Djokovic Rips A Hot Shot In London
Watch Hot Shot as Novak Djokovic out-maneuvers Roger Federer in a long rally. Watch live tennis at tennistv.com.
Watch Hot Shot as Novak Djokovic out-maneuvers Roger Federer in a long rally. Watch live tennis at tennistv.com.
Jean-Julien Rojer and Horia Tecau react to crowing a career-best season with victory at the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals.
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It was a dream ending to the 2015 season for Agnieszka Radwanska – not only did she win her first two WTA titles of the year in Tokyo and Tianjin, but she won a third, which turned out to be the biggest of her career, at the BNP Paribas WTA Finals Singapore presented by SC Global (highlights here).
She finished the year at No.5 in the world, too, her third Top 5 finish in the last four years.
But the accolades didn’t end with the Polish trailblazer lifting the Billie Jean King Trophy up high…
Zoom in on her dress just a little bit and you’ll see Lexus – one of Radwanska’s biggest sponsors:
And they’re also one of her biggest supporters – they gave her a car as a year-end bonus, first sitting down with her for a press conference back home and then presenting her with her new wheels:
And because they’re so classy – Radwanska and the car – here are some pics from Radwanska’s official photo shoot with Lexus, all courtesy of Lexus. See more pics from this photo shoot here.
– Emma Stone to play Billie Jean King: Stone has been cast as BJK in the upcoming film on the 1973 Battle of the Sexes. Steve Carrell is currently “set to play” Bobby Riggs. This should be fun.
– Serena Williams in the SI Mailbag: Jon Wertheim’s weekly dispatch is always a must-read.
– Get your Pome! towel: Dominika Cibulkova’s signature “Pome!” yell is emblazoned on a variety of wares at her online store:
Bonitos recuerdos de Singapore! The craziness of today, best memories from tomorrow! #tbt #sentosa #fun?☀️ pic.twitter.com/iVK9GESRQy
— Garbiñe Muguruza (@GarbiMuguruza) November 19, 2015
– Garbi’s R&R: Good to see Garbiñe Muguruza is getting some well-deserved time away from her racket:
Bonitos recuerdos de Singapore! The craziness of today, best memories from tomorrow! #tbt #sentosa #fun?☀️ pic.twitter.com/iVK9GESRQy
— Garbiñe Muguruza (@GarbiMuguruza) November 19, 2015
Much of the talk heading into this year’s Wimbledon surrounded the ‘Serena Slam’. Successive titles at the Australian and French Opens brought her tantalizingly close to Steffi Graf’s Open Era record of 22 majors and just two shy of the all-time record set by Margaret Court.
For all her recent success, though, the World No.1 had not reached a Wimbledon final since seeing off Agnieszka Radwanska to lift the Venus Rosewater dish in 2012.
As has become custom, Williams and many of the game’s other leading players eschewed playing a tune-up event before Wimbledon, leaving the path clear for Belinda Bencic, Angelique Kerber, Ana Konjuh and Camila Giorgi to triumph in Eastbourne, Birmingham, Nottingham and ‘s-Hertogenbosch, respectively.
There were plenty of surprises at the All-England Club too, with a number of high-profile names, most notably defending champion Petra Kvitova, suffering premature exits. In the third round, Williams was a whisker away from suffering the same fate, calling on all her reserves of grit and determination to edge out home favorite Heather Watson, 6-2, 4-6, 7-5.
Just as she has on countless occasions, the American saved her best for the business end of the tournament, helping her through the gauntlet of sister Venus, Victoria Azarenka and Maria Sharapova and into an eighth Wimbledon final.
Here she faced someone appearing in their very first: Garbiñe Muguruza.
After early losses in Birmingham and Eastbourne, Muguruza was back to her best in SW19, staging a series of upsets culminating in an absorbing three-set battle with the WTA’s resident magician Agnieszka Radwanska in the semifinals.
The Spaniard began the final in irresistible form, striking winners with ease and pulling her foe to all corners of the court. Williams, though, possesses a competitive fire matched by few in the history of the game and by sheer force of will hauled herself back into the contest. Once she hit the front, there was only one winner, Williams prevailing, 6-4, 6-4, to move within touching distance of the clean sweep. Next stop: New York…
The finalists for the 2015 WTA Rising Star Of The Year have been released, and we want to hear from you, the fans. The fan vote will count as one of the coveted media votes.
