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Bridging the gap at the new WTA 125 Tournaments

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By David Kane

For a tour that rose to its peak in the late 90s on the talented backs of young players like Martina Hingis and Venus Williams, the WTA has had a difficult time grooming its young ingénues in the last few years. The age eligibility rule named for famed burnout victim Jennifer Capriati has done well to keep players from the depression and drug use she suffered, but has also seemed to curb the number of prodigies making early breakthroughs on the senior tour.
With Maria Sharapova being the last teenager to win a major title and compatriot Svetlana Kuznetsova the last teenaged Slam debutante in 2004, the Tour’s biggest tournaments appear to be checking for ID at the door. That does not mean, however, that the WTA is averse to successful teens. The Tournament of Champions, albeit a Year-End Championships with the volume turned all the way down, was founded as a way to reward top 30 players who take home International (formerly Tier III and IV) titles throughout the year.
But if veterans have been dominating the higher-end events in the last decade, they have been equally successful in the ostensibly more accessible ones as well. The average age for the Sofia semifinalists 26.5, with 30-year-old Nadia Petrova taking the title. It has been a good time to be a fan of sentimental favorites, to be sure, but much tougher to pick out up-and-comers as they make the transition from the juniors.
Enter the WTA125, the ultimate tournament category for the “I’m not a girl, not yet a woman” subset of players. Bridging the gap between the ITF 100Ks and the lowest level International WTA events, the WTA125 debuted in the two weeks following the two Year-End Championships. With most of the big names finished for the season, players who would have dropped down to the lower level ITFs have one last chance to rack up big points and prize money in 2012.
Two players to take advantage of the opportunity were those thought to be extinct prodigies, Kristina Mladenovic and Elina Svitolina. Each have a junior Roland Garros title to their name (Mladenovic in 2009, Svitolina in 2010). The two are feisty competitors with big forehands and bigger personalities. Despite success among their peers, competing in the big leagues has been a more challenging endeavor.
After relatively quiet fall seasons, the two entered the WTA125 events, one in Chinese Taipei and the other in Pune, India, as under the radar as any former junior champion. Proven up-and-comers like Donna Vekic and dangerous veterans like Kimiko Date-Krumm were abound in each event, yet Mladenovic and Svitolina took home the titles with as little fanfare at the end of the week as the beginning.
At the first WTA125 event in Taipei, Mladenovic blew away Chang Kai-Chen, the Taiwanese player who was edged out of the Osaka final by Heather Watson a few weeks earlier. The Frenchwoman was equally dominant in the doubles, completing the sweep and undoubtedly sealing her spot as an answer on a WTA trivia question.

Andrea Petkovic in Pune, India

The tournament in Pune started out as another chapter of the beleaguered Andrea Petkovic’s comeback tour. The German had spent most of 2012 sidelined with various and sundry injuries before having a good run in Luxembourg and cruising into the semifinals this week. The run, however, came to an abrupt end against none other than Svitolina, who advanced to the biggest final of her career.
Even in the final, Svitolina read like the supporting act when paired with the illustrious veteran, 42-year-old final Kimiko Date-Krumm. Despite a tough year, the Japaneswoman had been solid all week, and was looking for the second title in her “second” career. Playing against a style that she was hardly old enough to watch on television, Svitolina had no letdown and gamely silenced the veteran in straight sets.
Is this an awful lot of fanfare for two events that barely count as WTA titles? Perhaps. But if this trend continues, the WTA may have finally found a formula to allow up-and-comers to smoothly transition onto the senior tour without sacrificing the abundant confidence they took with them from the juniors. In other words, the WTA125’s potential lies in helping the prodigies, young guns, whatever you want to call them, to begin realizing their potential, and if that succeeds, these podunk post-season tournaments could become the real tournaments of champions.

Back to the Future on the WTA Tour

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By David Kane

Weeks like the one the WTA Tour had at its Tournament of Champions in Sofia, Bulgaria are a blatant mockery to the act of making predictions before they even begin.
First of all, who predicted that Caroline Wozniacki, who started 2012 at No. 1, would find herself at a Year-End Championships for the Tour’s B-squad? The Dane, who now has more singles than Slam titles (a charity song “Oxygen” and a campy music video to go with it) has endured a fall from grace that felt oddly symmetrical as she played her semifinal against hometown favorite Tsvetana Pironkova. After all, Wozniacki played the Bulgarian floater at the first tournament of the year, the usually star-studded Hopman Cup in Perth. Ten months that feel like an eternity later, Wozniacki is the one looking decidedly out of place.
Subtext aside, it would have then appeared easy to predict a rebound victory for the Dane. Playing a tournament comprised of players that the former No. 1 had beat handily during her rise to the game’s elite, “Karolina” could not have felt too intimidated to take on names like Su-Wei Hsieh or Roberta Vinci. Furthermore, she had recently won tournaments in Seoul and Moscow, taking out tough opponents like Kaia Kanepi and Sam Stosur en route. The Dane was not a celebrity wildcard; she had earned her place into this event with her first titles since August of last year.

