Tennis crowned five singles titlists across the WTA and ATP tours last week: Juan Martin del Potro (Stockholm), Svetlana Kuznetsova (Moscow), Richard Gasquet (Antwerp), Pablo Carreno Busta (Moscow), and Monica Niculescu (Luxembourg). Kuznetsova defended her title in Moscow to secure the eighth and final spot at the WTA Finals in Singapore, an event that had already begun before she lifted the trophy at the Kremlin Cup to qualify. Elsewhere, Rafael Nadal shut down his 2016 season the same week that he officially opened his tennis academy in Mallorca. 

For these and other stories from the past week in the tennis world, #ThisWeekInTennis provides a recap through news reports, player tweets, tennis writing, rankings, and podcasts.

RUNDOWN

• Svetlana Kuznetsova defended her Kremlin Cup title from 2015 to book the eighth and final spot at the WTA Finals in Singapore, the sixth time Kuznetsova has qualified for the event in her career. 
• Juan Martin del Potro defeated Jack Sock to win in Stockholm and claim his first ATP title in 33 months. 
• Pablo Carreno Busta won the second title of his career -- and this year -- when he beat Fabio Fognini in the Moscow final. As for the Italian, Fognini had these words to say to Carreno Busta while accepting his runner-up trophy.
• Monica Niculescu turned in a surprising 6-4 6-0 win over Petra Kvitova in the Luxembourg final for the 3rd title of her career.
• Richard Gasquet won the inaugural event in Antwerp, beating Diego Schwartzman in the final for his second title of 2016.
• Rafael Nadal announced he will shut it down for the rest of the 2016 season. He will no longer compete in Basel or Paris, nor will he travel to London for the World Tour Finals should he still qualify.
• In happier news for Nadal, the Spaniard opened his tennis academy in Mallorca, enlisting the help of Roger Federer for the event. 
• Jurgen Melzer is now only the second active player to score at least 300 match wins in both singles and doubles (Stepanek). Melzer went on to win 
• Daria Gavrilova, beaten finalist in Moscow, is enjoying the most successful stretch of her career. Gavrilova rises 13 spots to #24 in the latest WTA rankings and is four spots behind Sam Stosur for Australian #1.
• Kyle Edmund cracks the top 40 for the first time in his career after a semifinal showing in Antwerp.
• ​With Kuznetsova's Moscow win, Jo Konta will not qualify for the WTA Finals. However, she did win the WTA Most Improved Player title. 
• The Zhuhai WTA Elite Trophy field of 12 is set. Defending champion, Venus Williams, will not participate.
• Swedish brothers Elias and Mikael Ymer won their first ATP doubles title, on home turf in Stockholm.

The Body Serve Tennis Podcast returns to take you through Nick Kyrgios and Maria Sharapova's disciplinary drama. We try to figure out where to stand on Kyrgios, why his behavior angers so many, and what the ATP means by suggesting counselling. As for Sharapova, we are not kind about her tasteless media blitz following her (slightly) reduced suspension. Stick around for actual tennis talk - lauding the strong fall performers and looking ahead to Singapore. ​

​
Timestamps
​​
3:00 Kyrgios suspension: warring camps 
7:25 Is Nick's perceived apathy the reason so many people are mad? 
12:00 What to make of the counselling option? What is the state of mental health in tennis? 
21:30 The Swiftian/Trumpesque Media Victory Tour of Maria Sharapova ... where good taste went to die 
26:30 James takes you through the details of the Sharapova appeal decision 
33:30 Tennis legends invite Maria to WTT charity event, all is forgiven 
38:00 Serena's fall swing: Disney World, Color Purple, Formation, NOT Singapore 
41:30 Singapore lineup and scenarios 
43:00 Big ups to Cibulkova, Wozniacki, Kvitova, Radwanska, Konta, Keys 
47:30 Men's fall standouts: Dimitrov, RBA, Murray - can Murray get to no. 1? 
51:30 Talking down the Novak slump chatter 
54:00 Our faves Venus and Rafa are struggling
​

Another week in tennis, another big "scandal." This time Nick Kyrgios is the player grabbing headlines a week after Maria Sharapova received news that her two year suspension for doping would be reduced to 15 months. Kyrgios, days after winning Tokyo, had an emotional collapse in Shanghai which started on court and spilled over into his press conference. The top-ranked Australian received a pair of fines and an 8 week suspension for the incident. 

