Tennis News

In one of the most significant coaching hires of the off-season, World No.10 Johanna Konta has brought on Wim Fissette as her coach to begin the 2017 season. Fissette was the long-time coach to Kim Clijsters and has recently worked with Simona Halep, Madison Keys, and Victoria Azarenka until her pregnancy leave last summer.

Konta is coming off a breakthrough 2015 season, which saw her win her first WTA title at the Bank of the West Classic, advance to her first major semifinal at the Australian Open, and surge from No.47 at the start of the season to become the first British woman to finish the season inside the Top 10 since Jo Durie in 1983. Her decision to split with coach Estaban Carrill was met with surprise, but Konta has landed one of the best coaches on tour in Fissette.

Known for his tennis acumen and amiable demeanor, Konta cited their positive chemistry in her decision to bring the Belgian on.

“He was the first coach I trialled and things are going well,” Konta told The Independent. “I guess he’s been on the Tour for quite some time, so I’m definitely looking forward to being a sponge and absorbing as much of his experience and knowledge through the years.”

Speaking to The Independent, Konta reflected on her sudden but mutual decision to part ways with Carrill, who had coached her through her meteoric rise over the last 18 months.

“But like with every relationship, I think there comes a point where changes need to be made, Konta said. “For both of us to keep evolving and keep getting better, it was definitely the right time. It gave me the opportunity to go into my pre-season with a new set-up so that I can then start my next season already in the swing of things.”

It has been an emotionally tough off-season for Konta after the death of her mental coach Juan Coto. Throughout her surge up the rankings, Konta, once a hot-headed, nervy player who struggled to close out matches, cited her work with Coto for her more grounded, simple approach to her game and career. Coto passed away suddenly in November.

“I know that Juan would be supportive of me continuously improving that area because it’s more than just tennis, it’s about my life,” Konta said. “He’s still very much a part of everything that I do, everything that I will continue to do in this sport and this career, and most likely beyond that as well. He has gifted me with an incredible amount of tools and habits that I still to this day am looking to improve, every single day.”

Konta begins her 2017 season at the Shenzhen Open, which begins on January 1st, and is scheduled to play the Apia International in Sydney as well to prepare for the first major of the season at the Australian Open.

NEW YORK, NY, USA – A journey which began waiting around at the tournament supervisor’s office ended with Laura Siegemund and Mate Pavic hoisting aloft their first Grand Slam trophy on tennis’ grandest stage.

In front of an unashamedly partisan Arthur Ashe crowd, Siegemund and Pavic spoiled the party by upsetting No.7 seeds CoCo Vandeweghe and Rajeev Ram, 6-4, 6-4.

“I’m just stunned a little bit at this point. I’m very happy. I think we played a great match today, Siegemund said. “We did play a great tournament. All the other matches were, yeah, very solid also in the important situations, although we never played together.

“So it’s just amazing that even in the finals we could just play the same, you know, stay focused and stick to the system that was working the whole week. He was, as the British say, cool as a cucumber. He was cooler than me maybe at times. I was very glad about that.”

Despite both teams carving out several chances, the first set went on serve until 4-4, before a mistake at the net from Vandeweghe leading to the ultimately decisive break. The unseeded duo continued to exert the pressure in the second set breaking Vandeweghe to secure a milestone victory.

“In all the matches that we played, we broke the guy’s serve a lot of times,” Pavic said. “Like even today Rajeev was serving big and we broke his serve twice.

“We were putting the balls back, returning good, makes the them feel pressure and then it’s not easy to make the point. So I think that make a huge difference in all the matches that we played so far.”

They had never met before.
They didn't know who one another was.
But now Siegemund-Pavic are in Mixed Dubs Final. pic.twitter.com/Kw6W3yjXCp

— ESPNTennis (@ESPNTennis) September 9, 2016

More to follow…

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia – World No.153 Chang Kai-Chen provided further evidence of the current strength in depth on tour by knocking out Roberta Vinci in the first round of the BMW Malaysian Open.

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Following a succession of surprise results during the WTA’s recent double-header in Dubai and Doha, Chang became the latest underdog to have her day, producing a rousing early evening comeback to defeat top seed Vinci, 5-7, 6-2, 6-1.

The result, though, is by no means an isolated one. In fact, Chang has made a habit of defeating Top 10 players, Vinci joining a list that also includes Dinara Safina, Marion Bartoli and Samantha Stosur.

“It’s always an honor to play a Top 10 player and I really enjoyed the whole match,” Chang said. “I told myself after the first set to be more patient, so I slowed everything down, kept more balls in and just played with her. The result came out well!

“She’s very difficult to play because she slices and spins it, and I’m very happy I could win this match.”

No.2 seed Elina Svitolina fared better rather better in her first-round outing, requiring only 47 minutes to defeat qualifier Miyu Kato.

There were mixed fortunes for Svitolina in the Middle East, as a semifinal in Dubai was followed by a surprise first-round loss to Denisa Allertova in Doha. And Svitolina took out her frustration on qualifier Kato, breaking five times, whilst giving up just seven points on her own serve, en route to a 6-1, 6-1 victory.

