Puig Reflects On Olympic Gold
An interview with Monica Puig after winning the gold medal at the Olympic tennis event in Rio.
An interview with Monica Puig after winning the gold medal at the Olympic tennis event in Rio.
Hear from Madison Keys before the start of the tournament.
Two-time Olympian Caroline Wozniacki will make a third trip to the Games this summer in Rio, and this time will be leading out the Danish team during the opening ceremony.
Former World No.1 Wozniacki was unveiled as her nation’s flag bearer during a press conference at Copenhagen City Hall on Friday afternoon, where she was presented with the Danish flag by Crown Prince Frederik.
“It’s an honor for me! The Olympics mean a lot to me, and I have some fantastic memories from my two previous appearances,” Wozniacki said. “I enjoy competing for the Danish team and feel the team spirit, which I do not get to experience in my everyday life.
“Carrying the flag in Rio will be one of the highlights of my career and something I will never forget.”
In both of her previous Olympic appearances, Wozniacki fell to the eventual Gold medalist: Serena Williams at the 2012 London Games in the quarterfinals, and Elena Dementieva in the third round in Beijing four years earlier.
Wozniacki, 25, will be the fifth WTA player to carry their country’s flag at the Games, following in the footsteps of Maria Sharapova, Agnieszka Radwanska, Stephanie Vogt, and Claudine Schaul.
Such a dream come true!! Was chosen to be the Danish flag bearer at the opening ceremony at the Rio Olympics! ?? pic.twitter.com/mIfFj0pnPz
— Caroline Wozniacki (@CaroWozniacki) February 5, 2016
Karolina Pliskova takes on Jelena Ostapenko in the second round of the Western & Southern Open.
MONTERREY, Mexico – World No.1 Angelique Kerber was taken to three sets by Italian veteran Francesca Schiavone but came away with a hard-fought victory in her opening match at the Abierto GNP Seguros.
A finalist here in 2013, Kerber was back in Monterrey after a three-year absence from the tournament and needed an hour and forty minutes to shake off the rust and move on 4-6, 6-0, 6-4 against the 36-year-old wildcard Schiavone.
“It was not so easy to find the rhythm in the first set, because she played very well from the first ball and I was trying to find my game,” Kerber told press after the victory.
“I was a little bit tight today, but after the second set I was playing my game and moving good. I’m happy that I stayed positive.”
First set goes to @Schiavone_Fra!
Grabs the opening set off Kerber 6-4! pic.twitter.com/B2csuEMq5M
— WTA (@WTA) 5 de abril de 2017
Schiavone, who previously announced that this year would be the end of her nearly two-decade-long career, opened her final Monterrey campaign in commanding fashion against the World No.1. She broke early and raced ahead to a 3-0 lead before Kerber found her footing.
Kerber stayed patient to pounce on her first opportunity as the Italian faltered while serving out the set, striking her first double fault. The German came up with a laser-accurate forehand winner to finally earn the break back, but Schiavone calmly struck back in the next game to take the set.
The World No.1 finally found her range – and her forehands – in emphatic fashion in the second set, breaking Schiavone three times in a row and dropping just three points on her own serve to take the second set in less than 15 minutes and level the match.
World No.1 @AngeliqueKerber survives!
Edges Schiavone 4-6, 6-0, 6-4 in @Abierto_GNP First round! pic.twitter.com/jw662N6zM6
— WTA (@WTA) 5 de abril de 2017
After going down an early break in the third, Schiavone finally stopped the rot of Kerber’s eight games in a row. The Italian refused to fade away and stayed within touching distance, but wasn’t able to pressure the German’s serve the way she did in the first set. Kerber didn’t face any break points and stayed solid to serve out the match and take the hard-fought opening victory.
Kerber will take on Mandy Minella in the next round after the Luxembourger defeated Elitsa Kostova in a tight straight sets earlier in the day, 7-6(3), 6-3.
“I will be looking more on my side of the court,” Kerber said. “I’ll be trying to go out and enjoy the match and try to be aggressive. I think I’ve never played against her, but I think it will be a good match as well.”
Chinese New Year is Monday, February 8, and in the spirit of the holidays we’re looking at the Chinese Zodiac, where each of the 12 years in the cycle is represented by an animal sign and thus their reputed attributes: rat, ox, tiger, rabbit, dragon, snake, horse, sheep, monkey, rooster, dog and pig.
