Sydney: Halep Interview
An interview with Simona Halep after her win in the quarterfinals of the Apia International Sydney.
An interview with Simona Halep after her win in the quarterfinals of the Apia International Sydney.
CoCo Vandeweghe discusses her support system and former mentor Vic Braden in her post-match press conference at the Australian Open.
Monica Puig takes on Samantha Stosur in the quarterfinals of the Apia International Sydney.
RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil – With just two days to go until the start of the Olympic tennis event in Rio de Janeiro this weekend, Serena Williams met with the press along with the rest of Team USA at the group’s press conference on Wednesday afternoon.
Serena is the top seed in both women’s singles and doubles (along with older sister Venus Williams) as well as being the reigning gold medalist in both events. All eyes are on the WTA No.1 as she readies for her quest to add another Olympic gold medal to her already impressive haul.
Here are the highlights from Serena’s Team USA press conference.
Serena holds 22 Grand Slam singles titles and has four Olympic gold medals (one in singles, three in doubles). Here’s how she described the unique feeling of winning in both competitions:
“All our lives, us tennis players dream of playing in Grand Slams, winning Grand Slams, having the opportunity to hold that trophy.
“And then there’s the Olympics. Playing the Olympics, it’s totally different. You’re really playing for your country. When I held my first gold medal, it was a feeling that I never expected. I had the opportunity to truly enjoy and appreciate my gold medal probably more than my other trophies.”
And this is what keeps her motivated to keep winning even after earning so many gold medals and Grand Slams titles:
“I love what I do, I do it every day and I enjoy being out on the court. I enjoy competing and right now I just don’t see a time where I say, ‘I don’t want to do it anymore.’
“As long as I’m doing anything – whether I’m playing tennis or doing something else – I always give my maximum effort. That’s just what I bring to the court every day.”
On teaming up again with her older sister Venus for doubles, where they’re vying for a fourth doubles gold medal together:
“We have the opportunity to have someone on tour who completely understands what you’re going through. There are some brothers and sisters on tour. It’s a great experience, it’s a lot of fun. We enjoy it – I don’t think there’s anything out there like it.”
On being back in Brazil for just the second time ever:
“I had so much fun in Sao Paolo a few years ago [for an exhibition match]. It was a great time, and that was my first time here in Brazil.
“I’ve never been to Rio, though. The team actually all just got here today, so we haven’t had too much time to experience it but everything looks really nice and we look forward to spending a long time here, having a long tournament and having wonderful experiences.”
Here’s what she thinks of the much discussed health and safety concerns in Rio:
“I weighed it very heavily. I think everyone here [on Team USA] did as well and we were able to educate ourselves on what to do and how to prepare and how to deal with everything here. If you educate yourself and have preparation, then you can really be ready for anything. And then I think we all had the confidence that we could do it. We’re all prepared. We’re ready.”
She also reflected – kind of – on her historic Wimbledon win a few weeks ago:
“I don’t reflect so much, actually. I usually just move on and focus on the next big event. Especially with Rio being so close, that was my main goal, to make sure I’m ready and prepared to play in the Olympics. The way I see my season hasn’t changed. My season has been, for me, it’s been ok.”
MELBOURNE, Australia – 2016 semifinalist Johanna Konta raced through a much-anticipated collision with former World No.1 Caroline Wozniacki, 6-3, 6-1, to return to the second week at the Australian Open.
“Against someone like Caroline, she’s not going to give it to you,” she said in her post-match press conference. “You really do have to earn it and win it till the very last point. I’m just very happy I was able to keep that pressure on.”
Konta rode a seven-match winning streak into the third round in Melbourne, having captured her second career WTA title at the Apia International Sydney last week.
“I think I had a longer streak a couple years ago. Still got awhile to go till then,” she said, referring to a 16 match winning streak she compiled in the summer of 2015 between the ITF and WTA circuits. “But I’m very pleased with how I’ve just been able to problem solve in the last matches that I’ve played, really play myself into matches where I felt I started slowly, and, like today, maintain the level.
“I’ve played against some very good players. To be able to come through that, I’m very pleased.”
Contrasted against the Brit’s meteoric rise was Wozniacki across the net; the Dane had been the model of consistency for much of the last decade before an injury-addled 2016 took her as low as No.74 in the WTA rankings.
A run to the US Open semifinal served as a springboard for the No.17 seed, who returned to the Top 20 by year’s end and was looking to interrupt Konta’s run with a big win to start the season.
