Sunday, May 22, 2022

RG.1- The Late (Morning/Afternoon) Show with Sloane Stephens

With Sloane Stephens, things are always, umm, interesting.




With the (often sudden) peaks and valleys that have marked her career almost always more extreme -- and intermittently either wildly encouraging (i.e. "Future Sloane") or frustratingly cataclysmic (i.e. almost anything *other* than the prospect of "Future Sloane") -- than your average player, every time Stephens hits the court it feels like an occasion worthy of fancy printed invitations, or maybe posters promising an "Afternoon with Sloane" production filled with "highs, lows, certain and culminating demise, and comforting triumph all in one sitting (but not necessarily experienced in that exact chronological order)."

With Stephens comes a consistent expectation... mainly that all expectation should go out the window where she's concerned. Then, and only then, is absolutely anything possible.

Today's Day 1 match against German qualifier Jule Niemeier was no exception, as it was a contest that had a morning start on Court Suzanne-Lenglen (where else would one place such a dramatic character?) that seemed set to end by brunch before turning into an afternoon affair that eventually had Stephens commenting with great interest about French pharmacies after trying (unsuccessfully) to pull a "what is this red stuff we're paying on?" act during her post-match interview.

In other words, your typical "Sloane Show."

Niemeier, 22, was making her slam MD debut after having dominated last week's qualifying tournament, dropping just seven games in three matches after this season having won a $60K title (her biggest so far) and cracked the Top 100 (she arrived as #103) a season after reaching a pair of WTA semis (both on clay) in her first extensive tour-level action in '21. Meanwhile, former Roland Garros finalist Stephens was (not quite literally) limping into Paris, having followed up her first tour title in four years (at Guadalajara in February) with a 1-6 skid that most recently included a fifth straight loss in Strasbourg to a lucky loser (who hadn't even reached the final round of qualifying in the event) ranked outside the Top 300.

For most of the match, Niemeier looked like the player who'd ultimately prove to be the winner. Breaking Stephens in the ninth game of the opening set, the German served for the match lead at 5-4. She succumbed to nerves and Stephens got the break, but Niemeier got it back and then served out the set at 7-5, raising her arms and calling on the crowd to cheer as she walked to the changeover area.



Stephens led 2-0 in the 2nd, but Niemeier battled back to get the set back on serve and then held from love/40 down for 3-3. At 4-4, Stephens trailed love/15 when her forehand bounced high off the net, producing a sitter shot for Niemeier to get within two points of serving for the match. But the German's forehand shot flew out of bounds. Stephens soon got the hold, then broke Niemeier to knot the match with a 6-4 win in the set.

Niemeier went off court for a medical time out between sets, and after returning with a wrap on her leg was never quite the same. Many more errors flowed off her racket, and Stephens quickly built a big lead on the scoreboard. Maybe it was the pressure of the moment, or the injury, or Stephens finally finding her renowned comfort zone and flowing like few on tour can (from the pool of individuals not not named Iga, at least). Or maybe it was a perfect storm that featured a significant percentage of all three. Either way, Stephens soon led 5-0, and after back-to-back-to-back love games had won 21 of 22 points.

Naturally, Sloane is nothing if not consistently inconsistent when it comes to maintaining a match temperature, so of course she was soon broken at love herself, then saw Niemeier take a 30/love lead on serve at 5-2, opening the door for all sorts of doomsday scenarios to drift through the mind of a seasoned Stephens Watcher. The German held a GP to force Stephens to attempt to serve out the win for a second time, but let the moment slip away. In the blink of an eye, Stephens found herself at match point. She got the break to put a wrap on the almost two and a half hour show, winning by a 5-7/6-4/6-2 score.

Once more we got a classic (Past, Present or Future) Sloane match, as she successfully traversed the stage as the set decoration not-quite-imperceptibly turned from dystopian landscape to optimistic ("hey, it's Sloane, so you never know...") field of daisies before the day was barely half over.



