Vesnina Latest Lendl Effect Beneficiary
Despite the degrees of separation, Elena Vesnina proved most prescient prior to the Wimbledon fortnight when expecting a boost in form thanks to Ivan Lendl.
Despite the degrees of separation, Elena Vesnina proved most prescient prior to the Wimbledon fortnight when expecting a boost in form thanks to Ivan Lendl.
Karolina Pliskova has Saturday’s shot of the day at the Qatar Total Open.
DUBAI/BUDAPEST – The Middle East Swing takes the tour into the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships, the first Premier 5 event of the 2017 season. Meanwhile, tennis returns to Budapest for the inaugural Hungarian Ladies Open. What are the top stories to look out for in what promises to be another wild week on the WTA tour?
Check out 10 things to know right here on wtatennis.com:
Doha?❤? pic.twitter.com/piEpXrFcxK
— Karolina Pliskova (@KaPliskova) February 18, 2017
1. Pliskova closes in on Doha/Dubai double.
Since the Middle East swing was created in 2001, just two women have swept both events: Martina Hingis (2001) and Justine Henin (2007). Karolina Pliskova put on a comprehensive performance at the Qatar Total Open to become the first to win two titles in 2017; the Czech is seeded No.2 in Dubai and opens against either St. Petersburg Ladies Trophy champ Kristina Mladenovic or Shenzhen Open winner Katerina Siniakova.
2. Kerber gets crack at No.1.
Angelique Kerber lost the top spot after Serena Williams won the Australian Open, but the German could take it back should she win Dubai. As the top seed, she’ll play countrywoman and wildcard Mona Barthel, who is working her way back from a disastrous 2016 that saw her sit out several months due to illness. Can the two-time Grand Slam champion turn around a tough start to 2017?
Your #DDFtennis top three seeds, ladies and gentlemen pic.twitter.com/OjwGnHHcoG
— Reem Abulleil (@ReemAbulleil) February 19, 2017
3. Cibulkova in the swing of things.
Dominika Cibulkova admitted to having a slow start to the season when press during All-Access Hour. Two straight semifinals and a 400th career match win have given her a big bump heading into Dubai, where the Slovak is seeded No.3. Her first opponent will nonetheless be tricky, as Ekaterina Makarova won their most recent match in Melbourne.
4. Another Radwanska/Pironkova rematch?
Speaking of Melbourne rematches, No.4 seed Agnieszka Radwanska could play dangerous floater Tsvetana Pironkova in her opening round; the two have split their last two matches at the French Open and Down Under. But the Bulgarian will have to get past Hobart International champion Elise Mertens for a chance at pulling off the upset.
On Top of the World! @GarbiMuguruza enjoys a breathtaking sunset at the ? tallest building, the @BurjKhalifa! pic.twitter.com/POJrzLwn6M
— WTA (@WTA) February 19, 2017
5. Muguruza’s cultural revolution.
Garbiñe Muguruza has enjoyed a solid start to 2017 and is already enjoying her time in Dubai – taking in the sights like the Burj Khalifa. The No.5 seed opens against either Kateryna Bondarenko or qualifier Aryna Sabalenka, with Radwanska looming in the last eight.
6. Svitolina seeks a big breakthrough.
Elina Svitolina starts 2017 with a win over then-No.1 Kerber and a title run at the Taiwan Open. The Ukrainian youngster heads to Dubai looking for more of both, with a first Premier title firmly in her sights. Seeded in Cibulkova’s quarter, Svitolina opens against qualifier Zhang Saisai, with Naomi Osaka serving as possible third round opposition.
Into the 2nd round ! @DDFTennis #DDFtennis #FlyWithCaro @Nikecourt @yonex_tennis ???????✈️?? pic.twitter.com/jV570InLHI
— Caroline Garcia (@CaroGarcia) February 19, 2017
7. Big teams reunite in doubles.
The first big event since the Australian Open sees several familiar teams pair up in Dubai, led by top seeds Caroline Garcia and Kristina Mladenovic, and Olympic Gold medalists Ekaterina Makarova and Elena Vesnina. The draw also features the return of Martina Hingis and Chan Yung-Jan, who teamed up for the first time in Doha, reaching the semifinals.