Have a look at the finalists and cast your vote before Sunday, December 6 at 11:59pm ET! The winner will be announced Tuesday, December 8.
2015 WTA Rising Star Of The Year Finalists
Margarita Gasparyan: Trivia question: who was the only player with a one-handed backhand to lift a WTA title in 2015? Surprisingly it was neither Carla Suárez Navarro nor Roberta Vinci, but the green and gifted Margarita Gasparyan. After plying her trade in the tennis backwaters for the majority of her nascent professional career, Gasparyan began to make her mark in the big leagues this year. The willowy Muscovite opened the campaign in fine fashion finishing her tennis schooling on the ITF Circuit with three titles before graduating in spring by qualifying for her first Grand Slam, the French Open. Though the 21-year-old fell at the first hurdle there, and also Wimbledon, her big breakthrough came in Baku, where she picked up the title, before closing the year just outside the Top 50 on the back of quarterfinals in Linz and Moscow.
Daria Gavrilova: The path from the top of the junior game to the professional ranks is rarely a smooth one. Lucky for former junior World No.1 Daria Gavrilova then that she is being guided along the way by a wise head in Nicole Pratt. Since recovering from torn anterior cruciate ligament a few years back, Gavrilova’s career has been on an upward trajectory. The technical work invested into her game – most notably the backhand wing – whilst out injured, started to pay off this January, as she came racing out of the traps with strong performances in her adopted homeland. Better was to come in spring, the youngster upsetting Maria Sharapova in Miami before announcing herself to the wider tennis world by coming through qualifying to reach the semifinals in Rome. While she was unable to quite match these feats in the second half of the year, now inside the Top 50 it is safe to say the best is yet to come.
Nao Hibino: Nao Hibino’s ascent up the professional ranks has been understated, but by no means unimpressive. Racking up the wins – and titles – on the ITF Circuit for much of the year, Japan’s brightest young talent edged her way towards the Top 100 before gatecrashing the big time in Tashkent, where she overcame former champion Donna Vekic to collect a maiden WTA title. More success was to follow in the shape of a semifinal run in Hua Hin, leaving her with 47 wins for the season and year-end ranking of No.78 to boot.
Daria Kasatkina: By common consensus, Daria Kasatkina is the next big thing in Russian tennis, drawing comparisons with none other than Maria Sharapova during her recent run to the semifinals at her home event, the Kremlin Cup. Softly spoken, but with a steely determination reminiscent of her celebrated compatriot, Kasatkina enjoyed a distinguished junior career, lifting the Roland Garros crown at 17, and announced herself in the senior ranks by reaching the US Open third round this August. A quarterfinal in Bad Gasten, and a string of titles on the ITF Circuit, further aided a charge up the rankings that saw her finish a year she started outside the Top 300 perched handily at No.71.
WTA Newcomer Of The Year Winners
2014: Belinda Bencic
2013: Eugenie Bouchard
2012: Laura Robson
2011: Irina-Camelia Begu
2010: Petra Kvitova
2009: Melanie Oudin
2008: Caroline Wozniacki
2007: Agnes Szavay
2006: Agnieszka Radwanska
2005: Sania Mirza
Click here to see all the WTA Newcomer of the Years Winners
How it works:
Finalists are selected by wtatennis.com
Rising of the Year criteria includes a player who made Top 100 debut or notable accomplishments during the 2015 season, and prior to the current year, had not played in more than six main draw events at tour-level in a single season
Winner is then determined by a media vote with a fan vote counting as one media vote
British Olympic gymnast Louis Smith visits The O2, where he won a silver medal at the London 2012 Olympics.
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A lot of players made major pushes in the last few months of the season, but three players who kept winning and winning throughout the season finished atop the Top 10 match win leaders for the year.
And coincidentally, we ended with a three-way tie for first place – who were those three WTA stars?