While Niemeier, the first of the core of the German New Generation movement to reach a slam MD (Nastasja Schunk will be the second, as she's gotten a reprieve in the role of a lucky loser, and will face Simona Halep), didn't get her maiden win in a major, one doesn't have to squint to see that there might be something there to keep a close eye on.



For Stephens, this marks her tenth consecutive 1st Round win at Roland Garros, the major that she *didn't* win but still stands as the one where she's been her most consistent self. A finalist in 2018 in Paris, Stephens has put together a 29-10 mark at RG, her best at any slam when it comes to both victories and win percentage. Her only 1st Round exit came in her 2011 debut at age 18.

(And, by the way, kudos to Jon Wertheim in the post-match Tennis Channel interview for not letting Sloane get away with the sort of "I haven't won on clay..." misdirection she attempted to utilize to explain her difficulty in winning this match *at her best major*. In the end, through, she seemed far happier talking about Tiktok and French pharmacies, which I guess served as an entertaining encore performance to close out this particular show.)



Just how far down the rabbit hole the Stephens story will go at this slam is anyone's guess. It could last one more round, or maybe six, and whatever happens enough people would say "I knew it" that neither result would be all that much of a surprise.

So, until next time... be sure to check showtimes for the next crazy Sloane adventure.




=DAY 1 NOTES=
...in Paris on Day 1, someone has to be the first. This year it was #26-seeded Sorana Cirstea, who became the second consecutive Romanian (after Ana Bogdan last year) to notch the First Victory at Roland Garros with her defeat of Bogota champ Tatjana Maria on Sunday by a 6-3/6-3 score. In the seeming "race" with #6 Ons Jabeur, Cirstea's hold for 5-3 in the 2nd on Court 6 put her two games ahead of the Tunisian (her closest First Victory competitor, up a set and 3-3 vs. Magda Linette on Chatrier). Cirstea then broke the German to secure the win, the 17th (more than at any other major) in her RG career. Cirstea reached the Round of 16 in Paris last year.



As Linette began to stretch things out (sending the 2nd set to a TB, and then a deciding 3rd), Camila Osorio slippped in to defeat Pastry wild card Harmony Tan 6-4/6-3 on Court 14 to become the second woman to reach the Final 64.

The Jabeur/Linette match then quicky became "a thing," as the heavy conditions didn't play to the #6 seed's advantage, and maybe the pressure of expectation that she entered this major with (really, for the first time in her slam career) began to wear on the Madrid champion and Rome finalist.

The women's Madrid event has only been around since 2009, but the three previous women to reach the finals at both of the big EuroClay events leading into RG -- Dinara Safina, Serena Williams and Simona Halep... granted, all players who reached #1 -- also (at least) reached the final in Paris. That won't happen for the Tunisian, though, as she became the First Seed Out at this event, dropping a second straight match to a Polish woman (with only the first being named Iga, who'd ended Jabeur's 11-match clay winning streak two weekends ago in Italy).



After seeming to be on her way to a straight sets win, even in a match that had loomed as a potentially tricky 1st Round encounter, Jabeur soon found herself down 4-2 in the 3rd. Linette held game points for a 5-2 bulge, but Jabeur got the break to get back on serve as rain made the possibility real that the Chatrier roof might be closed for the first time. Jabeur battled out of a 15/40 hold to knot the set at 4-all, but two games later saw the Pole get within a single point of MP on three occasions before the #6 seed again held.

Serving at 5-6 to reach a deciding TB, Jabeur took a 40/love lead, only to then see her '22 Roland Garros experience crumble beneath her feet. She never won another point, badly shanking an overhead and dropping five straight points as Linette won 3-6/7-6(4)/7-5, getting her first career Top 10 win over the same player who'd defeated *her* in the 3rd Round last year in Paris while dropping just one game in the final two sets of their three-set affair.



