Serena Williams photographed by Annie Liebovitz for Pirelli: Looking great, Serena.

WTA 125K Roundup: Yanina Wickmayer took home the title at the inaugural Carlsbad Classic over the weekend, beating Nicole Gibbs, 6-3, 7-6(4). Wickmayer’s win capped off the WTA 125K Series season, which also crowned Caroline Garcia (Limoges), Timea Babos (Taipei), Yaroslava Shvedova (Hua Hin), Zheng Saisai (Dalian), and Jelena Jankovic (Nanchang).

Nicole Gibbs’ sobering season summary: This is some real talk:

Sam Stosur calls for patience: The Australian No.1 hopes Australia’s lack of numbers in the Top 100 is just an issue of timing.

Sania Mirza’s Olympic prospects: The World No.1 isn’t thinking about India’s mixed doubles prospects quite yet.

Maria Sharapova snags an elusive table: Sharapova spent her Thanksgiving with a behind the scenes tour at NOMA, the famous avant garde restaurant in Copenhagen, Denmark. That’s a tough ticket.

GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOL: Andrea Petkovic nails it during a German television appearance over the weekend:

Hitting the target like ⚽ pic.twitter.com/CYQGMZYCaP

— WTA Reactions (@WTAreactions) November 28, 2015

The Best Shots From The WTA Finals

November 02, 2015

Petra, Maria, Aga, Aga, Aga – the hot shots just kept coming at the WTA Finals in Singapore last week. Catch up on all of them in one video right here on wtatennis.com.

It is a shame that a season finale that promised so much turned out to be a bit of a damp squib for Elena Svitolina.

Having started knocking on the door to the Top 10 over the summer months, Svitolina entered the home stretch with an outside chance of joining the elite.

Unfortunately for the Ukrainian, it was not to be. A dip in form on the tour’s whistle-stop visit to Asia saw her chances fade, and then disappear with a one-sided defeat to fellow WTA Rising Star Karolina Pliskova in Zhuhai and an opening round exit at the WTA 125K Series event in Limoges.

This minor setback failed to take the shine off a campaign that saw her register 40 wins, a third WTA title and victories over two Top 10 members. In fact, worryingly for those ahead of her in the pecking order, she is hungrier than ever to take the next step up the tennis ladder.

“Of course this is my best season. I finished this season Top 20. I am happy,” Svitolina said after her loss to Pliskova. “Of course there are some things that I want to change not only in my game, but also in preparation.

“I think I need to work more physically to be stronger for the whole season and of course plan the tournaments smarter. There are some small details which matter if you are to play at such a high level. The small things are so important.”

In the quest to add further layers to her game, Svitolina has tweaked her support team. This weekend she started limbering up for the new season, registering a win for the Punjab Marshalls over Flavia Pennetta in the Champions Tennis League.

“I’m going to do a few weeks in Abu Dhabi for the off-season this year, just to prepare for the heat and open courts. Other than that, there are not really any changes. The same coach. I am having a new physical coach for next year with who I’m starting with this off season.”

While the changing of the guard at the top of the game may still be a few years off, there is no denying that Svitolina is one of a growing band of young players – five of the Top 20 are currently 23 or younger – challenging the established order. And the 21-year-old believes that the healthy completion that exists amongst her peers is driving them all to new heights.

“There are many upcoming players, and everyone I think, in my opinion, has something special in their game. That’s why there is all the time a small competition between us.” she said when asked about the generational rivalry on tour. “That keeps us going and keeps us pushing for better results.”

Celebrating with a team!! ?#CTL2015 @punjabmarshalls @marcosbaghdatis @GregRusedski1 @MyneniSaketh pic.twitter.com/cAYDBdgHL8

— Elina Svitolina (@ElinaSvitolina) November 28, 2015

“Just try,” urges Flavia Pennetta. “Sometimes you know you are not one hundred percent, you are just four percent, so you have to play with that. You don’t have a lot of chance there. So at least you can try. Just stay there and play every point, you never know.”

The Italian has left behind the struggles of the pro tour, but the competitor in her still comes brimming to the surface. The hazel eyes glinting in the midday sun that filters into the café of the luxury hotel in Mumbai. She is here for the Champions Tennis League; an opportunity for a lap of honor in this part of the world before she finally bows out. She sports a plain grey tracksuit and a friendly smile, nothing to announce that we have a Grand Slam champion in our midst. Her tanned face though speaking of contentment; contentment at bringing her career to a logical end.

