Birmingham: Strycova vs Vandeweghe
Barbora Strycova takes on CoCo Vandeweghe in the semifinals of the Aegon Classic Birmingham.
Barbora Strycova takes on CoCo Vandeweghe in the semifinals of the Aegon Classic Birmingham.
MELBOURNE, Australia – The field for the Australian Open is starting to take shape after the initial acceptance list was unveiled earlier this week.
Monday marked the entry deadline for 2017’s first major, with Tennis Australia confirming the identity of 110 of the 128-strong draw. The remaining 18 will be made up of qualifiers and wildcards.
Defending champion Angelique Kerber will be joined by all her principal title rivals, including Serena Williams, Agnieszka Radwanska, Simona Halep and Dominika Cibulkova. The cut-off this year was No.107, with Patricia Maria Tig claiming the last berth.
Also Melbourne-bound will be Luksika Kumkhum and Lizette Cabrera, who have been awarded the first two wildcards.
Australian teenager Cabrera, who will be making her Grand Slam debut, made great strides in 2016, winning two ITF Circuit titles and rising nearly 800 places in the rankings. “It’s amazing news and a pretty surreal feeling. To be honest I’m probably still in a bit of shock, but I’m super excited to start playing,” Cabrera said. “I think if I’m playing my best tennis you can always match it with any girls inside the top 100, so I want to try and win as many matches as I can which will hopefully help me play in more WTA tournaments in the future.”
Kumkhum, meanwhile, earned her spot by triumphing over Chang Kai-Chen in the final of the Asia-Pacific Wildcard Play-off. An ever-present at the Australian Open since 2013, Kumkhum, who upset Petra Kvitova several years back, is eagerly anticipating her return.
“I actually have played in the Australian Open since juniors,” she said. “And I don’t know why, I really like playing there in Melbourne, and had some good results too.
“I feel like at home every time being there, not far from Bangkok, the weather and everything, I think if someone gets used to hot weather, they will like Melbourne too.”
Madison Keys takes on Barbora Strycova in the final of the Aegon Classic.
An interview with Agnieszka Radwanska before her opening round match at the Aegon International.
Elena Vesnina takes on Heather Watson in the first round of the Aegon International.
In one of the most significant coaching hires of the off-season, World No.10 Johanna Konta has brought on Wim Fissette as her coach to begin the 2017 season. Fissette was the long-time coach to Kim Clijsters and has recently worked with Simona Halep, Madison Keys, and Victoria Azarenka until her pregnancy leave last summer.
Konta is coming off a breakthrough 2015 season, which saw her win her first WTA title at the Bank of the West Classic, advance to her first major semifinal at the Australian Open, and surge from No.47 at the start of the season to become the first British woman to finish the season inside the Top 10 since Jo Durie in 1983. Her decision to split with coach Estaban Carrill was met with surprise, but Konta has landed one of the best coaches on tour in Fissette.
Known for his tennis acumen and amiable demeanor, Konta cited their positive chemistry in her decision to bring the Belgian on.
“He was the first coach I trialled and things are going well,” Konta told The Independent. “I guess he’s been on the Tour for quite some time, so I’m definitely looking forward to being a sponge and absorbing as much of his experience and knowledge through the years.”
Speaking to The Independent, Konta reflected on her sudden but mutual decision to part ways with Carrill, who had coached her through her meteoric rise over the last 18 months.
“But like with every relationship, I think there comes a point where changes need to be made, Konta said. “For both of us to keep evolving and keep getting better, it was definitely the right time. It gave me the opportunity to go into my pre-season with a new set-up so that I can then start my next season already in the swing of things.”
It has been an emotionally tough off-season for Konta after the death of her mental coach Juan Coto. Throughout her surge up the rankings, Konta, once a hot-headed, nervy player who struggled to close out matches, cited her work with Coto for her more grounded, simple approach to her game and career. Coto passed away suddenly in November.
“I know that Juan would be supportive of me continuously improving that area because it’s more than just tennis, it’s about my life,” Konta said. “He’s still very much a part of everything that I do, everything that I will continue to do in this sport and this career, and most likely beyond that as well. He has gifted me with an incredible amount of tools and habits that I still to this day am looking to improve, every single day.”
Konta begins her 2017 season at the Shenzhen Open, which begins on January 1st, and is scheduled to play the Apia International in Sydney as well to prepare for the first major of the season at the Australian Open.
EASTBOURNE, Great Britain – Former No.1 Caroline Wozniacki is starting to find her footing after a long layoff that forced her to miss the entire clay court season – including the French Open. Speaking with WTA Insider Courtney Nguyen at the Aegon International after her first round win over Alizé Cornet, Wozniacki first felt things were starting to fall into place following a pre-tournament practice with good friend and World No.3, Agnieszka Radwanska.
“I feel like I’m getting closer to where I want to be,” the Dane said in a Dropshot Edition of the WTA Insider Podcast. “I had a really good two hour practice with Aga yesterday; that made me feel good and like I know what I need to do. Birmingham wasn’t the best place to get rhythm because we kept going on and off the court.