Thus, we (possibly?) add Jabeur to the list of players (see Kontaveit and Ostapenko, for starters) this season who were seemingly flying high when they met Swiatek on the court, only to then be crushed by the current world #1 and then have a hard time getting back to their feet in subsequent matches, their proverbial balloon of confidence and momentum effectively punctured.



A year ago, Jabeur won her first career tour title (in Birmingham) and reached the Wimbledon QF on grass, so we'll soon see if the "Iga Curse" has any legs where she's concerned.

...elsewhere, Brazil's Beatriz Haddad Maia made it another South American (w/ Osorio) in the 2nd Round as she down qualifier Cristina Bucsca in three to record her first career RG MD victory. This was Haddad's first MD appearance in Paris since 2017.

Karolina Muchova, now down at #81 with all her injury-related inactivity over the past two seasons, opened with a straight sets win over French wild Carole Monnet, making her slam MD debut. The Czech has reached at least the 3rd Round in seven of the ten previous major MD in which she's appeared, and the Round of 16 in three of the last five (she missed this year's AO), but she arrived in Paris having played just five matches on the season (going 3-2, 1-2 on clay) since returning in Miami after being off tour since the U.S. Open.

Meanwhile, #23 seed Jil Teichmann *finally* notched her maiden career RG main draw victory, defeating Bernarda Pera 2 & 1. The Swiss has excelled on (non-slam) big stages, posting three SF+ at 1000 events, including reaching the Cincinnati final last year. This spring she's reached the semis in Madrid and QF in Rome, but was forced to retire from her final match, bringing a reminder to Paris of how injuries (and inconsistency) have so often hindered her progress when it's come to majors (in ranking/seeding and, in turn, results... she'd only played one 1st Rd. match in Paris before today), where she'd previously been just 3-10 in MD matches. Her spring (and Cincy runner-up) helped her crack the Top 25 earlier this month, allowing for her seed at this RG.

So far, so good.

...maybe more than any other 1st Round match, it was easy to circle the one featuring #10 Garbine Muguruza and Kaia Kanepi as a potential, if not almost *expected*, "upset." Kanepi (currently #46) has feasted on seeds in majors her entire career, recording 9 of her 14 career Top 10 wins in slams coming into this RG. The soon-to-be 37-year old (next month) Estonian reached the QF at the Australian Open earlier this year, posting wins over Angelique Kerber and Aryna Sabalenka (and taking the soon-to-reign Queen Iga to three sets) as she completed her "Career QF Slam" some fourteen years after she'd reached her first final eight at a major in Paris in 2008.

At the same time, Muguruza has been stumbling through '22. Her 2nd Round exit in Rabat (to eventual champ Martina Trevisan, who had trailed the Spaniard by a set and 3-1) dropped her to 2-5 in her last seven, and 7-8 (2-3 on clay) on the year. In recent weeks, Kanepi has prepared for RG by qualifying in Madrid (w/ a win over Trevisan) then, in typical Kaia style, dropping down a level (but just one... as she's been known to slip into $25K challengers on occasion, too) to a WTA 125 tournament in Paris and defeating 17-year old Czech Linda Fruhvirtova (a full Emma Raducanu her junior in age) for the second time in two weeks on her way to the semifinals.

Muguruza claimed the 1st set, but again wasn't able to hold her lead. After Muguruza held from love/40 in game #1 in the 3rd, Kanepi saved three BP to hold for 2-2. The Estonian got the late break for a 5-4 lead, then served out the win to get her tenth career Top 10 victory in a major (so now 67% of her Top 10 wins have come in slams), winning 2-6/6-3/6-4. Muguruza's last three defeats (vs. Yulia Putintseva, Trevisan and today) have come after she won the opening set, as have five of her nine losses this season.



...in other matches, comebacks were often the story of the day.

21-year old Hordette Varvara Gracheva has already reached the 3rd Round at three majors since the start of 2020, and today she set herself up to make it four with a come from behind victory over Astra Sharma. The Australian led 5-3 in the 3rd set, and served at 5-4, but Gracheva swept the final four games to get the 4-6/6-4/7-5 win. Gracheva reached the 3rd Round last year in Paris.