2016 is the Year of the Monkey, which makes it an extra special Chinese New Year for former No.1 Venus Williams and Fed Cup heroine Karolina Pliskova, who led the Czech Republic to a 3-2 victory over Romania this weekend with three wins in singles and doubles. Most auspiciously, Williams and Pliskova ended the 2015 season by reaching the Huajin Securities WTA Elite Trophy Zhuhai final, which the American won to finish the year ranked inside the Top 10 for the first time in five years.
Which animals are the Top 50 players on the WTA? The birth years range from 1980 to 1997…
Monkey (1980, 1992)
Venus Williams
Karolina Pliskova
Rooster (1981, 1993)
Serena Williams
Garbiñe Muguruza
Caroline Garcia
Sloane Stephens
Kristina Mladenovic
Monica Puig
Dog (1982, 1994)
Flavia Pennetta
Elina Svitolina
Annika Beck
Daria Gavrilova
Alison Van Uytvanck
Margarita Gasparyan
Anna Karolina Schmiedlova
Danka Kovinic
Pig (1983, 1995)
Roberta Vinci
Madison Keys
Rat (1984, 1996)
Samantha Stosur
Ox (1985, 1997)
Jelena Jankovic
Svetlana Kuznetsova
Belinda Bencic
Tiger (1986)
Barbora Strycova
Varvara Lepchenko
Rabbit (1987)
Lucie Safarova
Maria Sharapova
Sara Errani
Andrea Petkovic
Monica Niculescu
Ana Ivanovic
Dragon (1988)
Ekaterina Makarova
Angelique Kerber
Carla Suárez Navarro
Snake (1989)
Agnieszka Radwanska
Lesia Tsurenko
Sabine Lisicki
Timea Bacsinszky
Victoria Azarenka
Horse (1990)
Petra Kvitova
Caroline Wozniacki
Alizé Cornet
Irina-Camelia Begu
Mona Barthel
Sheep (1991)
Johanna Konta
Simona Halep
Camila Giorgi
CoCo Vandeweghe
Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova
Go behind the scenes with the hardworking team of Rogers Cup ball kids on this episode of WTA Behind The Tour.
From the best cook to the selfie queen, how well do the stars of the Volvo Car Open know each other off the court?
Monica Niculescu takes on Natalia Vikhlyantseva in the first round of the St. Petersburg Ladies Trophy.
CINCINNATI, OH, USA – Five years ago, Germany’s top-ranked woman was asked to handicap her countrywoman at the Western & Southern Open. Having recently made her Top 10 debut, Andrea Petkovic told members of the media to keep an eye out for one player in particular.
“She’s going to come back,” Petkovic said of Angelique Kerber. “I called her and I asked her to come to my academy where I train, and she came there for four weeks and practiced really, really hard.”
Kerber had been ranked as high as No.45 to start the 2011 season, but briefly dropped out of the Top 100 that summer. At the time of Petkovic’s press conference, she had lost 15 of her last 18 WTA main draw matches.
“I promise you she’s going to be at least Top 30 like in six months, because she worked really, really hard and she’s a great player and she’s definitely going to come back.”
To say that Petkovic proved prescient would be the understatement of the decade. Within a week, Kerber reached the semifinals of a WTA International event in Dallas, Texas as a qualifier. Two weeks after that, the then-World No.90 was in the final four of the US Open, upsetting Agnieszka Radwanska and Flavia Pennetta along the way.
“She was helping me in practice,” she said of Petkovic’s advice after her win over Pennetta. “She told me, ‘You can do it. You play very well. You need to play consistent your tennis and not think about something or not think that you can win or you can lose. Just go on the court, play your tennis.’ Yeah, she helps me a lot.”
Kerber ultimately fell to eventual champion Samantha Stosur, but nonetheless beat Petkovic’s prediction by well over three months, cracking the Top 30 for the first time on October 2, 2011.
A lot has changed since then. The reigning Australian Open champion, Wimbledon runner-up, and Olympic Silver medalist is now in pole position to end Serena Williams’ 183 straight weeks atop the WTA rankings. Should she take home the trophy at the very tournament where Petkovic first made her bold prediction, Kerber would become the oldest woman to debut at World No.1 since a 25-year-old Jennifer Capriati in 2001.
She spoke about the pressure of having to back up her Melbourne run, and how it was familiar to her feelings following her 2011 breakthrough, after her opening round win over Kristina Mladenovic:
Angelique Kerber is done proving to people that she belongs. Now she plays for herself. #CincyTennis pic.twitter.com/39eyX49kfJ
— WTA Insider (@WTA_insider) August 18, 2016
With dangerous veteran Barbora Strycova looming in the third round, Kerber still has a tough road to reach the top spot, but it’s proving tougher and tougher to bet against the German, especially with the Cincinnati breeze at her back.