Only three Chinese players are in the TOP 100, Alcaraz aims for the Australian Open title, Draper turns into a fragile player

Three minutes daily to catch up on global tennis news. Hello tennis fans, today is Tuesday, September 9, 2025. Welcome to the news midday report brought to you by "Tennis Home."

Yesterday afternoon Beijing time, ATP and WTA successively released the newest world rankings. On the men's singles side: Spanish star Alcaraz returned to world No.1 with the US Open trophy, Sinner and Zverev are ranked second and third respectively. Djokovic, who reached the semifinals, rose to fourth place, while other TOP 10 rankings saw slight changes.

Among mainland Chinese players, only the top player Bu Yunchaokete is in the TOP 100, ranked 74th. Shang Juncheng, Zhang Zhizhen, and Wu Yibing have all dropped to positions between 130 and 200.

In women's singles: The biggest change in the TOP 10 is US Open runner-up Anisimova entering the TOP 5 for the first time, ranked fourth. China's top player Zheng Qinwen slipped to ninth, second-ranked Wang Xinyu is 35th, and other Chinese female players are ranked outside the top 100.

Let's focus again on Alcaraz. After winning his second US Open men's singles title, the young Spaniard has secured two titles each at the French Open, Wimbledon, and US Open, with only the Australian Open left to complete the career Grand Slam. After the match, Alcaraz said he will target the Grand Slam at Melbourne in the 2026 season, "Honestly, this is my primary goal. Whenever I plan my offseason improvements, the Australian Open is always my top priority. It is the most important event at the start of the season. Achieving a career Grand Slam and even a calendar Grand Slam has always been my core ambition."

Meanwhile, Sinner, who failed to defend his US Open title, is the defending champion at next year's Australian Open. Clearly, the Italian will not give up the trophy easily. The Spaniard is also preparing to battle Sinner for the Australian Open, "I enjoy watching his matches; his performance is impressive. By studying his tactics and on-court form, I can better understand his technical strengths. Although not fully predictable, I know well the key weapons in his arsenal." While pushing for the career Grand Slam, he also aims to defend his title. Next year's Australian Open promises exciting battles!

Back to the courts. Early this morning Beijing time, the WTA 500 Guadalajara and WTA 250 São Paulo tournaments began. At Guadalajara: qualifiers Wiedemannova, Kasintseva, wildcard Batukova, and American Jovic each defeated their opponents to reach the second round; at São Paulo: second seed Shera, qualifier Rodriguez, Okalova, wildcards Leme-Da Silva and Rajona, and Riera all won their opening matches to advance.

Now for player updates. Early this morning Beijing time, Britain's top player Draper announced that due to a bone bruise in his left arm, he will end his season early. "Unfortunately, my arm is injured and I have to rest, which means I will miss the remainder of the 2025 season. This is hard for me to accept because I was showing great momentum and playing some excellent tennis this year." Draper withdrew before his second-round match at the US Open due to injury, and it turned out to be more serious than expected.

Since entering professional tennis, the British youngster has been plagued by injuries. Just as he achieves some success, he soon faces recovery time, earning him the nickname "glass man" among fans. This season, he made breakthroughs at Masters events, rising to fourth in the world rankings. Just as he aimed for a Grand Slam breakthrough, injury struck again, causing a sigh of disappointment from his supporters!

Finally, let's play a guessing game. The picture below shows a player learning to chop wood. Without any hints, can you recognize who she is?

The correct answer for the last guessing game was given by tennis fan "ice007" from Beijing. Yes, the person in the picture is Chinese female player Zheng Jie.

(Source: Tennis Home Author: Independent Thinker)