Even with Sharma's loss and Ash Barty's retirement, there are still two of Sharma's fellow Aussies remaining in the women's draw in the still-to-play Ajla Tomljanovic and Dasha Saville. There is also one of Sharma's fellow Vanderbilt tennis alums, as Mexico's Fernanda Contreras qualified and will soon make her slam MD debut.



21-year old Serbian qualifier Olga Danilovic was a comeback machine last week, rallying in all three of her qualifying matches to reach her first RG MD. She trailed Rebeka Masaova 3-1 in the 3rd in the opener, was down a break in the final set vs. Simona Waltert in her second match, then defeated Viktoriya Tomova from a break down in the 3rd in the final round, as well. She was at it again on Sunday.

Dalma Galfi led Danilovic by a set and a break (twice) today, with the Hungarian serving for the match at 6-5 and holding double MP. Danilovic got the break, won a tie-break and then ran off to a 4-1 lead in the 3rd. Serving at 5-2, it took her a few MP to get the job done, but she posted her first win in Paris with a 3-6/7-6(4)/6-2 victory.



In her previous two slam MD, at last year's Australian and U.S. Opens, Danilovic also won 1st Round matches in her tournament debuts in both event.

...Kristina Mladenovic is a great doubles player. Maybe we should just leave it at that.

Well, ALL RIGHT. After winning a WTA 125 doubles title two weekends ago, the first WD crown for the '22 AO MX champ since she won the 2020 Roland Garros with Timea Babos (mostly because she seems content with losing in singles rather than doubling up by playing both disciplines or -- egads! -- maybe going the doubles specialist route that *could* cut a Hall of Fame path should she maximize her abilities -- she's already won eight total WD/MX slam titles, and at 29 could easily push that to 16+ over time if she went for it). The Pastry followed that up last week with her first WTA MD singles win of the season with a victory over countrywoman Tessah Andrianjafitrimo (then went three sets vs. Nuria Parrizas Diaz a round later). She came into Paris with a *smidge* of momentum for the first time in ages.

In her fourteenth consecutive MD appearance in Paris, behind only Alize Cornet's soon-to-be 18th straight at this event as the longest active home slam streak amongst the current crop of French women, Mladenovic was bageled (or should I say "macaroned," maybe?) by #17-seed Leylah Fernandez in the opening set. Mladenovic took a double-break lead at 3-0 in the 2nd, only to then lose seven of the final nine games to fall 6-0/7-5.

Mladenovic reached the QF in Paris in 2017, but since then has had 1r-2r-1r-2r-1r results in her home major. In fact, she's not gotten past the 3rd Round in any of the nineteen slams she's played since that RG run. It was in that '17 season that Mladenovic reached the Madrid final and Indian Wells semis, won her only tour singles title (Saint Petersburg) and cracked the Top 10. She's been chasing that season ever since, and 2017 continues to pull away.

Mladenovic's loss dropped the Pastries to 0-4 on Day 1, with nine more still to play in the 1st Round.

Meanwhile, after Lauren Davis' withdrawal precipitated a late change of opponents, with Hordette Anastasia Gasanova being installed as a lucky loser making her slam MD debut, Marie Bouzkova picked up her first career 1st Round win at Roland Garros, winning 2 & 1 to make it three Czechs moving through to the next round on Day 1. The Czechs went 3-0 on Sunday, equaling (with a better win percentage ) the total from the U.S. (3-1) for wins today.

...in ITF weekend action, Croatia's Tena Lukas, 27, picked up her ninth and biggest career title at the $60K challenger in Rome, defeating Chilean Barbara Gatica 6-1/6-4 in the final. She'll climb to a new career high of #220.



María Carlé's progress continued in the Pelham (Alabama) $60K as the 22-year old Argentine picked up her biggest career title, improving to 9-2 in ITF singles finals with a 1 & 1 win over Elvina Kalieva.



