Decade's Best: 2012 U.S. Open
While her Gold medal run in London may have been Serena Williams' best single event performance, perhaps of her entire career (in six matches, she dropped a total of seventeen games, and never more than three in any of the twelve sets she played as she defeated three Top 10 players -- Wozniacki, Sharapova and Azarenka, the latter two the #3 and #1-ranked players in the world -- en route), her U.S. Open run to finish off her brilliant summer campaign was nearly as impressive.
Her 15th career slam gave Williams her fourth U.S. Open crown, and made her just the third woman (Graf '88, Venus '00) to win Wimbledon, the Olympics and the U.S. Open in one single summer. She was the first to win Wimbledon and the Open back-to-back since *she* last did it in 2002. En route to the women's final, Serena lost a total of nineteen games through six rounds, winning twenty-three straight games in one stretch from 4-4 in the 3rd Round (vs. Ekaterina Marakova), including a double-bagel of Andrea Hlavackova in the Round of 16, through a 3-0 lead vs. Ana Ivanovic in the quarterfinals.
It wouldn't be *that* easy, though. In the final vs. world #1 Victoria Azarenka, Williams was taken to three sets (a first for a final at Flushing Meadows since 1995) and saw the Belarusian get within two points of the title (30/30 on Serena's serve at 5-3) before serving for the match at 5-4 in the 3rd. Williams ultimately won 6-2/2-6/7-5, sweeping the last four games.
It was the seventh time that Williams had won a major title after having come back from the brink of defeat along the way, with an opponent either holding a MP or serving for the win.
After losing to Virginie Razzano in the 1st Round of Roland Garros in the spring, Williams closed out her season by winning five singles and two doubles titles, a pair of Gold medals, Wimbledon, the U.S. Open and WTA Finals, compiling a 31-1 mark in singles to go along with a 13-1 run in doubles. Even with that, though, she finished #3 in the season-ending rankings.
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While Azarenka retained her #1 ranking following her loss in the final, her near-miss with claiming the U.S. Open title left her short of becoming the first player since 1997 (Martina Hingis) to win *both* hard court slams in the same season. No woman would pull off the feat again until Angelique Kerber did it in 2016.
After winning Bronze (singles) and Gold (mixed doubles) medals at the London Olympics had stoked her fires once again after a disappointing clay season, Azarenka's U.S. Open final run included wins over defending Open champ Samantha Stosur (in a 3rd set TB) and 2012 RG winner Maria Sharapova (after trailing by a set and a break). She'd won her maiden slam at the Australian Open in January (and would defend the title in '11) and, with a helpful assist (it seemed) from new boyfriend/extrovert/music star Redfoo, had learned how to have a bit more "fun" on court, shuffling her way through the draw while entertaining the NYC crowds.
Azarenka's Flushing Meadows performance provided more evidence of a change in the Belarusian's on-court demeanor leading to a better ability to relax, resulting in even greater on-court success. She finished 2012 with a 69-10 record and the only season-ending #1 ranking of her career.
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It was a late summer of highs and lows for Maria Sharapova. She won an Olympic medal (Silver) and became a candy seller (Sugarpova debuted a week before the start of the Open), but went public with her broken wedding engagement to Slovenian basketball player Sasha Vujacic.
Due to a stomach virus, Sharapova played no summer hard court events after the grass court Olympics in London. But at Flushing Meadows she played her best under pressure, overcoming fellow Hordette Nadia Petrova in the 4th Round by rallying from a 3rd set deficit after a rain delay, then in the QF finding a path to victory in another rain-marred match vs. Marion Bartoli. The match didn't start until 1:08 a.m., then was stopped again after Bartoli took a 4-0 lead in the 1st set, delaying the finish until the next day. Sharapova came back from a set and a break down to win and reach her first U.S. Open semifinal since winning the title in 2006. Once there, she was out-hit by #1-ranked Azarenka after having led by a set and a break before dropping her first three-set match of the season (she'd been 12-0).
Overall, though, the U.S. Open further paved the way for a season in which Sharapova posted the highest match win total (60) of her career, matched her best season-ending ranking (#2) and completed her Career Slam with her first title run at Roland Garros.
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Having come out of retirement in 2009, Kim Clijsters immediately re-wrote her career bio at Flushing Meadows, adding to her lone "KC 1.0" slam title ('05 U.S.) with wins in NYC in '09 and '10, as well as Melbourne in '11. By 2012, the Belgian's impact on the tour had started to lessen as the same sort of injuries that initially drove her from the sport began to take her off the court once again. She missed three of four slams from 2011-12, and announced that she'd end her career following the U.S. Open.