The first six games were hotly contested, but each went with serve before the Brit broke through on her third break point of the opening set, winning eight straight games to take a set and 5-0 lead.
“I know this may sound like a broken record, but I do try very hard to always make sure I really take the good and the things I can improve on from every match that I play and reinvest it into the next match. Whenever a similar situation arises, I make sure that’s in my bank and I can use my experience from that.
“I think hopefully I’m getting a little wiser.”
Undaunted, Wozniacki got on the board and pushed Konta through a tense final game before the No.9 seed clinched victory in one hour and 17 minutes.
“She played really well. She served really well, returned deep. She was going for the lines. It was going in. You could see she had the confidence,” the Dane said after the match.
“I’m looking forward to the season. It’s a better start than last year. We just have to go from here, go back and grind and then come back and play again.
“There’s lots of tournaments ahead. That’s what I’m looking forward to.”
Up next for the top-ranked Brit is 2015 Australian Open semifinalist Ekaterina Makarova; the No.30 seed survived a titanic ecounter with reigning BNP Paribas WTA Finals Singapore presented by SC Global champion and No.6 seed Dominika Cibulkova, 6-2, 6-7(3), 6-3.
“Every time we play, we have a battle,” Konta said of her Russian rival. “I think last year was 8-6 in the third. I remember that was a high-level match from both of us. That was really a great match to be a part of.
“She had a great match against Dominika Cibulkova. Dominika is not an easy player to beat, and she was able to do that. She’s playing obviously great tennis.
“I think she really enjoys playing here. She always seems to do well on these courts. I’m looking forward to it. We’ll deal with whatever challenges come up the next day.”
Johanna #Konta to play Ekaterina #Makarova in 4R #AusOpen pic.twitter.com/Vo0kVY08pP
— #AusOpen (@AustralianOpen) January 21, 2017
1. Will Serena Williams be sharp from the start?
The World No.1 hasn’t played a completed match since her loss to Roberta Vinci at the US Open last September, and was forced to withdraw from Hopman Cup due to knee inflammation. But she’s been practicing at Melbourne Park this week and her camp sounds more than confident that she’ll be ready to go on Monday.
All the same, Serena won’t have the luxury of a couple of soft early rounds to find her rhythm. She’s drawn the highest-ranked unseeded player in the first round, the always dangerous Camila Giorgi. Serena is 2-0 against the flat-hitting Italian, but both matches came on clay, Giorgi’s worst surface. And as we’ve seen in the past, when Giorgi finds her rhythm — while simultaneously taking away her opponent’s — she can tough to beat.
From there, Serena’s path gets no easier. She leads the toughest quarter of the draw, which is anchored on the other side by No.5 seed Maria Sharapova. Also looming in her quarter are Caroline Wozniacki, Belinda Bencic, and Apia International Sydney champion Svetlana Kuznetsova.
In sum, Serena’s path to the final is projected to go through Giorgi, Jelena Ostapenko, Anna Karolina Schmiedlova, Wozniacki, Sharapova, and Radwanska. At her best, she’s the overwhelming favorite. But with no data points to start the season, it’s tough to assess her level until she steps on the court.
2. Is the Australian Open Victoria Azarenka’s to lose?
After a frustrating 2015 season, the former No.1 is the talk of the town. She’s a two-time champion in Melbourne and always plays her best tennis in Australia. Thanks to her dominant run to the Brisbane International title, there’s a lot of buzz on the grounds about Azarenka’s prospects.
In a top heavy draw, Azarenka finds herself in the wide-open bottom half of the draw, along with No.2 Simona Halep, No.3 Garbiñe Muguruza, No.6 Petra Kvitova, No.7 Angelique Kerber, and No.10 Venus Williams. With the injury concerns surrounding Halep, Muguruza, and Kvitova, as well has strong win over Kerber in the Brisbane final, Azarenka is the front-runner to get out of the bottom half. She opens her tournament against Belgium’s Alison Van Uytvanck.
In the event Azarenka faces Serena in the final and gets a chance to avenge her three rough losses to the American last year — all three went three sets and she had match points in Madrid — get ready to see these two stats:
Serena has won her last 15 tournament finals. The last time she lost? 2013 Cincinnati to…Azarenka.
3. Can Maria Sharapova play herself into form?
As with Serena, Sharapova comes into the Australian Open without any matches under her belt. The difference is she has a draw that should get her some straight-forward matches early. Her path to the quarterfinals begins with Nao Hibino and is projected to include Evgeniya Rodina, Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, and Belinda Bencic (or, if she holds her form, Svetlana Kuznetsova). She’s then projected to play Serena in the quarterfinals in a rematch of last year’s final.
