Daily Dose of Social Media: Elena Rybakina launches YouTube channel, Jelena Ostapenko’s feud with Hawk-Eye continues
Tennis News
In a new Daily Dose of Social Media, Elena Rybakina launched her own YouTube channel, joining the trend set by fellow players like Jannik Sinner and Daria Kasatkina.
Meanwhile, Jelena Ostapenko created yet another viral moment by once again challenging the Hawk-Eye system, while Alexander Zverev took part in a trivia game comparing Germany and Argentina as he prepares for his debut at the Buenos Aires Open.
From the court to the camera: Rybakina surprises with YouTube launch
Elena Rybakina surprised fans by launching her own YouTube channel, following the trend of other tennis players who have started their own vlogs on the popular platform. Rybakina made her debut in Qatar with a victory over Peyton Stearns and remains one of the favourites, especially after the early exits of Aryna Sabalenka and Coco Gauff.
Daria Kasatkina has been one of the players putting the most effort into producing and editing videos for social media. Together with her girlfriend, Nataliia Zabiako, she has been filming behind-the-scenes moments from the WTA Tour and sharing them on social media and YouTube, including interviews with some of the biggest stars. Rybakina has already been featured in a teaser for Kasatkina’s upcoming vlog.
Jannik Sinner and Federico Coria have also joined the trend, but this time, it was the 2022 Wimbledon champion who decided to launch her own YouTube channel. It all started with a cryptic video of Rybakina riding a bike with her dog in a basket on the back.
The world No. 7 is looking to regain her best form at the Doha Open. So far, she holds a 6-2 record this season, with losses to Madison Keys (Australian Open) and Belinda Bencic (Abu Dhabi), both of whom went on to win those tournaments.
Elena Rybakina made a YouTube channel.
— The Tennis Letter (@TheTennisLetter) February 11, 2025
Keeping up with Lena. 🐠❤️
pic.twitter.com/b6Obau01ri
Zverev hilariously fails Argentina vs. Germany quiz
Alexander Zverev shares a hilarious video during the Argentina Open, currently taking place in Buenos Aires, where he takes part in a trivia game comparing Germany and Argentina.
The German, making his debut in the South American Swing, will compete this week at the Argentina Open, facing Serbia’s Dusan Lajovic in his opening match tomorrow, before heading to the Rio Open next week.
In the amusing video, Zverev is asked whether Germany or Argentina has won more Davis Cups. The World No. 2 incorrectly answers Argentina, only to realise his mistake when told that Germany actually holds more titles. Laughing, he jokes, "I can’t go back to Germany now."
Throughout the quiz, Zverev makes several mistakes, including on the final question about which city—Berlin or Buenos Aires—has a larger population. He incorrectly chooses Buenos Aires, believing it has around 10 million inhabitants, when in reality, the Argentine capital has approximately 3.12 million. Watch the full trivia challenge in the link below!
Bublik at it again! Smashes racket in loss to Gasquet
Aleksandr Bublik made headlines once again after smashing his racket during a match in Montpellier against Frenchman Richard Gasquet, who claimed a 6-4, 6-4 victory. This is not an isolated incident for the Kazakh player. In the same city back in February 2023, during a third-set tiebreak, he lost his temper and smashed three rackets in just 25 seconds.
As a result, he received a warning for racket abuse and went on to lose that match to American Aleksandar Kovacevic 6-3, 6-2. Bublik also has another infamous racket-throwing moment from six months ago in Montreal, which sparked laughter but did not prevent his defeat to Ben Shelton.
Despite these antics, fans still regard Bublik as one of the most entertaining and unpredictable players on tour. Watch the video below!
Ostapenko vs. Hawk-Eye: A hilarious courtside confrontation
Jeļena Ostapenko had a hilarious face-to-face conversation with Hawk-Eye in an attempt to smooth things over. Following her hard-fought victory over Liudmila Samsonova in Qatar on Tuesday—7-6, 7-5—the Latvian player stared directly into the courtside camera and whispered to it, urging it to behave.
