WTA Frame Challenge: Shelby Rogers
It took her three tries to get going, but the third time was the charm for Shelby Rogers on the WTA Frame Challenge. How many did she score? Find out right here!
It took her three tries to get going, but the third time was the charm for Shelby Rogers on the WTA Frame Challenge. How many did she score? Find out right here!
Vera Zvonareva broke her social media silence to make a big announcement – a couple of big announcements, actually. The former WTA World No.2 has been busy in her year away from the tennis courts.
Zvonareva announced via her Instagram that she’d recently tied the knot and became a mother.
But that’s not all: Zvonareva had a few more announcements in store for her fans, including a return to tennis (of sorts). She’s set to join the Eurosport team and take on a commentating role during this year’s US Open.
Congratulations Vera!
World No.1 Serena Williams became the first singles player to qualify for the BNP Paribas WTA Finals Singapore presented by SC Global.
SINGAPORE – World No.1 Serena Williams and No.2 Angelique Kerber have secured the first two singles qualifications for this year’s BNP Paribas WTA Finals Singapore presented by SC Global.
“Congratulations to Serena and Angelique on once again qualifying for the BNP Paribas WTA Finals Singapore presented by SC Global,” said WTA CEO Steve Simon. “These two athletes are incredible ambassadors for the sport and we look forward to them showcasing their best tennis in Singapore this October. Serena continues to break records and add to her already extraordinary career, while Angie is having the best year of her career so far and has firmly established herself as one of the brightest stars of the tour. They are both fan-favorites and their passion and energy on court will be sure to electrify the Sports Hub.”
Williams has amassed an impressive 29-6 record at the year-end finale, winning five singles titles from seven appearances at the WTA Finals. The 34-year-old has claimed the Billie Jean King Trophy on each of her most recent four outings, including three successive victories from 2012 to 2014. This year will mark Williams’ 10th career appearance at the tournament.
“I’m very proud and excited to qualify for the BNP Paribas WTA Finals in Singapore,” said Serena. “I have great memories of winning the title in Singapore in 2014 and being supported by so many fans. I can’t wait to be back in Singapore later this year to hopefully win my sixth Billie Jean King Trophy.”
The World No.1 has spent the majority of the season on top of the Road to Singapore Leaderboard, claiming her 70th and 71st career singles titles by winning the Internazionali BNL d’Italia in Rome and successfully defending her Wimbledon crown. In addition, she reached a further three singles finals at the Australian Open, Roland Garros and BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells, bringing her win-loss record so far this season to 33-5. Her triumph at the All England Club was especially poignant, with her seventh Wimbledon title equaling Stefanie Graf’s Open Era record of 22 Grand Slam singles titles. Her results this season have seen Williams extend her reign as the WTA’s World No.1 player, having now held the top spot for 307 weeks over the course of her career, sitting behind only Graf (377) and Martina Navratilova (332).
Fresh off her runner-up at the Western & Southern Open in Cincinnati, Kerber has secured her fourth appearance at the WTA Finals. Her first two appearances at the event were in Istanbul, Turkey, in 2012 and 2013 – highlighted by her win over then-No.4 Agnieszka Radwanska – followed by last year’s showing in Singapore, where she beat eventual runner-up Petra Kvitova in the round-robin stage.
This year Kerber will be bidding to advance to the semifinals for the first time, after being only one set away from doing so in 2015.
Twenty-eight-year-old Kerber has enjoyed her best season yet, compiling a 47-14 record, and reaching a career-high ranking of No.2 after clinching her maiden Grand Slam title at the Australian Open. She also defended her title in front of a home crowd at the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix in Stuttgart for her ninth career singles crown. In addition, the German reached four more finals so far this season: her second Grand Slam final at Wimbledon (falling to Williams in a re-match of the Australian Open final), a silver medal at the Rio Olympics, the Brisbane International, and Western & Southern Open in Cincinnati.
“I’m so happy to have qualified for the WTA Finals Singapore for the fourth time,” said Kerber. “It is one of the most important events of the year and we all fight to qualify in the Top 8. I have great memories from my other experiences at the tournament and I hope to play some great matches and win the title.”