Nadia Petrova finishes her season with the WTA title in Sofia.

Who, then, would have predicted that No. 2 seed Nadia Petrova would turn the tables on Wozniacki and decisively beat her in a 6-2, 6-1 final?
Yes, the Russian is a dangerous opponent, and with a title in Tokyo that saw her claim the scalps of top ten stalwarts Sara Errani, Stosur and Agnieszka Radwanska, she has obviously played well of late. But for a player for whom much must be perfect, a tournament full of tricky opponents a mere days after winning the Istanbul Championships doubles title sounded like a big ask. Indeed, she played the role of the tired veteran, trudging through three tight matches on her way to the final. Combine that with Petrova’s pitiful 1-4 head-to-head against Wozniacki (one win coming when the Dane retired in 2008), who wasn’t predicting victory for the woman who had clinched a year-end top 10 ranking just by reaching the final?
Seemingly out of nowhere, Petrova recalled the game plan that saw her take out Radwanska in Tokyo, but unlike that three-set final, there was no lapse from the Russian. For about 90 minutes, Wozniacki had no answer to Petrova’s laser-like groundstrokes, flawless serving and inspiring net prowess, and was forced into her fair share of uncharacteristic errors as a result.
During the Russian’s extended slump, her formerly reliable serve was often the cause of her worse losses; her first serve percentage would drop, and she would get broken too often for a perennial Tour ace leader. That she didn’t lose serve in either match played this weekend speaks volumes to explain her recent success, and spells bad news for future rivals should she maintain this form. When her serve is working, the rest of her game loosens up, and even the most expert retrievers and returners are driven to fits under the pressure of the Russian’s powerful game.
Beyond that, not enough can be said about her newfound positivity on the court. After being fired by Wozniacki herself, Ricardo Sanchez began working with Petrova and has been a great influence on her on-court demeanor, striking an encouraging figure from the stands. There will be no Serena-esque shrieks or Sharapova-style fist pumps from Petrova, but quietly celebrating a well-struck ball illustrates her marked emotional growth.
Petrova mentioned that the promise of a rapidly approaching off-season got her through these tough matches, so the question remains as to whether she will be able to dig as deep when the 2013 season begins, and she will have to figuratively start over again.
At the risk of making any wild predictions, it might be best to end this article sooner rather than later.

Laura Robson: It's all about the climb

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By David Kane

While young and talented Donna Vekic made a run to the Taskent final last week surprising virtually everyone, equally young and talented Laura Robson made her own mark this week by reaching the Guangzhou final, bringing many to mutter sighs of “Finally!” or the plaintive “What took her so long?”
While Vekic shocked even the most well-read tennis insiders, Robson is a name many aficionados have come to recognize. The Brit has the junior credentials Vekic lacks, with a hometown triumph at Wimbledon in 2008 and two Australian Open finals to boot.
Beyond that, Robson made the most of her time in relative obscurity by becoming a minor internet celebrity. For a while, @laurarobson5 the twitter user had more far reaching effects with her insightful and humorous tweets than Laura Robson the tennis player with the big lefty swing.
Even without those clues, however, many knew Robson was coming. She had pushed Maria Sharapova to tiebreakers at this year’s Olympics. She took silver with compatriot Andy Murray in mixed doubles. She handed Kim Clijsters the final loss of her career at the US Open, parlayed the momentum into a decisive three-set victory over the streaking Li Na before losing an overthought, overcooked match against defending champion Sam Stosur.
These results, especially her most recent success at Flushing Meadows, seemed to suggest that she had already arrived. Yet, this run to the Guangzhou final feels like the missing piece. Fans and pundits knew Robson could play well for one or two matches, and at the US Open she proved she could play well for about three and a half.
But was the teenager’s body ready for the week in, week out grind of the WTA Tour? The last few years would certainly suggest a resounding “no,” as physical and/or mental issues have often gotten in the way of potentially earlier breakthroughs.
Where Donna Vekic matched middling promise with exponential results, Robson has managed to pair obvious talent with steady improvement, along with the idea that all this time, she’s known exactly what she was doing. For example, many fans groaned at the news that she had hired Zeljko Krajan as a new coach.
The former ATP pro brought Dinara Safina to world No. 1, and Dominika Cibulkova to her first WTA title through the use of an ostensibly infallible dogma of hyperaggression. It sounded like the last thing the already aggressive-minded Robson needed, and while Cibulkova parted with Krajan when she began to question the dogma, Safina’s sticky end still rings in the minds of many.
Oddly enough, however, Krajan has brought a sense of balance to Robson’s game; in fact, it was when she reverted to blind aggression that she lost her US Open round of 16 to Stosur. Overall, the young girl who famously asked Marat Safin to accompany her to the Wimbledon Ball as a junior is beginning to play a more intelligent game and, like Vekic, like a woman.
Does all this praise seem irrelevant because neither woman won their final match? No, because even with this new maturity those big wins and career high rankings, we can still expect a few growing pains. To paraphrase another famous teenager, it’s all about the climb.