Meanwhile, Andy Murray won his second tournament on the trot and Caroline Wozniacki captured her second title in a month. Shuai Peng and Dominika Cibulkova were the other titlists last week. Peng, once ranked as high as #14, won the first title of her career, while Cibulkova clinched a spot at the WTA Finals in Singapore. ​​If you've missed any of the recent action, #ThisWeekInTennis recaps the last week of tennis through tweets, press conferences, articles, podcasts, and rankings. ​​

RUNDOWN

• Andy Murray continued his tear through the Asian swing with his second title in as many weeks in Shanghai. The world #2 now finds himself within striking distance of Novak Djokovic for the top spot in the ATP rankings, 2415 points behind the Serbian. 
• Caroline Wozniacki won the 25th WTA title of her career last week in Hong Kong. The 26-year-old, ranked #74 entering the U.S. Open, continues her resurgence after having won in Tokyo as well last month. 
• Dominika Cibulkova wins her third title of 2016 in Linz and qualifies for the WTA Finals in Singapore. 
• Serena Williams announced her withdrawal from the WTA Finals in Singapore. 
• Shuai Peng won the first WTA singles title of her career in Tianjin. Known for playing with two hands off both wings and making the U.S. Open semifinals in 2014, Peng rises 74 spots to #108 in the latest WTA rankings. She also teamed with Christina McHale to win the doubles title in Tianjin.
• Days after the biggest title of his career, Nick Kyrgios had the biggest meltdown of his career in Shanghai. The fallout: Kyrgios hasbeen suspended by the ATP Tour for eight weeks and fined twice to the tune of $42,500. 
• Prior to Serena Williams' withdrawal from the WTA Finals, the eight qualifiers appeared to have been decided. With the world #1's withdrawal, Jo Konta, Suarez Navarro, and Svetlana Kuznetsova all remain in the running for the eighth and final spot.
• Rafael Nadal lost his opening match in Shanghai to Viktor Troicki. The top-ranked Spaniard cast doubt on his participation in ATP events for the remainder of 2016 in his post-match press conference. 
• Jack Sock and John Isner won the Shanghai doubles title 
• Sania Mirza reaches 80 consecutive weeks as world #1 in doubles.

Maria Sharapova's drug suspension was reduced from 24 to 15 months last week as per the decision handed down by the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS). Sharapova then embarked on a victory tour of sorts - appearing on Charlie Rose and The Today Show - which culminated with a return to the court at the WTT Smash Hits charity event. Sharapova will now be eligible to return in time for next year's French Open rather than January of 2018 as previously dictated by her original suspension.

Amidst the Sharapova frenzy, tennis crowned three high-profile champions last week in Andy Murray, Agnieszka Radwanska, and Nick Kyrgios. It was a big week overall for Brits in tennis; in addition to Murray's title, Jo Konta cracks the top 10 for the first time, while Kyle Edmund makes his maiden leap into the top 50. ​If you've missed any of the recent action, #ThisWeekInTennis recaps the last week of tennis through tweets, press conferences, articles, podcasts, and rankings. ​​
​

