Hingis & Mirza: WTA Team Of The Year
For much of 2015, Martina Hingis and Sania Mirza were untouchable, winning nine titles and the WTA Doubles Team Of The Year award.
For much of 2015, Martina Hingis and Sania Mirza were untouchable, winning nine titles and the WTA Doubles Team Of The Year award.
From winning three of the four Grand Slams to holding No.1 from start to finish and an historic lead at that top ranking for six weeks in the summer, it comes as no surprise that Serena Williams has been voted WTA Player Of The Year, her fourth straight and seventh overall time receiving the honor.
Williams won her 19th, 20th and 21st majors at the Australian Open, French Open and Wimbledon, and coupled with her 2014 US Open title she completed a Non-Calendar Year Grand Slam, her second self-stylized Serena Slam. Her first ran from 2002 Roland Garros to the 2003 Australian Open.
Her dominance of the tour was so great that she made WTA Rankings history in the summer, too. For six weeks she actually had over twice as many ranking points as the No.2, something that had never happened before – Maria Sharapova was that No.2 for three weeks, Simona Halep the other three.
But the Grand Slams and historic ranking points lead are just the tip of the iceberg on the World No.1’s season. Her overall record was a sensational 53-3 – she won two more big WTA titles at Miami (a Premier Mandatory) and Cincinnati (a Premier 5), the only losses coming in the Madrid semifinals (Petra Kvitova), the Toronto semifinals (Belinda Bencic) and the US Open semifinals (Roberta Vinci).
Williams also pocketed $10,582,642 in 2015, second only to her own $12,385,572 from 2013.
“One of the factors for my results is just me being free and really enjoying the game, just really enjoying every time I’m out there,” Williams said after winning Wimbledon. “Not that I didn’t enjoy it before, but these last eight Grand Slams have come after I got really sick, and I have a different outlook on life now. Even though I’m super intense on the tennis court all the time, I have more fun now.”
And when asked during the summer about her personal highlights, Williams didn’t just point to her on-court wins – she also pointed to her emotional return to a massive tournament she once dominated.
“I think Indian Wells was pretty amazing,” she said, referring to her comeback to the BNP Paribas Open for the first time in 14 years and reaching the semifinals before withdrawing due to a knee injury.
“And I think Serena Slam 2.0 – winning Wimbledon – was pretty awesome, too.”
Williams has now won WTA Player Of The Year seven times in her career – 2002, 2008, 2009, 2012, 2013, 2014 and 2015. She’s now tied with Martina Navratilova (seven) and trails only Steffi Graf (eight).
Though she had to wrap her season up after the US Open, Williams heads into the 2016 season as a clear favorite to keep piling on the majors – she’s just one away from tying Graf’s Open Era record.
This award was voted for by media and fans. Williams won the media vote with 79% (Garbiñe Muguruza next with 12%); Agnieszka Radwanska won the fan vote with 52% (Williams next with 37%).
Wins over Maria Sharapova and Ana Ivanovic were just a couple of the highlights in a year that saw Daria Gavrilova fly up the rankings and be crowned WTA Newcomer Of The Year
For Martina Hingis and Sania Mirza, 2015 could hardly have gone any better. After a flawless start to life as a team, in which they won their first three tournaments, Hingis and Mirza hit their first bump in the road during the clay court season, falling early in both Stuttgart and Madrid before being upset by Bethanie Mattek-Sands and Lucie Safarova in the French Open quarterfinals.
From then on, though, they were virtually untouchable, winning 34 of their next 37 matches to take home titles at Wimbledon, the US Open, Guangzhou, Wuhan, Beijing and the BNP Paribas WTA Finals Singapore presented by SC Global.
Unsurprisingly, their remarkable feats resulted in them winning the WTA Doubles Team Of The Year award by a landslide. The pair have no intention of resting on their laurels.
“Martina and I have had an incredible year and I feel honored that we have been voted as the WTA Doubles Team Of The Year by the international media. We hope to continue with our dream run in 2016,” Mirza said.
