Tennis News

SINGAPORE – Eight-time WTA Finals champion Martina Navratilova believes this year’s tournament is gearing up to be the most competitive in recent memory.

Speaking at the official ticket launch for the BNP Paribas WTA Finals Singapore presented by SC Global, Navratilova gave her take on an intriguing start to the 2016 season and its early pacesetters.

In recent years, the indomitable Serena Williams has ruled the roost at the top of the game, however, the opening quarter to the new campaign has seen the emergence of a couple of rivals to her crown in the shape of Angelique Kerber and Victoria Azarenka.

It is a development that Navratilova thinks can only help the game. “We’ve been saying we need rivalries and right now there’s some competition – maybe not a rivalry quite yet – but certainly there’re a lot of players snapping at Serena’s heels in 2016,” she said.

“So the gap has gotten smaller and it may keep getting smaller because Serena won so many Slams last year – she won three out of the four – and has a lot of points to defend.”

While talk of Williams’ demise is premature – despite competing in only four tournaments, she sits in fourth place on the Road To Singapore leaderboard – her current reign atop the rankings could come under threat sooner rather than later.

“It will be difficult for her to keep this cushion [Williams is nearly 3,000 points ahead of No.2 Agnieszka Radwanska], but at the same time she’s still the queen! But it’s great that the players have been able to step up. I’ve been impressed by Victoria Azarenka winning both Indian Wells and Miami in pretty convincing fashion and of course Angelique Kerber beating Serena in a Grand Slam final.”

Kerber, Azarenka, Radwanska and Williams are the early leaders on the Road To Singapore. However, as last year proved, the identity of the eight qualifiers has the potential to go down to the wire.

“Last year we had I think four players trying to get the last spot in the last week of the season,” Navratilova added. “Players were going all around the world trying to get those points to get to the WTA Finals.

“It’s important to be consistent during the year so you don’t have to chase them at the end, but it’s exciting because you don’t know who’s going to be there and the players feel privileged to make that final eight – it means something.”

The tournament holds a special place in the heart of Navratilova, who believes it stands side-by-sde with the four Grand Slams: “It’s a great opportunity to finish the year on a great note and spring you into the next year. Or for some people the chance to salvage something from a season that wasn’t great, because for me it’s a fifth major.”

This year, the WTA Finals is once again offering the opportunity to rub shoulders with past and present players through its official hospitality program, Racquet Club.

“It’s a great way for people to get a feel for the tournament, feel for the sport and get close to the players. It’s a one-of-a-kind experience that you really don’t get anywhere else, where you can mingle with the athletes themselves rather than just watch them from a distance,” Navratilova, who has also been appointed as the first ever ambassador for the Racquet Club, said.

“So it’s a fantastic experience for the fans, the media and also the players. Because we’re kind of removed – you see the people but you don’t really pay attention but this way you can really mingle.”

Selected tickets for the tournament will go on sale this Friday and can be purchased on the revamped WTAFinals.com website. From May 6, further offerings will go on sale, including the new Family Day Package and All Singles Evening Pass.

For more information on hospitality and booking enquiries, please e-mail info@RacquetClub.sg or call +65 6826 2718.

MADRID Spain – On a maquee day in Madrid, all eight of the top seeds will be in attendance to play their first round at the Mutua Madrid Open. Which matches are must-sees?

Sunday, First Round

[1] Agnieszka Radwanska (POL #2) vs. Dominika Cibulkova (SVK #38)
Head-to-head: Radwanska leads 7-3
Key Stat: Two of their last three encounters have gone three sets.

Giant-killer Dominika Cibulkova has been in search of a big win to reassert her standing among the best players in the world after an Achilles injury took her off the tour last spring. Narrowly missing out on upset opportunities over Agnieszka Radwanska in Indian Wells (where she held a match point) and Garbiñe Muguruza in Madrid, she gets another crack at Radwanska on the World No.2’s least favorite surface. The Pole won their only clay court meeting, but that was back in 2006, when the two were fighting for a main draw spot in Budapest qualifying.

Showing some encouraging signs of consistency, Cibulkova battled her way to her first title of the season at the Katowice Open – Radwanska’s home tournament, from which she withdrew citing a right shoulder injury. As for Radwanska, the former Wimbledon finalist grew up on red clay, and acquitted herself well at the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix before falling victim to Laura Siegemund’s miracle run in the semifinals.

Pick: Cibulkova in three

[WC] Lara Arruabarrena (ESP #76) vs. [5] Petra Kvitova (CZE #6)
Head-to-head: First meeting
Key Stat: Madrid is Kvitova’s most successful clay court tournament, winning it twice (2011, 2015)

Defending champion Petra Kvitova surprised many when she opted out of her country’s Fed Cup semifinal against Switzerland because it would interrupt her preparation for the clay court swing, but the two-time Wimbledon champion silenced doubters when she showed some of those much-needed improvements in Stuttgart, where she reached the finals and pushed eventual champion Angelique Kerber to three tough sets.

Her next big test comes in the form of dirtballer Lara Arruabarrena; the hometown favorite turned heads in a three-set thriller she played against Kerber in Charleston, and with her maddening consistency, is precisely the type of player to bother Kvitova on clay. The former World No.2 is hardly impervious, having narrowly avoided an early round loss to Monica Niculescu during her otherwise solid run in Stuttgart, but how much better will the Czech powerhouse look with two more weeks under the tutilege of new coach Frantisek Cermak?

Pick: Kvitova in three