Watch all of the best shots of the Western & Southern Open – right here!
Not much has changed for Nicole Vaidisova. The former World No.7 is still traveling the globe, discovering new countries and cultures to explore.
But these days, the two-time Grand Slam semifinalist leaves her racquets at home.
“Ever since I decided, ‘This is it,’ I just wanted to take a breather and just really enjoy life,” she told WTA Insider. “It’s definitely different, going from the tour – where you’re on a set schedule and you know your whole year is going to be mapped out – to deciding what you want to do and feeling like doing and want to see.
“For example, I’ve always wanted to see Iceland; obviously there’s no tournament there, and it was really nice to be able to plan a trip, see something for the first time, and get my mind off tennis. It was a good time for me.”
There hadn’t been too many good times in the months leading up to her choice to conclude her second career. Close encounters with Ana Ivanovic and Simona Halep had gotten her close to the Top 200 in early 2015, but chronic injuries stunted her progress at every turn. For the 27-year-old, it began to feel as though there was little to life beyond fixing a broken body.
“It’s been a long time coming because I was dealing with so many injuries – repeat injuries – and I had to spend so much time at doctor’s offices and rehab facilities, trying new and different things that would end up not working.
“It got to the point where I was so worried about every pain and I said, ‘This is it.’ I don’t want to put my body through any more radiation or surgery, or any more poking and prodding. There’s only so much a person can take.
“It was just a vicious cycle.”
So…This has been one of the hardest words for me to write.After months and months of thinking and agonizing about this, I have decided to retire from professional tennis.It has been one of my hardest and most emotional decisions of my life.As many of you know,I have been struggling with various injuries on/off for the better part of the last 2 years and it has gotten to the point where I have spent more time in hospitals,physical therapy and doctors offices then on the court,playing the sport I love.This has been painful and exhausting,not just on my body,but on my mind as well and I have reached the point where I did not want to put my body throught it anymore.Coming to this final decision took me months,as even through all the ups and dows,it is a game I grew to love for what it is.Ever since I decided to come back 3 years ago,it has been a roller coaster ride of huge highs and lows,on and off the court.I am forever grateful and feeling so incredibly lucky to have had the unwavering support and uncoditional love of my family,friends,Daniel,as well as my medical and tennis team.Without them,it would have been imspossible to come back.My tennis career has been anything but ordinary,but above every opinion,comment and what ifs,I can proudly say it has been MINE.I do not regret any decision,good or bad,as it has made me the person I am today.As I close this chapter of my life,I look back in amazement at everything I was able to do.I am proud to have been able to compete with the best athletes in my sport and represent the Czech Republic,the country I love,in many fed cups and Olympics,it has been an honor.Finally,I can never thank all of you enough for all the support and words of encouragement that I have received over the years,it has meant the world to me and kept me going when I wanted to give up.Thank you,from the bottom of my heart,I will never be able to express enough gratitude to every single one of you,I am so honored. 20 years ago, this little girl had a dream,and today, I can say it has come true ❤️
The cycle began not long after the Miami Open, where she pushed Halep to three sets and appeared poised to rise up the rankings the way she did as a teenager, before a shoulder surgery took her off the tour in 2010. A second surgery proved necessary to kick start her comeback in 2014.
“The shoulder has always been in the back of my mind, because after two surgeries, it’s never going to be 100% again. I also don’t think it helped that I stopped for such a long time. Going from zero to 100, I don’t think my body reacted to it that well. I think all of the injuries after the shoulder had to do with that.
“But it was also a little bit of bad luck. I was feeling good about Miami and was practicing when I tore a tendon in my ankle, basically a week after. The same thing happened later with my wrist.
“The last two years was me playing for a couple of months, getting injured, and then trying to build back up from zero – going through rehab and getting back into shape again. It just takes so much out of a person to feel like you’re continuously starting over.”
A pattern of stops and starts gave way to more permanent pain, leading Vaidisova to reassess and, ultimately, retire.
“Bone spurs in my heels were basically the nail in the coffin, because they keep coming back – in both heels. Any athlete who’s had to deal with this knows it’s such a pain because you’re walking on them every day. I went from having therapy to having radiation on it. They weren’t really helping, and it became a cycle of getting rid of one, which would take six months, and then another would grow back on my outer heel.
