Top Five Management has dropped Sofia Kenin due to “difficulty with the athlete’s environment”. 2020 was a breakout year for Kenin who won her maiden grand slam title at the Australian Open and reached the finals at the French Open. 

The awkwardly worded announcement suggests there was a conflict between the player and the team at Top Five.  No details were provided on the source of conflict.

It is possible that Kenin and Top Five could not agree on the financial cut that the agency gets from her deals. Other reasons could include parents and other members of Kenin’s team interfering with the affairs of her management agency.

2020 was a difficult year for tennis. Tournaments reduced prize money by up to 50% to make up for not being able to have fans in the stadium. Sponsors were also faced with difficult financial conditions in their business.

Despite a big year, Kenin had difficulty attracting high profile sponsors. Fellow American player Amanda Anisimova signed a monster deal with Nike, though her on-court results have been sub-par compared to Kenin’s.

It is rare for an agency to drop a young player who has a long runway. Given her high profile in tennis, another management agency will certainly pick up Kenin.

It’s official! Iga Swiatek has signed a sponsorship deal with Tecnifibre and will be moving to Technifbre racquets in 2021. She was previously playing with a Prince racquet, without a logo. She did not have a contract with Price. Swiatek had used Tecnifibre racquets until she was 12.

With this move, Tecnifibre has two players in the women’s top 100. The French company previously signed Russian player, Daria Kasatkina. Swiatek will be using the Tecnifibre T-Rebound Tempo racquet, which is specially designed for female tennis players. She will be using the Razor Code polyester strings.

Daniil Medvedev, the number 4 ranked player in the world on the men’s side also Tecnifibre racquets. With Medvedev, 24, and Swiatek, 19 on its ranks, the company has positioned itself well with two young players on the tour.

Swiatek was seen practicing with Tecnifibre racquets in the offseason. It appears that she was comfortable enough to make the move. Top players are reluctant to make racquet changes because racquet changes impact their games. But a lot of money was also on the line for Swiatek. She was not sponsored by Prince, the American racquet maker, whose poor financial situation does not allow it to sponsor top players.

Swiatek, who won the 2020 French Open in stunning fashion was voted the Fan Favorite WTA player for 2020. Tecnifibre which makes racquets and strings was acquired by another French brand, Lacoste, in 2018.