Chloe Wellington-Hunt

For Ben Bonzi, there is a distinction between becoming a better tennis player and having the results to prove it.

The two have not always arrived at the same time.

A few years removed from reaching his career-high ranking of world No. 42, the Frenchman can look at his tennis now and see progress. He can identify the ways his game has developed, the work he has done and the player he believes he has become. Yet injuries have repeatedly interrupted that progression, leaving him with the difficult task of rebuilding confidence and rhythm in a sport where neither waits around for you.

This week at the Winston-Salem Open, however, the results have started to catch up.

After advancing to his first ATP Tour semifinal of the season, Bonzi was unequivocal about something his current ranking–world No. 109–alone cannot explain.

“Yeah, actually, I feel that I’m a better player now than a few years ago,” Bonzi said. “But every time I play good, I have some injuries coming on the road and it’s pretty tough to come back.”

The Injury Cycle and Rebuilding Confidence

That cycle has made the past year particularly complicated. Once a player has established himself at a certain level, returning from an injury is not simply about getting healthy again. There is the expectation of returning to where he was, even while the mechanics of doing so — matches, confidence, timing — have to be rebuilt gradually.

“And, you know, when you reach some goals or some ranking, whatever you call that, the expectations are higher after that,” Bonzi said. “So it’s not easy to come back on the tour after injuries, to regain confidence, to get the rhythm again.”

It is one of the contradictions of professional tennis. A ranking provides a clean numerical assessment of where a player stands, but the path behind that number is considerably messier. Bonzi has felt that this season.

“The level is crazy on the tour,” he said. “It’s very similar from maybe top 50 to top 300. So there is no easy match. And, yeah, Challenger Tour is very difficult.”

A player can fall outside the highest levels of the tour and discover that climbing back is anything but straightforward. There are no guaranteed confidence-building matches waiting one level below.

“So you can be struggling to get a win again on Challenger Tour,” Bonzi said. “Then you come on the tour and now it’s a good week. So the ranking follows.”

Then came the point he wanted to make most clearly.

“But, I mean, if I have a general view, I feel like I’m a better player.”

Grinding Through a Tough Test in Winston-Salem

That belief has been tested this year.

Bonzi readily admits this has not been the season he wanted. But in Winston-Salem, there have been signs of the tennis he has been searching for.

His latest victory demanded patience from the beginning. There were long games on return, missed opportunities and an opponent determined to take time away from him. Bonzi was broken first and repeatedly found himself with chances to respond, only to see big serves erase break points.

“Yeah, first of all, it was a tough match, tough first sets, very long games, especially when I was returning,” Bonzi said. “I got broken first, but I had many opportunities to break back and then to break again. And I maybe got the first set a bit earlier, but it was serving very well on every break point.”

There was little outward celebration. Bonzi looked locked into the match, aware that against an aggressive opponent there was little room to ease into points.

“When you play Botic each every time, you have to be ready on the three or four first shots on every point because he’s playing fast, he’s aggressive,” Bonzi said. “And, yeah, that was the plan today.”

The victory pushed him into his first tour-level semifinal of 2026. More importantly, it gave Bonzi another piece of evidence that the tennis he believes is there is beginning to surface again.

“So, of course, it’s a great week for me,” he said. “It’s my first semis on the tour this year. Till now, it was not the best year of my career.”

His run has required some survival, too. Bonzi came through what he described as a “big battle” against another French player in the second round. With each match, though, his sense of himself on court has improved.

“It turned out to win this match and, yeah, now I’m playing better,” he said. “I feel better on the court. I feel like I can be very solid and very consistent on every game. I’m serving good also, so let’s see tomorrow.”

Nicolas Mahut and a Year of Rebuilding

There is another person watching that progress closely from Bonzi’s box.

Nicolas Mahut is one of the most recognizable French players of his generation, a former world No. 1 in doubles and five-time Grand Slam men’s doubles champion. But for Bonzi, Mahut’s significance is much more personal than the résumé attached to the face sitting courtside.

Their partnership began a year ago in Washington, at a point when Bonzi felt something needed to change.

“Well, we started one year ago in Washington,” Bonzi said. “So, we had a first-year relationship this year. But, yeah, Nico is like I called him last summer. I was struggling.”

It was not an isolated coaching adjustment. Bonzi was reconsidering the structure around his tennis altogether.

“I wanted to change my stuff and to change the environment around me,” he said. “I moved from Marseille to Paris. I changed kind of everything for the training session.”

Mahut was not a stranger brought in to engineer a quick turnaround. The two already knew each other through Davis Cup, and Bonzi remembered the ease with which they could discuss tennis.

