Monday, September 22, 2014

Wk.38- Seven Days in September


The WTA may have left anything resembling an official "New York Minute" behind at Flushing Meadows, but Week 38 showed just how much everything can change in just the span of seven short days in September.

Since this time last week, Li Na retired with nary a single regret, leaving behind an extremely long trail of tears... but even more smiles.



Also, a still-ailing Victoria Azarenka shut down her long-ailing '14 season due to her aching-and-ailing knee, looking hopefully toward a 2015 season that will include a lot less ailing. At least on her part.



Along with all that, Ashleigh Barty took an indefinite leave from the tennis tour; while Nicole Vaidisova played her first professional tennis match in over four years and Bethanie Mattek-Sands returned to action for the first time since her springtime hip surgery.

And then, of course, there was THIS good news:

vickyduvaaal: I AM CANCER FREE! So grateful to everyone for the love and support, and counting on your prayers as I keep progressing on the journey to recovery.

And none of THAT even happened ON the court. Between the lines, a formerly #1-ranked Serb added still another chapter to arguably the very best, though slam-less, season of her entire career. The maybe-not-in-the-shadows-for-much-long rise of another hard-serving, tennis-playing sister -- this one hailing from the Czech Republic, but also a doubles force with her sibling by her side -- gained still more strength with a second straight tour singles final, this time with the accompanying solo crown that eluded her during Week 37's previous seven-day stretch. Meanwhile, a Romanian won a WTA title... but her name wasn't Simona.

Elsewhere, Serena was performing "magic tricks."

serenawilliams: Magic
Of course, the question here HAS to be whether or not the "magic toilet" works for non 18-slam winners, too.

Sigh. Such is the week that just was. Now, Week 39... whatta YOU got for us!?



*WEEK 38 CHAMPIONS*
TOKYO, JAPAN (Premier $1m/Hard Outdoor)
S: Ana Ivanovic/SRB def. Caroline Wozniacki/DEN 6-2/7-6(2)
D: Black/Mirza (ZIM/IND) d. Muguruza/Suarez-Navarro (ESP/ESP)

SEOUL, SOUTH KOREA (Int'l $500K/Hard Ourdoor)
S: Karolina Pliskova/CZE def. Varvara Lepchenko/USA 6-3/6-7(5)/6-2
D: Arrubarrena/Begu (ESP/ROU) d. Barthel/Minella (GER/LUX)

GUANGZHOU, CHINA (Int'l $500K/Hard Outdoor)
S: Monica Niculescu/ROU def. Alize Cornet/FRA 6-4/6-0
D: Chuang/Liang (TPE/CHN) d. Cornet/Linette (FRA/POL) 2-6/7-6(3) [10-7]



PLAYER OF THE WEEK: Ana Ivanovic/SRB

...if one would conveniently forget AnaIvo's 2014 grand slam results AFTER her upset of Serena Williams in Melbourne, a legitimate case could be made for a "Player of the Year" campaign. The Serb leads the tour in wins (53), is tied for most finals (6) and is second in singles titles (4, with her Tokyo crown this weekend). Not only that, but she's the only player to notch '14 wins over all six of the other active former/current #1 singles players -- Serena, Venus, Sharapova, Jankovic, Wozniacki and Azarenka -- who've played on tour this season. She's climbed back into the Top 10 for the first in five years, and has now won more titles and reached more finals than she has in any single season of her career. In Tokyo, Ivanovic never dropped a set while taking out Vika Azarenka (for the first time since '10), Lucie Safarova (for the first time since '08), #1-seeded Angelique Kerber and fellow Top 10er Caroline Wozniacki, with the latter two wins providing AnaIvo with her sixth and seventh Top 10 wins this year.
=============================
RISERS: Monica Niculescu/ROU & Alize Cornet/FRA

