Tennis News

There are few athletic endeavors as grueling as the 10-month season of professional tennis, a non-stop world tour that asks its athletes to peak several times throughout the year with little downtime in between. One would then expect any respite, however brief, to be among the most cherished times of year.

The official off-season affords a player nearly two months without set schedules or obligations, time that can be used to refresh the body and reinvigorate the mind for the year ahead. But success on the WTA tour requires a competitive wanderlust that can be hard to switch off, even for a few weeks.

“I didn’t stop, actually,” Karolina Pliskova said this week in Sydney. Peaking at No.7 late last summer, Pliskova played an incredible 28 weeks of tennis last year – including two Fed Cup weekends to help lead the Czech Republic to their fourth title in five years.

“I really didn’t have any off-season because I was playing IPTL. I just had one week off after Fed Cup and that’s it. Since then, I was playing tennis, and I’m still playing. I haven’t stopped yet.”

The Czech star hit the ground running in 2016, too, stepping in for compatriot Lucie Safarova to play a week of Hopman Cup before heading to the Apia International Sydney.

“Lucie wasn’t ready so I decided to go to Perth. Even though I didn’t feel like it was a good week, every match is important. I’m happy I had a few matches there and now a few more matches here. It’s a great start to the new season and it’s important to have some wins before the Australian Open.

It was the nearly full slate of matches played for the International Premier Tennis League’s OUE Singapore Slammers, however, that turned the most heads. Leading yet another team to victory just before Christmas with one-set wins over the likes of Serena Williams, Samantha Stosur, and Kristina Mladenovic, it looked to many as though Pliskova was burning both ends of an already-melted candle.

The 23 year old doesn’t see her scheduling in quite the same way.

“I feel fine, though maybe I was expecting worse,” she said after her first round win over Ana Ivanovic. “IPTL was fun; it wasn’t that bad, physically. It was more about traveling. There was not much of tennis and not much of the things I had to deal with compared to the year before, when I had a really tough off-season home.

“I had my fitness coach and physio with me the whole three weeks, so I was doing some things; it wasn’t like I wasn’t practicing at all.”

Belinda Bencic was Pliskova’s IPTL teammate, and felt similarly about forgoing a traditional off-season in favor of shaking up a part of the season where she winless in 2015.

“The most difficult thing about the start of the season is that you’re not in your rhythm yet,” she told press in Sydney. “You have to find everything again, your whole game. In IPTL, we were all super rusty, but by the first match in Brisbane, I didn’t feel rusty at all. I felt like I was into it.”

Bencic was the story of last summer, winning titles in Eastbourne and Toronto, but injuries curtailed her Asian Swing and left her looking to get off the practice court and back to competing with the best women in the game.

“Last year, I was just practicing a lot and I couldn’t compare myself against the field. You think you’re playing good but then you see the others and you’re like ‘ok, no, not really’ and you get killed.

“Some players took IPTL as an off-season holiday thing, but me, I was preparing. I was happy I got some matches. We were practicing every morning and in the afternoon you could try out what you’ve practiced in a match. It was also fun, better than two months of practice.”

Much as she also enjoyed her tennis-filled off-season, Pliskova was eager to return to competition in the truest sense of the word.

“I was really looking forward to playing a normal tournament, rather than these exhibitions. Even last week, I was playing Hopman Cup and I just feel better at regular tournaments instead of an exhibition.”

With almost metronomic precision, Pliskova’s timing can leave on-lookers breathless, but it’s a skill she finds hard to hone on a practice court.

“I really don’t like practicing, so even if I’m losing or not playing well, it’s just better to play matches.”

A former No.1 who could relate to that sentiment is Jelena Jankovic. Struggling to rediscover her form following a run to last year’s BNP Paribas Open final, the 2008 US Open finalist elected to add to her schedule in 2015, taking wildcards in Strasbourg, Birmingham and even a WTA 125K in Nanchang – which she won – propelling herself to even stronger results at the Western & Southern Open and a pair of titles in Guangzhou and Hong Kong.

“At the end of last year, I was able to pick up my game quite a lot and I was able to play much, much better,” she said after her opening round win over Coco Vandeweghe. “I was getting better with each tournament, getting stronger physically and feeling more confidence. I was feeling pretty good about my game and about myself.

“With me, the more I compete, the better I get.”

Though Jankovic played a season of the Champions Tennis League that finished in early December, the Serb will come into the Australian Open with just three best-of-three matches under her belt in 2016, the most recent being a gut-wrenching loss to Sara Errani that demonstrated some of the rust that the likes of Pliskova and Bencic have already shaken off.

