Tennis News

2016 Quick Hits
Week 1 Ranking: No.12
Year-End Ranking: No.15 (Career-High No.9, 5/16/2016)
Season Highlights: Title at Rabat, SF at Miami
Best Major Result: QF (French Open)

15 Days until the 2017 #WTA season! pic.twitter.com/OBNhWd6KB3

— WTA (@WTA) 17 de diciembre de 2016

2017 Outlook

Is it still called second season syndrome when you’ve been on tour for 12 years?

After a meteoric rise in 2015 – which saw her start the year ranked around the Top 50 and end with two titles, two finals, a Grand Slam semifinal, and a Top 10 ranking – Timea Bacsinszky’s season this year looked to have hit a plateau.

After a lingering knee injury led to a frustratingly slow two months, the Swiss player still put together a run to the Miami Open semifinals – knocking out big names like Agnieszka Radwanska and Simona Halep along the way – then backed it up with a title in Rabat, quarterfinal in Rome and a return to the French Open quarterfinals.

And while she did reach her career-highest ranking of No.9 back in May, Bacsinszky admits that 2016 didn’t end up being all it could be.

“This year was kind of particular because started it with a bit of delay,” she told WTA Insider at the Huajin Securities WTA Elite Trophy Zhuhai. “And I was trying so hard to come back, because it’s tough to be Top 10 and ending up losing quite easily in the first few tournaments of the year.

“The will to do well was there, but really I didn’t have enough in my hands and enough in my legs. Mentally, I was prepared, so I just looked forward and told myself, ‘It’s going to come. Sooner or later, it’s going to come.'”

Looking ahead to 2017, Bacsinszky will be looking to translate all of that desire into results and bring her trademark creative style onto the big stage. With a second consecutive Top 20 finish under her belt, the Swiss will be eager to keep rising and prove she belongs among the big names.

In one of the most significant coaching hires of the off-season, World No.10 Johanna Konta has brought on Wim Fissette as her coach to begin the 2017 season. Fissette was the long-time coach to Kim Clijsters and has recently worked with Simona Halep, Madison Keys, and Victoria Azarenka until her pregnancy leave last summer.

Konta is coming off a breakthrough 2015 season, which saw her win her first WTA title at the Bank of the West Classic, advance to her first major semifinal at the Australian Open, and surge from No.47 at the start of the season to become the first British woman to finish the season inside the Top 10 since Jo Durie in 1983. Her decision to split with coach Estaban Carrill was met with surprise, but Konta has landed one of the best coaches on tour in Fissette.

Known for his tennis acumen and amiable demeanor, Konta cited their positive chemistry in her decision to bring the Belgian on.

“He was the first coach I trialled and things are going well,” Konta told The Independent. “I guess he’s been on the Tour for quite some time, so I’m definitely looking forward to being a sponge and absorbing as much of his experience and knowledge through the years.”

Speaking to The Independent, Konta reflected on her sudden but mutual decision to part ways with Carrill, who had coached her through her meteoric rise over the last 18 months.

“But like with every relationship, I think there comes a point where changes need to be made, Konta said. “For both of us to keep evolving and keep getting better, it was definitely the right time. It gave me the opportunity to go into my pre-season with a new set-up so that I can then start my next season already in the swing of things.”

It has been an emotionally tough off-season for Konta after the death of her mental coach Juan Coto. Throughout her surge up the rankings, Konta, once a hot-headed, nervy player who struggled to close out matches, cited her work with Coto for her more grounded, simple approach to her game and career. Coto passed away suddenly in November.

“I know that Juan would be supportive of me continuously improving that area because it’s more than just tennis, it’s about my life,” Konta said. “He’s still very much a part of everything that I do, everything that I will continue to do in this sport and this career, and most likely beyond that as well. He has gifted me with an incredible amount of tools and habits that I still to this day am looking to improve, every single day.”

Konta begins her 2017 season at the Shenzhen Open, which begins on January 1st, and is scheduled to play the Apia International in Sydney as well to prepare for the first major of the season at the Australian Open.

Join WTA Stars and Legends Chris Evert, Lindsay Davenport, Jennifer Capriati, Arantxa Sánchez-Vicario, Bethanie Mattek-Sands, Lucie Safarova, and Shelby Rogers, along with WTA coaches Marc Lucero and Rob Steckley, as they set sail on a once-in-a-lifetime, interactive tennis vacation experience that is for tennis enthusiasts of all ages.

