Tennis News

LONDON, Great Britain – Queen B has landed on Centre Court.

Beyoncé and Jay-Z were prominently featured in World No.1 Serena Williams’ player box as the top seed attempted to win a record-tying 22nd major title against Australian Open champion and countrywoman to current record holder Stefanie Graf, Angelique Kerber.

The American artist was in London for the United Kingdom leg of her “Formation” tour, performing at Wembley Stadium on July 2-3.

Serena's player box = actual royal box. pic.twitter.com/xs9uJMzYN7

— René Denfeld (@Renestance) July 9, 2016

Serena made a much-publicized cameo in Beyoncé’s “Sorry” music video off the superstar’s latest album, Lemonade.

Elina Svitolina

2016 Quick Hits
Week 1 Ranking: No.20
Year-End Ranking: No.14 (Career-High No.14, March 7)
Season Highlights: Title at Kuala Lumpur, finals at New Haven & Zhuhai
Best Major Result: QF (French Open)

14 Days until the 2017 #WTA season! pic.twitter.com/DIIg2qWhUX

— WTA (@WTA) 18 de diciembre de 2016

2017 Outlook

Some players adhere to the policy of “If it’s not broken, don’t fix it,” but Elina Svitolina isn’t one of those people.

After a career-best season – which saw her rise to her highest ranking of No.14, upset two different WTA World No.1s, pocket a title at Kuala Lumpur and reach the finals at New Haven and Zhuhai – the always-improving Svitolina announced a new coaching team with the goal of getting herself past the final hurdles and cementing her spot at the game’s upper echelons.

A busy off-season schedule in 2015 stunted Svitolina’s progress earlier this year, but she learned her lesson and heads into 2017 with a clear objective:

“Of course, the main goal is to be Top 10,” Svitolina told WTA Insider at the Huajin Securities WTA Elite Trophy Zhuhai. “I’ll try to have a normal off-season this time, work really hard physically, and mentally. It’s all about the small details, so I’ll be trying to work on those and make little changes.”

Looking ahead to 2017, Ukraine’s No.1 player will start out the year rested and in prime position to make big gains. With just a handful of points to defend in the first two months of the year, Svitolina looks ever closer to a big leap into the WTA’s highest rankings.

Though she didn’t walk away with a sixth Wimbledon title, Venus Williams nonetheless rocketed up the Road to Singapore leaderboard, moving up almost 40 spots into the Top 20 at No.18.

The former No.1 and 2008 BNP Paribas WTA Finals Singapore presented by SC Global champion turned back the clock at the All England Club, reaching her first Grand Slam semifinal since the 2010 US Open before falling to eventual finalist and reigning Australian Open champion Angelique Kerber.

Elena Vesnina broke new ground over the fortnight, reaching her first career semifinal in singles with wins over doubles partner Ekaterina Makarova and red-hot Dominika Cibulkova, who had upset RTS No.5 and defending WTA Finals champion Agnieszka Radwanska in the round of 16. The Russian has twice qualified for the WTA Finals in doubles – both times with Makarova – reaching the final her debut appearance in 2013. Her Wimbledon run has been a culmination of impressive singles results throughout 2016, moving her up 11 spots from No.23 to No.12.

Surprise quarterfinalists Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova and Yaroslava Shvedova also made big strides on the Road to Singapore leaderboard; Pavlyuchenkova made her best-ever run at a grass court tournament and up 32 spots to No.34, while Shvedova – she of the 2012 “Golden Set” at Wimbledon against Sara Errani – moved up 40 spots of her own to crack the Top 40 on the leaderboard.

CoCo Vandeweghe capped a solid grass court season by reaching the second week of Wimbledon for the second year in a row, roaring up nine spots to No.27.

The Top 8 on the Road to Singapore leaderboard remained largely unchanged following an exciting week at the All England Club, save for 2014 WTA Finals runner-up Simona Halep reclaiming the No.8 position over Madison Keys, who fell to the Romanian in the fourth round.

RTS Ranking Movers

Yaroslava Shvedova: No.78 to No.38 (+40)
Venus Williams: No.57 to No.18 (+39)
Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova: No.66 to No.34 (+32)
Elena Vesnina: No.23 to No.12 (+11)
CoCo Vandeweghe: No.36 to No.27 (+9)
Simona Halep: No.9 to No.8 (+1)

Click here to see the full Road To Singapore leaderboard standings following Wimbledon.

Senior Writer Courtney Nguyen wraps up a strong fortnight at SW19, which ended with Serena Williams winning her seventh Wimbledon title to tie Stefanie Graf’s Open Era Record of 22 major titles overall. Go inside the press room to hear from Serena herself after her big win on Saturday, and Courtney is joined by two great analysts in former player and current commentator Rennae Stubbs and tennis historian and reporter Steve Flink to discuss Serena’s performance in the final, her growing rivalry with Angelique Kerber, and where No.22 places Serena in the annals of tennis history.

