Tennis News

Two-time Olympian Caroline Wozniacki will make a third trip to the Games this summer in Rio, and this time will be leading out the Danish team during the opening ceremony.

Former World No.1 Wozniacki was unveiled as her nation’s flag bearer during a press conference at Copenhagen City Hall on Friday afternoon, where she was presented with the Danish flag by Crown Prince Frederik.

“It’s an honor for me! The Olympics mean a lot to me, and I have some fantastic memories from my two previous appearances,” Wozniacki said. “I enjoy competing for the Danish team and feel the team spirit, which I do not get to experience in my everyday life.

“Carrying the flag in Rio will be one of the highlights of my career and something I will never forget.”

In both of her previous Olympic appearances, Wozniacki fell to the eventual Gold medalist: Serena Williams at the 2012 London Games in the quarterfinals, and Elena Dementieva in the third round in Beijing four years earlier.

Wozniacki, 25, will be the fifth WTA player to carry their country’s flag at the Games, following in the footsteps of Maria Sharapova, Agnieszka Radwanska, Stephanie Vogt, and Claudine Schaul.

Such a dream come true!! Was chosen to be the Danish flag bearer at the opening ceremony at the Rio Olympics! ?? pic.twitter.com/mIfFj0pnPz

— Caroline Wozniacki (@CaroWozniacki) February 5, 2016

Petra Kvitova could be back on a tennis court in six months, her surgeon said on Wednesday.

The two-time Wimbledon champion underwent surgery to repair severe lacerations and damage to her left hand and fingers after she was attacked in her home in Prostejov on Tuesday.

“Surgeon Radek Kebrle said that the operation on Petra’s left hand went very well, with no complications,” Kvitova’s publicist said in a statement.

“Petra will be on bed rest for 14 days, she will begin slow rehabilitation at around 6-8 weeks post operation. If that rehabilitation process goes well, Petra should be able to grip a racket for the first time (but not play tennis) at three months. The best-case scenario is that Petra will be able to return to the tennis court after six months.

“It is too soon to specify when precisely she can return to competition, but Petra is ready to do everything she can to get back competing at the highest level. Petra is happy with how the operation went and is in good spirits.”

Kvitova had ended the season ranked No.11 after a run to a second title of 2016 at the Huajin Securities WTA Elite Trophy Zhuhai.

Chinese New Year is Monday, February 8, and in the spirit of the holidays we’re looking at the Chinese Zodiac, where each of the 12 years in the cycle is represented by an animal sign and thus their reputed attributes: rat, ox, tiger, rabbit, dragon, snake, horse, sheep, monkey, rooster, dog and pig.

2016 is the Year of the Monkey, which makes it an extra special Chinese New Year for former No.1 Venus Williams and Fed Cup heroine Karolina Pliskova, who led the Czech Republic to a 3-2 victory over Romania this weekend with three wins in singles and doubles. Most auspiciously, Williams and Pliskova ended the 2015 season by reaching the Huajin Securities WTA Elite Trophy Zhuhai final, which the American won to finish the year ranked inside the Top 10 for the first time in five years.

Which animals are the Top 50 players on the WTA? The birth years range from 1980 to 1997…

Monkey (1980, 1992)
Venus Williams
Karolina Pliskova

Rooster (1981, 1993)
Serena Williams
Garbiñe Muguruza
Caroline Garcia
Sloane Stephens
Kristina Mladenovic
Monica Puig

Dog (1982, 1994)
Flavia Pennetta
Elina Svitolina
Annika Beck
Daria Gavrilova
Alison Van Uytvanck
Margarita Gasparyan
Anna Karolina Schmiedlova
Danka Kovinic

Pig (1983, 1995)
Roberta Vinci
Madison Keys

Rat (1984, 1996)
Samantha Stosur

Ox (1985, 1997)
Jelena Jankovic
Svetlana Kuznetsova
Belinda Bencic

Tiger (1986)
Barbora Strycova
Varvara Lepchenko

Rabbit (1987)
Lucie Safarova
Maria Sharapova
Sara Errani
Andrea Petkovic
Monica Niculescu
Ana Ivanovic

Dragon (1988)
Ekaterina Makarova
Angelique Kerber
Carla Suárez Navarro

Snake (1989)
Agnieszka Radwanska
Lesia Tsurenko
Sabine Lisicki
Timea Bacsinszky
Victoria Azarenka

Horse (1990)
Petra Kvitova
Caroline Wozniacki
Alizé Cornet
Irina-Camelia Begu
Mona Barthel

Sheep (1991)
Johanna Konta
Simona Halep
Camila Giorgi
CoCo Vandeweghe
Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova

MELBOURNE, Australia – The Australian Open has increased prize money to an historic high of $50 million, up 14% on 2016.  Men and women singles winners will each get $3.7m while a first round loser will receive $50,000.

“We are committed to further improving the pay and conditions on the international tennis tour to ensure every professional tennis player is properly compensated,” said Australian Open Tournament Director CEO Craig Tiley.

“It was especially important for us to increase the compensation for players in the early rounds and qualifying, and this year we have made some real gains. We are constantly reviewing ways to improve the life of every player on tour, not just the Top 100. This includes increasing prize money as well as removing as many costs as possible associated with playing our events.

“Our aim is to shift the break-even point for professional players, to ensure that tennis is a viable career option for the best male and female athletes in the world. We are also committed to equal prize money, equal exposure and equal opportunity for men and women.

“We are proud of our record in looking after the players, and will continue the push for increased prize money for professional players.”

The tournament’s prize money has more than tripled since 2001, when it was $13.9m, with a $10 million increase since 2014.

2016 Year-End World No.1 Angelique Kerber is the defending champion, having defeated then-No.1 Serena Williams in a thrilling three-set final Down Under. 

Round-by-round individual prize money for the Australian Open singles tournaments are as follows:

CINCINNATI, OH, USA – Five years ago, Germany’s top-ranked woman was asked to handicap her countrywoman at the Western & Southern Open. Having recently made her Top 10 debut, Andrea Petkovic told members of the media to keep an eye out for one player in particular.

“She’s going to come back,” Petkovic said of Angelique Kerber. “I called her and I asked her to come to my academy where I train, and she came there for four weeks and practiced really, really hard.”

Kerber had been ranked as high as No.45 to start the 2011 season, but briefly dropped out of the Top 100 that summer. At the time of Petkovic’s press conference, she had lost 15 of her last 18 WTA main draw matches.

“I promise you she’s going to be at least Top 30 like in six months, because she worked really, really hard and she’s a great player and she’s definitely going to come back.”

To say that Petkovic proved prescient would be the understatement of the decade. Within a week, Kerber reached the semifinals of a WTA International event in Dallas, Texas as a qualifier. Two weeks after that, the then-World No.90 was in the final four of the US Open, upsetting Agnieszka Radwanska and Flavia Pennetta along the way.

“She was helping me in practice,” she said of Petkovic’s advice after her win over Pennetta. “She told me, ‘You can do it. You play very well. You need to play consistent your tennis and not think about something or not think that you can win or you can lose. Just go on the court, play your tennis.’ Yeah, she helps me a lot.”

Kerber ultimately fell to eventual champion Samantha Stosur, but nonetheless beat Petkovic’s prediction by well over three months, cracking the Top 30 for the first time on October 2, 2011.

A lot has changed since then. The reigning Australian Open champion, Wimbledon runner-up, and Olympic Silver medalist is now in pole position to end Serena Williams’ 183 straight weeks atop the WTA rankings. Should she take home the trophy at the very tournament where Petkovic first made her bold prediction, Kerber would become the oldest woman to debut at World No.1 since a 25-year-old Jennifer Capriati in 2001.