...Niculescu was nearly untouchable while coasting to the title in Guangzhou, the second tour win of her career after taking Florianopolis a season ago. The 26-year old Romanian dropped just seventeen games over five matches in China, second-fewest on tour in '14 to only Garbine Muguruza's fifteen lost while taking Hobart in January. Wins over Bojana Jovanovski, Misaki Doi, Monica Puig, Wang Yafan and Cornet in the final puts Niculescu in a tie with Alexandra Dulgheru with two career titles, behind only Simona Halep (8) on the active Romanian tour title list. The run to the Guangzhou final by 24-year old Cornet is her third of '14 (she's won one). While the Pastry often fails to win her final match in tournaments (even while winning the Hopman Cup for France in January, when she failed to win a singles match), she's never less than superbly entertaining. Wins over Yulia Putintseva, Shahar Peer, Hsieh Su-Wei and Timea Bacsinszky highlighted her week in China, but a second final run in doubles (w/ Magda Linette, Cornet's first doubles final since 2011) made for a very busy week. Early on this season, Cornet seemed a good candidate for the WTA's "Most Improved Player" award for '14. That honor, even with an upset of Serena at Wimbledon under her belt, as well as nearly having achieved a ranking (currently #21) that could lead to her her first year-end Top 20 finish since 2008, might have slipped through her fingers over the last few months, though. Still, the Frenchwoman's continual ability to put up good results surely points to a "promising career reclaimed" over the course of the current season.
=============================
SURPRISES: Wang Yafan/CHN & Chuang Chia-Jung/Liang Chen (TPE/CHN)
...a week after Zhang Kai-Lin's run, countrywoman Wang starred in Guangzhou. The #251-ranked 20-year old wild card made her WTA debut a memorable one, upsetting Sam Stosur in her first match and backing up the win with additional victories over Petra Martic and, yes, even Zhang herself to become the lowest-ranked singles semifinalist on tour this season. In the same event, veteran Chuang, 29, teamed with the lesser-known Liang to claim the doubles title. For Chuang, who had a nice run years ago while playing with Chan Yung-Jan (winning six titles in 2008-09), it's her 21st tour title with an eleventh different partner, but her first since 2012. Earlier this season, she won a share of two doubles titles in both WTA $125K Challenger events in Nan Chang and Suzhou. For the #256-ranked Liang, 25, it's the first tour-level title of her career. The duo came back from a set and match point down in the final against Alize Cornet & Magda Linette.
=============================
VETERANS: Varvara Lepchenko/USA & Cara Black/Sania Mirza(ZIM/IND)

...in Seoul, Lepchenko, who ESPN always likes to remind us is a "naturalized" American born in Uzbekistan rather than, I suppose, a "real" U.S. of A. player, became the fourth Bannerette this season -- w/ Keys, McHale & Rogers -- to reach her maiden tour singles final. But she's the first of the group not born on American soil. So there's that. After wins over Olivia Rogowska, top seed and defending champ Aga Radwanska and real-live-American Christina McHale, the 28-year old fell in three sets in the final to Karolina Pliskova. Lepchenko had been looking for her first singles title of any kind since winning a challenger event in Kansas City in 2011. In Tokyo, the where-have-they-been-all-their-lives? late-career doubles pairing of Black & Mirza continues to be one of the best on tour. A year ago, the, respectively, 35 and 28-year old vets combined to win back-to-back titles in Tokyo in Beijing. After winning a third title together earlier this season, they reconvened once again in Tokyo and defended their first title as a duo. It's Black's 59th career doubles win, once behind Rennae Stubbs on the all-time WTA list, while Mirza, who just picked up the Wimbledon Mixed title while she and Black also reached the semis in London, grabbed title #21. They moved up two spots in this week's rankings, sharing the #5 doubles ranking behind the top-ranked team of Errani & Vinci and the no-longer-together Hsieh & Peng.

