Former British pro Barry Cowan previews the winner-take-all clash between Stan Wawrinka and Andy Murray on Friday night at the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals.
require([“modules/global/rolexAd”], function(RolexAd) return new RolexAd( analytics: gaCategory: “Outbound”, gaCategoryInner: “Rolex Clock”, gaClickAction: “Click”, gaToggleAction: “Toggle”, ); );
– The art of the interview: Great piece by Rohit Brijnath on what it’s like to interview the greats of the game, with anecdotes about Maria Sharapova and Roger Federer.
– The World According to Beezus: A candid interview with Barbora Strycova over at The Tennis Island.
“Yeah, I mean, I am emotional and I’m like this on and off the court,” she said. “This is also one thing I’m working at with my mental coach. You can show your emotions and…” – at this point, she paused shortly, then deadpanned – “I feel like people love me or hate me; there is no in-between.”
– New WTA Insider Podcast: On this week’s episode, hear from Petra Kvitova’s long-time coach David Kotyza and learn more about what makes the two-time Wimbledon champ tick.
– CooCoo for CoCo: CoCo Vandeweghe is raising money for the Women’s Sports Foundation’s Travel and Training fund. Read more it and donate here.
– Samantha Crawford sneaks out the Australian Open wildcard: The 20-year-old American came out of nowhere to win the 50K ITF in Scottsdale, Arizona to win her first pro title and secure a main draw wildcard into the Australian Open in January. On the Rise tennis blog has a great write-up of Crawford’s ability to snag these wildcards at the last possible chance.
– Irina Falconi honored in Ecuador: The American was honored in her hometown of Portoviejo, Ecuador last week. “It was truly an honor to be recognized by my birth city of Portoviejo, Ecuador, and I am extremely humbled by the warm reception of the people and authorities in this beautiful town. I felt very welcomed, and Portoviejo will always stay close to my heart.”
– Czech Dynasty: WTA Backspin recaps the Fed Cup weekend.
– Ump Chat: An interview with chair umpire Marijana Veljovic.
– Million Dollar Kiki: Kristina Mladenovic met Hilary Swank on the court.
Nice meeting @HilarySwank on tennis courts! pic.twitter.com/YjizL7n3al
— Kristina Mladenovic (@KikiMladenovic) November 17, 2015
– Walk in Garbi’s shoes: Garbiñe Muguruza is auctioning off her Wimbledon shoes for charity.
Watch Hot Shot as Stan Wawrinka desperately tries to stay alive in the point against Andy Murray. Watch live tennis at tennistv.com.
During a visit to the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals as winner of the Tecnifibre Young Guns Contest, Denis Kudla enjoys a unique view of London as he climbs over The O2.
require([“modules/global/rolexAd”], function(RolexAd) return new RolexAd( analytics: gaCategory: “Outbound”, gaCategoryInner: “Rolex Clock”, gaClickAction: “Click”, gaToggleAction: “Toggle”, ); );
Watch Hot Shot as Stan Wawrinka strikes a perfect one-hander. Watch live tennis at tennistv.com.
Who’s the better dancer and who’s the better dresser? Find out as Jean-Julien Rojer and Horia Tecau ask each other the important questions.
On Episode 7 we look back on the Fed Cup final, which saw the Czech Republic win the title for the fourth time in five years, this time beating a Russian team led valiantly by World No.4 Maria Sharapova. And we’ll look at the nominees for the 2015 WTA Awards, which were just announced on Monday.
In the final segment you’ll hear from David Kotyza, long-time coach to two-time Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova. Courtney sat down with Kotyza during the WTA Finals in Singapore to discuss the evolution of his relationship with Kvitova, whom he’s coached since she was 18. What was meant to be just a quick five-minute quote grab turned into a 30-minute conversation about Kvitova’s struggle to adjust to the “WTA Zoo”, how her sudden decision to step away from the tour earlier this season came about, and how Kotyza has put his job on the line multiple times for the good of his charge. It’s a conversation you won’t want to miss.
To read more about Kotyza and Kvitova’s journey together, click here.
For a long time, Melbourne Park was something of a home away from home for Serena Williams. Between 2003 and 2010, the American won 41 of 43 matches at the calendar’s opening major, picking up five titles along the way.
However, in recent years, success has proven harder to come by Down Under; early season rustiness, injuries and inspired opponents scuppering the World No.1’s chances.
