4.52 ? Really ? Let's see !

Rybakina survived against Ruse. Her own words. 52% first serves instead of her usual average, only 3 aces when she averages 6.84 in 2026, 58 unforced errors, two match points saved, 2h28 of battle against a player ranked 71st in the world. She found the resources to come back, that’s the mark of a champion. But behind this result lies a body that’s accumulating minutes at a worrying rate: 51h17 on court in 2026, more than any other player on tour, ten three–set matches even before May. Stuttgart last week, Madrid this week, the schedule is ruthless. The race to the Race seems to be the number one goal, but at what physical price?

Zheng is coming back from an eleven–month absence on clay and nobody seems to have learned the lesson. She hit 11 aces against Kenin, the second–best ace average on tour in 2026 at 9.50 per match, and she found her tennis exactly the way she knows how: slowly, progressively, clawing back from a set down and a break down in the third. The Olympic clay champion from Paris 2024 hasn’t forgotten how to slide. What the market has forgotten, however, is that this is the first meeting between these two players on this surface, that Rybakina hasn’t found her serve in Madrid, and that 4.52 on a player of this caliber on her favorite surface is sheer nonsense.