Tennis News

Madison Keys

2016 Quick Hits
Week 1 Ranking: No.18
Year-End Ranking: No.8 (Career-High No.7, 10/10/2016)
Season Highlights: Title at Birmingham
Best Major Result: Fourth Round (Australian Open, Roland Garros, Wimbledon, US Open)

2017 Outlook

Earlier this week, Madison Keys announced via social media that she would be missing 2017’s first showpiece event, the Australian Open, following off-season surgery to her wrist.

And while there will be inevitable frustration when she is kicking her heels back home in January, the American is certainly not in the doldrums. The reason for her upbeat mood is her other big piece of festive season news: the decision to reunite with former World No.1 Lindsay Davenport.

In 2015, under Davenport’s tutelage, Keys made her breakthrough on tour, reaching the semifinals at the Australian Open and quarterfinals of Wimbledon. These showings, and her athletic game and potent serve, earned plenty of rave reviews, as well as some favorable comparisons with Davenport and the Williams sisters.

Since then, she has done nothing to discourage these parallels with her illustrious compatriots, making regular forays into the second week of the majors. The 22-year-old’s recovery will prevent her from doing so again in Melbourne – a short-term setback which could well pay dividends down the line.   

“Three days after the year-end WTA Championships, I had minor arthroscopic surgery on my left wrist,” Keys said on Twitter. “The procedure was very short, did not involve any tendon issues and went very well.

“I just don’t want to rush back and need to take my time to be fully ready to perform my best on the court.”

The extra time training under Davenport’s watchful eye stateside is sure to help fine-tune her game. And such are the standards at the top of the game, she will need to scale new heights if she is to take the next step, namely, a place in the Top 5 and lifting some major silverware.

“I am very excited to be working with Lindsay again as she’s helped me reach great results in the past and we make an excellent team,” Keys added.

“While I’ve been training with Lindsay and at USTA in Orlando for a few weeks, I don’t want to rush back and need to take my time to be fully able to perform at my best on court.”

Serena Williams

2016 Quick Hits
Week 1 Ranking: No.1
Year-End Ranking: No.2
Season Highlights: Title at Rome, Wimbledon
Best Major Result: Winner (Wimbledon), RU (Australian Open, Roland Garros)

2 Days left until the 2017 #WTA season! pic.twitter.com/rDUVjeUZHg

— WTA (@WTA) December 30, 2016

2017 Outlook

Serena Williams ended 2016 by reaching a major milestone. Will happiness off the court help the 35-year-old achieve more records on it?

On Wimbledon’s hallowed lawns, Serena drew level with Steffi Graf’s long-standing Open Era record of 22 Grand Slam victories. It was an emotional occasion and one that proved to be the highlight of an injury-affected campaign. “Wimbledon was good for me,” she told BeIN Sports during the off-season. “Obviously, I was really excited to win that this year. I had a lot of tough matches, but I went in there and played the best I could.”

At two of the season’s other showpiece events, Williams found herself in the unusual position of giving runner-up speeches, after losing out to Angelique Kerber and Garbiñe Muguruza at the Australian and French Opens.

The competitive fire still burns brightly, though, and despite the toll on her body, few would back against the American creating more history in 2017. And while she is hesitant to talk of numbers, there can be no doubting their significance.

“30 [major titles] is a lot, but my goal is just to go out there, do the best I can and be happy,” she said to BeIN. “The only way for me to do that is to win every single match; that doesn’t always happen and that’s something you have to understand and learn to deal with over the course of your career.”

The quest for the next begins in Auckland, where Williams will make her first appearance since a shock US Open semifinal defeat to Pliskova. After that, Melbourne, where history could well await.

Time to switch gears in Paris. Week two beckons, and the draw has been whittled down to sweet sixteen! We preview the bottom-half matchups at WTATennis.com

Sunday, Round of 16

[2] Agnieszka Radwanska (POL #2) vs. Tsvetana Pironkova (BUL #102)
Head-to-head: Radwanska leads, 9-2
Key Stat: Radwanska has won all three of the pair’s meetings on clay.