Elsewhere, 32-year old Ayumi Morita, her career often sidetracked by injury, claimed her first ITF singles title since 2011. Ranked #730, Morita, a Top 40 player eleven years ago, defeated China's Yao Xinxin 7-6/7-5 in the final to take the crown.

And Kayla Day, 22, picked up her first challenger crown since 2016 (when, at age 17, she knocked off Danielle Collins in a $50K in Macon, Georgia), defeating Mexico's Ana Sofia Sanchez 1 & 1 for the win. Day won the 2016 U.S. Open girls title and was the junior #1. A year later, she was ranked as high as #122, but has since struggled. She'll be ranked around #334 after this weekend.

...in Milan, 16-year old junior #12 Celine Naef won her second straight major junior crown, following up her Santa Croce Sull'Arno J1 run with another in this week's JA event. The #7 seed, Naef posted wins over Australian Taylah Preston (who'd upset Sofia Costoulas, who rebounded to win the doubles), #3-seed Ksenia Zaytseva and #5 Liv Hovde in a 6-7(3)/6-4/6-3 final. Naef had entered the final having won twenty straight sets. Bannerette Hovde had knocked off a pair of Top 4 seeds in #2 Diana Shnaider and #4 Lucie Havlickova en route to the final.

With her 11-match winning streak intact, Naef has gone 21-3 in junior play in '22, with two of those losses coming to #2 Costoulas.

...in wheelchair action, Yui Kamiji continued her recent resurgence, sweeping the titles at the Series 2 Barcelona Open in her first regular event since being bounced in her opening match at the Australian Open by Aniek Van Koot.

Earlier this month, Kamiji led Japan to its first Wheelchair World Team Cup crown, going 3-0 in singles and spearheading a win in the final over the Diede de Groot-less (she was injured in rr play) Dutch squad. This week, she extended her winning streak to six matches (de Groot's run currently stands at 48) with wins over Angelica Bernal, Lucky Shuker and KG Montjane in a 6-0/7-5 final. Kamiji & Montjane teamed to take the doubles title, saving match points and winning a 13-11 MTB over Shuker/Van Koot.



Roland Garros has been Kamiji's best slam, as she's won four of her eight major singles crowns in Paris. Meanwhile, de Groot's two wins (of 13 total) in Paris are currently her *lowest* at any of the four slams in terms of singles wins.

...the NCAA women's team championship will be determined in Champaign, Illinois on Sunday night, with a match-up (an "SEC-in-waiting" one, it turns out) between #2-seeded Oklahoma and #4 Texas, the defending champions.





...THROWBACK SUNDAY ON DAY 1:




..."SERENA FOR A DAY" (by Karolina M.)... ON DAY 1:

















kosova-font








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*RECENT RG "FIRST VICTORY" HONORS*
2015 Teliana Pereira/BRA (def. Ferro/FRA)
2016 A.Pavlyuchenkova/RUS (def. Sorribes Tormo/ESP)
2017 Petra Kvitova/CZE (def. Boserup/USA)
2018 Ekaterina Makarova/RUS (def. Sai.Zheng/CHN)
2019 Petra Martic/CRO (def. Jabeur/TUN)
2020 Kamilla Rakhimova/RUS (def. Rogers/USA)
2021 Ana Bogdan/ROU (def. Cocciaretto/ITA)
2022 Sorana Cirstea/ROU (def. Maria/GER)

*RECENT RG "FIRST SEED OUT"*
2015 #31 Caroline Garcia/FRA (Vekic/CRO)
2016 #32 Alona Ostapenko/LAT (Osaka/JPN)
2017 #31 Roberta Vinci/ITA (Puig/PUR)
2018 #9 Venus Williams/USA (Q.Wang/CHN)
2019 #5 Angelique Kerber/GER (Potapova/RUS)
2020 #17 Anett Kontaveit/EST (Garcia/FRA)
2021 #26 Angelique Kerber/GER (Kalinina/UKR)
2022 #6 Ons Jabeur/TUN (Linette/POL)