“Yeah, I used to know him. We used to have a relationship in Davis Cup. We always felt close,” Bonzi said. “And I was really happy to talk to him about the matches and everything.”

More than anything, Bonzi saw in Mahut someone capable of helping restore something injuries and difficult results can erode quickly: conviction.

“And I felt like he could be one of the people who gave me confidence and some advice on my tennis.”

A year later, Bonzi is not pretending the partnership has immediately produced everything either man envisioned.

“This year, of course, if you look especially at the results, it’s not, I think, the year we wanted, both of us,” he said.

But that is also where Bonzi’s assessment of his career becomes particularly revealing. He does not seem interested in pretending that progress and results always move together.

“But we worked in the right way,” he said. “We tried to improve some parts of my game. So, we changed a few things. So, it’s tough sometimes to put everything together during matches.”

Perhaps Winston-Salem is not proof that everything has suddenly come together. Tennis rarely offers transformations that neatly.

But it is a week in which Bonzi has been able to feel some of the work showing up under pressure.

“I’m pretty happy about that partnership,” he said. “Yeah, I hope better results are coming.”

Looking Ahead to New York

Soon, his attention will shift to New York.

Bonzi has reason to associate the US Open with some of his best tennis. He has twice reached the third round and produced memorable victories there last season. This year, however, comes with a different backdrop. He has yet to win a Grand Slam match in 2026 and was injured at Wimbledon.

“I mean, this year I didn’t win a single match in slams,” Bonzi said. “I did three first rounds against, like, good players, and I got injured in Wimbledon.”

Still, the hard courts give him reason for optimism.

“So, I know hard courts are… I like hard courts,” he said. “Maybe New York is one of my best chance in the year to get a great result. I did two times third round. Of course, great victories last year.”

Bonzi knows his first-round opponent. He knows the opportunity ahead of him. But when asked about New York, his instinct was to bring the conversation back to the match directly in front of him.

“But first, I’m going to focus on tomorrow’s semis.”

On Court and Off: The Same Focus

It is fitting for a player whose demeanor can appear almost relentlessly composed. Bonzi rarely gives much away on court, even when the match around him becomes chaotic.

But that seriousness is only part of him.

“Like, I try to be on the court like I am in life,” Bonzi said. “Like, of course, when I come on court, it’s maybe when I’m the best. And when I play the best, I’m kind of the same outside the court.”

Then he allowed for one distinction.

“Maybe a bit funnier and a bit crazier than on the court because there I’m very focused.”

For now, focus may be exactly what Bonzi needs.

There is a semifinal immediately ahead of him and the US Open waiting beyond it. There is also a season that has not unfolded the way he or Mahut envisioned when they began working together a year ago.

But somewhere underneath the injuries, the difficult stretches and a ranking that has not always reflected how he sees his own game, Bonzi has maintained a belief that matters more than any one week: he is better than he was before.

In Winston-Salem, the results are finally beginning to make the same argument. Bonzi will play world No. 36 Ignacio Buse in the semi-finals at the ATP 250 event.

Photo credit Winston Salem

Théo Arribagé had asked Manuel Guinard to play doubles with him before.

Not once. Not twice. According to Arribagé, the invitations had come so frequently that he had lost count.

“So, yeah, I asked Manu so many times to play with me—like five, six, seven or eight times,” Arribagé said. “He said no, like, every time to me. So I am happy it’s the first time he said yes to me.”

Guinard’s eventual acceptance may have come out of slight necessity, after both players’ regular partners returned home, but their first match together at the Winston-Salem Open hardly looked like an improvised arrangement. The pair’s debut has seen instant success at the ATP 250 event.

The French pair played with ease, humor and an obvious trust in one another, surviving a tight opening set before pulling away decisively in the second. By the end, Arribagé and Guinard had not only earned a win. They had also begun to establish the identity of a partnership that had taken several invitations to finally form.

“And, yeah, I think today we did a great match, with a great attitude,” Arribagé said. “I think we played pretty well, and we enjoyed it a lot, so I’m happy with this win.”

Guinard offered a more practical account of how the pairing came together.

“Yeah, like, last week our partners were supposed to come back home, so we decided to play together,” he said. “And, yeah, we enjoyed this match a lot today. It was really fun, with a really good level. So, looking forward to the next step.”

The Brain and the Muscles

There is already a natural contrast between them.

Arribagé is animated and quick to joke. Guinard is more understated, but equally willing to play along. When asked how they had developed their chemistry so quickly, Guinard reduced their partnership to a simple division of labor.