Here are the Top 10 match win leaders on the WTA in 2015:
8T] Belinda Bencic, Garbiñe Muguruza, Maria Sharapova & Carla Suárez Navarro – 41
7] Jelena Jankovic – 44
6] Sara Errani – 48
5] Simona Halep – 49
4] Agnieszka Radwanska – 51
And the three-way tie for most match wins on the WTA in 2015 goes to…
1T] Serena Williams, Angelique Kerber & Karolina Pliskova – 53
Serena Williams was the first player to hit 53, doing it against Venus Williams in the quarterfinals of the US Open. Angelique Kerber was next with her win over Petra Kvitova in the round robin at the WTA Finals, and Karolina Pliskova did it against Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova in the Fed Cup final.
This article used insights from WTA partner SAP, a worldwide leader in enterprise software.
Conventional wisdom says that the serve is the most important shot in tennis. The more astute tennis fan knows that quite the opposite is true.
After crunching the numbers from more than 60 tournaments on the ATP World Tour in 2015, Infosys ATP Beyond The Numbers shows that the return of serve is what really counts.
In 2015, none of the Top 3 players in the Service Games Won category made it to the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals in London. Yet the Top 4 players on the list of Return Games won – David Ferrer, Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal and Andy Murray – all made it to The O2.
| Player | Return Game Win % | Matches | |
| 1 | David Ferrer | 35% | 66 |
| 2 | Novak Djokovic | 34% | 82 |
| 3 | Rafael Nadal | 31% | 76 |
| 4 | Andy Murray | 31% | 74 |
| 5 | Gilles Simon | 31% | 63 |
| 8 | Roger Federer | 27% | 67 |
| 9 | Kei Nishikori | 27% | 63 |
Ferrer, who won five titles in 2015, topped the list by winning 35 percent of services games in 2015, followed by Djokovic with 34 and Nadal and Murray, both at 31 percent. Two others players in the Top 10 of this category also made it to The O2: Roger Federer and Kei Nishikori, who won 27 percent of their return games in 2015.
Looking at the Service Games won leaders of 2015, ace king Ivo Karlovic stood as tall as his 6’ 11’ frame by holding 96 out of every 100 services games in a season in which he also fired 1,447 aces. That put him tantalisingly close to Goran Ivanisevic’s season-record of 1477 in 1996.
Second was Canada’s Milos Raonic, who won 94 percent of his service games, while American John Isner, who fired 1,260 aces this year, held 93 percent of service games. But only Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic (who were among the best returners of the year), were the only members of the Top 5 list of service games won to make it to London.
| Player | Service Game Win % | Matches | |
| 1 | Ivo Karlovic | 96% | 63 |
| 2 | Milos Raonic | 94% | 47 |
| 3 | John Isner | 93% | 68 |
| 4 | Roger Federer | 93% | 67 |
| 5 | Novak Djokovic | 90% | 82 |
On a more granular level, the percentage of points won on serve and against serve also supports the argument that good returning trumps great serving.
Six of the Top 7 players on the list of Points Won Returning Second Serve qualified for the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals: Novak Djokovic topped the list, winning 57 percent of all second-serve return points, followed by Andy Murray and David Ferrer on 56 percent, Tomas Berdych on 55 percent. Rafael Nadal and Kei Nishikori were tied for sixth with 53 percent.
Ferrer, Djokovic, Nadal, Murray and Federer also occupied the top five places on the list of Points Won Returning 1st Serves. In contrast, Federer and Berdych were the only London qualifiers among the year’s Top 10 list for Most Points Won On First Serve.
| Player | Points Won Returning 1st Serve | Matches | |
| 1 | David Ferrer | 35% | 66 |
| 2 | Novak Djokovic | 33% | 82 |
| 3 | Rafael Nadal | 33% | 76 |
| 4 | Andy Murray | 33% | 74 |
| 5 | Roger Federer | 33% | 67 |
The importance of winning points on second serves was a slightly different story. Novak Djokovic led that list with a 60% success rate. Roger Federer finished 3rd with 58 percent. Further back was Stan Wawrinka in eighth, Rafael Nadal in ninth and Tomas Berdych in 10th spot.
