Wednesday, June 30, 2021

W.3- Alizé is Life

With all else being equal, you'd probably rather be Alizé Cornet.




French veteran Cornet hasn't had a Hall of Fame career, but she's often been as memorable as any who have. And, dramatic to her core, she's had a lot of fun doing it, too.

Throughout her career, the now 31-year old Cornet hasn't generally played with the sort of joie de vivre one might often associate with a stereotypical "French tennis player." She's never had the grace of a champion like Amélie Mauresmo, nor flashed the overwhelming athletic brilliance-to-spare (or waste) displayed by many of her contemporary countrymen and women for whom style points have almost always outdistanced actual victories. No, Cornet's brand has always been more grit, grind, slip, slap, dash, dodge, poke, and hope... and then act surprised when things turn out as crazy as they often do. Alizé has been living in something of a bubble long since before bubbles were "cool." I mean, she could write a book on all her drama. Which, in fact, she did... fittingly, she titled it Sans Compromis (Without Compromise).

Even while her "antics" -- innocent reactions, surely, from her view -- have often served to rile others, her heart has always seemed in the right place whenever the "fog of competition" has lifted. She survived "Kiki Gate" a few years ago, remember? (LOL) Even her lone run-in with the sport's testing authorities proved to be a dramatic venture, boiling down to bad timing and a broken intercom. In the end, as usual, Alizé was declared to have been nothing worse than briefly misunderstood.

Call her dramatic, in that oh-so-Lenglen sort of way, as a term of endearment or consternation. Cornet has never been the sort of player to be ignored, by opponents or fans alike, and when she brings along her top-level game to go along with, umm, "all the rest," she's been one of the most entertaining players of her generation, from ball one until the final curtain comes down.

Today on Court 2 on the grounds of the All-England Club, a facility said to have been built to house the hordes of fans who clamored to gather and watch countrywoman Lenglen play a hundred years ago, Cornet brought all that and more.

Poor Bianca Andreescu. The #5-seeded Canadian was simply at her mercy in their 1st Round match, a "re-do" of the typically dramatic (for both women) clash in the Berlin 2nd Round two weeks ago. Cornet won 7-6/7-5 then, downing the former U.S. Open champ on her 21st birthday and setting the rocky course for what has been a forgettable (at best) grass court campaign for the injury-plagued star who in recent months has also dealt with COVID issues, the release of a coach and even undertaking new off-court representation.

Today, though, the unsettled Andreescu's biggest issue of concern, other than her own inability to adapt her game to a surface on which she's barely played in her career, was Cornet herself.

2021 has been a tough season for Cornet. Before the grass court season began, injuries, bad draws and close losses saw her standing at 10-14 on the year. But in recent weeks she's finally started to hit her stride, beginning with her semifinal run in Berlin and, perhaps, reaching her peak on Day 3 of Wimbledon against Andreescu.



Cornet never let Andreescu breathe in their match-up today. While the Pastry was streaking around the court, keeping her feet and directing shots with expert precision, Andreescu was never comfortable on the AELTC lawns in her first appearance in the tournament since her 2017 debut. She seemed to have learned nothing about how to play Cornet since her last loss to her, was far from confident in her footing, and committed 22 unforced errors in the opening set alone. After Cornet took the 1st at 6-2, she roared to a 4-0 lead in the 2nd. A frustrated Andreescu fell in game #5, and her butt-down, head-down reaction to her plight was easily understandable to even anyone who had no clue about any of her recent distractions.



Naturally, Cornet couldn't leave the stage without something dramatic. She found the perfect exclamation point for her win on MP, as she sent a running lob over a helpless Andreescu's head into the far corner of the court. The Canadian could only shake her head at the audacity of the shot, while Cornet reveled in the "Did I do that?" moment.



