Tennis fans, it is exhibition season. Comparable to the NFL’s preseason, it is worth considering what, if anything, we have learned from the string of exhibitions happening over the past week.
Madison Keys, Venus Williams, Aryna Sabalenka, Naomi Osaka, Jessica Pegula, Amanda Anisimova, Nick Kyrgios, Ben Shelton, Frances Tiafoe, Taylor Fritz, Tommy Paul, Joao Fonseca, and Carlos Alcaraz are among the players participating in US cities.
A can’t-miss night of tennis 🤩
Stream The Garden Cup & the 2025 Miami Tennis Invitational live now on our app! 📲 pic.twitter.com/Brpor4JZvJ
— Tennis Channel (@TennisChannel) December 9, 2025
Players use the exhibitions to get some match play in the offseason and perhaps try new tactics in a competitive environment.
Learnings from the recent tennis exhibitions
1. Frances Tiafoe defeated Taylor Fritz and Carlos Alcaraz. Given his disappointing 2025 season, Tiafoe and his new team have to feel confident that they are headed in the right direction for 2026.
2. Jessica Pegula is dealing with an injury, as we learned in her second straight night of exhibition tennis. (Mark Knowles, one of Pegula’s coaches, shared the news while commentating her Miami match on Tennis Channel.) Pegula is filling in for Emma Raducanu who withdrew from the Newark, New Jersey and Miami, Florida events. Was it wise for her to play these events with an injury issue looming?
3. The playing surfaces for these events are built specifically for them. In Atlanta, the court was placed on top of an ice rink; whereas, in Miami, it was built over the Miami Marlins baseball diamond. The Atlanta court had such weird bounces; it took the players some time to adjust. Since these are not traditional courts, do the players benefit from the match play on them?
Horrible as expected https://t.co/l6LfNV3rlI pic.twitter.com/gYwvP7WdbA
— Tennis Masterr (@tennismasterr) December 8, 2025
4. With the exception of New York City and Miami, the exhibitions bring tennis to cities who do not traditionally have big events including Charlotte, Atlanta, and Newark. What is missing from these is microphones on the players. That would add to the entertainment value and give a unique offseason twist to these matches.
5. Mixed doubles are featured which correlates to the popularity of this year’s US Open mixed doubles event and the Eisenhower Cup that precedes Indian Wells. It may be a good idea to highlight doubles players in these exhibitions to grow that discipline.
