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Venus Vying For Gold In Mixed Doubles

  • Posted: Jan 01, 1970

RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil – Four-time gold Olympic medalist Venus Williams is going for a record breaking fifth medal at the Olympic tennis event in Rio after booking a spot into the final of mixed doubles with partner Rajeev Ram. The pair will take on Bethanie Mattek-Sands and Jack sock in the all-American final.

“I’m used to doing this with Serena so it’s such a crazy feeling doing it with someone else,” Williams admitted after the match. “It’s like a wild emotion, to feel what I feel with Serena. I never thought that would happen.”

Williams and Ram had to fight back from a set down against Indian superstars Sania Mirza and Rohan Bopanna to make it into the final. They came back to dominate in the match tiebreak, rattling off eight points in a row to take the match 2-6, 6-2, 10-3.

Williams is going for a fifth gold medal, which would set a new record for most medals in Olympic tennis. By virtue of reaching the final, she’s already guaranteed a medal, making her the first tennis player to medal in all three tennis events (along with her singles and doubles medals in Sydney 2000).

“It is what you are hoping for and I gotta be honest I was secretly hoping to be in this position when we both got in,” Venus said. “I think we both were, if we admitted it.

“We kept saying we don’t know what’s going to happen, we’ve never played together, but then the thought of ‘Oh my God this just happened’. I don’t know, it’s so surreal.”

They’ll take on fellow Americans Bethanie Mattek-Sands and Jack Sock in the final after the pair edged past the Czech duo of Lucie Hradecka and Radek Stepanek, 6-4, 7-6(3).

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The World Reacts To Puig’s Historic Win

  • Posted: Jan 01, 1970

When Monica Puig clinched the gold medal for Puerto Rico at the Olympic tennis event, her historic win was felt around the world. Even her social media rallying cry, #PicaPower, became a worldwide trending topic after she took the first set and for hours afterwards.

Here’s the best moments from Twitter as the world celebrated the Puerto Rican’s incredible victory.

First up, here’s how they lived the final moments of the match in Hato Rey, Puerto Rico, Puig’s birthplace.

Puig even got a personal congratulations from Alejandro Javier García Padilla, the governor of Puerto Rico.

 The party wasn’t contained to the island, though, as dozens of Puerto Rican celebs around the world – everyone from Ricky Martin to Lin-Manuel Mirana – and superstar athletes like baseball star Yasiel Puig, weighed in on the history-making achievement.

Lin-Manuel Miranda, writer of the Broadway hit ‘Hamilton,’ even live-tweeted the final moments.

Her big win also moved the tennis world, as Puig’s peers on the WTA and beyond took to Twitter to send the 21-year-old their congratulations.

Here’s what the players and legends had to say:

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Puig Wins Historic Gold For Puerto Rico

Puig Wins Historic Gold For Puerto Rico

  • Posted: Jan 01, 1970

RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil – Monica Puig made Olympic history for Puerto Rico on Saturday night, becoming the island’s first ever gold medalist after a rollercoaster win over World No.2 Angelique Kerber, 6-4, 4-6, 6-1.

“I’m in shock, I just don’t even really know what to say. I’m so excited,” an emotional Puig reacted after the match.

Puig has been the surprise of the Olympic tennis event, playing the best tennis of her career to reach the gold medal match and dealing out upsets to the likes of French Open champion Garbiñe Muguruza and two-time Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova along the way.

Her victory was already historic before she even hit a ball – by virtue of reaching the final, she became the first female athlete representing Puerto Rico’s to win any Olympic medal at all.

Puig now stands as the first athlete – male or female – to bring home a gold medal to Puerto Rico, ending a 68-year drought dating back to the island’s first appearance at an Olympic Games.

“This is for Puerto Rico. This is definitely for them,” she said. “They’re going through some tough times right now, and they needed this. I needed this.

“I think I united a nation. I just love where I come from.”

vcAt No.34 in the world, Puig was also the lowest-ranked woman to play for the gold since its return as an Olympic sport in 1988.

More to come…

Monica Puig

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Kvitova Claims Olympic Bronze Medal

  • Posted: Jan 01, 1970

RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil – A day after missing out on the final, No.11 seed Petra Kvitova found redemption at the Olympic tennis event to claim the bronze medal with a 7-5, 2-6, 6-2 win over Madison Keys.

Follow all the action from the medals matches at the Olympics on WTA Insider’s Live Blog.

Despite a painful loss against Monica Puig in the semifinals yesterday, Kvitova in her country’s colors always finds another gear and her inspired performance brought home her first Olympic medal and the Czech Republic’s third medal overall in the 2016 Games.