*MADRID/ROME FINALISTS, and RG result*
2009 Dinara Safina (W-W-RU)
2013 Serena Williams (W-W-W)
2017 Simona Halep (W-RU-RU)
2022 Ons Jabeur (W-RU-1r)

*KANEPI TOP 10 WINS AT SLAMS*
2008 Roland Garros 2nd Rd. - #6 Anna Chakvetadze
2010 Wimbledon 1st Rd. - #6 Samantha Stosur
2010 U.S. Open 3rd Rd. - #5 Jelena Jankovic
2012 Roland Garros 3rd Rd. - #9 Caroline Wozniacki
2013 Wimbledon 2nd Rd. - #7 Angelique Kerber
2014 Wimbledon 1st Rd. - #8 Jelena Jankovic
2018 U.S. Open 1st Rd. - #1 Simona Halep
2021 Australian Open 2nd Rd. - #4 Sofia Kenin
2022 Australian Open 4th Rd. - #2 Aryna Sabalenka
2022 Roland Garros 1st Rd. - #10 Garbine Muguruza

*NCAA WOMEN'S TOURNAMENT CHAMPIONS*
[recent singles winners]
2009 Mallory Cecil, Duke (USA)
2010 Chelsey Gullickson, Georgia (USA)
2011 Jana Juricova, California (SVK)
2012 Nicole Gibbs, Stanford (USA)
2013 Nicole Gibbs, Stanford (USA)
2014 Danielle Collins, Virginia (USA)
2015 Jamie Loeb, North Carolina (USA)
2016 Danielle Collins, Virginia (USA)
2017 Brienne Minor, Michigan (USA)
2018 Arianne Hartono, Mississippi (NED)
2019 Estela Perez-Somarriba, Miami (ESP)
2021 Emma Navarro, Virginia (USA)
2022
[recent doubles winners]
2010 Hilary Barte / Lindsay Burdette (Stanford)
2011 Hilary Barte / Mallory Burdette (Stanford)
2012 Mallory Burdette / Nicole Gibbs (Stanford)
2013 Kaitlyn Christian / Sabrina Santamaria (USC)
2014 Maya Jansen / Erin Routcliffe (Alabama)
2015 Maya Jansen / Erin Routcliffe (Alabama)
2016 Brooke Austin / Kourtney Keegan (Florida)
2017 Francesca Di Lorenzo / Miho Kowase (Ohio State)
2018 Jessica Golovin / Eden Richardson (LSU)
2019 Gabby Andrews / Ayan Broomfield (UCLA)
2021 Makenna Jones / Elizabeth Scotty (UNC)
2022
[overall singles champions by school]
14 - Stanford
4 - Florida
3 - Georgia, Virginia
2 - California, Duke, Miami
1 - Baylor, Georgia Tech, Michigan, Mississippi,
1 - San Diego, UCLA, USC, Wake Forest
[most singles titles]
2 - Sandra Birch, Stanford
2 - Danielle Collins, Virginia
2 - Patty Fendick, Stanford
2 - Nicole Gibbs, Stanford
2 - Laura Granville, Stanford
2 - Amber Liu, Stanford
2 - Lisa Raymond, Florida
[recent team champions]
2010 Stanford
2011 Florida
2012 Florida
2013 Stanford
2014 UCLA
2015 Vanderbilt
2016 Stanford
2017 Florida
2018 Stanford
2019 Stanford
2021 Texas
2022
[most team titles]
20 - Stanford
7 - Florida
3 - Texas
2 - Georgia, USC, UCLA
1 - Duke, Georgia Tech, Vanderbilt
[season-ending singles #1 - since 2000]
2000 Laura Granville, Stanford (USA)
2001 Laura Granville, Stanford (USA)
2002 Bea Bielik, Wake Forest (USA)
2003 Vilmarie Castellvi, Tennessee (PUR)
2004 Amber Liu, Stanford (USA)
2005 Megan Bradley, Miami (USA)
2006 Audra Cohen, Miami (USA)
2007 Audra Cohen, Miami (USA)
2008 Aurelija Miseviciute, Arkansas (LTU)
2009 Mallory Cecil, Duke (USA)
2010 Irina Falconi, Georgia Tech (USA)
2011 Jana Juricova, California (SVK)
2012 Nicole Gibbs, Stanford (USA)
2013 Lauren Embree, Florida (USA)
2014 Jamie Loeb, North Carolina (USA)
2015 Robin Anderson, UCLA (USA)
2016 Danielle Collins, Virginia (USA)
2017 Francesca Di Lorenzo, Ohio State (USA)
2018 Astra Sharma, Vanderbilt (AUS)
2019 Katrina Jokic, Georgia (SRB)
2020 Ashley Lahey, Pepperdine (USA)*
2021 Estela Perez-Somarriba, Miami (ESP)
2022
-
*-#1 when season suspended

