Tennis News

It’s time to vote for January’s WTA Player of the Month!

Have a look at the nominees and cast your vote before Thursday at 11:59pm ET! The winner will be announced Friday, February 8.

January 2016 WTA Player Of The Month Finalists

Angelique Kerber: As the No.7 seed, Kerber stunned the tennis world by defeating both pre-tournament favorites in Victoria Azarenka and World No.1 Serena Williams to capture her first Grand Slam title at the Australian Open. Kerber faced a match point in her first round against Misaki Doi, and after having – in her words – “one foot on the plane back to Germany,” Kerber played with renewed confidence through the first week. Facing Azarenka in the quarterfinals, the German turned around a 0-6 head-to-head and won five straight games to dismiss the Brisbane International champion and two-time Australian Open winner in straight sets. Seeing off surprise semifinalist Johanna Konta to reach her first major final, Kerber played stellar tennis and held her nerve against Williams, stopping her from tying countrywoman Steffi Graf’s record of 22 Grand Slam titles. Her win takes her to a new career-high ranking of No.2 and puts her at the top spot on the Road to Singapore standings.

Serena Williams: Entering the Australian Open under an injury cloud, Williams erased all doubts as to her form her first match in Melbourne, racing into the final without dropping a set. Her semifinal against No.4 seed Agnieszka Radwanska was particularly dominant; the World No.1 needed only 20 minutes to win the opening set over the reigning BNP Paribas WTA Finals Singapore presented by SC Global champion, going on to hit 42 winners to just 18 errors in the two-set match. Though she fell to Kerber in the final, the American remains just one major away from tying Graf’s Open Era record for most Grand Slam titles won, and is firmly behind Kerber at No.2 on the Road to Singapore standings.

Victoria Azarenka: Azarenka began the season hoping to make 2016 her comeback year. Looking in impeccable shape, she romped through the Brisbane International draw, losing just four games to eventual Australian Open champion Kerber in the final. In Melbourne, she was equally dominant through the first week, tying the record for fewest games lost in her first three matches. Despite losing to Kerber in the quarterfinals, the Belarusian still had chances to level the match, serving for the second set at 5-2 and holding three set points at 40-0.

Agnieszka Radwanska: The WTA Finals champion has only lost one match in 2016, the Australian Open semifinal to Serena Williams. Radwanska began her year at the Shenzhen Open, where she won the title, and looked in solid form through five matches in Melbourne before running into a World No.1 playing some of her best tennis.

How it works:

Four finalists are selected by wtatennis.com
Winner is then determined by a fan vote on wtatennis.com

MELBOURNE, Australia – Following the Saturday’s Australian Open final, the WTA has unveiled the first Road To Singapore leaderboard, with Angelique Kerber vaulting to the top.

The Road To Singapore is the year-long journey to the WTA’s crown jewel event, the BNP Paribas WTA Finals Singapore presented by SC Global, and Kerber, who just won her first Grand Slam title at the Australian Open, has kicked off at No.1. Runner-up Serena Williams is in the No.2 position.

Defending WTA Finals champion Agnieszka Radwanska has launched a great start to her title defense – winning the Shenzhen Open and reaching the semifinal at the Australian Open to round out the top 3 on the Road to Singapore. How has winning the WTA Finals prepared Radwanska for continued success in 2016? Watch the video above to hear from the champion herself.

A pair of familiar faces sit atop the doubles leaderboard; the team of co-No.1s Sania Mirza and Martina Hingis won their third straight major title – along with titles at the Brisbane International and Apia International Sydney – to start the year at No.1. Australian Open finalists Andrea Hlavackova and Lucie Hradecka are No.2.

The Top 8 singles and doubles players on the Road To Singapore Leaderboard will qualify for the $7 million 2016 BNP Paribas WTA Finals Singapore presented by SC Global.

Here’s who else is in the Top 8 of the first Road to Singapore leaderboard:

MELBOURNE, Australia – Angelique Kerber was still riding the high of winning her first major title when I caught up with her on Sunday morning, less than 12 hours after her Australian Open triumph. On Saturday, Kerber became the first German to win a major since Steffi Graf in 1999, beating World No.1 Serena Williams 6-4, 3-6, 6-4 to with the Australian Open.

