Tennis News

NEWPORT, RI, USA – The International Tennis Hall of Fame officially welcomed two more WTA legends into the Hall of Fame family as seven-time Grand Slam champion Justine Henin was joined by Class of ’15’s Amélie Mauresmo were honored on Saturday’s Enshrinement Ceremony. Former No.1 Dinara Safina was also on hand to celebrate brother Marat’s own induction into the ITHF.

An Australian Open and Wimbledon champion – both in 2006 – Mauresmo was voted into the Hall of Fame last year, but was unable to attend the ceremony due to the birth of her son, Aaron.

The Class of 2016 (+ Mauresmo '15) @TennisHalloFame pic.twitter.com/5DprrfLWCW

— WTA Insider (@WTA_insider) July 16, 2016

The official enshrinement proved more than worth the wait for the Frenchwoman, who was introduced by former manager and WTA President, Micky Lawler.

“My heart is beating faster than it was on championship point for Amélie’s legendary 2006 Wimbledon title,” she began.

“Amélie’s superior game at the net, her elegance, and ease of movement are greatly missed. Among her unique qualities are her intelligence, her continuous drive for excellence, and her passion for a happy life. She is an extraordinary mom, armed with great compassion and an unmatched sense of humor. Amélie is the Queen of Hearts.

“For those of you who don’t know Amélie: when you call her, you are 100% certain of getting her voicemail with a recording that says, ‘If you’d like to leave a message, fine. But I will never call you back!’ – with great emphasis on ‘jamais.’

“Many who think they know her mistake her so-called ‘nerves’ or ‘uncertain trepidation,’ when in reality, she is first, incredibly respectful of her opponent, and second, as courageous as a lion, and as strong as her beloved little Aaron over there.”

.@AmeMauresmo poses with former manager and WTA President Micky Lawler @TennisHalloFame pic.twitter.com/ppDNseXNMw

— WTA Insider (@WTA_insider) July 16, 2016

Lawler went on to tell the story of helping align Mauresmo’s unique appeal with Reebok.

“As the No.1 player in the world in 2005, she was playing without a footwear or apparel contract, which is unheard of in our industry – especially if I am the manager. Sitting on that grassy area, I could feel Amélie’s disappointment and sadness by a certain lack of acceptance that was completely unjust. She had done everything right, but felt that the industry didn’t really believe in her.

“Reebok had just launched the campaign, ‘I Am What I Am,’ and that campaign was made for Amélie Mauresmo. With the help and unwavering support of the Reebok team, led by our extraordinary Dianne Hayes, we had Amélie’s beaming face on thousands of buses in Paris. Her smile said to millions of kids, ‘Live your life honestly. Live it fully, and live it with passion. Play to win, work hard, and never give up.'”

Mauresmo later took the stage and showed off that signature sense of humor with aplomb.

“You guys can call me; I’ll call you back, don’t worry!

“I’d to thank the Hall of Fame for postponing my induction and giving me the opportunity to be here with you today with my family. I’m a bit late, but it was worth it!

The Frenchwoman closed with an emotional plea for peace in the face of the Bastille Day attack in Nice.

“In Paris, Brussels, Tel Aviv. It has to stop. The only thing we can do to continue to be free, continue to be happy.”

16 Slams between them, @Justine_Henin poses with @MonicaSeles10s on the famed Horseshoe Court. pic.twitter.com/a1GjBqaPeO

— WTA Insider (@WTA_insider) July 16, 2016

Henin closed the ceremony after being introduced by Monica Seles, the only other woman to capture a hat trick of French Open titles, and the first big name to practice with a then-17-year-old Belgian back in 1999.

“As a fellow competitor of Justine,” Seles said, “what I always respected about her as I watched her rise from a junior to professional is that she never changed as a person. Justine’s journey reveals the power of a single person’s desire to achieve greatness in his or her own way.”

At 5’6″, Henin stood tall as she took the podium to tell her story of watching Seles win the third of her French Open titles, where she defeated Stefanie Graf in 1992.

“At six years old, I grew up in a small village in Belgium. I’d jump up and down on the bed like I won the French Open. But watching these two incredible women fighting with respect, passion, and dedication, it was a wonderful inspiration for me. I turned to my mom and told her that one day, I too would compete for this title.”

Henin: “I wasn't the biggest or the strongest. But like Amelie said, impossible is nothing. You have to believe.”??? pic.twitter.com/hTfStddetQ

— Tennis Hall of Fame (@TennisHalloFame) July 16, 2016

Just over a decade later, Henin fulfilled the promise she made to mother, Francoise – who had died of cancer when she was 12 – by defeating compatriot Kim Clijsters in the 2003 Roland Garros final.

