Decade's Best: 2013 U.S. Open
Well, you know what happened after that.
A year after winning 23 straight games in one stretch en route to the '12 U.S. Open title, Williams broke her own record by winning *24* this time around (between the Round of 16 and the semifinals). Back in "mission mode," she allowed just 16 games to her opponents in her first six matches -- 1,3,4,5,0 and 3 -- and then found, of course, Azarenka waiting for in the Open final for a second straight year, a first in the event since Serena and sister Venus met in back-to-back championship matches in 2001-02.
One year after the Belarusian forced Williams to go three sets to earn the crown, in a final played in windy conditions, she did it again. Down a double-break at 4-1, Azarenka twice saw Serena serve for the title (a year after Vika had failed to do the same against her in the '12 final) and come as close as two points from locking away the match before a tie-break was needed to decide the set. There, Azarenka overcame another disadvantage -- a mini-break deficit at 3-1 -- and won 8-6 to forced a deciding 3rd. Finally, Williams seized control, winning the 2:45 contest 7-5/6-7(6)/6-1 to claim her 17th major crown (one behind Navratilova and Evert), defending her title to claim her fifth U.S. Open. The tournament's oldest singles champ in the Open era, the 31-year old also picked up the biggest champion's check in history, collecting a record $3.6m ($2.6m for winning the Open, then a $1 million bonus for having won both the tournament and the U.S. Open Series).
Meanwhile, with Rafael Nadal winning the men's title at Flushing Meadows, the Spaniard and Williams completed their "shared Career Co-Slam," becoming the the first male and female players to claim the titles in the same event at all four majors in their careers: the 2009 AO, 2010 WI, 2013 RG and US. Prior to the '13 Open, Nadal had also won the U.S. Open Series, allowing him to match Williams' record payday.
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After having missed time following her injury-related exit from Wimbledon, Azarenka looked for most of the hard court season like a player working off the rust of too much time off. Her serve never really did cease to become a problem to be overcome. Still, she called upon her hard-won experience and getting-it-done skills to reach the final in Carlsbad, defeat Serena in Cincinnati and somehow compensate for her erratic level of play (and a truly awful dress) from the 1st Round through the semis to return to the U.S. Open final. Once there, she raised the level of her NYC game to once again give Williams her only real competition of the tournament. In the end, she'd earned some of the respect that used to elude her (though Serena and the Williams clan seem to have always looked upon Vika as an equal on the court... or as close as anyone can be in the face of the guiding power of Serenativity), having reached four straight hard court slam finals and seemingly measuring space for her name to eventually be engraved onto the silver U.S. Open championship cup.
As the decade ends, though, the wait continues. Due to a series of injuries, motherhood and court battles for custody of her son, thus far Azarenka (though she did win a rare "Sunshine Double" in '16) hasn't had a Top 10 season since 2013, nor reached another slam semifinal.
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The success of the Italians in New York during the decade became even more deeply ingrained in the Open in 2013.
31-year old Flavia Pennetta, ranked #83 after coming back from wrist surgery that had kept her off tour for nearly a year, reached her maiden slam singles semifinal. Meanwhile, wherever there was an Italian woman in the draw, another seemed to have followed her there. Pennetta defeated Sara Errani in the 2nd Round, while Roberta Vinci took out Karin Knapp in the 3rd and Camila Giorgi (the qualifier had defeated #6 Caroline Wozniacki a round earlier in her nighttime Ashe debut) in the 4th.
In her second straight QF at Flushing Meadows, Vinci found long-time friend Pennetta waiting there for her. It was just one match too many for Vinci, who put up a bit of a fight in the 1st set, then essentially breezed through the 2nd to get out of town.
Two years later the two women would unexpectedly face off in the women's *final.*
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Maria Sharapova missed the 2013 U.S. Open due to shoulder bursitis, another blow in what had been a disappointing summer that also included a shocking upset in the 1st Round at Wimbledon at the hands of qualifier Michelle Larcher de Brito, after which she'd parted ways with coach Thomas Hogstedt. In July, Sharapova brought aboard Hall of Famer Jimmy Connors as her new coach, a partnership that lasted just one match.
The shoulder injury would end her season.
In the middle of all this was a bogus story made the rounds about Sharapova seeking to change her name to "Sugarpova" before the U.S. Open in order to promote her year-old candy line.
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Draw notes:
* - after years of rain delays and Monday finals, it was announced that a roof was (finally) coming to Ashe Stadium, as well as on a rebuilt Louis Armstrong Stadium. Eventually. The Ashe court roof was completed in 2016, with the new Armstrong arriving in 2018.