8. Babos does Budapest.
Timea Babos caps a career-best 12 months with a hero’s welcome at home in Hungary. One of three hometown favorites in the draw – leading wildcards Dalma Galfi and Fanny Stollar – Babos plays her first round against wildcard Ipek Soylu, who won the Huajin Securities WTA Elite Trophy Zhuhai in doubles last fall.
First time playing on a court made up of— WOOD! ???#Budapest #WTA pic.twitter.com/nwygHF4C88
— Irina Falconi (@IrinaFalconi) February 18, 2017
9. Safarova shoots for first title in 10 months.
Lucie Safarova last took home a WTA title at home in Prague, having more than a few ups and downs since then. The Czech veteran is seeded second in Budapest, with Magda Linette drawn as her first opponent. Can the former World No.5 breakthrough in Bedapest?
10. Goerges attempts to erase Fed Cup disappointment.
Julia Goerges had a strong start to her season, upsetting Caroline Wozniacki en route to the semifinals of the ASB Classic, but a knee injury sustained at Fed Cup threatend to derail her momentum. Seeded third in Budapest, Goerges opens against a qualifier in what will be likely be an important test for the big-hitting German.
Caroline Garcia takes on Johanna Larsson in the first round of the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships.
Garbiñe Muguruza visits the Burj Khalifa, the world’s tallest structure, before playing her opening round match at the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships.
LONDON, Great Britain – Just hours after winning her seventh Wimbledon crown and a historic 22nd major title, Serena Williams was back on Centre Court to join Venus Williams in the final of Ladies Doubles. The sisters extended their doubles dominance and improved their record to 14-0 in Grand Slam finals by taking the title, powering past Timea Babos and Yaroslava Shvedova 6-3, 6-4.
“It was really special to be out there again, to win Wimbledon in doubles. We love it, we love playing doubles, we love being together,” Serena said after the match.
“I had just enough time to change and get the ankles re-taped. It was fine. I didn’t want to warm down.”
It had been four years since the Williams sisters featured in a major doubles final – their victory at the 2012 Wimbledon Ladies Doubles Championships was the last time they reached this stage. With today’s victory they hold 14 Grand Slam titles together, putting them at second place on the list of most doubles titles in the Open Era. Only Martina Navratilova and Pam Shriver have more, at 20 titles.
“Watching Serena playing earlier was amazing and I was so into that,” Venus said of her younger sister’s historic win earlier in the day.
“We had to hit the reset button to get ready for the doubles. She brought the energy from game one.”
The sisters came out firing straight away against the No.5 seeds Babos and Shvedova. After trading breaks early on, the Williamses grabbed the decisive break at 4-3 after a vicious Venus crosscourt backhand split the court and left Babos and Shvedova stranded.
Despite firing off a double fault while serving for the match, Venus quickly redeemed herself on the next point as Serena picked off a backhand volley to seal the title.
The Williamses joined up again for doubles for the first time this year at the Internazionali BNL d’Italia with an eye on the Summer Games in Rio later in the season. After a pair of false starts – a first-round loss in Rome and an early exit at the French Open – they look to be peaking just in time for the Olympics, where they’re seeking their fourth doubles gold medal.
#SAPStatOfTheDay: This is the fourth time @SerenaWilliams has won BOTH #Wimbledon singles and doubles titles! pic.twitter.com/GZLHjzLMIa
— WTA (@WTA) July 9, 2016
Watch as Angelique Kerber, Dominika Cibulkova, Karolina Pliskova, Garbiñe Muguruza and the top seeds at the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships take to the practice courts.
LONDON, Great Britain – Serena Williams wasn’t sure how she found herself at the net on match point. At least not for as long as she did. But as was the case at the Australian Open, Angelique Kerber dug in and made her hit that extra shot, poking, prodding, and counterpunching as we’e seen the German do so well. Kerber was not going to give it away. Serena had to earn it. And as she finally put away the last ball with a casual forehand volley into the open court, the 34-year-old American fell to the turn and laid still.
Finally. No.22. Finally.
“On match point I hit a great shot and she got it back and I was like, ‘How appropriate that I have to win this at the net because I’m never at the net,” Serena told ESPN after the match with a laugh.
For nearly a year, Serena’s path to her Open Era record-tying 22nd major was paved with crushing disappointment. Her nervous, three-set loss to Roberta Vinci at the 2015 US Open was, in her own words, heartbreaking. What should have been the Summer of Serena – a coronation of her greatness looked sure to come at the US Open with the completion of the Calendar Slam – ended with a shock loss. She took the rest of the season off and returned at the Australian Open in January, again in search of No.22. Again she came up short, as Kerber blocked her way with brick-wall defense.
