Tennis News

QUÉBEC CITY, Canada – Alla Kudryavtseva took out top seed and hometown favorite Eugenie Bouchard, 6-2, 6-3, to advance into her second WTA quarterfinal of 2016 at the Coupe Banque Nationale.

“The crowd was amazing; it was a sold out match today, and it was very nice to play singles in a full stadium,” she told WTA Insider after the match. “We started with some good points. I was in trouble in the second game, but I was able to come up with good shots on break points.

“From then on, I kind of rolled – talk about being in the zone! – I was hitting my shots very well, and it was just working. It was just electric and I love how engaged the crowd was – though sadly, they were engaged against me! But it was still nice to have the full house atmosphere, and by the end I really felt like they appreciated the level of tennis I was playing.”

Kudryavtseva has been ranked as high as No.56 in singles, and the doubles star has shown signs of possibly improving upon that career with a run to the quarterfinals at the Internationaux de Strasbourg and a quality week of wins at the Rogers Cup. But it all came together for the Russian as she headlined the night session in Québec City as she saved three early break points to roar out to a set and double break lead, clinching the match two games later – setting up match point with a screaming forehand winner – in just over an hour.

“I don’t get to play indoors as much anymore now that I don’t train as much in Russia. But I put some good hours in, playing two doubles matches, and I think that helped me get used to the surface, the Center Court, and being in the groove of the tournament – not having too much of a break between my first and second round singles matches.

“Things kind of worked, and isn’t it nice when things just work out?”

Up next for the Russian is American nemesis Lauren Davis, a qualifier who has won each of their previous three meetings – a stat about which Kudryavtseva is keenly aware.

“Horrible match-up for me! Horrible! She beats me every time! But every week is different, and every match is different, different surface – although, we have actually played indoors before.

“But I’m just enjoying my time on the singles court right now, coming off a big win. I just hope to bring a good level tomorrow, and I’m sure things will work out if I do that.”

Earlier in the day, France’s Oceane Dodin reached her first WTA quarterfinal with a 6-4, 6-4 win over Sachia Vickery, while Alison Van Uytvanck ended lucky loser Barbora Stefkova’s run in the second round, 6-4, 6-3. Finally, Jessica Pegula completed the quarterfinal line-up by defeating young Canadian hope Francoise Abanda, 7-6(2), 7-5.

Kudryavtseva sort avec le sourire après avoir battu Bouchard 6-2, 6-3 et Abanda rentre sur le terrain. #CoupeBN pic.twitter.com/dxySdHTLlo

— CoupeBanqueNationale (@CoupeBN) September 16, 2016

A week and a half ago tennis crowned a new queen when Angelique Kerber lifted the US Open to mark her ascent to the World No.1 ranking.

Watching on from the stands was Billie Jean King, the woman after whom tournament’s home is named, and who 43 years earlier paved the way for Kerber and company by defeating Bobby Riggs.

Dubbed by promoters as ‘The Battle of the Sexes’, on September 20, 1973 King took on Riggs, an ageing former major champion and shameless misogynist who claimed he could still beat any of the leading women on the fledgling Women’s Tennis Association.

Luckily, she did win. Playing to an audience of 30,472 in the Houston Astrodome – and over 100 million watching around the world on television – King abandoned her serve-and-volley game to defeat Riggs from the back of the court, 6-4, 6-3, 6-3.

When Riggs hit a high backhand volley into the net on match point, King flung her racket into the air in celebration. “I thought it would set us back 50 years if I didn’t win that match,” she said later. “It would ruin the women’s tour and affect all women’s self-esteem.”

For his part, Riggs told reporters that King simply “played too well.” The two eventually became friends, and even spoke a few days before Riggs died of prostate cancer in 1995.

Over four decades on, the match remains a landmark moment in the gender equality movement, one that transcended sport.

43 years ago today I played Bobby Riggs in a match that changed my life & was all about equality. To celebrate let's shine a light on others

— Billie Jean King (@BillieJeanKing) September 20, 2016

SAP Tennis Analytics for Coaches powered by SAP HANA provides decisive real-time performance data. This analytical edge arms coaches and players with the insight necessary to implement crucial strategy changes during the course of the match.