“I’m still a bit emotional, so if I cry, sorry,” Kvitova said afterwards. “It means almost everything, definitely. Having a medal from the Olympics is one of the best things that’s happened in my career definitely, along with the two Wimbledon titles and winning Fed Cups and WTA.

“It’s definitely one of the best days today. I hope I’m going to celebrate it. I’m very proud that I could bring it to the Czech Republic.”

The match between the two big hitters was ultimately decided by a handful of points where Kvitova proved to play a tidier game than her younger counterpart. She struck 12 winners and 38 unforced errors to Keys’ 24 and 49.

Keys and Kvitova traded blows throughout the tightly drawn opening set. Where Keys was aggressive on the return to bring up a break point at 2-2 and painting a backhand down the line right onto the line just out of reach, Kvitova replied in kind with a gutsy mid-rally drop shot to see away the American’s chance.

An injection of pace from Keys brought up break points for a chance at the opening set at 5-4, but she let two slip by as Kvitova’s clutch serving bailed her out of trouble. Kvitova leveled it up, aided by a pair of backhand unforced errors from Keys, and rallied to take the first set.

Keys’ frustration visibly mounted with every missed opportunity – in her last match she was 0 for ten in break point chances against Angelique Kerber, and on Saturday the stretch continued another six opportunities went unanswered across the first and second sets.

The American got another chance as Kvitova’s first serve numbers had dipped considerably – from 73% in the first set to 54% in the second – and Keys pounced on the opportunity to finally get her first break and create a 4-2 lead. She quickly it carved up to take the second set 6-2.

But the tortuous match had another turn left as Kvitova’s rock-solid net work brought up an immediate break in the opening game of the deciding set. The Czech dodged break points of her own and got another lead for 4-0.

A nervy final game from Kvitova – which included a double fault at deuce after being up 40-0 – extended the American’s stay in the match, but Kvitova shut the door on her fourth try to claim the singles bronze medal for the Czech Republic.

More to come…

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Olympic Medal Rounds Underway

  • Posted: Jan 01, 1970

WTA Insider Courtney Nguyen | Can Angelique Kerber capture her first gold medal at the Olympic tennis event? Keep up with all the action right here at wtatennis.com!

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Insider Draw Analysis: Cincinnati

Insider Draw Analysis: Cincinnati

  • Posted: Jan 01, 1970

Serena Williams must advance to the quarterfinals to secure the No.1 ranking.

With the top spot on the WTA rankings in play this week, World No.1 Serena took a late wildcard into the tournament. The scenarios are simple. If Serena makes the quarterfinal she will hold onto the No.1 ranking heading into the US Open. If she loses before the quarterfinal stage, No.2 Angelique Kerber can overtake her by winning the title.

A two-time defending champion here, Serena leads the top half and she could open her tournament against the woman how knocked her out of the Olympic tennis event last week: Elina Svitolina. Svitolina would have to get past Christina McHale in the first round to book a rematch with the 22-time Grand Slam champion. Serena could then play either Karolina Pliskova or Jelena Ostapenko, with Svetlana Kuznetsova or Timea Bacsinszky looming in the quarterfinals.

Click here to check out the full draw.

As for Kerber, anything less than the title means she will remain at No.2 heading into New York. She is into the Gold Medal match at the Olympics, which will be played on Saturday, but as a Top 16 seed she’ll have a bye into the second round. The question is how much will she have left in the tank?

Kerber will play either Kristina Mladenovic or a qualifier in the second round and could play either Sam Stosur or Barbora Strycova in the Round of 16.

Petra Kvitova

Rio Redux.

Serena and Kvitova will both have an opportunity to avenge their Olympic losses. For Serena that could come in her first match against Svitolina, while Kvitova could play Monica Puig in her first match of the tournament. Puig, who is also into the Gold Medal match against Kerber, opens her tournament against American wildcard Louisa Chirico.

Simona Halep gets back to work.

After skipping Rio, Halep spent the week training with coach Darren Cahill and famed fitness trainer Gil Reyes. The Rogers Cup champion will look to continue her winning ways in Cincinnati. With a significant number of points on the line over the next four weeks – Halep made the final here last year and the semifinals of the US Open – defending those points would set up a significant rankings push in Asia this fall.

Halep has won 23 of her last 26 matches dating back to her title run at the Mutua Madrid Open, and she’s currently riding a 10-match win streak. The No.3 seed here, she got the toughest draw of any of the top four seeds, landing in a quarter with No.5 seed Agnieszka Radwanska. She will open her tournament against either Yulia Putintseva or a qualifier and could then face Belinda Bencic, who is returning from injury, or Caroline Garcia.

