Welcome to Rome: Power shifts, teenage breakthroughs and birthday balloons

The season’s first Grand Slam and four WTA 1000s, have produced four different champions. And, more than anything, the fact the only repeat winner was a 17-year-old (Mirra Andreeva) speaks to the remarkable depth on the Hologic WTA Tour.

“It’s happening on both tours now more and more, where you can think that there's 20 different people that you wouldn’t be surprised if they end up winning the tournament,” Madison Keys, winner of that first major in Melbourne, said Tuesday in Rome. “I think part of it is because we’ve kind of lost some of our legends obviously. Like there’s no longer Serena Williams in every draw where you just assume she’s going to win. On the men's side you don’t have Roger, Rafa and Novak every single week.

“But I also think the base level has gotten much higher. I think the margin for error has gotten smaller. I think you’re kind of seeing that with some of the wins and the losses just because it’s so much closer, where if they’re both playing well, you’re going to have a great match.”

Just look at what’s happened in the past month or so. Jessica Pegula was the winner on the green clay of Charleston and Jelena Ostapenko knocked off Nos. 1 and 2 on the way to the title in Stuttgart. Naomi Osaka won the first clay crown of her career at the WTA 25 in Saint Malo, France. Meanwhile, Iga Swiatek is looking for her first title since winning Roland Garros nearly one year ago.

“I think just overall everyone has just gotten so much better,” Keys said. “The game has become so much more physical. I think everyone’s doing such a great job at investing in their own careers and having the physios and the fitness and all that. I think more and more people are getting faster and stronger while also staying healthy for longer.”

Tuesday was Media Day as some of the top players met with reporters. Here are some of the highlights:

Sabalenka turns 27

Cinco de Mayo also happened to be the World No. 1’s birthday -- but that didn’t mean Monday was a day off.

“I had tennis and fitness in the morning,” Sabalenka said. “But my team made sure half of the day I’m practicing and half of the day I’m celebrating win in Madrid plus my birthday.

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“So I had fun. Yeah, it was a beautiful day. Much better than if I would have to play a match, come back home very late, there’s no time to celebrate. So that was good. It was really beautiful day and probably the best birthday I ever had.”

Sabalenka said she was inundated by balloons and flowers -- from the brands she represents and friends as well. She also received a fancy watch from her boyfriend, multi-millionaire entrepreneur Georgios Frangulis.

Local knowledge

Mirra Andreeva collected back-to-back 1000 titles in Dubai and Indian Wells, but she’s never won a match in Rome, Last year, she lost her debut 6-2, 6-3 to Paula Badosa.

The good news? Her coach, Conchita Martinez, knows a little something about how things work in the Eternal City. Martinez played the event 14 times, winning four straight from 1993-96 and producing a record of 43-10. Andreeva, who just turned 18, posted a tribute to Martinez’s success in Rome on Instagram.

“I just couple of days ago found out that she’s won this tournament four times in a row -- I think it's a record,” Andreeva said. “It’s pretty nice. I hope she’s going to share some tips with me how to do the same.”

According to Andreeva, she and Martinez play Uno and talk a lot.

“She shares some experience and some advices on how to deal with nerves or with pressure,” Andreeva said. “I’m not going to tell you what exactly she said because otherwise it wouldn’t have been that special. I’m just going to keep it to myself.”

A new, younger dynamic for Gauff

With the emergence of Andreeva, 19-year-old Alexandra Eala and 21-year-old Diana Shnaider, who was born several weeks after Gauff in 2004, the American suddenly has contemporary company.

“When I was younger, I never cared about my age or anything like that,” Gauff said. “From a personal, yeah, it’s great to have people around my age. I’ve always said it was always hard for me to make friends on tour when I first came because I was just way younger than everyone. I was 15.

“Now having more friends around, it does make a difference. I feel different on site, just being able to have conversations, relate-ability. Not that the older players weren't nice to me, they were. It’s just different. They’re getting married, planning their lives out. I'm just still trying to figure it out. It’s good to figure it out with other people.”

The clay conundrum

When you are a power player like Madison Keys, clay can be a difficult puzzle to solve. It took her a few years to learn how to tweak her forceful game on the sticky surface.

“I think some years I probably played a little bit too passive and tried to become a clay-courter,” Keys said. “Then in other years I tried to be as aggressive as I would on a hard court. I feel like the past couple years I’ve kind of found that happy medium of how I want to mostly play my game with just minor tweaks.

“I feel like it’s one of those surfaces where it’s similar to everything else: The more matches you get, the more comfortable you feel.”

Sabalenka staying present

Sabalenka’s lead in the PIF WTA Rankings is currently more than 4,000 points. And while No. 2 Swiatek is defending 3,000 points for 2024 wins in Rome and Paris, Sabalenka’s total is just over 1,000.

The rare times when Sabalenka actually thinks about these things is when the media brings it up.

“I always say going to reflect on the season by the end of the season,” Sabalenka said. “Right now, if I think about what I was able to achieve this season already, I'm like, `Wow, that’s a lot.’

“But I try to take it one step at a time and focus on each tournament, each match, do not stay in the past. But yeah, I think so far this season been super nice to me.”

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