Tennis News

NEW YORK, NY, USA – Naomi Osaka scored a huge win on her US Open main draw debut, and she was powered to victory by a little bit of Lemonade.

Up against the No.28 seed CoCo Vandeweghe in a match dubbed by the WTA Insider team as a must-see opening round contest, Osaka had to recover quickly after dropping the first set in a tie-breaker. She rallied for a 6-7(4), 6-3, 6-3 upset over the big-hitting American.

“You wouldn’t want to know what I was thinking,” Osaka said, when asked what was going through her head after losing the first set in a tiebreak to Vandeweghe. “I shouldn’t really repeat what I was thinking. But basically just try to focus more because I had moments in the tiebreaker and I hit some very bad shots.”

Osaka finished 2015 ranked No.203, and her consistency has skyrocketed her up the rankings to enter the US Open with a career high of No.81. She’s been boosted by strong Grand Slam results, too, reaching the third round at her Australian Open and French Open debuts this year.

So what was the key to last night’s comeback victory?

“I don’t know,” she laughed. “I just relaxed and started singing Beyoncé in my head. It’s the [song] where she’s very upset. It’s the one where she’s wearing the Yeezy clothes and cursing into the camera. That one.”

“You just gotta let it be, let it be, let it be, let it be, let it be baby.”

With the win, Osaka advances to the second round where she will face a qualifier Duan Ying-Ying of China.

And while Osaka was singing Beyoncé en route to victory, she wasn’t the only one feeling inspired by the pop icon.

This past weekend, World No.1 Serena Williams took to the stage at the MTV VMAs to present none other than Beyoncé herself.

Serena, who was featured in the singer’s visual album Lemonade, introduced her good friend and fellow tennis fan before the pop star tore up the stage in what was arguably the performance of the night.

When you see your girl at the @vmas killing it and looking ?? @serenawilliams pic.twitter.com/Ugw9OdmLnQ

— Caroline Wozniacki (@CaroWozniacki) August 29, 2016

??? queen Serene!!

— Nicole Gibbs (@Gibbsyyyy) August 29, 2016

You should be focused on the US Open! Oh no wait, you're Serena ? #VMAs pic.twitter.com/B0jIZhKWHb

— Genie Bouchard (@geniebouchard) August 29, 2016

#shhhh Beyoncé and Serena are on ?? https://t.co/Y3yVPV7ShS

— CoCo Vandeweghe (@CoCoVandey) August 29, 2016

And then the next day, Osaka – big fan of Serena and Beyoncé – sang the same songs on her way to the US Open second round.

Sometimes things really do come full circle.

.@WTA New kid on the block Naomi Osaka takes a quick selfie with @serenawilliams @BOTWClassic #wta pic.twitter.com/DfriomFvDy

— Kevin Fischer (@Kfish_WTA) July 30, 2014

MIAMI, FL, USA – Down match point in the decider, Yaroslava Shvedova produced some of her best tennis to defeat 2008 runner-up Jelena Jankovic in the first round of the Miami Open on Wednesday, 4-6, 6-4, 7-6(3).

“It was an amazing match, a battle there on-court,” Shvedova told WTA Insider after the match. “Jelena is a great opponent, a tough opponent, and I’m happy I could manage to play well, relax and enjoy it, which I was missing a little bit for the beginning of the year.”

Snapping a seven-match skid that dated back to the quarterfinals of the China Open in Beijing last fall, Shvedova scored a victory in the matchup for the second time, and now both of her career victories against Jankovic have come in final set tiebreaks; the lone win for Shvedova in the pair’s previous five matches came 6-3, 6-7(4), 7-6(6) in the second round of the 2009 US Open.

Great return! @Jelena_Jankovic sneaks the first set 6-4! #MiamiOpen pic.twitter.com/FQDmN1Bimq

— WTA (@WTA) March 22, 2017

In addition, the Kazakh handed the Serb her fourth straight defeat in the first round after Jankovic reached the semifinals in 2013. While the two hadn’t played since 2012 prior to Wednesday’s match, a tough battle was to be expected — the match was the fifth three-set affair between the two players as well.

“She’s a fighter and it’s always been tough to play against her,” Shvedova said. “I was talking with my coach after the match and he reminded me [of their three-setters]. Somehow, our games match-up and it’s not easy to finish quickly!”

In an opening set that went with serve for the first nine games, each player only carved out one break point opportunity and proved particularly successful behind their first deliveries — both won over 70 percent of the points played behind them in the set. However, Jankovic’s second break point chance in the set proved to be vital, as she rifled a backhand return winner down the line to seal the opener in 43 minutes.

The second set was nearly identical in both score and minutes played, but the path to pocketing the set proved different for the Kazakh. Shvedova hit back well in the second, winning over 40 percent of points on return and break twice to wrap up the middle set by an identical 6-4 score and send proceedings to a decider.

.@SlavaSays saves a match point to edge Jankovic 4-6, 6-4, 7-6(3)!

Advances to @MiamiOpen Second round! pic.twitter.com/Bx87UD9el7

— WTA (@WTA) March 22, 2017

With Jankovic ahead 3-2 in the final set, the pair rattled off four straight breaks of serve, the last coming as Shvedova broke the Jankovic delivery to 15 as she served for the match. Facing match point at 30-40, Shvedova reeled off the next three and rifled a forehand winner past Jankovic to knot the set at 5-5.

