Tennis News

ST PETERSBURG, FL, USA – The WTA has announced a newly established WTA Coach Program which will launch January 2017 as the new season begins.

WTA coaches will be recognized as a WTA Registered Coach under a formalized WTA Coach Program. The WTA Coach Program is designed to professionalize, standardize, and recognize the important role of coaching on the WTA, signifying that coaches are a key element of the WTA business.

This newly formed program will allow world class coaches, whether working with top players or emerging talent, access to benefits at WTA tournaments, professional development programs, and will provide more opportunities to broaden the product and the WTA audience, becoming a marketable asset for women’s professional tennis. It will also allow fans the ability to get closer to the game and the on court action through coaches.

Steve Simon, WTA CEO, stated, “I am pleased to introduce this new program which will professionalize and raise the standards associated with being a coach on the WTA. Coaches are an integral part of the players’ achievements and performance on the court. We recognize the value of coaches and their overall contribution to the game and to the WTA.”

Coaches who wish to participate in the program must be currently working with a WTA Tour level player and meet defined criteria (including professional certification or licensure from a coaching governing body), uphold professional obligations and be recommended by a WTA player.

A Coach Program Advisory Committee has been formed of six coaches representing each global region and this group will advise WTA staff on the administration and governance of the program, acceptance of applicants, and will provide continual feedback from the coaching body.

Former WTA player and current coach of Australia’s Daria Gavrilova, Nicole Pratt, is one such member of the Coach Program Advisory Committee. Pratt commented, “The establishment of the WTA Coaches Program is a leap forward for validating the expertise of many of the coaches on the WTA. We are looking forward to working together and feel confident there will be tremendous benefits for all stakeholders.”

Additionally, Craig Kardon, a member of the Coach Program Advisory Committee who is a longtime WTA coach and current coach of CoCo Vandeweghe stated, “I am very excited about the new WTA Coach Program. This program will give professional tennis coaches a platform for promotion and professionalism while coaching on the pro tour.”

As part of their registration, coaches will participate in weekly activities to help promote WTA tournaments, the WTA and women’s tennis, including media opportunities, clinics, and coach symposiums. Additionally, coaches will be made available immediately following matches for international media opportunities, allowing coach insight and perspective on the match.

The WTA’s finest battled it out at 61 tournaments, 33 countries and six continents this year, culminating in the 2016 Year-End WTA Rankings, which are official today, Monday, November 7.

Here are 10 Things To Know about this year’s year-end list…

1) Kerber is year-end No.1 for the first time.
After a season that saw her lift two Grand Slams, Angelique Kerber finishes with the much-deserved year-end No.1 ranking. Read more about her feat here.

2) Serena’s reign ended.
Her loss to Karolina Pliskova in the US Open semifinals ended Serena Williams’ 186-week stay at the top of the rankings. However, despite playing only eight events, the American enjoyed plenty of highlights in 2016, defeating Kerber at Wimbledon to lift her 22nd major and reaching the final at both the Australian Open and Roland Garros. 

3) Radwanska holds steady at No.3.
Another season of remarkable consistency brought Agnieszka Radwanska three titles and a sixth consecutive finish inside the Top 10.

4) Strong second half gives hope for Halep.
Following a slow start, Simona Halep’s season really caught alight in the summer, a string of deep runs on the cement paving her path to another year-end Top 5 ranking.

5) Singapore success fuels Cibulkova’s rise.
Dominika Cibulkova’s 2016 resurgence featured many memorable moments. None, though, could come close to topping her brilliant victory over Kerber at BNP Paribas WTA Finals Singapore presented by SC Global. The performance was rewarded with the biggest title and highest ranking (No.5) of her career.

6) Pliskova finally makes her breakthrough.
Karolina Pliskova ended her Grand Slam hoodoo in stunning fashion at the US Open, upsetting Serena before losing out to Kerber in an entertaining final. The result saw her rise to No.6, where she also finished the year. 

7) Muguruza slips despite maiden major.
While there were signs of a revival in Singapore, Garbiñe Muguruza failed to build on June’s Roland Garros breakthrough, a second half of the season slump seeing her slip to No.7.

