Emma Raducanu’s got a new opponent for the Dubai Tennis Championships after some last-minute drama. Elisabetta Cocciaretto, who’s been on a real run lately, pulled out just hours before their match was supposed to happen. Cocciaretto, fresh off a big week in Doha where she beat Coco Gauff and made the quarter-finals, tried to keep the momentum going in Dubai. She had barely any time to catch her breath, lost in Doha, hopped on a plane, then jumped straight into Dubai qualifying. She won two matches to make the main draw, but her body gave out. She’s out with a thigh injury.

So now, it’s Antonia Ruzic stepping in as a lucky loser. She’s facing Raducanu in the fourth match on Court 2 on Monday. The news dropped just as play was getting underway in Dubai. And honestly, the tournament organisers must be tearing their hair out. There have been so many withdrawals that Ruzic is actually the sixth lucky loser who’s made it into the main draw. She lost in qualifying to Rebecca Sramkova, but here she is anyway. The same thing happened for Anastasia Zakharova, Hailey Baptiste, Peyton Stearns, Magdalena Frech, and Kamilla Rakhimova, all out in qualifying, all in the main draw now.

Cocciaretto just ran out of steam. After her deep run in Doha, she lost to Ostapenko on Thursday, and by Friday, she was already back on the court in Dubai, beating Donna Vekic in the first round of qualifying. Then she took out Zakharova to book her spot in the main draw, but the packed schedule caught up to her.

She’s not alone, either. Karolina Muchova, who just won her first WTA 1000 title in Doha, also pulled out of Dubai, chalking it up to a “change of schedule". Maria Sakkari and Olympic champ Qinwen Zheng both withdrew because they’re sick. And the biggest gut punch for the tournament? World No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka and No. 2 Iga Swiatek both dropped out.

Sabalenka hasn’t played since losing the Australian Open final. Swiatek lost to Sakkari in the Doha quarters and admitted she’s not happy with her game right now; she wants to work on some new things, so she’s taking some time off.

Tournament director Salah Tahlak didn’t hide his frustration. He told The National that he thinks players who pull out late should face bigger penalties. “It was an unfortunate surprise to get news of the withdrawal of Aryna and Iga. And the reasons for withdrawal were a bit strange. Iga said she wasn't mentally ready to compete, while Sabalenka said she has some minor injuries,” he said.

As for Raducanu, this is her first Dubai match since last year’s weird scene with a fixated fan. She was left in tears after a man with a bit of an obsession showed up at her match with Muchova. She played on but lost in straight sets. The WTA later put out a statement saying the guy was spotted again during her match and then kicked out. He’s now banned from all WTA events until they finish a threat assessment.

Alex de Minaur isn’t shy about what he wants; he’s chasing a Grand Slam title. That’s his big goal, plain and simple. After climbing to world No. 6 and making the ATP Finals two years running, de Minaur heads into 2026 looking to finally crack the code at the majors.

He kicked off the new season in style, too. On Sunday, he beat Felix Auger-Aliassime 6-3, 6-2 to win the Rotterdam Open, bagging his 11th ATP title. Earlier in January, he made another deep run at the Australian Open, reaching the quarter-finals in front of his home crowd. He only dropped one set on the way, but then Carlos Alcaraz stopped him cold in straight sets.

That’s kind of been the story for him at the Slams; he’s reached the quarter-finals at all four, but never gone further. Six times now, he’s made it to the last eight. Once, at Wimbledon in 2024, injury forced him out. It stings.

After his Rotterdam win, de Minaur opened up about his ambitions. “My whole life and my whole career, I haven’t been one to speak with words out loud,” he told Bolavip. “I let my actions do the talking, but of course, I am dreaming about winning Grand Slams. That’s the ultimate goal for every tennis player and me, and I’ll do everything I can to win one. The loss at the Australian Open hurt, but I got back up. The year’s long. There are three more Grand Slams and a bunch of Masters left, so I’m hoping to step up and win some of those big titles.”

The Rotterdam trophy marks his fourth ATP 500 win, but he’s still hunting that first Masters 1000 or major title. His one Master's final so far came at the 2023 Canadian Open, where Jannik Sinner took him out in straight sets.

Sinner and Alcaraz have been big roadblocks for de Minaur. He’s 0-19 against those two combined. And let’s face it, nobody’s had an easy time with them lately; they’ve won the last nine Slams between them. Still, de Minaur’s not backing down. He thinks his improvements, especially with his serve, are closing the gap.

“I think I’ve improved a lot, so I believe I can compete for these titles,” he said. “My serve’s better now, which matters a ton. Everyone knows I can grind from the baseline, but if I can get more free points on my serve, it makes everything easier. That could be the difference in winning the big ones.”

He’s been working on finding the right balance, not just blasting serves but hitting a high percentage. “In the past, my percentage was too low, and that’s cost me against the best, like Sinner and Alcaraz. I made things harder for myself. Now I’m starting to figure it out.”

Next up for de Minaur: the Mexican Open in Acapulco, running February 23-28. He knows the place well; he’s won it twice already, in 2023 and 2024. This year, he’ll be one of four top-10 players in the draw, alongside Alexander Zverev, Lorenzo Musetti, and Ben Shelton. The chase for that Grand Slam goes on.