* - three-quarters of the women's semifinals consisted of players in their thirties, as well as five of the eight quarterfinalists.
* - Li Na, in her eighth U.S. Open MD appearance, reached her first semifinal. A year after falling to Laura Robson in the 3rd Round, Li defeated the Brit in another 3rd Round match-up. A round later, she destroyed Jelena Jankovic 6-3/6-0 in a match considered by some to quite possibly be the best the future Hall of Famer had ever played. She led 3-0 in both sets, and strung together a streak of 15 straight points (a 16th was overturned on a replay challenge) in one stretch. After defeating Ekaterina Makarova in the QF, Li lost to eventual champ Serena Williams in the semis.
It turned out to be Li's final U.S. Open. In 2013, after having playing Wimbledon, Li parted ways with coach Carlos Rodriguez and then skipped the summer hard court season due to a knee injury which would require surgery. Shortly after the completion of the U.S. Open, Li announced her retirement on September 19, 2014. Five years later she was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame.
* - in a Round of 16 match-up with Victoria Azarenka, Ana Ivanovic won the opening set. Amazingly, it was the first time the Serb had won the 1st set in a match vs. a Top 10 player in a slam since she won Roland Garros in 2008, ending a streak of fifteen consecutive opening set defeats.
* - Slovakian Daniela Hantuchova reached the singles QF, her first at Flushing Meadows in eleven years (and her first in any slam since the '08 Australian Open). She saved four MP vs Julia Glushko in a 3rd Round match.
It would be her last QF-or better result at a major. She played in eleven more slam MD in her career before retiring in 2017.
* - Jamie Hampton, the #23 seed, defeated Kristina Mladenovic en route to the 3rd Round, her best finish in four U.S. Open appearances. She lost to Sloane Stephens.
Having also in 2013 reached the Australian Open 3rd Round, produced her best career slam result in Paris (4th Rd.), and played in her first tour-level final in Eastbourne, Hampton had climbed to a career-high ranking (#24) during the summer as she completed what was the 23-year old's best season to date. Unfortunately, it would prove to be Hampton's final completed season on tour, and she'd never play another match in a major, either. After opening '14 with a semifinal run in Auckland, Hampton was forced to retire from that match (vs. Venus Williams) with a hip injury.
She underwent six surgeries over the next eighteen months, but was never able to be physically sound enough to play on tour again.
* - Simona Halep, having earned the #21 seed after a breakthrough season that saw her win four titles on three different surfaces in the season's opening eight months, reached her maiden slam Round of 16, defeating Heather Watson, Donna Vekic and #14 Maria Kirilenko before falling to Pennetta. The future #1 and multi-slam winner attained her first career Top 20 ranking after the Open.
* - Other firsts of note...
U.S. OPEN MD APPEARANCE: Genie Bouchard (def. Karolina Pliskova, in her own maiden Open), Ash Barty (the wild card lost to #32 Anastasisa Pavlyuchenkova in the 2nd Rd.), Caroline Garcia (def. Shelby Rogers) and Monica Puig.
SLAM MD WIN: Elina Svitolina (def. #17 seed Dominika Cibulkova)
* - Russia's Nadia Petrova played her final grand slam match at the '13 U.S. Open, losing in the 1st Round to Julia Glushko.
In December of that year, Petrova's mother died in a tragic auto accident, leading to her withdrawal from the Australian circuit of events in January. She returned to the tour and played in Charleston that spring, but then essentially walked away from the spot for good at age 31, though she didn't officially retire until January of 2017.
A former world singles and doubles #3, Petrova was a semifinalist at Roland Garros in 2003 and '05, won two WTA Finals doubles championships, as well as 13 tour singles and 24 doubles titles. She added an Olympic doubles Bronze in London in 2012. Her rare combination of power and net skills made her star-crossed career all that much more frustrating, as injuries and inconsistency often blocked her path to the far greater success that seemed within her reach. Perhaps her best shot at winning a slam singles crown was at the '06 RG, as she'd won three clay court titles that season and posted a win over Justine Henin. Petrova had reached at least the QF in four straight majors coming into the event, and done so in five of six majors, and was actually considered a (if not *the*) "favorite" to win in Paris.
But then she suffered a leg injury days before the start of play, and it ultimately led to the compromised #3 seed losing in the 1st Round to Akiko Morigami. Oh, Nadia.
Petrova gave birth to her first child, a girl, in 2018.