“We’ve got different qualities, different games,” Guinard said. “He’s more like, I would say, a tactical man.”

Arribagé immediately interrupted.

“I have the brain.”

Guinard continued without resistance.

“He has all the tactics, and I just follow,” he said. “I just, yeah, do what he is telling me, and we’re trying to mix it up like this. But he’s more, let’s say, the brain, and I’m the muscles.”

“Exactly, yeah,” Arribagé said.

The joke works because there is some truth beneath it.

Guinard’s strength from the baseline gives the team stability and weight of shot. Arribagé is more comfortable moving forward, reading the point and imposing himself at the net. Their games do not mirror one another. They fill different spaces.

“He’s, like, so good on the baseline,” Arribagé said. “Me, I think my quality is more, like, when I’m at the net. And so, yeah, I think we have a good game together to play well. So I hope we win this tournament.”

A First Set Decided by Inches

That ambition did not look unreasonable after their opening performance.

The first set was decided by margins so thin that either team could have taken control. Arribagé and Guinard were forced to stay patient through long stretches of tension, with momentum shifting from one side of the net to the other.

“I think we used the momentum,” Arribagé said. “We did, like, a big, big first set. It was so close. We were close to winning, close to losing the first set.”

Taking Control After the Break

Once they secured it, however, the match changed rapidly.

“And we started the second set so well,” Arribagé continued. “And after, yeah, we continued to push, and we managed everything. It was good for us.”

Guinard saw the same shift as the product of a few points falling their way at the right time.

“Yeah, yeah. I mean, the first set was more or less, like, one or two points here and there that we managed to take,” he said. “And then, in the second set, right after the break, we managed to take the break and the lead in the second set.”

That early advantage altered the pressure in the match. Arribagé and Guinard became freer, while their opponents struggled to recover from the disappointment of losing the opening set.

“And, yeah, after that, I think they were kind of a little bit under the water, and we tried to keep going, and that’s what we did,” Guinard said. “But, yeah, it was a really good match.”

The result was a second set that appeared far more straightforward than the first. Yet the difference was not necessarily a dramatic tactical adjustment. Arribagé and Guinard simply recognized the moment, took control of it and refused to let the energy return to the other side.

Winston-Salem’s Crowd Becomes a Factor

That energy was not limited to the four players on court.

The crowd became part of the match, particularly during its closest stages. For doubles players, who can often find themselves competing in front of smaller audiences than their singles counterparts, the atmosphere carried additional significance.

Guinard said the court was full at the beginning of the match, with spectators responding to the quality and tension of the tennis.

“Yeah, especially today. At the beginning, it was completely full, and they were really enjoying the game,” he said. “And it was, again, a really good match, really tight.”

Both players are comfortable acknowledging the crowd and allowing themselves to be lifted by it. Rather than shutting out the noise, they use it.

“And I think we are also the kind of guys who take the energy from the crowd,” Guinard said. “So we know how to play with it. We know how to fire it up when we need it, and I think people enjoyed it.”

That connection mattered most when the match tightened.

“And, yeah, at the end, it helped us a lot, especially in the big moments,” he said.

Arribagé shared the sentiment, though in his characteristically playful way. When discussing the response at the end of the first set, he exaggerated the size of the support before returning to what it meant to the team.

“No, it was so good for us to have a crowd like this,” he said. “At the end of the first set, they clapped like there were, what, three people?”

“Yes,” Guinard replied.

“So we enjoyed it a lot,” Arribagé continued. “We enjoy it a lot when we have a lot of people supporting us. And, yeah, we hope in the next match we can have the same because, for us, it’s something unbelievable.”

A Case for Doubles, Made Without Trying

That desire for a louder doubles atmosphere has become part of a wider conversation within professional tennis. Doubles often offers the things spectators say they want: fast points, constant movement, tactical variety and visible interaction between partners. Yet matches are not always given the same platform or attendance as singles.

Arribagé and Guinard made a compelling case for the format without needing to argue for it directly.

Their opening match contained tension, momentum swings and sharp tactical contrasts. It also contained something less measurable but just as valuable: personality.

Arribagé teased Guinard about repeatedly rejecting him. Guinard designated his partner as the brain and himself as the muscles. Both engaged with the crowd, with one another and with the match in a way that made the partnership easy to follow.

The humor did not distract from the tennis. It clarified why the tennis worked.

Their chemistry is built on friendship, but also on complementary skills and clearly understood roles. Guinard can anchor the team from the baseline. Arribagé can look for opportunities to close at the net. One can devise the plan; the other is more than happy to execute it.

