Daily Dose of Social Media: Swiatek smiles with Lego and new Porsche, Alcaraz chills with clay legend

In a new Daily Dose of Social Media, Iga Swiatek stole the spotlight upon her arrival at the Stuttgart Open and during Media Day, where she tested the latest Porsche model and had fun with Legos ahead of her debut.

Carlos Alcaraz shared photos from his celebration after winning the Monte-Carlo Masters title and met with the legendary Bjorn Borg, while ATP stars had fun once again showing off their artistic skills by drawing self-portraits, with Matteo Berrettini and Stefanos Tsitsipas among the participants.

Iga Swiatek received a warm welcome at the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix Stuttgart Open, where she claimed the title in 2022 and 2023 and reached the semifinals in 2024 (losing to Elena Rybakina). The 4-time Grand Slam champion was one of the highlights of Media Day, testing Porsche’s latest model – the tournament's main sponsor – signing autographs, and enjoying a playful moment with LEGO bricks, another sponsor she has previously admitted she enjoys playing with during her free time.

Swiatek is aiming to improve her early results in the clay swing and kick off the defence of over 4,000 points throughout the slow-court season – two months in which she will be unable to earn any additional points, even if she repeats her outstanding results from last year. The world No. 2 will begin her campaign against the winner of the all-Croatian clash between qualifier Jana Fett and Paris 2024 silver medallist Donna Vekic, who has already shown she can perform at a high level on this surface.

Another one who caught the eye was Italian Jasmine Paolini, current world No. 6, who visited the Porsche Museum upon her arrival in Stuttgart and posed for several photos next to a series of classic cars from the German brand.

The Italian will play her first clay-court tournament of the season, where she could be one to watch, considering she reached the French Open final just a year ago. She arrives with solid confidence after reaching the semifinals of the Miami Open, though it remains to be seen how quickly she can adapt to the clay. She’ll make her debut against local wildcard Eva Lys, whom she already faced in the second round of the Dubai Duty Free, with a win for Paolini (6-2, 7-5).

While the Monte-Carlo Masters was underway, ATP stars took on a fun challenge to show off their artistic side, as they were asked to draw self-portraits. With participants like Alex de Minaur, Stefanos Tsitsipas, and Matteo Berrettini, among others, the players had just one minute to create the best possible sketch of themselves – with amusing and creative results.

The tournament wrapped up on Sunday, 13 April, with Carlos Alcaraz claiming his 6th Masters 1000 title after defeating Lorenzo Musetti in the final, a victory that propelled him to world No. 2 as of this Monday. Check out the amusing drawings from the ATP stars below.

Without a doubt, the biggest star of the week was Carlos Alcaraz, who put behind a surprising first-round loss at the Miami Open and travelled to Monte-Carlo to lift his second title of the season. The Spaniard shared some photos alongside his team, joking around and celebrating a fantastic week.

The 4-time Grand Slam champion also met up with a true tennis legend – former world No. 1 Bjorn Borg, arguably the greatest clay-court player after Rafa Nadal and a 6-time Roland Garros champion. The Swedish icon spent some time with the new Monte-Carlo champion, and the two posed for photos by the venue’s poolside, where the official champion photoshoot took place.

Ben Shelton took part in a fun game where he had to choose between his two favourite cartoons. The American participated in a unique round of Q&A shared on Overtime Tennis’ social media, where he picked between some of the most popular cartoons, including SpongeBob, Pokémon, and The Powerpuff Girls, among others.

The world No. 13 suffered an early exit at the Monte-Carlo Masters after losing to Spain’s Alejandro Davidovich Fokina in the first round, just days after reaching the semifinals at the Miami Open. Nevertheless, Shelton caught attention in the doubles draw alongside Rohan Bopanna, with the duo reaching the quarter-finals amid a heated controversy during their match against Italians Simone Bolelli and Andrea Vavassori.

Vavassori complained throughout the match about Shelton’s repeated body shots and provocative attitude. He confronted him after the match, to which Shelton replied he was being too soft and that this wasn’t baseball, but tennis. Minutes later, Vavassori announced his withdrawal from the Barcelona Open due to a rib injury.

Leylah Fernandez is back in training as she prepares for her return to the courts at the Madrid Open. The Canadian didn’t have the best time during the Sunshine Double, suffering a second-round loss at Indian Wells and a third-round exit in Miami – finishing with one win and two defeats.

The former US Open runner-up decided to make some adjustments to her calendar this year, taking a decent break from competition before kicking off her clay-court season. Fernandez will return to action after a month-long absence and is hoping the surface change will help her regain rhythm and climb higher in the rankings.

So far, the 22-year-old has found some consistency inside the top-30, and she’ll now have to prove she can make deep runs on clay.

“A work in progress… 🤪 Comment a trend/challenge I should try next!” she posted, along with a video of her doing flexibility and balance training.