RUNDOWN

• Andy Murray won the China Open for the 40th ATP title of his career. Moreover, Murray becomes just the 16th player in the Open Era to capture 40 career ATP titles. 
• Agnieszka Radwanska won her 20th career WTA title in Beijing, beating Jo Konta in straight sets. Radwanska is only the fourth active player to win at least three Premier Mandatory titles.
• Johanna Konta becomes only the fourth British woman to crack the WTA top 10 after reaching the final in Beijing. Konta is also the first British woman to do so since 1984.
• Nick Kyrgios beat David Goffin in the final of the Japan Open to win his third title of 2016 and his career. 
• Grigor Dimitrov, once ranked as high as #8 in the world, saw his ranking fall to #40 in July this year. With his finals appearance in Beijing, the Bulgarian is now ranked #18.
• ​David Goffin has held steady in the rankings between 11-20 since May of 2015, rising as high as #11 for seven weeks in the middle of 2016. His finals run in Tokyo leaves him at #12, some 650 points behind Thiem at #10.
• Frances Tiafoe is the fourth teenager ranked inside the ATP top 100 after winning his second ATP Challenger Tour title in Stockton. Tiafoe joins Zverev, Coric, and Fritz.  
• Rafael Nadal won the 11th doubles title of his career, alongside Pablo Carrreno Busta. Meanwhile, Bethanie Mattek-Sands and Lucie Safarova won their third event in a row on the WTA Tour.
• Zhang Shuai received a wildcard into the WTA Elite Trophy event in Zhuhai. For a look at the current contenders for the year-end event, click here. 
• Serena Williams, off the WTA Tour until the WTA Finals, made an appearance alongside Beyonce onstage at the final concert of the singer's Formation World Tour.
• The second edition of Tie Break Tens will take place in Austria on October 23. 
• WADA issued a statement regarding the reduction of Sharapova's suspension while Sharapova's legal team may be readying to sue the ITF.
• The USTA announced that Mary Joe Fernandez will relinquish her role of Fed Cup captain.

The WTA Race to Singapore tightened considerably after the completion of the Wuhan Open in China. Petra Kvitova(+9 to #12) won her second title in Wuhan, while Dominika Cibulkova (finalist) and Svetlana Kuznetsova (semifinalist) strengthened their positions to qualify for the 2016 WTA Finals. Elsewhere, Tomas Berdych won in Shenzhen in just his second tournament back since missing the U.S. Open, and Karen Khachanov and Kristyna Pliskova earned the first ATP and WTA titles of their careers respectively.

If you've missed any of the recent action, #ThisWeekInTennis recaps the last week of tennis through tweets, press conferences, articles, podcasts, and rankings. ​

RUNDOWN
​

• Petra Kvitova won her second Wuhan Open last week, beating world #1 Angelique Kerber along the way. Kvitova overcame six opponents in six days to claim the title: Ostapenko, Svitolina, Kerber, Konta, Halep, and Cibulkova in the final.
• With her run to the final in Wuhan (her 5th of the season), Dominika Cibulkova rises four spots to #8 in the new WTA rankings.
• Tomas Berdych won the Shenzhen Open in his second tournament back from missing the U.S. Open due to appendicitis. After reaching the semifinals last week in St. Petersburg, Berdcych's title run leaves him just 330 points behind Rafael Nadal for the final spot in the ATP World Tour Finals.
• Karen Khachanov won the first ATP title of his career. The 20-year-old vaults 46 spots to #55 and is the ninth first time winner on the ATP Tour this season.
• Serena Williams took to Facebook to share a personal story with her nephew, and vows 'I won't be silent" when it comes to race in America. Williams will also kick off her 2017 season in Auckland at the ASB Classic.
• In failing to defend her title from 2015, Venus Williams (R16 loss) exits the WTA top 10, falling six spots to #13. 
• Novak Djokovic withdrew from Shanghai citing an elbow injury.
• Kristyna Pliskova won her first WTA title at the Tashkent Open and jumps 34 spots to a new career hight #66 in new WTA rankings.
• The doubles team of Bethanie Mattek-Sands and Lucie Safarovaclaimed the title in Wuhan, beating Sania Mirza and Barbora Strycova in the final. Team "Bucie" also qualified for Singapore with the title. 
• A big life change for Kimiko Date-Krumm. Recovering from injury, the 46-year-old still has her sights set on another comeback.