For a partnership formed only after other plans fell apart, the arrangement already feels surprisingly coherent.

Arribagé may have needed five, six, seven or eight attempts to get the answer he wanted.

After matches together in Winston-Salem, it appears the wait may have been worthwhile.

World No. 36 Ignacio Buse spoke with World Tennis Magazine at the ATP 250 in Winston-Salem about pressure, comparison, and of course, the power of the Peruvian crowd.

The Power of the Peruvian Crowd

The Peruvian star battled through a three-set match against the Australian player Adam Walton, who he lost to in Cincinatti–during the last set, a sea of Peruvian flags and cheers for “Nacho” filled the court.

“I always say it– it is very special for me to play in front of people from Peru,” Buse said. “Honestly, I had fairly low expectations that there would be Peruvians here. But in the end, there always are. It was really nice.”

Buse repeatedly mentioned how much he appreciates Peruvian support and also hopes that as he gets more established on tour, he’ll develop more support from tennis fans across the world.

“I think that as I travel more and everything, people are going to get to know me more,” Buse said. “Maybe they will start to see more of my personality and who I am.”

Advice for Young Peruvian Players: Avoid Comparison

As for his advice for younger players from Peru?

Buse has one big message: avoid comparison.

“I think the best advice is to not compare with each other,” he said. “But also, I think that in Peru, you get used to comparing yourselves and everything. For example, I was No. 9 in juniors. You can say, ‘No, only if he is No. 1 in juniors, he will be, I don’t know, top 20, or whatever.'”

Buse, instead, asks young Peruvian players not to worry about their juniors ranking, but rather, trust the process.

“I think that the rankings in juniors don’t matter, or whatever,” the player said. “Also, for example, if you’re not too good in juniors, it’s okay, because you also have less pressure in the pros.”

He also hopes that they won’t compare themselves to European players, where the timeline and process is not the same.

“Maybe when I was their age, I used to compare myself with, I don’t know, guys my age who were in Europe,” Buse said. “It’s a completely different process.”

A Standout Season, and the Pressure That Comes With It

When it comes to his own game, Buse remains proud of an incredible year–he won the ATP 500 title at the 2026 Hamburg Open. He broke the top 35 this year. He beat João Fonseca and Matteo Berrettini at the Rio Open.

But he’s also mindful that the pressure can mount, especially when great results yield great expectations.

“Obviously, no one can take away what I have experienced. But there is the good side and, obviously, the bad side,” the Peruvian said.

He admitted that the bad side can, at times, come from himself.

“There can be some extra pressure that you put on yourself,” he said, “because you demand a little more from yourself than you should.”

However, for the rising star, the goal is to play relaxed and with confidence.

Looking Ahead to Winston-Salem

As for Buse’s plans here in Winston-Salem, he’s excited and energized for tomorrow and hopeful for more Peruvian support in his match against German Daniel Altmaier.

“So, it was really great to play today [in front of the Peruvian crowd], and I hope the same people come tomorrow.”

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Wake Forest men’s tennis player Kacper Szymkowiak came to the Winston-Salem Open as the first alternate, close enough to the draw to imagine getting his opportunity but ultimately spending the tournament in a different role.

From Wroclaw, Poland, Szymkowiak’s week became less about competing and more about observing. As a hitting partner, Szymkowiak had the opportunity to share a court with players inside the world’s Top 100, watch how professionals operate and, perhaps most importantly, ask questions.

“It’s a great opportunity and great experience for me to hit and play with the guys from top 100,” Szymkowiak said. “It’s always nice also to talk to them, like how is it, and a lot of guys have also transferred from college to pro and made it to top hundred.”

That last part matters to Szymkowiak.

He is entering his next season at Wake Forest, but college tennis was never intended to replace his professional ambitions. It is the route he and his family chose to help him pursue them. While he loves the team, the coaches, and the environment at Wake, he knows he wants to go pro.

Kacper Szymkowiak’s Rankings Advice: Improve First, Rank Later

And after spending the week around players who have already made that transition, one piece of advice has continued to surface: while he is in college, worry less about where he is ranked and more about how good he can become.

“One thing that keeps coming back is that when you are in college, just focus on improving and just knowing actually to not care about your rankings, because if your game is there, once you leave college you achieve the ranking by the tennis you present,” Szymkowiak said.

It is an appropriate lesson for a player who is still trying to discover exactly where his tennis can take him.