=============================
COMEBACKS: Caroline Wozniacki/DEN & Maria Kirilenko/RUS
...proving that her summer fling with more aggressive tennis wasn't a fleeting dalliance, in Tokyo, the Dane backed up her U.S. Open final run with the second of back-to-back tour finals appearances. Wozniacki knocked off Jarmila Gajdosova, Carla Suarez-Navarro and Garbine Muguruza to reach her third '14 final, though she again came up short in the end, losing to Ivanovic. Still, with a smile on her face, the Dane is onto her next battleground.

carowozniacki: Made it to China!!
One of my predictions for this past week, despite her paltry 2-6 record this season, was a final run by Kirilenko in Seoul as a #155-ranked wild card. She didn't quite get there, but the Hordette's career-long affinity for Asian-based tournaments (seven finals, four titles, and back-to-back final runs in the same Seoul event in 2007-08) that I pointed toward as the rationale behind the pick turned out to have some legs, as her semifinal result produced her best week's work since Monterrey in April '13. The 27-year old, who got wins last week over Donna Vekic, Klara Koukalova and Kaia Kanepi, began the season still ranked in the Top 20 before her slow recovery from a knee injury sent her ranking so far south. Last week was her first significant on-court progress this season, and her bump up to #136 is surely an optimistic sign for '15. With her week a success, Kirilenko was onto, umm, other things.

mkirilenko87: Disney Land #BackToTheChildHood
=============================
FRESH FACES: Karolina Pliskova/CZE & Belinda Bencic/SUI

...both these two put up career-best slam results in New York, and have only used the experience as jumping-off points for what comes next in their careers. Pliskova, 22, reached the 3rd Round in Flushing Meadows, then the big-serving Czech rumbled to a final in Hong Kong a week ago. She lost there to Sabine Lisicki, but won the doubles with sister Kristyna. She reached still another final this past week in Seoul on the back of wins over Julia Glushko, Anna-Lena Friedsam, Nicole Gibbs and Maria Kirilenko, then grabbed her second career tour singles title with a win over Varvara Lepchenko. It's Pliskova's fourth final this season alone, and her fifth overall the last two seasons. Both are tops among the Czech Maidens, as new #31 Pliskova swaps places in this week's rankings with her countrywoman, new #32 Barbora Zahlavova-Strycova, to become the third-highest ranked woman from her country behind Petra Kvitova and Lucie Safarova. Meanwhile, in Tokyo, 17-year old U.S. Open quarterfinalist Bencic opened up her first post-NYC event by taking down former U.S. Open champ Svetlana Kuznetsova in straight sets (one a bagel) before taking Safarova to three sets in the 2nd Round. Additionally, the New Swiss Miss teamed up in doubles with the Original Swiss Miss Martina Hingis, losing in the 2nd Round to eventual champs Black & Mirza.
=============================
DOWN: Samantha Stosur/AUS & Sloane Stephens/USA
...both have slipped from their Top 20 rankings in '14, and things aren't getting any better for either in the season's backstretch. Both were in Guangzhou last week, but neither could escape the 1st Round. Stosur lost to eventual semifinalist Wang Yafan, who at the time was making her tour debut. Ranked #251, Wang is the fourth player ranked outside the Top 100 to defeat the Aussie this season, and the second #251-or-higher (as you may remember, #406 Naomi Osaka stunned Stosur in Stanford, also in HER tour debut match). Meanwhile, Stephens went down in three sets to Silvia Soler-Espinosa, then pulled out of this week's Wuhan event with an injured wrist. One has to wonder if maybe both women should be looking to Vika for guidance when it comes to what remains of their seasons.
=============================
ITF PLAYER: Anna Tatishvili/USA
...in a week when "naturalized American" Lepchenko reached her first WTA final, Georgia-born (as in ex-Soviet Georgia) finally-an-officially-new U.S. citizen Tatishvili (not to be confused with Citizen Anna, of course) won her first title while representing the U.S., taking the $75K Albuquerque challenger that got much attention this past week as the site of Nicole Vaidisova's comeback debut. The 24-year old knocked off fellow Americans Tornado Black and Irina Falconi (in the final), as well as Aussie-turned-Brit Johanna Konta (who'd earlier defeated Vaidisova) en route to her eleventh career ITF win. Earlier this season, Tatishvili won a second '14 challenger while she was still representing Georgia.