En route to her Champion’s Photo Shoot in front of the Government House in Melbourne, Kerber spoke to WTA Insider about her whirlwind 24 hours and how her up-and-down career led her perfectly to this very moment.

WTA Insider: Angelique Kerber. 2016 Australian Open champion. Does it still sound weird to say it out loud?

Kerber: You know, it still sounds a little bit weird, but I think after a few hours, it’s still coming into my mind that I really won the title and won my first Grand Slam. Like I said, it’s a dream come true, and it sounds really nice.

WTA Insider: How was the water in the Yarra? Do you regret the decision to jump in and why did you decide to do it?

Kerber: Two weeks ago when we were walking along the river and talking a little bit about the Australian Open, about the last few weeks. We spoke about how Jim Courier did it once a lot of years ago. Then we decided, ok, let’s make a bet that if I reach the final and I win it after two weeks, we will go in the river.

At the end, it was nice, something different. I won the Australian Open and I love bets, so it’s something really special. You know, the river was really cold and a little bit dirty!

WTA Insider: That was the worry, that it might be a little dodgy.

Kerber: It was a little bit dirty but I was just trying to go for it and trying to keep my face above the river, so it was actually not so bad.

WTA Insider: Be honest: how many hours have you slept since last night?

Kerber: I told you I haven’t been sleeping. I came back at 4am to the hotel and then we decided to go for a drink at the bar. At 7 o’clock in the morning, I had my first interview again. There was no chance to sleep. But I know in a few hours I will on the plane, and I will for sure be sleeping the whole 24 hours.

WTA Insider: Yesterday, your phone was exploding. Players were congratulating you a lot on Twitter. The theme of the tweets was that this was a well deserved title for you. What do you think makes your win resonate in the locker room?

Kerber: It means a lot that there are people and champions or legends writing that I deserved it. I beat Serena in the final and it was an honor for me to play against her. To play against the best in the world and to win against her, because it was a great match and at the end I was going for it. It’s something really special that I won it at the end.

Everybody knows me, that I’m a really hard worker and this is why everybody told me or wrote I deserve it. It’s what I’m really proud of.

WTA Insider: You talked a lot this week about changing your mindset to be about trying to win matches as opposed to waiting for things to happen, for your opponent to miss and give it to you. That’s some nice symbolism for the last four years of career. You’ve said you were someone who has always struggled with self-belief. Why did you lack belief?

Kerber: I think I’m a person that needs a little bit of time. Of course, I believed in myself, but I had a lot of up and downs in my career where I was thinking, is this the right way? Could I reach my goals? But I had a great team around me always telling me that, ‘You’re a great player and you’re practicing and working so hard. One day you will deserve it.’ I was trusting my team more than myself.

I think in these two weeks, it changed a little bit when I won against Azarenka, and I felt, ‘Ok, I can believe in myself.’ This is actually the only way to win a Grand Slam. That was the change that I made in the last few days, to go for it and believe in myself and be aggressive and not hope that someone will give it to me. That was also the key to winning the Australian Open.

WTA Insider: Last year you played a lot of three set matches, classics in fact. But more often than not you were coming out on the losing side of them, especially at the big stages. Do you think some of those tough three-set losses set you up for this win?

Kerber: I think all of the tough losses, or the matches where I lost in three sets, were a way to reach the Grand Slam at the end. I had a lot of experience and I played so many great matches against top players. Some I won, some I lost. At the end, I was always playing good tennis.

It was always tough and three hour matches and everyone’s still playing good against me because they know they must play good to beat me. It was also something that I realized, that they have respect when playing against me. It was a process to really take the next step to win a grand slam. After four yeas in the Top 10, I made the next step and I won it at the end.

WTA Insider: When the on-court announcer said you would rise to World No.2 on Monday, you looked as surprised about that as you were about winning the title. Is that even weirder?

Kerber: It sounds crazy to be the No.2 player in the world. That’s my highest ranking and I’ve reached it at the end. It’s just something so special; I mean, the moment when they said I’d be No.2 on Monday, it’s a great feeling to reach my highest ranking in my career.

All photos courtesy of Getty Images.