Tennis News

Asia Muhammad was born into a family of athletes. Her parents played basketball; her brother Shabazz plays for the NBA’s Minnesota Timberwolves. Muhammad chose tennis, and almost instantly became a star on the junior circuit.

“I started having really good results, beating the top college players,” she told WTA Insider after beating Donna Vekic for just her second career WTA main draw win at the Brisbane International. “When I was younger, they had the rankings, and I started to beat them pretty badly. I started to think, “Why not? School is always going to be here.” My dad went to USC, and so that’s where I was going to go; it was always a dream, but if I want to do this, I need to start now.

“People sometimes ask me if I regret not going to school, and I honestly say no. My best friend went to USC, so I’ve still gone there to hang out, but I don’t regret it at all.”

At her last two junior tournaments, Muhammad earned wins over the likes of Heather Watson and Kristina Mladenovic, but the American admitted her all-court game took time to develop as she transitioned onto the senior level.

“In the beginning, I was always tall, so I was more of a power player. When I was 10, my coach Tim Blinkiron – who’s in Vegas and is Australian – right from the beginning, he had me volleying. Now, I’m so thankful for that, because the older you get, the tougher it is to try and do that. He’s always had me volleying, playing mini-tennis against boys, just for my hands.

“He’s always known what he wanted my game to be; I’ve trailed behind, not really trusting in it. But now, I’m getting to that stage where I know what I need to do and working on it. It’s there, but I just need to trust in it and do that.”

At 25 years old, Muhammad sees herself as a late bloomer in the vein of Samantha Stosur, one whose early investments could pay off big in the next few years.

“I think a lot of players who play like me had their successes later too, and it came with doubles first. I think doubles is a huge part of helping my singles with all the volleying.”

Muhammad is already a Top 50 doubles player, winning two titles in the last two years, and ended the 2016 season partnering Nicole Gibbs to reach the final of a WTA 125K in Hawaii. The pair joined up with other rising Americans like Shelby Rogers and Kayla Day for a pre-season bootcamp in Carson, California – courtesy of the United States Tennis Association.

“This was definitely my best pre-season of my career so far. Nicole and I would do fitness every day together and really push each other. That was very crucial to my pre-season training. I wasn’t in Vegas – that’s where I live – and I just knew I wanted something with a lot of structure, and that’s what you’re going to get there. We played a lot of tennis, had fitness every day, had amazing fitness trainers and physios helping us. It had everything there, and that helped a lot.

“That was the biggest difference, knowing myself and that I need to have structure, and then finding that and staying and sticking with that.”

Getting to know herself as a player and athlete has already paid dividends in Australia, where Muhammad enjoys ordering the local lattes.

“It’s definitely been up and down,” she said looking back on her career thus far. “I was one of the up and coming juniors, doing really well. I got stuck a little, trying to figure things out with my game. I try to move forward, and do a lot of different things. I think that takes a little bit longer to put all of that together because there’s a lot of moving parts.

“How I try to play takes a lot of guts, so I would get stuck not doing it, and then trying. That would make me feel all over the place. But this year, I just want to have consistent plays, doing the right things on the court no matter what.

“Maybe it’s taken me until 25 to really figure that out, but there’s nothing wrong with that; I’m only competing against myself. I’m really happy, healthy, and in a really good spot now. Everything that’s happened so far, I feel like that’s helped me get to where I need to get.”

Muhammad takes on World No.6 Karolina Pliskova on Tuesday morning.

More quick hits from Muhammad…

On growing up in a family of athletes…
It’s good because my mom and dad played basketball, my brothers played basketball. My brother Shabazz, who plays in the NBA, is so supportive. He’s literally my biggest fan; when he comes to watch me play, he gets so into it and wants me to do so well. But it’s also good because when I’m away from tennis, I can watch him play, and it’s a break. My whole family play sports, and so they understand the life and are really supportive.

From a young age, we were all so competitive. I used to play basketball against my brothers, and back when I was taller than them, I could beat them and push them around. But we went from being really competitive at a young age to just being so supportive of one another. We want each other to do well, like if I have a good win and Shabazz has a good game, it’s such a great day for us to be able to do it as a team even if we’re not playing the same sport.

On debating individual vs. team sports with her family…
We’ve definitely had disagreements with that, because, just for example, when you’re playing the first set of a match and get nervous or struggling, you can’t time out, sub, or do anything like that. I tell them how lucky they are to be able to do things like that, and that I’m out there by myself. Luckily, you have a partner to help you in doubles, but we’ve disagreed about things like that. I tell them, ‘You can go sit on the bench for a little; I can’t!’

On playing tennis with Andre Agassi and Stefanie Graf in Las Vegas…
I think the thing that really helped was that my cousin and I were both living in Vegas, and we both started playing at the Andre Agassi Boys and Girls Club. Andre and Steffi would come out and were so nice; they would hit with us and everything. I just like the environment and the people around. It was a really good vibe.

On who she calls for dinner at tournaments…
Lately it’s been the American girls; I’ve been hanging out with Christina McHale a lot because we’re playing doubles. I also hang out with Samantha Crawford, Nicole Gibbs. We’ll do dinners and it’s just easy. We want each other to do well, and so it’s easy to hang out and talk about things. They understand; not only did I spend the pre-season with most of them, I grew up with them as well. Christina and I grew up traveling together in juniors. It’s crazy.

