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Olympic Memories: London

  • Posted: Jan 01, 1970

The seventh and final stop-off on wtatennis.com’s trip down Olympics memory lane is the 2012 Games in London, which saw Serena Williams add a golden sheen to a magical summer…

London, United Kingdom, 2012
All England Club
Grass

Twelve years after watching courtside as her sister won gold in Sydney, Serena Williams produced arguably the performance of her career to finally follow in her footsteps.

Injury in 2004 and a shock defeat to Elena Dementieva four years later left Serena, the outstanding player of her generation, with one gap remaining on an otherwise flawless resume: an Olympic singles gold medal.

Of all the players in the draw, perhaps only Venus could match Serena’s joy at hearing of the All England Club’s selection as an Olympic venue. With a record second to none on Wimbledon’s hallowed lawns – she lifted the Venus Rosewater Dish for a fifth time three weeks prior to the start of the Games – even as No.4 seed, Serena started as most people’s favorite for the tournament.

So often a slow starter at tennis’ flagship events, Serena hit the ground running at a curiously liveried All England Club. She fired out an early warning shot, brushing aside former No.1 Jelena Jankovic for the loss of four games in the opening round.

Ominously for her title rivals, she got better as the rounds progressed, clinically dispatching the top seed Victoria Azarenka in the semifinals.

This set up a showdown with French Open champion Maria Sharapova. Serena had won the pair’s last seven meetings, and she continued this mastery of the Russian, whom she brutally overwhelmed with a combination of masterful serving and bullet-like groundstrokes.

At one point near the end of the first set, Serena had hit more aces than her opponent had won points. The American struck 10 aces and 24 winners in all and made only seven unforced errors in her 63 minutes on court.

Gold saw the 30-year-old become the first player ever to win all four Grand Slams and the Olympics in both singles and doubles, an achievement which dotted the i’s and crossed the t’s in modern tennis’ most comprehensive of careers.

“Oh, my gosh, this one is so high up there,” Williams said after the final. “Being Olympic gold champion, being Golden Slam champion in singles and doubles, that’s pretty awesome.

“I did something nobody’s done. So I’m really excited about that.”

——

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

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WTA Player Of The Month: Halep

WTA Player Of The Month: Halep

  • Posted: Jan 01, 1970

Simona Halep completed her best month of the 2016 season with a second title in three weeks at the Rogers Cup – knocking out the likes of Svetlana Kuznetsova, Angelique Kerber, and Madison Keys en route to her third title of the season.

“I mean, I’m tired. It’s normal,” she told press after the final. “I had so many matches here, tough matches, also emotional. Was not easy.”

Coming to Montréal after a winning week at home in Bucharest, Halep did double duty in Canada, playing singles and doubles with partner Monica Niculescu – reaching the final of both events with a win over reigning French Open champions Caroline Garcia and Kristina Mladenovic in the latter.

“I had a lot of confidence coming here that I won five matches in a row in Bucharest.

“It was tough to come from the clay court to the hardcourt. But if I have confidence, I can play my game easy and I can win matches.

“Here I won matches with top players. That makes me more, like, happy and relaxed that I have a good level of tennis in this moment.”

Here more from Halep in the latest WTA Insider Podcast:

A good level might be an understatement for the young Romanian, who will ride a 10-match winning streak into the Western & Southern Open, a tournament where she reached the final in 2015. By her side will be coach Darren Cahill, whom she credits with her steady return to the form that took her as high as No.2 in the world.

“It helps me when he’s more relaxed than me; he just shows me that I have a good game and it’s good if I practice everything for the future, not just for the tournament.”

Back into the Top 3 for the first time since February, Halep did more than enough to earn her the mantle of July’s WTA Player of the Month!