The big-match losses continued. Victoria Azarenka beat her in the final of the BNP Paribas Open. Then came a loss to Svetlana Kuznetsova at the Miami Open. When she earned her first title of the season at the Italian Open in Rome, she looked back to her dominant ways. Then came a one-way loss to Garbiñe Muguruza in the French Open final.
“I have definitely had some sleepless nights, if I’m just honest, with a lot of stuff,” Serena said. “Coming so close. Feeling it, not being able to quite get there.”
And then things changed. Serena willed the change. She woke up one morning after the French Open and decided to stop feeling sorry for herself. She would not allow herself to be the victim of some universal conspiracy to keep her off the podium. She was the architect of her own destiny. And in that moment, the Serena Williams took back the reigns.
“One day I woke and I felt different,” Serena told a small pool of reporters after the final. “I felt I can do better. I can do this. Not only can I do this but I’m going to do this and there’s nothing in this world that’s going to stop me.”
The change in mentality showed both on and off the court. I wrote last week about the clear change in how Serena spoke about herself throughout the fortnight. That was based on just my observation. I put that theory to Serena after the final. She agreed.
Q: One thing that I’ve noticed with you in the press room here and off the court as well is there does seem to be a re-embracing of “I’m Serena. I’ve done what I’ve done.” How far away did you think that you got from that last year? I feel like you were trying to diffuse the pressure a little bit of the run up to New York, saying “I’m just doing my best, that’s all I can do.” But it seems like you kind of recaptured yourself here.
A: Yeah, I definitely think so. I feel like… God, get it, girl [laughs]. Wow. Yes. Very well said.
While she was dishing out bagels on court, reminding her opponents and anyone watching this was a focused, determined, positive Serena, off-court she took every opportunity to remind reporters that her last three Slam losses did not change her character as a champion. At times it felt like it was just as important to say it out loud to herself as it was for the press to hear.
“I definitely feel like when I lose I don’t feel as good about myself. But then I have to remind myself that you are Serena Williams. Do you know what you’ve done, who you are, what you continue to do not only in tennis, off the court? You’re awesome. I think that shows the human side of me, that I’m not a robot. I only expect perfection.”
For the first time since 2006, we saw a rematch of a Grand Slam final in the same season. Kerber flummoxed Serena with her defense at the Australian Open and there is no denying that Serena was unsettled throughout the match with nerves. On Saturday, Serena controlled those nerves. In fact, she controlled everything. On the surface that rewards her game like no other, she served 13 aces, one of which wiped out the only break point she faced all day. She fired 39 winners to 21 unforced errors on a day when Kerber forced her to earn every inch.
“Serena was serving unbelievable today,” Kerber said afterwards. “At the end I was trying everything, but she deserved it today. She really played an unbelievable match. I think we both play on a really high level. I tried everything.
“I mean, I think I was not the one who lost the match, I think she won the match. Just one can win, and today Serena deserved it.”
On a day when Kerber hit just nine unforced errors in the match, Serena had to win it. And on this day, instead of throwing her hands up to the heavens asking how Kerber could get that one ball back every time, she simply gripped her racquet tighter and took control.
“We had a lot of long, tough points,” Serena said. “I think every single point I worked for, and nothing was given to me.”
That sums up much of Serena Williams’ career. With her seventh Wimbledon title she is now tied with Stefanie Graf for the Open Era record in major titles. She now just two wins short of Martina Navratilova’s Open Era record of Slam wins. She has won more matches at Wimbledon than any other active player. On Monday she will remain No.1, the oldest woman to hold the top ranking, for her 301st week.
After the match the BBC ran a montage of Serena’s march to No.22, narrated by Serena herself reading Maya Angelou’s poem “Still I Rise.” It was a moving montage of all her trials and tribulations over the last 12 months.
“I knew Maya when she was around,” Serena told a pool of reporters. “I used to go hang out with her. She was someone I really admired and I think her work should always live on.
“It’s an extremely powerful poem to me and it meant a lot to me last year. It’s one of my favorite poems of hers and I think it’s so powerful. The words are so strong and so encouraging. And I think it describes me. I really do.