Donna Vekic: All grown up and searching for her tennis destiny

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Donna Vekic en route to her first WTA Tour final in Uzbekistan.`

By David Kane

Sometimes on the Sony Ericsson WTA Tennis Tour, fans find that their favorite rising stars really grow up fast. One minute, they’re teenagers struggling to qualify for major tournaments; the next, they’re making tour finals in countries like Uzbekistan and you’re left wondering where the time went.
Such is the case for the young 16-year-old Croatian, Donna Vekic. If you have never heard of her, fear not. Although she has competed on the junior circuit, the descriptors “prodigy” or “junior champion” are withheld because, to be fair, her junior results have been quite middling in a division where success and failure is simply foreshadowing.
Before this summer, I had only known of Vekic in passing as the player against whom controversial fireball Yulia Putintseva had audibly and turbulently fought back at during the 2011 Junior Wimbledon.
Despite Vekic’s relative anonymity, when I posited to my twitter followers which players I should be on the lookout for during the US Open qualies, many were quick to point me towards the promising talent.
When I got to Court 6, I could see why; the tall blonde in the flowing Nike dress cut an impressive figure for a 16-year-old. While most of the top junior girls look like girls, Vekic already looked the part of a woman looking to break through on the woman’s tour. More importantly, she played like a woman; with a big serve and equally ferocious groundstrokes, this ready-for-primetime player looked decidedly out of place on such a small outer court.
Unseeded in qualifying, the Croat had a good week in Flushing before her age and inexperience reared at a most unfortunate time; two games from the US Open main draw, Vekic wilted in the New York heat and veteran Edina Gallovits-Hall took care of the rest, winning the last 10 games and making the youngster look out of place all over again.
What could have been a disappointing end became that crucially aforementioned foreshadowing when she arrived in Tashkent a week later, again as a qualifier. In seven matches, she only dropped one set, and claimed decisive victories against No. 4 seed Magdelena Rybarikova and No. 6 seed Bojana Jovanovski en route to her first WTA tour final. Despite losing to Caroline Wozniacki’s US Open conqueror Irina Camelia Begu at week’s end, Donna Vekic had arrived, in fairly emphatic style given the dearth of prior results pointing to said arrival. It just over one year, Vekic has risen over 700 ranking spots and hit a career-high No. 121 this past Monday.
Given how past players have made the junior to WTA transition over the last few years, Vekic’s run has many scratching their heads. Junior results aren’t a fluke; a look at the last 10 US Open girls’ singles champions reads like a “Who’s Who” of the WTA (both today and tomorrow). Her talent cannot be denied, and the main (albeit bizarre) question that seems to be at hand is how Vekic’s WTA-friendly game failed to translate in the junior ranks.
One need only look to the Williams sisters for the answer; the two had abstained entirely from junior tournaments and their father had been heavily criticized at the time for doing so. Venus turned pro the year Meilin Tu won the girls’ US Open, and Tara Snyder the next when Serena entered the pro ranks. With that perspective, suddenly an aberration looks like destiny.
Follow Donna Vekic on Facebook or Twitter for her WTA Tour updates!

Roger Federer heavy favorite for US Open, Na Li's new partnership — The Friday Five

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By Maud Watson

The (Swiss) Cheese Stands Alone

After a week of sublime tennis in which his serve wasn’t broken once, Roger Federer won the Masters Cincinnati title to become the first player to win that prestigious crown on five occasions. He also tied rival Rafael Nadal for most overall Masters titles. It’s obvious the grass court season has once again infused confidence in the Maestro. His forehand has been a thing of beauty, and he’s doing an excellent job of protecting his backhand. In short, he hardly looks 31 and instead appears closer to the man who dominated the game from 2004-2007. He’s not a lone heavy favorite in New York with both Murray and Djokovic posting strong results earlier this summer, but don’t be surprised if he leaves Flushing with major number 18.

Beautiful Partnership

Li Na had been without a title since Roland Garros last year. Struggling to find any consistency in her game, she recently hired Carlos Rodriguez (the man who coached Justine Henin to so much success) to help her out, and suffice it to say, their partnership has started off with a bang. After reaching the final the previous week in Montreal, she went one better in Cincinnati to claim her first tournament win of 2012. Cincy also marked the first time that Li and Rodriguez met face-to-face, and the Argentine coach must have liked what he saw. With any luck, his input will mean more consistent results for Li. She is a deceptively quick mover with penetrating ground strokes off of both wings. If she can learn to better harness that aggression, there’s no reason she can’t pick up more big titles, including another major. Keep an eye on this new partnership, because that combo already looks likely to pay dividends.

