Tennis News

April was defined by three breakthrough players who brought some impressive performances on and off the court. Which one soared the highest?

Have a look at the nominees for April’s Breakthrough Performance of the Month and cast your vote before Thursday at 11:59pm ET! The winner will be announced Friday, May 6.

April 2016 WTA Breakthrough Performance of the Month Finalists:

Laura Siegemund: In the midst of a breakthrough season, Siegemund announced herself to the tennis world in a big way at the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix, where she reached the finals as a qualifier. Brushing past the likes of Simona Halep, Roberta Vinci, and Agnieszka Radnwaks – all in straight sets – the German veteran who wrote a thesis on the psychology of athletes’ mental strength showed impressive grit and determination to ride the wave of momentum and home support into her first WTA singles final. Should she maintain her No.4 standing in her country’s race to the Olympic Games, she could well qualify for Rio by the French Open.

Cagla Buyukakcay: Speaking of hometown favorites, Cagla Buyukakcay made Turkish history in front of an enthusiastic Istanbul crowd to win the TEB BNP Paribas Istanbul Cup. All in one week, Buyukakcay became the first Turkish woman to reach a WTA semifinal, final, and title at the expense of Danka Kovinic in three grueling sets. The result helped her crack the Top 100 for the first time in her career, and guarantee a Wimbledon main draw debut later this year.

Irina Falconi: Falconi had an emotional run of her own at the Claro Open Colsanitas, taking out clay court specialist Lara Arruabarrena to win her first career WTA title at 25 years old. A former college star at Georgia Tech, Falconi’s win came on the heels of a devestating earthquake that ravaged her birthplace of Portoviejo, Ecuador. Vowing to do all she can to help, the American has already raised over $20,000 in relief money.

2016 Winners:

January: Zhang Shuai
February: Jelena Ostapenko
March: Nicole Gibbs

How it works:

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

NEW YORK, NY, USA – Every spring the Costume Institute at New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art puts on a new fashion exhibit, and with it there’s a brand new themed party: the Met Gala. It’s probably one of the flashiest – and most exclusive – red carpet events of the year, and WTA stars Maria Sharapova and Caroline Wozniacki were right in the thick of it.

Hosted by Vogue editor Anna Wintour, this year’s theme was “Manus x Machina: Fashion in an Age of Technology,” and Sharapova and Wozniacki chose red as their as their color for the night. Sharapova enlisted Colombian designer Juan Carlos Obando, and Wozniacki wore Prabal Gurung.

Here’s some of the best pictures of their red carpet arrivals, courtesy of Getty Images:

MADRID, Spain – Last year, the biggest names in women’s tennis put down their phones and pulled their best faces in the first ever WTA Emoji Challenge. 

Watch highlights, interviews and more video from Madrid right here on wtatennis.com!

This week, they’re at it again at the Mutua Madrid Open; co-No.1s Martina Hingis and Sania Mirza join reigning Australian Open champion Angelique Kerber, Sunshine Double winner Victoria Azarenka, Agnieszka Radwanska, Simona Halep, Garbiñe Muguruza, Petra Kvitova, Roberta Vinci, Carla Suárez Navarro, and Sloane Stephens to have some fun, flex some muscle, and imitate some of the newest and most memorable textual expressions.

How do they fare? Check out the video and some of the best pictures from the Second Annual WTA Emoji Challenge:

Sania Mirza & Martina Hingis

Simona Halep

Garbiñe Muguruza

Sloane Stephens

Roberta Vinci

Carla Suárez Navarro

Agnieszka Radwanska

Angelique Kerber

Victoria Azarenka

Petra Kvitova

MADRID, Spain – Simona Halep is just two matches from another Premier Mandatory title, but an Aussie veteran in Samantha Stosur will look to stop the Romanian’s run, while marathon woman Dominika Cibulkova takes on a young challenger from the United States; 19-year-old Louisa Chirico qualified for the main draw and is having the week of her life. Who will make it into Saturday’s final?

Friday, Semifinals

[6] Simona Halep (ROU #7) vs Samantha Stosur (AUS #23)
Head-to-head: Tied at 3-3
Key Stat: Halep won their last three meetings (all in 2013).

After an up and down start to 2016, Halep appears to have finally slid into a vein of good form, overcoming compatriot Irina-Camelia Begu to earn her biggest result of the season by reaching the semifinals in Madrid. Standing between her and a second final at the Caja Magica in three years is 2010 French Open finalist Samantha Stosur.

The Aussie veteran dominated her rivalry with the Romanian early in the latter’s career, but in her breakout 2013 season, Halep won all three of their meetings – though two went to three sets in Cincinnati and Sofia at the Tournament of Champions. Halep was the highest ranked woman left in the tournament as of the quarterfinals – and the only seed – but Stosur is no slouch on the big stages, and tends to play at her best when she can play hunter to a higher ranked opponent’s hunted.