In the end, Andreescu had 34 UE in the fifteen games, falling to 1-3 on the grass this summer while still seeking her maiden Wimbledon match win (from the looks of things today, it's going to take some work). While the Canadian has often won big (Indian Wells, Toronto, U.S. Open) or come close (Miami final), other than her title run in New York the fact remains that she is 3-5 (w/ a walkover loss) in all her other slam appearances (1-3 in '21), with three 1st and three 2nd Round exits on her ledger. Of course, staying healthy is -- as always -- the key. This Wimbledon was *still* only her eighth event back since her knee injury in the WTA Finals to end her '19 season.

Cornet's win makes her 5-2 on the grass this summer, with two Top 10 wins (both vs. Andreescu) and another Top 15 (Muguruza). Her appearance today marked her 58th consecutive slam MD, good for third all-time in WTA history and still on schedule to match Ai Sugiyama's women's record of 62 at SW19 next year. Cornet has never reached a major QF, but has come ever so close with Round of 16 finishes at all four slams. The stat goes along quite nicely with her 22 Top 10 wins, six titles and multiple wins over the likes of a handful of players who *will* be enshrined in Newport one day, including Simona Halep, Venus Williams, Angelique Kerber and Serena Williams (remarkably, *three* times in 2014 alone).

Wherever Cornet ultimately stands in the history of French tennis, or tennis in general, make no mistake that she'll occupy that space without apology or refrain. To do anything else just wouldn't be Alizé.






=DAY 3 NOTES=
...on Day 3, what has traditionally been known as "Rad Remembrance Day" at Backspin in commemoration of likely the most crazy and chaotic day (June 26, 2013) in the history of the tournament, the craziness that engulged the AELTC this time around was a mad dash to try to complete the 1st Round (and get the 2nd back on schedule) after two days of rain delays.

After seeing on Monday the first action at SW19 in 715 days, it was as if the tournament was seeking to get all the "missing" matches from 2020 in on a single day. With the start of doubles action put off until tomorrrow (and the men's doubles' early rounds cut to best-of-three), 23 women's 1st Round encounters were set to be played or completed alongside courts featuring the first 16 2nd Rounders as well as 41 additional men's singles matches (27 1r/14 2r).

While the slips and falls that led to back-to-back Centre Court retirements yesterday continued (minus the retirements), the day began with the unusual news that a pair of lucky losers -- Astra Sharma and Tsvetana Pironkova -- were being added to the draw three days into the event due to the injury-related (not COVID) withdrawals of qualifier Lesia Tsurenko and Danka Kovinic. Once play began, two Top 5 women's seeds (and a total of three in the Top 10) were ousted, longtime Wimbledon "marathon" man John Isner *lost* a five-setter, and 41-year old five-time champ Venus Williams was defeated a day after her sister left the tournament due to injury (marking just the fourth time in their long slam history that neither reached the 3rd Round of a major, and the first time ever at Wimbledon, where Venus became the first Williams to make her debut 24 years ago).

Neither of the women's *new* lucky losers lasted for long, but they took very different paths to do so. Pironkova, a 2010 semifinalist, was quickly dispensed by Yulia Putintseva 6-3/6-1 early in the day (likely before many people had even discovered that she was *back* in the event). Sharma nearly turned her stroke of luck golden. She led Kristyna Pliskova 4-2 in the 3rd set, only to drop the final four games (being broken at love to end the match) and return to the role of spectator all over again.

...Pliskova (2010) was one of five former girls champions crowned in the last ten Wimbledons who were in action on Day 3. Joining the Czech in the winner's circle were 2018 champ Iga Swiatek, who defeated 2010 Ladies finalist Vera Zvonareva 1 & 3 in a 2nd Round match-up, and 2014 winner Alona Ostapenko. This past weekend's Eastbourne champ continued her momentum with 6-1/6-2 1st Round victory over Leylah Fernandez. It's the Latvian's first SW19 win since reaching the semifinals in '18. She'll next get #31 Dasha Kasatkina (def. Patricia Maria Tig in three today), who she brushed off in three sets in the Eastbourne QF last week.