* - a year after reaching the U.S. Open 3rd Round as a wild card, Mallory Burdette lost in the 1st Round to #27-seeded Svetlana Kuznetsova. She played her last career match in Quebec City two weeks later before incurring a shoulder injury that started her down the path to retirement in 2014.
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One year after losing to Kim Clijsters on Night 1 in her slam debut, the second career slam MD match of qualifier Vicky Duval (#296) was an explosive occasion, as she upset #11-seeded Samantha Stosur 5-7/6-4/6-4 to record her first career slam MD victory. Duval, 17, served for all three sets, but narrowly avoided a straight sets loss to the '11 U.S. Open champ when she trailed by a set and 4-2 in the 2nd. Stosur's DF to hand a break to Duval lit the fire of the young Bannerette and she broke the Aussie again two games later. After having taken a 4-3 lead, Duval expertly held her nerve (and her serve) in the closing games of the 3rd, smacking a winner on her fourth match point.
The following summer, Duval was diagnosed with Hodgkin's lymphoma during Wimbledon qualifying. She decided to remain in the event, and actually qualified for the MD and defeated a seeded player in the opening round. She made her Top 100 debut after the event, but missed the next thirteen months undergoing and recovering from chemotherapy. Cancer free, Duval has since returned to tennis, but has yet to win another slam MD match. In 2016, utilizing her protected ranking, she lost in the 1st Round in Melbourne and London, but she has lost in U.S. Open qualifying four times between 2015-19.
At the same time, Russia's Alisa Kleybanova, a Top 20 player as recently as February 2011 before being diagnosed with Hodgkin's lymphoma in July of that year, had played her first WTA event in eighteen months in Toronto a few weeks before the '13 U.S. Open. She played her first slam match since her return to health at Flushing Meadows, upsetting Monica Puig in the 1st Round before losing to Jelena Jankovic a round later.
Though Kleybanova competed off and on through January 2018 (winning a handful of ITF titles), she only played in one more slam MD, in New York in '14, reaching the 2nd Round once again. She received the WTA's Comeback Player of the Year in 2013.
Meanwhile, Brit Elena Baltacha made her final grand slam appearance at the U.S. Open in 2013, losing in the final round of qualifying to Michelle Larcher de Brito (after having posted wins over Melanie Oudin and Olga Savchuk). The 30-year old would announce her retirement in November, then marry her fiance/coach Nino Severino in December.
Having previously been diagnosed with the liver condition primary sclerosing cholangitis when she was teenager, Baltacha was diagnosed with liver cancer in January 2014. The died of the disease that May.
From the website of The Elena Baltacha Foundation:
"The Elena Baltacha Foundation was established in 2014 to support the work that former British Tennis No. 1 Elena Baltacha had begun before she sadly passed away. The Foundation has ensured that the support from the professional tennis world and the general public has been focused in the right way, and all donations raised from subsequent fundraising initiatives have been put to good use. The Foundation has also provided financial support to EBAT, the Elena Baltacha Academy of Tennis, which was set up in 2012.
Elena Baltacha set up her Academy with one goal – to give more children, from all backgrounds, the opportunity to learn to play tennis."
In May 2015, the champion's trophy at the Aegon Open in Nottingham was named the "Elena Baltacha trophy" in her honor.
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Defending women's doubles champs Sara Errani & Robert Vinci lost in the QF to the Williams sisters, opening the door for Andrea Hlavackova to sweep to *two* slam crowns at Flushing Meadows.
Hlavackova teamed with fellow Czech Lucie Hradecka and, as the #5 seeds, defeated the likes of #3 Nadia Petrova/Katarina Srebotnik in the QF, then Venus & Serena in the semis. In the final, the two defeated the #8-seeded all-Aussie pair of 17-year old Ash Barty & Casey Dellacqua, who finished 0-3 in major finals in 2013 after also losing in the Australian Open and Wimbledon championship matches.
Hlavackova also picked up the MX crown with Max Mirnyi, edging past Kristina Mladenovic & Daniel Nestor (12-10 match TB) in the semis, then defeating Abigail Spears & Santiago Gonzalez in the final.
Having been inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame, Martina Hingis made her long-awaited announcement that she was coming out of retirement (again). She credited Daniela Hantuchova with convincing her to return as a doubles specialist, saying, "It took Daniela a lot of courage and inspiration to kind of dig me out of a grave." But, in fact, Hingis' return to tennis had been rumored for a few years before it finally became official soon after HoF weekend. So...