Trailing by a mini-break in the tiebreak, Shvedova rallied to knot the action at 3-3 before winning the next four points to score the come-from-behind win.

Looking to build on her first win of the year in March, Shvedova advances to face No. 17 seed Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova in the second round, against whom she is 2-3 overall.

“My preparation was not good because I got injured in the off-season and I couldn’t practice that well,” Shvedova said about her start to 2017. “I couldn’t get my feeling, my game, my confidence, everything — and I was just going to tournaments trying to get it. It was not easy sometimes, unlucky — now I’ve had some time to rest and relax and clear my mind, [and] I can start to go up from the bottom.”

NEW YORK, NY, USA – With 186 straight weeks at the top, World No.1 Serena Williams is sure to have a few recovery tricks up her long Nike sleeves. In her post-match press conference after her straight sets win over Ekaterina Makarova, Williams revealed that she’s a believer in cupping therapy.

Cupping, an ancient therapeutic modality used to promote healing and recovery, came into the spotlight recently during the Rio Olympics after American swimmer Michael Phelps was seen winning gold medals with dark red circles across his shoulders and back.

According to WTA Sports Science & Medicine team member Kathy Queen: “In cupping, a cup is placed on the skin and a vacuum is created, using a flame or mechanical device, that lifts the skin and immediate layers underneath, including fascia. This allows for an increased flow of fresh blood and fluid in the area and, if moved along the body’s surface (called “sliding”), helps break up fascial adhesions. The temporary bruising created from the vacuum effect also plays an anti-inflammatory role.

“Athletes often feel immediate relief after treatment and increased range of motion and flexibility.”

But while Phelps used the therapeutic suction as a method for recovery, Williams has been using it for relaxation.

“I’ve always done that. I didn’t know it was something for recovery,” Williams said. “If I go to my lady in Palm Beach, it’s part of acupuncture.

“I love getting it, it makes me relax. I was like, Wow, you can do that for recovery?”

So what exactly does cupping feel like?

“It feels like a suction. It feels like an octopus, although I don’t know what an octopus feels like,” Williams tried to explain to press. “I think I snapped once a while back. It looks weird, the cupping. Yeah, I always do it, but I just did it for fun, so…

“But, yeah, so it just feels like it’s suctioning and it just feels good.”

NEW YORK, NY, USA – This season has provided plenty of ups and downs for World No.5 Simona Halep. To coin an overused sports-writing cliché, it could even be described as a roller coaster.

Over the coming fortnight in Flushing Meadows, Halep hopes to scale the highest peak by lifting her maiden Grand Slam title. Her next obstacle comes in the shape of former Roland Garros finalist Lucie Safarova, but before then the Romanian took a break from the tennis talk to discuss a recent trip to Cincinnati’s Kings Island theme park with the US Open press corps…

“[In]Cincinnati. I tried a roller coaster. First time in my life and never again!

“I felt that I’m dying. Darren [Cahill] said he was going on all the machines, and I said I’m not going to do that. But he said it was a white one, and I didn’t see completely. Like I just saw the end, and the end was straight. He said, Come on. It’s pretty easy. It’s the lightest one.

“I said about what is that? He said, just the speed, but straight. I said, Oh, I love speed, so I can go. When I went there and that machine was going down, I felt that I’m dying. I said, Darren, never again. He was laughing when I said. It was tough, but it was nice. Good experience.”

So how did Halep respond to her white-knuckle experience?

“I did nothing. I didn’t say anything. I couldn’t breathe. No, I didn’t scream.”

NEW YORK, NY, USA – No.5 seed Simona Halep moved safely into the third round of the US Open with a straight set win over Lucie Safarova .

In the first ever women’s match under Arthur Ashe’s new roof, Halep recovered from a break down in the second set to complete a 6-3, 6-4 victory.

“It was not an easy match. It was difficult. At one point I lost the rhythm a little bit because she’s left handed, not easy to play against,” Halep said. “I knew that she’s very tough. She’s fighting till the end.

“I played many times against her, and all the matches were very close. So I expected that. I’m not the happiest with my game today, but I’m really – you know, I have the good mood that I could win the match in two sets and I could finish in the important moments.”

Since the start of the summer, Halep has lost only to Angelique Kerber, winning 19 matches and two titles during this period. Her latest triumph was by no means a formality, however, Safarova’s inability to convert the odd purple patch into scoreboard dominance ultimately proved costly. 

Halep overcame the frustration of surrendering an early lead by reeling off three games on the trot, pocketing a see-saw opening set with a brilliant backhand winner. Her joy did not last long, the Romanian soon finding herself in something of a hole in the second set.

Yet with Safarova looking well placed to force a deciding set her hitherto secure groundstrokes went walkabout, a trio of unforced errors handing back the break in the sixth game. This swung the momentum irretrievably away from the Czech, who erred again when serving to stay in the match, her fifth double fault of the afternoon sending Halep through.

While Halep was unable to replicate her flawless first-round display against Kirsten Flipkens, offsetting her nine winners with 20 unforced errors, she will be pleased to have dodged a potential banana skin on her journey through the Flushing Meadows draw. A semifinalist 12 months ago, Halep will continue her bid for a maiden Grand Slam title against Timea Babos after she saw off Richel Hogenkamp, 6-2, 6-4.

A W for @Simona_Halep ✔️ First Women's match under the roof ✔️ #usopen @MBUSA https://t.co/rvZoLYkmyN

— US Open Tennis (@usopen) September 1, 2016