Tennis News

1. Garbiñe Muguruza is the next big thing: The new World No.2 became just the second woman born in the 1990s to win a major title, joining two-time Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova in a, as it stands now, very exclusive club. Kvitova is 26 and well alongside a generation of players that includes Victoria Azarenka, Angelique Kerber, and Agnieszka Radwanska. But the 22-year-old Muguruza is the first representative of her generation of women, which includes Eugenie Bouchard, Sloane Stephens, and Madison Keys, to break through.

And there’s no reason to believe Roland Garros will be Muguruza’s only major title. The big-hitting Spaniard, already playing in her second major final in 12 months, was able to push Serena Williams around the court and power her way to a 7-5, 6-4 win in the final. She has the physicality to endure and a big all-court style that is built on solid technique. Most importantly, she has the ambition and mentality that is focused on not the spoils of success, but the success itself.

Read more about Muguruza’s meteoric rise from WTA Insider here.

2. The gap between Serena Williams and the field is shrinking: Heading into this season, Serena was riding a 15-match win-streak in tournament finals, dating back to 2013. In 2016 she has won one of the three finals she’s played so far, with two of the losses coming at Slams. It was Angelique Kerber getting the best of her in the Australian Open final, Victoria Azarenka beating her in the BNP Paribas Open final, and now Muguruza in Paris. You have to go back over a decade to 2004 to find the last time, and only other time, Serena has ever lost three finals in a season.

The debates over whether this is a result of Serena’s level dipping dramatically, how much injuries or fitness impact that dip, or how much the competition behind her has improved, will rage on. But this time a year ago, Serena held 11,291 ranking points, holding a 4,421 point lead on then-No.2 Kvitova. Today she holds 8,330 points, holding a 1,564 point lead on No.2 Muguruza.

3. Caroline Garcia and Kristina Mladenovic love the stage: Many French players have come and gone and many have said playing at home at Roland Garros can be an incredibly stressful time. With the expectations, attention, and crowd support, it can be difficult to just focus on the task at hand and play tennis.

But both Garcia and Mladenovic shook off any concerns this year in Paris. Coming off her title run in Strasbourg, Garcia played confident and inspired tennis despite going out to No.2 seed Radwanska in the second round. Mladenovic offered a fantastic challenge to Serena in the third round in one of the best matches of the tournament. And then the two paired up and rode their wave of confidence in doubles, becoming the first French pair to win the women’s title at Roland Garros since 1971.

4. Victoria Azarenka’s toughest rival: After dominating the hard court season, Azarenka sputtered on clay. Her biggest enemy continues to be her body. She pulled out of the Mutua Madrid Open with a back injury and then retired in the first round of Roland Garros due to a knee injury. Now she’s already withdrawn from this week’s Aegon Open Nottingham due to the same knee injury.

5. City of Milestones: No Slam has produced more first-time winners than Roland Garros. In the Open Era, there have been 45 different players to win a Grand Slam singles title. Roland Garros has produced the most first-time winners (16), followed by Australian Open (11), Wimbledon (9) and US Open (9).

But it wasn’t just about Muguruza joining the Slam club in Paris. Kiki Bertens, who had been past the second round of a Slam just once in her career, found herself in her first major semifinal. The unseeded Dutchwoman, ranked No.58 at the start of the tournament, won the title in Nürnberg as a qualifier and proceeded to mow down the field in Paris. She beat Angelique Kerber, Camila Giorgi, Daria Kasatkina, Madison Keys, and Timea Bacsinszky, tallying 12 consecutive wins over three weeks.

Then there was Shelby Rogers, ranked outside the Top 100 at the start of the tournament, who did he own heavy lifting to make her first Slam quarterfinal. Like Bertens, Rogers paved her own way, with wins over Karolina Pliskova, Elena Vesnina, Petra Kvitova, and Irina-Camelia Begu, before losing to the eventual champion.

6. Daria Kasatkina and Naomi Osaka continue their rise: Both 18-year-olds made the third round of the Australian Open in their tournament debut. They each replicated the feat in their Paris debuts. Osaka beat No.32 seed Jelena Ostapenko and Mirjana Lucic-Baroni before pushing No.6 seed Simona Halep to three sets. She’s now firmly in the Top 100 at No.87. Kasatkina, seeded in her first Roland Garros, had a good look to make the second week before a leg injury derailed her late in the third set against Bertens. The young Russian appears to have secured her singles spot on the Russian Olympic team, now up to No.31.

