Tennis News

PARIS, France – Cagla Buyukakcay and Ipek Soylu made tennis history earlier this week, when they became the first two Turkish women in the Open Era to qualify for the singles main draw at a Slam. Both women accomplished the feat via qualies, with No.83 Buyukakcay, 26, becoming the first woman through and 2014 US Open girls doubles champion Soylu following suit hours later.

The celebration did not end there. With a 5-7, 7-6(2), 6-2 win over Aliaksandra Sasnovich, Buyukakcay followed up her qualies run to become the first Turkish woman to win a main draw match at a major. This success, not just for Buyukakcay but also for Turkish tennis, has been a long-time in the making.

“I was working so hard for so many years,” Buyukakcay told WTA Insider. “I was playing qualies for over five years actually.”

Back home in Turkey, Ipek Senoglu is beaming. The retired Turkish trailblazer was the first woman from her country to play qualifying at a Slam and was the first to play in the main draw of a Slam in doubles.

“It’s weird because I’m having these emotions right now that no one else in Turkey has,” Senoglu told WTA Insider via phone from Istanbul. “Because I had worked so hard to open the roads, to open this dream, and it would be like a waste of my career if someone didn’t take the flag and didn’t carry it further. And now they have actually over-passed my success. I mean, it’s a different level now; it’s in singles. So I’m really proud!”

Turkey has long been fertile ground for WTA tournaments. The TEB BNP Paribas Istanbul Cup has been a staple on the tour since 2005, and the WTA Finals had a fantastic run of three consecutive years in Istanbul  from 2011-2013.

But its players had yet to make a major impact a the upper echelons of the game. Buyukakcay, who played Fed Cup with Senoglu for years, seems to have picked up the torch. Last month she became the first Turkish woman to win a WTA singles title – on home soil nonetheless – at the Istanbul Cup. That win moved her into the Top 100 for the first time and guaranteed her a main draw slot at Wimbledon. Now with a junior Slam champion behind her, the legacy of Turkish tennis is coming together.

Both Senoglu and Buyukakcay cite the constant presence of top WTA events in Istanbul as a major inspiration. It brought the heady dreams of becoming a top-level professional back down to earth, something that was actually attainable.

“The [WTA Finals] allowed both Cagla, Ipek and anyone who is playing in the women’s tour to understand that these players are human. They have two arms, two legs – nothing they can’t have.

“I was always trying to say: ‘Hey, you can do it. Look, I made it in doubles because I didn’t have many options. I didn’t have many chances to do this, I didn’t have a coach for many of my career years, I didn’t have a sponsor for most of that time, but for me to do this it was a dream. So I was able to reach my dreams, to be the first woman to play all the Grand Slams from Turkey.”

“But it’s one thing to hear it and something else to see them live. Because when you see them live, they are hitting the same ball, they’re on the same court, same shoes – same thing, you know? It’s just about working hard, it’s just about doing it for a long time, working hard each day. And they saw that through the [WTA Finals]. I think it was a wonderful super step for them.

“And that’s great because not only they have seen it, our media has seen it, our parents have seen it, that they both can do it. It’s wonderful. I think we are getting the fruit of those [WTA Finals] right now. I think it was very very crucial.”

Buyukakcay agreed. “We didn’t have any examples in the Top 100,” she said. “Maybe the idea was too big in our minds before. Ipek had the tougher time than me because she’s older than me. When I saw [the top players in Turkey] I realized that we can do that, that we have the inspiration inside.”

Senoglu paved her way on tour by going to the United States for college, where she played collegiate tennis at Pepperdine University. Buyukakcay chose to develop her career in Turkey, in hopes of sending a message to future generations. In conversation it’s clear how much Buyukakcay wants to inspire more young Turkish women to pick up a racquet and play with ambition.

“I told myself, ‘No, I want to stay, I want to improve my tennis in Turkey,'” Cagla Buyukakcay said. “I will try my best. I didn’t have an idol in front of me. It was tough. I didn’t know how to be a professional. This was my motivation, but the idea came from my love of tennis.

“I grew up in Turkey, I work with the Turkish coaches. If you really want to improve yourself, I want to prove that we can do that. We are also humans. I have that faith inside. For the younger generation, it’s important for me that they will be believe for themselves that they can work without any excuses, because if you need excuses we can find a lot of things.

“I am 100% sure I will help the younger generation because when I started as a professional no one qualified for the Grand Slams. It was too big in our minds. If I play in the second round here I’m sure the younger ones will say, ‘Yes, Cagla did it. We can do it.’ I think it’s important to have some people from our culture, from our blood, to do it.

“My footballer friend Arda Turan, he’s playing for Barcelona now. This was a dream for us to have a Turkish footballer playing for Barcelona. He made it. He inspired me. He’s a big star in Turkey now. I’m telling myself also now if I work hard if I still want to stay in the positive side and be passionate to improve myself, there’s no reason not to do it.”

