Tennis News

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

In the end, it was Angelique Kerber, who played an incredble squash shot against perennial Shot Of The Month winner Agnieszka Radwanska in the semifinals of the BNP Paribas WTA Finals Singapore presented by SC Global. Undefeated en route to the championship match, the World No.1 used her uncanny ability to turn defense into offense, taking out the defending champion in straight sets.

Click here to watch all of October’s finalists.

Final Results for October’s WTA Shot Of The Month

1. Angelique Kerber (74%)
2. Agnieszka Radwanska (11%)
3. Dominika Cibulkova  (6%)
3. Daria Gavrilova (6%)
5. Madison Keys (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
July: Simona Halep
August: Agnieszka Radwanska
September: Kirsten Flipkens

How it works:

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

Dominika Cibulkova’s hopes of qualifying for a debut appearance at the BNP Paribas WTA Finals Singapore presented by SC Global came down to the wire. The Slovak needed to win the Generali Ladies Linz to assure herself a spot among the Greatest Eight, and did just that.

“It was really important for me that I won there,” she said in Singapore. “It’s not every day that I’m coming to a tournament and I have to win it to get somewhere, and then I actually won the whole thing.

“It was just a great week for me, and all happened so quickly. In two days I flew here.”

Cibulkova turned around a tough start in the round robin stage to stun 2014 finalist Simona Halep in straight sets, and overcame a 1/16 longshot of qualifying for the semifinals to knock out Svetlana Kuznetsova in the semis before overcoming World No.1 Angelique Kerber in the championship match.

“I cannot find the right word in English, but in the first match I played against Angelique, that gave me confidence that I can beat her,” she said of avenging her round robin loss in the final.

“My game is good enough to beat the World No.1. I was going into this final with these thoughts and I was feeling it from the first point until the last point.”

By beating the Australian Open and US Open champion, Cibulkova assured herself of a career-high ranking and a Top 5 finish for 2016, a place she sees as a launch pad for even greater success.

“Right now I don’t doubt myself anymore. I never doubted myself this year at all. I always had my coach to motivate me, to put the bigger goals for me. That was something I was dealing with; I never saw myself as such a great player, or a consistent player, somebody who could be Top 5.

“My coach said, ‘Domi, you had a great half of the season, but you’re able to have a great second half of the season. You just have to still stay focused and work hard. You can be Top 5 at the end of the year’.

“I really, really believed him for the first time in my life. I believed, ‘Okay, this is something I can do, I want to do.’

“I’m not saying I was coming to this tournament to win it, but when I was so close before the finals, I was convinced that I can beat Angie today.”

That new sense of determination paid off in Singapore, and it certainly helped her earn her the mantle of October’s WTA Player of the Month!

Final Results for October’s WTA Player Of The Month

1. Dominika Cibulkova (55%)
2. Agnieszka Radwanska (33%)
3. Angelique Kerber (12%)

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
July: Simona Halep
August: Monica Puig
September: Petra Kvitova

How it works:

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

The stage is set in Strasbourg as the French headline their first Fed Cup final since 2005, when Amélie Mauresmo narrowly missed out on a hat trick of titles to team Russia. Mauresmo is back at the helm over a decade later, captaining a next generation squad that includes Roland Garros doubles winners Caroline Garcia and Kristina Mladenovic.

“I’m lucky it brings out their best tennis,” the 2016 International Tennis Hall of Fame Inductee told WTA Insider in July. “They feel so good playing on the team, and are able to express their best during this competition, I’m very fortunate with that. It’s not only Caroline and Kiki, but also Alizé Cornet and Pauline Parmentier; I hope they can all rise to the occasion in November.”

That occasion puts them head-to-head against defending champions in the Czech Republic, who have taken home the trophy in four of the last five years and took out the French in last April’s semifinal.

“We have a very difficult team ahead of us. There’s nothing to lose, being the underdogs. We’ll give it a good fight.”

Garcia will be ready for a good fight against the likes of Karolina Pliskova and Petra Kvitova. The French No.1 won in Strasbourg earlier in the season, taking home the first of two titles in 2016.

“I’m really looking forward to it, but I’d rather be facing a team other than the Czechs!” she joked at the Huajin Securities WTA Elite Trophy Zhuhai. “They have so many great players, that they could even make two teams from all the players they have in the Top 50.

“But we’ve done well this year; not long ago, we were almost out of World Group, and we were fighting just to stay in World Group II. Everything’s come very fast for us. We are a very young team, and have nothing to lose; we will be in France, and we will give everything we have like we always do.”

Mladenovic echoed her partner’s sentiments after winning the Mutua Madrid Open doubles crown.

