Garcia Kicks Off Title Defense In Limoges
Top seeded Frenchwoman Caroline Garcia got her title defense off to a strong start at the Engie Open de Limoges WTA 125K Series event, advancing to the second round in straight sets.
Top seeded Frenchwoman Caroline Garcia got her title defense off to a strong start at the Engie Open de Limoges WTA 125K Series event, advancing to the second round in straight sets.
2010 French Open champion Francesca Schiavone and 2015 US Open finalist Roberta Vinci each expressed their desire to continue playing tennis through the 2017 season.
Finishing inside the Top 20 for the fourth time in the last five years, Vinci spread the news on her official Instagram:
”I still feel like I have the desire and enthusiasm to try and do something in what is perhaps the thing I’m best at, playing tennis,” she said in quotes translated by Sports Illustrated.
“Now don’t start asking me if this will be my last year!!! See you in Australia.”
Vinci previously announced that she would make 2016 her final season, but began reconsidering her options as early as last winter, when she won the biggest singles title of her career at the St. Petersburg Ladies Trophy and became the oldest woman in WTA history to make her Top 10 debut.
She told WTA Insider at the Huajin Securities WTA Elite Trophy Zhuhai that she would make her final decision over the off-season.
“I don’t want to say, ‘Yes, I’m continuing,’ and then in one week, I stop, or say, ‘No, I’m retired,’ and then after a week, you see a video of me practicing,” she said in October.
“If it’s yes, then yes. If it’s no, then no.”
The always-entertaining Schiavone took her fans on a more colorful journey through the off-season, launching a web series asking them to pick one of several careers she could pursue – tennis, of course, being one of them.
“Do you know something?” she asked in the video below [translated by Giulio Gasparin]. “This shirt doesn’t fit me. It’s not the right time to wear it. I like to work outdoors, grab a tool and hit some balls.
“No more glasses, no more elegant shoes… I want to go back to my trainers, I need them. I love to feel alive, I love to play tennis and this is my present to you: I don’t know for how long, but my present to you in 2017 is for playing tennis and it is a present to myself too!”
BRISBANE, Australia – No matter who wins Saturday’s final at the Brisbane International, one player will walk away with a drought-busting win. No.22 Victoria Azarenka is in her first final since Doha and aiming for her first title since Cincinnati in 2013, nearly two and a half years ago. Looking to stop her is No.10 Angelique Kerber, who will try and snag her first win in six tries over Azarenka.
The first week of the year began with much hand-wringing over the withdrawals and retirements of the Top 3 seeds in the tournament, with defending champion Maria Sharapova, World No.2 Simona Halep, and No.3 Garbiñe Muguruza exiting the tournament under a cloud of injury. It will end with a rematch of the best women’s match of 2015, when Azarenka got the better of Kerber in the third round of the US Open, winning 7-5, 2-6, 6-4 in a grueling match.
“We always bring the best out of each other, I think,” Azarenka said. “I mean, I hope we do. It was a pretty amazing match, so I hope we can put on a good show. I think the final deserves that.”
Azarenka has been in blistering form all week. She has dropped just 13 games in four matches, posting two bagel sets along the way. Her run in Brisbane most assuredly puts her on the shortlist of favorites at the Australian Open – she is, after all, a two-time champion in Melbourne – but Azarenka doesn’t want to get ahead of herself.
“I’m feeling pretty good right now,” she said. “I’m not saying anything besides that. It’s irrelevant. Tomorrow is a match. I’m looking forward to that. I never jump ahead. It can seem so close, yet so far. Done those mistakes before, and I’ll stick to being present.”
Kerber has looked just as sharp this week. Aside from dropping the first set of her tournament to Camila Giorgi, Kerber has been untouchable, notching wins over Giorgi, Madison Brengle, Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, and Carla Suárez Navarro. Most notably Kerber has unveiled a more aggressive gamestyle. A change of strings during the off-season – she now uses a Yonex hybrid and natural gut – has given her more pop on her groundstrokes.
“I was working a lot in the last few weeks on this, so I’m trying to transform it to the matches,” Kerber said of her newfound aggression. “It works good right now. Of course I must take the decision and just go for it and not hope that the other one will miss. I will try to make the points by myself.”
Looking towards Saturday’s final, the big focus point will be Kerber’s serve. Azarenka is one of, if not *the* best returner in the game when she’s at her best. Much of her 5-0 record against the German is a result of her ability to dominate Kerber’s second serve. Kerber hopes her off-season work on her serve will pay off now.
“I worked a lot in my off-season on my serve, and I’m feeling that the serve is also a little bit faster,” she said. “Also I’m trying to go for it with my second serve, not only pushing the ball. Of course that needs time. I think I’m on the good way. I’m feeling better on my serve.”
