Bagel Bites: OI OI OI

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Happy New Year and New Tennis Season, everyone. Hope you all had a safe and – if I may be so introvertedly biased – quiet New Year's Eve. For the first time in like 15 years, I spent it at home in the Bay Area, watching PHANTOM THREAD (an absolute NYE classic) and SCOTT PILGRIM VS. THE WORLD (an absolute anytime classic) with my family, baked some brookies (somehow a fail), slugged a glass of cava (good!), tried to get my niece to stop openly weeping at the thought of having to leave her grandparents' house (she loves it here, which is great but also...heartbreaking every time), and then dropped my sister and the nieces off at SFO on a very quiet and rainy Thursday morning.

It was great. No notes.

But now the house is quiet, Murray (the dog) is depressed, and I have some time to catch up on the tennis news as we are now just hours away from the new ATP/WTA season kicking off with Day 1 of the United Cup in Perth with Japan taking on Greece.

You know what that means? Naomi Osaka vs. Maria Sakkari. Let's go.

• Previously on The Bagel: Blech.
• I got some messages asking me to jot down my 2026 storylines to watch and while yes, I could do that, I'm going to be real real with y'all: I wouldn't be saying anything that anyone else hasn't already said. On both the ATP and WTA right now, the storylines are pretty similar and can be reduced to this: there are the haves and the have nots. The question in 2026 is, whether "The Haves Hive" expands or remains status quo. For the ATP, it's Carlos and Jannik vs. The World. For the WTA, it's Aryna, Iga and Coco vs. The World.
• Yes, the WTA is slightly more fluid with Amanda, Elena, and Jess always in the mix. But when the same three players finish in the Top 3 for three straight seasons they own the deeds to the penthouse. And before you go "Oh that's no big deal, Courtney" ALLOW ME TO RETORT: The last time the same three women finished Top 3 in three consecutive seasons THE BERLIN WALL WAS STILL UP (Chrissie, Martina and Steffi in 1986, 1987, 1988).
• But until we see how the Australian swing shakes out, there's not too much other than that to look out for at the moment. Who knows, in five weeks we may have minted two new members of the Career Grand Slam club, Carlos and Iga, who would also be the youngest man and woman to do it. I think?

• The only WTA Preview you should read is here. (WTA Backspin)
• Here's what the Athletic is looking for on the WTA (The Athletic via Yahoo) and the ATP (The Athletic).

• Jon Wertheim weighs in on what the 2026 season will look like, and I cross my fingers that his off-court predictions come true. (SI.com)
• Stefanos Tsitsipas says he thought about retiring last year. Same, Stef. Same. (BBC)
• After watching this video of Andy Murray trying his hand at cricket batting (I'm sorry if that's not the correct way to say that!), I really wish Ash Barty was there to take the absolute piss outta him:

• Here's a United Cup Day 1 Preview. (ATP)
• Jessica Schiffer at Hard Court reports that Alex De Minaur has gone from Asics to Wilson. Wilson is quietly building a strong stable of players: Marta Kostyuk, Victoria Mboko, Peyton Stearns, Nico Jarry and Alycia Parks. (Twitter)
• There have been whispers that Emma Raducanu will leave Nike for Uniqlo. Every report I read refers to unlinked reports and, like, there is no link to a report or source. So this rumor mill could be bullshit. That said, I also saw blogs on December 30/31 being all "RADUCANU SQUASHES RUMORS" because she practiced in Nike and like, that's not how any of this works either. Everyone knows 99% of tennis contracts run through December 31. If you have something, say something. If you have nothing, say nothing. Headline farming is so pre-Covid and cringe.
• If true – again, there is no confirmation – that would be two big Nike losses in the UK market, with Jack Draper already leaving for Vuori. Interestingly, Raducanu's also been hitting with what looks like a Yonex racquet in Perth. Nothing confirmed concretely for her yet, but again, if any contracts ran out, they likely would have done so on December 31. So....stay tuned!
• Speaking of Vuori...Barbora Krejcikova was snapped by Jimmie48 in their yoga-friendly gear – and a left knee sleeve :( – during United Cup practice in Sydney. I don't know if it's officially a thing, but we'll get confirmation one way or another soon enough.

• Here's a look at the WTA Doubles Entry list for the Australian Open. (Reddit)
• Some quick takeaways:
  • No Mirra Andreeva in doubles, at least not at the Slams? The Olympic silver medalist isn't entered with Diana Shnaider, who will instead play with Liudmila Samsonova.
  • Aside from that, no massive changes at the top aside from the ones already reported (Dabrowski/Stefani, Routliffe/Muhammad, Perez/Schuurs)
  • It's Jess! Her hard hat stays on as she's entered with McCartney Kessler.
  • Maya Joint THE GOAT is entered with Storm Hunter, who we love. That's fun! Here's hoping Storm can get some results to get her ranking up. Her comeback may not last too long if she doesn't see some early progress.
• For you reference: The 2026 ATP Media Guide. (ATP)
• Hey, remember when "Tennis United" was a thing? Anyway! Tennis Australia has broken ranks and settled (pending approval) with the PTPA. I would love to know what those terms were because if it was anything other than money, that seems pretty relevant to the tennis landscape. And if it was just money, that seems pretty relevant to the question of who is exactly benefiting from these lawsuits that are purportedly brought for the benefit of the players. (The Athletic)

• Ons Jabeur hopes to be back before the end of the 2026 season. We miss you to bits but don't rush anything Onsy! (The National)
• Felix and Vicky met a kangaroo. (ATP)
• Slate pulled no punches and took the USTA to task. (Slate Plus)
• The Gay Tennis Podcast had Ben Rothenberg on to talk about The Gay Hockey Show:

• Tick Tock Tennis has launched a new email service for 2026. From the introductory email: "Every day, you'll get a quick hit of tennis insight right in your inbox. Not play-by-play match analysis. Not long-form think pieces. Just a focused bit of tennis info every single day."
• I think that's great because not everyone wants to be on social media these days, but I also know so many tennis people feel forced to in order to keep up with things. That's why I went the blog/newsletter route, too.

• Here's to a new year of (1) weaning off social media while still staying informed and engaged and (2) building better, healthier, safer fan communities that support our collective passion for the game. Let's all try and do our part.
• Hello to all the new subscribers! If you want to join a fun tennis community that's more than ready to nerd out again in the new season, come join our Discord. Also, keep a lookout for some Twitch streams over the next weeks.