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News | WTA Tennis English

  • Posted: Jan 01, 1970

Ahead of the first Premier Mandatory event of 2017, the top seeds at the BNP Paribas Open convened on All-Access Hour to meet the press and answer questions about World No.1 Serena Williams’ withdrawal, who Agnieszka Radwanska would vote for in wtatennis.com’s Shot Of The Month presented by Cambridge Global Payments poll, and more from the Indian Wells Tennis Garden…

Simona Halep

On the impact of Serena’s withdrawal…
I heard she is struggling with the knees, so I understand. After she won the Australian Open she can take a long time off. She will come back at Roland Garros and she will probably win!

On how her personality helps and hurts her game…
I think I struggle with the confidence a little bit. And then on the other side I’m ambitious. And very competitive.

On her decision to play Romania’s next Fed Cup tie against Great Britain…
I think we play in my hometown. It will be great. I said I will play even if I have pain. I spoke with Ilie Nastase and told him I am coming. It will be nice. I can’t wait to be on court with him as a captain. It will be a nice experience and hopefully we can win.

Agnieszka Radwanska

On her toughest competition in the hot shot department…
Kirsten Flipkens. I think she is very good at those shots. Sometimes I thougth she’s gonna win, but then my shots are still better from the fans but if I had to pick, sometimes I’d pick her shots.

On celebrating her birthday in Indian Wells at The Cheesecake Factory…
That’s the tradition. Since 10 years. It’s the 10th year in the Cheesecake Factory. Different cheesecake every time. Oreo is the best one.

Karolina Pliskova

On avoiding a potential third round clash with her sister Kristyna thanks to Serena’s withdrawal…
I was kind of happy. We were supposed to meet in the third round, so she would have to win two tough matches and me one, so it was not sure that we were gonna play but it’s definitely better to be in the place that I am now.

On what would mean more to her, titles or wins over certain players…
Pliskova: Definitely both titles and some players, which we all know there are some players I don’t like to play. We all know that.
WTA Insider: You mean Aga?
Pliskova: Yeah that’s the one. So I just want to beat those players which I don’t feel comfortable on the court. And then still, it’s the titles. Doesn’t matter which titles, it’s still always a good title, a good week. It gives me a lot of confidence coming to the next tournament. I just want to try at every tournament. I think I have a good chance every week. Doesn’t matter which tournament, doesn’t matter which surface – obviously clay gonna be difficult – I just want to try. Out of four tournaments I made two finals. So I think I have a good chance every week.

On getting offers for photoshoots and magazine spreads back home…
I usually say no to everything. I just don’t need this stuff. I was not raised this way. I just want to play good tennis. For me, that’s the main goal. I don’t need to be in any magazine.

Svetlana Kuznetsova

On whether tournaments are more open with the absence of Serena, Victoria Azarenka, Maria Sharapova, and Petra Kvitova…
For sure it’s a shame for the fans and it’s great to see all these great players playing. But I’m not sure if it’s that open because I believe tennis these past years the level raised a lot. All matches are so difficult. It doesn’t matter who is playing. It’s so difficult to win. Yes, it’s less great players. But still the players are getting better and better and I just look forward for all those players to get back and have those great fields again.

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Can Azarenka Win The Australian Open?

Can Azarenka Win The Australian Open?

  • Posted: Jan 01, 1970

MELBOURNE, Australia – Victoria Azarenka’s revival at the Brisbane International, where she stormed to her first WTA title in almost two and a half years without losing a set, couldn’t have come at a better time, with her favorite Grand Slam – the Australian Open – just a matter of days away.

She’s hoping her journey back to the top of the tennis world will continue at the Happy Slam.

“I’m excited to follow my journey. I’m excited to live my journey,” Azarenka said. “It’s a great feeling. Stay in the moment, be present – I’m really enjoying this moment. I think it’s precious. So I just want to enjoy that and see how I feel tomorrow, see what I want to do, and just try to keep going.

“The focus is still very much on Melbourne. I’m going to do everything I can to prepare and feel the most comfortable to start the tournament. I can’t wait to be in Melbourne. I love the city.”

After three blockbuster seasons – she finished 2011 at No.3, 2012 at No.1 and 2013 at No.2 – the injury bug bit Azarenka hard, limiting her to just nine tournaments in 2014 and 14 in 2015, and at one point pushing her as far down as No.50 in the world, her lowest ranking since all the way back in 2007.

But the Brisbane title propelled her from No.22 to No.16 on this week’s WTA Rankings, not just guaranteeing her a Top 16 seed for the Australian Open, but her highest ranking since August 2014.

