WTA News and Gossip 2015

[MargaretMcAleer]

Mattek-Sands to play Brisbane,Australian Open;doubles with Mirza,Safarova.

Bethanie Mattek-Sands will use her protected ranking in Brisbane and at the Australian Open.The American will also play doubles,partnering with her good friend Sania Mirza in Sydney-where she will also attempt to qualify in singles-with Lucie Safarova at the Australian Open.

The 29 year old was out for six months last year with an injured hip and will be able to use her protected ranking in eight tournaments.Mattek-Sands did play four tournaments last fall,including Beijing,which she qualified for.Mattek-Sands reached her career-high ranking of No 30 in singles and No 11 in doubles in 2011.

Mattek-Sands has had some good results in Australia before she reached the final at Hobart in 2011 and won five matches in Sydney last year,including two over Eugenie Bouchard and Agnieszka Radwanska,before having to retire against Madison Keys in the quarter finals due to injury.

She has been coached by Adam Altschuler for many years and will travel with him to Australia.Currently No 177,Mattek-Sands has yet to decide which other tournaments she will use for her protected ranking in 2015,but she will definitely play Brisbane,the Aussie Open,Acapulco,Miami and Roland Garos.

Report from Matt Cronin 29th December.

 

[special700]

Serena doesn't have to beg anyone to support her in the USA. She's the highest paid female American athlete. That position comes w/ many perks and crowd support too.

By the way, Caroline had rung the bell on Wall Street for the closing of the stock exchange, that's likely the reason NASDAQ put her accomplishment on their billboard.

Yea you can keep on believing that crowd support if it makes you happy. Like I said it would have been nice to see a congratulation message for Serena posted on the NASDQ board recognizing her 18th major seeing she's American and all. But that's just my feeling. No my dear pova is the highest paid female with her mediocre results in America....paid by Americans...Oh wait - she's Russian.

Oh Right. Much more unrealistic that an American player would receive crowd support in their own country, but more believable that everything is a conspiracy to undermine Serena. :lolz:

When did you start watching tennis? especially the US Open when the Williams sisters played. I guess you did not watch when they rooted and cheered against V&S for the foreign players. Where the hell were you. Oh how quickly we forget. I can post some tournaments here if you need to be reminded.

 

[tossip]

Yea you can keep on believing that crowd support if it makes you happy. Like I said it would have been nice to see a congratulation message for Serena posted on the NASDQ board recognizing her 18th major seeing she's American and all. But that's just my feeling. No my dear pova is the highest paid female with her mediocre results in America....paid by Americans...Oh wait - she's Russian.

Oh Right. Much more unrealistic that an American player would receive crowd support in their own country, but more believable that everything is a conspiracy to undermine Serena. :lolz:

When did you start watching tennis? especially the US Open when the Williams sisters played. I guess you did not watch when they rooted and cheered against V&S for the foreign players. Where the hell were you. Oh how quickly we forget. I can post some tournaments here if you need to be reminded.

usually this is the responsibility of the agent....Jill is responsible for the media:cry

 

[Hoergren]

Happy Newyear everyone. This is the best twitt I've seen for a long time:


Serena Williams ‏@serenawilliams

@CaroWozniacki I'm we got much closer this year. We learned, we cried & we laughed. U are the best thing that happened to me this year. :heart:u

and Caroline retweet

Caroline Wozniacki @CaroWozniacki · 7h

“@serenawilliams: @CaroWozniacki ..... We survived.” We sure did! And came out stronger! Bring on 2015

 

[tossip]

Happy Newyear everyone. This is the best twitt I've seen for a long time:


Serena Williams ‏@serenawilliams

@CaroWozniacki I'm we got much closer this year. We learned, we cried & we laughed. U are the best thing that happened to me this year. :heart:u

and Caroline retweet

Caroline Wozniacki @CaroWozniacki · 7h

“@serenawilliams: @CaroWozniacki ..... We survived.” We sure did! And came out stronger! Bring on 2015

:snigger sounds a bit childish....I love Serena,she must stop this silliness

 

[MargaretMcAleer]

Coach Saviano will head to Oz with Sloane Stephens.Report from Steph Myles Open Court 1st January.

Sloane Stephens will be able to count on coach Nick Saviano's expertise in Australia.Saviano has been working with the American,whom he first coached when she was 11 years old,for the last several weeks at his South Florida Academy.

Saviano confirmed,"Yes,I will be going to Australia with Sloane,who will catch up with Stephens in Hobart,Tasmania the week before the first Grand Slam of the 2015 season.

Saviano didn't elaborate on what their future collaborations plans would be beyond the Aussie summer swing.Stephens has already left Florida,she will open her season at the WTA tour event in Auckland next week.

 

[MargaretMcAleer]

Christopher Clarey went to LA to interview Victoria Azarenka on heartbreak,tears and hopes for a comeback in 2015.

I will post the link

http://nyti.ms1vlfhSz

Christopher Clarey a fav tennis journalist of mine writes for the New York Time,it was a great interview.F.

 

[golds girl]

^ I like your avi Fashionista

 

[MargaretMcAleer]

^ I like your avi Fashionista

Thank you I was going to update it,at the moment I haven't had time

 

[10isfan]

Bouchard gets bageled by Zafarova at Hopman. Who is the new coach? If she does not have one, she had better find one quickly. I predict Bouchard will fall out of the top ten this year.

 

[MargaretMcAleer]

Bouchard gets bageled by Zafarova at Hopman. Who is the new coach? If she does not have one, she had better find one quickly. I predict Bouchard will fall out of the top ten this year.