Facing off qualifier Patricia Maria Tig in two tight sets, Stosur will like her chances against Halep, who has yet to reach a final this year and has dropped from No.2 down to No.6, but Halep herself has endured a difficult draw, one that put her up against one of last year’s French Open semifinalists and rival Timea Bacsinszky, who returns to the Top 10 on Monday.

Dominika Cibulkova (SVK #38) vs Louisa Chirico (USA #130)
Head-to-head: First meeting
Key Stat: Both women are playing in their first Premier semifinal of 2016 (Chirico: career debut)

Cibulkova has had to battle throughout her week in Madrid, but began her campaign with a quality win over top seed and World No.2 Agnieszka Radwanska, and recovered from a set down to defeat an unseeded but dangerous trio in Caroline Garcia, Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, and Sorana Cirstea.

With three WTA semifinal appearances already under her belt in 2016, Cibulkova credits her title run at the Katowice Open with giving her the confidence to play her best tennis on the big stages – having narrowly missed out on upset opportunities in Indian Wells and Miami against Radwanska and Garbiñe Muguruza, respectively.

For Chirico, this may be her first appearance this far in a WTA tournament, but the run hardly came from nowhere. The American teenager made good on a wildcard into the Volvo Car Open main draw to reach the third round – taking out No.4 seed Lucie Safarova en route – and qualifid for the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix just two weeks ago. In Madrid, she outlasted former No.1 and 2008 French Open champion Ana Ivanovic, and backed up the upset with a two-set win over 2015 Rome semifinalist Daria Gavrilova in the quarterfinals.

The first set could well be crucial for the 19-year-old, but the Slovak has proven she can brush off an early deficit to win in the end.

Also in action: The women’s doubles semifinals will take place back-to-back on Estadio 3, with a potential for a rematch of the Stuttgart final on the menu. No.5 seeds Caroline Garcia and Kristina Mladenovic will attempt to win a 13th straight match over the recently reunited No.8 seeds Ekaterina Makarova and Elena Vesnina, while top seeds and Co-No.1s Martina Hingis and Sania Mirza will be in the hunt for revenge against Vania King and Alla Kudryavtseva, who upset them in straight sets at the BNP Paribas Open. The only unseeded pair left in Madrid, King and Kudryavtseva are currently No.9 on the Road to Singapore standings and reached their second straight semifinal after saving two match points to defeat  No.4 seeds Chan Hao-Ching and Chan Yung-Jan.

Catch up on the first two episodes of All In With Alla here and here.

A disconsolate Alla Kudryavtseva returns to her hotel room in Pelham, Alabama, after a difficult loss. A seemingly straightforward quarterfinal match against Grace Min had gone horribly wrong as the 2011 junior US Open champion charged back from a 6-1, 4-0 deficit.

But Kudryavtseva can’t wallow; she has a paper to write.

“I came back to my room and thought, ‘I want to be sad, and I want to whine, but I have to finish this paper!’ she told WTA Insider. “‘So I’m going to spend the next four hours typing.’

“I spent the next two days the same way and I thought, ‘You know what? I didn’t really have time to be sad!'”

The subject of the 40-page assignment (before bibliography) carried unintentional irony for the veteran, who set aside a disappointing defeat to type a treatise on retirements – specifically the WTA Transitions Program, which assists players as they exit the world of professional tennis, helping to assess what lies ahead.

“You can’t ignore the fact that I am 28 and it is going to happen some time,” she laughed, when asked whether the topic drew from personal inspiration, adding, “and after reading around 35 sources for my paper, I know it’s better to start planning early, sooner – rather than later.”

One of 21 players currently enrolled at the Indiana University East’s online degree program – a WTA-administered partnership between the university and the Women’s Tennis Benefits Association, one that already boasts former No.1 Venus Williams among its alumni – Kudryavtseva is on course for a second bachelor’s degree in communications.

“I really had to work very hard this semester, and it was a killer. I’m going to graduate in September; I can’t wait.”

Balancing coursework with divergent careers in singles and doubles not only requires precision but also an ability to prioritize; Kudryavtseva opted to extend her stint on green clay past the WTA’s typical finish in Charleston – where she and Vania King reached their first semifinal of the season – and remain in North America for two additional weeks of singles.

“Clay has never been my favorite surface, but I’m glad I’ve been able to scramble together a few matches here at the Challengers,” she said after a three-set win over Asia Muhammad in Dothan. “Hopefully it will help me get into some WTA events so I can play even more singles later in the year.”

The match against Muhammad came to an abrupt halt at 5-1 in the final set; a thunderstorm delayed proceedings, later causing confusion around the grounds.

“We were told we were going to resume at 2:30, and so we were just chilling. But I looked over at the courts thinking, ‘It looks really dry,’ so I started moving around when they came back and told us, ‘No, no, we’ll actually start at 2.’