For Buyukakcay, winning the Istanbul Cup, breaking into the Top 100, playing in the main draw at a Slam: the last few weeks have been a whirlwind of emotions. But she’s careful to remind the public that it will not always be like this. Anyone familiar with tennis knows the ups and downs can give you whiplash and Buyukakcay wants Turkish fans to be in it for the long haul, not just because the emotions are high right now.

“Maybe it’s because it’s our culture and we get excited so quickly, we want the success too soon,” Buyukakcay said. “I’m doing good but it doesn’t mean I will do good all the time. This idea for them is tough. It’s new. This way we will give them knowledge about sport and how it is. Football is very popular of course, they know everything about football. But individual sports, they are starting to learn. But there is no reason our people will not succeed.”

Cagla Buyukakcay’s Parisian romp ended on Wednesday in a 6-3, 4-6, 6-1 loss to No.24 seed Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova in the second round. Next month she will hit another milestone, as the first Turkish woman to earn direct entry into a Slam and the first Turkish woman to play a main draw singles match at Wimbledon.

In the meantime, she will be waiting anxiously by her phone to hear if she will be the first Turkish woman to represent her country in tennis at the Olympics. Her ranking is unlikely to earn her direct entry but the ITF could grant her a special entry spot usually reserved for players from underrepresented regions around the world.

“Turkish people are fanatics,” Senoglu said, laughing. “That’s why right now, when Cagla won the Istanbul Cup in Turkey she became from a regular player only tennis fans know, to a celebrity in one night. That’s wonderful for Turkish tennis, that’s wonderful for Turkish athletes and wonderful for Turkish supporters in general. Now, not only Turkish tennis fans know Cagla, now regular people in Turkey know her as well. And what that’s going to increase sponsorship, that’s going to increase tournaments, it’s going to increase everything in Turkish tennis. That’s wonderful.

“I hope Cagla will make it to Olympics, because that’s the next step. And I think at this point she does deserve it. Whether it will be as direct acceptance or as a wildcard, I don’t care, but I do think it will be a wonderful thing for this region if she can make it to Olympics.”

Photos courtesy of Getty Images.

MELBOURNE, Australia – When Angelique Kerber steps on court for her opening-round match at the Australian Open next week, she will be the first woman to attempt to successfully defend her maiden Slam since Victoria Azarenka did so here in 2013. Much like Kerber, Azarenka came into the Australian Open that year with the No.1 ranking under threat, but the Belarusian came through an emotionally fraught campaign to raise the Daphne Akhurst Memorial Trophy once again, beating Li Na in a three-set final.

One of the keys to Kerber’s breakout run in Melbourne last year was her ability to keep the distractions at bay and keep her fortnight simple. Along with coach Torben Beltz, Kerber went out of her way to downplay the significance of the tournament as a major. It was just another tournament, Kerber told herself. She eschewed the fancier boutique lodging options in Melbourne and stayed at the tournament hotel.

Instead of escaping the site as soon as she could after her matches or practices to get away from the noise and chaos, she chose to eat her meals on-site. She went with the flow. She didn’t fight it. It worked.

After all, in case you forgot the legend of Angie Kerber, she was a point away from being on a plane back to Germany in the first round last year. After escaping with a win over Misaki Doi, Kerber was playing with house money for her next six matches, completely unencumbered by pressure or fear. It all culminated in a gutsy performance that stunned everyone, as she took down Serena Williams in three sets in one of the most thrilling major finals of the last decade.

A year on and Kerber is now a two-time major champion and World No.1. While the No.1 ranking is theoretically at stake in Melbourne, World No.2 Serena would have to reach the final in order to have a chance at overtaking the German, and the path for Serena to that final is a tough one.

The biggest question facing Kerber as she prepares for her Melbourne campaign is simply her state of mind. The concept of “defending a title” is an illusory one. Kerber’s task is not to defend but to do what she does every week she takes the court: try to win the title. No one gets extra points for defending a title.

Whatever accolades they may receive for “defending” is no more than for simply winning yet another major, an incredible accomplishment that stands on its own. In other words, Kerber’s task for the fortnight is not complicated.

So…does she believe that?

Kerber has started her season on a 1-2 clip, taking losses to Elina Svitolina and Daria Kasatkina, neither of whom are bad losses. She looks as fit as ever, but her game has been a touch loose. She’s been prone to leaking untimely errors and double-faults, the types of errors that are more indicative of rust and nerves in tough moments. If she can get on a roll through the first week of the tournament, those nerves should subside and her physical, grinding game should click into place.