What’s In A Name?

For Rafael Nadal, an answer is what’s in a name. In a press conference last Friday, Nadal announced that he is suffering from Hoffa’s Syndrome. While it’s unfortunate one of the game’s greatest is sidelined with this condition, it might have also come as a relief to the Spaniard. His doctor has said it is not significant, and being able to specifically pin down the problem means being able to provide more appropriate treatments. Of course, all of the treatment in the world will not make up for Nadal’s style of play, which is apt to continue to cause problems, so it will be interesting to see if this diagnosis alters his approach to the game and/or his schedule. But for now, here’s to wishing Rafa a speedy recovery and a happy return to the game.

Stirring the Pot

In recent years, Serena Williams has certainly made headlines at the US Open – and not because of her tennis. This year, she’s getting a head start stirring the pot as she complains about the “bad things” that have happened to her at the US Open. She definitely got robbed on a poor line call in 2004, but her gripes about incidents in 2009 and for sure in 2011 are dubious. Her defense in 2009 (besides suggesting that she definitely didn’t foot fault) is that she looked at the lineswoman after the first foot fault call to try and “warn” her not to do it again, and that the lineswoman just shouldn’t make that call at that stage of the match and at that stage of the tournament. So basically, she threatened the lineswoman who should have known that late in a Grand Slam she needs to throw the rulebook out the window. As for 2011, Serena said she got a bogus hindrance call for grunting. She needs to go back and watch the tape. She didn’t grunt – she loudly and intentionally yelled “c’mon!” Yes, plenty of other shriekers are louder, but Serena’s actions made it clear as day that applying the hindrance rule was warranted. In both instances, more fans might have been behind her had she not gone on completely inappropriate tirades and showed a complete lack of remorse for doing so. And she wonders why people don’t give her enough credit for being nice…

Missing the Boat

The WTA has started a celebrity campaign to bring more fans to the game. They’re featuring celebrities like Donald Trump, Aretha Franklin, and Susan Sarandon among others. In a nutshell, the hope is that fans of the featured celebs will follow those celebs to tennis, and in turn, become tennis fans themselves. I applaud the WTA’s creativity, but I wonder if they aren’t glossing over one of the more real issues when it comes to fans of the WTA. I don’t care how many celebs you have in your corner, if you want to bring fans to the game and more importantly, keep them, then they’ve got to do something about the awful screeching. The WTA is to be coming out with further info on a grunt policy in the very near future, so fingers crossed that they’re actually going to be doing something concrete instead of just blowing smoke. After all, no amount of glitz and glamour can mask the ugly sound of someone who sounds like a shrieking banshee.

Sam Stosur: the highs and lows since the U.S. Open

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By Melinda Samson, Special for Tennis Grandstand

Sam Stosur had quite a year in 2011 by acheiving a career-high singles ranking of four in February and defeating Serena Williams to win the US Open in September. Since then, Stosur has struggled reaching only one semifinal and two finals since her maiden slam title. Does she have it in her to mount a surprise run at this year’s French Open?
Stosur’s maiden Grand Slam title was a massive achievement, making her the first Australian woman to win the US Open final since Margaret Court Smith in 1973, and the first Australian woman to win a Grand Slam final since Evonne Goolagong Cawley won Wimbledon in 1980.
And it wasn’t a straightforward ride to victory. Stosur proved her strength and stamina by defeating Nadia Petrova in a third round match that turned out to be the longest ever US Open women’s match in the open era, lasting 3 hours and 16 minutes.
Then, during the final, Stosur calmly played on after Serena’s rant against the chair umpire, un-rattled by the incident that later cost Serena a $2000 fine.
There’s something special about Sam

Sam Stosur (REUTERS/Thomas Peter)

As well as being an elite tennis player and Grand Slam champion, Stosur is also a great Australian. She is supremely fit, works incredibly hard, is tanned, smiley, humble and let’s face it, she can pull off cool sunnies on court like not many other players can.
Scott Draper, Manager of Developmental Tennis for Tennis Australia, who partnered with Stosur to win the 2005 Australian Open Mixed Doubles final, summed up what makes Sam’s style of play special:

“Sam works extremely hard and is physically strong, which gives her an incredible advantage in being able to overpower her counterparts.
Sam’s point of difference is that she’s not the typical female tennis player. She has angular swings, a heavy forehand, one of the best serves in the women’s game and she can slice. This style of play takes her opponents out of their comfort zone and away from what they typically see.”