“Maybe it’s better to keep going,” Pliskova mused, “because sometimes when you stop it’s harder to start again.”

All photos courtesy of Getty Images.

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

Have a look at the nominees for July Breakthrough Performance of the Month and cast your vote before Thursday at 11:59pm ET! The winner will be announced Friday, August 5.

July 2016 WTA Breakthrough Performance of the Month Finalists:

Johanna Konta: The British No.1 continued her breakthrough season at the Bank of the West Classic, winning her first title with an epic three-set win over former World No.1 Venus Williams. Konta’s win over Venus was her second of 2016, and put her in shouting distance of becoming the first British woman to reach the Top 10 since Jo Durie in 1984. Playing at the Rogers Cup, Konta reached the quarterfinals and fell one match shy of that Top 10 debut, but is nonetheless at a career-high ranking of No.13 following a strong summer.

Viktorija Golubic: Golubic rang in the inaugural Ladies Championship Gstaad with a home winner in Switzerland. Knocking out French Open semifinalist Kiki Bertens in three sets, Golubic not only captured her first title but also made her Top 100 debut. 

Laura Siegemund: The German had a full circle moment at the Ericsson Open in Bastad. Six years after making her WTA main draw debut in Sweden, Siegemund capped a successful clay court season with her first title in Bastad, defeating Czech youngster Katerina Siniakova in straight sets.

Kristina Kucova: Kucova became the first qualifier to reach the semifinals of the Rogers Cup since Zi Yan in 2007, turning the tables on Canada’s own Eugenie Bouchard and halting Johanna Konta’s Top 10 dream en route to the final four. A former US Open girl’s singles champion, Kucova at long last made her Top 100 debut.

2016 Winners:

January: Zhang Shuai
February: Jelena Ostapenko
March: Nicole Gibbs
April: Cagla Buyukakcay
May: Kiki Bertens
June: Elena Vesnina

How it works:

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

The penultimate stop-off on wtatennis.com’s trip down Olympics memory lane is the 2008 Games in Beijing, which saw a clean sweep of the medals from tennis’ new world order…

Beijing, China, 2008
Olympic Green Tennis Center
Hardcourt

For a Russian athlete there is no greater prize in sport than an Olympic gold medal. It is fitting therefore that for Elena Dementieva, so often the bridesmaid at tennis’ biggest events, the site of her greatest triumph was the Beijing Games.

Eight years after announcing herself to the tennis world with an unexpected silver medal in Sydney, Dementieva went one better in Beijing – a surprise winner in a tournament full of surprises.

A regular figure at the business end of majors, Dementieva enjoyed a smooth passage through the opening rounds and into a quarterfinal with Serena Williams.

Five previous encounters with Williams had brought just one win, but in Beijing Dementieva was a woman on a mission, producing a stirring comeback to triumph in three.

Meeting her in the semifinals was compatriot Vera Zvonareva, who had taken advantage of No.1 seed Ana Ivanovic’s 11th hour withdrawal to advance from the top section.

She was no match for an inspired Dementieva however, who, with the draw now shorn of many of her tormentors in chief, was not about to take her eye off the ball.

And so to the final where another Russian, Dinara Safina, was lying in wait.

Coming into the Games, Safina was in the form of her life and looking to add a golden finish to a summer that had already seen her pick up silverware in Berlin, Los Angeles and Montréal.

A round earlier Safina had dashed China’s dreams of a home gold medalist by knocking out Li Na and when she took the opening set in the final it looked like she would be putting paid to her teammate’s too.

Then midway through the second set, Safina began to lose her way. Whether it was magnitude of the situation playing on the mind or just an arduous summer schedule finally catching up with her is uncertain. What was certain is that it left the door ajar for a Dementieva comeback.

From then on, it was less about forehands and backhands and all about who wanted it more. There was only ever going to be one winner.

After nicking an error-strewn second set, the momentum was now with Dementieva and she was not about to hand it back. As the match edged towards the two and a half hour mark, Dementieva arrived at match point.

One crisp forehand down-the-line winner later and she sunk to her knees an Olympic champion.

“It’s a huge moment for Russia,” Dementieva said. “I know we were expecting and planning some medals from our team. But I don’t think anyone could expect three medals.”

“This is a dream for every athlete, just to be here. But to be an Olympic champion, this is the top of the career.”

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Olympic Memories: Athens
Olympic Memories: Sydney
Olympic Memories: Atlanta
Olympic Memories: Barcelona
Olympic Memories: Seoul