=============================
JUNIOR STAR: Jana Fett/CRO
...last week we saw one end of the Croatian tennis generational spectrum (Mirjana Lucic-Baroni, 32) produce a title win in Quebec City, while this week the spotlight kinda-sorta-almost is illuminating the other end, namely 17-year old Fett. The Australian Open junior runner-up from earlier this season, the Croat began '14 with a 10-9 won/lost record in ITF events. Lately, though, things have picked up considerably. She's currently on a 14-3 run, including her first challenger title in a $10K in Ostrava (CZE) a month ago, which has been followed up by three straight $10K events in Bol, Croatia in which she's put up QF, runner-up and semifinal results.
=============================


1. Tokyo Final - Ivanovic d. Wozniacki
...6-2/7-6(2).
Career title #15 lifted Ivanovic out of a tie with Kuznetsova and Radwanska on the active title list, and within two of Azarenka's 17.
=============================
2. Guangzhou Final - Niculescu d. Cornet
...6-4/6-0.
Cornet led 4-2 in the 1st set, but dropped the next ten games in the Guangzhou heat, tossing in 12 DF during the match.
=============================
3. Tokyo 1st Rd. - Dellacqua d. Lisicki 6-7(5)/7-5/6-2
Guangzhou 1st Rd. - Puig d. Knapp 6-1/4-6/6-2
...
Week 37's champions weren't in action too long in Week 38.
=============================
4. Tokyo 1st Rd. - Bencic d. Kuznetsova
...6-3/6-0.
Bencic was seven years old when Sveta won the U.S. Open.
=============================
5. Tokyo 2nd Rd. - Ivanovic d. Azarenka
...6-3/6-4.
In the words of Nicole Vaidisova in 2005, "People who never care that they lose have never won so much." Vika cares. She'll be back, hopefully as good as new. So, no more wincing while watching Azarenka try to tough out a few more tournaments without being able to be "fully Vikafied." Whew.
=============================
6. Guangzhou QF - Wang Yafan d. Zhang Kai-Lin
...3-6/6-2/6-2.
Fittingly, in the week of Li's retirement, two Chinese surprises faced off with each other in a WTA event in their home nation for a berth in their first career semifinal. Zhang lost out here, but only after a second straight successful qualifying run and main draws wins over Jana Cepelova and Alison Riske.
=============================
7. Tokyo 2nd Rd. - Cibulkova d. Vandeweghe
...7-6(5)/7-5.
Tokyo was Cibulkova's first event with back-to-back match wins since Wimbledon. Of course, the Slovak has followed up her QF run with a 3rd set retirement loss against Madison Keys in the 1st Round in Wuhan. So...
=============================
8. Guangzhou 1st Rd. - Zhu Lin d. Vinci
...6-3/7-6(7).
Not to be outdone by Stosur, the Italian now has three '14 losses to players outside the Top 145, including this one to the 20-year old, #185-ranked wild card Zhu.
=============================
9. Seoul QF - McHale d. Rybarikova
...6-2/2-0 ret.
After retiring in the 3rd set in the 1st Round of the U.S. Open against Wozniacki, Rybarikova didn't even last that long in the final match in her follow-up tournament.
=============================
10. Tokyo SF - Wozniacki d. Muguruza
...6-4/2-6/6-2.
Another spurt of success from the Spaniard last week, as she reeled off wins over '13 Tokyo runner-up Pavlyuchenkova, as well as Jankovic and Dellacqua. Not only that, but she also reached her third '14 doubles final with CSN.
=============================
11. $75K Albuquerque 1st Rd. - Vaidisova d. Karatantcheva
...6-3/6-4.
Vaidisova's comeback event, at which she won her first match since losing to Heather Watson in a $25K challenger event in Hammond, Louisiana in March 2010, was well-covered. She's on the court again this week in Las Vegas.

nicolevaidisova: So surreal stepping onto a tennis court and playing a competitive match after more then 4 years off. It was nerve wracking,scary but also an exhilarating and proud moment for me..Its one tiny step at a time,but so happy the 1st was a winning one Thank you for all the encouraging messages and congratulations,It means so much to me
=============================
12. Wuhan Q2: Voegele d. Mattek-Sands
...6-4/3-6/6-1.
Meanwhile, the return of BMS (now ranked #222 - yikes! - after having started '14 with a qualifier-to-QF run in Sydney that included wins over Bouchard and Radwanska) was a bit more "off Broadway"... way off Broadway. She returned in Wuhan for her first tournament since Miami in March. After notching her first post-hip surgery win over Tsvetana Pironkova, she fell to Stefanie Voegele.
=============================
HM- $75K Albuquerque Doubles Final - Abaza/Oudin d. Melichar/Will
...6-2/6-3.
Additionally, go figure.

