Backspin "World of Tennis" Crossword!
Since Backspin has a bit of special stake in the sudden success of this year's Indian Wells champ (and the Miami main draw action doesn't start for a bit), the Week 11 recap will be coming on Monday so I'm a little more clear-minded in my words.
(And, no, the delay doesn't have anything to do with St.Patrick's Day!)
Until then, here's a brand new puzzle feature for these parts -- a tennis crossword!
Just click on the third symbol in the upper left hand corner to go to the full-page interactive version, where you can fill in the blanks with the answers. If the squares are pink after you've finished it means the answer is correct, but if the boxes remain white it means you'll need to re-think things.
(Or you can just take the shortcut and see all the answers by clicking on the "key" symbol.)
posted by Todd.Spiker @ 11:57 PM
2 Comments:
The Mississauga Masher is making a name for herself. Hopefully with all of the biggest Canadian title ever talk, somebody shows Dabrowski and Nestor some love.
Andreescu/Dabrowski in 2020?
Gauff/McNally is just wrong. M.Osaka gets a decent option in Osuigwe.
Q-rounds are just as tough. Possible Swiatek/Brady and Muchova/Boulter.
Mertens/Sabalenka works because as expected, Sabalenka crushes from the back of the court, but works equally well when she is at net, as she poaches well.
June 2016-Bencic enters Wimbledon ranked 13, loses to Boserup in the 2nd rd, and falls out of the Top 20, not returning until now.
Vikhlyantseva might be our version of Giannis Antetokounmpo. People won't pronounce her name correctly until she plays at an all star level. The PA announcer last week butchered it so badly that she laughed. This is relevant, because if she wins, she plays Goerges, who once told umpire Graeme Jones to "Learn how to pronounce my name properly."
Stat of the Week-29- The amount of women in the Top 100(IW rankings) without a WTA title.
Now you probably think that this is because of Andreescu. No, this is the part of the year, with Charleston coming up, that we normally see how many only have clay titles. But unlike the years when that category was in double digits, and had names to watch like Bertens, Goerges, Sevastova, and Siegemund, there are only 4. So that will be your trivia question.
Top 100 without WTA title:
25-Collins
34-Sasnovich
38-Martic
39-Zheng
41-Sakkari
43-Kuzmova
44-Tomljanovic
47-Putinseva
55-Jabeur
59-Alexandrova
62-Lapko
64-Peterson
66-Zidansek
67-Anisimova
71-Rodina
72-Potapova
79-Sorribes Tormo
81-Jakupovic
83-Brady
84-Kumkhum
85-Boulter
87-Pera
89-Townsend
92-Linette
93-Pegula
95-Zhu
96-Brengle
99-Minella
100-Kudermetova
11 of them have 125K titles, including Kudermetova, who literally just won. The 125's are working well. Let's players take a step up in class, instead of getting into bigger tournament and getting bounced early.
11 have reached WTA finals, led by Tomljanovic, who has been in 4.
Unlike the ITF Transition Tour, which overall has less spots than the year before, the 125's are growing.
Quiz Time!
Only 4 women in the Top 100 have won clay titles only. Name two.
Answer!
People may get this, mainly because one, actually two are true clay courters. The other is that I have a habit of going with a particular theme. And you probably assumed that I had to have a Canadian in here. So one is Genie Bouchard, at 73 the highest ranked of the 4. A Nuremberg winner, the anomaly is that her title is not only the only title of her career, but the only one of 6 on clay.
Another Nuremberg winner is Johanna Larsson, who also won the Swedish Open. 4 of her 5 finals have been on clay.
Polona Hercog hasn't won a title in 7 years, but won the Swedish Open twice, and all 5 of her career finals have been on the surface.
That leaves Viktorija Golubic, winner of the Swiss open, which is her one and only title.
Trying out my own Andreescu nickname this week. We'll see if it sticks. Hint: She won the title on March 17
The winner of McNally/Gauff plays Kasatkina in the 2nd Round. Hmmm.
It's going to be interesting to see what Sloane does as the Miami DC.
Quiz: I went with Schmiedlova and Arruabarrena. So... yep. Oh, well. ;)
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