The former World No.1 isn’t calling this a comeback, though. “I don’t think there’s a name for it,” she told reporters in Brisbane. “I think it’s more for you guys to put as a headline. For me, it’s like you’re reading a book, and you just turn the page. That part of it was over – you just flip the page.

“I think that’s really exciting. And I can’t wait to read the next page.”

That next page will be written at the Australian Open, and it’s her best Grand Slam for a reason – she won her first two Grand Slam titles there in 2012 and 2013, beating Maria Sharapova and Li Na in those two finals, respectively, and even through her injury-marred seasons since then she still made it deep, reaching the quarterfinals in 2014 (falling to Agnieszka Radwanska) and the fourth round in 2015 (falling to Dominika Cibulkova). She’s also won 35 of her last 39 matches in Australia, period.

And given she’s been Serena Williams’ toughest match-up the last few years – she’s the last player to beat the World No.1 in a final, at Cincinnati in 2013, and she pushed her to three sets in all three of their meetings in 2015 – could a rejuvenated Belarusian be the one to stop Williams Down Under?

Tell us what you think: Can Azarenka win a third Australian Open crown this year?

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Bouchard, Vesnina Go To Celine Dion Show

  • Posted: Jan 01, 1970

MONTRÉAL, Canada – For the players taking part in the 2016 Rogers Cup, it was more than just ranking points and prize money at stake in the competition: there was an extra prize up for grabs for the tournament winners.

Though Roberta Vinci didn’t reach the final (and we didn’t get to hear her sing), plenty of WTA players were in attendance on to see Celine Dion’s triumphant return to Montréal, where she was kicking off the first of 10 concerts in the city.

Elena Vesnina and Ekaterina Makarova, who teamed up to win the Rogers Cup trophy in doubles, didn’t miss the chance to see the singer live, making sure to record every moment.

The tournament’s other champion, Simona Halep, who featured in both the singles and doubles finals, was too exhausted to make the show. She wasn’t too cut up about it though, having already seen the Queen of Pop live a few months ago.

Q. If you make the final, you get tickets to a concert tonight.

SIMONA HALEP: You think I’m able to go? I have one more match. I saw Celine in March when I was in Vegas. I will see her soon, but not tonight.

Meanwhile, Canada’s No.1 Eugenie Bouchard was at the concert, too, and she nabbed the ultimate selfie with her iconic countrywoman before the show began.

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News | WTA Tennis English

  • Posted: Jan 01, 1970

INDIAN WELLS, CA, USA – Angelique Kerber is set to return to No.1 after the BNP Paribas Open, but her focus over the fortnight is finding her game.

Kerber’s return to the No.1 ranking comes after Serena Williams announced her withdrawal from both the BNP Paribas Open and Miami Open due to a left knee injury. The news meant Kerber, who ceded the top spot to Serena after the American won her Open Era record-breaking 23rd major title at the Australian Open in January, would move back up without swinging her racquet.

“I’ve been there already, but at the end, of course it feels good to reach the spot again,” Kerber told reporters at All Access Hour at the BNP Paribas Open, “but for me I came here to really focus not on becoming No.1 or the ranking.

“I was coming here to win matches. This is what I love and this is what I was practicing for the last weeks. This is more what I’m focusing on. I will try and really stay with my focus because this is my priority and I will try now not to think about getting No.1 again.”

Reflecting on her 7-5 start to the season, Kerber believes her best is just around the corner.

“Of course it was so-so,” Kerber said, rating her start. “It could be better. But in the end I’m still feeling good. I’m positive. So I practiced good. I think it’s just one or two matches that I have to win again and then I’m in my rhythm.”

Kerber is coming off her best result of the year so far, a semifinal run at the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships two weeks ago, where she lost to Elina Svitolina. The 29-year-old picked up a knee and back injury in Dubai and hopes those problems will not flare up again when she gets back to competitive play.

“After Dubai I went back home and had treatments and everything and I started practicing here again,” she said. “That’s why I came here earlier.

“The knee is fine. I don’t how it is during a match, it’s always different. But for the moment it’s fine.”

A two-time semifinalist in Indian Wells, the German will be looking to snap a four-match losing streak in the California desert, having lost in her opening round the last three years.

Kerber opens her tournament on Saturday against either Andrea Petkovic or Vania King.

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Insider Podcast: Sweet Win For Simona

  • Posted: Jan 01, 1970

MONTRÉAL, Canada – Simona Halep capped off a strong week in Canada by winning her third title of the season, beating Madison Keys, 7-6(2), 6-3, to win the Rogers Cup. Her win over Keys extended her current win streak to 10 matches and moves her up to No.3 in both the rankings and the Road To Singapore leaderboard.