And preparations for 2015’s title tilt were far from ideal. She eschewed her usual tune-up event in Brisbane in favor of the Hopman Cup, where she looked out of sorts in losing two of her three singles outings.
In her absence, several rivals profited, Maria Sharapova (Brisbane), Simona Halep (Shenzhen), Venus Williams (Auckland) and Petra Kvitova (Sydney) all lifting silverware.
The early rounds in Melbourne produced some eyebrow-raising exits, most notably Ana Ivanovic, who was bundled out by the unheralded Lucie Hradecka. Williams flirted with the idea of joining her on the casualty list, trailing by a set against her third and fourth round foes, Elina Svitolina and Garbiñe Muguruza.
If this was Williams’ wake-up call, then she certainly heeded it, producing some scintillating tennis in swatting aside Dominika Cibulkova and Madison Keys to return to the final once more.
Meeting her there was old rival Sharapova, whose destructive game proved no less dominant in her own semifinal against Ekaterina Makarova. The final, though, was a bridge too far, Williams overcoming some rocky moments to prevail in an encounter of the highest quality.
She was not the only player to enjoy a fruitful start to the season. Elsewhere, Halep recovered from her Australian Open setback to come through a strong field in Dubai, while Lucie Safarova hinted at what was to come with victory in Doha.
Elsewhere the prizes continued to be shared around, with faces old and new picking up silverware across the globe, including Daniela Hantuchova (Pattaya City), Timea Bacsinszky (Acapulco & Monterrey) and Caroline Wozniacki (Kuala Lumpur).
As the tour moved stateside, it was Halep once again in the winner’s circle, hoisting aloft the biggest trophy of her career to date in Indian Wells. In Miami, Williams returned to center stage, swatting aside Carla Suárez Navarro to defend her title and end the season’s opening chapter in style.
The finalists for the 2015 WTA Comeback Player 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 Comeback Player Of The Year Finalists
Venus Williams: Venus Williams could be forgiven for tapering down her schedule, picking and choosing her outings on tour. Instead, the seven-time major winner, now in her mid-30s, has just enjoyed her busiest – and most successful – season in years. Williams began it with victory in Auckland and then defeat to Madison Keys in a barnstorming Australian Open quarterfinal. There was no slowing down as the year wore on, the American repelling the challenge of a number of the game’s bright young things en route to further titles in Wuhan and Zhuhai, helping her to rejoin sister Serena in the Top 10 once again.
Bethanie Mattek-Sands: Bethanie Mattek-Sands had a lot of catching up to do at the start of 2015. Ranked outside the Top 250 in both singles and doubles following hip surgery the previous March, the American provided a reminder of her swashbuckling all-court game with a third round run at the Australian Open. She did even better in the doubles, her impromptu partnership alongside Lucie Safarova coming away with the title. There was plenty more success to come – in both formats – credible runs at Wimbledon and the US Open, as well as four more titles alongside Safarova, sending her shooting up the rankings.
Anastasija Sevastova: In 2013, long battles with illness and injury had taken their toll on Anastasija Sevastova, forcing her to walk away from tennis. However, this January she returned to the fold in spectacular fashion, winning her first 13 matches, picking up two ITF Circuit titles in the process. The wins kept coming as the tour headed onto the clay and by the summer she was ready to make her WTA bow, qualifying for Bad Gastein before reaching the semifinals one week later in Florianopolis. This rehabilitation continued in her final WTA outing of the year, the Kremlin Cup, where she made it through qualifying, going on to upset Karolina Pliskova en route to another quarterfinal.
Kateryna Bondarenko: Mothers on tour are few and far between, and Kateryna Bondarenko added to their number last year when she returned to the WTA following the birth of her first child. After finding success hard to come by at first, the Ukrainian began to get into the swing of things this summer, appearing in a WTA quarterfinal (Istanbul) and Grand Slam main draw (US Open) for the first time since rejoining the professional ranks. These performances, which included a win over Venus Williams in Turkey, took the Ukrainian back into the Top 100 – a position she last occupied in August 2012.