Next year, Hingis and Mirza will look to add to their already impressive trophy haul, as they chase down the greats, like former WTA Doubles Team Of The Year winners Martina Navratilova and Pam Shriver (1981-88), and Gigi Fernández and Natasha Zvereva (1993-95 and 1997).
“It is a great honor to be recognized as the WTA Doubles Team Of The Year by the international media,” Hingis said. “Sania and I have enjoyed every minute of the season and we hope to continue in 2016 in the same fashion. We both appreciate all the support that we have received from the fans, the media, the tournaments and the tour.”
Hingis and Mirza were the choice of 98% of the media polled for the WTA Doubles Team Of The Year award. They also won the fan vote with 58%.
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Roger Federer will head into the 2016 ATP World Tour season with a new-look coaching team after announcing that Stefan Edberg would not be traveling with him next year. While countryman Severin Luthi will remain Federer’s head coach, joining the team in 2016 will be Croatian former World No. 3 player Ivan Ljubicic.
Federer revealed Tuesday that Edberg originally signed on to the coaching team for one season only in 2014, but agreed to stay on in 2015.
Federer released a statement on his Facebook page and RogerFederer.com, saying: “After 2 very successful years, I would like to thank Stefan Edberg, my childhood idol, for agreeing to join my team. It was a dream come true. Although it was supposed to only be for 2014, Stefan was great and agreed to extend the partnership through this year, which I really appreciated.
“He taught me so much and his influence on my game will remain. He will always be a part of my team. Severin Luthi, who I have been working with since 2008, will continue to be my main coach and he will be joined by Ivan Ljubicic. Both Daniel Troxler, my physiotherapist and Pierre Paganini, my longtime fitness trainer, will remain part of my technical team.”
Edberg released a statement to ATPWorldTour.com, saying: “Roger and I had a wonderful two years together. When he originally approached me at the end of 2013, I committed to work with him for only a year. It became very clear from the start that this was going to be a special partnership, working with the greatest ambassador tennis has ever seen. It was exciting for me to be back out on tour and to see that the sport has made so much progress.
“The quality of tennis today is stronger than it has ever been. After an amazing 2014, I decided to continue on for another year, but with a clear understanding that it would be my last year given the time commitment. I believe Roger still has a lot left to give to the sport of tennis and is capable of winning the big events. Roger and I will remain close friends and I will always feel part of the Federer team. I hope to try and come watch Roger play some tournaments in 2016.”
Federer will make his 2016 debut at the Brisbane International, which begins January 3. Federer reached 1,000 career match wins in Brisbane last year en route to the title.
A sensational start and fantastic finish to 2015 propelled Venus Williams back into the Top 10 for the first time in years. The icing on the cake? You’ve voted her the WTA Comeback Player Of The Year.
Williams’ season was highlighted by two vintage stretches, winning 18 of her first 22 matches of the year – which pushed her as high as No.11 in the world in February, and then winning 18 of her last 21 matches of the year – which pushed her to No.7 in the world on the November 9 year-end rankings.
At 35, she’s the oldest Top 10 player since a 38-year-old Martina Navratilova on January 1, 1995.
She won three WTA titles at Auckland, Wuhan and Zhuhai, the last two being her two biggest titles in over five years, and she also made the quarterfinals at both the Australian Open (falling to Madison Keys) and US Open (falling to Serena Williams), her first two Grand Slam quarterfinals since 2010.
And the biggest reason the former World No.1 is the WTA Comeback Player Of The Year?
Because she fell as low as No.137 in the world the week of February 13, 2012, right before she came back from a seven-month lay-off due to the energy-sapping Sjögren’s Syndrome disease, something she’s had to climb her way back from, step by step, until finally getting back to where she belongs now.
“For me, giving up wasn’t an option,” Williams said after conquering Zhuhai in November.
