Tennis News

LONDON, Great Britain – Not bad for your Grand Slam debut. At 24-years-old, No.225 Julia Boserup qualified for her first major at Wimbledon and is into the third round after beating Tatjana Maria and advancing after Belinda Bencic retired in the second round. It’s been a heady week and a half for the American, who has already had to change and extend her accommodations multiple times as she prolongs her unexpected stay in London.

And she’s doing it all while trying to balance the best week of her career – and an Excel spreadsheet or two.

“I go to Penn State Online and I graduate in December,” Boserup said. “I’m studying psychology with a minor in finance. I have homework due in two days.

“I’m taking an accounting class and I have spreadsheets due on Sunday. I have a day off tomorrow. I already told my coach that I’m going to be sitting down and working on school. Me and Excel.”

The California native shares dual citizenship with Denmark – much to the delight of Danish reporters at Wimbledon who are still smarting from Caroline Wozniacki’s early exit. Her parents are Danish and she has family in Copenhagen, which operates as a convenient training base for her when she’s in Europe.

“My dad emigrated to the US when he was eight years old because his dad wanted the American dream, so he moved to the US,” Boserup said. “My mom was on vacation in California when she was 25 and she met my dad and they got married and she moved to California.

“But my older sister went to business school and met the only Danish guy there and married him and moved there. We’re all like, ‘Wrong direction!'”

Boserup started playing tennis when she was six years old and her first coach was the legendary Robert Lansdorp, who also taught the likes of Lindsay Davenport and Maria Sharapova how to hit their big, powerful shots. You see the same style of game from Boserup, who says grass is her favorite surface. At 13 years old she moved to Florida to work with the USTA and moved back to California when she turned 18. A year after winning the Orange Bowl in 2008 – she beat Christina McHale in the final – she opted to turn pro.

But injuries derailed her development. In 2012 she suffered stress fractures in both her feet and nursed a back injury on and off for two years. She has never been ranked higher than No.174. So why did it take so long for her to make the main draw of a Slam?

“It’s a good question and it’s a question I ask myself sometimes,” she said. “I think I’ve put a lot of work into it and sometimes you just have to be patient. I was injured a lot and it’s been a lot of stops and starts. In the big moments it has served me well. Going through those challenges has helped me.”

So could this be the spark that gets her on a path towards the Top 100? This is where Boserup’s maturity is most evident.

“It’s great that I’m in the third round of a Grand Slam, but for me what I’m most excited about is developing my tennis,” she said. “I’ve worked with my coach for three-four months now and everyday we try and get better at little things. That’s really made me get more excited to play. After this I’m still going to play a $50k. One week doesn’t change everything.”

Boserup plays Elena Vesnina in the third round on Saturday.

All photos courtesy of Getty Images.

LONDON, England – On Saturday afternoon Serena Williams tied Steffi Graf’s long-standing Open Era record of 22 Grand Slam titles with victory over Angelique Kerber in the Wimbledon final.

To celebrate the historic feat, wtatennis.com is going to run down 22 of the more memorable numbers from a truly remarkable career…

750,000 – The amount in dollars Serena received for winning her first major, the 1999 US Open; the prize money for victory at this year’s Wimbledon was around $2,590,000

346 – It has taken Serena 346 matches to win her 22 majors; Graf won her 22nd title (1999 Roland Garros) in her 303rd match

304 – Serena has the second-most Grand Slam match wins in Open Era with 304 (Martina Navratilova 306)

83 – At all four Grand Slam tournaments, Serena has an 83% or better winning percentage: Australian Open (74-10, 88%), Roland Garros (60-12, 83%, Wimbledon 66-10, 90%), US Open (84-10, 89%)

79 – Serena has won nearly 79% of her 28 Grand Slam finals. Her only defeats came at the 2001 US Open (to Venus Williams), 2004 Wimbledon (to Maria Sharapova), 2008 Wimbledon (to Venus Williams), 2011 US Open (to Sam Stosur), 2016 Australian Open (to Kerber) and 2016 Roland Garros (to Garbiñe Muguruza). This is the second-best winning percentage in the Open Era after Court (11-1)

64 – Remarkably, Serena has won more than a third of the 64 Grand Slams that she has contested

30 – Nine of Serena’s 22 majors have come after turning 30; by winning the Wimbledon final, Williams (who is 34 years and 287 days old at the end of the tournament) also broke her own record as the oldest Open Era Grand Slam champion