On the last song she listened to…
Can I look? Let’s see. It was Starboy by The Weeknd.

All photos courtesy of Tennis Photo Network and Getty Images.

TIANJIN, China – Agnieszka Radwanska stunned Tianjin when she withdrew from the tournament with a right thigh injury – shortly after showing just why she was the top seed.

The defending champion had taken Evgeniya Rodina apart, 6-1, 6-1, to progress to the quarterfinals, where she was to face Peng Shuai.

The Chinese wildcard had earlier beaten qualifier Chang Kai-Chen of Taipei 6-3, 6-2.

Radwanska is also the defending champion at the BNP Paribas WTA Finals Singapore presented by SC Global. “It’s the end of the season – I guess everyone is struggling with something,” she said afterwards.

She added that the injury had worsened over time and that she had decided to withdraw in order to give herself the best chance of recovering in time for Singapore.

“I’m very sorry I had to withdraw…I just hope I can see my fans [here] next year — it was a pleasure to come here again,” she said.

Olympic gold medalist Monica Puig had a straightforward time of it, beating Lara Arruabarrena of Spain, 6-4, 6-2.

Alison Riske also progressed in straight sets – but Poland’s Magda Linette did her utmost to take it to a decider, eventually losing out on a tie-break, 6-3, 7-6(2).

LINZ, Austria – Madison Keys made short work of Océane Dodin to sprint through to the semifinals of the Generali Ladies Linz.

She beat Dodin, 6-3, 6-3, in just under an hour – and will now face Garbiñe Muguruza.

“I’m not feeling great, but I’m happy I got the win today,” admitted Keys. “[Dodin] is a tough player, she can hit some really, really good shots.”

Earlier, Carla Suárez Navarro fought through against Denisa Allertova, winning 6-4, 4-6, 6-2.

In a match that lasted just under two hours, the Spaniard had moments when she looked a little nervy – and that led to her losing the second set as her opponent hit back. But she regrouped to take the decider to secure herself a match with Dominika Cibulkova.

“I think I played really good at the end of the match,” reflected Suárez Navarro afterwards. “I like the court – I like everything of the tournament.”

 CHARLESTON, SC – Eugenie Bouchard and Madison Keys hit the center court at the Family Circle Tennis Center for the second installment of Workout With USANA.

Caroline Wozniacki and Sam Stosur hosted the first installment of the Workout With USANA series at Indian Wells, where they showed fans their best resistance and flexibility exercises. This time, USANA brand ambassadors Genie and Madison grabbed a pair of young fans from the crowd and walked them through their go-to shots.

“It was my first experience coaching so I was trying to explain my favorite shot, which is my backhand cross court,” said Genie.

“It was super fun, I hope the kids learned something!”

For Madison, her go-to shot was her booming serve, and she gave fans a step-by-step instruction on how to hit it.

“I love that we were able to bring someone out from the crowd,” she said. “She was very good, I was really impressed!”

Check out the best photos from Workout With USANA, and see how well Genie and Madison did in coaching their young protégés, Paige and Haynes!

USANA is the Official Vitamin & Supplement Supplier of the WTA, and over 170 Athletes – including 8 out of the Top 10 and 15 out of the Top 20 use USANA products. Former No.1 Caroline Wozniacki, Samantha Stosur, Eugenie Bouchard, and Madison Keys are among several USANA ambassadors, and 2016 marks the 10th Anniversary of the USANA-WTA partnership. Check them out on Instagram at @USANAInc.

HONG KONG, SAR – Angelique Kerber has crashed out of the Prudential Hong Kong Open, succumbing 6-3, 6-1 to Daria Gavrilova in the quarterfinals to throw her status as year-end World No.1 in doubt.

The German started the match at a canter, holding easily before breaking thanks to a pair of wayward forehands from the Australian after pushing her to deuce.

However, Kerber’s set collapsed from there, losing five games, surrendering her lead thanks to a forehand into the tramline. Kerber squandered four break points in Gavrilova’s next game before the 21-year-old moved ahead.

A second break, confirmed with an emphatic volley, put Gavrilova firmly in the ascendancy and though Kerber halved her deficit, the eighth seed took the set by breaking once more.

The first three games of the second set went with serve before Kerber sent down a double fault to give Gavrilova a break. There was little sign of a comeback from there. Though the US Open champion squandered two break points in the next game, she was broken to love thanks to a series of unforced errors to give the underdog a 5-1 lead.

The youngster made no mistake from there, wrapping up a big-name scalp, with Kerber sending yet another shot into the net.

“[I was not surprised by Gavrilova] because I know how she is playing but I was not playing my best tennis and my serve wasn’t working well and I can just say that I was not at my best, that’s for sure,” Kerber said after the match.

“It’s a long season and we’ve been playing for 10 months. I’ve been playing a lot of matches this year, and I think I need a few days off to get ready for Singapore because I am tired and I need a lot of treatment to get ready for the next one. I was not serving at my best, I made a lot of double faults which is not normal for my game.”

Gavrilova, meanwhile, was delighted after recording her first career win over Kerber.

“I guess I’m really excited, I’ve played Angie six times and now I’ve finally won, it’s really exciting,” she said. 

“I was prepared for a battle. I think Angie has had a long season. I didn’t expect to win that easily but I was ready to turn it around and get a win against her.”