Indian Wells: Jankovic vs. Vandeweghe
Jelena Jankovic takes on CoCo Vandeweghe in the third round of the BNP Paribas Open.
Jelena Jankovic takes on CoCo Vandeweghe in the third round of the BNP Paribas Open.
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.”
Agnieszka Radwanska takes on Monica Puig in the quarterfinals of the Toray Pan Pacific Open.
Ana Ivanovic announced her retirement from professional tennis on Wednesday. The former No.1 and 2008 Roland Garros champion cited her ongoing injuries and desire to move on and begin a new chapter in her tennis career, which will see her give back to the sport that gave her so much.
After her announcement, which was streamed on Facebook, WTA Insider caught up with Ivanovic via telephone to reflect on her unforgettable career.
WTA Insider: So first question, how are you feeling after making the announcement?
Ivanovic: It was a little bit nerve-breaking but I’m doing well, thank you.
WTA Insider: Can you talk through how you came to the decision to retire?
Ivanovic: It’s a mix of things, obviously. It hasn’t been an overnight decision. It’s been on my mind for a little bit but I tried to also follow my heart because for me, it’s proven to be the best way.
I started to play tennis because I loved the game. Now I still love the game but I feel it’s time to move on for various reasons. I’ve been a little bit unfortunate with some injuries that I had. Being back in the Top 10 two years ago, and then fighting injuries, I was going back and forth a lot with my fitness. Then last year I really did a great pre-season, invested a lot of work, my team as well, and again I just kept getting these little niggles back and forth.
So I really felt now it’s time to just give back. Coming from Serbia, everything that I’ve been through in my life and my career, so far my parents and my brother with me, they made it all possible. I feel very fortunate and so I want to give back and maybe help others be as fortunate as I was.
WTA Insider: As you spent time reflecting on your career, what do you make of it?
Ivanovic: To be honest I’ve been going over it a lot of times and it does get me emotional because I know how I hard I worked to get everything I got. From where I came from, when I look back I am just very very proud of myself and everyone around me who helped me achieve these things.
But it’s not just about achieving these things, it’s also about being the person you are. I think all those setbacks, all those good moments, bad moments, they all make you a person, and in my case, a stronger person. I feel so blessed and so lucky to have gone through all that. I learned more about myself through not only good times but also through bad times. You learn who your real friends are, you know what you need to do to fight back. These are the lessons tennis taught me from such a young age. I feel lucky to experience all that. In life it’s not always good or bad, or black or white. So that’s why I think all these ups and downs actually helped me be the person that I am today.
WTA Insider: Speaking of that evolution, how is the Ana Ivanovic I’m talking to now differ from the one with the braces that held up that trophy in Canberra in 2005?
Ivanovic: More experienced, that’s for sure (laughs).
When I looked back at what I achieved, my development was one of the things I looked at. I was just a girl playing tennis, enjoying the game, and I wasn’t thinking about consequences. I was just playing the game and not relying on past experiences or worrying about consequences. Over time you learn there is pressure, there are expectations, there are your own expectations on top of all that, that’s when you stop playing free. Now looking back, that was the case.
I don’t think you’re ever prepared for the success, but maybe I needed a more experienced team around me to help me deal with that time of new pressures. But that all helped me become the person I am and now I know I can come back from anything. I’ve been low, I’ve been high, and I know that I can survive it all. That’s what gives me strength.
WTA Insider: You won the French Open and got to No.1 in 2008. The years after that weren’t easy for you on court. Given everything you went through, how important was 2014, when you got back in the Top 10, and 2015, when you made the French Open semifinal, for you?
Ivanovic: It was very, very important for me. I know and my team knows how much I fought every day. Even when I was winning all those matches in 2014, sometimes I was struggling with injuries. But I was mentally so strong, fighting my body and getting through these matches. The French Open semifinal was amazing. It’s always so special.
WTA Insider: What will you miss the most about tour life?
Ivanovic: I will definitely miss my friends that I’ve made along the way, but I always hope I’ll meet them again, just as I hope to see you again someday.
The irony actually is that I will miss traveling. That’s the part that I’m also looking forward to the most, that I’ll get to be home more. But I will miss traveling a little bit because I enjoy going to nice places and Australia, in particular, is on top of that list.
WTA Insider: For my last question I’m going to ask you something I’ve asked you throughout your career at various times: As you embark on retired life, what book are you reading?
Ivanovic: Actually I’m reading Inferno by Dan Brown because I realized that’s the only one I haven’t read. The movie is coming out and my brother wants to see it so I told him Ok, let me read the book first and then we can go watch.
WTA Insider: That’s very kind of you, as always. So will we see you at any tournaments this year?
Ivanovic: Yes, I’m sure. I’m already making some plans. I have some people who I promised to see so I look forward to seeing everyone around soon.
All photos courtesy of Getty Images.
TOKYO, Japan – No.2 seeded Sania Mirza and Barbora Strycova took home their second doubles title of the year, handily defeating the unseeded Chinese duo of Liang Chen and Yang Zhaoxuan 6-1, 6-1, in the final of the Toray Pan Pacific Open.
Watch live action from Tokyo this week on WTA Live powered by TennisTV!
“We were playing great from the beginning to the end,” Strycova said in their post-match press conference. “We actually didn’t make any errors in the first set and we felt great on the court. I think it was one of the best matches we played together.”
Mirza and Strycova, who first teamed up in Cincinnati and won their first title at the Western & Southern Open, overcame a tough draw which saw them face off against home favorites Misaki Doi and Kurumi Nara in the first round. After edging past the Japanese duo 6-7(3), 7-5, 10-8, Mirza and Strycova cruised against Kato Miyu and Xu Yifan before battling past Gabriela Dabrowski and María José Martínez Sánchez to reach the final.
Liang and Yang faced a tougher road to the Tokyo final, needing to battle past two seeded teams – the No.1 seeded Chan Hao-Ching and Chan-Yung-Jan in the first round, then the No.3 seeds Raquel Atawo and Abigail Spears before booking a clash against the No.2 seeded Mirza and Strycova.
“It’s great to play your best tennis in the final, we were happy to do that,” Mirza said. “We played very solid, and we kept our concentration the whole match. Like [Barbora] said, it was one of the best matches that we played.”
The victory puts Mirza and Strycova one step closer to a potential spot in the BNP Paribas WTA Finals Singapore presented by SC Global. Entering Tokyo the duo sat at No.19 on the Road to Singapore Leaderboard, trailing the Top 8 by about 500 points. With 470 points now in the bag, the team received a major boost in their standings.
Tokyo ✅ ??
Smiles ✅
Title #2 for team ✅
Title #40 ✅?? @BaraStrycova https://t.co/9xo3Trl8Ey— Sania Mirza (@MirzaSania) September 24, 2016
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.
What was the key to Caroline Wozniacki’s Toray Pan Pacific Open title? SAP Coaches View breaks down the Dane’s clutch approach to break points and aggressive return stance.
An interview with Caroline Wozniacki after her win in the final of the Toray Pan Pacific Open.
What are some of your favorite WTA stars’ New Year’s Resolutions? Check out some of the best tweets ringing in the 2017 season right here on wtatennis.com!
The story of the tournament from the Toray Pan Pacific Open.