An early loss at the 2012 Australian Open
A great Australian trait is that we love sport and we love an Aussie winner. So when Stosur played in Australia this January, the burden of expectation from the home crowd was enormous, and ultimately proved to be too big for Stosur to bear.
Playing in Australia was Stosur’s kryptonite. What should have been her home ground advantage turned into a bonus for her opponents.
A second round loss at the Brisbane International was followed by first round losses at the APIA International inSydneyand the Australian Open in Melbourne.
After the Australian Open loss Stosur said on her blog:
“There’s nothing probably more than my expectation. I really, really wanted to do well here and over the summer…… I did everything I could to try and give myself a good opportunity. It obviously didn’t happen.”
Stosur’s results since the Australian Open
Then February came, WTA tennis moved to other parts of the world and the kryptonite of the Australian public’s expectations lost its power.
Stosur played Fed Cup for Australia against Switzerland where two wins boosted her confidence. After the wins, Stosur said on her blog:
“You want to win as many matches as possible to erase anything negative and it does not matter the opposition, it is always good to win.”
Here’s a summary of Stosur’s singles results since the Australian Open:

  • Qatar: reached the final of the WTA Qatar Total Open and was defeated by Victoria Azarenka
  • Dubai: made it to the quarterfinals of the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships and was defeated by Jelena Jankovic
  • Indian Wells: defeated by Nadia Petrova in the third round of the BNP Paribas Open
  • Miami: defeated by Serena Williams in the fourth round of the Sony Ericsson Open
  • Charleston: made the semi final of the Family Circle Cup in Charleston and was defeated by Serena Williams
  • Stuttgart: made the quarter finals of the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix, and was defeated by Maria Sharapova
  • Madrid: made the quarterfinals of the Mutua Madrid Open and was defeated by Czech qualifier Lucie Hradecka
  • Rome: was defeated by Venus Williams in the third round of the Internazionali BNL d’Italia.

Next up, the French Open
The French Open starts on Sunday, May 27th. It will be two slams after the highest of Stosur’s highs and one slam after what is probably amongst the lowest of her lows.
We know Stosur can play incredible tennis and after making the French Open final in 2010 we’ve seen what she is capable of at Roland Garros.
Stosur recently displayed her clay “A” game with two cracker Fed Cup wins against Germany in Stuttgart in April, helping Australia get back into the 2013 World Group.
I have high hopes for Stosur at the French Open, while at the same time I’m doing my best not to have expectations! She is seeded sixth and will play her first round match against Elena Baltacha. If Sam progresses through the draw she will potentially play her Round 3 match against Nadia Petrova, Round 4 against Sabine Lisicki and quarter final versus world No.1 Victoria Azarenka.
Follow Tennis Grandstand for updates on Sam Stosur’s progress, as well as other Australian players in the main draw, all throughout the French Open.
 
Melinda Samson is attending Roland Garros and will be writing updates on Australian players through their trek of the tennis world’s second slam. She also manages the website Grand Slam Gal and is attempting to do the fan version of a tennis grand slam in 2012. Follow her on Twitter for further live updates @GrandSlamGal.

WTA Spotlight on American Tennis Player Vania King

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Vania King at the Sony Ericsson Open (Photo by Mike Ehrmann/Getty Images)

American Vania King may seem like a veteran on the WTA Tour but at only 23-years-old, she is one of the more experienced younger players in women’s tennis. Currently sitting at a steady world number 54, she will soon best her career-high of #50 from back in 2006. I had a chance to chat with Vania after her first-round win about her Wimbledon title, her education, and the players she would most want to party with.
What is your most memorable moment on court?
Winning Wimbledon with my doubles partner [Yaroslava Shvedova]. I think I screamed for like twenty minutes straight — I couldn’t believe it. It took me like two weeks for it to settle in, so that was pretty incredible.
If you weren’t a tennis palyer, what would you be?
I think I would be like a guidance counselor for kids; that’s something that I want to pursue. I haven’t declared my major yet, but I’m studying it online right now. I would like to work in elementary education or psychology.
How long have you been studying?
For about half a year.
Do you have any superstitions on court?
I try not to. I know girls that don’t like to step on the line. Sometimes I make it a point to step on the line to make sure that I don’t have a superstition. Some players want to stay on one side if they keep winning. But eventually, you’re going to lose on any side you’re on and eventually you’re going to lose if you didn’t step on the line. So I think superstitions shouldn’t affect you. The only thing they can do is harm you.
If you were hosting a party, what three tennis players would you invite?
(Laughs) Obviously, everyone wants to see Rafa [Nadal]. And then one of my good friends is Anna-Lena Groenefeld and we’ve gone out and partied before and she’s really fun. And the third one, I would say one of my best friends is my doubles partner, Yaroslava Shvedova. I would have to invite her or she would be really mad at me! (Laughs)
What is your biggest indulgence?
I try not to let tennis consume me, so I try to be good with food. But sometimes I’m not good with food — I just figure that I’m really hungry and I want to east what I want to eat. (Laughs)
Is there a sweet that you tend to go for?
Cupcakes and French macaroons.
What are two things you can’t live without?
Music and books.
Any type of music in particular that you like?
It varies on the mood. I can’t pick just one because when I’m in an upbeat mood or if I need to have some energy, then I’ll listen to some club music. If I need to calm down, I’ll listen to classical or cinematic music.

