Men’s players rising through the ranks

When I look at players who have made strong starts to the season, Arthur Fery really stands out – particularly with his Australian Open win over Flavio Cobolli. His ranking has climbed significantly and he’s now operating in that 100–200 range, which is a tough place to get to.

You need to stack wins at ITF and Challenger level just to break into that bracket. But once you’re there, a couple of good weeks can quickly push you towards the lower end of the ATP Tour, and that’s exactly where Arthur’s focus should be over the coming months.

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We’ve seen something similar from Toby Samuel, who is coming along very nicely. Winning back-to-back ATP Challenger titles is no small achievement and you can see he’s playing with real confidence right now.

Towards the end of my career I was being coached by Mark Taylor, who was also working with Felix Gill, so I’ve naturally followed his progress closely. Felix played a huge number of matches late last year and that’s clearly paid off. He’s now a regular at Challenger level, with multiple semi-finals and a final in India.

He’s the type of player who becomes very difficult when he builds momentum. Because of his physical profile, he’s not going to blow players off the court, but he grinds opponents down and makes life uncomfortable. Those players are always tough to beat.

Jack Pinnington Jones has also progressed well since leaving college. He was actually the last opponent I faced, in the Nottingham Challenger final last year, and his highlight so far this season was reaching the quarter-finals of the ATP 500 in Dallas.

He’s part of an exciting group now knocking on the door of the top 100 and we saw him have success on the grass last year at Ilkley and Wimbledon.

Hard work paying off on the WTA Tour

One player who always stands out to me is Francesca Jones. What she continues to do is remarkable, and her story really isn’t talked about enough.

She’s made steady improvements year on year and her ranking keeps moving in the right direction. Beating Venus Williams in Miami was a standout result, and everything she achieves is fully deserved.

The same applies to Sonay Kartal. The work she puts in behind the scenes is exceptional, and you’re now seeing the rewards on court. Nothing about her progress is a fluke – she has earnt everything, particularly given her style of play and her run at Indian Wells left a lot to be encouraged by.

Katie Boulter had a stop-start campaign last year, which is always tough on tour. It’s difficult to step straight back into big events and immediately face top-30 opponents from the opening rounds.

The way she’s responded this season has been really encouraging, and winning the title in Ostrava following changes to her coaching setup will have given her a big lift.

Emma Raducanu will be hoping to find some consistency over the rest of the year. Reaching a final in Romania was a positive step, but injuries have again disrupted her rhythm.

There’s no doubt in my mind that she has the game to be among the top players and if she can get a string of tournaments together, I think we could see that later this year.

Finding consistency on the ATP Tour

It’s been frustrating for Jack Draper and Jacob Fearnley this season so far, as neither has quite been able to build sustained momentum yet.

For Jack, having experienced physical setbacks myself, I know just how challenging that can be. Regaining confidence after injury isn’t easy. I just hope he’s able to get back out on court consistently soon because he clearly has the ability to compete with the very best.

With Jacob, there’s no doubt in my mind that he has the weapons to succeed at this level. It’s not uncommon, and it certainly happened to me, to have a strong first season on tour and then hit a slight dip in year two without actually doing much wrong.

I played Jacob in a final over the last year or so and felt his quality then. Once the results start coming, I think they’ll snowball for him.

However, Cam Norrie has made a solid start to the year, which is exactly what we’ve come to expect. I’ve particularly liked how he’s raised his level in the biggest tournaments like the Australian Open and Indian Wells.

Heading into the French Open and then the grass court season, having that edge in those types of matches can make a huge difference and I like what I’m seeing from him.

Strength and depth in women’s tennis

What’s particularly exciting right now is the depth coming through, especially among younger players like Mika Stojsavljevic, Mimi Xu and Hannah Klugman.

Mika has started to translate her potential into results. She has a strong, commanding game and natural power, which was evident in her performance at the Billie Jean King Cup in Australia. The challenge now is sustaining that level consistently.

Mimi has the ability to hurt opponents with her game, but she’s unfortunately not had many chances to get out on court recently.

Hannah currently sits slightly lower in the rankings, but I really like her trajectory. She’s improving all the time, particularly physically, and looks stronger on court. She also has a very good voice in her corner. I’ve known her coach, Ben Haran, for a long time – he even took me on junior trips – and they’re doing a fantastic job together.