Tennis News

MIAMI, FLORIDA, USA – On this special Dropshot episode of the WTA Insider Podcast, hear from WTA founder Billie Jean King and 18-time major champion Chris Evert. King and Evert held an impromptu press conference last week at the Miami Open to discuss the issue of equal prize money and equality, which were brought to the fore once again after former BNP Paribas Open CEO and tournament director Raymond Moore’s comments in which he told reporters the WTA Players “ride the coattails” of the ATP when it comes to prize money. Moore has since stepped down from his post.

King and Evert, along with current WTA player Nicole Gibbs, discussed their reaction to the comments, which triggered an unfortunate avalanche of discussion regarding the merits of equal prize money at tennis’ biggest tournaments. The 45-minute conversation was educational, enlightening, and inspiring, and given the fan interest in the press conference, we’re posting the discussion in full.

Evert on the progress in women’s tennis: “If there is a silver lining to all this that’s gone on in the last week, it’s the fact that there has been such outrage from the players and from the media and from the public defending the women’s game. I think from time to time we all need a reminder of the evolution of women’s tennis and the great (indiscernible) and sacrifices every generation has had to make, from Billie Jean to myself and Martina, Steffi to Monica, to Williams sisters. What we’ve done to get the credibility, the respect, and equality that we have now.”

King on the need for inclusion: “To have equal prize money in the majors sends a message. It’s not about the money, it’s about the message. Any time you discount another human being by gender, race, disability, however, we’re not helping ourselves. You want everyone to make a lot. At least I do. We want to make the pie bigger, the marketplace bigger for all, for all of you so you have jobs.

“To argue over the prize money issue, what about when Chris and Martina were playing and their ratings were better than the men? We didn’t go, Oh, we deserve more than the men. No. Let’s just keep it equal and help each other. It’s not a “he” thing or a “she” thing; it’s a “we” thing. I’m telling you, this is the only way the world is going to make it.”

Gibbs on carrying forth King’s message: “I think our generation is very privileged sometimes because we just kind of take it for granted. We think, Okay, it’s all better. We just have to focus on our tennis. That’s what we are told from a very young age, and very few of us feel a responsibility to continue on a path of equality. You have to use the platform to continue down that path of equality. Quality and fairness — many right now think we’re so far down the road and in reality we are not necessarily. There are still so many people, men and women both, making comments that are very counterproductive to our mission of growing the game of tennis, using it as a platform.”

You can subscribe to the podcast on iTunes or on any podcast app of your choice and reviews are always helpful, so if you like what you’ve heard so far, leave us one. You can also get new episode alerts by following us on Twitter @WTA_Insider.

MIAMI, FL, USA – The second Premier Mandatory final of the 2016 season has arrived, and there is plenty on the line for multiple major champions Victoria Azarenka and Svetlana Kuznetsova – so here are 10 Things To Know about the Miami Open final.

(13) Victoria Azarenka (BLR #8) vs (15) Svetlana Kuznetsova (RUS #19)
Head-To-Head: Series Tied, 4-4

1) An even rivalry revisited.
Azarenka and Kuznesova will lock horns for the first time since the 2013 Australian Open. Azarenka won on that occasion to level the rivalry at four wins apiece. She will start as most people’s favorite on Saturday, but the WTA’s form player is taking nothing for granted.

“She’s a very talented and diverse player,” Azarenka said when asked about Kuznetsova following her semifinal. “She is one of the players who knows how to handle big stages. I know she has her up and downs in her career, but she knows how to handle big stages. She is a two-time Grand Slam champion, so it speaks a lot.”

2) Azarenka is looking to join rarefied company by lifting the title for a third time.
Azarenka has won Miami twice before, in 2009 and 2011. Should she emerge triumphant against Kuznetsova she will become just the fourth player to lift the Miami title three or more times, after Graf (1987, 1988, 1994, 1995, 1996), Venus Williams (1998, 1999, 2001), and Serena Williams (2002, 2003, 2004, 2007, 2008, 2013, 2014, 2015).

3) The trophy will also gain her entry into an even more exclusive club.
Victory in the final will see Azarenka complete the Indian Wells-Miami double. Since the inaugural staging of Indian Wells in 1989, Graf (1994, 1996) and Kim Clijsters (2005) are the only players to achieve the feat.

4) Kuznetsova is going for her biggest title since 2009.
After winning just one title in nearly five years, Kuznetsova has been rather prolific of late. At the end of last season, she delighted her home fans by lifting the Kremlin Cup, then opened 2016 with victory in Sydney. However, she has not lifted a Premier Mandatory title since 2009, when she defeated Agnieszka Radwanska from the China Open.

5) Azarenka is upwardly mobile on the WTA Rankings and Road To Singapore.
By virtue of her run to the semifinals, on Monday Azarenka will return to the Top 5 (at No.5) for the first time since May, 2014, at the expense of Simona Halep. Should she head for Europe with the trophy in her luggage, then she will also leapfrog Angelique Kerber to the summit of the Road To Singapore leaderboard.

6) Kuznetsova will also make big moves on both lists.
By reaching the final, Kuznetsova ensured she will rise to No.13 in the rankings – her highest position since August 2011. Should she upset Azarenka then a return to the Top 10 for the first time in nearly six years awaits. She will also jump into the Top 5 on the Road To Singapore leaderboard – No.4 with a title, No.5 without.