“It was nice to get here knowing the weather is usually better here than anywhere else in the UK.”
Wozniacki reflects on her long absence from the tour, one that led her to a highly scheduled period of rest, relaxation, and a return to the piano, a former childhood pursuit.
“I used to play when I was younger, and I used to play some concerts as well. I just thought, ‘I have some time off, and it’s good for the brain as well.’
“I was good. Was. You know, when you start out playing again and think, ‘I used to do this so easily.’ Right now, I’m not very good, but then you keep improving every time because you start remembering things. I’m still getting there; I have a piano at home, and every time I’m home I’ll get lessons. I bought a keyboard for when I’m on the road, but I decided I had too much luggage, but maybe next trip!”
Listen to the full interview with the two-time US Open finalist below:
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EASTBOURNE, Great Britain – Coming off her first Grand Slam semifinal since 2012, former World No.4 Samantha Stosur told press at the Aegon International that she will be working with Andrew Roberts, official hitting partner for the Australian Fed Cup team, after parting with longtime coach David Taylor.
“He’s coming here and Wimbledon and then we’re going to assess what we want to do from there,” she said on Tuesday. “Other than that, that’s the arrangement.”
Stosur had announced earlier in the season that she and Taylor would separate after the French Open, citing the latter’s desire to travel less. The 2011 US Open champion described how the connection with Roberts came about just after the French Open.
“We had spoken a little bit, and I actually spoke to him on the phone the day before the French Open started. Then once I finished there, then it was kind of like, ‘All right, what is the plan?’
“It’s very hard to think about things when you’re obviously so involved in a tournament. So, yeah, It was kind of last minute. Then it was possible for him to be able to come over.
“That was really good for me that he was able to come over on short notice and come.
“We will just see how it goes from here.”
Stosur lost her first match of the grass court season, 6-2, 6-1, to former No.1 Caroline Wozniacki.
WTA Insider Courtney Nguyen | Petra Kvitova sustained defensive wounds on her left hand from a knife-wielding robber who attacked her at home in Prostejov.
Simona Halep began the French Open as a heavy favorite, but her tournament ended in heavy conditions and with heavier disappointment.
“It was impossible to play, in my opinion,” she said after her fourth round loss to Samantha Stosur. “And to play tennis matches during the rain, I think it’s a bit too much.”
The Romanian had been in control of the match before an 18-hour washout forced her and her Aussie opposition onto a drizzling court that her feeling pain in her back and Achilles. And those were just the physical effects.
“I was far to think about the title, but I think that I had a chance. If the courts are dry here I have a chance, because I like the conditions when it’s normal weather.
“In Madrid was different. That’s why I played so well. I like those conditions.”
From her press conference, it was clear that she felt robbed of a golden opportunity at what has been her most successful Grand Slam tournament. But the former World No.2 is hardly a clay court specialist.
Two weeks after narrowly losing to Maria Sharapova in the 2014 French Open final, the Romanian shrugged off the disappointment and channeled it into her best-ever Wimbledon result. In her first quarterfinal at the All England Club, she dismantled former finalist Sabine Lisicki before disaster struck against Eugenie Bouchard.
Up a break in the opening set, Halep took a heavy turn on her ankle, eventually fading in two sets and missing out on the chance to play Petra Kvitova – a player she had never lost to – for Wimbledon glory.
“It was difficult to continue because I twisted my ankle and it was very hard,” she said at the time. “I felt a big pain in the moment, and I couldn’t push anymore in my leg. My first serve was really bad after that. Yeah, it was difficult to continue.”
This year, Halep has shown steady improvements after a slow start to the season, but injury concerns in the form of a persistent Achilles injury ruled her out of the Aegon Classic.
“I started to feel it since I came here,” she said at the start of last week. “I have some fluid inside the tendon so the doctor says that I have to rest for a few days. It’s nothing serious but it’s a bit sore. I have almost two weeks to recover before Wimbledon so I will take a few days rest and then some treatment and then start to play again.
“This was my first tournament on grass and it was important to have some matches but I cannot change things. It’s important to take care of my body.”
Under the tutelage of reknowned coach Darren Cahill, Halep has been eager to match and surpass the heights she hit in her peak 2014 season. But while she won many matches throughout that auspicious year, she also prioritized her health above all other committments, frequently amending her schedule to ensure she was ready to perform on the game’s biggest stages.
Disappointed as she was to have left Paris without the trophy, the Romanian won’t feel her form cost her the chance. Taking the time to reset her body and mind ahead of what promises to be a stressful time of year may be the best decision the former semifinalist could have made. Fit and ready to wade past the undertow of uncertainty that cut her campaign short one year ago, Halep will be keen to ensure her preparation meets opportunity at Wimbledon.
Click here to read more about this year’s Wimbledon Contenders, courtesy of WTA Insider.
All photos courtesy of Getty Images.