2017 junior winner Claire Liu fell 6-4/6-4 to #18-seed Elena Rybakina in a 2nd Round match, while #9-seeded '13 girls champ Belinda Bencic saw her once-promising grass season come to a crashing end at the hands of 20-year old Slovenian Kaja Juvan in the 1st Round.

Already a veteran of three successful slam qualifying runs over the last two years, the #102-ranked Juvan has packed a lot of moments into her short pro career even while remaining well under the sport's radar. Two years ago she took Serena Williams to three sets in their 2nd Round encounter at SW19, then in '20 posted an Acapulco win over Venus Williams in which she saved seven MP. At last fall's Roland Garros she ousted #18-seeded Angelique Kerber in the 1st Round, then saw #13 Johanna Konta retire against her in the opener at this year's Australian Open. Prior to that, she'd taken Iga Swiatek to three sets in the pre-AO Gippsland event in Melbourne. Since then, though, Juvan has missed time after a positive COVID test in March. She entered today having lost five straight matches.

Bencic, on the other hand, opened her grass season by reaching the Berlin final in an event in which she also pulled off what may very well be the WTA Shot of the Year come the fall. But that four-game run, ended by a loss to Liudmila Samsonova, has now turned into a 1-3 skid carrying her into the summer hard court season and Olympics. The #9-seeded Swiss dropped the first five games to Juvan today before getting on the board. After giving up a mid-set break in the 2nd, Bencic went out 6-3/6-3 with little fanfare.



Juvan finds herself in the now Serena-less section of the draw effectively headed up by former champ Kerber (#25) and #20 Coco Gauff. The Slovenian will face off with qualifier Clara Burel next, with Gauff (and maybe a great chance to finally register on that aforementioned radar) a potentially significant 3rd Round obstacle.

...one is always on Upset Alert whenever Elina Svitolina takes the court in a major, and the #3-seeded Ukrainian did indeed have the usual sorts of mini-stumbles in her match against Alison Van Uytvanck that made one wonder if the flood gates might open that would wash her out the All-England Club front gate, or at least seem antithetical to any sort of change of pattern that might lead to her changing course and finally truly challenging to take her first major. Svitolina dropped the 2nd set and was forced to a decider. There she broke the Waffle to take a 5-2 lead, only to give back the break a game later when she tried to serve out the win. She broke Van Uytvanck to end the match, though, moving into the 2nd Round two years after walking a fortunate path through the fortnight into her maiden slam semifinal helped along by the well-timed retirement of an opponent at about this very stage in the event (only in a 2nd Round match, not a 1st).



...meanwhile, Roland Garros finalist Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova defeated Ana Bogdan 2 & 2, as the #16-seed recorded her first Wimbledon win since 2016. After reaching her maiden SW19 QF the year, the Russian had gone 0-3 at the AELTC until today.



All four of the U.S. women who reached the U.S. Open semifinals four years ago were in action at Wimbledon today. In 2nd Round matches, #23 Madison Keys advanced past Lauren Davis, while Sloane Stephens eliminated lucky loser Kristie Ahn late in the day. In between, CoCo Vandeweghe's summer grass court comeback picked up a little more traction with a straight sets victory over Olga Govortsova in what was the first SW19 appearance by the former two-time quarterfinalist (2015 & '17) since 2018. Wimbledon is by far Vandeweghe's best slam (she's 12-8 there, while being under .500 in each of the other three majors), but her best slam results remain her SF runs in Melbourne and Flushing Meadows in 2017.



Back a day after winning her 90th career Wimbledon match in her 90th career slam MD, Venus Williams (the fourth of the '17 U.S. semifinalists) simply didn't have as much to give today against #21-seeded Birmingham champ Ons Jabeur, falling 7-5/6-0.



