Kerber, Garcia & Mladenovic Named ITF World Champions
Angelique Kerber and the doubles team of Caroline Garcia and Kristina Mladenovic were named 2016’s ITF World Champions following Grand Slam-winning seasons.
Angelique Kerber and the doubles team of Caroline Garcia and Kristina Mladenovic were named 2016’s ITF World Champions following Grand Slam-winning seasons.
Angelique Kerber takes on Carla Suárez Navarro in the quarterfinals of the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix.
Venus Williams
2016 Quick Hits
Week 1 Ranking: No.7
Year-End Ranking: No.17
Season Highlights: Title at Kaohsiung
Best Major Result: SF (Wimbledon)
17 Days left until the 2017 #WTA season! ? pic.twitter.com/azf4fQh5zW
— WTA (@WTA) December 15, 2016
2017 Outlook
Despite turning 36 last summer, Venus Williams continues to challenge for tennis’ biggest honors. She proved this at Wimbledon, where she saw off several of the game’s brightest young talents to became the oldest Grand Slam semifinalist in 22 years.
It was not the only high point of the campaign either; in Kaohsiung she collected a 49th career title, reaching another final at Stanford before teaming up with Rajeev Ram to win mixed doubles silver at the Rio Olympics – her fifth medal at the Games.
There had been whispers that Brazil could be the curtain call on Williams’ wonderful career. However, the American has quashed such talk, outlining her plans to stay on tour until 2018, and even entertaining the possibility of playing until Tokyo 2020.
“I’ve been working hard in the gym and getting back on the court,” Williams said recently. “I just love the game, I really do. I love the challenge. It’s been such a part of my life that it’s hard to imagine life without it.
“I’m just gearing up for 2017 like I’m sure everybody else is.”
Her season opener will come in Auckland, where she will be joined by sister Serena and another thirtysomething still going strong, Svetlana Kuznetsova. Understandably, Williams, who lifted the title in 2015 and reached the final in 2013, is excited about her upcoming visit to the North Island.
“I am so excited to come back to Auckland, which is one of my favorite stops on the circuit,” Williams said. “It will be nice to have Serena there as well this year. “Being in Auckland will be a fantastic way to start 2017 and I am really looking forward to it!”
THE WINNERS
Reigning Australian Open champion Angelique Kerber won her second title of the season at the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix, dispatching qualifier and countrywoman Laura Siegemund, the tournament’s Cinderella story, 6-4, 6-0.
“I was just trying to enjoy the atmosphere, the fans and to play here again in the finals,” Kerber said. “So, I was trying to relax a little bit but also in the same moment to be focused. It helped me yesterday, so I was trying and hoping that it will help me today as well!”
Though Siegemund finished the match with more winners (22 to 16), Kerber played her counterpunching style to perfection, hitting just nine unforced errors in 80 minutes to win the final 10 games of the match.
It was nonetheless a stellar week for the 28-year-old veteran, who will bound up nearly 30 spots to a career-high ranking of No.42; more importantly, she leapfrogs four of her compatriots to become the No.4 German woman on the WTA rankings – putting her in pole position to round out the national team who can be sent to the upcoming Summer Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro.
Read the full story and watch highlights here.
Meanwhile, unseeded Cagla Buyukakcay’s fairytale week at the TEP BNP Paribas Istanbul Cup came to a thrilling conclusion when the hometown favorite recovered from a set down to defeat No.5 seed Danka Kovinic, 3-6, 6-2, 6-3.
Set to crack the Top 100 for the first time in her career, Buyukakcay was making history with every win this week in Istanbul, becoming the first Turkish woman to reach a WTA semifinal, then a final, and against Kovinic, the first Turkish WTA titlist in history.
“It’s an incredible week for me to win the title at home, to break into the Top 100 with this tournament, to play against someone with my crowd,” she said after the match. “This is a tournament I’ve been playing since 2005, when I was 15, and I saw the best players at this tournament when I was young. So I dreamed of winning the title since then; it’s very special for me.”