Simona Halep

Final Results for July’s WTA Player Of The Month

1. Simona Halep (84%)
2. Venus Williams (9%)
3. Johanna Konta (5%)
4. Madison Keys (2%)

2016 WTA Player of the Month Winners

January: Angelique Kerber
February: Carla Suárez Navarro
March: Victoria Azarenka
April: Angelique Kerber
May: Garbiñe Muguruza
June: Serena Williams

How it works:

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

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WTA Breakthrough Of The Month: Kucova

WTA Breakthrough Of The Month: Kucova

  • Posted: Jan 01, 1970

Kristina Kucova

Nearly a decade after winning the 2007 Junior US Open crown, Kristina Kucova made her long-awaited Top 100 debut after a career week at the Rogers Cup.

“I enjoyed every minute here in Montréal,” she told press after her semifinal match against Madison Keys. “I really like everybody here.

“I’m so happy about all week because it was the greatest week of my life so far. So I’m very happy.”

Making it through qualifying – where she took out Christina McHale just to reach the main draw – Kucova knocked out a pair of Top 20 opposition in Carla Suárez Navarro and Johanna Konta. In the round of 16, she stunned former World No.5 Eugenie Bouchard in front of her home crowd, recovering from a set down under the lights.

“They were all supporting Bouchard, but in the end I felt like I was winner over all these people. I don’t know, I felt very happy that moment. Also I was happy that I could beat her after what happened in Fed Cup. I’d lost to her before, so I was happy that I could win against her.”

Her run came to an end in the final four, but she nonetheless became the first qualifier to reach the semifinals since Zi Yan in 2007, a full circle moment for Kucova, who won the girl’s singles title at the US Open over Urszula Radwanska a few weeks after Zi’s run.

“It means a lot for me, this success, but it’s not only my success. It belongs to my whole family. Especially to my parents and to my sister which brings me to the tennis from very young age.

“I have many people now around which also this success belongs to them. I would like to just say thank you also for them.”

For all of those reasons, Kucova is your Breakthrough Player of the Month!

Final Results for July’s WTA Breakthrough Performance Of The Month

1. Kristina Kucova (49%)
2. Johanna Konta (34%)
3. Laura Siegemund (12%)
4. Viktorija Golubic (5%)

2016 Breakthrough Performance Of The Month 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

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WTA Shot Of The Month: Halep

WTA Shot Of The Month: Halep

  • Posted: Jan 01, 1970

July was packed with plenty of amazing shots – we narrowed it down to the five best.

In the end it was Simona Halep who turned thrilling defense into stirring offense on Daria Gavrilova at the Rogers Cup.

Playing her first hardcourt match since the Miami Open, Halep turned around what looked like an unwinnable point against the young Aussie, who was forced to hit one (or two or three) extra shots before finally succumbing to a fast-advancing Halep. 

Click here to watch all of July’s finalists.

Simona Halep

Final Results for July’s WTA Shot Of The Month

1. Simona Halep (79%)
2. Eugenie Bouchard (9%)
3. Angelique Kerber (6%)
4. Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova (3%)
5. Johanna Konta (3%)

2016 WTA Shot of the Month Winners

January: Caroline Wozniacki
February: Agnieszka Radwanska
March: Agnieszka Radwanska
April: Monica Niculescu
May: Simona Halep
June: Agnieszka Radwanska

How it works:

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

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Insider Draw Analysis: Olympics

  • Posted: Jan 01, 1970

WTA Insider Courtney Nguyen | What are the biggest stories worth following at what promises to be an exciting Olympic Games? Check out a full draw analysis right her at wtatennis.com!

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Getting Ready For Rio

Getting Ready For Rio

  • Posted: Jan 01, 1970
Play will begin at Rio's newly built Olympic Tennis Center on Saturday, but before then the WTA's finest have been limbering up...

Play will begin at Rio’s newly built Olympic Tennis Center on Saturday, but before then the WTA’s finest have been limbering up…

Venus Williams won gold in Sydney and was working hard ahead of her record-equalling fifth Olympics.

Venus Williams won gold in Sydney and was working hard ahead of her record-equalling fifth Olympics.

And after practice Venus was only too happy to fulfil her sisterly duties.