The #23 seed, Clijsters' stay in the draw was a short one. After opening Night 1 with a win over 16-year old bespectacled Bannerette Vicky Duval to extend her U.S. Open winning streak to 22 straight dating back to '05 (and without a loss since '03), she was upset by British teen Laura Robson (#89) in the 2nd Round, 7-6/7-6, during the day session on Ashe Stadium.
Clijsters wasn't *totally* finished, though, as she was entered in the Doubles and Mixed, as well. Partnering Kirsten Flipkens, the all-Waffle pair lost in the 1st Round to Zhang Shuai & Chuang Chia-jung; while she and Bob Bryan fell in the MX 2nd Round to Ekaterina Makarova & Bruno Soares in a 12-10 3rd set match TB on Court 17, after having saved four MP and Clijsters pulling off a picture-perfect lob winner (down 9-10) in the closing moments.
And, thus, Clijsters walked away once and for all, never publicly shedding a tear or seeming for even one instant to regret her decision. After all, her work here was done.
Of course, then the recently re-retired Justine Henin announced that *she* was pregnant before the end of the tournament, getting one final "last headline victory" in their career-long tête-à-tête. Having ended her second career a season earlier, Henin also managed to beat Clijsters into the Hall of Fame, being a part of the 2016 class a year before her countrywoman followed her into the Newport shrine in '17.
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Draw notes:
* - keeping pace with the previous weather issues associated with the Open in recent years, the USTA grounds were evacuated due to a tornado on September 8, leading to the tournament being extended a day and the women's final being played on Sunday for the fourth time in five years.
* - after reaching a final and two semis from 2009-11 in New York, Caroline Wozniacki (nursing a knee injury) was upset in the 1st Round by Irina-Camelia Begu, 6-2/6-2. The #1 seed at the event the last two years, the loss caused the #8-seeded Dane to fall out of the Top 10 for the first time in three years.
* - As impressive as eighteen year old Laura Robson's win over Clijsters was, her no-letdown win over #9 Li Na one round later was even more so. Before knocking out the former grand slam winners, and ending KC's 22-match U.S. Open winning streak, Robson had just one Top 25 win in her career, and just two MD slam wins. Perhaps carrying over her momentum gained from winning Mixed doubles Silver at the Olympics (w/ Andy Murray), she reached the Round of 16 at Flushing Meadows, becoming the first British woman to reach the 4th Round at a major since Samantha Smith did it at Wimbledon in 1998.
* - after going seventeen majors without doing so since winning Roland Garros in 2008, Ana Ivanovic finally reached another slam quarterfinal.
Meanwhile, Tsvetana Pironkova, who lost to AnaIvo in the Round of 16, reached such a stage at a non-Wimbledon slam for the first time in her career. She'd only do it one other time -- in Paris in 2016.
Another of Ivanovic's victims (3rd Rd.) along the way was Sloane Stephens, who nonetheless posted wins over #22 Francesca Schiavone and Tatjana Malek (later Maria) to record her second 3rd Round result at the Open in her first two MD appearances.
* - a year after pulling out of the draw in the 2nd Round in the wake of her Sjogren's diagnosis, Venus Williams was back. After ending her '11 campaign in NYC, Williams had finished the year at #103. She didn't start her '12 season until Miami in March, but same into the Open having reached the Cincinnati semis (w/ two Top 10 wins), her best result in nearly two years ('10 U.S. SF). Ranked #46, she defeated Bethanie Mattek-Sands in the 1st Round before falling in three sets to #6 Angelique Kerber in the 2nd. Williams led 4-2 in the final set before the German rallied to win it 7-5, with the match ending at 12:20 in the morning. She wouldn't play singles again until October, ending her season by taking the title in Luxembourg.
* - in 2011, the unexpected Bannerette first week star turned out to be wild card Mallory Burdette. The 20-year old Georgia native earned her maiden slam MD berth by winning the USTA's WC challenge, taking a pair of challenger events in the summer (including a $100K event in Vancouver). She posted U.S. Open wins over Timea Bacsinszky and Lucie Hradecka before falling to #3 Maria Sharapova in the 3rd Round.