Serena Williams and Tennis: Unrequited Love

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No one in tennis draws as much attention as Serena Williams.
The often-controversial superstar has brought a unique flair to the game ever since she won her first Grand Slam title in 1999. Williams, along with her older sister, Venus, have been the dominant force on the WTA Tour for the majority of the 21st century and are recognized by just their first names.
The younger Williams is currently the most followed tennis player on Twitter, with more than two million followers. Here she allows fans a glimpse into her busy life outside of tennis and often posts cryptic tweets that only her inner-circle would understand.

Fans capture Serena Williams’ every move during a Washington Kastles match.

Williams is charming and charismatic, but also unapologetic and tempestuous. She is one of the fittest athletes in the world, but claims she loathes working out. She has won 13 Grand Slams singles titles, but recently said that she does not love tennis.
“I mean, I don’t love tennis today, but I’m here, and I can’t live without it,” Williams said after her first-round win at the Brisbane International. “So I’m still here and I don’t want to go anywhere anytime soon.”
In the just one match at the U.S. Open last year, Williams showed why she is such a polarizing figure. Less than an hour after berating the chair umpire for what she perceived as an unfair call, Williams sat next to and congratulated the champion, Sam Stosur.
Asked about the gesture during the post-match press conference, Stosur replied, “I thought [it] was pretty classy.”
In these situations and paradoxes, we find what makes Serena Williams so compelling. Her presence demands attention. The 2011 U.S. Open may not of even registered on the casual sports fan’s mind had it not been for another “Serena meltdown.”
Williams has been criticized for focusing too much on outside interests, such as fashion and acting, but continues to be a favorite in any tournament she enters.
She may not love tennis, but the sport can’t seem to get enough of her.