Two players not known as clay gurus will vie for a spot in the quarterfinals as they contest their 12th career meeting in Paris on Day 8. A hundred ranking spots separate Agnieszka Radwanska and Tsvetana Pironkova, but that rankings chasm might be misleading because both are executing some of their best clay-court tennis on the terre battue this week. Pironkova has taken out two Top 20 seeds in week one, and was in scintillating form on Friday as she thumped No.19-seeded Sloane Stephens, 6-2, 6-1, to reach the Round of 16 at Roland Garros for the first time. But it is Radwanska who has held the edge in the pair’s head-to-head, winning all three of their encounters on clay, and nine of eleven overall. “Well, we played so many times, but I think the last one was also quite some time ago,” Radwanska said of the Bulgarian. “Against her it’s always a good challenge. She’s really tricky opponent. You know, I expect a tough one as well.”

Pick: Radwanska in three

[4] Garbiñe Muguruza (ESP #4) vs. [13] Svetlana Kuznetsova (RUS #15)
Head-to-head: Kuznetsova leads, 1-0
Key Stat: Kuznetsova (49-12) will bid for her 50th Roland Garros win on Sunday.

One of the more heavily anticipated fourth-round clashes in Paris pits 2009 champion Svetlana Kuznetsova against No.4-seeded Garbiñe Muguruza. Both are rounding into form on the red clay, and both are loose ahead of this high-stakes contest. “I just want to go out there and just try to play my game,” Kuznetsova said after defeating Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova in round three. “Since I got a bit better ranking and everything I start to be tense again, and I don’t want it to happen.” Muguruza is taking a similar approach as she prepares to meet Kuznetsova for the second time. “I have a new mindset,” she said. “I’m not thinking of what I did last year, because every time I come to a tournament, no one remembers. People remember who plays good last year, but no one cares. Let’s see who is going to win this year, let’s see who is playing well.”

Pick: Muguruza in three

[6] Simona Halep (ROU #6) vs. [21] Sam Stosur (AUS #24)
Head-to-head: Halep leads, 4-3
Key Stat: Stosur owns a 2-0 edge over Halep at Roland Garros

An injured left wrist has done nothing to slow former runner-up Sam Stosur down in Paris. Will Simona Halep, another former Roland Garros runner-up and the player who absolutely thumped Stosur in Madrid a few weeks back, be able to do it? Maybe yes, maybe no. Either way, the Aussie is not going to carry the baggage from that shellacking into her eighth career meeting with the Romanian. “I’m not going to lose too much sleep over that match going into this next one in a couple days’ time,” Stosur said confidently after squeaking past Lucie Safarova on Day 6. That said, the Aussie knows she’s up against a daunting foe in Halep. When asked what makes Halep such a tough competitor, Stosur was quick with her answer. “I think her ability to continually put you in positions that you don’t necessarily want to be in,” she said. “She’s very consistent. She moves very well. She doesn’t have a big serve but she places it well. So she’s a player that you have to beat. She doesn’t really give too much away.”

Pick: Stosur in three

[25] Irina-Camelia Begu (ROU #28) vs. Shelby Rogers (USA #108)
Head-to-head: First Meeting
Key Stat: This is the first time that two Romanians (Halep, Begu) have reached the Round of 16 at Roland Garros since 1997.

The dream became the reality for 23-year-old American Shelby Rogers on Friday as she stunned No.10-seeded Petra Kvitova to reach the Round of 16 at a major for the first time. “There was a lot of noise and a lot of applause, and a lot of emotions taking over,” Rogers said of the experience. “I immediately started crying, and it was a very incredible moment.” Sunday’s challenge? Rebooting emotionally so that she may handle the task of facing rising Romanian Irina-Camelia Begu. The Bucharest-born 25-year-old is knocking on the door of the Top 20 and has been in great form on the clay, reaching the semifinals in Rome and earning wins over Victoria Azarenka (Rome) and Garbiñe Muguruza (Madrid) this spring. Will Rogers’ wild ride continue, or is it time for Begu to make her mark?

Pick: Begu in two

By the Numbers:

8 – Number of players to have reached the Roland Garros quarterfinals while ranked outside the Top 100 since 1983. Shelby Rogers and Tsvetana Pironkova will bid to become the ninth and tenth today.

4 – Number of former Grand Slam champions to reach the Round of 16 at Roland Garros this year (Kuznetsova, Stosur, Serena Williams and Venus Williams).

4-4 – Stosur’s record against the Top 10 at Roland Garros, which includes a victory over No.1 Serena Williams in 2010.

1 – Agnieszka Radwanska could attain the No.1 ranking at week’s end if she wins the title and Serena Williams does not reach the final.

– Chris Oddo, wtatennis.com contributor