=============================


1. Seoul Final - Karolina Pliskova d. Lepchenko
...6-3/6-7(5)/6-2.
Hmmm, there's a shot that the #2 woman/sister on tour this season for aces (Pliskova) could face off next weekend in the Wuhan final with the #1 woman/sister on tour this season for aces (Serena).
=============================
2. Tokyo Doubles Final - Cara Black/Mirza d. Muguruza/Suarez-Navarro
...6-2/7-5.
Black won this title with Backspin's 2005 U.S. Open "It Girl" winner Mirza. Black's first tour title came in Auckland in 2000. At the time, CiCi Bellis, the '14 "It Girl" winner at the Open, was nine months old.
=============================
3. Seoul 2nd Rd. - Aga Radwanska d. Scheepers
...6-0/6-0.
A-Rad's week started out rather deliciously, courtesy of a pair of bagels.
=============================
4. Seoul QF - Lepchenko d. Aga Radwanska
...6-7(4)/6-2/6-2.
But, again, she's developed an inability to "clean her plate."
=============================
5. Wuhan 1st Rd. - Garcia d. Venus Williams
...6-4/4-6/7-6(6).
Right out of the gate in Wuhan, a big name fell. Venus led 5-2 in the 3rd set, and held a match point at 5-3.
=============================


vichka35: Well duh.... This just made me laugh so hard!



**2014 WTA TITLES**
6...erena Williams, USA
4...ANA IVANOVIC, SRB
3...Maria Sharapova, RUS
2...Li Na, CHN
2...Petra Kvitova, CZE
2...Simona Halep, ROU
2...Andrea Petkovic, GER

**2014 WTA FINALS**
6 - Serena Williams (6-0)
6 - ANA IVANOVIC (4-2)
4 - Simona Halep (2-2)
4 - Venus Williams (1-3)
4 - KAROLINA PLISKOVA (1-3)
4 - Angelique Kerber (0-4)

**2014 SUCCESSFUL TITLE DEFENSES**
Brisbane - Serena Williams
Shenzhen - Li Na
Brisbane(d) - Anatasia Rodionova
Australian Open(d) - Errani/Vinci
Florianopolis(d) - Medina-Garrigues/Shvedova
Miami - Serena Williams
Stuttgart - Maria Sharapova [3 con.]
Rome - Serena Williams
Baku - Elina Svitolina
Washington, D.C.(d) - Shuko Aoyama [3 con.]
U.S. Open - Serena Williams [3 con.]
Tokyo(d) - C.Black/Mirza

**WORST 2014 FINAL RECORDS**
0-4...Angelique Kerber
0-2...Sara Errani
0-2...Bojana Jovanovski
0-2...Roberta Vinci
1-3...KAROLINA PLISKOVA
1-3...Venus Williams
1-2...Klara Koukalova
1-2...Dominika Cibulkova
1-2...Simona Halep
1-2...CAROLINE WOZNIACKI
1-2...ALIZE CORNET

**2014 LOW-RANKED WTA SEMIFINALISTS**
#251 WANG YAFAN/CHN - Guangzhou
#189 Nigina Abduraimova/UZB - Tashkent
#166 Kristina Kucova/SVK - Bucharest
#160 Nasstasja Burnett/ITA - Rio
#155 MARIA KIRILENKO/RUS - Seoul
#147 Shelby Rogers/USA - Bad Gastein (RU)
#140 Belinda Bencic/SUI - Charleston
#139 Ana Konjuh/CRO - Istanbul

**THE CZECH MAIDENS**
[2014 Finals]
4 - KAROLINA PLISKOVA (1-3)
3 - Klara Koukalova (1-2)
2 - Petra Kvitova (2-0)
1 - Barbora Zahlavova-Strycova (0-1)
[WTA singles titles - active]
13...Petra Kvitova
6...Nicole Vaidisova
5...Lucie Safarova
3...Klara Koukalova
2...KAROLINA PLISKOVA
1...Kveta Peschke
1...Barbora Zahlavova-Strycova