The Open was Hingis' first slam back. She and Hantuchova entered the WD draw via a wild card, losing in the 1st Round to defending champs Errani/Vinci. She and Hantuchova would have little success as a duo, but Hingis would find a *lot* of it elsewhere as she added, with other partners, another ten WD/MX slam titles (and 23 additional WTA crowns, as well as an Olympic Silver medal) to her career total.
At this Open, though, she and Mahesh Bhupathi fell in their opening match in mixed doubles.
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In the Wheelchair finals, 23-year Dutch #2-seed Aniek Van Koot came back from a set down to defeat top-seeded German Sabine Ellerbrock, 3-6/6-2/7-6(3), in a match-up of the women who had taken over where Van Koot's countrywoman, Esther Vergeer, left off. The 2013 U.S. Open was the first competition held in Flushing Meadows without Vergeer, who'd retired following the 2012 season (though her last Open appearance was in '11 since there were no WC events held in New York in '12 due to the Paralympics). In the Open, Van Koot had beaten Jiske Griffioen (1st Rd.) and Yui Kamiji (SF), both future slam winners and world #1's, en route to the final.
The two divvied up the three slams contested in 2013, with Van Koot defeating the 37-year old Ellerbrock in the AO final, then Ellerbrock coming back to defeat her in the RG semifinals en route to her own title in Paris. It would take Van Koot six years to win her third slam singles crown, with it not coming until she won Wimbledon in 2019.
Van Koot teamed with Griffioen to defeat Ellerbrock & Kamiji in the doubles final.
Both Kamiji and Jordanne Whiley made their U.S. Open debuts in 2013. They'd both go on to win the singles title in the three competitions held (Kamiji-2, Whiley-1) between 2014-17, and join together to win the doubles once.
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In the junior, #2-seeded Croat Ana Konjuh added a U.S. Open girls crown to her Australian Open trophy from January with a 3-6/6-4/7-6(6) win over U.S. wild card Tornado Alicia Black. Black served at 5-4 in the deciding tie-break, but lost both points, then saw Konjuh win on her second match point.
The hard luck player of the junior slam season was 17-year old German Antonia Lottner. Twice she defeated the #1 seed -- Konjuh in the RG semis and Belinda Bencic in the U.S. QF -- but was never able to win a junior slam crown. Her best result was a loss in the Roland Garros final to Bencic.
Czechs Barbora Krejcikova & Katerina Siniakova defeated Bencic & Sara Sorribes Tormo in the final to claim the juniors doubles, winning their third straight girls doubles major in 2013 (Krejcikova had also appeared in the GD final in Melbourne in January). As was their custom at the time, the duo celebrated with a choreographed dance.
CITY SIGHTS:
Venus' flower dress and magenta-streaked hair...
Venus & Serena's nails...
Vika's outfit (for all the wrong reasons)...
Anna Wintour...
SQUIRRELS!!!!!!...
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We weren't quite sure what we were going to get in this U.S. Open women's final.
Oh, we knew we'd get a good-to-great Serena Williams, just as we have for most of the world #1's twenty previous appearances in grand slam finals, going all the way back to her first as a 17-year old at the Open in 1999. It was the world #2 that we weren't quite so sure about.
As it turned out, we needn't have worried.
Waiting to watch the opening moments of this match was much like opening a present and wondering what we'd find inside -- something amazing... or a lump of coal. Essentially, in a rarity when it comes to match-ups involving Serena, it was up to Victoria Azarenka whether or not this was going to be a paint-by-numbers final, as so many other U.S. Open women's championships have been over most of the last two decades until a year ago when Vika coaxed Williams into a three-set match (the first in a final at Flushing Meadows since 1995), or something far greater, and memorable. While it was hoped that the same Belarusian who served for the title in last year's final would show up on Sunday, after so many cover-your-eyes moments over the past two weeks from Azarenka it surely wasn't a certainty that her play wouldn't once again be just as ugly as the pink-and-battleship-gray dress she's been sporting throughout the tournament. But Vika believed that she could find her New York groove. That was all that mattered. And we would all be the better for it by the end of the evening, too.
But, well, Serena is still Serena. And this was still a grand slam final... and, save for a few "bad days," you generally know what that means. While the end of these proceedings was something we'd seen at the conclusion of many others before it, rarely have we seen Williams have to jump through the hoops she did against Azarenka in order to get to that familiar place at the end of one of the four biggest two-week stretches of every year.
The beautiful devil was in the details.
