Tennis News

INDIAN WELLS, CA, USA – On Episode 20, WTA Insider Senior Writer Courtney Nguyen checks in from the desert where the biggest WTA tournament of the season is underway at the BNP Paribas Open. She’s joined this week by WTA CEO Steve Simon for a lengthy discussion of his first few months at the helm of the tour. We discuss Maria Sharapova’s stunning announcement last week, his take on the first two months of an unpredictable WTA season, and his desire to see the current circuit structure changed to ensure the tour can consistently deliver for its tournaments while ensuring the players remain healthy through the end of a long and grueling season.

Five-time WTA Fan Favorite winner Agnieszka Radwanska also joins the podcast to discuss how she became the WTA Hot Shot Queen. She talks about the surprising results last week in Indian Wells, the importance of improvisation on the tennis court, and her worst trip ever.

Simon on Sharapova: “Well, it’s obviously been a busy week, and you never like to start your week with a player, an athlete, receiving a positive drug test. I feel not only terrible for Maria but any athlete that it does occur to, I really do. That being said, the test was positive. No athlete is above the rules, so we will now go through the process with the [Tennis] Anti-Doping Program and whatever decisions that they may make we will of course support as a member of that program. But it’s my hope that we can continue to work and hopefully this doesn’t happen again.”

Simon on balancing the interests of its members: “Clearly your tournaments will have a perspective, of course, of a probably longer term vision, and investment – because they’re making the investment to not only the facility but the prize money and all of the other things that come with it – and your athletes will have a tendency to have probably more of a short term view because their competitive window is much shorter: ‘How does this affect me today and tomorrow?’ Not so much, ‘What about the next group coming through?’ And that’s all understandable; there’s nothing wrong with that. Now, how do we respect those things and get to something that balances that is what we have to try to do.”

Simon on what he’s hearing from the players: “It’s calendar, calendar and calendar, right now, as well as having a sustainable business model for the bulk of the players, for the athletes. Right now, do I think we have too many players that are dependent upon the Grand Slams to make their money each year? I think we have to work on our system where we’re not as dependent on the Grand Slams. That doesn’t take anything away from the Grand Slams; they’re the history and I’m not trying to say that they’re not important and don’t deserve their place in the world. We have to become less dependent upon them, and I think that would make a healthier tour as well.”

Simon on striking a balance: “We have 56 events in 2017 and a 42 week calendar taking out the WTA Finals and Zhuhai. That’s a lot of tournaments in that short period of time. That is certainly an issue, and there’s always a basis that, if you’re going to compress the calendar and you still want it to be healthy, should you actually be eliminating tournaments vs. adding tournaments? That’s an ongoing dynamic because more tournaments means more jobs and more opportunities to make money. We have to find a better balance between that and I think that’s what we have to look at in this next stage so that, the players that want to play a lot have the ability to play a lot, because that’s how they get their success, and the players that want to have a healthier schedule and play a little bit less can do so as well.”

Radwanska on the importance of improvising: “We all have the same type of reaction and coordination is very similar. But I think the shot selection [makes a difference]. Tennis is so fast so you have just less than a second to make a choice. Sometimes other players aren’t making the right choices. I think shot selection is the most important thing.”

Radwanska on the need for variety: “Everyone can hit forehands and backhands. It’s not like someone can’t do that. It’s about other things that you have or you don’t. Maybe that’s why other players can play great tennis but they don’t have the last thing about the reaction and shot selection, a little more thinking and not panicking in the important moments. To win a match there are so many things together that if you’re missing one thing, you’re not there.”

Radwanska on tension: “Sometimes you can be so tight. You’re playing such good tennis but you’re so tight, the legs are not moving. It’s like you’re in a band-aid, like you’re a mummy.”

– Round of 16 set: It’s an “all-skate” on Tuesday, as the schedule gets reset and the entire Round of 16 is in play. In the top half of the draw: Serena Williams vs. Kataryna Bondarenko, Barbora Strycova vs. Simona Halep, Agnieszka Radwanska vs. Jelena Jankovic, Nicole Gibbs vs. Petra Kvitova.

In the bottom half: Magdalena Rybarikova vs. Roberta Vinci, Victoria Azarenka vs. Sam Stosur, Daria Kasatkina vs. Timea Bacsinszky, and Karolina Pliskova vs. Johanna Konta.

– Gretzky’s orders: Timea Bacsinskzy overcame a bad fall that left her scraped and bruised to beat Eugenie Bouchard, 6-2, 5-7, 6-2, to advance to the Round of 16 at the BNP Paribas Open for the second straight year. She’ll play Daria Kasatkina on Tuesday. Bacsinszky looked in control of the match until she slipped and fell forward early in the second set and landed flush on her hip, the gritty court surface leaving her covered in bleeding cuts that required an 11-minute medical timeout.

Bacsinszky said her hip was left bruised by the fall, but taking the fall just 40 feet from the great Wayne Gretzky left an even bigger bruise on her ego. Just a few days earlier she was able to get a photo with The Great One, which left her Canadian boyfriend Andreas fuming.