...elsewhere, #82 Madison Brengle, who saved four MP against Christina McHale in the 1st Round, eliminated #4-seeded countrywoman Sofia Kenin 2 & 4 today, reaching her sixth career slam 3rd Round. Her lone Round of 16 came in Melbourne in 2015.

In her 1st Round match, #24 Anett Kontaveit did, well, the typical sort of Kontaveit thing. After reaching the Eastbourne final this weekend, the Estonian today fell 2-6/6-4/6-2 to Marketa Vondrousova. It's her first opening round exit at SW19 since 2016 after three consecutive 3rd Round results, as well as a step back after reaching that round or better in six of the last seven majors (including her first slam QF at the '20 AO).

Now, losing to a Czech at Wimbledon, and one who was playing in a slam final two years ago in Paris, wouldn't normally seem like a big disappointment. But consider that Vondrousova was not only 0-2 on grass this month coming into this match, but she was 1-10 in WTA MD matches on the surface in her career. *That's* what makes this sort of result a very head-shaking, albeit unfortunately typical, sort of slam result for Kontaveit, one of the more perplexingly disappointing players on tour in recent years whose stumbles (unlike those of say a Svitolina or Sabalenka) nonetheless slip through the cracks because -- outside of Estonia, I suppose -- she's generally left a very understated footprint (results or social media coverage-wise) on tour since her then-promising U.S. Open Round of 16 run in '16 in just her third career slam MD.

Wild card Liudmila Samsonova kept up her hot streak by defeating #22 Jessica Pegula today, making it 82 of the last 84 majors with at least one Russian in the 3rd Round.

...#4 Kenin and #5 Andreescu aside, what would have been the biggest upset of the day nearly occurred on Centre Court in a match featuring a British wild card.



Katie Boulter came into this day at #219, still plugging away and trying to make up lost ground after her forward (and upward) momentum was severely stalled two years ago when she gave her all in a Fed Cup tie and was "rewarded" with a lower back injury for her troubles. She had nearly cracked the Top 80 at the time, and her road back has been slow and steady (and surely bogged down even more by last year's shutdown).

Boulter was on her game early today against #2-seeded Aryna Sabalenka, not only trying to finally reach a slam QF but also the Wimbledon *3rd Round* for the very first time. She'd been the first player to advance out of the 1st Round on Day 1, and for a time today looked as if she might be the very first ousted in the 2nd.

Boulter claimed the 1st set 6-4, and was holding her own with the Belarusian in the 2nd. She'd held a GP for 3-3 in the set, only to see a Sabalenka return skim the top of the net and the Belarusian deny her the game. Instead she broke for a 4-2 lead. With Sabalenka seeking to serve out the 2nd at 5-3, Boulter took a love/30 lead and held a BP. But Sabalenka held for 6-3 to knot the match, then took an early break lead in the 3rd. But she failed to consolidate her lead and the set was knotted at 2-2.

At 2-2, 40/15 on Boulter's serve, a Sabalenka ball was called long, but the Belarusian challenged the call, saw it reversed, and then went on to get the break with four consecutive points. She held in 1:09 a game later, firing back-to-back aces to end for a 4-2 lead. Two games later, Sabalenka was a bit shaky, DF'ing to start and falling behind 15/40. Ultimately she saved six BP in the game, often with big serves, and held for a 5-3 lead. With a show of strength overwhelming what had been a tight contest, Sabalenka quickly reached MP on Boulter's serve a game later and won 4-6/6-3/6-3.



Three days in, world #4 Sabalenka has already posted her career best Wimbledon result, but she's still got work to do. She remains one of just three players in the Open era (Anna Smashnova, Anabel Medina Garrigues) with ten or more tour singles titles but without a slam semifinal, as well as being one of just two current players ranked in the Top 20 (#20 Rybakina) without a major semi. Additionally, she's the only woman in the Top 30 without at least one slam QF (the others in the Top 50 are #32 Kudermetova, #36 Alexandrova, #38 Yastremska, #44 Linette and #50 Sorribes Tormo).

