St. Petersburg: Venus Williams' Practice Session
Watch Venus Williams’ practice session on Day 3 of the St. Petersburg Ladies Trophy.
Watch Venus Williams’ practice session on Day 3 of the St. Petersburg Ladies Trophy.
LONDON, Great Britain – Francesca Schiavone has already struck gold in Rio de Janeiro in 2016, winning her seventh career title in the year’s first clay event at the Rio Open back in February. Despite dipping out of the Top 100, the former French Open champion was still expected to return to Brazil for the Olympic Games with a wildcard typically reserved for Grand Slam champions.
However, earlier today the Italian announced via her Facebook page that she won’t be wearing the Azzurri in Rio this year, deciding instead to give up the wildcard.
Here’s Schiavone’s statement, translated to English:
“Here at Wimbledon I have received notice of the wild card for the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio. It is news that has made me happy. However, I made a decision not to accept it because at this stage of my life, with the important decisions that are in front of me about the development of my career, I need to focus and prioritize my personal projects. This is why I won’t be in Rio. A choice that cost me but I’m proud to have worn the blue jersey in three editions of the Games. In August I will be in front of the television to cheer on all the Azzurri.“
The WTA veteran has been a fixture at the Olympics for the past 12 years, competing in the past three editions of the Games. Her best result came in the form of a run to the quarterfinals in Athens back in 2004. In the 2008 Games in Beijing she reached the third round while in 2012, when the Olympic tennis event was held at the All England Club, she made the second round.
Schiavone’s decision to give up her wildcard means that another spot has opened up for a player seeking to head to Brazil later this summer. In the meantime, click here to find out who has already qualified for Rio 2016.
The Australian Open started and ended with Serena Williams, who not only won her seventh Australian Open title and returned to World No.1, but also won her 23rd Grand Slam title – breaking the Open Era record she’d heretofore shared with Stefanie Graf.
“It’s such a great feeling to have 23,” she said after defeating sister Venus Williams in the final. “It really feels great. I’ve been chasing it for a really long time. It feels like a really long time. When it got on my radar, I knew I had an opportunity to get there, and I’m here. I’m here.
“It’s a great feeling. No better place to do it than Melbourne.”
After tying Graf at Wimbledon, No.23 certainly got on her radar and was in imperious form Down Under, winning the title without losing a set through seven matches.
“My first Grand Slam started here, and getting to 23 here, but playing Venus, it’s stuff that legends are made of. I couldn’t have written a better story.
“I just feel like it was the right moment. Everything kind of happened. It hasn’t quite set in yet, but it’s really good.”
The legend lives on for Serena, and it certainly helped her earn her the mantle of January’s WTA Player of the Month!
Final Results for January’s WTA Player Of The Month
1. Serena Williams (46%)
2. Venus Williams (42%)
3. Johanna Konta (8%)
4. Karolina Pliskova (4%)
2016 WTA Player of the Month Winners
January: Angelique Kerber
February: Carla Suárez Navarro
March: Victoria Azarenka
April: Angelique Kerber
May: Garbiñe Muguruza
June: Serena Williams
July: Simona Halep
August: Monica Puig
September: Petra Kvitova
October: Dominika Cibulkova
How it works:
Finalists are selected by wtatennis.com
Winner is then determined by a fan vote on wtatennis.com
Simona Halep was forced to withdraw from her St. Petersburg Ladies Trophy quarterfinal with Natalia Vikhlyantseva, citing a recurrance of the left knee pain suffered in Australia.
Angelique Kerber moved confidently into the Wimbledon quarterfinals with a 6-3, 6-1 victory over Misaki Doi on Monday.
Kristina Mladenovic had Saturday’s shot of the day at the St. Petersburg Ladies Trophy.
No.5 seed Simona Halep overcame defeat in a tense first set tie-break to end No.9 seed Madison Keys’ eight match winning streak on grass to reach the last eight at Wimbledon.
Peng Shuai talks through her win over Lucie Safarova in the semifinals of the Taiwan Open.
An interview with Yulia Putintseva after her loss in the final of the St. Petersburg Ladies Trophy.
LONDON, England – Tuesday afternoon at the All England Club saw the WTA’s finest take center stage. The on-court entertainment did not disappoint, and neither did the press conferences afterwards.
Serena Williams downplays her peerless serve…
“My serve is usually really good. I don’t know how it came about, though. Like, I’m not as tall as all the other players. So it’s strange that I have such a strong, hard serve.
“But I have to say what I think really is my game is my mental toughness because just not only to be able to play, to win, but to be able to come back when I’m down. Both on the court and after tough losses, just to continue to come back and continue to fight, it’s something that takes a lot of tenacity.”
Elena Vesnina on hatching a plan to topple the World No.1…
“First of all, you need to be consistent with Serena. You don’t need to give her a lot of free points. You have to be very, very strong mentally, and, as I said, put pressure on her on the baseline, to show her you can actually beat her.
“I was watching her final against Angelique in Australian Open on the court. It was great atmosphere over there. I saw how Angelique, she was sticking into her game from the first till the last. She was not giving up. Yeah, maybe Serena didn’t play her best tennis, and that was the key, and Angelique used her chances on that moment. Maybe that’s going to be the key for me as well.”
Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova reflects on her first quarterfinal at Wimbledon…
“I’ve always been saying that I’ve never liked grass and I’ve always been quite negative in terms of grass and playing at Wimbledon. But I think right now I’ll change my mind!”
Venus Williams on her journey back to a Grand Slam semifinal…
“The road was six years. They go by fast, thankfully. But I’ve been blessed. Been really blessed to have an opportunity to be here, had an opportunity in the past to do this. And I don’t have any regrets about anything that has taken place in between. It’s been a journey, but it’s something I’ve had to do and it’s made me stronger.
“The good part is I’ve always felt like I had the game. So this is always a plus when you know you have the game. So you just have to keep working until things fall into place. It’s never a given, everyone plays well. I mean today, she played so well and there were so many times where we were just dead even it felt like. It’s never a given. She could have easily won that match as well. So just grateful.”
Angelique Kerber on her recreating her Melbourne magic…
“When I arrived in Paris, I was feeling much more pressure. I did it actually by myself, to put a lot of pressure on me. Also, I was not handling all the off court things so well. It was too much of everything, I think.
“When I arrived here, I was telling myself, just like in Australia, Just be relaxed, playing round by round, not making things actually too much complicated, not putting pressure on myself.
So that was actually what I changed, what I learn also from Paris. Just being also focusing on the tennis thing, on my practice, being more relaxed.”