“He knows all the statistics of Gretzky, NHL, NFL, he loves it,” Bacsinszky said. “It’s his hobby. We talked at dinner and he said the only one he would love to take a picture with is Wayne Gretzky. The next day I met him in the lounge!”

“I just told him, ‘Hey the three last letters of my last name are the same as yours’. He laughed. He was really really nice. As a legend he’s one of the biggest sportsmen for me, of any sport. He’s so humble, he’s super nice.

“Today he was eating and I didn’t recognize him and he said, ‘Hey! Good luck!’ I was like, hey my boyfriend didn’t talk to me for two hours yesterday – this is true. He was really pissed. Then Gretzky told me is he here? Tell him to come! And I said, yeah he’s too shy he would never ask, I know him. And he said, ‘No it’s an order. You have to tell him to come.’ So he came and they took the picture.”

– Karolina Pliskova’s mental vacation: Pliskova played the heaviest schedule of any top player last year and she continued to play through the off-season, signing up for a full exhibition schedule. But after Australia she was mentally fried and confessed to needing a week away from the courts after going winless in the Middle East. Pliskova got some much needed R&R in Monaco, where she now has a residence; the rest seems to have paid off. She’s into the fourth round with a 6-2, 6-0 win over Ana Ivanovic. She plays Johanna Konta for a spot in the quarterfinals.

“The draw was good to me because I know Ana and I know Shelby,” Pliskova told WTA Insider. “Against Ana I won all of the matches so I was pretty confident in this match and I knew if I played at the level I played in Australia I could beat her. I definitely feel well and I rested a little bit so mentally I feel fine. That’s the main thing.”

– Daria Kasatkina saves match point to advance: The 18-year-old continues her trend of making debuts to remember. In her first trip to Indian Wells she’s into the Round of 16 after beating Monica Puig, 6-4, 3-6, 7-6(2), saving match point along the way.

“From the first practice I feel like my spins are flying and the balls are good,” Kasatkina told a small group of reporters while breathlessly cooling down on an eliptical machine after the match. “I like to play here because it’s a surface for me I think.”

– Belinda Bencic’s desert dry spell: While the court may suit a junior French Open champion like Kasatkina, it has flummoxed junior Wimbledon champion Bencic. The No.7 seed bowed out 6-4, 3-6, 6-3 to Magdalena Rybarikova.

“First of all, I didn’t have my game, second of all I really don’t like to play her,” Bencic said. “She plays really tricky for me. I cannot [use] the power from her. Especially with these conditions it’s not really the best for me. It bounces high for me, it’s slow, it’s just weird. Last year I played good here but also had my trouble. It’s not like grass where I come and just play great.”

– Jelena abandoned: Jelena Jankovic has a tough task on Tuesday, facing No.3 Agnieszka Radwanska. The Serb hasn’t had the best start to the season but seems to be finding her form here in the desert, where she made the final last year. Jankovic said her off-season preparation was poor and she’s playing catch-up with her fitness.

“During the off-season my fitness trainer he had to go train someone in the soccer team,” Jankovic told WTA Insider. “It was during the off-season when I needed to train physically and I didn’t do that very well, I didn’t prepare very well. Since Dubai I hired a new one from Thailand. He used to work with Srichiphan. I’m happy I have him with my team and I’m working hard to get physically fitter.”

– Nicole Gibbs’ key to success: The American qualifier is putting together her best career result after coming through qualifying to beat Alexandra Dulgheru, Madison Keys, and Yaroslava Shvedova to earn a shot against Kvitova in the fourth round. Since teaming up with Roger Smith after the US Open, Gibbs’ results in 2016 have seen a marked improvement. She’s won 10 of her last 11 matches.

“He’s a really supportive person, just really, really positive,” Gibbs said. “He kind of complements my personality really well. We get along really well, which hasn’t always been the case with my coaches in the past. I can be really stubborn. I can be a little difficult sometimes. He’s been really great in that sense.

“And then he just knows the game so well. Sees it so well. Gives me unbelievable game plans. You know, we have just been working really hard on making me more of an all-court player and a little bit less defensive.”

The gritty court seems to be favoring Gibbs’ game too. “I have been hitting the ball a little bit heavier, which I think picks up well on the slower courts,” she said. “Maybe I’m throwing people’s timing off, I’m not sure, but I have been enjoying the conditions out here. I think it plays fast through the air but kicks up off the court, which is nice for me.”

– No dream team for Kvitova: When Kvitova split with David Kotyza the first name on everyone’s lips was Martina Navratilova. Oh well:

Q. If Martina came in that door right now and said, I’ll coach you, would you consider her?
PETRA KVITOVA: Probably no.

– Former WTA CEO Stacey Allaster returns to tennis: Allaster announced that she will be joining the United States Tennis Association to become the new Chief Executive of professional tennis; the post is tailor-made for the one who spent nearly 10 years with the WTA. 

“I worked 28 years straight, hard between the Ontario Tennis Association, Tennis Canada and the WTA, and that was a mistake,” Allaster said by telephone Friday from a wellness retreat in California. “There needs to be these scheduled breaks. Academics do it. A lot of law firms do it. Nike does it. It just rejuvenates you physically, mentally and emotionally and brings you back stronger. And I am at that place and super excited to join the U.S.T.A.”