Read the full story here.
GAME, SET, MATCH: WTA Insider
Game: Angelique Kerber turns the page.
Kerber’s successful title defense at the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix capped off a five-week run of play that saw her put her post Australian Open malaise behind her and re-assert herself as a force on clay. After two opening round losses after winning her maiden Slam, the German has now made the semifinals or better at her last three events. Her Stuttgart title builds her lead at No.1 on the Road to Singapore, nearly 500 points clear of No.2 Victoria Azarenka.
Kerber is the first to admit clay has never been her favorite. But that began to change last year when her titles in Charleston and Stuttgart kickstarted what has been a career-best 12 months. Kerber has yet to maintain her success in the early part of the clay season through to Paris. She has made the quarterfinals just once at the French Open and in the last two years she has won just one match combined in Madrid and Rome. So long as she’s healthy and stays aggressive from the baseline, there’s no reason Kerber can’t be a force on the red dirt.
Hear from Stuttgart champion Kerber in this week’s WTA Insider Champion’s Corner.
Set: Cagla Buyukakcay historic on home soil.
Home court advantage doesn’t always ring true in tennis. Playing at home can be paralyzing given the pressure to perform. But this week saw both singles champions win their home tournaments, with No.118 Cagla Buyukakcay becoming the first Turkish woman to win a WTA title. The 26-year-old was 0-7 at the Istanbul Cup before last week but she made good on her wildcard to snag five wins en route to the title. The win vaults her into the Top 100 for the first time at a career-high No.82.
@roberta_vinci Robyyyy???Thank you sooo much❤️❤️ trying to follow your foot steps??????Always classy!!????
— Çağla Büyükakçay (@CaglaBuyukakcay) April 24, 2016
@TimeaOfficial Timiii thank youu so much❤️❤️???? I love that team spirit??? love to your lovely team!! good luck in Rabat??????
— Çağla Büyükakçay (@CaglaBuyukakcay) April 24, 2016
Quick look at the new Road to Singapore rankings and how about that @CaglaBuyukakcay: pic.twitter.com/MziDD5uoe4
— WTA Insider (@WTA_insider) April 25, 2016
The best day of my life! One of my dreams came true, won WTA title at home??? pic.twitter.com/vX9EZyO3ED
— Çağla Büyükakçay (@CaglaBuyukakcay) April 24, 2016
Match: Caroline Garcia and Kristina Mladenovic stop SanTina.
The French duo is riding an eight-match win streak after winning their second consecutive title, edging out No.1s Martina Hingis and Sania Mirza 2-6, 6-1, 10-6 to win the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix. Garcia and Mladenovic have been flying since the tour turned to clay, winning their first title at the Volvo Car Open, winning the decisive doubles in France’s 3-2 win over the Netherlands at Fed Cup, and now beating the game’s best in Stuttgart.
As for Hingis/Mirza, the duo have not won a title since having their 41-match win streak snapped by Daria Kasatkina and Elena Vesnina at the Qatar Total Open.
Hingis and Mirza are now in the midst of a four tournament title drought. Time to panic? Not really. The pair went five tournaments without a title last year, mostly on their worst surface of clay. They went on to win Wimbledon, the US Open, and the WTA Finals.
RANKING MOVERS:
Notable singles ranking movers for the week of April 25, 2016.
Cagla Buyukakcay (TUR), +36 (No.118 to 82): Turkey’s Buyukakcay owns this week’s biggest ranking jump after her fairytale run at the TEP BNP Paribas Istanbul Cup ended with the hometown favorite becoming her country’s first WTA titlist. She now sits at a career-high No.82.
Laura Siegemund (GER), +29 (No.71 to 42): Another Cinderella story unfolded at the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix, which saw Siegemund upset player after player to reach her first WTA final and vault to a career-high No.42.