If she were drawn in any other quarter she might have been a solid lock for the semifinals, assuming she’s recovered from her left forearm injury. Instead, with a possible quarterfinal match against Serena looming, we are left to ask: is this the tournament Sharapova snaps her streak against her top ranked nemesis?
Sharapova has not beaten Serena in over a decade, losing their last 17 encounters. But as Sharapova has often said, all she can ask of herself is to keep putting herself in the position to test herself against the game’s best.
4. Can Agnieszka Radwanska avoid an early exit?
Radwanska anchors the bottom quarter of the top half of the draw, and she has a very makable draw to the semifinals except for one thing: She may play a resurging Eugenie Bouchard in the second round. As of this writing, Bouchard is into the final of the Hobart International and has arguably been the most consistent player of the first two weeks of the season; she’s the only woman to make back-to-back quarterfinals to start the season. Meanwhile, Radwanska won the Shenzhen Open without having to play anyone ranked in the Top 90; this could be a massive test for her. Radwanska used a strong finish to 2015 capped by lifting the trophy at the WTA Finals in Singapore and has won 22 of her last 26 matches, all in the Asia-Pacific region.
Radwanska has her work cut out with a strong quarter: Kvitova, Sloane Stephens, Roberta Vinci, Carla Suárez Navarro, Andrea Petkovic, and Sam Stosur.
5. Which young gun will be this year’s breakout star?
The Australian Open has seen breakout star after breakout star in recent years. In 2013, it was Sloane Stephens beating Serena to make her first major semifinal. In 2014, it was Bouchard kicking off a monster year at the majors by making the first of three straight major semifinal in Melbourne. Last year, we saw Madison Keys barrel past Kvitova and Venus Williams to make her first final four at a Grand Slam tournament.
While Stephens, Bouchard, and Keys could all make the second week and score some upsets to repeat their feats, two young names pop out as possible semifinal debutantes. Karolina Pliskova rued her underperformance at the majors last year, but she’s as good a pick as any to get out of Simona Halep’s quarter.
Belinda Bencic is also a solid pick, but she’s been drawn into Serena’s quarter and may have to go through Kuznetsova and Sharapova just to get to the quarterfinals, where Serena could be waiting.
The Favorites:
– Serena Williams: Is she fit enough for seven matches on hard courts? Has she put her US Open disappointment behind her? Can she handle the mounting pressure that will come with each win? There are so many questions swirling around Serena’s Melbourne campaign. But she could silence them quickly with an emphatic win on Monday.
– Victoria Azarenka: She’s going to be asked incessantly about her chances in Melbourne and to preview matches that may not even happen. Azarenka needs to stay focused on each match and go about her fortnight in a workmanlike manner. It will be very tempting to get swept up in all the hype.
– Agnieszka Radwanska: She may need the draw to break her way, but Radwanska seems ready for a run. Don’t look now but she’s won four titles in Asia since the US Open, compiling a 22-4 record since. This is the “Grand Slam of the Asia Pacific”. You do the math.
The Next Best Things:
– Maria Sharapova: Any section other than Serena’s and Sharapova would have a solid shot at the final. If the upsets start raining down early, she could take advantage.
– Angelique Kerber: Don’t be thrown off by her retirement in Sydney due to illness. Kerber will be fine for Melbourne. And if she can exact some revenge on either Azarenka or Muguruza in the quarterfinals, the German very well could make her first Slam final.
Dark Horses:
– Sloane Stephens: The ASB Classic champion looked sharp in Auckland and her straightforward win over Caroline Wozniacki there will be a big confidence booster. This could be the year Stephens pulls together all the elements of her athletic game.
– Carla Suárez Navarro: The Spaniard has a great draw. She’ll play a qualifier in the first two rounds. She’s then projected to play Petkovic (she’s four of their six matches) before getting either Kvitova, who has struggled with illness all month, or Kristina Mladenovic/Dominika Cibulkova. That’s a nice path to the quarterfinals.
– Daria Gavrilova: I’m not ready to crown the young Aussie the 2016 champion, but her first Slam quarterfinal is not out of the question. She loves a big stage and a big crowd, and she’ll surely get one if she plays Kvitova in the second round. Pull off that upset and she’s cleared a nice path to the quarters. That would be a massive result for the 21-year-old.