“We were very lucky to be there at the same time,” she said earlier in the press conference. “I always say I wouldn’t have been the player I was without Kim. It was challenging being from a small country and being almost the same age. We traveled a lot together when we were young and were pretty close. When we became rivals on the tour, it became more competitive, but the respect was always there.

“Because of and with Kim, I was able to accomplish a lot of things. Seeing her succeed made me think I could do the same. Being No.1 and No.2 from a small country made the story different and made it more beautiful. She pushed me to get better and improve. It made us better players than we might have been.”

Safina was sitting in the front row of that very press conference as Marat was asked which of the brother-sister tandem was the better tennis player.

“What a stupid question! Of course, sister! Unfortunately, we weren’t so close when we were younger, because when I left for Spain at 14, she was eight. We were seeing each other only at Grand Slams, and it was a real pity that we couldn’t spend so much time together. We didn’t know each other and after a while we didn’t feel like brother and sister at some point because we were separated.

“Now we’re having a great time and finally I get to know her. She had great potential. Too bad she couldn’t make a Grand Slam winner, but she understands tennis much more than me, and she’s a better person.”

“He was my idol…I'm very proud of him.” Dinara here at @TennisHalloFame to support brother Marat Safin. pic.twitter.com/su9epPtjdB

— Blair Henley (@BlairHenley) July 16, 2016

All photos courtesy of Kate Whitney Lucey.

BRISBANE, Australia – No matter who wins Saturday’s final at the Brisbane International, one player will walk away with a drought-busting win. No.22 Victoria Azarenka is in her first final since Doha and aiming for her first title since Cincinnati in 2013, nearly two and a half years ago. Looking to stop her is No.10 Angelique Kerber, who will try and snag her first win in six tries over Azarenka.

The first week of the year began with much hand-wringing over the withdrawals and retirements of the Top 3 seeds in the tournament, with defending champion Maria Sharapova, World No.2 Simona Halep, and No.3 Garbiñe Muguruza exiting the tournament under a cloud of injury. It will end with a rematch of the best women’s match of 2015, when Azarenka got the better of Kerber in the third round of the US Open, winning 7-5, 2-6, 6-4 in a grueling match.

“We always bring the best out of each other, I think,” Azarenka said. “I mean, I hope we do. It was a pretty amazing match, so I hope we can put on a good show. I think the final deserves that.”

Azarenka has been in blistering form all week. She has dropped just 13 games in four matches, posting two bagel sets along the way. Her run in Brisbane most assuredly puts her on the shortlist of favorites at the Australian Open – she is, after all, a two-time champion in Melbourne – but Azarenka doesn’t want to get ahead of herself.

“I’m feeling pretty good right now,” she said. “I’m not saying anything besides that. It’s irrelevant. Tomorrow is a match. I’m looking forward to that. I never jump ahead. It can seem so close, yet so far. Done those mistakes before, and I’ll stick to being present.”

Kerber has looked just as sharp this week. Aside from dropping the first set of her tournament to Camila Giorgi, Kerber has been untouchable, notching wins over Giorgi, Madison Brengle, Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, and Carla Suárez Navarro. Most notably Kerber has unveiled a more aggressive gamestyle. A change of strings during the off-season – she now uses a Yonex hybrid and natural gut – has given her more pop on her groundstrokes.

“I was working a lot in the last few weeks on this, so I’m trying to transform it to the matches,” Kerber said of her newfound aggression. “It works good right now. Of course I must take the decision and just go for it and not hope that the other one will miss. I will try to make the points by myself.”

Looking towards Saturday’s final, the big focus point will be Kerber’s serve. Azarenka is one of, if not *the* best returner in the game when she’s at her best. Much of her 5-0 record against the German is a result of her ability to dominate Kerber’s second serve. Kerber hopes her off-season work on her serve will pay off now.

“I worked a lot in my off-season on my serve, and I’m feeling that the serve is also a little bit faster,” she said. “Also I’m trying to go for it with my second serve, not only pushing the ball. Of course that needs time. I think I’m on the good way. I’m feeling better on my serve.”

So will we see another three-set epic on Saturday? Kerber’s 2015 was defined by her participation in the year’s best matches. Earlier in the week Kerber’s compatriot and doubles partner Andrea Petkovic – the two are into the doubles final against Martina Hingis and Sania Mirza – was asked why her friend always finds herself embroiled in dramatic matches against the game’s best.

“I think one part of her game style is that she plays fast but just not too fast to make the other girls play well,” Petkovic said. “She’s too good for the lower-ranked players, but for the top players I think she [hits] exactly the pace they need to play really well.

“But Angie is somebody, when she gets challenged, she gets the best out of her as well. So I think these two things coming together just make for Hollywood, popcorn, great movie nights.”

