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Bellis Announces Plans To Turn Pro

  • Posted: Jan 01, 1970

Fresh off her run to the third round of the US Open, Catherine Bellis announced plans to turn professional. The former junior No.1 tweeted the news on Tuesday after her first round win over Amandine Hesse at the Coupe Banque Nationale.

“I think it was really just my whole summer, the WTA tournaments I played in, and obviously the US Open was a big thing for me,” Bellis told WTA Insider. “I just think I’m really confident in my tennis and confident that I’m able to compete at the WTA level consistently now.

Bellis had previously announced her committment to play college tennis at Stanford University, but has been tagged as one to watch since she was 14 years old.

“I think I can always go to college after my tennis I think I can still go to college afterwards, so it wasn’t a big deal for me giving it up now because I can always go later. Also I love tennis so much. I want to be doing it for a really long time and I think my game and my body is ready for it now.”

She first broke onto the scene in 2014 when she became the youngest woman to win a match at the US Open since 1996, upsetting Dominika Cibulkova to reach the second round. The 17-year-old has since played the likes of Serena Williams at the Miami Open and Venus Williams at the Bank of the West Classic. Check out an interview with Bellis during that Stanford run on the WTA Insider Podcast:

“A couple of years ago when I had that US Open run, even in the last couple of years I’ve worked on my fitness and my strength so much, just for that reason, so I could compete consistently. I’m not getting tired in these tournaments anymore, I’m not getting tired during matches, so it’s great.

“I think I’m pretty much done growing and the huge fitness kick has helped me a lot.”

At this year’s US Open, Bellis qualified for the main draw and reached the third round at a major tournament for the first time in her career. After defeating Vikotrija Golubic and Shelby Rogers en route, she fell to eventual champion Angelique Kerber under the lights on Arthur Ashe Stadium.

“I think next year it will really start to change the most because the age restriction rule will be gone for me. That will be the biggest change. But I think the next couple of months, depending on how Québec City goes, I’ll probably go back to Boca and train a little bit and then play a couple of Pro Cicuits, though I’m not sure about that yet, and then I’m playing a 125K in Hawaii in November.”

Signing with IMG, Bellis is ranked just outside the Top 100 and will play qualifier Danielle Lao for a spot in the quarterfinals in Québec on Wednesday.

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Naomi Osaka Takes Twitter By Storm

  • Posted: Jan 01, 1970

Naomi Osaka is back home in Japan and into the second round of the Japan Women’s Open Tennis, and the 18-year-old celebrated in the best way: by joining Twitter.

 Naomi famously quoted the Pokémon theme song to a room full of confused journalists earlier in the year, and she kept to the theme on Twitter, bringing all of her dry humor to 140 characters. 

But quickly after posting her first few tweets, she ran into her first social media roadblock… herself.

Or, well, sort of.

Turns out, there’s a long-inactive Naomi Osaka account floating around on Twitter, and now it was up to the real Naomi Osaka to defeat her Shadow Clone…

Well, I think that proves it.

Welcome to Twitter, Naomi Osaka! Next step: a blue checkmark.

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Kudryavtseva Quells Bouchard In Québec

  • Posted: Jan 01, 1970

QUÉBEC CITY, Canada – Alla Kudryavtseva took out top seed and hometown favorite Eugenie Bouchard, 6-2, 6-3, to advance into her second WTA quarterfinal of 2016 at the Coupe Banque Nationale.

“The crowd was amazing; it was a sold out match today, and it was very nice to play singles in a full stadium,” she told WTA Insider after the match. “We started with some good points. I was in trouble in the second game, but I was able to come up with good shots on break points.

“From then on, I kind of rolled – talk about being in the zone! – I was hitting my shots very well, and it was just working. It was just electric and I love how engaged the crowd was – though sadly, they were engaged against me! But it was still nice to have the full house atmosphere, and by the end I really felt like they appreciated the level of tennis I was playing.”

Kudryavtseva has been ranked as high as No.56 in singles, and the doubles star has shown signs of possibly improving upon that career with a run to the quarterfinals at the Internationaux de Strasbourg and a quality week of wins at the Rogers Cup. But it all came together for the Russian as she headlined the night session in Québec City as she saved three early break points to roar out to a set and double break lead, clinching the match two games later – setting up match point with a screaming forehand winner – in just over an hour.

“I don’t get to play indoors as much anymore now that I don’t train as much in Russia. But I put some good hours in, playing two doubles matches, and I think that helped me get used to the surface, the Center Court, and being in the groove of the tournament – not having too much of a break between my first and second round singles matches.

“Things kind of worked, and isn’t it nice when things just work out?”

Up next for the Russian is American nemesis Lauren Davis, a qualifier who has won each of their previous three meetings – a stat about which Kudryavtseva is keenly aware.

“Horrible match-up for me! Horrible! She beats me every time! But every week is different, and every match is different, different surface – although, we have actually played indoors before.

“But I’m just enjoying my time on the singles court right now, coming off a big win. I just hope to bring a good level tomorrow, and I’m sure things will work out if I do that.”

Earlier in the day, France’s Oceane Dodin reached her first WTA quarterfinal with a 6-4, 6-4 win over Sachia Vickery, while Alison Van Uytvanck ended lucky loser Barbora Stefkova’s run in the second round, 6-4, 6-3. Finally, Jessica Pegula completed the quarterfinal line-up by defeating young Canadian hope Francoise Abanda, 7-6(2), 7-5.

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The Battle Of The Sexes: 43 Years On

  • Posted: Jan 01, 1970

A week and a half ago tennis crowned a new queen when Angelique Kerber lifted the US Open to mark her ascent to the World No.1 ranking.

Watching on from the stands was Billie Jean King, the woman after whom tournament’s home is named, and who 43 years earlier paved the way for Kerber and company by defeating Bobby Riggs.

Dubbed by promoters as ‘The Battle of the Sexes’, on September 20, 1973 King took on Riggs, an ageing former major champion and shameless misogynist who claimed he could still beat any of the leading women on the fledgling Women’s Tennis Association.

Luckily, she did win. Playing to an audience of 30,472 in the Houston Astrodome – and over 100 million watching around the world on television – King abandoned her serve-and-volley game to defeat Riggs from the back of the court, 6-4, 6-3, 6-3.

When Riggs hit a high backhand volley into the net on match point, King flung her racket into the air in celebration. “I thought it would set us back 50 years if I didn’t win that match,” she said later. “It would ruin the women’s tour and affect all women’s self-esteem.”

For his part, Riggs told reporters that King simply “played too well.” The two eventually became friends, and even spoke a few days before Riggs died of prostate cancer in 1995.

Over four decades on, the match remains a landmark moment in the gender equality movement, one that transcended sport.

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