The result was enough to convince Burdette to give up her final year of college eligibility at Stanford and turn pro. At Stanford, Burdette was a two-time All-American, '12 NCAA women's singles championship runner-up and part of the Cardinal's 2010 National Championship squad. She won a match in Melbourne in her Australian Open debut in '13, made her Wimbledon debut in the summer and climbed as high as #68 that year. After losing in the 1st Round in her return to Flushing Meadows (to Svetlana Kuznetsova), Burdette played in what turned out to be her final career match in Quebec City the week after the Open (ending with her eighth straight loss), as a lingering shoulder injury cost her her '14 season and ultimately led to her retirement from the sport in October of that year. The decision wasn't necessarily because of the injury and the effort that would be needed to re-climb the tennis ladder, though, as it was due more to her interest in the sport waning while she was away and began to focus on other things. She decided to return to Stanford to get her Psychology degree.
As she recounted in a 2016 interview on the tour website, "It was going to be really tough to come back from injury... I was at about 85% and I was about to get back out there and start hitting. As I went through that process I was not as excited about getting back on the court. There were other things that I got into while I was injured. I was studying more. I started to really enjoy that other stuff. There just wasn't that same fire there. I wasn't going to do it half-way."
Burdette is currently a Doctoral Student Therapist at Oglethorpe University in Brookhaven, Georgia just outside Atlanta.
* - Firsts of note...
SLAM MD APPEARANCE: Garbine Muguruza (at 18, with a 1st Rd. loss to Sara Errani), Elina Svitolina (at 17, as the youngest qualifier, she lost in the 1st Rd. to Ivanovic) and Vicky Duval (the 16-year lost on Night 1 to Clijsters, then reached the girls semis)
FIRST SLAM MD WIN: Kristina Mladenovic (as a WC, the 19-year old ended her 0-7 career start by posting wins over Marina Erakovic and #17 Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova to reach the 3rd Rd.)
FIRST U.S. OPEN MD APPEARANCE: Kiki Bertens (def. #21 Christina McHale) and Johanna Konta (as a qualifier, the Brit knocked off Timea Babos)
* - while they more often shined in Paris during the decade, the Italians found a receptive environment on and off court in New York during the 2010's, as well. In 2012, we got a preview of some of the heroics soon to become reality at the Open.
Only a few months past her appearance in the Roland Garros singles final, Sara Errani reached the semis at Flushing Meadows, becoming the first Italian to reach a major semi outside of Paris. Errani defeated #6 Angelique Kerber in the Round of 16, then countrywoman Roberta Vinci in the QF before losing to Serena Williams. Still, for Vinci, it was her first slam QF result after eleven years on tour and thirty-one MD appearances in majors.
The two then combined to win the doubles, losing just one set en route (to Mattek-Sands/Mirza in the 3rd Rd.) before defeating Andrea Hlavackova & Lucie Hradecka in the final, claiming their second major title and becoming the first all-Italian duo to win in New York. Errani rose to doubles #1 after the tournament. Vinci followed her in October, and then the two shared the top ranking for 42 straight weeks from 2013-14, and ultimately 40 more consecutively later in the '14 season.
Flavia Pennetta missed the '12 U.S. Open with a wrist injury, after having posted three QF results in singles there from 2008-11. Ah, but her best was still to come in the big city.
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In Mixed, Ekaterina Makarova teamed with Bruno Soares to defeat Kveta Peschke & Marcin Matkowski to win a 12-10 match TB in the final and claim the crown. To date, it's Makarova's only MX title to go along with her three career women's doubles slam wins with Elena Vesnina (2013-17).
The '12 U.S. Open marked the first appearance in New York as a duo by Makarova/Vesnina, who'd go on to win the title two years later.
Serena & Venus Williams teamed up in the doubles for the first time at the Open since winning at Flushing Meadows in 2009 (and just the second time since 2001). They lost in the 3rd Round to Maria Kirilenko & Nadia Petrova. The loss was the only thing that prevented Serena from sweeping the singles and doubles at Wimbledon, the Olympics *and* the U.S. Open, a run that would have created a brand new benchmark for summer brilliance for players great and good to strive for for generations to come. (Of course, Serena will likely have one more shot at such a ridiculous achievement come 2020.)
The sisters would only play twice more together at the Open during the decade, posting SF/QF results in 2013-14.
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Wild card Samantha Crawford won the girls singles title, becoming the second straight Bannerette to grab the junior Open crown (a first since 1994-95) and (w/ Taylor Townsend's '12 Australian Open girls win) giving the U.S. a pair of girls slam champs in the same season for the first time since 1992 (Wimbledon: Chanda Rubin, U.S.: Lindsay Davenport).
