New Episode: Served 5 Setter
Alcaraz's injury, the underarm serve shouting match and a US Open trophy's price tag.
Welcome to your weekly 5 Setter, an express roundup of all things racquet sports with Producer Mike. In this episode:
Carlos Alcaraz taps out of Barcelona
An underarm (serve) uproar
Roland Garros opens the checkbook
Boris Becker’s record-setting trophy sale
The NCAA has a new prize-money rule
Tiebreak Trivia
Click below to watch today’s 5 Setter on YouTube, and come back here for this week’s bonus stories.
Aryna Sabalenka’s Book Club?
The reigning queen of tennis is one of Esquire magazine’s 2026 Mavericks of Sports, defined as “athletes who are able not only to win championship rings but also to rise above the tumult and turmoil off the field.”
In the interview, Sabalenka discussed how she has overcome the turmoil we have all witnessed since her breakout in 2018. First, there was the string of big-match losses, then a serious case of serving yips, then last year’s French Open meltdown after losing the final to Coco Gauff with 70 unforced errors.
Sabalenka didn’t reveal many secrets to her ever-increasing mellow maturity (the French Open notwithstanding), but one made the conversation: the best-selling book Into the Magic Shop by neurosurgeon James Doly, about turning pain into comfort. She read it after her cringey sore-loser moment at the French last year.
💬 Aryna Sabalenka
“I learned some different breathing exercises to calm myself down, how to control your thoughts. It was really helpful in that moment because I was all over the place, and that book really helped me in the future after I lost in the semifinals of Wimbledon. I took my time, I took some deep breaths. I tried to completely clear my head so I could be a better person in a press conference after that loss.”
We immediately downloaded Into the Magic Shop and consider ourselves charter members of the future Aryna Sabalenka Book Club, because she isn’t the only one who has lost her cool after a tough match.
📖 Read the full Esquire interview.
The Paris Purse: Who Gets the Extra Prize Money?
Set 3 covers the French Open’s announcement yesterday of a 9.5 percent prize money increase. The $6.2 million bump brings the total payout to $72.7 million.
The Big Winners
Wheelchair players: 15% increase in total prize money
Qualifiers: 13% increase in total prize money
First-round losers: 11.5% increase
Winner: 10% increase
Prize money for other singles rounds and doubles will increase by single digits.
Slam Prize Money
The French Open pays 20 percent less than the US Open, the highest-paying Slam.
Australian Open 2026: $75 million
French Open 2026: $72 million
Wimbledon 2025: $72 million
US Open 2025: $90 million
Your Move, Wimbledon
The Championships is now the only major that pays less than $100,000 for the first round, i.e., players who earn their way in with a Top 100 ranking or by qualifying. The first-round prize money at Wimbledon was around $75,000 last year. Stay tuned to see how much it increases this year.
Sharapova Has Entered the Chat
Speaking of WTA champions who love to read, Maria Sharapova, an avid bibliophile, announced this week that she is launching a podcast. A brainy one, not just blabbing about tennis like the rest of us. Chuckers knew this was coming because Sharapova mentioned “something brewing” in the podcast space when she came on the show in August.
Now we have details:
We expect tennis will makes its way into the conversations. Here she is on Served discussing how tennis taught her how to pursue excellence in other endeavors.
Quick Hits
Iga Swiatek won her first match this week with her new clay-colored Tecnifibre racquet, the T-Fight IG 300. The frame says, “You did not wake up to be ordinary.” (Instagram)
Novak Djokovic pulled out of next week’s Madrid Masters 1000, still recovering from the right shoulder injury that kept him out of Miami and Monte Carlo. (ATP Tour)
Andy is on the new episode of Kal Penn’s podcast, Here We Go Again. (Snafu Media)
Jamie Murray has hung up his racquet. (ESPN)
Roberto Bautista Agut will retire at the end of 2026. (ATP Tour)
If you have ever wanted to party with Gael Monfils (and who hasn’t?), May 21 at Roland Garros is your chance. ⬇️
Q&Andy Recap
Chuckers send lots of questions about Andy’s experience playing the Big 3, so this week, Andy gave the most detailed analysis of Rafael Nadal’s forehand you’ll ever hear and revealed the element of Novak Djokovic’s game that deserves more credit.
📮Submit a question by emailing askandy@servedmediagroup.com or send it through our website or social media.
Love All Recap
Fresh off her Billie Jean King Cup heroics, 21-year-old Belgian Hanne Vandewinkel joined the show to talk about the thrill of upsetting Iva Jovic in front of a home crowd and how she juggles pro tennis and medical school.
Tiebreak Trivia
In Set 3, Producer Mike talked about the new NCAA rule that allows high schoolers to keep prize money, and asked: What’s the largest purse ever forfeited in tennis to maintain NCAA eligibility?
Answer: $140,000, the amount Maya Joint passed up for reaching the second round of the 2024 US Open when she was 18 and committed to the University of Texas. The Australian joined John McEnroe (1977 Wimbledon) and Fiona Crawley (2023 US Open) as amateurs who forfeited prize money from a Slam.
📝 We’ll be back Tuesday with a new episode. In the meantime, join us on Substack to connect with other Chuckers and Served’s staff about the latest news in tennis.
The Weekend Draw
Barcelona Open
ATP 500
Barcelona Spain
Fri., April 17: Singles and doubles quarterfinals
Sat., April 18: Singles and doubles semifinals
Sun., April 19: Singles and doubles finals
BMW Open
ATP 500
Munich, Germany
Fri., April 17: Singles quarterfinals, first doubles semifinal, last doubles quarterfinal
Sat., April 18: Singles semifinals, second doubles semifinals
Sun., April 19: Singles and doubles finals
Porsche Tennis Grand Prix
WTA 500
Stuttgart, Germany
Fri., April 17: Singles quarterfinals
Sat., April 18: Singles and doubles semifinals
Sun., April 19: Singles and doubles finals
Open Capfinance Rouen Metropole
WTA 250
Rouen, France
Fri., April 17: Singles quarterfinals, first doubles semifinal
Sat., April 18: Singles semifinals, second doubles semifinal
Sun., April 19: Singles and doubles finals
🍿 Watch List
Iga Swiatek vs. Mirra Andreeva, Stuttgart quarterfinal
Ben Shelton vs. João Fonseca, Munich quarterfinal
Lorenzo Musetti vs. Arthur Fils, Barcelona quarterfinal
Potential Swiatek vs. Elena Rybakina, Stuttgart semifinal
Potential Alexander Zverev vs. Fonseca, Munich final
Potential Gauff vs. winner of Swiatek/Rybakina, Stuttgart final
Full international WTA and ATP broadcast lists
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