*RECENT MILAN (JA) JR. CHAMPIONS*
2008 Simona Halep, ROU
2009 Sloane Stephens, USA
2010 Beatrice Capra, USA
2011 Irina Khromacheva, RUS
2012 Katerina Siniakova, CZE
2013 Belinda Bencic, SUI
2014 CiCi Bellis, USA
2015 Marketa Vondrousova, CZE
2016 Oleysa Pervushina, RUS
2017 Elena Rybakina, RUS
2018 Eleonora Molinaro, LUX
2019 Alexa Noel, USA
2020-21 DNP
2022 Celine Naef, SUI










TOP QUALIFIER: #2q Jule Niemeier/GER (slam MD debut; 7 games lost in 3 Q-matches)
TOP EARLY-ROUND (1r-2r): xx
TOP MIDDLE-ROUND (3r-QF): xx
TOP LATE-ROUND (SF-F): xx
TOP QUALIFYING MATCH: Q2: #10q Viktoriya Tomova/BUL def. Marina Melnikova/RUS 2-6/7-5/6-0 (trailed 6-2/5-1; reached MD as LL)
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: #26 Sorana Cirstea/ROU (def. Maria/GER)
FIRST SEED OUT: #6 Ons Jabeur (1st Rd. to Magda Linette/POL)
FIRST SLAM MD WINS: Day 1 wins: xx
UPSET QUEENS: xx
REVELATION LADIES: xx
NATION OF POOR SOULS: xx
LAST QUALIFIER STANDING: Day 1 wins: Danilovic/SRB, Vekic/CRO
LAST WILD CARD STANDING: Day 1 wins: none
PROTECTED RANKING WINS: Day 1 wins: none
LAST PASTRY STANDING: 0-4 on Day 1 (13 in MD)
Ms./Mademoiselle OPPORTUNITY: xx
IT "TBD": xx
COMEBACK PLAYER: xx
CRASH & BURN: Nominee: #6 Jabeur (1st Rd.; Madrid W/Rome RU - previous three who reached both finals also reached RG final)
ZOMBIE QUEEN OF PARIS: Nominees: Danilovic (3 Q-round comeback; 1st Rd saved 2 MP vs. Galfi); Stephens (1st Rd.: set and 4-4 down vs. Niemeier, sitter for love/30 down on serve in 2nd)
DOUBLES STAR: xx
VETERAN PLAYER (KIMIKO CUP): xx
Mademoiselle/Madame OF THE EVENING: xx
JUNIOR BREAKOUT: xx
Légion de Lenglen HONOREE: xx
Coupe LA PETIT TAUREAU: xx






All for Day 1. More tomorrow.

posted by Todd.Spiker @ 7:16 PM 

3 Comments:

Blogger colt13 said...

Only 2 seeds out, but the bottom half of the draw is falling apart as expected.

Kanepi winning at a slam is like Groundhog Day.

Her match vs Haddad Maia should be fun.