“Even though I stopped playing, I still have to get laser treatments because growths on heels are so hard to get rid of. It affects you on a daily basis because you’re walking every day. I can’t really go running because that aggravates it.
“Right now, I’m not feeling so much of a time crunch where I need to fix it right this second just to compete, so I want to take a gentler approach where I can get rid of it over time and not really do anything invasive.”
Few would have predicted Vaidisova’s story would end this way, certainly not a 12 years ago, when she began her career as the sixth youngest WTA titlist in Vancouver, aged just 15.
Within a year of that initial breakthrough, the talented ballstriker was among the most consistent forces in tennis, winning three titles in three weeks, and getting within a game of the French Open final in 2006.
“I was so young,” she said of the fornight that saw her claim wins over Amélie Mauresmo and Venus Williams en route to the semifinals. “It was just so surreal. I couldn’t even believe it myself that I was there.
“I was just a young girl who couldn’t believe how far I’d come, and the players I’d beaten.”
A second semifinal appearance soon followed at the Australian Open, before injuries and inconsistencies caused a crisis of confidence.
“I think at that time, I really didn’t know myself, to be honest. I was really frustrated, not only being injured, but on the court, a lot of things in my personal and family life were not going good. I just wasn’t a happy person on the court, and it was making me miserable. I just needed to get away, and I didn’t know in that moment if I was going to come back or not.”
Three years of soul-searching led her back to the game; this time, it would be on her terms.
“When I was growing up as a child, it was just a given. This is what I did. I played tennis, and you don’t really think about what else could be out there, or if you really love it or not because this is just what you’re doing. You also get a little lost in the mentality where winning is everything, and moving on, wanting to do better from one tournament to the next, with better scores and better results.
“When I went through my surgeries and I didn’t play, I realized I missed it. I missed the game and really wanted to get back to playing. Through that, you realize if you really do love the game or not.”
Vaidisova plans to pursue new passions in the fall when she enrolls in university, but has an eye on remaining a part of the game in one way or another. Resolved not to regret, she hopes the next group of prodigies takes time to enjoy the view, even as they aspire to the tour’s more dizzying heights.
“I did what I could to really get myself healthy, fit, and ready to compete on that level, and it’s not always a fairytale. Sometimes things are just not meant to be.
“I just wish, that because it was so new, and everything was so intense, that I had more time to really enjoy it. I never really looked back and appreciated the moments where I was winning tournaments or doing well at the Grand Slams. In the moment, you’re going 100 miles an hour, and I was too young to really appreciate it for what it was in the way that I do now that I’m older.
“The field has gotten tougher overall; the girls are more athletic, and you have so many young girls charging up the rankings. It’s hard to step back and appreciate things when you’re younger and have a team, especially when a lot of them are family members. But I really wish I could say that to them – along with my younger self – to just enjoy and remember those moments.”
Photos courtesy of Getty Images.
Angelique Kerber became the second player to qualify for the BNP Paribas WTA Finals Singapore presented by SC Global.
NEW HAVEN, CT, USA – It was more complicated than Petra Kvitova would have liked, but the three-time Connecticut Open champion came back from a set down to advance against Louisa Chirico, 1-6, 6-1, 6-3.
Watch live action from New Haven this week on WTA Live powered by TennisTV!
“Luckily I turned it around, it was a difficult match for my first round here after a year,” Kvitova said afterwards.
“I didn’t play Cincinnati and I got sick in Rio, so it was a little bit difficult for me but I’m glad I was able to win it. I really had to fight for every point at the end.”
Chirico, an American qualifier, brought all of the powerful game that saw her make a breakthrough run to reach the semifinals in Madrid earlier this year. Kvitova was struggling to find her timing, and despite earning the first break of the match, she quickly found herself being outhit as Chirico rattled off six straight games to take the opening set.
The defending champion wasn’t too rattled though, as three-set comebacks are what she’s built her “P3tra” reputation on.
“I think that tennis now is very open, and with all the experience I have already, losing the first set doesn’t mean anything to me,” Kvitova said. “Even with the 6-1, which was not easy.”
