Australian Open Final Preview
A preview of the 2017 Australian Open final between Serena and Venus Williams.
A preview of the 2017 Australian Open final between Serena and Venus Williams.
Before the start of the Taiwan Open – which kicks off right on Lunar New Year – players got a chance to celebrate at WTA Taiwan Welcome Party!
Elina Svitolina, Lucie Safarova and Jelena Jankovic were some of the stars of the night.
Some of Asia’s biggest names in tennis were in attendance too, including last year’s finalist Misaki Doi of Japan and last year’s doubles champions, Chan Hao-Ching and Chan Yung-Jan of Taiwan.
Keeping with the theme of tennis and Taiwanese culture, many of the desserts were local favorites with a tennis twist.
Looks tasty!
The Ws paid homage to the W Hotel in Taipei City, which was the party’s venue.
A master chef was on hand to instruct Francesca Schiavone, Sam Stosur, Hao-Ching, Jung-Jan and Svitolina in making Chinese dumplings – which are very popular in Taiwan during the Lunar New Year.
Also as a part of the holiday, each player was given a red envelope. It’s local tradition to put money in red envelopes and give them away to people, which brings good luck and fortune.
Serena Williams leads the field on the Road to Singapore leaderboard after her 23rd Grand Slam triumph; who else features in the Top 8 after the Australian Open?
Chapter four of tennis’ history as a modern day Olympic sport was written in Sydney as the Games entered the new millennium and a new generation of stars looked to make their mark…
Sydney, Australia, 2000
Sydney Olympic Park Tennis Center
Hardcourt
The Olympic motto inscribed above the player’s entrance to the Sydney Olympic Tennis Center reads “Citius, altius, fortius”, and it is fitting that the player who moved faster, jumped higher and hit stronger than any other in 2000 was the one with a gold medal draped round her neck at the end of the Games.
Looking back, it is strange to think that going into the 2000 season there were question marks hanging over Venus Williams. Since breaking through at the 1997 US Open, Williams had struggled to deliver the results her talent deserved, watching her rivals – Martina Hingis, Lindsay Davenport and even sister, Serena – take home the major prizes.
This all changed in 2000 as Williams finally shook off her tag as tennis’ nearly woman by winning Wimbledon and the US Open. On the back of these triumphs, she arrived Down Under riding high on a 26-match winning streak and, despite not being on top of the rankings, was definitely the player to beat.
Her principal rivals for gold in Sydney were compatriots Lindsay Davenport and Monica Seles as the United States looked to continue its dominance of tennis at the Games.
However, for Davenport, who struck gold four years earlier, the Games would end early, when a foot injury forced her to withdraw prior to her second round-match with Rossana de los Ríos.
Seles, meanwhile, eager to make up for the disappointment of a quarterfinal exit in Atlanta, was in fearsome form, racing past her first four opponents and into the semifinals. Waiting for her there was Williams.
In four previous meetings between the two, Seles has won a solitary set and her fortunes were not about to change; despite a mid-match walkabout on serve, Williams always had the upper hand, eventually winning in three.
The final itself proved to be something of an anticlimax.
Few expected 18-year-old Elena Dementieva to make it that far, and for the first set she looked in a state of shock herself. By the time she did settle, it was too late, Williams had found her groove and was racing off towards the finish line.
The harder the Russian tried, the better Williams played. Whatever she attempted – inside out forehands, down the line backhands all came back with interest – merely succeeded in inspiring the American.
Before long match point had arrived, and moments later Williams was dancing round the court, racquet in one hand, flag in the other. A memorable end to a memorable summer.
——
Olympic Memories: Atlanta
Olympic Memories: Barcelona
Olympic Memories: Seoul
Roberta Vinci has Tuesday’s shot of the day at the St Petersburg Ladies Trophy.
Elina Svitolina has Tuesday’s shot of the day at the Taiwan Open.
Play will begin at Rio’s newly built Olympic Tennis Center on Saturday, but before then the WTA’s finest have been limbering up…
Venus Williams won gold in Sydney and was working hard ahead of her record-equalling fifth Olympics.
And after practice Venus was only too happy to fulfil her sisterly duties.
Fresh from her title run in Stanford, World No.13 Johanna Konta is a dark horse in the singles.
While British No.2 Heather Watson will hope to improve on her second-round showing at London 2012.
No.2 seed Angelique Kerber was all smiles ahead of her second Olympics.
Russia’s Svetlana Kuznetsova and Daria Kasatkina were also hard at work on the practice courts.
Kasatkina is one of just three teenagers in the singles draw in Rio.
Elena Vesnina had Wednesday’s shot of the day at the St. Petersburg Ladies Trophy.
January was packed with plenty of amazing shots – we narrowed it down to the five best.
In the end, it Hot Shot Queen Agnieszka Radwanska, who turned defense to offense against Christina McHale at the Apia International Sydney. En route to the final, the former World No.2 used all her scrambling skills to end the rally with a screaming forehand winner.
Click here to watch all of January’s finalists.
Final Results for January’s WTA Shot Of The Month presented by Cambridge Global Payments
1. Agnieszka Radwanska (76%)
2. Julia Goerges (11%)
3. Yulia Putintseva (7%)
3. Karolina Pliskova (4%)
5. Alizé Cornet (2%)
2016 WTA Shot of the Month Winners
January: Caroline Wozniacki
February: Agnieszka Radwanska
March: Agnieszka Radwanska
April: Monica Niculescu
May: Simona Halep
June: Agnieszka Radwanska
July: Simona Halep
August: Agnieszka Radwanska
September: Kirsten Flipkens
October: Angelique Kerber
How it works:
Five shots are selected by wtatennis.com
Winner is then determined by a fan vote on wtatennis.com
Yulia Putintseva reached her first Premier-level semifinal at the St. Petersburg Ladies Trophy, outlasting No.3 seed Svetlana Kuznetsova in three sets.