Hear from Halep as she discusses her week in Montreal, her plans for the upcoming weeks without the Olympics, and why she never, ever, skips a good dessert.

On doing double duty: “It was very different because I’m not used to playing doubles. I got a little bit tired in the end. But it also helped me to play some doubles matches because I practiced the return, the serve. That helped me a lot in singles; I had tough opponents there. It’s been a great week in both singles and doubles. I am dead, but I have a few days break, and I will be fresh against for Cincinnati.”

On managing frustration on court: “My physio Dragos is new and he doesn’t know tennis very well. He asked Darren during the match where I had a set and 5-0, ‘Why is Simona angry at this moment?’ I don’t know how to answer, because it happens. It’s coming from inside where I get frustrated because I’ve missed a ball. I always want perfection; I know that doesn’t exist, but I’m looking for it a lot anyway. I don’t know if I’ll ever find out why I do this, but if I do, I will change it because I really want to change this and be more patient and positive with myself.”

On the summer hardcourts: “I think I play better tennis on hardcourts here at the US Open Series because the courts are faster and I started to play well on this surface. I feel more confident because I had a great result last year at all the tournaments, so I’m looking forward to the next tournament because I feel confident that I can win some more matches. I just have to be careful with my body, to take a rest and recover, and then to work again.”

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CNN Open Court: Brazil's Hope

  • Posted: Jan 01, 1970

RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil – Last April, Teliana Pereira became the first Brazilian in 27 years to lift a WTA title when she won the Claro Open Colsanitas, in Bogotá. A second, and more emotional, triumph followed a few months later, Periera departing Florianopolis for her home up the coast in Curitiba with the trophy – and a Top 50 ranking – safely secured.

In sports mad Brazil, her fairytale journey from humble beginnings to a place at the upcoming Rio Olympics has captured the public’s imagination. In the build-up to the Games, CNN Open Court tracked down Brazil’s leading player to hear her incredible story first-hand.

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Santina Survive For 29th Straight Win

Santina Survive For 29th Straight Win

  • Posted: Jan 01, 1970

SYDNEY, Australia – Top seeds Martina Hingis and Sania Mirza were trailing by a set and a break when rain interrupted their semifinal match with Yaroslava Shvedova and Raluca Olaru, but turned the tables upon resumption to win, 4-6, 6-3, 10-8 to capture a 29th straight match.

Team SanTina have not lost a match since the Western & Southern Open late last summer, and the reigning Wimbledon and US Open champions have now surpassed Gigi Fernández and Natasha Zvereva’s 1994 record of 28 straight victories and have now begun to chase an even bigger record. Back in 1990, the dynamic duo of Jana Novotna and Helena Sukova won a whopping 44 matches in a row.

“This is something that I dreamed about and I was hoping for,” Hingis told press after the match. “I can only say it over and over again: It’s something that’s a priority. When I was playing singles, singles was the priority. I became No.1 there. For a time, I was No. 1 in both.

“Now I put 100% or 120% into this, and I think I that’s what makes us this great doubles team. The chemistry is amazing. We don’t always play super tennis, but we come out and find a solution. I think that’s what makes us right now the best doubles in the world.”

“Today the girls we were playing, they were playing probably the best I’ve seen them play,” Mirza added. “Slava has won Slams before, and Olaru was playing really well. We had to really put everything that we had and really come out with our A Game when we needed to, especially in that supertiebreak.

“It’s not like because we’ve been winning so much we take it for granted really. We try every time. We’re the hunted. Everyone plays their best against us, and we have to keep playing our best as well to win.”

With titles at the Apia International Sydney and the Australian Open, SanTina could move their streak up to 36 straight, and would likely need at least another two titles to come close to passing such an elusive record.

In the meantime, the top seeds will face the winner of the second semifinal between No.3 seeds Kristina Mladenovic and Caroline Garcia, and the No.2 seeds, Chan Hao-Ching and Chan Yung-Jan. The Chan sisters are the last women to defeat Hingis and Mirza together in Cincinnati, but have fallen to the pair four times since then.

The singles matches, however, weren’t able to survive the ensuing rain storms that soaked Sydney. Top seed Simona Halep led Svetlana Kuznetsova 5-4 while qualifier Monica Puig had a massive 4-0 lead on Belinda Bencic before both matches were canceled – to resume on Friday.

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Rio Olympic Draw Announced

  • Posted: Jan 01, 1970

The draw for the Summer Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro has been released; where have your favorite players landed? Find out right here on wtatennis.com!

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