Come back on Saturday as WTA Insider live blogs the final from Brisbane. The final begins at 7:30pm local time, 9:30am GMT.

As an athlete, top 25 doubles star Alla Kudryavtseva has long been in pursuit of physical excellence, but holds intellectual acument in equal standing, earning an online Bachelor’s of Science in Communications, her second degree and first at Indiana University East.

“I’ve always loved to learn,” she told WTA Insider from LaGuardia Airport on Monday. “I’m always trying to read and learn something, so I thought, ‘I’m doing all these things. Why don’t I try to get a degree?’

Kudryavtseva previously earned a degree in physical education back in Moscow, but was inspired to return to school by then-doubles partner Anastasia Rodionova, who is also at IU East studying business administration.

“Communications is a diverse degree, one that you can use in many different areas. I’m not quite sure what I want to do when I stop playing, so it just seemed like a good fit. Everything you do these days is with communications. Physical education was interesting at the time and very applicable to what I do as an athlete. I found this degree very applicable as well when it came to things like negotiations and persuasion, or even things like dissecting the news and what we see in media.

“It has been a really interesting journey and I learned a lot.”

“Alla was one of our finest students in the Communication Studies program and within the entirety of the School of Humanities and Social Sciences,” noted Ross Alexander, IU East’s Dean of the School of Humanities and Social Sciences. “Her professors consistently lauded her stellar work, professionalism, and the global perspective she brought to all her courses. She is among the very best we have at IU East.”

The former World No.56 had more than her share of setbacks in her final two semesters – inucrring an ACL injury just before finals – but perservered to receive her diploma on Tuesday at the Richmond campus’ Student Events and Activites Center. Through her various academic endeavors, this will be the first to have any proverbial pomp and circumstance.

“It has been a pleasure to host Alla on her first trip to the Richmond campus,” said IU East Chancellor Kathryn Cruz-Uribe. “We are honored to present her with her diploma. As an alumna, she will join a network of over 9,000 IU East graduates,” Cruz-Uribe said.

“I just turned 29, and from middle school to university, I’ve never been to an actual graduation ceremony,” Kudryavtseva admitted. “I always came to the office, picked up the diploma, and thank you very much!

“It’s difficult to be a student athlete; it takes a lot of discipline and commitment. No one is there to push you, so you’ve got to push yourself, and make sure you’re leaving appropriate time for assignments and reading. When grades start rolling in, that also adds stress, but luckily I’ve been a straight-A student, so I didn’t have to worry about anything.”

Kudryavtseva joins a growing cohort that includes former World No.1 Venus Williams, who became the first WTA player to graduate under the tour’s agreement with IU East. Current students include Olympic Gold medalist Monica Puig, Sloane Stephens, and Arina Rodionova. Also earning her diploma later this month is Irina Falconi; the former Georgia Tech standout won her first WTA title earlier this year in Bogota, and credited Lisa Grattan of the Women’s Tennis Benefits Association (WTBA) as one who encouraged her to return to the online classroom.

“Once I heard about how good of an opportunity it was, I realized I had to jump on it,” she explained in an email. “I was motivated to go the moment I heard about it! I know that having a degree is something important to me, so I knew I wanted to get it done.”

Like Rodionova, Falconi is also studying business administration, a field the American saw as a natural selection for one already balancing the business of athletics.

“I like to think that I am already a running business. I wanted to really learn everything there is to know about running a sound business, making budgets, and marketing myself.”

A second set of deadlines can prove daunting to the already-overloaded athletes, but Falconi found a way to make the grade through her tenure at IU East. 

“When I started the program four years ago, WiFi wasn’t everywhere and wasn’t reliable, so there were a few late nights where I had to drive or walk to a coffee shop to make sure I submitted something before the deadline.”

Both Falconi and Kudryavtseva stressed the importance of education, arguing it helped give them a better sense not only of their future, but also their present.

“My capstone project was a 40 page paper on athletic retirements, and that was a very interesting topic to choose,” Kudryavtseva said. “I learned about all the difficulties athletes face: loss of identity, and how unprepared many are for what comes next. An athlete’s network can affects them a lot, because it gets to a point where everyone they know is somehow involved in their sport.

“That made me evaluate my own circle of friends and I realized just how many people I know have played or do play or are somehow connected to the WTA or even ATP tour or college tennis. When I was younger, I thought I’d want to disconnect from the tennis world when I retired, but getting older, I don’t think I want to. You learn so much over a 15 year career that I couldn’t have this level of expertise in any other field; it’d be a waste if I completely disconnected.”

“I know that tennis won’t last forever, so I knew that having a degree in my back pocket would benefit me in the long run,” Falconi added. “I think that some players may be a bit intimidated by the idea of online schooling, but if you set your mind to it, you can accomplish it!”

All photos courtesy of Getty Images.