...at one point today it looked like the Last Brit Standing award might deserve an asterisk. With the rest of the British women who'd played 1st Round matches having gone 0-6, and Boulter losing in her 2nd Round match, 18-year old wild card Emma Raducanu had yet to finish her *1st* Rounder against Vitalia Diatchenko when Sabalenka finally advanced. When the Boulter match ended, Raducanu was tied 5-5 in the 1st with the Russian. Had she gone on to lose, Boulter would have claimed sole possession of the LBS even while the teenager would have been the last Brit *playing* in this women's draw.

But then Raducanu took care of all that and just flat-out won the match, taking a 1st set TB and then bageling the Hordette to close out the 7-6(4)/6-0 win, the first of her slam career. Of the eight players to make their maiden MD appearance at a major in 2021, Raducanu is just the second (Danilovic/AO) to post a first-match victory.



...as it turned out, the only scheduled women's match today that didn't finish was the one between #15 Maria Sakkari and Shelby Rogers, which was called after Rogers took the opening set.

Bravo, everyone!

...in all, with the 1st Round finally complete, the U.S. led the way with thirteen (of 21) women reaching the 2nd Round, followed by the Czech Republic (7), Russia (7), Belarus (3) and Spain (3).

As far the early-round awards, the "Upset Queens" goes to the Czechs (7-2 overall even with Kvitova's loss, and with upsets of seeded #28 Riske and #24 Kontaveit in the 1st Round by, respectively, Tereza Martincova and Vondrousova). While the U.S. women have the numbers, I'm giving the "Revelation Ladies" honor to the South American contingent of Colombia's Maria Camila Osorio Serrano and Argentina's Nadia Podoroska, both of whom (as the only players from the continent in the draw) notched 1st Round victories. Osorio's was her first in a major (she got #2 today over #32 Alexandrova), while Podoroska's was just her second outside of her RG semi last year. She lost today to Martincova, dropping a 2nd set TB after having seemed poised to push things to a 3rd set after rallying from 5-3 down.

"The Nation of Poor Souls" ceremony will have to wait, at least for a day or two. Even with Boulter's near-upset, the British women seemed to have that one locked up. Heather Watson's earlier loss after holding MP vs. LL Kristie Ahn seemed like icing on the proverbial cake. But then Radacanu won, improving the overall GBR 1st Round performance to a more respectable 2-6 (not accounting #27-seed Johanna Konta's withdrawal on Sunday). If Juvan hadn't knocked off Bencic, Slovenia would have then gotten the nod with a 0-3 mark one slam after both Zidansek and Hercog reached the 3rd Round in Paris and the former became the first from the nation to reach a slam semifinal. But Juvan won. Canada might be an alternate choice, with both Andreescu and Fernandez losing while Bouchard is out for quite a while with an injury. Meanwhile, China is 1-3, but not much was expected there.

The Brits might still get it, but I'll hold off for until the 2nd Round is complete.





...LIKE ON DAY 3:

The simple Wimbledon Twitter header...





...UMMM... ON DAY 3:

If only they could have imported the Geico gecko for this it might have worked...





...FIRST UP ON THE POST-TOURNAMENT AELTC AGENDA MEETING... ON DAY 3:




...DAY 2 POSTSCRIPT... ON DAY 3:







SW 19 Memories...