“I can go on court and say to the player without any hesitation: ‘Okay, 100% of the time when they’re break point down, they’re serving here. You should look to do this,” said Nicole Pratt, coach of Daria Gavrilova.

“In Toronto, Nicole came out with the tablet and showed me a few different stats. When she showed me how far behind the baseline I was it helped a lot and I started to move back inside the court and be more aggressive. It helped me turn that match around.”

Watch the video above to hear how Angelique Kerber, Daria Gavrilova and their respective coaching teams use SAP Tennis Analytics during their matches.

INDIAN WELLS, CA, USA – On Episode 20, WTA Insider Senior Writer Courtney Nguyen checks in from the desert where the biggest WTA tournament of the season is underway at the BNP Paribas Open. She’s joined this week by WTA CEO Steve Simon for a lengthy discussion of his first few months at the helm of the tour. We discuss Maria Sharapova’s stunning announcement last week, his take on the first two months of an unpredictable WTA season, and his desire to see the current circuit structure changed to ensure the tour can consistently deliver for its tournaments while ensuring the players remain healthy through the end of a long and grueling season.

Five-time WTA Fan Favorite winner Agnieszka Radwanska also joins the podcast to discuss how she became the WTA Hot Shot Queen. She talks about the surprising results last week in Indian Wells, the importance of improvisation on the tennis court, and her worst trip ever.

Simon on Sharapova: “Well, it’s obviously been a busy week, and you never like to start your week with a player, an athlete, receiving a positive drug test. I feel not only terrible for Maria but any athlete that it does occur to, I really do. That being said, the test was positive. No athlete is above the rules, so we will now go through the process with the [Tennis] Anti-Doping Program and whatever decisions that they may make we will of course support as a member of that program. But it’s my hope that we can continue to work and hopefully this doesn’t happen again.”

Simon on balancing the interests of its members: “Clearly your tournaments will have a perspective, of course, of a probably longer term vision, and investment – because they’re making the investment to not only the facility but the prize money and all of the other things that come with it – and your athletes will have a tendency to have probably more of a short term view because their competitive window is much shorter: ‘How does this affect me today and tomorrow?’ Not so much, ‘What about the next group coming through?’ And that’s all understandable; there’s nothing wrong with that. Now, how do we respect those things and get to something that balances that is what we have to try to do.”

Simon on what he’s hearing from the players: “It’s calendar, calendar and calendar, right now, as well as having a sustainable business model for the bulk of the players, for the athletes. Right now, do I think we have too many players that are dependent upon the Grand Slams to make their money each year? I think we have to work on our system where we’re not as dependent on the Grand Slams. That doesn’t take anything away from the Grand Slams; they’re the history and I’m not trying to say that they’re not important and don’t deserve their place in the world. We have to become less dependent upon them, and I think that would make a healthier tour as well.”

Simon on striking a balance: “We have 56 events in 2017 and a 42 week calendar taking out the WTA Finals and Zhuhai. That’s a lot of tournaments in that short period of time. That is certainly an issue, and there’s always a basis that, if you’re going to compress the calendar and you still want it to be healthy, should you actually be eliminating tournaments vs. adding tournaments? That’s an ongoing dynamic because more tournaments means more jobs and more opportunities to make money. We have to find a better balance between that and I think that’s what we have to look at in this next stage so that, the players that want to play a lot have the ability to play a lot, because that’s how they get their success, and the players that want to have a healthier schedule and play a little bit less can do so as well.”

Radwanska on the importance of improvising: “We all have the same type of reaction and coordination is very similar. But I think the shot selection [makes a difference]. Tennis is so fast so you have just less than a second to make a choice. Sometimes other players aren’t making the right choices. I think shot selection is the most important thing.”

Radwanska on the need for variety: “Everyone can hit forehands and backhands. It’s not like someone can’t do that. It’s about other things that you have or you don’t. Maybe that’s why other players can play great tennis but they don’t have the last thing about the reaction and shot selection, a little more thinking and not panicking in the important moments. To win a match there are so many things together that if you’re missing one thing, you’re not there.”

Radwanska on tension: “Sometimes you can be so tight. You’re playing such good tennis but you’re so tight, the legs are not moving. It’s like you’re in a band-aid, like you’re a mummy.”