**2014 WINS OVER TOURNAMENT #1 SEED**
3 - Alize Cornet
2 - ANA IVANOVIC, Klara Koukalova, Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova

**2014 DEF. #1 SEED & DEFENDING CHAMP, DIDN'T WIN TITLE**
Bethanie Mattek-S./USA - Sydney [def. A.Radwanska, to QF]
Garbine Muguruza/ESP - R.Garros [def. S.Williams, to QF]
Annika Beck/GER - 's-Herto. [def. Halep ret., to QF]
Venus Williams/USA - Montreal [def. S.Williams, RU]
Magdalena Rybarikova/SVK - New Haven [def. Halep, RU]
Varvara Lepchenko/USA - Seoul [def. A.Radwanska, RU]

**2014 WTA DOUBLES TITLES - WOMEN'S/MIXED**
5 - Sara Errani (5/0)
5 - Roberta Vinci (5/0)
4 - Peng Shuai (4/0)
3 - SANIA MIRZA (2/1)
3 - Hsieh Su-Wei (3/0)
3 - Karolina Pliskova (3/0)


Meanwhile...

achak87: Yahooo ))))

And, as always, the "aura" of JJ endures...







WUHAN, CHINA (Premier 5 $2.4m/HCO)
13 Final: =new event=
13 Doubles Final: =new event=
14 Top Seeds: S.Williams/Halep
=============================

=SF=
#1 S.Williams d. #9 Ivanovic
#2 Halep d. Ka.Pliskova
=FINAL=
#1 S.Williams d. #2 Halep

...with tentative opinions I move forward as, in fitting '14 prognostication fashion, my recent picks have continued to double-back on themselves. Maintaining the season's weird pattern, in recent weeks, I've picked Venus to win a title only to see her reach a final and lose to a player who hadn't won one in sixteen years. Two weeks ago, I predicted Karolina Pliskova to defeat Sabine Lisicki in Hong Kong, only to see the German defeat the Czech instead... then Pliskova won a title one week later in Seoul.

Serena would seem a much safer bet in Wuhan, with no magic required.

While the existence of this event in her hometown should be a celebration of what Li has brought to the tour, it's also more than a bit sad since she won't be playing there this week.



Still, some intriguing match-ups COULD come about, including in the early rounds, where we could see clashes of recent big result-makers -- slam semifinalists Bouchard/Peng in the 2nd Round, with the 3rd Rd. seeing Ivanovic/Wozniacki (Tokyo F) and JJ/Aga (a delight no matter the recent history) -- that lead into possibly even bigger contests nearer the weekend. NOTE: 1st Round losses have already ruled out ALL those matches!



There, that's better. ;)

ALSO THIS WEEK:

JUNIOR FED CUP FINAL ROUNDS (San Luis Potosi, Mexico)
13 Final: Russia d. Australia



All for now.

16 Comments:

Blogger Zidane said...

"the U.S. Open SF of Bouchard/Peng in the 2nd Round"

The side effects of Elle Québec confusing Bouchard with a blond past #1 player?

Mon Sep 22, 06:40:00 AM EDT  
Blogger Todd.Spiker said...

Haha -- yeah, you're right! I didn't even realize I'd gotten my slam semifinalists mixed up! Oh, well... Peng lost anyway.

And so did Aga (again), Iva (ret.), Vinci (again), Stosur (again) and Kuznetsova.

Good carry-over from Pliskova to take out Stosur, though. And the Czech isn't even ranked outside the Top 100, either. Imagine. ;)

Mon Sep 22, 11:39:00 AM EDT  
Blogger Todd.Spiker said...

"Iva" meaning Ivanovic/AnaIvo, of course. That's just how I always write her name in my notes. :)

Mon Sep 22, 11:43:00 AM EDT  
Blogger Diane said...

Triva: I saw Heather beat Vaidisova in Hammond in 2010. That was the last year the tournament was held. Zhang Shuai won it.