But success winning points returning second serves still proved to be even more important, with six of the top seven places on the list all being occupied by London qualifiers, led by Djokovic, who won 57 percent of points when returning second serves.
| Player | Points Won Returning 2nd Serve | Matches | |
| 1 | Novak Djokovic | 57% | 82 |
| 2 | Andy Murray | 56% | 74 |
| 3 | David Ferrer | 56% | 66 |
| 4 | Tomas Berdych | 55% | 76 |
| 5 | Gilles Simon | 55% | 63 |
| 6 | Rafael Nadal | 53% | 76 |
| 7 | Kei Nishikori | 53% | 63 |
Power thumped precision. Stan Wawrinka defeated Andy Murray 7-6(4), 6-4 at the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals on Friday night, primarily by pulverizing the ball with every single shot in the book.
Wawrinka punched his place into Saturday’s semi-final against Roger Federer with a stunning display of power tennis, especially sending a message at the start of the match with his ferocious groundstrokes.
After the first three games, Wawrinka’s average forehand speed was a high-octane 80 miles per hour (mph), 11 mph faster than Murray’s average of 69 mph. Wawrinka pole-axed everything he could lay his hands on, setting the evening’s terms of engagement without saying a word.
Wawrinka was also getting after his backhand as well, averaging a substantial 75 mph, to Murray’s 68 mph. Wawrinka’s power tennis created sensational winners, and the atmosphere of a heavy-weight fight at the packed O2 arena.
The crowd were instantly engaged with Wawrinka’s angry groundstrokes, and the place buzzed with electricity and massive applause for both players as they stared each other down with raw power.
Murray responded to the early onslaught by upping his speed, effectively matching Wawrinka blow-for-blow. After seven games, Murray had increased his average forehand speed from 69 mph to 74 mph, taking the sting out Wawrinka’s forehand, which dropped from an average of 80 mph to 75 mph.
Wawrinka broke for a 5-3 lead in the first set, but was broken right back, and skipped his racquet from around the baseline to his chair in disgust at not putting Murray away.
There are several key elements to Wawrinka’s stunning power, including coiling his upper body so well against his lower body, pure racket-head acceleration, exceptional balance, and a conviction to make the ball feel like it’s made out of lead when the opponent tries to hit it back.
Half way through the second set, Wawrinka increased the power level again to race to the finish line. His forehand speed had risen to 77 mph, while Murray’s had slightly dropped back to 71 mph.
Wawrinka found the most separation in speed going backhand-to-backhand, averaging 73 mph to Murray’s 65 mph at the half-way point of the second set.
Wawrinka hit 73 per cent of his backhands cross court for the match, landing 14 per cent in the service box, 28 per cent closer to the back half of the court between the service line and the baseline, and 58 per cent around mid-court, closer to the service line than the baseline.
With Wawrinka serving for the match at 5-4, he quickly fell behind 0/30, but a raking 95 mph cross court forehand was simply too big for Murray to handle, dumping it in net on full defence.
Wawrinka would escape a 15/40 hole at 5-4, and with the score at deuce, Murray destroyed his racket after Wawrinka put away an overhead to move to match point.
The pressure cooker that the power created simply boiled over, and Wawrinka would win the match a few points later when Murray a missed a cross court backhand wide. Overall, Wawrinka hit 27 winners to Murray’s 22, with raw power being the primary weapon of choice.
Wawrinka Serving
It was not a good day serving for the Swiss, only making a lowly 45 per cent of his first serves, but when they did go in, his accuracy close to the lines was impeccable.
Infosys Match Insights showed that Wawrinka hit 87 per cent of his first serves within two feet of the edge of the service box.
Serving in the deuce court, Wawrinka landed 10/10 in the two-foot target close to the center line, and 3/5 sliding out wide. In the Ad court, Wawrinka pin-pointed 9/10 down the middle close to the line, and 5/9 kicking out wide to Murray’s backhand.
Wawrinka has always been a player that does not necessarily make the most first serves, but wins a substantial amount (75 per cent against Murray) when they do go in.
Wawrinka won a very healthy 59 per cent of his second serves (Murray 48 per cent), again using pace as a key weapon. Wawrinka’s fastest second serve for the match was 111 mph, 14 mph faster than Murray’s 97 mph.
On the slow end of the scale on second serves, Wawrinka only dipped down to 90 mph, while Murray clocked a very pedestrian 77 mph.
Wawrinka’s power game will be on display this evening against Federer, and the same bruising tactics will surely be employed.
Craig O’Shannessy uses extensive tagging, metrics and formulas to uncover the patterns and percentages behind the game. Read more at www.braingametennis.com.