Doubles draw is out, and the only Top 20 not in are Hsieh and Jurak Schreiber. That means Krejcikova/Siniakova is in. Garcia/Mladenovic get WC, double the Chan as L.Chan/Stosur and H.Chan/Aoyama team up. Collins/Putintseva and Muhammad/Shibihara are also intriguing.

Stat of the Day- 81- The number of players that boycotted Wimbledon in 1973.

This story is a mess. Even bigger than the Habsburg bloodline in the 17th century.

The winner was Jan Kodes, better known for helping Martina Navratilova defect. The runner up was Alex Metreveli, the USSR player who was the first from his country to reach the final. And even if you count the 15 Republics that the USSR became, still the only one.

Now this story will be about the ATP. Once the men boycotted, the women were asked if they wanted to, and Billie Jean King said that she would if they could get the Top 12 to agree.

They split, with Durr wanting to boycott for prize money as the men got 75K to split while the women got 50K. Evert, Goolagong and Patti Hogan said no. So they played, with Hogan taking out Vlasta Vopickova, Jan Kodes sister, before losing to Goolagong in the 4th rd.

King got her revenge, beating Goolagong in SF and Evert in the final. So the woman who wanted to boycott won singles. And doubles. And mixed.

I said this was nuts. At this point, you don't even know the reason for the boycott. His name was Nikola Pilic.

Pilic wanted to play, and did play in the year end doubles event in Canada. That event was played in May, as it ended the WCT portion of the schedule, as they were Jan-May, with Grand Prix running May-Nov.

This is where things get confusing. He was suspended for not playing Davis Cup, although the week in question, Yugoslavia had a bye.

2 weeks later Yugoslavia lost to New Zealand, a match played the day before the start of the French Open.

Meanwhile, with Yugoslavia's blessing, the ITF suspended him for 9 months. He played the French Open on appeal. The sentence was then cut to one month, which would make him miss Wimbledon.

He reached the French Open final.

The ATP, which at that point, was more of a players council than a tour, felt that players should be able to earn money without being suspended. So they negotiated at Wimbledon so long that the main draw was pushed back, though the 16 seeds were originally released.

Cont.






Mon May 23, 12:35:00 AM EDT  
Blogger colt13 said...

This led to #15 seed Kodes being bumped up to 2, and Metreveli from 13 to 4.

That will cause something else to happen.

Without an agreement, 32 qualifiers joined the field, actually 29 as 3 dropped out, along with 50 LL. For the people in the back, FIFTY LL! This made for rather unique representation as non traditional countries were in the draw.

Random Countries:

7-India
5-Japan
4-South Africa
3-Mexico
2-Pakistan
1-Rhodesia
1-Ecuador
1-Colombia

Yugoslavia surprisingly had 2, one being Boro Jovanovic, who played the Davis Cup tie. He was also 1962 Wimbledon doubles runner up with Pilic.

20 LL and 11 Q reached the 2nd round. Kodes run to the title? LL, LL, Q, LL, unseeded, 3, 4. He lost six sets while winning the title, Metreveli lost 5, 3 of those in the final.

The postscript? Remember how Kodes and Metreveli flipped rankings? Partially due to that, plus having players bouncing between 2 tours, 6 weeks later brought the first ATP ranking. Kodes was 11, Metreveli was 34. Pilic was 16.

Part of Metreveli's low ranking is that he did well in Australia, which gave less points than the other 3 slams.

As fate would have it, Pilic would play the USO in 1973, and lose a QF match to Kodes 7-5 in 5 sets.

After not playing Davis Cup since 1967, after playing every year since 1961, he played from 1974-77.

With the 2022 Wimbledon entry list still not out, don't be surprised if things go to the final minute.

Mon May 23, 12:52:00 AM EDT  
Blogger Todd.Spiker said...

The ITF has always been sketchy when it's come to suspensions, I guess.

How convenient that Osaka says she might not play Wimbledon because of the lack of ranking points. How many was she expecting to pick up? Based on history, probably not many. ;)

Mon May 23, 07:24:00 PM EDT  

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