By The Numbers: Aussie Swing
On Saturday a sellout crowd packed into the Rod Laver Arena to watch Angelique Kerber end Germany’s near 17-year wait for a Grand Slam champion. However, the attendance and Germany’s title tally weren’t the only noteworthy numbers from a fascinating month Down Under…
2,360 – Kerber leaves Australia sitting pretty atop the Road To Singapore leaderboard with 2,360 points. Last year, she didn’t pass this mark until the start of August.
1,698 – In January, a total of 1,698 aces were served in 276 main draw matches.
694 – Kerber spent 694 minutes on court en route to her Australian Open triumph.
194 – The number of minutes needed by Heather Watson to defeat Monica Niculescu in the second round of the Hobart International, making it the longest match of the season. Honorable mentions go to Yulia Putintseva and Caroline Wozniacki for their three hour, 12 minute effort at the Australian Open.
139 – Zhang Shuai started the year ranked No.139 but has since has risen 74 spots – the biggest jump of any player currently in the Top 100.
125 – The speed in miles per hour of the fastest serve at the Australian Open, unleashed by Serena Williams.
80.1 – Serena’s 120mph-plus deliveries helped her win 80.1% of the points on her first serve in January.
74 – Perhaps unsurprisingly, Serena had more racquets restrung than any other main draw player at the Australian Open, sending 74 to the stringer’s room.
54 – Maria Sharapova (five matches) and Serena Williams (seven matches) have each hit a WTA-leading 54 aces.
45 – Monica Puig has been the most upwardly mobile of any player currently ranked in the Top 50, rising 45 places (from No.92 to 47).
34 – Based on the rankings from February 2, 2016, there are currently 34 nations represented in the Top 100, led by the USA (12), Germany (10) and Russia (8).
13 – Kerber has played a WTA-leading 13 matches (12-1); her only loss came in the Brisbane final against former world No.1 Victoria Azarenka.
3 – Kerber also leads the way in the fledgling Road To Singapore leaderboard. Three of the Top 8 on the leaderboard following the 2015 Australian Open went on to compete in the BNP Paribas WTA Finals Singapore presented by SC Global.
0 – Number of times Serena had lost a third set in a Grand Slam final going into her meeting with Kerber.
