Tennis News

The 2017 Aces For Humanity campaign was launched by USANA and the WTA at the BNP Paribas Open, where every ace hit by a WTA player at Premier-level events translates into a donation to the USANA True Health Foundation, whose mission is to provide the most critical human necessities to those who are suffering or in need around the world.

For every ace hit by any player the WTA donates $5, and for every ace hit by a USANA Brand Ambassador, it’s $10.

USANA Brand Ambassadors Caroline Wozniacki, Eugenie Bouchard, Monica Puig and Zheng Saisai hit 12 of the 476 aces in Indian Wells – raising a grand total of $2,560 throughout the fortnight. Wozniacki hit the most with seven aces.

Read more about the campaign here and see below to find out who’s hit the most aces so far!

#AcesForHumanity Fan Giveaway

It’s simple: before each WTA Premier tournament guess how many total aces will be hit.
Next up is the Miami Open in Miami. Last year there was a total of 539 aces hit. It’s now your turn, take your best guess of how many will be hit this year.

How To Enter:
• Follow @WTA and @USANAFoundation on Twitter and before each WTA Premier tournament tweet the number of aces you predict will be hit during the whole tournament (Singles, Main Draw)
• Include the hashtag #AcesForHumanity
• Beijing deadline is March 21 at 11:59pm ET
• The winner will be announced April 3rd

Aces For Humanity is a joint WTA and USANA initiative that benefits the USANA True Health Foundation, which provides critical human necessities to those in suffering or in need around the globe.

For full rules on how to enter, click here.

MIAMI, FL, USA – Newly-minted World No.1 Angelique Kerber has officially reclaimed her spot at the top of the WTA rankings on Monday, a day before the Miami Open kicks off and where she’ll also be the No.1 seed for the first time.

But the big question for former World No.1 Chrissie Evert is how Kerber will cope with the pressures of having the target on her back once again.

Kerber is still searching for her first title of 2017 after falling in the fourth round of Indian Wells to eventual champion Elena Vesnina. The German went into the match leading 4-1 in their head-to-head record, but started off flat and allowed Vesnina to dictate the rallies, a contrast to the game she showed during her run to two Grand Slam titles last year.

She’s also yet to defeat a Top 20 player in 2017, falling to Elina Svitolina twice (Brisbane, No.14; Dubai, No.13) and later Vesnina (No.15).

“For me it’s nothing really to do with the physicality of her game,” Evert said in an ESPN phone call. “It’s not that the game is not there, the same game that she won the Australian Open with and the US Open with.

“I think it’s all in her head, and it is a big adjustment to have that No.1 bullseye on your back and to continue to play with the fearlessness that it took for her to get there. She went out of the box in big matches that she won last year; she took more chances. She played more fearless tennis. She went for more shots. She went for bigger serves. She went for bigger second serves.

“She really, to me, this year has gone back into the type of tennis she played two years ago when she was Top 5 in the world, but not No.1.”

Evert drew a comparison between Kerber and the resurgent Caroline Wozniacki – who’s added a bit more aggression to her counterpunching game to help her climb back on top following an injury-riddled 2016 season and consecutive slide down the rankings.

“She has to do what Wozniacki is trying to do now: taking a few more risks and being a little more aggressive,” Evert explained. “Those two, I see their games similar as far as their unbelievable defense and counterpunching, and it goes against their nature to really wind up and to attack right from the start. But they’ve got to learn to do that a little bit more.”

Evert, who was the year-ending World No.1 singles player in 1974-1978 and 1980-1981 and held on to the ranking for a total of 260 weeks, had some words of advice for what it would take for the German to regain her fearlessness.

“[Kerber] has to get back that aggressive mentality, and she’s got to really force it on herself because she’s not going to be No. 1 until she plays like she did at the US Open and like she did in Australia.

“The tennis is there, but she’s got to get back into that frame of mind, and she’s got to work on that. Only she can do it. You can listen to a thousand people or the best coaches in the world, but only she has to come to terms with that.”

– Photos courtesy of Getty Images

FLORIANOPOLIS, Brazil – Top seed Jelena Jankovic was sent crashing out of the Brasil Tennis Cup at the hands of Romania’s Ana Bogdan in straight sets, 6-2, 7-5.

Watch live action from Florianopolis this week on WTA Live powered by TennisTV!

Jankovic struggled as much with the conditions in southern Brazil as she did against her No.127 ranked opponent.

“It was a tough match overall. It’s completely different conditions here playing in the evening,” she said. “The ball moved so slow – it didn’t go anywhere. I hit as hard as I could, it wouldn’t take spin, nothing.

“The conditions didn’t really suit my game. It was better for Bogdan, and she won.”