– Hear from Steve Simon and Agnieszka Radwanska: Both are great, insightful guests on the new episode of the WTA Insider Podcast:

INDIAN WELLS, CA, USA – The BNP Paribas Open draw has been shaved down to 16, and on a blockbuster Tuesday at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden, the quarterfinals will be set. Here’s a look at the match-ups.

Tuesday, Fourth Round

[1] Serena Williams (USA #1) vs. Kateryna Bondarenko (UKR #70)
Head-to-head: Williams leads 2-0
Key Stat: Williams’ last loss to a player outside the Top 50 was in 2014 (Charleston, Cepelova).
World No.1 Serena Wiliams showed signs of nerves and rust early in her third round match with Yulia Putintseva, but by the time it was over she looked like a player who was dead set on winning this title for the first time in 15 years. Still, Williams would like to rid herself of the slow starts that have created problems for her over the last few years. “I know last year I had a lot of slow starts, but I feel like I have done better this year,” Williams told the media on Sunday. “I had a slow start in this one, too, but it’s getting better. It just goes to show there is always something I can improve on. I’m always looking to improve on things.” On Tuesday she’ll look to improve her career record at Indian Wells to 21-1 when she meets qualifier Kateryna Bondarenko. The Ukranian reached the round of 16 for the first time at Indian Wells by surviving a third set tie-break with Lesia Tsurenko. Williams has won their two previous meetings, both in straight sets.

Pick: Williams in two

[3] Agnieszka Radwanska (POL #3) vs. [19] Jelena Jankovic (SRB #20)
Head-to-head: Radwanska leads, 6-3
Key Stat: Jankovic is bidding for her 50th Top 10 win today.
In a year that has been characterized by its unpredictability on the WTA Tour, Agnieszka Radwanska has been one of the steadier performers, making at least the semifinals in all three events she has played. Will she make it four in a row? Radwanska certainly owns the upper hand in her head-to-head with 2010 BNP Paribas Open champion Jelena Jankovic. The Serb took their first two meetings but since then Radwanska has won six of seven. The 2014 runner-up eased past Monica Niculescu in straight sets on Sunday and told reporters she’s yearning for the BNP Paribas Open title after the match. “Of course I was here in the final and really close to hold the trophy,” Radwanska said. “So this is another year to try. Obviously I am really trying every year to get the title. I really want to have that trophy at my home.” To reach the quarterfinals, Radwanska will have to maintain the hot hand against a hot opponent. San Diego resident and self-proclaimed California girl Jankovic comes in on a roll, having dropped just five games in her two rounds thus far.

Pick: Jankovic in three

[5] Simona Halep (ROU #5) vs. Barbora Strycova (CZE #37)
Head-to-head: Tied, 1-1 (Halep leads 1-0 at Tour-level)
Key Stat: Not since 1991 (Navratilova) has a WTA player successfully defended the Indian Wells title.
Though Serena Williams is the prohibitive favor in any WTA draw she enters, last year’s champion Simona Halep believes that the BNP Paribas Open is up for grabs. “I think the tournament is open and anyone can win it,” she told reporters at a media roundtable before the event started. “Many players are playing well now and young players are coming that are playing well.” The Romanian’s title defense has been going swimmingly thus far. After blitzing Vania King in her first match, she rolled past a world-class opponent in difficult conditions on Sunday night, braving the wind and the powerful game of Ekaterina Makarova to earn a straight-sets win. Halep’s opponent in the round of 16 has been playing good tennis herself. Barbora Strycova stunned Garbiñe Muguruza at the Australian Open to reach the second week, and last month she went all the way to the Dubai final before falling to Sara Errani. Is the 29-year-old Czech in good enough form to derail an in-form Halep? She certainly has the game, and the experience, to do it.

Pick: Halep in three

[8] Petra Kvitova (CZE #9) vs. [WC] Nicole Gibbs (USA #95)
Head-to-head: Kvitova leads 2-0
Key Stat: Gibbs has never won a set from a Top 10 player.
Petra Kvitova is still trying to find her form in the California desert. Meanwhile, a rising American qualifier is hitting her stride right before our eyes. Nicole Gibbs notched her career-best win against Madison Keys in the second round here, and will be looking to take down a bigger fish in two-time major champion Kvitova. But Gibbs knows she’s got her work cut out for her. “I have played her a couple times before also on some big stages: center court at New Haven and at US Open,” Gibbs told media after her straight-sets win over Yaroslava Shvedova on Sunday. “But I do feel like I’ve gotten to see what her level is like. Both matches have definitely been in her favor but competitive, so I’m just looking to hopefully get a bead on her serving early in the match.” Kvitova, who is hoping to match her career best result at Indian Wells, knows of the challenges that Gibbs can present. “I think she’s a very good mover,” Kvitova said. “She can catch a lot of balls and put back everything. I will have to be ready 100 percent, and really have to fight again.”

Pick: Gibbs in three

-Chris Oddo, wtatennis.com contributor