Sinner Out, Zverev at No. 1? Plus Medvedev’s Default & Gauff | Served 5 Setter

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Mike (1:31)

What's up, Chuckers? Producer Mike here. Well, the number ones had a rough week, while a 39-year-old went 34 and But before we get to that, as always, please hit subscribe on YouTube and give us a follow on your favorite podcast platform so you can stay up on all things Served. We really appreciate the love and support. That said, today is October 9th, 2026, and here's what we've got for you. A flickering sign leads to failed humanity in the last 1000 of the year and nobody's showing up. Plus errant anger leads to a deserved DQ and it's all coming down to the next six weeks. But first, for set number one, we have a story that we, like the rest of Tennis Earth, has been tracking closely. Here is Jannik Sinner from an IG post this week.

Jannik Sinner (2:16)

I would like to give you a little update. Me, together with the doctors, have decided that I need a course of treatment for my knee, which means that the 2026 season is officially over.

Mike (2:30)

Yes, on Tuesday, the current world number one announced his 2026 season is over, due to a lingering issue in his knee. Sinner hasn't hit a ball in competition since the Wimbledon final on July 12th and won't again until 2027 Now let's put this all in perspective though. Think about what the 25 year old Italian accomplished this year. A 44 in 3 record, 5 Masters titles, completing the career golden master, a semi-final at the Australian Open, followed by a fifth slam win in his final match of the season at Wimbledon. Now we hope this is just a calculated hiatus that puts an end to a nagging injury and we will see Sinner back soon. Now with Sinner sidelined, it eases the path to world number one for Alexander Zverev. The current world number two sits at 9,720 points. Sinner at 11,000. Sinner has a significant number of points that will fall off over the next few weeks, meaning Zverev can pass him as early as the 500 in Vienna. Jannik's exit also has more ramifications on the field in the race to Turin, which we will get to in set five.

Now on to set number two for the ugliest story of the week, if not for the year. But before we get to that, we have to set it up with what happened on the men's side of the China Open over the weekend. Sunday in Beijing, Zverev and Djokovic are two games into their quarterfinal match when an LED advertising board flickers during Zverev's serve. They play out the point but after asks for a review. The review revealed that the board did switch on the sideline while Zverev was serving and therefore the point was ordered to be replayed. Now fast forward 24 hours to Monday, Coco Gauff is serving at four five in the first set against 16-year-old Soon Shin Ran. The same boards flicker and change in the middle of a rally causing Coco to stop down the point. The play is reviewed and the point, like on Sunday, was ordered to be replayed. Gauff holds there and then goes on to win seven five six one. However, by that night, Coco's DMs are full of racist abuse. The World No. 4 wrote on Instagram saying, We are told before the matches we are allowed to continue to finish play. So keep it in mind, I am thinking about all of this while I'm playing the point. So just to summarize, she used the exact same review Zverev used two days earlier under the exact same rule and got the exact same ruling. Both players got a replay, only one of them got a hate campaign. Two days later, Coco lost to Elise Merton 6363, told her box that she couldn't see the ball and might pass out. Then she withdrew from Wuhan where she's the defending champion. I think we all can agree that this is an absolutely shameful display of deplorable people online has no place in sport or society.