Both players’ discomfort with the heavy conditions was evident in the 12 breaks of serve throughout the course of the hour and a half match. In fact, Bogdan was the only one to manage to hold in the opening set, doing so twice to put herself firmly ahead in the score.

Jankovic was able to impose her game more in the second set, and broke Bogdan’s serve three times to climb to a 5-4 lead and bring up three set points. The Romanian denied her the chance to even the scoreboard and broke right back.

“I just wanted to continue playing and not think about the score or anything else,” Bogdan said of the nerve-wracking moment. “Sometimes you get really nervous and you can’t control your emotions. I knew who she was and what a great champion she was, but I just tried not to think about that. I just kept going and believed in myself.”

Bodgan powered through to take the next two games and book a spot in her second WTA quarterfinal of her career.

“It’s definitely one of the greatest victories I’ve had until now,” Bodgan said. “I can’t compare it to any other match I’ve played.”

Bogdan will face Tereza Martincova in the next round. The Czech came away the winner in her match against lucky loser Lyudmyla Kichenok, the author of last round’s big upset of defending champion Teliana Pereira.

No.3 seed Monica Puig had a more straightforward road to the quarterfinals after defeating Olga Savchuk 6-0, 6-4.

After being completely shut out in the first set, Savchuk came out swinging in the second, playing more aggressively and hitting more winners. The change of tactic wasn’t enough to breakthrough against the Puerto Rican’s solid hitting, and Puig earned the decisive break in the ninth game to take the match after barely past an hour.

“It’s nice to be back here in Latin America where I have my roots,” Puig said after the match. “It feels very nice to be representing as the No.1 Latin American player. There’s always a lot of pride and responsibility on my shoulders, but I like it.”

Up next for Puig is the No.8 seed Naomi Osaka, a familiar face for her as the two have been practicing together earlier in the week.

“She definitely hits the ball very hard and has a big serve,” she said. “I’ll just focus on my game and do what I need to do put her in trouble, but I have a lot of respect for her of course.”

Also into the quarterfinals is No.4 seed Jelena Ostapenko who is set to take on No.6 seed Timea Babos. Ostapenko comfortably dispatched Argentina’s Catalina Pella 6-2, 6-3, while Babos came through after a commanding win over Alizé Lim, dropping just one game in the 6-0, 6-1 romp.

No.2 seed Irina-Camelia Begu dashed the last of the Brazilian hopes for a home champion as she defeated Paula Cristina Goncalves in straight sets. Goncalves was one of five Brazilians in the draw and the only one to advance past the first round, but she couldn’t move on against Begu, who downed her 6-1, 6-2. She’ll play No.7 seeded Nao Hibino next after the Japanese player edged Veronica Cepede Royg 6-3, 7-6(6).

In 2004 the Olympics returned to its spiritual birthplace, Athens, and after three successive gold medals, the United States’ stranglehold on tennis at the Games was finally loosened by a brilliant Belgian…

Athens, Greece, 2004
Athens Olympic Tennis Center
Hardcourt

There is a school of thought that suggests peaking for a big tournament is all about preparation; carefully choosing how much to play and, more importantly, when, in order to maximize the chance of success.

In Athens, Justine Henin threw that theory out of the window.

Coming into the tournament on the back of a 10-week layoff due to a mystery viral infection, there were plenty of questions surrounding what sort of shape the World No.1 was in.

Answers from the early rounds were inconclusive – Henin was rarely forced out of first gear, sweeping past her first four opponents without dropping a set.

In the semifinals, though, any lingering doubts were well and truly extinguished as she battled life and limb with the mercurial Anastasia Myskina for nearly three hours, recovering from 5-1 down in the third before finally triumphing, 7-5, 5-7, 8-6.

Twenty-four hours later she had to drag her weary limbs back on court to face World No.2 Amélie Mauresmo.

Remarkably, there was not a hint of fatigue in her play, as she skipped across the baseline, her elegant groundstrokes at their fluent best. Instead, it was Mauresmo a step off the pace, chasing shadows as she was pushed one way, then another.

After just one hour and 15 minutes, Henin had arrived at match point. Fittingly, it was another textbook point that won it for her – a crisp backhand drive down the line, setting up the easiest of overheads, which the Belgian gleefully accepted to become her nation’s first female gold medalist in 20 years.

“I can tell you honestly that I was always dreaming about Grand Slams,” Henin said. “But now maybe I change my mind tonight, because it’s different.

“You feel like you’re playing for the whole country, for the colors of your country. That’s something really different. When you’re in a Grand Slam, you’re alone.”

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Olympic Memories: Sydney
Olympic Memories: Atlanta
Olympic Memories: Barcelona
Olympic Memories: Seoul