Paula Badosa works towards 2026 return, Sinner and Zverev anticipate Vienna Final as Alexandra Eala celebrates big doubles campaign

In a new Daily Dose of Social Media, Jannik Sinner and Alexander Zverev celebrated their advance to the Vienna Open final with images on social media, as they await their rematch for the title this Sunday. At the same time, Alexandra Eala celebrated a great week in the doubles at the Guangzhou Open—despite being in a poor run in singles.

Meanwhile, Paula Badosa shared some images of her recovery process ahead of her return to the courts as she recovers from a lower back injury. Someone who is already ready to return to the court after an injury is Grigor Dimitrov, who has been one of the protagonists in the lead-up to the start of the Paris Masters.

Jannik Sinner celebrated another victory at the Vienna Open after reaching his 8th final of the season following another convincing win. The Italian overcame World No. 7 Australian Alex de Minaur 6-4, 6-4 without major setbacks and will seek the Vienna title this Sunday against Alexander Zverev. The Italian shared some photos on social media after the convincing victory in the Austrian capital, a tournament he already won back in 2023. “Thank you for today! 🇦🇹 Happy to be back in the finals, see you all tomorrow 🙏🏻 @erstebankopen” he wrote on Instagram.

The 4-time Grand Slam champion already boasts a 47-6 record for the season—in which he reached seven finals, winning the title in three of them and being defeated in the other four by Carlos Alcaraz. Sinner also shared an on-court video with the fans, where he thanked the great support he has received from the Austrian public this week. “Happy to be back in the final, it was a very tough match today, I’m obviously very happy about the crowd, it’s looking very nice, so thanks for your support and see you all.”

Another player who celebrated his return to the Vienna Open final is Alexander Zverev, the 2nd seed in the draw, who delivered another good performance in the tournament semifinals, defeating World No. 8 Lorenzo Musetti 6-4, 7-5. The German—champion in Vienna in 2021—returns to a final for the first time since the ATP 500 Munich Open in April of this year, and will have a chance for revenge against Sinner, in what will be their first encounter since the Australian Open final earlier this year, where Sinner took the win in straight sets.

Zverev survived a tough duel against Jack Fearnley in the first round—decided in a third-set tie-break—but has since found better rhythm in the tournament, defeating Matteo Arnaldi, advancing via the withdrawal of Tallon Griekspoor, and finally overcoming Musetti in the semifinals—his third victory against a Top 10 player this season. On Sunday, he will contest the 40th final of his career, seeking his 25th title so far. He currently leads the head-to-head against Sinner 3-2.

Paula Badosa continues preparing for the 2026 season from her residence in Dubai and shared some photos of her recent days, alternating training, physical work, and some free time with her close ones. The former World No. 2 had an ungrateful season, once again affected by injuries, which prevented her from competing normally during the second half of the year. On social media, she shared some photos updating her fans on her days away from competition.

After some years constantly facing injuries, the start of 2025 was a total success for Badosa, reaching her first Grand Slam semifinal at the Australian Open, in addition to achieving her return to the Top 10 after three years. However, the second half of the year was not very positive for the 28-year-old player, who relapsed with a lower back injury after Wimbledon and has barely been able to play a single tournament since: the China Open in late September, where she ended up retiring in the Round of 32 match against Karolína Muchová after playing just a handful of games (2-4).

Alexandra Eala celebrated a good week of competition in the Guangzhou Open doubles on social media, where she teamed up with Ukrainian Nadia Kichenok and together they reached the tournament semifinals, being defeated by the duo of Janice Tjen and Katarzyna Piter (7-6, 3-6, [5-10]). The Filipina teamed up with the experienced Ukrainian doubles specialist for the first time and achieved a great performance in one of the last tournaments of the year.

Eala has added a good amount of victories in recent months, winning the WTA 125 Zapopan title (her first title in the category) and then reaching the semifinals in Jinshan. The 20-year-old Filipina is No. 53 in the live ranking and on the verge of breaking the Top 50 barrier, although her latest tournaments have resulted in single-match losses in the debuts in Wuhan, Japan, and Guangzhou. The young Filipina still has one last week of competition next week in Hong Kong, where she will debut against Katie Boulter. Eala needs to advance to the quarterfinals if she wants to finish the season inside the Top 50.

One of the players who has stolen attention these days in the lead-up to the Paris Masters is Grigor Dimitrov, who will return to the courts after several months out due to injury. The Bulgarian former World No. 3 had his last appearance at Wimbledon, where he reached the 4th round and had Sinner on the brink of disaster, in a match where Dimitrov took a two-set lead, but ended up retiring due to injury, with the score 6-3, 7-5, 2-2. After that, the story is known: Sinner advanced after a difficult moment in the match against Dimitrov and eventually took the title against the 2-time defending champion Carlos Alcaraz.

Dimitrov has been recovering from an injury since then, and will return this Monday at the Paris Masters against local star Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard. In the days leading up, a video on social media shows him sharing time with his Russian colleague Karen Khachanov on the tournament's training courts, in addition to having some high-intensity sessions before debuting at the Paris Masters this Monday, a tournament where he defends the quarterfinals reached in 2024, where he was precisely defeated by Khachanov.