“One of the most powerful lines that I like is when she says don’t get me twisted with your bitter twisted lies. Were you happy to see me down, were you sad when I fell down? And then one of my favorite parts is ‘I’m the hope and the dream of a slave.’
“So those really, really resonate with me because that’s what my ancestors were. I’m the product of that. If you break down those words, it was a dream probably for my ancestors to be here and to see what they, because of their perseverance, were able to let me have this opportunity. It’s so touching and it’s so amazing that because of that I do have that opportunity.”
We may never know the true depth of the emotional impact this last year – or really these last 20 years – has had on her personally. But her internalization of the words and the message, one of hope, of overcoming, of being judged and misunderstood, of celebrating her black history while defying it, speaks volumes of where she’s been and how she tapped into that inner strength to get back to where she wants to be.
Earlier in the week, a reporter asked what it feels like to go down as one of the greatest female athletes of all time. Serena did not blink. She did not hesitate.
“I prefer the word ‘one of the greatest athletes of all time’.”
Rise up. Serena is back.
All photos courtesy of Getty Images.
Dubai Duty Free Ambassador Caroline Wozniacki and No.4 seed Agnieszka Radwanska posed for a quick snap at the Dubai Player Party.
Colm McLoughlin, CEO and Executive Vice Chairman of Dubai Duty Free, and wife Breeda grabbed a photo with brand ambassadors Wozniacki and Zhang Shuai.
The glamorous player party at the Gardens at Jumeirah Creekside Hotel showcased the best of Emirati hospitality.
Zhang even tried on an Emirati dress for the occasion!
But some of the night’s biggest attractions were the majestic falcons that Dubai is famous for.
Americans Lauren Davis and Abigail Spears didn’t look too confident with them…
…but Spears got the hang of it eventually!
Olympic champion Monica Puig looked totally relaxed with the majestic bird…
…as did Radwanska!
The 2012 Dubai champion has clearly had experience holding falcons here before.
Dubai Duty Free has been an ambassador for women’s tennis in the Middle East since 2004, and they pulled out all the stops for one of the WTA calendar’s favorite events.
Martina Hingis even made a couple of friends during the party…
…along with Dubai Duty Free Ambassador Wozniacki!
There was fun, dancing, magic and more at the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships Player Party!
GSTAAD, Switzerland – Two weeks on from facing Serena Williams at the home of tennis, Amra Sadikovic continued her career renaissance with victory on a slightly more low-key, but no less important, stage.
Playing on home soil, at the Ladies Championship Gstaad, Sadikovic produced a battling display to see off Rebecca Peterson, 6-2, 3-6, 6-3, in just under two hours.
Struggling for motivation and money, Sadikovic walked away from the game two years ago. Inspired to return following the fairytale comeback of fellow Swiss Timea Bacsinszky, Sadikovic has been making up for lost time, already reaching a higher ranking than during the first phase of her career.
And against Peterson there was enough to suggest that her rise up the tennis pyramid may not yet be over, reeling off the final three games to emerge triumphant.
“It is a big difference, playing Wimbledon and now Gstaad, but I have to say I’m happy here – I’ve always played good anywhere back home. Even though it’s much smaller than Wimbledon it’s a nice atmosphere,” Sadikovic said.
“It was quite easy [moving back to clay], I think it took two days and I felt good. I had more problems with the altitude, so I had to fight for every point as I was not comfortable at all. I tried to mix it up, use my variety and even though I missed a few balls in the second set it made the difference in the end.”
Also advancing in the top half of the draw were Mandy Minella, Claire Feuerstein and Irina Khromacheva.
Feuerstein recovered impressively from a slow start to defeat Sílvia Soler-Espinosa, 2-6, 6-2, 6-0, while Khromacheva ably defused Lucie Hradecka, breaking six times en route to a 6-2, 7-5 victory.
Minella bounced back from her heartbreaking Wimbledon exit, defeating Ons Jabeur in an equally dramatic encounter. Jabeur served for the match in the second set only to see Minella fightback and eventually triumph, 4-6, 7-6(5), 6-4.
#SADIKOVIC Amra won her 1. Round Match against #PETERSON Rebecca 6:2,3:6,3:6. #WTA Gstaad #thegirlsarebackinthealps pic.twitter.com/rmdoilcfFp
— Ladies Open Gstaad (@WTA_Gstaad) July 11, 2016