8) Fresh and familiar faces join Top 10 party.
Madison Keys continued to make good on her boundless potential, ending a season of steady progress at No.8. Also joining her was Johanna Konta, who became the first Briton since 1983 to end the year inside the Top 10. Sandwiched between the newcomers was a familiar face, as Svetlana Kuznetsova ended the campaign inside the Top 10 for the sixth time.

9) And there could be more next year.
Petra Kvitova finished the year like a steam train, rising to No.11 following titles in Wuhan and Zhuhai. A Top 10 return will surely soon follow, while the next generation is also well represented in the upper echelons, Elina Svitolina (No.14), Caroline Garcia (No.23), Daria Gavrilova (No.25), Timea Babos (No.26), Daria Kasatkina (No.27) and Monica Puig (No.32) all achieved the best year-end ranking of their fledgling careers.

10) A little more about the year-end Top 100…
The oldest and youngest players in the year-end Top 100 are Venus Williams (36) and Catherine Bellis (17), and there are 32 countries represented in there (the United States has the most players with 16).

THE WINNERS

Former No.1 Victoria Azarenka continues her climb back to the top, overpowering Svetlana Kuznetsova 6-3, 6-2 in the final to claim the Miami Open title and secure her return to the WTA Top 5.

Azarenka, a two-time champion here in Miami, won her third title of 2016 in dominating fashion without dropping a set. Even more impressive, her back-to-back titles in Indian Wells and Miami complete the Sunshine Double, a feat last achieved 11 years ago.

With the win, Azarenka also cements her position as No.1 on the Road To Singapore Leaderboard, leapfrogging Australian Open champion Angelique Kerber for the top spot.

Read the full story and watch highlights here. | As It Happened: Game-by-game analysis.

In doubles, Bethanie Mattek-Sands completed a Sunshine Double of her own. Mattek-Sands and partner Lucie Safarova capped off a fairytale reunion on Sunday afternoon with a 6-3, 6-4 victory over Timea Babos and Yaroslava Shvedova in the final of the Miami Open. The American now joins Martina Hingis and Natasha Zvereva as the third player to win both events in the same year.

Read the full story here.

GAME, SET, MATCH: WTA Insider

Game: Victoria Azarenka did what she does…

The numbers are plain as day: Azarenka is the best player in the world…right now. By going undefeated in March to become the first woman since 2005 to complete the Sunshine Double by winning both the BNP Paribas Open and Miami Open, Azarenka vaults to No.1 in the Road to Singapore Leaderboard ahead of Australian Open champion Angelique Kerber and World No.1 Serena Williams. A look behind the RTS rankings only underscores just how dominant Vika has been through the first quarter of the year.

Not only is she 22-1 on the season, capturing two of the biggest titles of the season so far as well as another significant title at the Brisbane International, but she’s done it guns blazing. The draws did not break open for Azarenka and she did not pick up her points and wins cheaply. She beat Serena to win Indian Wells, avenged her loss to Kerber en route to the title in Miami (and is 2-1 already this year against Kerber), and has notched good wins over No.4 Garbiñe Muguruza, No.8 Roberta Vinci, No.18 Karolina Pliskova, and No.21 Johanna Konta. In Miami and Brisbane she did not lose a set en route to the trophy. In Indian Wells she faced the toughest task in tennis – beating Serena in a final – and came through with a poised and focused performance to win in straight sets.

This is what Azarenka can do on hard courts and it, in particular, is what she has historically done in the first quarter of the season. In 2013 she went on a 15-match win streak to win the Australian Open and Qatar Total Open. A year before that she started the year 26-0, winning the Sydney International, Australian Open, Qatar Total Open, and Indian Wells, before finally running out of gas in the Miami quarterfinals. In all, 13 of her 20 titles have come in the first quarter of the season, when she is at her freshest and the playing on her favorite surface.

Set: …But can she keep it up?