And after practice Venus was only too happy to fulfil her sisterly duties.

Fresh from her title run in Stanford, World No.13 Johanna Konta is a dark horse in the singles.

Fresh from her title run in Stanford, World No.13 Johanna Konta is a dark horse in the singles.

While British No.2 Heather Watson will hope to improve on her second-round showing at London 2012.

While British No.2 Heather Watson will hope to improve on her second-round showing at London 2012.

No.2 seed Angelique Kerber was all smiles ahead of her second Olympics.

No.2 seed Angelique Kerber was all smiles ahead of her second Olympics.

Russia's Svetlana Kuznetsova and Daria Kasatkina were also hard at work on the practice courts.

Russia’s Svetlana Kuznetsova and Daria Kasatkina were also hard at work on the practice courts.

Kasatkina is one of just three teenagers in the singles draw in Rio.

Kasatkina is one of just three teenagers in the singles draw in Rio.

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Kerber Keen On Olympic Chances

Kerber Keen On Olympic Chances

  • Posted: Jan 01, 1970

Angelique Kerber kicked off her 2016 season by picking up some silver hardware in Melbourne, winning her first major title at the Australian Open. Last month at Wimbledon she proved to everyone, including herself, that her Melbourne run was no fluke, making the final of yet another major tournament.

So can the German back it all up with some Olympic hardware? Absolutely.

Playing under the German flag has never been a problem for the World No.2. In her first Olympics in 2012 she was a win away from the medal round in London, losing in a tight two sets to top seed Victoria Azarenka in the quarterfinals. Since 2012, Kerber is 10-4 in Fed Cup, leading the Germans to the final in 2014, and has been Germany’s standard-bearer since her breakout season in 2012.

In Rio, she is aiming to become the first German to win a medal in tennis since Tommy Haas won silver in 2000, and the first German woman to win a tennis medal since Steffi Graf in 1992.

Kerber heads to Rio after a scratchy week at the Rogers Cup in Montréal. It speaks well to her quality and confidence that she was able to make the semifinals without playing anything near her best tennis. But she looked rusty and out of rhythm in Canada.

Angelique Kerber

With the summer schedule accelerated due to the Olympics, Kerber did not get much rest after Wimbledon. She was back on court at the Ericsson Open in Bastad, where she eventually withdrew due to an elbow injury. The injury did not seem to bother her in Montréal, but the rust from being unable to train as hard as she might have liked for the hardcourt summer showed.

“I think the tournament was good for me because I have a lot of tough and close matches during this week,” Kerber said after losing in three sets to eventual champion Simona Halep in Montréal. “It was the first tournament on hardcourt again, so it’s good to have a lot of matches before going to Rio now, having a few matches under my belt.

“I’m actually feeling good. I take the positive things for the next week and looking forward to play the Olympics.”

Kerber was part of a small group of players who had to endure a series of delays and rerouted flights to get down to Rio earlier this week, finally landing on Wednesday. She’ll need to shake off the fatigue quickly and get back to work to improve her form over what we saw in Montréal. That may prove difficult given how hard it has been for players to get extended blocks of practice time on the courts in Rio.

Also looming after the Olympics are the Western & Southern Open and the US Open, both of which offer Kerber an opportunity to overtake Serena Williams for the No.1 ranking. It’s a milestone that is within her reach before Flushing, but for now the focus is on getting a medal for Germany.

“I think for the tennis player, the Grand Slams are, I think, the most important things,” Kerber said in Montréal, when asked how the Olympics stack up to the tour’s biggest tournaments. “Of course you are looking forward, like me, to playing the Olympics because it’s only [every] four years. It’s an honor to play for Germany. Of course, I will give everything to win the medal, doesn’t matter which one.

“It’s tough to compare because it’s a little bit different, but I’m happy that I already have a Slam,” she said with a big smile.

After six months of defying expectations, Kerber has rightfully earned the label of a medal favorite.

All photos courtesy of Getty Images.

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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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