The good news for Kerber is that her draw through the first week almost looks designed to help her find her rhythm. She opens against Lesia Tsurenko, who withdrew from the semifinals at the Hobart International with a viral illness, then either countrywoman Carina Witthoeft or a qualifier, with her first seed potentially being Irina-Camelia Begu in the third round. Those are three opponents Kerber should be able to find some rhythm against and gain some confidence.

For her part, Kerber is not an intrinsically complicated personality. She craves simplicity, to just work, and play, go to sleep, and do it all again. This is a new experience for the 28-year-old and a big test of her ability to focus on the task at hand and not get distracted by the white noise that surrounds any World No.1 who is asked to prove themselves week-in and week-out. It is impossible to hide or fly under the radar.

There is no circus like one that surrounds a World No.1 at a Slam. The question for Kerber is whether or not she can tame it in her first go-round.

All photos courtesy of Getty Images.

For most players, the road to Roland Garros begins as the tour turns from hardcourts of Miami to the clay courts of Charleston. For doubles partners Vitalia Diatchenko and Galina Voskoboeva, it started late last summer.

“I was still dealing with my injury and my foot was hurting so bad, and I was very depressed by that,” Voskoboeva told WTA Insider on Friday. “But then I got a text message from Vitalia, asking how I was doing, and if I want to play doubles at Roland Garros.

“I was sitting in the changing room in such a bad mood and I said, ‘Ok, let’s try!’ We were both deeply injured, but I’ve never made such an arrangement so early.

“The first time we played together was the year when I came back from my first injury in 2011, and we won a 100K Challenger in Astana. We didn’t play again until last week, when I’m coming back from another injury. I should probably play more often with Vitalia, not only after surgeries!”

Diatchenko may have secured a doubles partner nearly eight months in advance, but her own injury issues had just begun.

“I was playing with pain for a year and a half,” the 25-year-old said on Sunday. “It was getting more and more painful, until I just could not walk.”

Overcoming a three-year odyssey to repair an injured anterior cruciate ligament, the Russian rocketed up the rankings, making her Top 100 debut – peaking at No.71 – and winning her first WTA title at a 125K Series event in Taipei.

But an Achilles injury sidelined her last spring, and her haste to return after surgery saw her reinjure her leg a mere hours before she was set to play the highest-profile match of her career.

“I could feel that my injury was very serious, and so it was quite painful to play,” she said, looking back on her 2015 US Open encounter with World No.1 Serena Williams. “I was really sad what I couldn’t finish that match, really disappointed!

“In retrospect, I probably came back too early, but it was only because I wanted to play so much. It was really difficult to be off the tour for so long. A lot of people said that I could not play sports again, or that I would not back on court after so many surgeries and very serous injuries.

“I can’t explain how happy I am to have broken the rules!”

Nine months, a new coach (former WTA No.15 Elena Likhovtseva), and a second surgery later, Diatchenko made her return on a much smaller stage last week in La Marsa, a Challenger event in Tunisia.

“I met Elena at Fed Cup and I liked the way she explained tennis. Of course she has a lot of experience, being such a great player. We started working together in April, and I’ve liked the way we’re starting to practice but, of course, we have a lot of work ahead!”

She won two matches in singles before bowing out to none other than Voskoboeva, with whom she went on to win the doubles event.

“Being back on the court, I was nervous and excited at the same time; it felt crazy inside, to be honest!

“I was listening a lot to Galina, because she came back earlier this year, so I got a bit more experience.”

Herself back in Paris for the first time in three years, the veteran could certainly relate to Diatchenko, one who was also making a second major comeback.

“I can understand everything that’s happening with her now because I had the same feelings a few months before. When she makes mistakes, I understand exactly why. It’s not because she’s playing badly, but because there are some things on the court that she can’t do straight away.

“It’s not like you come to the court and remember how to do everything; you still need time.”

A comeback can’t be rushed, something Voskoboeva learned as she tried to shift too quickly into the clay court swing back in April.

“I had been practicing with Vitalia in Moscow, talking about how I like to play on clay courts and how I usually transition well from hard to clay, but I forgot the fact that the last time I was on a clay court was in Roland Garros, 2013! My muscles weren’t ready because it’s a completely different surface, and so I pulled a muscle a little bit.

“I didn’t even realize it was so bad so I went to the tournament, an ITF in Germany, where the tournament director gave me a wildcard. I arrived four days in advance and thought it would be better, but it ended up taking a week, so I had to miss that tournament.”

Taking two tournaments off to heal her overworked body reminded her of a conversation she’d had with the recently retired Flavia Pennetta a few years prior in Moscow.

Double pose with?? And my doubles partner ?
P.S. It's nice to be back playing again, again and again?? pic.twitter.com/EBe6TDE4TB

— Vitalia Diatchenko (@VDiatchenko) May 17, 2016

“You might train six hours a day and be fine, but play a match for one hour, and your whole body hurts because of the additional nerves and pressure, neither of which you can train in practice. I’ve learned so many different parts of the body because they’re all hurting!