Aga Radwanska loses in three sets to Serena Williams in the 2012 Wimbledon final




June 26, 2013 (Day 3) - "The Radwanskian Massacre"




Radwanska, the highest seed remaining in the semis, loses to Sabine Lisicki




Marion Bartoli defeats Lisicki in the 2013 Ladies final























kosova-font














kosova-font

*BOTH VENUS & SERENA OUT BEFORE SLAM 3rd ROUND*
2012 Roland Garros - Serena 1r/Razzano; Venus 2r/A.Radwanska
2014 Roland Garros - Serena 2r/Muguruza; Venus 2r/AK.Schmiedlova
2020 Roland Garros - Serena 2r walkover/Pironkova; Venus 1r/AK.Schmiedlova
2021 Wimbledon - Serena 1r ret./Sasnovich; Venus 2r/Jabeur

*FIRST SLAM MD WINS*
=AO=
Olga Danilovic, SRB
Liudmila Samsonova, RUS
Mayar Sherif, EGY
Nina Stojanovic, SRB
=RG=
Hailey Baptiste, USA
Tereza Martincova, CZE
Harmony Tan, FRA
=WI=
Lesley Pattinama Kerkhove, NED
Maria Camila Osorio Serrano, COL
Emma Raducanu, GBR

*WIMBLEDON "CRASH & BURN" WINNERS*
2008 Maria Sharapova, RUS (2nd Rd.)
2009 Maria Sharapova, RUS (2nd Rd.)
2010 Francesca Schiavone, ITA & Samantha Stosur, AUS (1st; RG finalists)
2011 Jelena Jankovic, SRB (1st Rd.)
2012 Caroline Wozniacki, DEN (1st Rd.)
2013 Nadia Petrova, RUS (1st Rd.)
2014 Sloane Stephens, USA (1st Rd.)
2015 Genie Bouchard, CAN & Simona Halep, ROU (both 1st Rd.)
2016 Garbine Muguruza, ESP (RG champ; 2nd Rd.)
2017 Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, RUS (1st Rd; 7 MP)
2018 Petra Kvitova, CZE (1st Rd.)
2019 Naomi Osaka, JPN (1st Rd.)
2021 Serena Williams, USA & Petra Kvitova, CZE (6/11 Wimb. titles; both 1st Rd.)

*WIMBLEDON "REVELATION LADIES" NATIONS*
2006 Serbia
2007 France
2008 Russia
2009 Italy (veterans)
2010 Romania
2011 Great Britain
2012 Netherlands
2013 Australia/New Zealand
2014 Czech Republic
2015 Switzerland
2016 Russia
2017 Great Britain
2018 Great Britain
2019 Russia
2021 South America

*WIMBLEDON "UPSET QUEENS" NATIONS*
2004 Great Britain
2005 United States
2006 Great Britain
2007 Austria
2008 Russia
2009 Germany
2010 Czech Republic
2011 Russia
2012 United States
2013 Czech Republic
2014 United States
2015 United States
2016 Germany
2017 United States
2018 United States
2019 Slovenia
2021 Czech Republic










