WTA News and Gossip 2015

[rubydo]

I was looking around to see if Flavia was watching her boy friend win his Grand Slam Doubles title, Fognini, even at the trophy ceremony the camera went to the players box she was no where in sight.Dont say she has 'seen the light?????

I hope the light has shone brightly on her brain cells.

 

[MargaretMcAleer]

After a night out,Serena Williams plans to continue the celebration of her 19th Grand Slam title with an Aussie-style barbecue.Williams hoisted the Australian Open trophy Sunday at a Melbourne park for the traditional day after photo shoot.As she teetered around in heels,a slim skirt and midriff baring top,the No 1 ranked player said she would have preferred to rest after the Saturday night final but was talked into going out.

"I didn't want to go out,I just kind of wanted to stay home," said Williams,who struggled with a cold during the tournament and said she threw up during Saturday's final after a coughing fit."But everyone was like "This is No 19 Serena,you've got to go out".So they literally dragged me out of bed and we went somewhere for a little bit,but not a lot."

After she won her 18th at last year's U.S.Open,Williams said she felt liberated."Getting to 18 was really a big thing for me,and I put a lot of pressure on myself to get there.But once I got there,I just felt free after it,and I've been able to play a little bit better," said Williams,who has almost two years at No 1.

Now she feels like she dosen't need more trophies.But she still wants more.

"I'm at a point in my career where I don't have to win anymore and every win is a super extra bonus,and every win is more awesome than the last one."I'm really enjoying that," she said.

After the photo shoot,Williams said she planned to spend a quiet afternoon celebrating with friends.

"I have a lot of friends in Melbourne,so we're all just going to have a barbecue and hang out and enjoy the day."

Report from AP,1st February.

 

[MargaretMcAleer]

Current Road To Singpore Leaderboard as of the 2nd February,per the WTA Website.

1. Serena Williams 2000
2. Maria Sharapova 1770
3.Madison Keys 890
4.E.Makarova 835
5.Simona Halep 710
5.Petra Kvitova 710
5.Venus Williams 710
8.Madison Brengle 518
9.K.Pliskova 490
10.D.Cibulkova 486

The first significant points opportunity comes in Antwerp,where the winner will walk away with 470 points.Eugenie Bouchard tops the bill in Belgium and a significant run at the Premier event will place her in one of the eight qualification spots for the PNP Paribas WTA Finals Singapore presented by SC Global.Other players in the draw with the chance to make a significant in roads on the early pace setters are Karoline Pliskova,Dominika Cibulkova and Babora Zahlavova Strycova,who occupy ninth,10th and 12 place on the leaderboard,respectively.

Six thousand miles away in Pattaya City,a couple of other early contenders for Singapore are also in action next week.Peng Shuai and Elina Svitilona are the top two seeds at the International Event,which offers 280 points to the winner.The following week,tour heads to Rio De Janeiro and Dubai,the latter boasting a strong field,including Serena and Venus Williams,Simona Halep and Petra Kvitova.

 

[the AntiPusher]

http://news.yahoo.com/hingis-paes-win-australian-open-mixed-doubles-title-062440956.html

Swiss Miss Wins again:heart:

 

[10isfan]

Does anyone know Vika's schedule?

Pova will not play Dubai or Doha. Going to Mexico for a small event to cheer for Dimitrov instead. She must be getting ready to wind down her career if she is choosing him over the premier events.

 

[MargaretMcAleer]

^ I went to her official website,so far these are the tournaments Azarenka has confirmed she will play,

Fed Cup in Budapest,Hungary 4th-7th February
Indian Wells and Qatar Open,Doha.

 

[MargaretMcAleer]

Serena to play reduced schedule following Australian Open Victory.

Serena Williams says she will play a reduced schedule compared to recent years,concentrating on winning big titles.Williams won the Australian Open to claim her 19th Grand Slam singles title.Once known for her selective playing appearances,she entered 16 tournaments in 2014 and in 2013 won a tour-leading 78 matches and 11 titles.

"I definitely am not going to play as much this year,I'm just going to go for everything when I do," said Williams,who is scheduled to play Fed Cup this week in Argentina.

The 33 year-old is now looking at winning the French Open and Wimbledon,having increased her lead in the rankings."Now that I got this under my belt,I'm a little more comfortable with my ranking now,she said."Now I can really move.Like I did so bad last year at Roland Garos,and Wimbledon as well.So those are the two I really have my eye on,because I would like to do better at those.And I know I can do better."

Reort from Kamakshi Tandon,2nd February.

 

[10isfan]

Happy to hear Serena will cut back and focus on the majors. It is imperative she keep healthy. I really want her to overtake Graf, not because I have anything against her, but because she benefitted from such a horrific crime.

 

[GameSetAndMath]

Does anyone know Vika's schedule?