From the start, when the players were introduced on Arthur Ashe Stadium court, the crowd was for Serena. It wasn't surprising, even considering the sixteen-time major winner's oft-checkered past at this event. New York (& the U.S.) loves winners, and Serena, while becoming more and more beloved with each passing season, is first and foremost that. But none of that bothered Azarenka. She was content with having her play do her talking for her, and for whatever resulting respect she got for that to arrive whenever it would arrive. Or not. It didn't matter that she might once again have to win over anyone, though much of the old "Vika aversion" HAS dissipated quite a bit since the Melbourne mess that had media and fans sniping at her every move earlier this year. While the Aussie "fans" might not be able to say the same, Azarenka has shown over the course of this season, and the last two seasons, just how much SHE has matured, both as a player and a personality on the WTA tour.
And it was about to show. Big time.
As one sort of suspected might be the case two days ago, it didn't take all that long for it become clear that the scratchy, sometimes-haphazard play that Azarenka had displayed throughout this tournament wasn't going to rule the day in the final.
Suddenly, serving with a 6-5 lead after having previously been often frustrated while Azarenka had simultaneously maintained her calm, Williams reeled off eight straight points, holding at love to take the set 7-5.
It was a last minute "save" by Williams, though it WAS the closest any player had come to taking a set off Serena over the past two weeks. As Williams' serve continued to improve, and she got "that look" in her eye that we've seen so often in grand slam finals, the tight nature of the 1st set looked as if it might be the closest thing that Azarenka would get to a "call to glory" moment in the match. As Serena stretched the streak to ten points, broke in the opening game of the 2nd set, then held at love for 2-0, it seemed a reasonable conclusion.
But it was a wrong one.
It appeared it would be Vika's last stand, especially after her own three-double fault game followed, as she squandered a 30/love lead and was broken for 4-1, going down a double-break in the set. While the stage was set for it, Azarenka wasn't ready to fold like a cheap Italian suit... err, I mean like Roberta Vinci in the quarterfinals.
Instead, she broke Williams for 4-2, then held in back-to-back service games. From there, one year after Azarenka had served for the match in the '12 Open final, Williams twice served for the match herself, at 5-4 and 6-5. Williams got to within two points of the title, but both times Azarenka managed a break, forcing a tie-break. There, Williams went up a mini-break at 3-1, only to see Vika hold steady and Serena once more have trouble keeping her game clean in the wind. Azarenka took a 6-4 lead, but failed to put away the set. At 6-6, she fired a good into-the-body second serve that was sprayed by a surprised Williams to get to SP #3, then watched Williams' long backhand error hand her an 8-6 tie-break and send a U.S. Open final between the two of them into a third set for the second straight year.
The measure of what Azarenka accomplished in the comeback from the brink of defeat is astounding considering the opponent. It's just not the sort of thing that happens to Williams in a slam final -- it's what Williams often DOES in a slam final. Remember, in the 2nd set, Vika managed to win a set off Serena after being down a double-break at 4-1, having Williams twice serve for the title and come within a scant two points of securing Open win #5, then she threw in a tie-break win after being down a mini-break at 3-1, too. You know, just for the heck of it. It was the stuff of myth. The same sort of grit and determination that turned Justine Henin into "La Petit Taureau" at this very tournament ten years ago in the semifinals against Clijsters en route to the '03 title. It seemed as if this was going to be the night that Azarenka, on September 8th between 6:30 and 7 p.m. in New York, transformed herself into something else... something more... something greater.
All that might still happen one day, and the roots of what Azarenka eventually becomes, both in her own eyes, as well as those of her admirers (Backspinner raises hand) and the rest of the sport, could very well be traced back to this night. For while Vika didn't finish the night the same way she'd extended it, as much as she proved her new-found maturity in defending her Australian Open crown eight months ago, she might have given everyone a preview of the truly great champion she could soon become in her ultimately losing effort in this U.S. Open final. In the end, this was Serena's night, as her march toward history added one more highlight. But it could also be seen as the day that a "new" Vika -- newly admired, newly respected -- was conceived, too.
In the 3rd set, Williams displayed the form that had put her in position to win a seventeenth slam crown tonight. When Azarenka wavered just a bit, double-faulting at deuce to fully lose at 40/15 lead in Game #4, then following up a wonderful break point save via a drop shot and face-to-face-at-the-net battle with Williams with another double-fault on BP #2, Serena pounced. Up 3-1, she chose the next game to open up her weapons case. A lob winner was followed up by a 126-mph ace, then another ace to hold at love for 4-1. A deep return forced an Azarenka error to secure a break for 5-1. Serving for the match for a third time, Serena simply stretched to get her racket on a seeming volley winner from Azarenka... and then saw the destined-to-go-long shot be held up by the wind and land in the backcourt for a winner.