TOP QUALIFIER: Ana Konjuh/CRO
TOP EARLY-ROUND (1r-2r): xx
TOP MIDDLE-ROUND (3r-QF): xx
TOP LATE-ROUND (SF-F): xx
TOP QUALIFYING MATCH: Q3 - Lesley Pattinama Kerhkove/NED def. Jule Niemeier/GER 6-4/2-6/9-7 (saved 2 MP)
TOP EARLY-RD. MATCH (1r-2r): xx
TOP MIDDLE-RD. MATCH (3r-QF): xx
TOP LATE-RD. MATCH (SF-F/Jr.-WC): xx
=============================
FIRST VICTORY: Aryna Sabalenka/BLR (def. Niculescu - first official match at AELTC in 715 days)
FIRST SEED OUT: #10 Petra Kvitova/CZE (1st Rd.-Stephens)
FIRST SLAM MD WINS: Lesley Pattinama Kerkhove/NED, Maria Camila Osorio Serrano/COL, Emma Raducanu/GBR
UPSET QUEENS: Czech Republic
REVELATION LADIES: South America
NATION OF POOR SOULS: xx
LAST QUALIFIER STANDING: In 2r: Burel, Kerkhove (L), Liu (L), Osorio Serrano (W); (LL in 2r: Ahn)
LAST WILD CARD STANDING: In 2r: Boulter (L), Raducanu, Samsonova (W)
PROTECTED RANKING WINS: In 2r: Petkovic, Vandeweghe, Vesnina
LAST BRIT STANDING: In 2r: Boulter (L), Raducanu
Ms./Miss OPPORTUNITY: xx
IT "...": xx
COMEBACK PLAYER: xx
CRASH & BURN: #6 Serena Williams, USA & #10 Petra Kvitova, CZE (both 1st Rd;. won 6 of last 11 Wimbledon; Williams ret. for second career 1r slam exit)
ZOMBIE QUEEN OF LONDON (early-round): Nominees: Ahn (LL; 1r saved MP vs. Watson); Brengle (1r-McHale 4 MP and served for match three times)
ZOMBIE QUEEN OF LONDON (mid/late-round): xx
DOUBLES STAR: xx
VETERAN PLAYER (KIMIKO CUP): xx
JUNIOR BREAKOUT: xx
SPIRIT OF JANA (NOVOTNA) HONOREES: xx
RAD REMEMBRANCE DAY malevolent activity notes...
=June 26 official=
All quiet, but on 25th Ula Radwanska loses in final qualifying round and on 27th top-ranked Brit Konta w/d due to COVID quarantine
=Day 3 observed=
After two days of rain following a 715-day break since the last Wimbledon, the Day 3 schedule includes 39 women's (23 1r/16 2r) and 41 men's (27 1r/14 2r) singles matches. Slips and falls that led to back-to-back Centre Court retirements (including S.Williams) on Day 2 continued, and the day began with the unusual news that a pair of lucky losers -- Astra Sharma and Tsvetana Pironkova -- were being added to the draw three days into the event due to injuries (both former semifinalist Tsvetana Pironkova and Astra Sharma lost, the latter after holding a 4-2 3rd set lead). In all, three Top 10 women's seeds (#4 Kenin, #5 Andreescu and #9 Bencic) were ousted, longtime Wimbledon "marathon" man John Isner *lost* a five-setter, and 41-year old five-time champ Venus Williams was defeated a day after her sister left the tournament due to injury (marking just the fourth time in their long slam history that neither reached the 3rd Round of a major, and the first time ever at Wimbledon, where Venus became the first Williams to make her debut 24 years ago).






All for Day 3. More tomorrow.

posted by Todd.Spiker @ 9:38 PM 

5 Comments:

Blogger colt13 said...

Andreescu has 75% of her points from Canada, IW and US Open. Could drop as low as 50 in 3 months. With that said, gained points here, because a first round loss is worth more than the mandatory zero she got in 2019.

USA Olympic Team- Brady, Gauff, Pegula, Riske. Doubles- Gauff/Melichar, Pegula/Mattek-Sands.

There are different types of losses. Regular losses, then the ones with the X factor.

2014 Serena Wimbledon doubles(viral infection) and 2010 Azarenka US Open(concussion) are one type.

The horrid one was Serena losing to Konta in San Jose after her sister's killer was set free.

Then there is the head scratcher. 2008 French Open- Vaidisova's loss to Benesova. 38 UE and didn't seem right.

We actually had a match today that felt similar. Brengle-Kenin. A shockingly listless performance, it makes you wonder if something is wrong with Kenin. 41 UE later, she not only lost, but withdrew from the Olympics.

Stat of the Day- 134- Career high ranking for Great Britain's Karen Cross.

Cross came back into the news this week, because Katie Swan qualified for Wimbledon, making her the first British woman to have done so in 20 years, when Cross did.

That was actually the second time that Cross did, also doing so in 1997. That year, she reached the 3rd rd, which not only was her best slam result, but the only time in her career that she won back to back main draw matches on tour.

That wasn't for lack of trying. In Wimbledon's main draw 7 times, 5 with WC, she tried to make her mark on tour, but had little success. She never made the main draw of any other slam, going 0-7 in qualifying.