Agnieszka Radwanska

Agnieszka Radwanska has work to do.

The No.5 has not made a semifinal since April (Porsche Tennis Grand Prix) and has struggled to put together a confidence boosting run over the last few months. It won’t be easy this week in Cincinnati, where she has never made it past the quarterfinals. She will play either Andrea Petkovic or Lucie Safarova in the second round, with Johanna Konta potentially looming in the third round. All that to get to a possible quarterfinal against Halep.

The qualifying draw is stacked.

The Cincinnati qualifying draw, which begins on Saturday, would be a strong International-level event in and of itself. The main draw cut-off was at No.41, meaning a host of top notch players will have to play their way into the main draw.

Eugenie Bouchard took a wildcard into qualifying, and she’s alongside a list of exciting players like Alizé Cornet, Daria Gavrilova, Misaki Doi, Sabine Lisicki, Camila Giorgi, Sorana Cirstea and more. It will be a tough weekend of qualifying matches and the complexion of the draw could change dramatically depending on who makes it through and where they end up being placed.

Follow the qualifying draw here.

Top seeds in the top half: Serena Williams, Garbiñe Muguruza, Svetlana Kuznetsova, and Dominika Cibulkova.

Top seeds in the bottom half: Angelique Kerber, Simona Halep, Agnieszka Radwanska, and Roberta Vinci.

Angelique Kerber

Projected quarterfinals: Serena Williams vs. Svetlana Kuznetsova, Garbiñe Muguruza vs. Dominika Cibulkova, Simona Halep vs. Agnieszka Radwanska, Angelique Kerber vs. Carla Suárez Navarro.

First round matches to watch: Andrea Petkovic vs. Lucie Safarova, Elina Svitolina vs. Christina McHale, Sara Errani vs. CoCo Vandeweghe, Louisa Chirico vs. Monica Puig.

Potential second round matches to watch: Serena Williams vs. Elina Svitolina, Karolina Pliskova vs. Jelena Ostapenko, Garbiñe Muguruza vs. CoCo Vandeweghe, Petra Kvitova vs. Monica Puig, Johanna Konta vs. Ana Ivanovic, Belinda Bencic vs. Caroline Garcia, Simona Halep vs. Yulia Putintseva.

All photos courtesy of Getty Images.

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Serena Celebrates Instagram Milestone

  • Posted: Jan 01, 1970

Serena Williams never misses a chances to show off her dance moves, and a major social media milestone is no exception. The World No.1 just crossed the four million followers mark on Instagram, and she debuted a move that she dubbed the “4 million follower dance.”

So how exactly does one react when reaching that many million followers?

Click right here to find out!

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Venus Sounds Off On Olympic Fashion

Venus Sounds Off On Olympic Fashion

  • Posted: Jan 01, 1970

Venus Williams, a four-time Olympic gold medalist and designer, sat down with Racked ahead of the Olympic Games to discuss her design empire, which covers everything from fashion to interior design.

She’s been at the helm of EleVen by Venus since 2007, but she admitted that sometimes it’s still a struggle to be taken seriously as a designer – good thing her favorite pastime is proving doubters wrong.

“It’s interesting. Because people know your name, you can get pigeonholed into being perceived a certain way. And that’s OK,” she told Racked. “People are like, “She’s a great athlete, but does it translate to design?” And actually, it does! They find out about me and the great team we have and you can see the light bulb go off.”

Venus also maintained that she’s still involved in the day-to-day happenings of EleVen, even despite the constant travel required in competing at the highest levels of women’s tennis.

“I was in the office yesterday and we’re working on fall ’17 now, so we’ve started the process of understanding what our color story is, what our prints are,” she explained to Racked. “From there, we start to work with the sales team. What do people really like? What do we want to bring back, and what are the new pieces? We look at colors and prints and actual fabrics. Then it gets refined and refined and refined.

“I also take my sketchbooks on the road and I’m constantly sketching.”

You can see her finished product on the court as she competes for a shot at a medal in the mixed doubles semifinal at the Olympic tennis event in Rio.

But wish you could wear those red, white and blues yourself? The entire ensemble is available at Tennis Warehouse – it even includes Venus’ gold pendant and a certificate of authenticity.

Here it is in action on the four-time gold medalist herself:

Venus Williams

Venus Williams

Venus also designed a separate outfit for doubles:

Venus Williams

Venus Williams

Click here to visit Tennis Warehouse and check out more Olympic styles and tennis gear.

– All photos courtesy of Getty Images

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