“That wouldn’t happen at a WTA event; you wouldn’t get that kind of information and then be told, ‘Nah, we changed our minds! It wasn’t easy, but then, tennis is never easy. There are three matches a year that go smoothly; the rest you have to really fight for.”

Fighting her way into the semifinals – upsetting top seed Anna Tatishvili en route – Kudryavtseva had to deal with a different kind of battle each night back at the hotel.

“On the WTA tour, we have five-star hotels, and all of the players are staying together, so it’s never a problem with quiet or noise. Here, there are only three players at this hotel and my neighbors were not the most quiet people; they were, well, not having a good time in their marriage.

“I kind of had to be a part of it and listen to every single argument they were having, thinking, ‘Jesus people, just figure it out; I need to sleep!'”

Just love @Gibbsyyyy 's take over on Twitter to defend equal rights&prize money and her attention to male players who support the good fight

— Alla Kudryavtseva (@AllaK11) March 23, 2016

Domestic squabbles weren’t the only things keeping Kudryavtseva up in the last few weeks, with more global arguments like those concerning equal prize money taking center stage in Miami. As former BNP Paribas Open CEO Raymond Moore’s controversial comments hit the Twittersphere, she was among the most visible voices contributing to the debate.

“Obviously, there are men who express their opinions about us, and there is that conversation, but it’s hard to believe that someone who was in charge of such a big event could have expressed such views.

“You could see that from my Twitter feed, that I was a little frustrated! But that’s because one comment led to a bunch of others. As a female athlete, it’s frustrating to feel like you have to prove yourself and have that same conversation over and over. As a woman, period – not even as an athlete – being constantly compared can get exhausting after a while.

“Some of these men, I wonder if they’re really in touch with what year we’re living in and what kind of things are going on in the world, how important human rights are, and how important acceptance and equality really is.

“I’m glad that other girls are also willing to speak up, like my teammate for WTT, Nicole Gibbs, who is always courageous and outspoken, and a fantastic representation for female sports.”

The Russian conveyed similar sentiments when asked about her countrywoman, Maria Sharapova.

“I get some Twitter hate sometimes,” she said, likely referencing the reaction to a remark made after defeating the former Wimbledon champion back in 2008, “but I’m honestly a very big fan of Sharapova and think she’s an incredible tennis player. What she brought to the game, you can’t take it back.

“With this whole situation, I really hope she gets cleared and she can compete again. I don’t really know her personally, but just from the point of view of a tennis fan, she’s had such an incredible career: five Grand Slam titles on all surfaces, first Grand Slam at 17. I hope it doesn’t end this way.”

From a player who spent much of her week as a first alternate in Singapore on Centre Court taking in the likes of Sharapova and Agnieszka Radwanska from the sidelines, “tennis fan” is hardly a trite turn of phrase. Ever-active on social media, Kudryavtseva is among the most accesible people in the game – for worse and for better.

“Those damn haters! The trolling is harsh sometimes; you can read that stuff and think, ‘Jesus, just let me be; I didn’t go on your page and call you an idiot!’

“I can’t say I’m completely immune to internet hate. But I think I do a good job of ignoring the negative. The tweets that mean the most are the ones that come from my actual fans, the people who’ve followed me for years. They love the sport, and always bring positive energy and make me not want to quit social media.

“Every now and again you get bad comments and think, ‘Why am I even on this?’ But your fans are the ones who’ll tweet, ‘Remember that selfie we took?’ and ‘Remember this time when you beat someone?’ or ‘Oh my god, I loved that time you did this or that!’

“In the internet community, it’s all fairly anonymous, but I’m not anonymous. I’ve met the people who do send supportive tweets at tournaments and I love when they tell me their handle, and that they follow me on Twitter. That’s always so nice.”

It's hard to overstate how much I loved playing @WorldTeamTennis last year… I'm glad I'll get to play again pic.twitter.com/80Wl9p8gCv

— Alla Kudryavtseva (@AllaK11) March 25, 2016

Drafted for a second season of Mylan World TeamTennis alongside Gibbs, the Orange County Breaker has the opportunity to engage a whole new group of fans following a glittering debut as part of the Austin Aces, leading the team into the championship match against the Washington Kastles.

“I love World TeamTennis. I cannot say enough about how much I love it. I was so excited to follow along with the Draft on social media, and I look forward to being in California. I’m sad we’re not going back to Austin because I really connected with those people; they’re so nice and I saw their tweets from the ATP event in Houston. I hope at some point that WTT can come back to Austin, just so I can meet all of those people again! But I’ve heard great things about Newport Beach.

“So long as I have ‘Eye of the Tiger’ playing in the background, I’m good to go!”

At 28, Kudryavtseva still has the swagger of a college kid, and just the right mix of intensity and optimism a player needs to have it all. Hard as it may be to predict what goes viral, consistency with King and 140 characters may make it all happen sooner – rather than later.

Follow Alla on Twitter @AllaK11!

All photos courtesy of Christopher Levy.