Stubbs on Serena: “I want people to understand how hard it is to do what she’s doing. I think that get taken for granted because she has the serve, the power, physically her presence is so much more imposing than anyone else. People think it comes easily. It doesn’t. The pressure on Serena every single time she wakes up in the morning on match day is to win the match. Any great player will tell you how stressful it is every single day. I know what Steffi went through and one thing Steffi regrets is she didn’t enjoy the victories more. But my response to that is that Steffi wouldn’t have been as great as she was because she wanted more. If you start to enjoy it you think you’ve done your job. You’re satisfied. Serena, just as Steffi was, won’t be satisfied.”

Flink: Looking at the Open Era, Steffi and Martina had much more consistency than what Serena had, and she’s making up for lost time these last four years. If she passes Steffi and even catches or surpasses Margaret Court, then she has a very strong claim at being the best ever. She only had two years earlier in her career at No.1 in the world, now she’s on her way of doing it maybe for four straight years. That was for me the biggest hole in her record until now, not enough years at No.1, not enough consistency. But she’s been so consistent over these last four years that I think she’s going to be able to overcome the deficiencies of the earlier years. There’s going to be a real serious argument about whether Serena, Steffi, or Martina as the best player of the modern era.

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Simona Halep

2016 Quick Hits
Week 1 Ranking: No.2
Year-End Ranking: No.4
Season Highlights: Madrid, Bucharest, Montréal Champion, Singapore RR
Best Major Result: QF (Wimbledon, US Open)

2017 Outlook

An injury-addled off-season left Halep unprepared for the season to come, and tough losses at the Australian Open and Middle East left many to question what was to come next from the former World No.2

Halep began to slowly silence the doubters by March, reaching back-to-back quarterfinals in Indian Wells and Miami, and truly soared once she hit her beloved clay, winning her second Premier Mandatory title at the Mutua Madrid Open. The Romanian star credited the success at one of her favorite tournaments – run by fellow Romanian Ion Tiriac – with a new approach alongisde coach Darren Cahill.

“I had many days training with Darren,” she explained to WTA Insider. “I wanted that. I asked him when he made the schedule in January that I wanted this week to prepare with him here in Madrid. So I knew what I want to do.

“It’s much better to come a few days earlier. You feel the courts, you feel the atmosphere of the tournament, and you feel like you are into it already when the tournament starts.”

Halep continued to feel the courts this summer, winning two more titles at home in Bucharest and Montréal, where she also paired Monica Niculescu to reach the doubles final.

“It was very different because I’m not used to playing doubles,” she said in her Rogers Cup Champions Corner. “I got a little bit tired in the end. But it also helped me to play some doubles matches because I practiced the return, the serve. That helped me a lot in singles; I had tough opponents there. It’s been a great week.”

The former French Open finalist played one of her most impressive matches in Flushing, pushing then-World No.1 Serena Williams to the brink at the US Open.

“It was tough,” she said of the loss. “It is tough. I’m a little bit sad, but I have just to take the positives, because I have a lot going ahead.”

For the youngest woman in the Top 4, there is certainly still more ahead, and plenty more to come in 2017.

Agnieszka Radwanska

2016 Quick Hits
Week 1 Ranking: No.5
Year-End Ranking: No.3
Season Highlights: Title at Shenzhen, New Haven, Beijing
Best Major Result: SF (Australian Open)

3 Days left until the 2017 #WTA season! pic.twitter.com/TVSyPn5BV1

— WTA (@WTA) December 29, 2016

2017 Outlook

Having made her big breakthrough with victory at last year’s BNP Paribas WTA Finals Singapore presented by SC Global, 2016 saw Agnieszka Radwanska consolidate her place at the very top of the tennis tree.

The Pole set the tone for another campaign characterized by its consistency in January, triumphing at Shenzhen before reaching the semifinals at the Australian Open where her winning run was finally halted by an on-song Serena Williams.

This good form continued throughout the year, but a major breakthrough proved elusive until Beijing, where she outclassed the high-flying Johanna Konta to collect a third Premier Mandatory crown. Despite playing herself into form at the perfect moment, there was to be no repeat in Singapore, her reign ended by a comprehensive semifinal defeat to Angelique Kerber.

Aside from at Melbourne Park, she was unable to make it beyond the last 16 at the majors, and the principal question surrounding Radwanska in 2017 will be whether she can defuse the game’s big hitters to go deep into a 128-player draw. To date, the 27-year-old’s only Grand Slam final came at Wimbledon in 2012, yet the recent success of fellow counterpuncher Angelique Kerber offers hope that a return is within her grasp.

Her 11th year on tour will begin in Shenzhen, where prize money totaling $750,000 – the highest of any International event on the calendar – has enticed a stellar field. Joining Radwanska in the draw will be two other members of the Top 10, Simona Halep and Johanna Konta. After this, she will head to Sydney to finalize preparations for the Australian Open alongside Kerber and Dominika Cibulkova.