With Canadian Genie Bouchard's win at Wimbledon, North American girls claimed three of the four major juniors crowns during the season, and four of five titles.
Crawford, who'd beaten fellow U.S. wild card Vicky Duval in the semis, defeated #12-seeded Estonian Anett Kontaveit to take the final. Kontaveit had upset #1 Townsend in the quarterfinals.
Townsend and fellow Bannerette Gabby Andrews (#4 seeds) won the girls doubles, defeating #2 Belinda Bencic/Petra Uberlova in the final. They'd also beaten the #2 seeds -- Anna Danilina/Elizaveta Kulichkova -- in the semis, and bettered their 2011 runner-up GD finish at the Open.
Townsend claimed junior slam doubles titles at the Australian (w/ Andrews), Wimbledon (w/ Bouchard) and the U.S. that season, in addition to her AO singles title run. Yet, still, suddenly -- and controversially -- the USTA had stopped funding her tennis expenses prior to the Open, and denied her a wild card into the U.S. Open MD women's qualifying event, for what the organization cited were concerns about Townsend's health due to "excess weight." It was a shocking decision, especially considering that Townsend would soon be the first U.S. girl to top the year-end junior rankings since 1982.
The USTA backtracked on the decision after the controversy bubbled up, transparently trying to save face by saying the situation was the result of a "miscommunication." Townsend and her family soon split from the USTA, picking up former Wimbledon finalist Zina Garrison as her coach.
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Due to the Paralympic Games being held in London, there was no wheelchair competition at the '12 U.S. Open.
At those Games, Esther Vergeer dominated the competition one final time before calling it a career, sweeping the singles and doubles Golds to increase her all-time lead in tennis medals at the event (7 Golds and 1 Silver), ending with a combined 30-1 (19-0 singles) career Paralympic record. Her win over countrywoman Aniek Van Koot in the Gold Medal match gave her four straight Paralympic singles titles and allowed her to end her playing days on an astounding 470-match winning streak, a stretch which nearly ran for the entire decade.
Jiske Griffioen took the singles Bronze to complete the Dutch sweep of the medals.
In doubles, Vergeer teamed with Marjolein Buis to take the Gold, defeating Silver medalists Griffioen/Van Koot in the final. Brits Lucy Shuker & Jordanne Whiley took the Bronze.
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CITY SIGHTS:
Venus on the court...
Aretha Franklin off-court...
And the birth of Sugarpova (a week before the start of the Open)...
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There have been quite a few entries in the "Theory of Serena" canon over the years, and one of the guiding laws of "Serenativity" has always been, when given the opportunity, never, ever fail to take advantage of it, for it might be the only one that you'll get.
It was a tennis physics lesson that Victoria Azarenka, within two points of becoming the second woman (Martina Hingis in '97) in the last seventeen years to win both hard court slam titles in a single season, was reminded of during in the 2012 U.S. Open women's final.
When the Belarusian world #1 won in Melbourne in January, she did so with the air of an MMA fighter. But on Sunday afternoon in New York City, Azarenka learned that you can't take your foot off the neck of Serena Williams in the 3rd set, because in one move she'll have YOU on your back with HER foot on your throat. And that's essentially what happened in the final four games of the final, as Williams once again escaped from the jaws of defeat to claim her fifteenth career slam crown.
The final wasn't one of the "great matches," as it was portrayed by CBS commentators in its latter stages, but considering the shenanigans we're often seen in U.S. Open finals over the last nearly twenty years, it surely rates as a very good, entertaining contest. Especially the dramatic 3rd set, the first seen in a women's championship match at Flushing Meadows since 1995, and one which helped make this final the longest at the Open since 1981.
A double-fault put Williams in a love/30 hole, then an Azarenka shot jammed her and she was down love/40. Azarenka broke at love for 4-3, then held for 5-3. She got to 30/30 on Serena's serve in game #9 before Williams finally held, giving Vika a chance to serve for her second career slam title.
As she prepared to serve for the match, Azarenka found herself in position to become the first woman to win in Flushing Meadows after having dropped the 1st set in the final since 1994. Even with an AO title on her resume, serving for the U.S. Open was her chance to secure the "signature" win of her young career. Successfully pulling it off would allow her to say she'd personally taken an accounting at this event of all the reigning slam champs (the list, besides Vika herself: Sam Stosur, Maria Sharapova & Serena), and put them all down in head-to-head contests in less than a week. With both herself and Williams vying for the right to be looked upon as THE player of 2012, Azarenka had the heart of the season in her grasp... only to loosen her grip, and see Serena rip it out of her hands.