Equally impressive was Svitolina’s next opponent, Risa Ozaki, who defeated Elizaveta Kulichkova, 6-0, 6-2.

“I’ll try and do the same thing – play the ball and not the opponent, which is the most important thing to me,” Svitolina said. “I think she’s playing well. She had a good win today and it’s always tough to play a qualifier, because they’ve had a couple of matches and it’s completely different conditions here than to Doha and Dubai.”

A fixture inside the Top 20 for the best part of a year now, Svitolina is flying the flag for Ukrainian tennis and this summer will have the opportunity to represent her motherland on the greatest sporting stage of all.

“The Olympics is a big event. It’s the first time for me so it’s going to be a really different experience and it’s amazing that I’m going to represent my country and play for Ukraine. It’s just a great thing.”

After last year’s French Open, Svitolina overtook Alona Bondarenko as Ukraine’s highest-ranked player of all time, a status that is a source of great pride: “It feels really great since I am the highest ever Ukrainian woman. So for me it was a big thing after Roland Garros when I became one of the highest.”

Elsewhere there were wins for Naomi Broady, Zarina Diyas and Yang Zhaoxuan.

Diyas caused the day’s biggest upset, knocking out No.4 seed Annika Beck, 7-5, 6-3. Broady, meanwhile, fired down 17 aces to win a see-saw encounter with Klara Koukalova, 6-3, 3-6, 6-3, and Zhaoxuan fought back to defeat No.8 seed Zheng Saisai, 4-6, 6-3, 6-2.

Petra Kvitova could be back on a tennis court in six months, her surgeon said on Wednesday.

The two-time Wimbledon champion underwent surgery to repair severe lacerations and damage to her left hand and fingers after she was attacked in her home in Prostejov on Tuesday.

“Surgeon Radek Kebrle said that the operation on Petra’s left hand went very well, with no complications,” Kvitova’s publicist said in a statement.

“Petra will be on bed rest for 14 days, she will begin slow rehabilitation at around 6-8 weeks post operation. If that rehabilitation process goes well, Petra should be able to grip a racket for the first time (but not play tennis) at three months. The best-case scenario is that Petra will be able to return to the tennis court after six months.

“It is too soon to specify when precisely she can return to competition, but Petra is ready to do everything she can to get back competing at the highest level. Petra is happy with how the operation went and is in good spirits.”

Kvitova had ended the season ranked No.11 after a run to a second title of 2016 at the Huajin Securities WTA Elite Trophy Zhuhai.

MELBOURNE, Australia – The Australian Open has increased prize money to an historic high of $50 million, up 14% on 2016.  Men and women singles winners will each get $3.7m while a first round loser will receive $50,000.

“We are committed to further improving the pay and conditions on the international tennis tour to ensure every professional tennis player is properly compensated,” said Australian Open Tournament Director CEO Craig Tiley.

“It was especially important for us to increase the compensation for players in the early rounds and qualifying, and this year we have made some real gains. We are constantly reviewing ways to improve the life of every player on tour, not just the Top 100. This includes increasing prize money as well as removing as many costs as possible associated with playing our events.

“Our aim is to shift the break-even point for professional players, to ensure that tennis is a viable career option for the best male and female athletes in the world. We are also committed to equal prize money, equal exposure and equal opportunity for men and women.

“We are proud of our record in looking after the players, and will continue the push for increased prize money for professional players.”

The tournament’s prize money has more than tripled since 2001, when it was $13.9m, with a $10 million increase since 2014.

2016 Year-End World No.1 Angelique Kerber is the defending champion, having defeated then-No.1 Serena Williams in a thrilling three-set final Down Under. 

Round-by-round individual prize money for the Australian Open singles tournaments are as follows:

MONTERREY, México – Heather Watson produced her best tennis of the season to defeat Caroline Wozniacki and take a place in the semifinals of the Abierto Monterrey Afirme.

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A battle between two of the WTA’s sprightliest movers produced no shortage of entertaining exchanges, yet it was Watson, not the former No.1 on the other side of the net, setting the tone.

In a sparkling display, Watson took the game to Wozniacki from the off, eventually getting her reward with a break in the penultimate game of the opening set. Even a slow start to the second failed to discourage the Briton as she came roaring back, a couple of heavy-duty forehands kick-starting a run of four straight games.

Wozniacki, as ever, battled gamely to end, but she had no answer to her opponent’s inspired tennis, spraying a forehand wide to slip to a 7-5, 6-4 defeat.

“I’m very happy with how I played today. I thought I played very well – I needed to against Caroline because she’s a great player – and I had to fight to the end because I knew she would,” Watson said during her on-court interview. “I just took it point by point and didn’t look too far ahead.

“I think one of her main traits is that she is such a fighter. She makes a lot of balls and makes you really win it. I knew I was going to have to finish a lot of points today, come to net and not be too passive.”

Meeting Watson for a place in the final will be either Caroline Garcia or Pauline Parmentier.

On the other side of the draw, hopes for an all-British final were dashed when Kirsten Flipkens upset No.4 seed Johanna Konta, 6-3, 6-7(2), 6-1. Her reward is a meeting with another unseeded player, Anett Kontaveit, a 6-1, 6-4 winner over Nicole Gibbs.