After 49 attempts, Pennetta won a Grand Slam trophy at this year’s US Open. At the age of 33, she was the oldest first-time winner of a major in women’s tennis history.

“Every player wants to win a Grand Slam, but the truth is few people do,” she says.

“It was something that was my dream but I never thought it could be a reality. It came at a moment when I was expecting nothing. This was the key. Because when you expect a lot, it doesn’t happen. You put so much pressure on yourself, it doesn’t work. But we are human, this is how we think. We hope and we prepare and we want it.”

There were times, she admits, when it was difficult to do all those things. At 18, in the year she turned pro, she was diagnosed with typhus, a bacterial disease. In 2006, she had to undergo wrist surgery. Almost the whole of 2007 was spent recovering from not just the wrist injury but a broken heart. In 2012 another wrist injury kept her out of the game for nine months.

“That year [2007] was the worst year,” she recalls. “Wrist, love everything together. I thought everything was over. But then I find something inside me that I never knew I had and started over from nothing.” She was angry after her relationship with fellow tennis player Carlos Moya had ended in difficult circumstances.

“But the human being can get used to everything. Even when you are upset, you have to stay on the road,” she says with the same degree of poise she displayed on the tennis court.

“I had a love problem, everyone has it. Tennis was really important for me at that time. It was my way to not think about him. So I have to thank him for what he did. Maybe my life would have been completely different. After so many years, I have to say thanks to Carlos for everything. If it wasn’t for that, maybe I wouldn’t have been here, wouldn’t have been a Grand Slam champion. Everything happens for a reason.”

Pennetta showed up every day, for training and on the court. She broke into the top 10 in 2009. She led Italy to Fed Cup victories in 2009 and 2010. By 2011 she had become an accomplished doubles player, topping the rankings and winning the Australian Open with Argentina’s Gisela Dulko.

She was regularly making it to the second week of Grand Slams in singles, too, the dogged Italian forever lingering but not quite conquering.

“Was not easy,” she says.

“Tennis is a sport that you can play every week. The season is so long, so you cannot pretend to be a 100 percent every time. There are times when you are going down for sure. But I always try to give everything on court, be positive. Sometimes I was also depressed. But you get depressed because you feel alone. When you are winning it is easy, but when you start to lose and you go back in your room and your family is away, you feel alone.

“But I had a good team – that is very important. They are my coaches, trainers, physios, but they are also my friends. It is also strange on the women’s tour to have people that you love for a long time, because women change [support staff] a lot. We try to find a solution to the problem in others. Sometimes the problem is just us. It’s not the racquet, the ball, the umpire, it’s just you.”

After making yet another comeback in 2013 and slugging it out in 2014 the doubts began to creep in. She turned 33 this February and could feel the fire dulling. The decision to make 2015 her last in tennis was gathering momentum.

“What led me to the decision was that I didn’t want to compete every week, be so angry on the court every week. If you don’t do that, you have lost your passion. So why do it?” She had also found stability in her personal life, entering into a steady relationship with fellow Italian player Fabio Fognini.

Even with retirement on the horizon Pennetta refused to put any extra pressure on herself. Having flown under the radar most of her career, she would have been happy to walk into the sunset without the crowning glory of a major.

But the universe was conspiring for her. The US Open was her favorite Grand Slam event; she had made four quarterfinals and a semifinal in New York before. In the madness of the city, even on one-hour long drives from hotel to the stadium, she found a calmness that she strived for in other places. She kept going deeper into the tournament, defeating Simona Halep to reach her first final. In the other semifinal, Roberta Vinci eliminated world No.1 Serena Williams. An all-Italian clash was on, in the first time in history, and Pennetta was the favorite.

“I told my coach on the morning of the finals, no matter win or lose I am going to say that it is going to be my final Grand Slam.” It was also her best.
Pennetta didn’t know. She didn’t expect.

But she was there playing that last point in the last Grand Slam of the year, the last Grand Slam she would ever play. And commanding it. She smacked a forehand for winner, completing a 7-6 (4), 6-2 victory over her good friend Vinci. After 16 years on the tour, after 16 years of just trying, Pennetta had finally cracked the Grand Slam code.

“Why? How? I don’t know,” she says. “Maybe because you deserve it. Because you have been working so hard and it just happens. You are also lucky, but when you are, you also have to be ready to use that luck.”

Pennetta had seized the day. The good girl had finished great.