22 – She has now equaled Steffi Graf’s Open Era record of 22 Grand Slam titles and moved within touching distance of Margaret Court’s all-time leading tally of 24

20 – Since Serena lifted the 1999 US Open, 20 different women have tasted Grand Slam success

18 – The age Serena won her first Grand Slam title, at the 1999 US Open 

16 – Serena has the longest winning span between majors of any woman in the Open Era at 16 years and 10 months between 1999 US Open and 2016 Wimbledon (Chris Evert, Navratilova and Graf had 12-year spans)

14 – Of her 22 Slam final victories, 14 have come in straight sets

12 – This fortnight Serena was playing her 22nd major as the No.1 seed. She has won 12 of them

9 – Nine of Serena’s Grand Slam titles have come alongside current coach Patrick Mouratoglou

8 – Serena won eight straight Grand Slam singles finals between 2012 Wimbledon and 2015 Wimbledon; losses on each side were 2011 US Open (Samantha Stosur) and 2016 Australian Open (Kerber)

7 – Victory over Kerber brought Serena her seventh title at Wimbledon – her most successful Grand Slam venue; she has six titles at both the Australian and US Opens, and three at Roland Garros

6 – Serena has successfully defended major titles on six occasions during her career: 2003 Wimbledon, 2010 Australian Open, 2010 Wimbledon, 2013 US Open, 2014 US Open, 2016 Wimbledon

5 – Against Top 5-seeds at Grand Slams Serena has a better record than any other player in the Open Era (minimum five matches), winning 26 and losing just four

4 – On two separate occasions in her career, Serena has held all four Slams simultaneously – 2014 US Open to 2015 Wimbledon, and 2002 Roland Garros to 2003 Australian Open

3 – Third time’s a charm: before Saturday, the only woman in tennis history who had won the third major of a year after losing in the first two finals – as Williams has now done – was Navratilova in 1987

2 – Just two of Serena’s 22 major final wins have come over left-handers (2015 Roland Garros – Lucie Safarova, 2016 Wimbledon – Kerber)

1 – Serena’s only victory at a major as an unseeded player came at the 2007 Australian Open, when she had slipped to No.81 following a series of injuries.

GSTAAD, Switzerland – UNAIDS has appointed Timea Bacsinszky, top seed at the Ladies Championship Gstaad, as a Global Advocate for Young People.

Bacsinszky will work to ensure that young people have access to the information and services needed to protect themselves from becoming infected with HIV and will encourage young people to get tested for the virus and seek immediate treatment if necessary to keep them alive and well.

“My generation has never known a world without HIV, but we have the power to change this for future generations,” said Bacsinszky. “Ending the AIDS epidemic by 2030 will require commitment and perseverance to get the job done and this will only happen if we break down the stigma that still surrounds HIV.

“In tennis we are all equal on court – no matter what our nationality, gender, religion, or sexual orientation is. It is just you and your opponent. The rules of the game are the same for both players. Working with UNAIDS made me realize that in many countries, young people living with HIV/AIDS do not have equal rights and opportunities.

“Oftentimes, young people do not have access to relevant HIV prevention services, voluntary HIV testing, affordable treatment, and high quality care and support services. Or else, the fear of stigma and discrimination discourages them from disclosing their HIV status, which undermines their ability and willingness to access and adhere to treatment.

“If we want to end the AIDS epidemic by 2030 we need to change this and I want to be part of that change – by lending my voice to spread the word about the needs of young people most affected by HIV, promoting HIV testing via social media channels and engaging young people in the AIDS response.”

Bacsinszky is supporting the UNAIDS #ProTESTHIV campaign, which encourages young people to become actively involved in promoting HIV testing and linkage to care and treatment services. People can find more information at protesthiv.org.

“Timea Bacsinszky’s energy and dedication on the tennis court are very clear,” said Michel Sidibé, Executive Director of UNAIDS. “These are valuable qualities that will help to mobilize young people to join the global movement in response to HIV and become the generation to end the AIDS epidemic by 2030.”

There are 36.7 million people living with HIV globally, 3.9 million of whom are young people aged 15 to 24. Young people are especially vulnerable to HIV infection. In 2015, there were an estimated 670 000 new HIV infections worldwide among young people aged 15 to 24, with young women accounting for 58% of new infections among this age group.

UNAIDS is the main charitable beneficiary of the Women’s Tennis Association Ladies Championship Gstaad in 2016.

All photos courtesy of the Ladies Championship Gstaad.