“I know from Flavia, because when I spoke with her two years ago, she told me that the whole year she was trying to come back, her body was hurting. I just need to work harder, to stretch, exercises those inner muscles. They aren’t difficult exercises, but you have to do them every day.

“It’s already a miracle that I’m playing; it’d take another for me to suddenly start beating players who have confidence from playing a lot of matches. I can’t wait for such a miracle; I already have one! I’ll have to make it instead, step by step.” 

Fatigue from 10 matches in Tunisia likely led to Tuesday’s loss to Zhang Shuai, a match that took two days to complete after getting suspended due to darkness, but one from which the Kazakh still felt was an indication of her steady improvement after getting within two points of the opening set.

“I’m really happy when I see myself showing the game I used to play. The way I started the match with Shuai, for example, was probably the best play I’ve shown this year.

“I’m very satisfied to start seeing bright moments; maybe they don’t last as long as I’d like, but the fact that I can show this game is already a good sign. I’m on the right away, and hopefully soon I can show this game for longer periods of time – and more frequently!”

???? #tunis #itf #win #sport #tennis #galinavoskoboeva #sofibella pic.twitter.com/sN9SXIbJqV

— Galina Voskoboeva (@g_voskoboeva) May 20, 2016

For her part, Diatchenko intends to take things slowly following a first round singles loss to 2015 finalist Lucie Safarova.

“Being healthy is my main priority now. I’m not planning to play a lot, but instead to have a good quality preparation before each tournament.

“I’m planning to play some practice tournaments this summer to get back into my match rhythm and improve my ranking, so I hope I’ll be good for the US Open.”

Before she can get to Flushing, the two still have some doubles left to play. They wasted little time on Friday, racing out to a 6-1, 5-1 lead before ultimately dispatching Naomi Broady and Louisa Chirico to set up another meeting with Serena Williams, who has paired with sister Venus in search of a 14th Grand Slam doubles title.

“It’s going to be very interesting,” Voskoboeva said with a laugh. “As you could imagine, it’s such a great experience. We never played against them in doubles, and for us, it’s good to be playing at such a level.

“After we won our match and I was kind of joking with her, saying, ‘Listen, we’re almost half a team, because you have a special ranking and so do I, so it’s not a full team, it’s more like half!'”

.@g_voskoboeva arrives at the @rolandgarros players party pic.twitter.com/zFG5nqhVR8

— Jimmie48 Photography (@JJlovesTennis) May 19, 2016

The two halves may need more that 50% to outmatch the Williams sisters, but Voskoboeva and Diatchenko have already had a Roland Garros to remember.

“I took so many photos at the player’s party, and when I came back home I wanted to look at them but I thought, ‘I’ll do it in the morning, because it’s so late,'” Voskoboeva said. “I woke up in the morning, couldn’t find it. I realized, ‘Oh my god, I forgot it in the car!’

“The woman in charge of lost and found was so nice, and said, ‘Sorry, we didn’t find it today,’ and I said, ‘Oh my god, so you’ll never find it?’ She said, ‘No, no, we’ll keep trying.’

“The next day, I met her and asked if she found it. She said she didn’t, but that they found a ring that someone lost five days ago. On the third day, they found a phone that someone lost three days ago, but still no camera.

“She finally called on the fourth day to say they found it, and so this will be my favorite Roland Garros, because this is the one where they found my camera.”

Photos courtesy of Getty Images.

MELBOURNE, Australia – No.7 seed Garbiñe Muguruza survived a scare in her opening match against Marina Erakovic to move into the second round at the Australian Open in straight sets, 7-5, 6-4.

“Marina and I played a couple of times and it’s always a tough match,” Muguruza said in her on-court interview. “I’m happy, even with my body, that I won. It was very tough.”

Earlier in the season in Brisbane, Muguruza was forced to retire from her semifinal against Alizé Cornet due to a right thigh injury, and it seemed like the pain still lingered in her Melbourne opener.

Despite taking a close opening set, Muguruza’s movement appeared to be hampered and she struggled with her timing, her usually powerful groundstrokes at times lacking their bite.

The Spaniard’s problems multiplied in the second set, as Erakovic took every opportunity Muguruza’s condition handed her and went up a 4-1 lead.

“It was very tough. You’re playing, then suddenly you start to feel pain in your body,” Muguruza explained. “Obviously I was nervous, so I just tried to be calm, to have a good attitude and keep fighting for the match.”

The New Zealander wasn’t able to hang on to that lead for very long, as Muguruza – with great effort – came roaring back. Erakovic seemed to lose her confidence as Muguruza climbed back up the scoreboard, finally rattling off five straight games to take the match.

Through to the second round in the Australian Open for the fifth straight time, Muguruza awaits the winner of the match between Samantha Crawford and ASB Classic champion Lauren Davis.