“We are all aware how tough it is to give all of yourself in Fed Cup every single year. Personally, I give a lot. You try to do your best, find a balance, and just be positive, work hard and keep going.”

She and Garcia duo rode a 15-match winning streak through the start of the clay court season, ultimately becoming the first all-French duo to triumph on the terre battue since 1971. Mauresmo took over coaching duties back in 2012, and admitted a need to adapt her strategies to a new set of national stars.

“It’s another learning experience for me, how to adjust to people, how to adjust to different personalities, different structures as well. They don’t operate the same way I did at all. You have to find different words, and it’s a challenge each time. But I love it. I love to adjust, listen to people, and decide from there what is the best course of action.”

Born in the same city as the two-time Grand Slam champion, Garcia earned the Fed Cup Heart Award following a heroic effort in the semifinals, where she and Mladenovic won a decisive doubles rubber to advance into the championship tie.

“I think it’s been a great opportunity to work with her. She really likes this competition. She gives a lot of herself, a lot of energy on the court. She’s had a lot of experience from her career in Fed Cup. She was No.1, won Grand Slams.

“She knows how tennis works, obviously. She trusts us and us on the court, that we can give everything. She wants us to win this Fed Cup; it was one of our goals, and now we’re so close!”

All photos courtesy of Getty Images.

A long-awaited off-season is on hold for an elite squad from the Czech Republic, who fly to France in the hopes of winning a fifth Fed Cup title in the last six years. Karolina Pliskova and Petra Kvitova lead the team through what will be one last ride following a full fall schedule in Asia.

“It’s the last two matches of the year. There is no other choice,” Pliskova said after playing her last round robin match at the BNP Paribas WTA Finals Singapore presented by SC Global. “I’ll just get ready. There is one week between, so I’ll just rest a little bit and forget about tennis for few days.

“Then back to the work for that last week of tennis this season.”

It was even less of a break for Kvitova, who captured her second title of the season at the Huajin Securities WTA Elite Trophy Zhuhai.

“I don’t think I’m that tired,” she told WTA Insider in the latest edition of Champions Corner. “I just feel my entire body is sore, so I’ll need to take a few days off to get ready for the Fed Cup tie. I’m really looking forward, but it’s a little bit difficult. I’m a little bit tired, but winning always helps me recover faster.

“I’ll be flying to Prague, and then taking a car to go to Strasbourg, so that’ll be fun. I’m looking forward to seeing the team. We have a great team, so I can’t wait to be with them over there. It’ll be the last week of the season, so it’s great to have it then, as well.”

Kvitova was in Zhuhai alongside countrywoman Barbora Strycova, and both discussed that special bond the team has forged throughout the week.

“All the Czech players, we know how to be teammates in the week where there is Fed Cup,” Strycova said. “Three weeks a year we are so close together. I can’t describe it because it’s like a routine for us that we do everything together in those weeks.”

Coached by Petr Pala, the Czechs have won 15 of 16 ties dating back to 2011, when the team won their country’s first Fed Cup trophy since 1988.

“I’m looking forward to the final,” Kvitova said. “I love playing Fed Cup and playing for my country. The final is always special; we’re playing away, which isn’t great for us, since France will have the home crowd advantage. We know how to play, and that the fans will support them. It’ll be about us, and whichever team is better prepared will win.

“I think we’re only small favorites to win the tie; they have a great doubles team, and even the singles players, Kiki and Caro, are playing well. It’ll be a difficult tie, but we do have a more experienced team, from all the finals we’ve played. The motivation is always there.”

The teams have faced off just twice in the last ten years, with the Czechs winning the most recent encounter in 2015. Caroline Garcia leads a French contingent captained by former World No.1 Amélie Mauresmo, and is well-aware of just how formidable the Czechs can be in this format, joking that the country could easily field two teams based on its strong roster.

“Caro is funny! I never really thought like that,” Kvitova said with a smile, before breaking down their secret to success.

“I think we’re not only good players, but also good people. We’re never fighting with each other; we act as a team, and I think that’s very important. None of us make trouble, and we all work well together. If one of us needs to schedule a massage, we talk all talk and decide who gets to go first; it’s the same with practice schedules.

“Communication is very important for a team. We also have great people around us; they’re all boys, so there’s always a lot of fun throughout the week. Our stringer is DJ, and they’re all doing what they can to keep things relaex. The practices are very easy and never too stressful.

“Everything is working when you’re playing well, and everything is easier than when you’re not. We’re on a good way right now and I hope we continue like that.”

When that off-season finally does come, Kvitova plans to spend a vacation with none other than teammate Lucie Hradecka, who will likely be on hand for a potentially decisive doubles rubber against France.

All photos courtesy of Getty Images.