From a Wroclaw Wall to College Tennis

Szymkowiak’s relationship with the sport began long before Wake Forest, and almost by accident. Growing up in Wroclaw, he spent time around tennis because his older brother played. At five years old, watching practice eventually became boring enough that he found his own way onto the court.

“I started playing tennis when I was five because of my older brother,” he said. “I was just being bored on his practices, so I just picked up a racket and started hitting against the wall. That’s how I just started playing tennis.”

For years, Szymkowiak played primarily in local competition in Poland. Around 17, he began traveling abroad more often. The results improved. So did his tennis.

Eventually, he, his family and his team faced a decision about what should come next.

They chose college tennis.

“And at some point me and my team and family decided to choose a different path and to go here, college, to just see how it is,” he said.

Learning to Be “Coachable” at Wake Forest

That path brought him to Wake Forest, where development has meant more than simply hitting more tennis balls.

Szymkowiak speaks highly of the program’s coaching staff and its emphasis on professionalism and daily work. He also readily admits that accepting coaching has not always been his greatest strength.

“They try to teach me — it’s very hard for them,” Szymkowiak said. “I heard a few times I’m uncoachable.”

It is the kind of laughing admission that could easily be brushed off as a joke. But Szymkowiak acknowledges that he can get emotional and slightly stubborn.

“It’s hard for me because, you know, that’s why you have sometimes arguments because I think I know better, which is of course not true,” he said. “But on the court it’s tough to realize that, especially under emotions.”

There is a self-awareness in the answer that perhaps explains why he believes the label no longer fits quite as well.

“I think I became coachable, like, last few months, so I think that’s a big thing for me.”

Different Game Styles, Daily Growth at Practice

That growth may be just as important as anything technical Szymkowiak develops during his college career.

At Wake Forest, he is surrounded every day by players who challenge him differently. The variety is something he did not necessarily have on a daily basis while training in Poland, and it has become one of the things he appreciates most about the team.

“I really like the guys from the team because every each one of them has something special,” Szymkowiak said. “It’s very good to practice with each one of them every single day, you know, to have different game styles, and that’s one thing that I don’t have in Poland on a daily basis.”

His coaches, meanwhile, continue to reinforce a message that sounds remarkably similar to what he has heard from professionals in Winston-Salem.

Work matters more than talent without it.

“They’re trying to put in my head that you have to work hard in order to be anything in the future,” Szymkowiak said. “So they tell me, like, talent doesn’t matter unless you put work into it.”

No Guarantees, No Excuses on the Path to the Tour

There are no guarantees attached to that work, something Szymkowiak already seems to understand.

Professional tennis can be unforgiving. Players can train correctly, make sacrifices and still find that progress does not arrive according to schedule. Spending time around professionals this week has reinforced for Szymkowiak that complaining about the difficulty does little to change it.

“Once you stop complaining that something’s wrong or you’re unlucky or this or that, you’re gone out of the race,” he said. “You have to work hard and maybe, and maybe not. So that’s why it’s such a dedication to achieve anything in the sport.”

The Pro Dream Was Never in Question

For all the lessons Szymkowiak is gathering, however, one thing has not required reconsideration.

He wants to play professionally.

Asked whether his experience at the Winston-Salem Open had strengthened that ambition, Szymkowiak made clear that being around the tour had not created a new dream.

“It never changed, kinda. I always wanted to go pro,” he said.

For Szymkowiak, college is part of that pursuit rather than a detour from it. He is unusually candid about how he sees the balance.

“College is also like, they say student, student — student comes first before athlete. For me it’s other way around, and it’ll always be,” he said. “I always try to focus more on being an athlete and just becoming pro.”

Closing the Distance Between College and the Tour

For now, he remains on the college side of that transition, practicing at Wake Forest and watching the professional tour from close range.

At Winston-Salem, particularly, the distance between those two worlds has felt small. He has hit with the players he hopes someday to compete alongside. He has spoken with players who took a version of the path he hopes to follow. And he has listened to their advice about what matters before he gets there.

Improve. Work. Stop obsessing over rankings. Stop searching for excuses.

For a player who can laugh about once being called “uncoachable,” learning to listen might turn out to be one of the most important parts of his development.

But the reason Szymkowiak is willing to do the work is considerably older than anything he has learned this week. It goes back to Poland, an older brother’s tennis practices and a five-year-old who got bored enough to pick up a racket and start hitting against a wall.

Two decades did not need to pass for Szymkowiak to know what he wanted from the sport.

“I know how much I dedicated in the past to play tennis, and I love the sport,” he said. “That’s one thing, and other, I just want to be the best possible version of myself.”