One reason why Brits didn't qualify, is that the good players got MDWC while low ranked players tried to step up. It wasn't pretty.

194-2010 Naomi Cavaday
217-2017 Tara Moore
225-2019 Naiktha Bains

See the three names above? They are the only British women in the last 20 years to play Q by rank. 3! The WC spots? 126.

Swan was ranked 292. Cross' 1997 run? 322.

Wed Jun 30, 10:48:00 PM EDT  
Blogger Todd.Spiker said...

USA Olympics Team: that list is a little like the "Sesame Street" thing where they go, "one of these things is not like the others, one of these doesn't belong"

Andreescu can still "save" her season in the part of the schedule that *should* give her the best chance. You get the feeling she'll be exhilarated to get off the grass.

Thu Jul 01, 03:59:00 AM EDT  
Blogger Diane said...

FYI: Alize does possess the beautiful Lenglen Leap!

Since we're talking about all things Radwanska: This morning, a commentator said that the first set between Kerber and Sorribes Tormo (whose name he couldn't pronounce, but--take a number) was the best set of tennis he'd ever seen. I got to see only about half of it, and it was indeed wonderful. However, this made me think of the best set of tennis that I've ever seen, although mine--unlike that between Angie and Sara--was one-sided. That was the quarterfinal 2nd set of Radwanska, against Azarenka, at the 2014 Australian Open.

Thu Jul 01, 05:37:00 PM EDT  
Blogger Todd.Spiker said...

I never like to re-watch matches I've already seen, but I often find myself thinking about this one.

This is what I said at the time.

2016 Doha QF - Aga Radwanska def. Roberta Vinci

...3-6/6-2/6-3. Radwanska may have ultimately come up well short in the Doha semifinals vs. CSN, but before that she delivered a brilliant performance in a crazy-good QF match vs. Vinci. In a contest that was either a criminally short 1:51 or a perfectly condensed masterpiece, the quality of the tennis was in no way evident in the deceiving final scoreline. With their somewhat similar, variety-loving styles perfectly complementing one another, Radwanska and Vinci alternated flashes of aggression and trick shot artistry for three complete, crowd-pleasing and awe-inspiring sets of competition that left not only the fans on the sidelines having to pick their jaws off the floor, but the players (well, at least Roberta, who was heard to loudly mutter "Not fair!" at one point), as well.

An on-fire Vinci dominated the 1st, but Radwanska slowly but surely began to seize control of the match's momentum soon afterward, pulling off roughly (and conservatively) a dozen to twenty shots (including three in a single game, if memory serves correctly) that would be in the running for Shot of the Month/Year if, you know, Aga was a regular mortal and the rules of shotmaking that apply to everyone else were something by which her particularly magical skills were even slightly constrained. Setting Twitter aflame, leaving an in-form Vinci nonetheless shaking her head and then admitting afterward that even she is occasionally surprised when some of her shots land in, this was a case of Aga at her Radwanskian best. So much so that you almost forgive her having nothing left to give a day later in the SF. Vinci's final surge to turn a 4-1 3rd set deficit into a not-a-runaway final stanza secured the goods that ensure this match being included on the short list for, at the very least, the "Most Enjoyable Match" of 2016. In fact, at this point, it's atop already impressive heap.

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This is the one that caused this reaction in the stands (still one of my all-time favorites):

https://twitter.com/WTA/status/702962176395325440

And Radwanska to tweet this:

https://twitter.com/ARadwanska/status/703003019865001985

Thu Jul 01, 06:56:00 PM EDT  
Blogger Diane said...

Oh, that match was crazy-time. In a way, Vinci was the perfect opponent for Aga, forcing her to come up with more and more and more, which she did. I remember how "entertaining" the on-court coaching was, too!

I have a collection of Aga videos, and--believe it or not--highlights of both the AO and the Doha matches aren't in it. I just never got around to grabbing them, but I need to.

Thu Jul 01, 07:18:00 PM EDT  

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