The Czech’s lefty forehand found its marks and Kvitova broke twice to reel off five straight games of her own and take the second set to restore scoreboard parity, before going on to take the third set.
She needed an hour and thirty-four minutes to complete the turnaround and advance to the second round, improving her impressive Connecticut Open record to 17-2 overall.
Her victory sets up a second-round clash against Eugenie Bouchard, who had a much smoother time against German qualifier Annika Beck. The Canadian dictated play throughout, dragging Beck from line to line and keeping her on the run in the quick 6-2, 6-1 win.
It was the opposite story for four-time Connecticut Open champion Caroline Wozniacki, who took a wildcard into the tournament in a bid to rehab her injury-laden 2016 season. It was her first time playing against Jelena Ostapenko, and the 19-year-old youngster ousted her 7-5, 6-2 on her New Haven debut.
“It wasn’t my best match, but as well you just have to go with it and give her credit where credit is due,” Wozniacki said.
“I think I just haven’t played very much, and just a little bit unlucky as well.”
The story of the tournament from the Western & Southern Open.
The WTA World No.1 Ranking will be on the line at this year’s US Open. Can Serena Williams extend her stay atop the WTA Rankings and make history?
Only 21 players have occupied the No.1 ranking since the computer rankings were introduced in November 1975. Will we see a new player take hold of the No.1 spot for the first time in three years?
wtatennis.com breaks down the No.1 scenarios ahead of the US Open:
Serena Eyes Another Record: Williams enters the US Open as the WTA World No.1-ranked player, a distinction she has held since February 18, 2013. Through the two weeks at the US Open, Williams will extend her streak to 186 consecutive weeks, tying the WTA record for most consecutive weeks at No.1 held by Stefanie Graf (186 weeks, August 17, 1987 through March 10, 1991).
Williams currently holds a 190-point advantage over Kerber in the rankings. However, to break the record, Williams will need to at least reach the semifinals and possibly advance further. Williams is defending 780 points at the US Open as she advanced to the semifinals last year before Roberta Vinci stopped her run.
As Kerber progresses, though, Williams will need to advance further:
– If Kerber reaches the quarterfinals at the US Open, then Williams will need to reach the final to have a chance at keeping the No.1 ranking.
– If Williams wins the US Open, she will secure the No.1 ranking, regardless of any other results.
– A championship match showdown between Williams and Kerber, the Top 2 seeds, would see the winner walk away not only with the trophy, but the No.1 ranking.
Williams’ ranking points have come from seven tournaments in the last 52 weeks – 2015 US Open (780), Australian Open (1300), Indian Wells (650), Miami (120), Rome (900), Roland Garros (1300) and Wimbledon (2000).
What Will It Take For Kerber To Become World No.1?: Angelique Kerber is bidding to become the 22nd player to hold the WTA World No.1 Ranking since the computer rankings were introduced in November 1975. The German came within one win of unseating Williams at No.1 in Cincinnati, but fell short in the final against Karolina Pliskova.
Last year, Kerber lost to Victoria Azarenka in the third round at the US Open and as a result is only defending 130 points in Flushing Meadows.
Kerber will have a 460-point advantage from the start of the tournament. An early exit would not necessarily prevent her from moving to No.1.
Kerber consistently has reached the final four at the tour’s biggest events with six finals appearances this year, winning the title at Australian Open and Stuttgart, finishing as runner-up at Brisbane, Wimbledon and Cincinnati. (She also reached the final at the Olympic Games, although that does not count towards ranking points). As a result, Kerber’s ranking has been on a steady incline after finishing 2015 at No.10.
Muguruza Also Has A Chance: One of three Grand Slam champions this year, Muguruza will need to reach the final at the US Open to have a chance of overtaking the No.1 ranking. Should she win her second Grand Slam title of the year, the Spaniard would take claim to the No.1 spot unless Kerber also reaches the final.
First Grand Slam Title Could Vault Radwanska To The Top: To have a chance at moving to No.1, Agnieszka Radwanska would need to win the US Open, although if she is able to win the title in New Haven this week, a run to the finals could potentially be enough.
