with a life-threatening car accident in 2022. Paul Coll won the men’s title.