Now, everything was going Williams' way. She'd finally managed to tame Mother Nature and use it for her own means. It only took about two and three-quarter hours.
An Azarenka missed return shot gave Serena her first match point. Two points later, Vika's long return unleashed a spirited Williams celebration of her 7-5/6-7(6)/6-1 victory. As she jumped around the court in a fashion reminiscent of her sister Venus' post-Wimbledon win exuberance in coming back from match point down against Lindsay Davenport in the final in '05, Serena was embraced by the crowd as not only a seventeen-time slam champ, but also a five-time winner of her nation's grand slam.
And, in many ways, Vika was embraced, too (and not just because Serena told everyone she was a great player and person -- and actually seemed to really mean it). As she danced after her sometimes-ugly performances over the past weeks, she was able to smile after her defeat here. Even with the reality of just a second-best ending to her '13 Open run staring her in the face, it was apparent that she knew that she should be proud of her accomplishment. She can still desire more, but she doesn't have to destroy herself for not getting it all on this particular night. She gained a great deal at this slam. She learned how to "find a way" to reach a slam final while playing a level of tennis that was, frankly, beneath her, and she knows that, after seasons past in which she decidedly could NOT do it, she now can take a Serena punch and not only live to tell about it, but deliver some stinging shots of her own in the aftermath. By the end, even her oddly-fitting dress was looking better and better as the evening hour arrived.
Vika Azarenka is not quite yet a finished product. But, boy, is she getting REALLY close.
We already know what Williams is: quite simply, a truly awesome big match creature of habit who, even as she becomes the winningest thirtysomething in women's slam history (w/ four titles), is still able to produce shock and awe when she DOESN'T totally put away an opponent. At nearly 32, her march -- toward Evert and Navratilova, and maybe Graf and Court, too -- isn't slowing down one bit. In fact, her biggest obstacle to her grandest goals might just have been staring back at her from the other side of the net tonight.
Over the course of 2013, we've wondered whether we finally has a head-to-head match-up worthy of attention on the WTA tour. After Doha and Cincinnati, we had an inkling. Now, as the women's action at this year's U.S. Open comes to a close, now we know that, yes, we finally do have just that.
* - "I can't play in this wind!" - Serena Williams, during the singles final
* - "She's a champion. She knows what it takes to get there. I know the feeling, too. When two people who want that feeling so bad meet, it's like a clash. That's what happened out there. A battle." - Victoria Azarenka, on Serena Williams and their second consecutive meeting in the final
* - "From the first point, the tension, the battle, the determination -- it was... kind of like boiling the water or something." - Victoria Azarenka, on the final vs. Serena
* - "It is a tough loss, but to be in the final and play against the best player -- who deserves to win today -- it's incredible." - Victoria Azarenka, on losing the final
* - "Vika's such a great opponent, such a great fighter. And that's why she's been able to win multiple grand slams. That's why it was never over until match point." - Serena Williams, on Azarenka
* - "It's incredible what she's achieving. She's playing definitely her best tennis right now. It really shows how focused and how composed and how much she can raise the level." - Victoria Azarenka, on Serena
* - "It won't be any time soon." - Serena Williams, on her eventual retirement
posted by Todd.Spiker @ 1:23 PM
3 Comments:
Re-Monae: Big 10 and Pac 10 commercials were similar.
Always found it amusing that Hingis' last match before her 2007 retirement, and first one in 2013 both were with Hantuchova.
Barty didn't reunite with Dellacqua until her 3rd tournament back.
I didn't realize that about Hingis--interesting fact.
Aside from Alize Cornet, was there ever a bigger under-achiever than Hantuchova? She was great at the net, great at the baseline, and hit the ball SO cleanly, yet she could choke away any lead. I remember that match at the AO when Serena was playing, basically, with one hand and one leg, and Dani still found a way to lose.
But even head cases deserve some respect, and I thought it was shocking how her Hantuchova's retirement was all but ignored. She was always a class act, she held a career slam in mixed doubles, and she deserved better.
You win IW twice, there should be expectations. But the Serena match at Wimbledon, and the Ivanovic match in Australia are two of the more painful ones.
FYI-Suarez Navarro got fined 40K for a match that went 3 minutes longer than Williams/Wang.
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