Danka Kovinic (MNE), +13 (No.60 to 47): Kovinic also posts a career-high ranking this week after reaching her second WTA final at Istanbul.
Petra Kvitova (CZE), +1 (No.7 to 6): Kvitova’s run to the Stuttgart semifinals causes the only Top 10 shuffle of the week, leapfrogging Simona Halep to reach the No.6 spot.
UPCOMING TOURNAMENTS
GP SAR La Princesse Lalla Meryem
Rabat, Morocco
International | $226,750 | Clay, Outdoor
Monday, April 25 – Saturday, April 30, 2016
J&T Banka Prague Open
Prague, Czech Republic
International | $226,750 | Clay, Outdoor
Monday, April 25 – Saturday, April 30, 2016
Mutua Madrid Open
Madrid, Spain
Premier Mandatory | €4,771,360 | Clay, Outdoor
Sunday, April 30 – Saturday, May 7, 2016
Internazionali BNL d’Italia
Rome, Italy
Premier | – | Clay, Outdoor
Monday, May 9 – Sunday, May 15, 2016
TOP 20 PLAYER SCHEDULES
1. Serena Williams – Madrid, Rome
2. Agnieszka Radwanska – Madrid
3. Angelique Kerber – Madrid, Rome
4. Garbiñe Muguruza – Madrid, Rome
5. Victoria Azarenka – Madrid, Rome
6. Petra Kvitova – Madrid, Rome
7. Simona Halep – Madrid, Rome
8. Roberta Vinci – Prague, Madrid, Rome
9. Maria Sharapova
10. Belinda Bencic – Madrid, Rome
11. Carla Suárez Navarro – Madrid, Rome
12. Flavia Pennetta
13. Svetlana Kuznetsova – Prague, Madrid, Rome
14. Venus Williams – Madrid, Rome
15. Timea Bacsinszky – Rabat, Madrid, Rome
16. Lucie Safarova – Prague, Madrid, Rome
17. Elina Svitolina – Madrid, Rome
18. Karolina Pliskova – Prague, Madrid, Rome
19. Ana Ivanovic – Madrid, Rome
20. Sara Errani – Madrid, Rome
HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU!
Best wishes to those celebrating birthdays this week:
Jarmila Wolfe (AUS) – April 26, 2016
Misaki Doi (JPN) – April 29, 2016
Sara Errani (ITA) – April 29, 2016
Shahar Peer (ISR) – May 1, 2016
Caroline Garcia and Kristina Mladenovic left Stuttgart with more silverware and a burgeoning reputation as one of the teams to beat on tour.
Angelique Kerber’s glorious homecoming in Stuttgart provided an emphatic answer to any lingering questions over her ability to wear the mantle of Grand Slam champion.
And strong showings on the clay over the coming weeks, at two of the calendar’s most prestigious stop offs, will further underline her status among the game’s elite, not to mention her championship credentials for the campaign’s second major, Roland Garros.
On the face of it, Kerber’s counterpunching game is ideally suited to clay, but surprisingly it was not until last April that she first lifted a WTA title on the surface. This triumph in Charleston was swiftly followed by another in Stuttgart, and her defense of this title rightly pushes her to the forefront of the contenders for the other major honors.
Up first is the Premier Mandatory Mutua Madrid Open. Staged at the Caja Mágica, the event’s recent honor roll is a Who’s Who of the game’s elite, with Serena Williams, Maria Sharapova and Petra Kvitova leading the way.
Yet it is another name that arguably starts as favorite. While Kerber sits pretty atop the Road To Singapore leaderboard, Victoria Azarenka can lay claim to being the season’s most consistent performer.
The Belarusian, a WTA Finales ever-present between 2009 and 2013, looks well set to secure her return after a trophy-laden couple of months. Titles in Brisbane, Indian Wells and Miami have sent Azarenka shooting up the leaderboard, trailing Kerber now by fewer than 500 points.
