Is it time to hit the panic button on Serena Williams?: No, of course not. But things just never seemed quite right with Serena throughout her week in Miami. She carried an air of exhaustion all week and looked sluggish against eventual semifinalist Svetlana Kuznetsova on Monday in a 6-7(3), 6-1, 6-2 loss in the round of 16. It was Serena’s earliest exit from the tournament since 2000, when she lost to Jennifer Capriati at the same stage. Going into the match Serena was a three-time defending champion of a tournament she’s won a record eight times; her loss snapped a 20-match win streak in what has been considered her backyard tournament.
Serena offered no excuses or explanation for her loss when she spoke the press in a brief interview after the match. “I can’t win every match,” Serena said. “The players come out and play me like they’ve never played before in their lives. You know, the best that I could do today. I have to be 300% every day.”
Serena now heads into clay without a title under her belt. The last time she played four tournaments without winning a trophy was in 2012. Her next scheduled tournament won’t come until the end of April at the Mutua Madrid Open.
Despite the numbers and the losses any rush to panic is premature. The theories for her inability to close are rampant. Is this a continued emotional hangover from her incredibly stressful 2015 season, which she shut down early after losing to Roberta Vinci in the US Open semifinals? After that near-historic season, is she struggling with her motivation when there is (marginally) less on the line? As she nears 35-years-old, are the bad days at the office coming more and more frequently? Or are these one-off losses that can explained by extreme emotional circumstances (US Open, Indian Wells), a quality opponent having a career day (Australian Open), or simple exhaustion (Miami)?
Serena keeps her cards close to her chest so a definitive answer won’t come anytime soon. But she has made it clear that her season revolves around the Slams, especially as she’s just one major title away from tying Steffi Graf’s Open Era record of 22 major titles. It’s easy to sit and scratch our heads after her surprising results in March, but it’s important to remember there are three more majors left in the season. I’m not inclined to worry until after Wimbledon.
Champions are human. Never forget that.
Here’s Svetlana Kuznetsova’s take on the “Serena Slump”: “I mean, you say drama when somebody, No.1, which is probably one of the greatest in the history of athletes didn’t win four slams,” Kuznetsova said. “This is drama. For me this would be miracle of the year. For us it’s drama that she didn’t win the fourth Grand Slam of the year.
“She struggled a little bit probably because she lost Australian Open, but, I mean, she is still No. 1 and she still plays great. I don’t see much to be depressed about.”
Timea Bacsinszky back on track: After a knee injury ended her breakout season, Bacsinszky started 2016 behind the 8-ball. With only an abbreviated preparation she knew she was undercooked when she made the decision to play in Australia. The cautious player might have skipped that swing to stay home and continue training. Bacsinszky chose to put herself out there, take the bad losses, and try and train and play herself into form.
It wasn’t easy and there were a few bumps in the road – she got horribly sick after Fed Cup – but with her semifinal run in Miami, beating two Top 5 players en route in Agnieszka Radwanska and Simona Halep, Bacsinszky is rounding into form just in time for her favorite part of the season.
“I think I physically got back more or less where I was I don’t know last year,” she said. “I’m slowly getting it back. It feels great to be able to win four matches in a row, especially that I played yesterday and it’s the first time I played two days in a row and I’m able to win against such a great player.
“So it shows me that I’m on a good way and that we’re working well. Gives me a lot of motivation also for my future.”
Simona Halep and Garbiñe Muguruza head to clay on the rise: It was an undoubtedly disappointing start to the season for both women, who were ranked No.2 and No.3 in the rankings respectively back in January. But Muguruza began to show signs of life at the Qatar Total Open in February and Halep’s level improved dramatically in Indian Wells and Miami, where she made back-to-back quarterfinals.
For Muguruza, the positives come from how she battled through three tough sets to beat Dominika Cibulkova in the second round in Miami, blitzed Nicole Gibbs in straight sets, and then played her part in the best match of the tournament so far in a 7-6(6), 7-6(4) loss to the hottest player on tour, Victoria Azarenka. The level is there. She just needs that extra nudge.
For Halep, there’s no shame in losing to Serena Williams, which she did in Indian Wells, but the loss to Bacsinszky will sting. That’s a match she needs to win but she ran into a physical wall early in the second set and never recovered. Hopefully she can use that disappointment as motivation on the practice court as she prepares for her best surface, clay.
Santina slumping?: The most dominant doubles team of the last 12 months is suddenly in a rut. Since their 41-match win-streak was snapped by Elena Vesnina and Daria Kasatkina in Doha, Sania Mirza and Martina Hingis have yet to win back-to-back matches. They lost to Vania King and Alla Kudryavtseva in Indian Wells 7-6(7), 6-4 and Margarita Gasparyan and Monica Niculescu in Miami 6-4, 6-2.
All photos courtesy of Getty Images.