“I was put in a position that was out of my control, and that’s life, but if I was going to end playing tennis, I wanted to end it how I wanted it to end, not because I was forced out. So maybe this wasn’t the easiest road, but it was a road that I had, and it was a challenge that I was up for.
“That’s life. I’ve learned so much. And I’m still grateful for everything.”
She’s also still hungry for more success. Very hungry.
“It’s a great thing to be Top 10 now with the level of the game, but I’m still very hungry. I’m ready for more,” Williams said in Zhuhai. “I’ve had so many experiences in tennis and I still expect a lot from myself. So I’m very happy to be moving forward, but I also want to continue, and not stop here.”
In January, Williams will be seeded Top 8 at a major for the first time in five years – she was the No.4 seed at the 2011 Australian Open. Can the seven-time Grand Slam winner win her eighth in 2016?
This award was voted for by media and fans. Williams won the media vote with 81% (Bethanie Mattek-Sands next with 11%); Williams also won the fan vote with 63% (Kateryna Bondarenko next with 24%).
World number three Roger Federer has split with coach Stefan Edberg after working together for two years.
The 34-year-old reached the Wimbledon and US Open finals this year but lost both to Novak Djokovic.
In a statement, the Swiss 17-time Grand Slam winner said it was a “dream come true” to work with the Swede, who he described as “my childhood idol”.
Severin Luthi will continue to be Federer’s main coach but will be joined by Croat Ivan Ljubicic.
Ljubicic, 36, reached a career high of third in the world rankings and won 10 ATP titles.
Edberg, who won six Slams himself as a player in the 1980s and ’90s, helped Federer adopt a more attacking approach, frequently utilising serve and volley tactics.
Under Edberg, the Swiss won five ATP titles in 2014 and six more this year.
Federer added: “Although it was only supposed to be for 2014, Stefan was great and agreed to extend the partnership through this year which I really appreciated.
“He taught me so much and his influence on my game will remain. He will always be a part of my team.”
Edberg also said the “time commitment” was the reason for the split, adding: “Roger still has a lot left to give to the sport of tennis and is capable of winning the big events.”
Every week USANA – the Official Health Supplier of the WTA since 2006 – will bring you a video recapping three lifestyle headlines from the week. Watch the latest edition here!
Timea Bacsinszky enjoyed a sparkling junior career, winning a string of prestigious tournaments and reaching the semifinals at three of the four Grand Slams. But following a bright start in the professional ranks, she grew so disillusioned with a series of injury setbacks that her tennis dreams were temporarily parked in favor of a career in hotel management.
While it was a change in direction that ultimately was never going to satisfy her thirst for competition, it did provide a newfound sense of perspective on both life and tennis. When she did eventually get back on court, this introspection worked wonders, the Swiss registering 115 wins, a couple of titles and rising, briefly, into the Top 10.
A blistering start to 2015 saw Bacsinszky triumph in 21 of her first 23 matches, collecting titles in Acapulco and Monterrey. Semi and quarterfinals at Roland Garros and Wimbledon, respectively, proved her success was not confined to the smaller events. Despite losing her way in the second half of the summer, she rounded off the year with a runner-up finish in Beijing, underlining her worthiness as the winner of this year’s WTA Most Improved Player Of The Year.
“To breakthrough into the Top 10, to be honest, it’s something I never even dreamed of – I never thought that would be possible for me,” Bacsinszky said. “But when you don’t set yourself any limits, you push yourself and sometimes some great things are happening.
“I’m super proud of all I’ve achieved. I wouldn’t have been able to do it without my team, especially my coach [Dimitri Zavialoff]. He is the one who lifted me up two years ago and got me to play again. I will definitely still push myself in the future and see my limits.”
Bacsinsky joins a select group to have won the award. Among their number are 10 WTA No.1’s: Steffi Graf, Arantxa Sánchez-Vicario, Monica Seles, Martina Hingis, Serena Williams, Justine Henin, Maria Sharapova, Ana Ivanovic, Jelena Jankovic and Dinara Safina.
The WTA Awards are voted for by a combination of media and fans.