With the season officially wrapped, tennis players are finally getting a chance to rest and recharge after nearly 11 months of intense competition. And this year, one destination has clearly emerged as the off-season favorite — the Maldives….

Aryna Sabalenka was so eager to begin her getaway that she jokingly rushed reporters through their questions during her post-match press conference after losing to Elena Rybakina in the WTA Finals championship match. Meanwhile, Daniil Medvedev has also been enjoying his time in the island nation, sharing a series of photos from his Maldives holiday on social media.

Recently, during an episode of the Nothing Major podcast, former ATP star Sam Querrey shed light on why so many tennis players flock to the Maldives each off-season. According to him, the trend isn’t just coincidence or preference — it’s strategy. Querrey explained that Maldives tourism actively targets professional tennis players, offering them free luxury stays in exchange for promotion through social media posts and tags.

Even Jannik Sinner chose the Maldives as his off-season destination. In a humorous twist, he ended up bumping into his on-court rival Alexander Zverev during the flight — proving that the Maldives has truly become the unofficial gathering spot for tennis stars looking to unwind.

I guess it’s maledives season for everyone hu?Alexander Zverev wrote on Instagram, posing with Jannik Sinner

Their unexpected reunion came just days after their last meeting on court at the ATP Finals. The two faced off in the round-robin stage, where Sinner earned a straight-sets victory — his fifth consecutive win over the German. With four of those wins coming during the 2025 season alone, Sinner now leads their head-to-head 6-4.

tZverev’s 2025 campaign was anything but smooth. The three-time Grand Slam finalist closed the season with just one title — the ATP 500 trophy in Munich, where he defeated Ben Shelton. Beyond that victory, the German reached three additional finals but fell short in all of them: twice to Jannik Sinner, at the Australian Open and Vienna Open, and once to Taylor Fritz at the Stuttgart Open.

Alexandr Dolgopolov, a former player from Ukraine, has little interest in tennis because he finds the modern players are weaker than the ones who played during the Big 3 (Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, and Novak Djokovic) era. According to Dolgopolov, even Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner have not reached the same standard of competitiveness or consistency that defined the previous generation. He suggested that today’s field lacks the mental intensity and relentless drive that Federer, Nadal, and Djokovic brought to the sport, which, in his view, made tennis far more compelling to watch during their peak years.

Alexandr Dolgopolov, the former Ukrainian tennis star, has openly admitted that he no longer follows tennis closely because he believes the current generation lacks the quality seen during the era of the Big 3 — Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, and Novak Djokovic. Dolgopolov argued that even the sport’s newest stars, including Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner, have yet to match the level of consistency, competitiveness, and mental toughness displayed by the legendary trio. According to him, today’s field doesn’t possess the same intensity and rivalry that once made tennis electrifying to watch.