Tennis News

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.”

INDIAN WELLS, CA, USA – No.3 seed Agnieszka Radwanska’s BNP Paribas Open campaign gathered further momentum on Tuesday with a polished victory over former champion Jelena Jankovic.

Watch highlights, interviews and more video from Indian Wells right here on wtatennis.com!

A contest between two of the game’s sprightliest movers produced no shortage of entertaining exchanges, but more often than not it was Radwanska having the final say. After reeling off the final four games of the first set, she repeated the trick in the second to close out a 6-3, 6-3 victory.

The result means Radwanska has now won all six of her meetings with Jankovic on cement, the last two of which have come at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden. And while the statistic will have surprised few inside Stadium 1, the Pole was not among their number.  

“Well, to be honest, I never knew that,” Radwanska said when the extent of her dominance was unveiled by on-court interviewer Andrew Krasny. “We’ve played so many good matches before, and I just remember that it’s a lot of running, a lot of rallies and I really prepared for that today. With the conditions it was important for me to win that match in two sets.”

For all Jankovic’s huff and puff, the outcome never looked in doubt. It is arguable whether there is anyone in the game at present quite so adept at turning defense to attack as Radwanska, who dipped into her box of tricks to delight the crowd and keep the Serb at arm’s length.

Adopting the role of aggressor, Jankovic started well enough, a smart backhand giving her a break of serve in the opening game. However, the frustration at having to constantly find lines to win points soon began to take its toll. In the eighth game, a couple of double faults handed Radwanska a break and ultimately the set.

A similar story unfolded in the second, Radwanska finding an answer for whatever question the 2010 champion posed. Jankovic battled away gamely until the bitter end, saving a handful of match points in the final game before sending a forehand long to finally succumb.

Petra Kvitova, who earlier on fought back to end qualifier Nicole Gibbs’ run, 4-6, 6-3, 6-4, will present an entirely different challenge in the quarterfinals. Radwanska has traditionally struggled with the Czech’s firepower, although did come out on top in their most recent match-up, at last year’s BNP Paribas WTA Finals Singapore presented by SC Global.

“I just remember it was very, very tough match. Long, tight, everything was tighter, every game, point by point,” Radwanska said asked about their Singapore encounter.

“[Here it’s] a little bit different surface, different conditions, definitely… But I think always against her you really have to play good tennis and be careful, particularly on her serve.”