Insider Podcast: March Madness
After two months of unexpected results, what does it all mean as the tour prepares for the grueling high-stakes tournaments in tennis’ version of March Madness at the BNP Paribas Open and Miami Open?
On this episode, WTA Insider Senior Writer Courtney Nguyen and Web Editor David Kane reconvene to discuss the action at the Qatar Total Open in Doha, where Carla Suárez Navarro emerged from the beaten and battered draw to win the biggest title of her career. They also talk about the impressive week from 18-year-old Latvian Jelena Ostapenko, who tore through the Doha draw to make her second WTA final, and have mixed emotions surrounding Agnieszka Radwanska, Garbiñe Muguruza and Andrea Petkovic’s recent results.
Courtney and David also discuss the action at the Abierto Mexicano Telcel in Acapulco, where Sloane Stephens and Dominika Cibulkova played one of the best matches of the year in the final, which saw Sloane edge it out to become the first woman to two titles this year.
Kane on Suárez Navarro: “It’s very impressive but I still think there are a lot of questions about what this means for Suarez Navarro in terms of where she goes from here. She ended up having the best week of the top-ranked players but still, when she is in really high pressure situations against the biggest names in tennis, how will she stand up? I think mentally we’ve seen her answer a lot of those questions so far this year alone. Setting goals to be in the Top 10? Check. Top 5? Really close. Of all the players to make New Year’s Resolutions, I think you want to model your New Year’s Resolution game after Suárez Navarro. She’s one of the few big names getting things done in 2016.”
Nguyen on Radwanska: “I’m curious to see what she does in Indian Wells and Miami. Was this just a bad day at the office, a tough turnaround of 24-hours to play that match, or is it more of a sign? Obviously she’s great on hardcourts and is a former champion in Miami. If she can rebound there, then she’s all right. She’s still one of the best players at the start of the season. So maybe it was just a bad day. We’ll see.”
Nguyen on ‘Winning Ugly’: “On some level you wonder if this is a generational thing. If you are younger and you’ve grown up in this era of parity, in this era of everyone’s on upset alert at all times, everyone can pull up an upset at all times, and you’re just used to it, maybe you don’t panic as much because it’s the new normal. It is just what you are to expect in a tennis match.”
Kane on Stephens: “This is the best I’ve seen Sloane Stephens play a match from start to finish. For all the hype and all the prognosticating about the future and the potential of Sloane Stephens we really saw everything from her in this final. We saw the power, we saw the athleticism, most impressively we saw the defense, and more impressively, we saw she did not get down on herself.”