I'll never forget it because Zhang was so mistreated. No one brought her trophy out to give her, and then the tournament director capped the whole thing off with some racism: He "couldn't" pronounce her name (it's two syllables!), so he yelled out "Ching Chang!"

It was a good tournament, with Zhang, Watson and Jamie Hampton all performing well.

Mon Sep 22, 07:34:00 PM EDT  
Blogger Hoergren said...

Serena retires so Cornet through to next round - another seed no. 6 - bites the dust. MAJOR BLOW to the tournament. I think the schedule has to be changed if Wuhan is to succeed as a premier 5 event - where so many seeds are out after second round. If you need a title for the coloumn about this week it must be "Slaughterhoouse Wuhan"

Tue Sep 23, 08:49:00 AM EDT  
Blogger Todd.Spiker said...

Diane-

Whew! Vaidisova, Watson and Hampton. There have been way too many off-court/injury things to shake a racket at there, aren't there?

Have you heard if Hampton will be ready to go to start '15? I hope so. She's one of the most exciting of the "new" U.S. players, but I fear we won't ever get to see what she can truly do.

Leif-

Maybe if they moved it to a few weeks after the Australian Open, extending the early season Australia/Asia part of the schedule, they'd have fewer "bow outs" like Ivanovic's, "retirements" and upsets. Really, even at the WTA Finals, any post-U.S. Open event is subject to things like this at the end of a long season (remember Aga at last year's season-ender?). It makes it difficult for an event like Wuhan to be as big in reality as its stature says it's supposed to be be. :(

Tue Sep 23, 01:05:00 PM EDT  
Blogger Diane said...

Jamie says she'll be back early next year, but not sure exactly when that is.

Tue Sep 23, 04:05:00 PM EDT  
Blogger Will Corby said...

Apparently Oudin doesn't consider a slam title with my fellow Nebraskan Jack Sock to count as "doubs".

Tue Sep 23, 04:32:00 PM EDT  
Blogger Todd.Spiker said...

Diane - (fingers crossed)

Will - Hey, yeah. I've always thought players should get regular doubles ranking points -- at least half-points -- for slam mixed doubles. I mean, why not?

Wed Sep 24, 01:18:00 AM EDT  
Blogger Eric said...

Bouchard-Wozniacki should be a very interesting matchup

Thu Sep 25, 12:05:00 PM EDT  
Blogger Eric said...

I really don't know who to give the edge to...They're roughly the same height. I would say Caroline is stronger/fitter/more muscle... Caroline also has more experience; but Bouchard's game is more aggressive. Besides that tactical difference, they both don't make a lot of mistakes...well, if Bouchard is in rhythm she doesn't make a lot of mistakes.

I would say that Caroline is more stubborn than Bouchard. But Bouchard is more driven to win than Caroline.

Dunno...HOpe it's a good match

Thu Sep 25, 12:09:00 PM EDT  
Blogger Eric said...

Leif and Todd,

For you. Interesting read.

http://online.wsj.com/articles/caroline-wozniacki-tenniss-object-of-fascination-1411426603

Thu Sep 25, 12:23:00 PM EDT  
Blogger Todd.Spiker said...

Eric-

That WAS a pretty good article. "November opened up for me." :)

Maybe she'll have her own "Caro-mello/Caro-milk" chocolate bar at some point... then she'll have all the supply she'll ever want/need. ;)

Thu Sep 25, 12:39:00 PM EDT  
Blogger Hoergren said...

Well she has a very succesful underwear line aJBS she and Ronalde on the mens side have boosted the old Danish underwear firm into markets they've never dreamed of - have a look a t 2 videos :

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sOvHlmloy3s

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rj6maNHcziU

Good :)

Thu Sep 25, 03:03:00 PM EDT  
Blogger Eric said...

I don't know why she has loyalty to Stella McCartney though...it's like Stella *wants* Caro to look like a cartoon character sometimes...with all the weird ruffles.

Thu Sep 25, 05:11:00 PM EDT  
Blogger Eric said...

http://www.changeovertennis.com/test-knowledge-chinese-nicknames-tennis-players/

I LOVE THIS ARTICLE!

Sat Sep 27, 04:16:00 PM EDT  

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