Ostapenko has been vocal about her skepticism regarding Hawk-Eye. She has previously admitted that she does not fully trust the electronic line-calling system used at the Australian Open. In an interview with Tennis Majors last year, she expressed her concerns: “Honestly, as I’ve mentioned before, everyone fully trusts the Hawk-Eye system, but I think it makes mistakes.”
When asked about what rule she would change in tennis, she doubled down on her stance, saying: “Back to Hawk-Eye, obviously—I would go back to tennis without the Hawk-Eye live system.” Her position is that line judges should return to the court, as she believes their absence makes the game feel empty and that their presence provides employment opportunities. Watch the amusing moment below!
Ostapenko having a face-to-face chat with the Hawkeye camera to settle old differences. pic.twitter.com/BJM5tkW4ie
— Tennis GIFs🎾🎥 (tip jar🫙📌) (@tennis_gifs) February 11, 2025
Jannik Sinner spotted training in Qatar
The current world No. 1, fresh off a dominant Australian Open victory and enjoying his 36th week atop the ATP rankings, has his sights set on the Doha Open, where he once again enters as the top favourite.
The tournament will feature high-level contenders such as Carlos Alcaraz and Novak Djokovic. In 2024 alone, the Italian has achieved remarkable milestones, boasting 73 wins in 79 matches. Watch his training session in the link below.
📍Doha 🇶🇦
— Janniksin_Updates (@JannikSinner_Up) February 11, 2025
First training in Qatar, Forza 🦊 pic.twitter.com/cB5QkhRcPQ
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- Oooooo.... wow... tell us more... we just live each day waiting for "news" of these two women who don't know when to go away. Why do you keep posting their personal management's weekly press releases?
mandoist11-02-2025 - Hard to believe Emma "understands" all that much about the rigors of a prioritized Life in tennis.mandoist11-02-2025
- "Intensified" ??? Yeah, right. Nothing has changed... nothing has "intensified"; only continued.mandoist10-02-2025
- Bencic is all business right now. If Rybakina is the ice queen, then Bencic is Antarctica—colder, sharper, and seemingly unstoppable. 🔥❄️MrAndreeva07-02-2025
- Creepy.mandoist07-02-2025
- Ouch!!mandoist07-02-2025
- they need to change the rules on the WTA to limit wildcards more effectively like they have on the ATPSososo06-02-2025
- This is just getting beyond ridiculous!! Not to mention unsportsmanlike and unfair to serious up & coming contenders.mandoist06-02-2025
- No, writer, we were not "stunned". If you knew your business you would have been aware of her statement last weekend re: her knee and retirement. The main take-away here is that Simona went out on her own terms. She surely wanted to play again after WTA & ITIA screwed her out of her final productive seasons. Personally, I believed she was going to make this announcement when I saw the President and his family in their box seats. Good for Simone -- now she can move on to other things as she said she would.mandoist04-02-2025
- It sounds seriously absurd that in Davis Cup, (unlike Grand Slams such as the Aus Open), medical time outs off court with the medical staff are not allowed?? I mean, if this was an Aus Open match, and the same thing happened to Gurin then, he would have been able to go off court for official medical time out and make an informed decision whether to resume the match or retire. How come such conditions do not apply in Davis Cup?? I mean, there with Davis Cup, it is even more like a soccer match or basketball game in that teams are playing. And so as with those, it ought to be the case in tennis that if a player needs serious medical time out, then one of the other team mates ought to substitute and each team needs to have stand-ins or understudies in case substitution is needed which will be rare but as we can see here, this kind of circumstance fits. But even if the teams do not go down the road of subbing other team mates in, in case of a health issue like the one which played out here, at least, as in the Aus Open and other Grand Slams, there ought to be time-outs with the health professionals and at the conclusion of these time-outs, the particular decision that has been reached between them and the player needs to be taken on board by the umpire. PERIOD.
Sueiyin04-02-2025