7) Kuznetsova looking to end Russian finals day curse.
Crandon Park has not been the happiest of hunting ground for the WTA’s Russian contingent. Since Anna Kournikova let a one set lead slip against Venus Williams in the 1998 final, Russians have finished as runners-up on six occasions. Kuznetsova is the only one to buck the trend, but even that came at the expense of a fellow Russian, Maria Sharapova, in 2006.

8) Marathon woman enters home stretch.
Kuznetsova told WTA Insider after her semifinal victory that she needs a few matches under her belt at a tournament before she can bring out her best tennis. She is certainly has that in Miami, playing four three set matches at the same event for just the second time in her career and spending over 11 hours on court.

9) Azarenka on easy street.
By contrast, Azarenka has taken seven hours and 52 minutes to reach the final. She remains on course to be the first player since Agnieszka Radwanska in 2012 to capture the title without dropping a set.

10) Money, money money.
Kuznetsova’s semifinal victory guaranteed that she will pass $20million in career prize money. In-form Azarenka, meanwhile, will have amassed over $2million in the opening three months of the season alone. 

MIAMI, FL, USA – No.4 seeds Timea Babos and Yaroslava Shvedova secured their place in the Miami Open doubles final with a hard-fought win over Margarita Gasparyan and Monica Niculescu on Friday.

Gasparyan and Niculescu have been the tournament’s surprise package, knocking out a number of more seasoned teams, including top seeds and defending champions Martina Hingis and Sania Mirza. However, Babos and Shvedova were determined not to add their names to the list of upsets, digging deep to close out a 7-5, 4-6, 10-8 victory in an hour and 41 minutes.

“It was a tough match because the girls played well – they’ve proved through this two weeks that they’re a very good team – and it was not easy,” Shvedova said. “The conditions were windy and Monica has a special style of playing, so we needed to be patient and keep working hard.”

The outcome of a see-saw encounter remained in the balance until the very last, Gasparyan and Niculescu rallying from 8-5 down in the match tie-break to come within two points of victory. “It’s our style, we were down in both sets and then almost in the super tie-break, too,” Babos added.

“But we enjoy playing with each other – on my part, for sure! – and this makes it a lot easier to fight for every point and as it shows in doubles anything can happen. Basically they didn’t do any mistakes but we were fighting and coming back, taking it point by point and in the end we got the tie-break.”

Having lifted the Tashkent title in their first outing together two and a half years ago, Babos and Shvedova reunited for Indian Wells, where they proceeded to make the semifinals before being edged out by Bethanie Mattek-Sands and CoCo Vandeweghe.

Sunday’s final at Crandon Park presents a shot at – partial – revenge, after Mattek-Sands and Lucie Safarova prevailed, 6-2, 6-1, in their clash against Zheng Saisai and Xu Yi-Fan.

“It was a great match, we knew we had to play well, but I love the night match atmosphere – a lot of fans stayed after the men’s match – and it’s great because we really had a lot of fan support and they were cheering for some great tennis,” Mattek-Sands said.

The result means that Mattek-Sands remains on course to become just the third player to win Indian Wells and Miami in the same year with different partners; Natasha Zvereva triumphed alongside Lindsay Davenport at Indian Wells and Arantxa Sánchez-Vicario at Miami, in 1997, before Martina Hingis repeated the feat two years later, teaming up with Anna Kournikova at Indian Wells and Jana Novotna at Miami.

MIAMI, FL, USA – Victoria Azarenka took a huge step in her journey for the elusive Sunshine Double – winning Indian Wells and Miami back to back – with a straight sets win over Angelique Kerber for a spot in the Miami Open final.

Watch highlights, interviews and more video from Miami right here on wtatennis.com!

Azarenka, who’s back into the WTA Top 5 for the first time since 2014, is bidding to become only the third woman to win titles in Indian Wells and Miami in the same year, a feat only accomplished by Steffi Graf (1994, 1996) and Kim Clijsters (2005).

But standing between her and the final was Kerber, a familiar foe in 2016 – this match is already their third encounter this year alone. Though Azarenka has more career wins over the German, Kerber famously snapped her streak of six consecutive losses to Azarenka in their last match on her way to her maiden Australian Open title.

Under the lights in Miami it was Kerber who was in danger early on. The match started off with three consecutive breaks of serve before Azarenka found her footing at 3-1, keeping her intensity at the max and going up 5-1. Kerber finally withstood Azarenka’s all-court assault – including a line-to-line rally Azarenka won off a drop shot on the run – to grab her first hold of the match, but it was too little too late as the Belarusian clinched the first set.

Kerber refused to wilt away in the second set, but as her level raised so did Azarenka’s. They stayed toe-to-toe and traded five straight breaks of serve, Azarenka getting the edge as she closed in on the final.

A late wobble from Azarenka almost allowed Kerber to come back and force a decider – while serving for the set up 5-4, Azarenka’s serve misfired horribly, flubbing three double faults to hand the game to Kerber. She broke right back and didn’t falter in her next service game though, and took the match 6-2, 7-5.

Two-time champion @Vika7 Azarenka is heading back to the @MiamiOpen final! ? #WTA https://t.co/nptWLSLbor

— WTA (@WTA) April 1, 2016

Awaiting Azarenka in the Miami final is Svetlana Kuznetsova, who battled past Timea Bacsinszky in the day’s first semifinal.

“We haven’t played each other in a while but I think we know each other pretty well,” Azarenka said. The two have played eight times previously, but their last encounter was more than three years ago.

She went on: “The last time we played we were both in different stages of our career so it’s interesting to see us coming back and playing such a high level of tennis. It’s gonna be tough but I’m very looking forward to this challenge.”