Daily Dose of Social Media: Fernandez’s avocado brownies surprise fans, Kostyuk in tears after tough los

Today in our Daily Dose of Social Media, we review the top activities and entertainment from ATP and WTA players. Marta Kostyuk and Holger Rune suffered disappointing defeats in the Asian Swing, with the Ukrainian leaving in tears, while the Dane shared a heartfelt message on social media.Off the courts, Katie Boulter joked about her boyfriend Alex De Minaur’s injury following the Australian’s injury update.

Caroline Garcia reflected on balancing personal life with tennis, while Leylah Fernandez shared a fun video of her making Avocado Brownies.  

The Canadian made her last appearance at the US Open, where she suffered first-round defeats in both singles and doubles alongside Yulia Putintseva. The world No. 28 took a couple of weeks off from competition since then and will return at the upcoming China Open as the 22nd seed.

The former US Open runner-up shared a video with her fans where she cooks Avocado Brownies: “Today we are going to be making brownies,” Fernandez said. “I love to bake, so here’s one of the brownie recipes with avocados in it. Can’t forget about avocados.”

You can find the process of Leylah cooking and the final result of her brownie in the following video.

Marta Kostyuk was brought to tears after her defeat against Diana Shnaider in the quarterfinals of the Korea Open. The fifth seed lost a tightly contested match 6-7(7), 6-3, and was eliminated in her first tournament of the Asian Swing. The world No. 18 had good opportunities in the first set, wasting four set points.

The 22-year-old Ukrainian was deeply affected after the match, as she seemed to have a strong chance to reach her third WTA 500 semifinal (having been a runner-up in both previous occasions). Her next challenge will be at the China Open, where she will be the 16th seed. A video on social media captured the moment Kostyuk broke down in tears following her defeat to Shnaider.

Holger Rune left an emotional message following his surprising defeat at the Hangzhou Open. The Danish player was the top seed in the draw and had a bye in the first round. In the Round of 16, he faced what seemed like an easy debut on paper against qualifier Yasutaka Uchiyama (No. 160), but he lost in straight sets (5-7, 4-6).

Rune had been in China for several days and had been the main focus in the lead-up to the tournament. However, he is experiencing an inconsistent phase after his first-round exit at the US Open and the recent separation from his coach, Patrick Mouratoglou, just over a month ago.

“Impressed by Hangzhou and @hangzhouopen 🇨🇳 thank you for your very warm welcome. Hope to see you again, sad to leave already 🐼,” wrote Holger Rune on social media.

Alex De Minaur has had a bittersweet season, securing two titles and breaking into the top 10 for the first time in his career, along with reaching the quarterfinals in three of the four Grand Slam tournaments this year. However, injuries have interrupted his great season, following a hip injury that forced him to withdraw before the quarterfinals at Wimbledon against Novak Djokovic.

After the grass swing, he took six weeks to return to the courts, skipping the Olympic Games and heading straight to the US Open without any hardcourt matches since March. De Minaur was defeated in the quarters by Jack Draper and clearly struggled with his hip by the end of the match.

Through social media, he updated his fans about a potential comeback, as he is entered in the Shanghai Masters starting on September 30, although there are still doubts regarding his participation in the tournament: “Going through a rough patch at the moment trying to sort out my injury but as a wise person once said…. ‘There’s always light at the end of the tunnel’ 👀💡☀️🤞❤️”

His girlfriend, World No. 34 Katie Boulter, commented on the post jokingly: “Damn right there is light, you get to deal with me every day 🥴”

Caroline Garcia was the star of a new video from the Professional Tennis Players Association (PTPA), created by Novak Djokovic and Vasek Pospisil in 2019. The PTPA is independent of the ATP and WTA and aims to defend players' rights. The current Executive Committee includes Novak Djokovic, Ons Jabeur, Hubert Hurkacz, and Taylor Townsend, among others.

The 31-year-old French tennis player spoke in her recent video about how to balance tennis and her everyday life, considering the tight schedule that players have each season.

“It’s very important to be able to find a good balance between tennis and the practices or the stress with the competition. And also refresh your mind, just have a nice rest in your room, or go for a walk outside or spend time with my partner,” the 2022 WTA Finals champion said. “We recently got engaged, so we are celebrating with the family announcing it, and it’s a lot of very positive emotion,” she added.

In a new ATP social media dynamic, people on the street were shown photos of Hubert Hurkacz and asked to guess what the Polish player does for a living. Several of his fellow players reacted to the public's answers, including Felix Auger-Aliassime, Arthur Fils, and Thanasi Kokkinakis, among others.

No one was able to recognize or guess that Hurkacz is a tennis player, as he was mistaken for a finance man, architect, and content creator. "So I guess Hubi doesn’t look like an athlete," said Auger-Aliassime with a laugh. "Hubi could really pass as anything, especially if you hear him speak and see how he walks. You wouldn’t expect a tennis player," added Kokkinakis.