The WTA Legends Cruise offers guests the opportunity to spend four nights aboard a Royal Caribbean cruise ship with WTA Stars, Legends and fellow tennis fans. The Cruise will depart from Miami, Florida, on November 13, 2017, and will sail to Nassau, CocoCay, and Key West, before returning to Miami on November 17.

For more information visit www.WTALegendsCruise.com.

Elena Vesnina

2016 Quick Hits
Week 1 Ranking: No.115
Year-End Ranking: No.16 (Career-High No.16, 11/6/2016)
Season Highlights: Charleston RU, Doha, Eastbourne QF, Zhuhai RR
Best Major Result: SF (Wimbledon)

16 Days left until the 2017 #WTA season! ? pic.twitter.com/LsjqFdzKWR

— WTA (@WTA) 16 de diciembre de 2016

2017 Outlook

Things were certainly at their darkest before Elena Vesnina enjoyed a new dawn in 2016. Outside the Top 100 for the first time in over a decade, the Russian was forced to play qualifying at the Australian Open and dropped to a low of World No.122 just before February.

“I thought it’d be very difficult to get my ranking back, and I felt that I had to win a lot of matches,” the 30-year-old told WTA Insider at the US Open. “I think I did well mentally, not putting much pressure on myself, and I was saying to myself: ‘If you’re good, you’re going to be back. If you’re not that good, then that’s it.’ You have to prove yourself, that you deserve to be there. It was a very hard moment at the beginning of the year.”

From that tough moment, Vesnina earned her first Top 10 win since 2013 – defeating then-World No.3 Simona Halep in Doha – and reached the Volvo Car Open final as a qualifier. Those early results foreshadowed a fairytale run into the semifinals of Wimbledon, where she upset doubles partner Ekaterina Makarova and future WTA Finals champion Dominika Cibulkova at the All England Club.

“It’s just amazing how tennis can give you these possibilities, because you can try, and try, and if you’re brave enough, you can achieve it. It doesn’t matter how old you are, but I definitely appreciate it more now, than if I’d gotten it when I was 20. I made the fourth round of the Australian Open when I was 19, and for me, it was like, ‘Wow, it’s like a miracle!’ But I didn’t realize how it happened.

“Now I’ve been working through so many tough moments, working on my game, and my mentality. What I achieved now, I understand more why big results happen.”

Even bigger results came to Vesnina in doubles – pairing with Makarova to take home Olympic gold and WTA Finals glory – but the veteran heads into 2017 at a career-high ranking, with a Top 10 debut firmly in her sights.

Venus Williams

2016 Quick Hits
Week 1 Ranking: No.7
Year-End Ranking: No.17
Season Highlights: Title at Kaohsiung
Best Major Result: SF (Wimbledon)

17 Days left until the 2017 #WTA season! ? pic.twitter.com/azf4fQh5zW

— WTA (@WTA) December 15, 2016

2017 Outlook

Despite turning 36 last summer, Venus Williams continues to challenge for tennis’ biggest honors. She proved this at Wimbledon, where she saw off several of the game’s brightest young talents to became the oldest Grand Slam semifinalist in 22 years.

It was not the only high point of the campaign either; in Kaohsiung she collected a 49th career title, reaching another final at Stanford before teaming up with Rajeev Ram to win mixed doubles silver at the Rio Olympics – her fifth medal at the Games.

There had been whispers that Brazil could be the curtain call on Williams’ wonderful career. However, the American has quashed such talk, outlining her plans to stay on tour until 2018, and even entertaining the possibility of playing until Tokyo 2020.

“I’ve been working hard in the gym and getting back on the court,” Williams said recently. “I just love the game, I really do. I love the challenge. It’s been such a part of my life that it’s hard to imagine life without it.

“I’m just gearing up for 2017 like I’m sure everybody else is.”

Her season opener will come in Auckland, where she will be joined by sister Serena and another thirtysomething still going strong, Svetlana Kuznetsova. Understandably, Williams, who lifted the title in 2015 and reached the final in 2013, is excited about her upcoming visit to the North Island.

“I am so excited to come back to Auckland, which is one of my favorite stops on the circuit,” Williams said. “It will be nice to have Serena there as well this year. “Being in Auckland will be a fantastic way to start 2017 and I am really looking forward to it!”

Vote: Social Fan Favorites Best Video

December 14, 2016

Spelling challenges, emoji challenges, cracker challenges, selfie challenges and, of course, the WTA Frame Challenge – which video was the best of the year? Click here to vote!