7. Weather is the ultimate equalizer: In a stunning turn of events in the second week, Samantha Stosur and Tsvetana Pironkova resumed their rain-interrupted matches to score big upsets, with Stosur ralling from 3-5 down at the break to roll to a 7-6(0), 6-3 win over Halep. Pironkova did one better, knocking out Radwanska after being down 6-3, 3-0 at the break. The Bulgarian reeled off 10 consecutive games on the restart and eventually won 3-6, 6-3, 6-3 to make her first French Open quarterfinal.

The cool, wet conditions in Paris were a big storyline in the second week. Roland Garros saw its first washout in 16 years on the second Monday, forcing a schedule shift that saw Serena play four straight days, including Saturday’s final, compared to Muguruza, who played two straight days.

Top players are understandably accustomed to playing in the best of conditions and circumstances. They get the best court assignments, but the preferred scheduling, and as a result they can be put off by even the slightest of disturbances. On the flip side, lower-ranked players, such as No.102 Pironkova are more seasoned in dealing with the litany of variables that can crop up on the ITF circuit or qualifying.

8. Olympic picture comes into focus: Roland Garros was the last opportunity for players to grab ranking points to put them into contention for their respective Olympic teams. A full explanation of the complex qualifying scheme can be found here.

Ranking aside, Bertens needed to make the fourth round in Paris due to specific rules put into place by the Dutch Federation, and secured her spot by beating Kasatkina 10-8 in the third. Pironkova also went from being an Olympic afterthought to landing right on the bubble at No.71. Her spot will come down to how many players ranked ahead of her are ruled out of Rio. The ITF will confirm the composition of the field on June 30th.

9. Familiar faces on the Road to Singapore: With the clay season complete and two of the four Slams in the books, the RTS Leaderboard is now starting to take shape. Here’s where we stand at the halfway point:

1. Serena Williams (Rome champion, Australian Open finalist, Indian Wells finalist, French Open finalist).
2. Angelique Kerber (Australian Open champion, Stuttgart champion, Miami semifinalist, Charleston semifinalist).
3. Victoria Azarenka (Brisbane champion, Indian Wells champion, Miami champion).
4. Garbiñe Muguruza (Roland Garros champion, Rome semifinalist).
5. Agnieszka Radwanska (Shenzhen champion, Australian Open semifinalist, Doha semifinalist, Indian Wells semifinalist, Stuttgart semifinalist).
6. Carla Suárez Navarro (Doha champion, Brisbane semifinalist, Australian Open quarterfinalist).
7. Simona Halep (Madrid champion, Indian Wells quarterfinalist, Miami quarterfinalist).
8. Svetlana Kuznetsova (Sydney champion, Miami finalist).

10. Internationals matter: Bertens played Nuremberg the week before Roland Garros, won the tournament as a qualifier, and proceeded to knock off No.3 seed Kerber in the first round en route to the semifinals. Rogers made her second WTA final in February, on clay at the Rio Open. Stosur’s run to the Prague Open final, losing narrowly to Lucie Safarova, was a confidence building week for a woman who was playing far better on clay than people realized before Paris. And Cagla Buyukakcay, who became the first Turkish woman to qualify for the main draw at a Slam and win match, won the Istanbul Cup in April.

While the results throughout the fortnight in Paris were surprising at times, you would have seen the results coming if you were keeping an eye on the tour’s International tournaments. They may not be the biggest tournaments on tour, but they’re prime scouting ground to discover who may just be on the verge of a breakout week.

All photos courtesy of Getty Images.

For the first time since 2004, Venus Williams will hit the US hard courts to prepare for the Olympic games. That preparation will begin at the Bank of the West Classic in Stanford, California, which begins one week after Wimbledon. It will be Venus’ third appearance in Stanford in the last decade.

“The Olympics is such a highlight, but at the same time it’s important to play tournaments so you can continue with success on the tour,” Venus told reporters via a conference call on Wednesday. “Also for me it’s making sure I have a little bit of a break. This year I’ve been very successful. I will be starting out with Bank of the West, then playing one more event, then heading off to Rio is my plan.” Venus is also entered in the Rogers Cup in Montreal.

The Olympics are set to take place from August 6-14, between the Rogers Cup and Western & Southern Open. In the last two Olympic cycles Venus has gone into the Olympics with no tournament play after Wimbledon but she sought a change this year.

“Being at home, being able to just play in the US, and there’s not as many opportunities as there was when I first started to play in the US, so it’s become really special at this point,” Venus said. “It really becomes the last opportunity to do so until March. I really cherish that.”

Venus’ history with Stanford goes way back. A two-time champion, Venus played her first pro tournament in 1994, when the event was held across the Bay in Oakland. As an unseeded 14-year-old she won her first WTA match, beating No.58 Shaun Stafford, and took a set off top seed Arantxa Sanchez-Vicario before losing, 2-6, 6-3, 6-0. Over the years she has made the final seven times, winning in 2000 and 2002. The only tournament at which she’s made more finals? Wimbledon.