That’s one of the big questions as the tour turns away from her best surface and towards the clay. Clay is not her worst surface (statistically that would be grass) but her results have varied greatly on the slower surface. She has won just one title on clay, in Marbella in 2011, but she has routinely put herself in position to do better. She has made the final of the Madrid Open twice (2011, 2012), and the Internazionali BNL d’Italia and Porsche Tennis Grand Prix once apiece.

“Definitely very motivated for clay season,” Azarenka said. “I always been a high favorite [sic] of proving people wrong, and that’s what also motivates me a lot.

“Going into clay season, people say it’s not my favorite surface and whatever. I’m going to work pretty hard to make sure it’s going to be my favorite surface.”

Match: Serena looking for solutions on clay.

Not since 2012 has Serena gone titleless through the first quarter of the year. That also happened to be an Olympic year. Back then she was ranked outside the Top 10 to start the season and was still finding her form after suffering a foot injury and pulmonary embolism that left her hospitalized in 2011.

She went on to go through a tear on clay, compiling a 17-match win streak with titles at the Volvo Car Open and Mutua Madrid Open, before pulling out before the semifinals in Rome. She would lose in the first round of the French Open to Virginie Razzano, but we all know what happened after that: Wimbledon champion, Olympic gold medalist, US Open champion, and WTA Finals champion.

All that is to say, don’t worry about Serena Williams quite yet.

RANKING MOVERS
Notable singles ranking movers for the week of April 4, 2016.

Svetlana Kuznetsova (RUS), +6 (No.19 to 13): 30-year-old Svetlana Kuznetsova turned back the clock to make the biggest ranking jump of the fortnight. A Miami Open champion in 2006, her run to the final 10 years later bumps her up six spots with a Top 10 berth in sight.

Victoria Azarenka (BLR), +3 (No.8 to 5): Kuznetsova’s opponent in the Miami final, Victoria Azarenka, has been on fire and on the rise all year. By claiming the Miami Open title (and thus completing the Sunshine Double, winning back-to-back Indian Wells and Miami titles), she earns a spot in the Top 5.

Timea Bacsinszky (SUI), +3 (No.20 to 17): Bacsinszky’s run to the Miami semifinals halted a string of disappointing results since the start of the season and puts her at No.17.

Angelique Kerber (GER), +1 (No.3 to 2): First-round exits in Doha and Indian Wells saw Kerber’s ranking dip to No.3, but the Australian Open champion righted the ship in Miami. Her run to the semifinals sent her back up to her career-high ranking of World No.2.

UPCOMING TOURNAMENTS

Katowice Open
Katowice, Poland
International | $226,750 | Hard, Indoors
Monday, April 4 – Sunday, April 10, 2016

Volvo Car Open
Charleston, USA
Premier | $687,900 | Clay
Monday, April 4 – Sunday, April 10, 2016

Claro Open Colsanitas
Bogotá, Colombia
International | $226,750 | Clay
Monday, April 11 – Sunday, April 17, 2016

Porsche Tennis Grand Prix
Stuttgart, Germany
Premier | $693,900 | Clay, Indoor
Monday, April 18 – Sunday, April 24, 2016

TOP 20 PLAYER SCHEDULES
1. Serena Williams
2. Angelique Kerber – Charleston, Stuttgart
3. Agnieszka Radwanska – Stuttgart
4. Garbiñe Muguruza – Stuttgart
5. Victoria Azarenka
6. Simona Halep – Stuttgart
7. Petra Kvitova – Stuttgart
8. Roberta Vinci – Stuttgart
9. Maria Sharapova
10. Belinda Bencic – Charleston, Stuttgart
11. Carla Suárez Navarro – Stuttgart
12. Flavia Pennetta
13. Svetlana Kuznetsova – Stuttgart
14. Venus Williams – Charleston
15. Lucie Safarova – Charleston, Stuttgart
16. Elina Svitolina – Bogotá
17. Timea Bacsinszky
18. Karolina Pliskova – Stuttgart
19. Ana Ivanovic – Stuttgart
20. Sara Errani – Charleston

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU!
Best wishes to those celebrating birthdays this week:

Sorana Cirstea (ROU) – April 7, 1990
Risa Ozaki (JPN) – April 10, 1994