So will we see another three-set epic on Saturday? Kerber’s 2015 was defined by her participation in the year’s best matches. Earlier in the week Kerber’s compatriot and doubles partner Andrea Petkovic – the two are into the doubles final against Martina Hingis and Sania Mirza – was asked why her friend always finds herself embroiled in dramatic matches against the game’s best.
“I think one part of her game style is that she plays fast but just not too fast to make the other girls play well,” Petkovic said. “She’s too good for the lower-ranked players, but for the top players I think she [hits] exactly the pace they need to play really well.
“But Angie is somebody, when she gets challenged, she gets the best out of her as well. So I think these two things coming together just make for Hollywood, popcorn, great movie nights.”
Come back on Saturday as WTA Insider live blogs the final from Brisbane. The final begins at 7:30pm local time, 9:30am GMT.
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Victoria Azarenka takes on Roberta Vinci in the quarterfinals of the Brisbane International.
The Shenzhen Open takes a look back at Agnieszka Radwanska, Petra Kvitova and Eugenie Bouchard’s first matches of the 2016 season – watch highlights and interviews from the WTA stars here.
Catherine Bellis completed a memorable week by upsetting top seed Zhang Shuai to lift the inaugural Hawaii Open.
TAMPA, FL, USA – Venus Williams might be gearing up for the 2017 WTA season, but the former No.1 is already outfitted through 2018.
Venus – who is set to start the year in Auckland – took some time off from her busy off-season preparations to debut the latest collection of Eleven By Venus, called Casablanca, as well as reveal some long-term career plans.
“I design all of my collections in advance, so while we’re just debuting this season’s collection I’ve actually got everything planned through 2018,” Venus said, speaking at an EleVen event in Tampa where she was showcasing the new collection.
“We’ve got all our designs ready for next year and the year after.”
Her meticulous planning and commitment to EleVen has definitely showed, with her Prism collection that debuted at the US Open being named one of the Top 8 women’s tennis fashion moments of 2016.
“Last season’s collection, Prism, was inspired by a prism of light. Our inspiration was all the different colors in there, we covered the full spectrum – literally! And so Casablanca is what’s left over: the black and the white.”
“It’s just really classic motifs of black and white. When you think of the movie Casablanca, it’s a classic love story, it’s black and white. That’s really what we brought to this line, a real classic feeling. Black, white, and a little bit of red.”
While her off-court entrepreneurial spirit keeps her always busy, on the court the seven-time Grand Slam champion still has just one mission.
“To win every match! Hello!” Venus laughed, adding:
“I’ve been working hard in the gym and getting back on the court. 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.”
Gearing up for 2017 and already outfitted for 2018 – Venus is halfway to her biggest goal: the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo.
All photos courtesy of EleVen By Venus
Victoria Azarenka was the story of 2016’s first quarter. The two-time major champion and former World No.1 rocketed back up the rankings after several seasons of injuries and inconsistencies, winning three titles and becoming the first woman in over a decade to capture the elusive Indian Wells-Miami “Sunshine” Double.
By spring, however, the Belarusian was gone from the game, announcing that she would end her season due to a pregnancy. Azarenka has since been busy preparing for the birth of her first child, but nonetheless granted an interview with Tennis Channel to update fans on her life today.
“My pregnancy’s been a completely different experience from anything I’ve done before,” she says. “In theory, you know the process, but to actually go through it, you truly start to deeply understand the magic of it. It’s been quite a ride, I have to say.
“Tennis is my career, but there’s a different part of life. This was a blessing, a gift from God. I believe I still have a great opportunity to do what I love, as long as I love playing tennis. I do, and this is an opportunity to realize how much I love what I do.”
Azarenka has dedicated her time off to her studies, but has still found time to exercise, playing tennis up to the last six weeks of her pregnancy.
“I’m doing a lot of activities I didn’t have time to do before; being at home and sleeping in my own bed is really a luxury for a traveling athlete.
“I miss the fans. I miss that moment when you go on the court and it’s a go time. As a competitor, I have to find that edge in life. I’ve been able to translate that into my studies for now, but that competitive edge is definitely something I’m missing.”
Addressing the question of a comeback, she gave fans reason to be optimistic that she’ll be back on the court sooner, rather than later.
“I don’t feel I’m missing out on someting I won’t be able to do again. For me, it’s about getting to where I want to be and be back there again. That’s my ultimate goal.
“I don’t put any time frame on myself. I would love to make it as soon as possible, but give myself a reasonable time to fully recover and be ready. I’m not going to rush anything, and it’s hard to tell before the birth actually happens. So, we’ll see, but I’m confident that I’ll be able to play tennis again pretty soon.”
Check out the whole video courtesy of Tennis Channel below:
An interview with Samantha Stosur after her win in the second round of the Apia International Sydney.