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Halep To Play Fed Cup

  • Posted: Jan 01, 1970

CLUJ-NAPOCA, Romania – 2014 French Open finalist Simona Halep had initially announced she would miss this week’s Fed Cup tie against defending champions in the Czech Republic due to a nasal infection that required surgery.

The World No.3 reversed that decision on Tuesday, declaring she will attempt to defend her title at the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships and play at the Qatar Total Open – a tournament she won two years ago – but first, she would indeed take part in a historic home tie for Romania this weekend:

Halep has been a Fed Cup stalwart throughout her career with an overall 12-6 record since 2010, and was instrumental in helping her country achieve World Group status for the first time since 1992. The process took two years for Halep, who played all five ties in 2014 just to qualify for World Group II, and helped lead Romania through a 3-2 win over Spain last February.

Flanked by teammates Monica Niculescu, Andreea Mitu, and Raluca Olaru, Halep will take on a Czech team that has won Fed Cup in four of the last five years, and led by 2015’s championship line-up in Petra Kvitova, Karolina Pliskova, Barbora Strycova and Denisa Allertova.

Check out Halep’s announcement on Facebook.

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WTA Player Of The Month: Kerber

WTA Player Of The Month: Kerber

  • Posted: Jan 01, 1970

Angelique Kerber came into the 2016 Australian Open having never surpassed the fourth round at the Happy Slam. Two weeks later she left with the title, the No.2 ranking, and a great big smile.

The German had one of the toughest roads to a Grand Slam title in recent memory; in her first Australian Open quarterfinal, she dismissed former No.1 and two-time Australian Open champion Victoria Azarenka in straight sets; Kerber had never beaten Azarenka in six previous attempts and had lost to her in the finals of the Brisbane International to start the season. From there, she ended Johanna Konta’s fairytale run into the semifinals and put on a comprehensive performance in the final against World No.1 Serena Williams. Looking to stop the 21-time Grand Slam champion from tying countrywoman Steffi Graf’s record of major titles, Kerber did one better and became the first German Grand Slam titlist since Graf herself at the 1999 French Open.

“I think in these two weeks, it changed a little bit when I won against Azarenka,” she explained to WTA Insider. “I felt, ‘Ok, I can believe in myself.’ This is actually the only way to win a Grand Slam.

“That was the change that I made in the last few days, to go for it and believe in myself and be aggressive and not hope that someone will give it to me. That was also the key to winning the Australian Open.”

A small shift in mindset took Kerber far from the dangerous floater she once was when she burst onto the scene in 2011 to reached the semifinals of the US Open; it took her all the way to a career-high ranking and helped her become January’s WTA Player of the Month!

Final Results for January’s WTA Player Of The Month

1. Angelique Kerber (41%)
2. Serena Williams (28%)
3. Agnieszka Radwanska (21%)
4. Victoria Azarenka (10%)

Angelique Kerber

2015 WTA Player of the Month Winners

October: Agnieszka Radwanska
September: Flavia Pennetta
August: Belinda Bencic
July: Samantha Stosur
June: Serena Williams
May: Serena Williams
April: Angelique Kerber
March: Serena Williams
February: Simona Halep
January: Serena Williams

How it works:

Four finalists are selected by wtatennis.com
Winner is then determined by a fan vote on wtatennis.com 

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Puig Talks Olympics With Telemundo

  • Posted: Jan 01, 1970

MIAMI, FL, USA – Before heading off to Puerto Rico next week for her big Olympic welcome, Monica Puig made a stopover in her hometown of Miami for a quick cuddle with her new dog Rio and the first leg of her media whirlwind.

While in town the gold medalist, who made history for her country by becoming the first Puerto Rican athlete ever to win a gold medal hit Telemundo’s Miami studios for her first televised interview since her big win in Rio.

“I’m still super emotional,” Puig told the morning talk show Un Nuevo Día. “I don’t even know how to talk about it because I still feel like I’m living a dream.”

“It’s been a long year with a lot of sacrifices, but everything’s worked out well for me so I can’t complain.”

Puig also shared the meaning of her social media rallying cry, the hashtag #PicaPower. The tag comes from the saying “picar piedras,” meaning “to break rocks” and is Spanish slang for working long and hard at small tasks for small rewards.

“You’ve got to break a lot of rocks to accomplish what you want,” she said.

Puig was joined on the show by Grammy-winning merengue singer Elvis Crespo, who surprised her by dedicating a rendition of the iconic song “Qué Bonita Bandera” to the island’s new national hero.

The singer even performed an ode to her Olympic feat to a merengue version of “La Borinqueña,” Puerto Rico’s official anthem, which was heard at the Olympics for the first time ever last week.

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