Mondays With Bob Greene: Roger generates pressure just by being in front of you

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STARS
Andy Murray beat Gilles Simon 6-4 7-6 (6) to win the Mutua Madrilena Masters Madrid in Madrid, Spain
Venus William won the Zurich Open, beating Flavia Pennetta 7-6 (1) 6-2 in Zurich, Switzerland
Lu Yen-Hsun won the Tashkent Challenger by beating Mathieu Montcourt 6-3 6-2 in Tashkent, Uzbekistan
Mara Santiago won the Internazionali Tennis Val Gardena in Ortisei, Italy, when Kristina Barrois lost the first set 6-3, then retired.
SAYINGS
“The serve is the reason I won the tournament because today Gilles was hitting the ball better than me from the back of the court. He was obviously more tired than me. I didn’t play my best, but I’m really happy I won.” – Andy Murray, after beating Gilles Simon to win the Madrid Masters.
“I was really tired today. I didn’t move like I usually do and Andy knew it. He just wanted to kill me, just wanted to make me run.” – Gilles Simon, after losing to Andy Murray.
“I love the pressure. I need it in my life.” – Venus Williams, after winning the Zurich Open.
“It is tough to play against someone who serves like she did today.” – Flavia Pennetta, after losing to Venus Williams, who won one game with four straight aces.
“I was a little unlucky today. I had some mistakes with the backhand, which didn’t help. But I’m not surprised. He’s playing very well and with great confidence.” – Rafael Nadal, after losing to Gilles Simon in the semifinals at Madrid.
“Roger generates pressure just by being in front of you.” – Juan Martin del Potro, who lost to Roger Federer at Madrid.
“I didn’t play tennis because of money, that was never my drive, but I have been very successful. I’ve had an incredible run in slams lately that racks up the money and also the Masters Cup. There is a lot of money involved there.” – Roger Federer, after becoming the ATP career leader in earnings.
“I had no gas left in the tank. I am not a robot and after winning three titles in different time zones and climates I felt mentally and physically tired.” – Jelena Jankovic, after her second-round loss to Flavia Pennetta 5-7 6-3 6-3 at the Zurich Open.
“I think maybe mentally she might have been tired from all the tennis she played recently, but I also served better in the second and third sets than she did.” – Flavia Pennetta, after upsetting top-seeded Jelena Jankovic.
“The mental ability that I have at the moment is one of my advantages. What divides top players from the rest is mental calmness and an ability to cope with pressure in certain moments. … If you are mentally able to play the right shots at the right time, then your place is at the top. That’s the key of this game.” – Novak Djokovic.
“I have to do my things, but in Davis Cup he is the leader and he is the one that counts above everyone else. We don’t compete to see who is the best from Argentina.” – Juan Martin del Potro, after beating compatriot and seventh-seeded David Nalbandian 6-4 6-2 at the Mutua Madrilena Madrid Masters.
“For the last two months, I’ve been very serious. It’s all changing for me.” – Gael Monfils, saying his new approach to his career is paying off with victories on the court.
“We are going to deliver on our contract at Melbourne. We’ve had a great run, massive growth in Melbourne. Australia is really behind the event as a Grand Slam. It’s a good event in Melbourne.” – Steve Wood, Tennis Australia chief executive, explaining that the Australian Open will not move from Melbourne to Sydney.
“In my career I’ve stood here on the final day like this nine times now. Not a lot of weeks go by where everything goes right like this.” – Vince Spadea, after winning a Challenger tournament in Calabasas, California, his ninth tournament title in his 15-year professional career, eight of them coming on the Challenger tour.
STOPPING AT THE TOP
Rafael Nadal will finish the year as the number one player in the ATP rankings, ending Roger Federer’s four-year reign. The Spaniard was guaranteed to claim the top spot at the end of the year when Federer lost in the semifinals of the Mutua Madrilena Masters Madrid. Nadal becomes the first left-hander to finish the year at number one since John McEnroe in 1984 and only the third lefty in the 36-year history of the ATP Rankings. McEnroe was number one from 1981-84 and Jimmy Connors finished number one from 1974-78. The first Spaniard to finish the year as number one, Nadal has won an ATP-leading eight titles in 2008, including Roland Garros and Wimbledon.
SVETLANA’S IN
Svetlana Kuznetsova has clinched a spot in the season-ending WTA Championships in Doha. The Russian is the sixth player to qualify for the eight-woman field, joining Jelena Jankovic, Serena Williams, Dinara Safina, Ana Ivanovic and Elena Dementieva. The tournament will be held November 4-9.
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SO IS NIKOLAY
Nikolay Davydenko is the fifth player to qualify for the season-ending Tennis Masters Cup in Shanghai, China. The Russian joins Rafael Nadal, Roger Federer, Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray in the elite eight-player field for the November 9-16 tournament. Also qualifying for the doubles competition at the Tennis Masters were Mahesh Bhupathi of India and Mark Knowles of the Bahamas, along with Pablo Cuevas of Uruguay and Luis Horna of Peru. Cuevas and Horna qualified by winning the title at Roland Garros.
SPECIAL BRIT
When Andy Murray beat Gilles Simon 6-4 7-6 (6) to win the Madrid Masters, he gained a spot into a pretty select group. Murray is the first Briton to win four ATP titles in a season and will be the first from Great Britain since Fred Perry in 1936 to finish the year as the fourth-ranked man. Both Tim Henman and Greg Rusedski reached number four in the rankings, but neither finished the year there nor won four titles and played in a Grand Slam final in one season.
SUPER FRENCH
For the first time in ATP ranking history there are four Frenchmen in the top 20 in the world: Richard Gasquet, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, Gilles Simon and Gael Monfils.
SERBIAN STOP
If Novak Djokovic has his way, an ATP tournament will be held in his home country of Serbia. The reigning Australian Open champion said his family has bought the license to the ABM Amro Open, which has been held in Rotterdam, Netherlands. Djokovic hopes to move the tournament to Belgrade next May.
SURPRISE, NOT
Roger Federer has another title in his trophy case. The Swiss superstar has become the all-time leader in career prize money earnings in men’s tennis, surpassing Pete Sampras. Federer, who has won the U.S. Open five times, has earned more than USD $43.3 million. Sampras has won 14 Grand Slam tournament titles, one more than Federer. Andre Agassi is third in career earnings with USD $31.1 million, with Boris Becker in fourth place on the career money list.
SPONSOR OUT
The United States Davis Cup team is losing its main sponsor. The Associated Press reported that insurance giant American International Group Inc. (AIG) will not renew its contract when it expires at year’s end. One of the world’s largest insurance companies, AIG was on the brink of failure last month when the U.S. government offered it a USD $85 billion loan. On October 8, the Federal Reserve agreed to provide AIG with another loan of up to USD $37.8 billion.
SWITCHING COACHES
A former player will be Svetlana Kuznetsova’s new coach. The Russian star, who has been ranked as high as number two in the world, has hired world-renowned coach Olga Morozova. Kuznetsova had been working with Stefan Ortega from the Sánchez-Casal Academy in Spain. As a player, Morozova was runner-up at both the French Open and Wimbledon in 1974. She has coached the Russian Fed Cup squad and a number of other Russian players, including Elena Dementieva.
STAYING PUT
The Australian Open is staying in Melbourne. Organizers of the year’s first Grand Slam tournament said they will spurn an offer to move the event to Sydney when the current contract with Melbourne expires in 2016. New South Wales recently announced it was building a world-class tennis facility in Sydney and would attempt to get the Australian Open moved there. Although the tournament has been played in Melbourne, Sydney, Adelaide, Brisbane, Perth and even New Zealand since it’s inception in 1905, it has been played continually at Melbourne Park since 1988.
STARRING
The Sony Ericsson WTA Tour is the recipient of the Women’s Sports Foundation’s Billie Jean King Contribution Award for its 35-year history of supporting equal opportunity for women on the courts. The award honors an individual or organization that has made significant contributions to the development and advancement of women’s sports. When the WTA Tour secured equal prize money for players at Roland Garros and Wimbledon in 2007, it fulfilled a 30-year goal of parity.
SPADEA A WINNER
When veteran Vince Spadea won a USD $50,000 USTA Challenger tournament in Calabasas, California, he moon walked to the net following the final point. Spadea’s 7-6 (5) 6-4 win over Sam Warburg was his eighth career singles Challenger title. Spadea has won once on the ATP tour in his 15-year pro career.
SHARED PERFORMANCES
Madrid: Mariusz Fyrstenberg and Marcin Matkowski beat Mahesh Bupathi and Mark Knowles 6-4 6-2
Zurich: Cara Black and Liezel Huber beat Anna-Lena Groenefeld and Patty Schnyder 6-1 7-6 (3)
Tashkent: Flavio Cipolla and Pavel Snobel beat Michail Elgin and Alexandre Kudryavtsev 6-3 6-4
Ortisei: Mariya Koryttseva and Yaroslava Shvedova beat Maret Ani and Galina Voskoboeva 6-2 6-1
SITES TO SURF
Budapest: www.tennisclassics.hu/
Linz: www.generali-ladies.at
Lyon: www.gptennis.com/
Basel: http://www.davidoffswissindoors.ch/
Luxembourg: www.fortis-championships.lu
Seoul: www.kortennis.co.kr
Paris: www.fft.fr/bnpparibasmasters//
Quebec: www.challengebell.com
Bratislava: www.stz.sk
Busan: www.busanopen.org/
Cali: www.tennissegurosbolivar.com/
TOURNAMENTS THIS WEEK
(All money in USD)
ATP
$1,000,000 Davidoff Swiss Indoors, Basel, Switzerland, carpet
$1,000,000 St. Petersburg Open, St. Petersburg, Russia, hard
$800,000 Grand Prix de Tennis De Lyon, Lyon, France, carpet
$125,000 Samsung Securities Cup Challenger, Seoul, Korea, hard
WTA TOUR
$600,000 Generali Ladies Linz, Linz, Austria, hard
$225,000 FORTIS Championships Luxembourg
$100,000 Internationaux Feminins de la Vienne, Poitiers, France, hard
$100,000 2008 OEC Taipei Ladies Open, Taipei, Taiwan, carpet
SENIORS
Stanford Championships, Outback Champions, Dallas, Texas
TOURNAMENTS NEXT WEEK
ATP
$2,450,000 BNP Paribas Masters, Paris, France, carpet
$125,000 Seguros Bolivar Open, Cali, Colombia, clay
$100,000 Busan Open Challenger, Busan, South Korea, hard
WTA TOUR
$175,000 Bell Challenge, Quebec City, Quebec, hard
$100,000 Ritro Slovak Open, Bratislava, Slovak Republic, hard

