Pre-Season Roundup: Stars serve up hard work and humor 

While R&R was much needed following the 2022 season, the sport’s top players have been back in the lab preparing for another year of success.

In a historic season, Carlos Alcaraz became the youngest world No. 1 in ATP rankings history. Although the Spaniard racked up many accolades along the way, he withdrew from both the ATP Finals and the Davis Cup Finals with an abdominal injury he suffered at the Paris Masters. He took to Instagram to update fans about his status at the start of December.

The 19-year-old showed the world exactly what he was made of after winning his first Grand Slam title at the US Open and taking down Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic and Alexander Zverev earlier in the year. After recovery, Alcaraz looks to continue to deliver on the game’s biggest stages once again, and will sport some new ink when he does.

World No. 4, Stefanos Tsitsipas also knows all about hard work.

In a humorous video, he showed his fans the training he’s been up to while poking fun at the reality of how it can be for even the most elite athletes.

All jokes aside, the Greek isn’t letting up anytime soon.

Though he defended his title at Monte Carlo and picked up his first grass-court crown in Mallorca, the 24-year-old remains focused on improving his consistency at the majors after making early exits from Wimbledon and the US Open. Down Under might be the place to do just that, as Tsitsipas is a three-time Australian Open semifinalist.

Felix Auger-Aliassime and Aryna Sabalenka both enjoyed time off before putting in the miles ahead of their World Tennis League debuts.

The 22-year-old Auger-Aliassime was named one of Canada’s players of the year alongside Leylah Fernandez. After leading his country to its first Davis Cup title, Auger-Aliassime took a well-deserved vacation to Iceland. It may have been fun and relaxing, but the Canadian quickly got back to the grind.

Sabalenka showed off some beach exercises in what she calls a “fun day” of training for the World Tennis League. She was named Belarus' best female tennis player of 2022 and looks to build off an up-and-down year that included a semifinal return at the US Open and knocking out Iga Swiatek in the semifinals of the WTA Finals.

The 24-year-old made the most of her WTL experience, getting the competitive juices flowing alongside the likes of Novak Djokovic, Paula Badosa, Grigor Dimitrov and Falcons captain Younes El Aynaoui.