WTA Comeback Player of the Year Winners
2014: Mirjana Lucic-Baroni
2013: Alisa Kleybanova
2012: Yaroslava Shvedova
2011: Sabine Lisicki
2010: Justine Henin
2009: Kim Clijsters
2008: Zheng Jie
2007: Lindsay Davenport
2006: Martina Hingis
2005: Kim Clijsters
Click here to see all the WTA Comeback Player of the Year Winners
How it works:
Finalists are selected by wtatennis.com
Comeback Player of the Year criteria includes a player whose ranking previously dropped due to injury or personal reasons and current season’s results helped restore ranking
Winner is then determined by a media vote with a fan vote counting as one media vote
PRAGUE, Czech Republic – Not everyone can win every week. That is impossible. But sometimes, when you are trying as hard as you can, eventually you will turn the page.
That is exactly what occurred for Karolina Pliskova on Sunday, as she won twice to help the Czech Republic defeat Russia 3-2 and win the Fed Cup final in Prague.
The 23-year-old Pliskova has had a fine year, ending the season ranked No.11. She reached the final of Sydney and Dubai on hardcourts. She won a tournament in Prague on clay in April. She reached the final at Birmingham on grass and on hardcourt on Stanford in early July.
But after that, the huge-serving Pliskova slid a little bit, until two weeks ago, when she decided that she was going to give it her all before the season ended. She reached the final against Venus Williams at the WTA Elite Trophy Zhuhai in a very close contest. When she arrived at Prague, she was ready.
“The year was great but there was some ups and downs,” Pliskova told wtatennis.com. “The season is long so it cannot just be up the whole year. I was a little bit tired at the end of the year. The last two weeks of this year I did everything I could to make it good and to have a good end.
“I know if I’m ready and fit and mentally ready for matches I can play good and beat anyone, but it cannot be the whole year. I’m just happy about the last two weeks of my season. This end is unbelievable.”
On Saturday, Pliskova fell against Maria Sharapova in two tight sets. Her teammate Petra Kvitova had defeated Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova in three sets. They were tied 1-1, but they all knew that either team had a legitimate chance to win the title.
Sharapova, who was thrilled to be playing the Fed Cup final for the first time, lit up the court when she was against the wall and upended Kvitova, who had just defeated the five-time Grand Slam champion a week ago in the semifinals of the WTA Finals in Singapore.
Russia was up 2-1 and the pressure was squarely on Pliskova as she stepped on court against Pavlyuchenkova. She had never played singles before this week at the O2 Arena, where 10,800 fans were cheering her but were extremely tense.
On Sunday, Pliskova got up and was not thrilled that she went down against Sharapova, but she knew she could triumph if she stayed in there and lifted her game.
“She was competitive against Maria but she was unhappy she lost to her – and that was a good sign because she went out to win it, and she didn’t,” said her captain Petr Pala. “But she was out there in front of big stars for the first time. It helped her. [On Sunday,] we felt she was the best player. She became confident and once she did, she wasn’t afraid.”
This time, Pliskova kept breathing, she relaxed, and she was self-assured. She nailed her massive first serve and forehand. She never wavered and took down Pavlyuchenkova in straight sets.
But now she had to step up again. Another Czech, Lucie Safarova, was unable to play this weekend due to a wrist injury. Safarova had reached the Roland Garros final in singles, and she won two doubles crowns at the majors with her friend Bethanie Mattek-Sands, the 2015 Australian Open and the French Open.
It was more than likely that Safarova would have played the Fed Cup doubles if not injured, but she couldn’t, so Pliskova went back on court. She and Barbora Strycova would face Pavlyuchenkova and Elena Vesnina, an excellent doubles player who reached finals at Indian Wells, Miami and Wimbledon. The Russians could have been seen as favored.
But there was Pliskova. She and the quick Strycova lost in the first set and the Russians looked very good and directed. Then Pliskova rose again, loong extremely patient and smart. The young player was very confident and didn’t back off. They won the crown, they jumped up and down and they had a fourth title in the last five years.
Three years ago, Safarova won both matches and sealed it, with the Czechs beating Serbia for the title in Prague.
Last year once again Prague, Kvitova won both matches, taking down over Germany and wildly celebrating.
This time, it was Pliskova’s turn.
It might have been an up and down year, but it finished on a high note. Next year, with this victory as inspiration, she could keep climbing.
“I can go a little bit higher but it depends on the results and the start of the year,” she said. “If I’m playing good I can win those bigger matches and go far in the tournament but sometimes it’s not happening. I will prepare good this year and hopefully be ready for the next year.”
She then smiled: “No reason to be sad right now.”