With 1,000 up for grabs in Madrid, and a further 900 at the following week’s Internazionali BNL d’Italia, in Rome, there is ample opportunity for the early pacesetters to forge further ahead or get sucked back into the pack.
Among those eager to reel them in is Agnieszka Radwanska. By her own admission the Pole has never taken to clay, although a semifinal run in Stuttgart suggests that her fortunes on the surface may be about to change.
One player who is no stranger to success at this time of year is reigning Roland Garros champion Serena Williams. By her own very high standards, it has been a slightly disappointing start to the year for WIlliams, and her bid for silverware in the Spanish and Italian capitals is sure to be one of the more captivating storylines.
Click here to see the full Road To Singapore leaderboard standings heading into Madrid.
Petra Kvitova
2016 Quick Hits
Week 1 Ranking: No.6
Year-End Ranking: No.11
Season Highlights: Wuhan, Zhuhai Champion, Luxembourg RU
Best Major Result: 4R (US Open)
2017 Outlook
Kvitova had plenty of reasons to feel optimistic after a heady finish to 2016, winning the Dongfeng Motor Wuhan Open and the Huajin Securities Elite Trophy Zhuhai to finish the year just outside the Top 10 at No.11. A difficult first half of the season saw her ranking take a tumble and split with longtime coach, David Kotyza.
An emotional medal-winning performance at the Olympic tennis event – where she won Bronze in Rio de Janeiro – reignited her on-court precision, and helped her reach the second week of a major tournament for the first time all year. Losing a close match to eventual champion Angelique Kerber in Flushing, Kvitova took the momentum to Asia, where she avenged the loss to the World No.1 en route to the title in Wuhan, and roared to the win in Zhuhai without dropping a set.
“I’ve always loved to play tennis, but it can get tough when I’m not feeling confident, and not playing as well as I should,” she told WTA Insider after winning her final match of the season. “These couple of matches that I’ve won in the last couple of weeks have really helped my confidence. I did find myself, and that means I’ve found my game again. I’m not afraid to go for my shots, even if I miss them sometimes. I’m still trying to go for it, serve better, and put pressure on my opponent. That’s something I don’t think I was really doing at the start of the season. Of course, there were other small things also happening in my life, as well.
“But sometimes it’s just important to go through all of these things to find yourself.”
A lingering foot injury looked to derail some of her off-season preparation, but nothing like the shocking events that unfolded on Tuesday. Kvitova fought off a knife-wielding would-be robber in her home in Prostejov, but not without sustaining major injuries to her left and dominant hand.
The two-time Wimbledon winner underwent a nearly four hour surgery to repair lacerations and nerve damage, and is now in a cast for the next six to eight weeks; she won’t be able to bear weight on her left hand for at least three months.
It’s unclear if or when Kvitova will be back on the court, and the start of 2017 won’t be the same without her unique power and competitive spirit.
Watch even more great moments from WTA All Access in 2016, from Simona Halep showing off her footie skills and Timea Bacsinszky’s love for the Spice Girls, to the WTA Spelling Quiz!
Victoria Azarenka’s resurgence has been one of the top storylines of the 2016 season. Having started the season at No.22, Azarenka is back up to No.5 after compiling a 24-1 record and winning three of the biggest titles of the season, the BNP Paribas Open, Miami Open, and Brisbane International.
The sole blemish on her record came at the Australian Open, where she lost to eventual champion Angelique Kerber. Through the first four months of the season she sits at No.2 on the Road to Singapore leaderboard. In every way it’s been a near-flawless season so far for Vika.
But why and how? What’s changed aside from the general sense that she’s just playing better tennis this year?
With the help of SAP, we took a closer look at Azarenka’s key stats so far in 2016 and compared them with her historical year-over-year performance since 2008. As the numbers show, her efficiency has been off the charts.