She spoke about the pressure of having to back up her Melbourne run, and how it was familiar to her feelings following her 2011 breakthrough, after her opening round win over Kristina Mladenovic:

Angelique Kerber is done proving to people that she belongs. Now she plays for herself. #CincyTennis pic.twitter.com/39eyX49kfJ

— WTA Insider (@WTA_insider) August 18, 2016

With dangerous veteran Barbora Strycova looming in the third round, Kerber still has a tough road to reach the top spot, but it’s proving tougher and tougher to bet against the German, especially with the Cincinnati breeze at her back.

Karolina Pliskova

2016 Quick Hits
Week 1 Ranking: No.11
Year-End Ranking: No.6
Season Highlights: Nottingham, Cincinnati Champion, Singapore RR
Best Major Result: RU (US Open)

2017 Outlook

Everything you need to know about Pliskova’s season happened in the space of three weeks, where runs to the Western & Southern Open title and the US Open final changed the course of her season – and perhaps her career.

“This year, I’ve had some ups and downs while last year was more solid,” she told WTA Insider after stopping Angelique Kerber from ascending to No.1 in Cincinnati. “It was different, but this year I’ve played bigger tournaments and bigger matches. I won a few, lost a few, and this one is just the biggest of my career so far.

“I’m just happy that it happened this year, because so many people were saying this year has been so bad, and, ‘You have been playing so bad,’ and everything like this. So I’m just happy even for those people, that they can see I can still win something.”

The 2016 ace leader came into the US Open as an undoubted darkhorse, but surpassed all expectations as she saved a match point to defeat Venus Williams in one of the best matches of the year. She followed that win up with an even more emphatic victory over then World No.1 Serena Williams, becoming the eighth woman to beat both Williams sisters at the same tournament – the fourth at a Grand Slam.

“There is not more than to beat both sisters in one tournament in New York,” Pkiskova said after the semifinal. “I’m really excited about those two wins.”

Pliskova narrowly lost the final to Kerber, and finished 2016 by making her debut appearance at the BNP Paribas WTA Finals Singapore presented by SC Global. The Czech youngster is eager to make even greater strides in 2017.

“With me, everything takes time,” she said in Singapore. “Next year maybe I will go out of the group. Right now I know how is it here to play. I got used to it, the system, and I’ll be more experienced next year.

Hopefully I’ll be back.”

ST. PETERSBURG, Russia – It is fair to say that Ana Ivanovic has not enjoyed an easy ride so far in 2016.

Early exits in Auckland and Sydney were followed by emotional third-round defeat to Madison Keys at the Australian Open. In this final match, Ivanovic’s coach, Nigel Sears, was rushed to hospital after collapsing in the stands on Rod Laver. 

“It was obviously very hard. It was a serious moment, he went to the hospital, it was difficult to me to keep playing the same way, because I was really worried,” Ivanovic said. “I knew he was in the hospital, but I didn’t know the details.

“After the match I had some mixed messages. Now he feels good, he is here with me. He took some weeks to recover. He is fine.”

Last week, Sears was back on the practice court, preparing his charge for her return at the St. Petersburg Ladies Trophy. Staged at the Sibur Arena, the tournament is one of a dwindling number of indoor events on the WTA calendar.

After her travails Down Under, Ivanovic for one is looking forward to moving indoors. “I think it’s similar to a lot of indoor events. I feel really good, I have had a couple of practices, though on the training courts only.

“I find the surface is very effective, and it suits my game well, you need to hit through the ball well and it’s nice.”

There will be no easing back into competitive action, though; Ivanovic – the recipient of a first-round bye, will open her campaign against the in-form Margarita Gasparyan on Wednesday evening.

“I think especially for the women it’s very important to play match by match. Honestly, I saw the draw and I thought the first match is tough,” Ivanovic, who is looking to end a 13-month title drought, said.

“If I could win a title here, it would be my dream. It’s a tough draw, a lot of good players, I’m going to fight and work hard.”