Tennis as Usual: Don't Forget About the WTA

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With ATP Tour action really taking off this week at the Masters Series Madrid, the women are getting thoroughly overshadowed. It should not go unnoticed, however, that this week’s WTA event in Zurich, Switzerland boasts an outstanding field, especially considering the draw size is just 28.
World No. 1 Jelena Jankovic is the top seed and she is joined as a first-round bye recipient by Ana Ivanovic, Venus Williams, and Vera Zvonareva. The top four seeds are surely not taking their free pass to the second round for granted, either, after what has transpired throughout the first few days of play. To say the Zurich Open has seen its fair share of surprises so far would be an understatement.
Little-known Romanian qualifier Monica Niculescu stunned seventh-seeded Anna Chakvetadze 3-6, 6-3, 6-2 on Tuesday. In the second round she will take on Victoria Azarenka, a 6-2, 6-1 winner over Amelie Mauresmo. That Azarenka got the best of Mauresmo is not a shock, but the fashion in which she did it has to come as no small surprise.
Niculescu was not the only qualifier to move safely though round one. Petra Kvitova stunned No. 6 seed Patty Schnyder 6-4, 3-6, 6-4 much to the chagrin of the Switzerland faithful. Other first-round upsets included Maria Kirilenko over No. 8 seed and fellow Russian Daniela Hantuchova, and Francesca Schiavone over a previously in-form Caroline Wozniacki. Kirilenko and Schiavone will now do battle for a quarterfinal spot in Zurich.
Several of the top men’s players in Madrid will be looking to fend off the upset bug on Wednesday. Rafael Nadal already escaped a scare from Ernests Gulbis in a grueling three-set triumph, and now it’s time for Roger Federer, Novak Djokovic, Nikolay Davydenko, Andy Roddick, and David Nalbandian to get their Madrid campaigns started. Federer meets Radek Stepanek, Nikolay Davydenko faces Robby Ginepri, Roddick tussles with Tommy Robredo, and Nalbandian-who has a brutal draw the whole way through-battles Tomas Berdych, champion in Tokyo two weeks ago.