First week spoilers:
– Camila Giorgi (vs. Serena Williams, first round)
– Daria Kasatkina (vs. Anna Karolina Schmiedlova, first round)
– Alison Riske (vs. Belinda Bencic, first round)
– Eugenie Bouchard (vs. Agnieszka Radwanska, second round)
– Alizé Cornet (vs. Simona Halep, second round)
– Mirjana Lucic-Baroni (vs. Garbiñe Muguruza, second round)
For more analysis on the draw, listen to the newest episode of the WTA Insider Podcast:
All photos courtesy of Getty Images.
Relive the Opening Ceremony as CoCo Vandeweghe’s Olympic Video Blog takes you inside the night’s festivities with Team USA!
With World No.1 Angelique Kerber out of Oz, can No.2 Serena Williams reclaim the top spot at the Australia? Find out how right here on wtatennis.com.
The Australian Open draw is out – where’s your favorite? And who’s got the toughest quarter – Serena Williams, Simona Halep, Garbiñe Muguruza or Agnieszka Radwanska?
MELBOURNE, Australia – CoCo Vandeweghe ended No.1 Angelique Kerber’s title defense at the Australian Open on Sunday, defeating the German 6-2, 6-3 in the Round of 16 to make her first quarterfinal in Melbourne. Ranked No.35 and set to rise to a career-high ranking after the tournament, the big-hitting American bullied Kerber off the court with her power, firing 30 winners to 20 unforced errors in just 68 minutes.
.@CoCoVandey with the dab!#AusOpen pic.twitter.com/yEayki4q6k
— #AusOpen (@AustralianOpen) January 22, 2017
1. This result was in the cards.
On paper, this was a significant upset. In actuality, you could see it coming from a mile away.
There’s no way around it: Kerber was still trying to find her form in Melbourne. She came into the tournament with just three matches under her belt – two of them losses – and though she successfully navigated the first week of play, she was never convincing.
The defending champion needed three sets to get past Lesia Tsurenko in the first round and Carina Witthoeft in the second round, relying on her physical defense to grind out matches against players who tried to hit her off the court.
“This is tennis, and you have good days and bad days. For sure today was not my best day.” -#Kerber#AusOpen pic.twitter.com/oyEqc9kIIB
— #AusOpen (@AustralianOpen) January 22, 2017
That defense finally found its match against the ballistic ball-striking from Vandeweghe. The American is into her second Slam quarterfinal after scoring strong wins over Roberta Vinci, Pauline Parmentier, Eugenie Bouchard, and now Kerber. Her serve has been cranking and her backhand in particular has dominated her matches. Kerber’s defense alone would not be enough to unwind Vandeweghe on her day.
The German needed her serve — which has not been at the level it was last year — as well as good depth and width on her groundstrokes. Instead, she sent back a buffet of short balls in the middle of the court, which were automatic for Vandeweghe.
On improving: “I usually sit down and think of three positives from the match and three negatives from the match.'” -#Vandeweghe#AusOpen pic.twitter.com/Pjm2fA312L
— #AusOpen (@AustralianOpen) January 22, 2017
2. CoCo’s confidence carries her through.
The American insists that sometimes she “fakes it until she makes it”, an allusion to the idea that she’s not always as confident as she may seem on court. But there’s no denying that Vandeweghe talks as big of a game as she plays and that swagger seems to translate into tremendous clarity on court. Since the start of 2016, Vandeweghe has won 5 of her 6 meetings against Top 10 players.
Next, she gets a shot to avenge that one loss to Muguruza in Cincinnati last summer.
“I go out there expecting to win.” ✔️
Goal achieved, @CoCoVandey #AusOpen pic.twitter.com/YyQ7MuwliA
— #AusOpen (@AustralianOpen) January 22, 2017
After coming back from a break down in the third set to beat Bouchard in the third round, Vandeweghe shrugged off any implication that the win was a particularly significant one. After converting match point against the World No.1 and defending champion, she calmly looked to her box and nonchalantly shrugged.
The message is clear from the 25-year-old Californian: this is what she expects of herself and this is what she knows she can do.
On Sundays, we slow-mo with @serenawilliams. #ausopen pic.twitter.com/QMPRf0H3VA
— #AusOpen (@AustralianOpen) January 21, 2017
3. The No.1 scenario is simple.
Serena Williams can retake the No.1 ranking if she wins the Australian Open title. She plays her Round of 16 against Barbora Strycova on Monday.