Azarenka leads the tour in return games won
On its face, this is no surprise. Azarenka is one of the best returners in the game and so far in 2016 she has broken her opponent’s serve 54.3% of the time. In her peak years of 2012 and 2013, when she rose to No.1 and won back-to-back Australian Open titles, she finished each season as the tour leader in breaks. In 2012 she broke at a rate of 52.5% and she bettered that mark in 2013, breaking 54.8% of the time.
“I felt that I got stronger than I was before,” Azarenka said of her improved return game. “Definitely on my forehand side I’m able to create more angles, able to create more winners, and put a lot more pressure with that. I think that was one of the more visible improvements of my return.”
Since the WTA began tracking the stat in 2008, only two players have finished the season breaking in more than half of their return games. Azarenka did it twice in 2012 and 2013 and Sara Errani finished 2015 at 51.9%.
Azarenka’s serve has been the most effective on tour
The more interesting story comes after a closer look at Azarenka’s serving numbers. She has never been known for a particularly powerful serve but it’s clear the work she and her team have put into her serve has paid off, especially on second serve. Historically that has been a weaker shot for Azarenka, with her opponents aware that they would have their chances to break.
That hasn’t been the case in 2016. Azarenka leads the tour in service holds at 82.4%, outpacing the No.2 player on the list, Serena Williams, who has held 79.4% of the time. Azarenka’s current hold rate outpaces her previous career-best by over 7%. Her previous best came in 2012 when she held 75% of the time.
To be clear: Azarenka hasn’t morphed into an ace machine. In 23 matches she has hit 60 aces. By comparison, Serena Williams, Karolina Pliskova, Kristyna Pliskova, and Timea Babos have already eclipsed 100 aces on the season so far. But Azarenka has been going for more on her serve in general and taking more risk on her second serve. She already has 95 double faults (74 at WTA Tournaments), the second-most on tour. But her reaction to the rash of double faults has not been to pull back and go for less.
“I worked a lot on my serve to be able to create easier serving games and going for my shots, developing power speed, and now need to work a little bit more on accuracy,” she said earlier in the year.
“I think the serve percentage – I always had a pretty high first serve percentage,” Azarenka said at the Miami Open. “I think the difference is the way I’m using my serve. I’m going for a lot more; I take a lot more risk.”
Azarenka has been taking more risk but her serve has come through during clutch moments. Of her 74 double faults at WTA tournaments, 58 came when she was either ahead or neutral in the scoreline. Four times this year she has double faulted to hand a break away, twice at 30-40, once at 15-40, and once on her opponent’s advantage. Compare that to 2015, when during the same timespan she double-faulted 16 times.
“It’s been more rewarding in terms of winning percentage as opposed to making percentage of serves in,” she said. “If you compare to Australia it’s a big difference from Indian Wells and here. Really trying to work on it and make adjustments to use it more as a weapon. I think that’s been missing for a long, long time to really take my game to next level. I’m glad I have team around me to push me, to learn to trust myself, and really take that and improve it.”
The big question is whether Azarenka can hold these numbers on clay, where breaking serve is easier and holding serve is at a premium. Of her 20 career titles only one has come on clay. But that statistic may be misleading with respect to Azarenka’s prowess on the surface. Her last five losses on the red dirt have come to either Serena Williams or Maria Sharapova, the two best clay-court players of the last four years.
Azarenka returns to action at the Mutua Madrid Open, where she is a two-time finalist. Her French Open preparation continues at the Internazionali BNL d’Italia, where she made the final in 2013.
After an incredible 14 years on the tour – which saw her rise to WTA World No.1 and claim a Grand Slam title – Ana Ivanovic has announced her retirement from tennis.
The Serbian player made her announcement on her Facebook page, but afterwards she had a special message for her fans.
“We shared victories, losses, smiles, and tears together,” she wrote in a statement. “Thank you for standing by my side no matter the results and believing in me for all these years.”
Check it out in full right here:
