Sabalenka hits gym hard ahead of WTA Finals, Anisimova explores Saudi desert as Rune shares first steps of recovery

In a new Daily Dose of Social Media, we review some of the most important entertainment moments among the ATP and WTA stars. Amanda Anisimova shared photos traveling through the Saudi desert as she prepares for her WTA Finals debut, as did Aryna Sabalenka, who gave details of her physical training session with a video from Riyadh.

On the other hand, Holger Rune showed details of his recovery process and was seen walking with crutches and doing muscle strengthening work in the gym. Additionally, Alexandra Eala happily shared her return to Hong Kong with a victory, while Sinner celebrates his return to the courts at the Paris Masters.

Alexandra Eala celebrated her first-round victory at the Hong Kong Open on social media, after defeating the Brit Katie Boulter in the first round, returning to winning ways after a couple of first-round defeats at the Japan Open and Guangzhou. The Filipina advanced to the Round of 16, where she will face Victoria Mboko. “First time playing in Hong Kong since I was probably 12. 😆 Safe to say it didn’t disappoint❤️” posted the World No. 51.

Holger Rune shared a video of his first days of recovery, as he is already working in the gym with muscle exercises, although he still has trouble walking and is supported by crutches to get to the gym. The World No. 12 suffered an Achilles tendon injury at the Stockholm Open, which led him to undergo surgery and face a long recovery process.

The Dane will be out for 6 to 9 months, depending on how his injury evolves, so he will have a long time off the courts. Rune was having a good year away from the headlines but keeping good chances of finishing the year inside the top-10. However, the injury took him out of the last tournaments—including one of his favorite stages at the Paris Masters, where he won his first Masters 1000 in 2022. The Dane was not present to defend the points for reaching the semi-finals in 2024, and is preparing to drop a couple of spots in the ATP Ranking to No. 14.

Jannik Sinner secured the victory in his Paris Masters debut against the Belgian Zizou Bergs 6-4, 6-2 and shared some photos of his return to the courts on social media. The Italian was at the Vienna Open last week – where he won his 4th title of the season, and started off on the right foot in Paris. Sinner's ambitions will surely be even greater this time, following Carlos Alcaraz's defeat in his debut, which gives the Italian the possibility of returning to World No. 1. For this, he will have to win the title in Paris, a tournament where he has never gone past the third round.

The 4-time Grand Slam champion will face the Argentine Francisco Cerúndolo in the Round of 16 – who comes from surviving a tight three-set match against Miomir Kecmanović. Sinner reached a 49-6 record for the season and is the main favorite to lift the trophy in Paris.

Aryna Sabalenka shared a video of her physical training session ahead of the WTA Finals. The World No. 1 is already in Riyadh preparing for her last tournament of the year at the WTA Finals. After ensuring she would finish the year at the top of the ranking following her semi-final defeat at the Wuhan Open, the Belarusian opted to take a few weeks off before traveling to Riyadh, but is now ready to face the tournament for the 5th consecutive year.

For the moment, the WTA Finals is one of the important titles that Sabalenka is yet to win. Her best result was in 2022, when she was runner-up behind Caroline Garcia, while in the last two editions she reached the semi-finals – both times falling to eventual champions Iga Świątek and Coco Gauff. Sabalenka was drawn into the Steffi Graf Group – along with Coco Gauff, Jessica Pegula, and Jasmine Paolini. She was precisely accompanied by the Italian in her training session today.

Amanda Anisimova is another player preparing for her participation in the WTA Finals, being the only debutante in the tournament, and took advantage of the trip to Riyadh to enjoy some time getting to know the Saudi desert. The World No. 4 shared photos walking through the desert and even riding camels.

The American will be in the Serena Williams Group, along with Iga Świątek, Elena Rybakina, and Madison Keys – three players who have accumulated WTA Finals experience. Anisimova will conclude a great year in Riyadh, where she won two WTA 1000 titles in Doha and Wuhan, in addition to reaching two Grand Slam finals (Wimbledon and US Open) and her best ranking as World No. 4.

The ATP stars at the Paris Masters shared selfies characterized by French costumes. In the fun photos shared by the official ATP Instagram account, a smiling Félix Auger-Aliassime is seen posing with a French beret and a baguette, while Ben Shelton appears with a French flag. Others who joined the fun included Andrey Rublev, Alexander Bublik, and Alejandro Davidovich Fokina.

The tournament already has the Round of 16 matches defined, with all matches scheduled to be played this Thursday. Following the exit of Carlos Alcaraz, among the favorites there are still 6 top-10 players in the draw, with Jannik Sinner (2nd) and Alexander Zverev (3rd) as the favorites.