By the way there is a separate post for the Hopman Cup in the General tennis thread if you want to post your thoughts,you are most welcome,Genie is still without a coach at present,going on her performance against Safarova she urgently needs one.

 

[MargaretMcAleer]

Laura Robson will miss the Australian Open and is set to return to action with a series of low-key tournaments in February.The 20 year old suffered a left wrist injury more than a year ago and has not played a match since the first round in Melbourne last January.Robson opted to have surgery and had hoped to be back in time for the year's first grand slam.That looked unlikely when the entry list was released last month without the former British number one's name on it.She could have arranged a wild card into either the main draw or qualifying,but will ease herself back onto the tour.

Robson's return is due to come on the second-tier ITF circuit next month while her first WTA Tour event could be in Bogota in early April.The Australian born Londoner faces a long road to get back to anywhere near the career-high ranking of 27 she reached in July,but her main priority for the season will simply be staying healthy.

Report from AP 4th January

 

[MargaretMcAleer]

Genie Bouchard working with Diego Ayala in Australia.Report from Steph Myles,Open Court Website,5th January.

Genie Bouchard still hasn't found a full time coach to replace the departed Nick Saviano.But for now,Open Court has learned,she is working with Diego Ayala,a former hitting partner,and briefly,a former coach of Jelena Janovic.It appears he's doing similar double duty with Bouchard-officialy a hitting partner,but one with coaching experience.

 

[MargaretMcAleer]

Azarenka shut out from tournament play next week.Report from Matt Cronin,January 9th.

Former No 1 Victoria Azarenka has been unable to receive a wild card into next week's tournament in Sydney and will instead go practice in Melbourne.After falling to Karolina Pliskova in the first round of Brisbane in more than three hours,Azarenka,had asked for a wild card into Sydney,but she was denied.The tournament instead gave wild cards to two Australians,Jarmila Gajdosova and Daria Gavrilova.

Currently ranked No 42,Azarenka says she is healthy once again and is ready to play more tournaments.Azarenka was hurt for much of 2014 and admitted to offcourt depression.

 

[MargaretMcAleer]

Sharapova closes in on No1 again.Report from Matt Cronin,January 10th.

Maria Sharapova is creeping back to No1,but more statisfied with the fact she was nearly knocked out of the Top 1-buy has held her gorund )In 2014,she was ranked No9 in April and parts of May).

Sharapova is now 681 points behind the current No1 Serena Wiliams,according to the WTA,and could move ahead of Williams at the Australian Open.

The Russian said she looked at the rankings as a product of her performances."Right now I am No2,the next spot is No1," Sharapova said."But that's how it is.Middle of last year people were talking about how I was barely in the Top 10 for I think four months.With any match I could have lost,could have been out of the Top 10.But I held my ground and I pulled through with grit and fight,managed to finish the year off No2.That's not something I talked about with my team or myself.I was just focusing on matches."

 

[MargaretMcAleer]

Venus Williams: 'I can still move,hit the ball quite well,and I'm fast' Report from Matt Cronin,January 10th.

After beating Caroline Woznicacki to win Auckland,the 34-year-old Venus Williams said that winning is all the more special at this age.The former No1 has won a handful of tournaments title in the past four years,winning Dubai in 2014,Luxembourg in 2012,and Dubai and Acapulco in 2009 and 2010.She now has 49 titles over all."It's interesting to be here,but it's a good thing," the 7-time Grand Slam champion said."By the time you're 34,you have a lot of experience but if you can stay in shape,stay fit,still move,still hit the ball and don't have five kids at home.than why not?.I have no kids,I can still move,hit the ball quite well and I'm fast and I hit hard,so there's nothing holding me back from being here and doing well."

Williams is now back at No18,and said,'of course,I can't play forever.I want to and somebody else has to take the torch at some point,but while I'm here I'm enjoying it.".

 

[MargaretMcAleer]

Australian's Olivia Rogowska,Arina Rodionova and Storm Sanders have been awarded wildcards into the main draw of the Australian Open.

The trio joined several previously announced wildcards for the first Grand Slam of the season.

Note.See the entire list of wildcard recipients on the tournaments website.

Report from the WTA website,12th January.

 

[Vince Evert]

Good post fashionista. The win in New Zealand is just what the Doctor Ordered for Venus after all the health issues she's gone through over the past 4 years.

 

[Vince Evert]

Azarenka shut out from tournament play next week.Report from Matt Cronin,January 9th.

Former No 1 Victoria Azarenka has been unable to receive a wild card into next week's tournament in Sydney and will instead go practice in Melbourne.After falling to Karolina Pliskova in the first round of Brisbane in more than three hours,Azarenka,had asked for a wild card into Sydney,but she was denied.The tournament instead gave wild cards to two Australians,Jarmila Gajdosova and Daria Gavrilova.

Currently ranked No 42,Azarenka says she is healthy once again and is ready to play more tournaments.Azarenka was hurt for much of 2014 and admitted to offcourt depression.

That's too bad for Vika.

Find out what's going on with Caroline's injury (such as will she be playing next week) and report back here ASAP It would be a awful thing if she is not able to :cry

 

[Hoergren]

Here is a little from the Caro world - starting out with an interesting question:


Caroline Wozniacki
Who would like to see me and Rafa Nadal play mixed doubles together? https://www.facebook.com/CarolineWozniacki/photos/a.460036647227.239426.372776547227/10153605880912228/?type=1 …

Come on Frontier fans make a YES to that - use the link


CaroWozniackiNews @CWTennis · 4h

Caroline Wozniacki Australian Open 2015 Practice Session
[video=youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fEd39xtqkIo[/video]