Twice in her match against Serena at the '10 Australian Open, Azarenka had served for the match, only to fail both times and eventually lose. She was about to experience a severe case of deja vu. At 5-4, Azarenka failed to adhere to the one guiding principle of "Serenativity" -- never, EVER, give Serena a second chance at life. Because she will take it, at your expense, and leave you gasping for air.
Quickly, Azarenka's errors put her down love/40. A final forehand into the net, her third error of the game, allowed Williams to break for 5-5. One game later, Azarenka made a poor decision to go for a drop shot (after one hadn't worked for her earlier in the set, and in many ways allowed Williams, who'd been plagued by sloppy footwork since the 1st set, to begin to rev her internal engines when she charged for the ball and put away a winner), which Serena retrieved with ease to take a 30/love lead before going on to hold for 6-5. After going up 15/love on Azarenka's serve, as Vika tried to force the first Open women's final 3rd set tie-break since 1985, Serena had won eleven of thirteen points when the match was on the line and, in fact, Vika had had it on her racket.
Azarenka twice got to within a point of a breaker-forcing hold, but by then, Serena had gotten the scent of her 15th major title, and there was really no stopping her. Once she got to her first match point, which she did after the game's second deuce, it was just a matter of when. One point, in fact. Serena's return of a second serve resulted in a long backhand error from Azarenka and, after 2:18, Williams won 6-2/2-6/7-5, claiming her fourth U.S. Open title. Williams ended with a 44-13 edge in winners (13-0 in aces), and ran her career record against Azarenka to 10-1 with her fifteenth career win over a reigning world #1.
After the match, Azarenka didn't allow herself to get emotional over the loss, or how it occurred. She said she'll "have no regrets." She's really taken to embracing her new-found maturity... the true champion that Azarenka has found within herself in 2012 should always THINK that her ability to win is up to HER. It's all right to be angry that she lost. In fact, that anger, when focused, is what can make that belief come true one day. Just ask Serena, who's managed to turn the art of redemption into something of a blood sport during her various slam-winning career "comebacks."
About to turn 31 in about two weeks, Williams' march toward history has once again included some thunderously loud footsteps this summer. The latest: she's just accomplished a sweep of the Wimbledon & U.S. titles in a single summer for the first time by any woman in a decade (naturally, it was Serena who did it back then, too), and is now just the third woman to include a run to Olympic singles Gold (Graf '88 & Venus '00) in the same summer. She's in the best shape of her life, and seems to be more focused than ever. She's still only ranked #4, but it's just one of those numbers tricks that happen on occasion in the WTA rankings... and usually involve Serena.
As has been the case at multiple times over the past decade, when Serena is "on," even with all the advancement of the twentysomething set over the past year, she's very rarely -- if ever -- going to be bested. We're most definitely in the midst of another of those periods of time when "Serenativity" rules the land.
How long will the latest reign last? Well, honestly, it'll probably be up to Serena.
* - "People complain about the noise I make, but I can get louder. Maybe I should get to 100. I haven't had any luck, so it may help me put more of myself into my matches." - Victoria Azarenka, reacting to the possible addition of a "noise meter" to measure on-court emanations
* - "I want to say thanks to Kim for being such a good role model to me for so many years." - Laura Robson, after defeating Kim Clijsters, ending her singles career
* - "This completely feels like the perfect place to retire." - Kim Clijsters
* - "Last time!" - Kim Clijsters (with a grin and a clap) at her final post-match press conference
* - "Why Chinese still use chopsticks? Why Chinese have to put family name first, right? I think a lot American people couldn't understand, yeah. Two thing already. I couldn't find a third one." - Li Na, on what U.S. fans misunderstand about China
* - "This morning there was like a camera crew outside my hotel, which was a little bit freaky. I got really excited because I thought they were waiting for someone who was actually famous." - Laura Robson, who defeated both Clijsters and Li at the '12 U.S. Open
* - "I kind of just started playing for history. It's very motivating. Since I plan on playing for a long time, (it's) definitely plausible." - Serena Williams, on the possibility of matching or exceeding the 18 career slams won by both Martina Navratilova and Chris Evert
posted by Todd.Spiker @ 10:48 AM
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