“I love hardcourts,” Venus said. “A lot of people think my favorite surface is grass, but actually I grew up on hardcourts, so I prefer that. I feel right at home on it.”

As Venus readies for her fifth Olympics — she’s qualified for both singles and doubles with sister Serena – she’s already embracing the Olympic experience. No one loves the Olympics more than Venus. The four-time Olympic gold medalist has already debuted her red, white, and blue dress for the games, designed by her clothing label EleVen.

“My dress at the Olympics is always inspired by Wonder Woman,” Venus said. “Each and every Olympics it’s Wonder Woman as the inspiration. It never changes. I’ll probably do a special Olympic hair, though. Maybe I’ll come back with colored hair. I haven’t done that in a while.”

One of the activities both Venus and Serena have made an enduring commitment to at the Olympics: Pin trading. Venus has says she’ll pull out her massive pin collection every once in a while to relive past games, but collecting pins isn’t necessarily about the pins.

“Once you start trading pins, you find out it’s about meeting people,” Venus said. “That experience of meeting somebody you’ll maybe never see again, but the connection you have with them, the joy you have from meeting them, that is the best part of it all. It’s an interesting byproduct that you don’t expect. Then you have your pins for memories when you look back to remember those times at the Olympics. That’s awesome as well.”

The Bank of the West Classic will kick off its 46th year on July 18th. Along with Venus, Agnieszka Radwanska, Dominika Cibulkova, CoCo Vandeweghe, and Nicole Gibbs have also entered the event.

All photos courtesy of Getty Images.

Aegon Classic Birmingham, Ann Jones Centre Court, 1.30pm

Watch live action from Sunday’s Birmingham final on WTA Live powered by TennisTV!

[7] Madison Keys (USA #16) vs. Barbora Strycova (CZE #30)
Head-to-head: Keys leads 2-1
Final Fact: Keys has served 33 aces in her four matches in Birmingham, compared with the 53 she hit in the entire clay court season (14 matches).

In her post-match press conference following an impressive semifinal win over the in-form CoCo Vandeweghe, Barbora Strycova was typically forthcoming about the challenge awaiting her in the final.

Madison Keys is the opponent. And a familiar one at that; the pair met twice during the clay court season, Keys prevailing first in Madrid, then again in a far tighter encounter in Rome.

“I go into that match to, I don’t want to say with nothing to lose, but it’s a final. It can change many things. It’s on grass and I like to play on grass. It’s going to be a totally different match,” Strycova said. “The last match in Rome was really tough one. I lost 6-3 in the third.

“But she’s a great player. I have to bring some good tennis.”

Keys took the latest step on her path to greatness on Saturday, confirming her ascension to the Top 10 by overcoming a rocky start to defeat Carla Suárez Navarro. It was not her only moment of anxiety en route to the final either; in the previous round she trailed by a set and a break to Jelena Ostapenko.

A devastating serve, thudding groundstrokes off either wing and the desire to move up the court at any opportunity make the American’s game ideally suited to grass – her only previous title came on the surface, two years ago in Eastbourne.

Unsurprisingly, she is not backwards in coming forwards on her love of the lawns: “This is the only surface that I have a title on. Obviously, it’s one of my favorites. It definitely suits my game. I feel pretty comfortable playing on it. Hopefully, I can win a couple more tournaments on this. I would love to do well at Wimbledon whenever I can.

“I’m not going to sit here and say I’m going to win Wimbledon, but obviously, I’d really like to!”

While Keys has stuttered at time in the past two rounds, Strycova has dropped just one set all week. However, the at time biblical rain England’s second city has been subjected to this week has ensured her path to the finals – alongside Karolina Pliskova she is also still in the hunt for the doubles title – has been far from straightforward. Indeed, over the past two days she has played five matches, spending a fraction under seven hours on court.  

Road To The Final
Madison Keys
First Round: d. Timea Babos, 76(3) 64 (1:27)
Second Round: d. [Q] Tamira Paszek, 61 63 (0:58)
Quarterfinals: d. Jelena Ostapenko, 67(1) 64 62 (1:59)
Semifinals: d. [6] Carla Suárez Navarro, 36 63 76(3) (1:42)

Barbora Strycova
First Round: d. [8] Karolina Pliskova, 64 76(7) (2:02)
Second Round: d. Heather Watson, 75 64 (1:40)
Quarterfinals: d. Tsvetana Pironkova, 62 75 (1:35)
Semifinals: d. CoCo Vandeweghe, 26 64 63 (2:10)