Yes, I do partially.

Mon --- Red Foo
Tue --- Monfils
Wed --- Kyrgios

Need to work on the rest. :lolz:

 

[the AntiPusher]

http://espn.go.com/tennis/story/_/id/122...lls-ending

Good For Serena

 

[colleen66]

“I’m still as driven as ever, but the ride is a little easier. I play for the love of the game. And it is with that love in mind, and a new understanding of the true meaning of forgiveness, that I will proudly return to Indian Wells in 2015.” Serena Williams, 2015

Good for her. She seems to be in a happy place and just wants to enjoy the game. I have never seen her so relaxed on or off the court. Her self-deprecating "come-on" fist pump after the hinderance call during the final just says it all about Serena 3.0.

 

[tossip]

“I’m still as driven as ever, but the ride is a little easier. I play for the love of the game. And it is with that love in mind, and a new understanding of the true meaning of forgiveness, that I will proudly return to Indian Wells in 2015.” Serena Williams, 2015

Good for her. She seems to be in a happy place and just wants to enjoy the game. I have never seen her so relaxed on or off the court. Her self-deprecating "come-on" fist pump after the hinderance call during the final just says it all about Serena 3.0.

hope they give her a rousing welcome....that goes to show that no matter what people do to deter you..if you are meant for greatness....greatness will find you.

 

[GameSetAndMath]

That is great news. I am proud of Serena.

Some of you might remember that in 2014 itself there were rumors of her returning.
At that time, she said she got inspired by the movie on Nelson Mandela and decided to
do so. Her name was on the entry list, but finally she did not make it.

 

[MargaretMcAleer]

As the world's leading sport for women,the WTA produces a lot of the biggest stars in women's sports in general-so it's no wonder that a number of WTA stars make a lot of big women's lists.

AskMen,the world's No.1 men's lifestyle site,assembled a panel of male and female experts from various publications-Yahoo Celebrity,Huffington Post,Sports Illustrated,PCMag and Business Insider- to come up with a list of various women from a number of different fields,and four WTA stars are on the list,namely Serena Williams,Maria Sharapova,Caroline Wozniacki and Eugenie Bouchard.Other athletes on the list include skiing legend Lindsey Vonn,golfer Paula Creamer,UFC star Rona Rousey and race car driver Danica Patrick.Ophray Winifrey,Chelsea Clinton,Emma Watson,Michelle Obama,JK Rowling and Gwyneth are among the many others on the pre-nominations list.

The final nominees for the Top 99 Most Outstanding Women of 2015 will be announced March 25th.

Get Serena,Maria,Caro and Genie on that final list of nominees go to this post on the WTA website and click on the list (in red) at the bottom of the post.

WTA Website,4th February.

 

[MargaretMcAleer]

Don't forget to vote for January's WTA Rising Star of the Month.

The three nominees are Madison Keys,Garbine Muguruza and Heather Watson.

Cast your vote before Thursdayat 11.59pm ET.The winner will be announced Friday,February 6th.

The finalists are selected by wtatennis.com.Winner is determind by a fan vote on wtatennis.com.

 

[MargaretMcAleer]

Every week there's a lot happening on the WTA-on the court,off the court,by the numbers,even a few tweets-catch up on it all in this week's WTA Diary.

Serena Returns,
With no WTA events this week,the news of Serena Williams return to Indian Wells has dominated the headlines.Williams last played Indian Wells in 2001 and in an exclusive interview with Time Magazine revealed why she is coming back to southern California.

Fed Cup Time
The big guns are out in force for the Fed Cup,with Serena Williams,Maria Sharapova and Simona Halep among those in action.

TV Times
Serena and Maria Australian Open final was a ratings winner (the final drew a 0.7 overnight rating on ESPN early Saturday morning,up 40% from both Li Na/Cibulkova last year and Azarenka/Li Na in 2013 0.5 both years).

Sky High
Serena's success Down Under has seen her nominated alongside Heather Watson-for Sky's Sportswoman of the Month for January.

Busy,Busy,Busy.
WTA Chairwomen and CEO Stacey Allaster has been a busy bee this week,conducting a number of print and tv interviews in Singapore.To discuss everything from equality to community outreach and life after Li Na.

Gathering Pace.
Nicole Vaidisova's comeback is beginning to gather pace.This week,she qualified for the biggest tournament since her return the $100,000 Dow Corning Tennis Classic in Midland.

From the WTA website,Feburary 5th.

 

[MargaretMcAleer]

Denisa Allertova: The Next Big Server.Report from the WTA website,February 5th.

Melbourne,Australia-IDS has updated its lists of fastest servers and while the leaders aren't that much of a surprise-Serena Williams has the fastest serve of the year,Sabine Lisicki still has the fastest serve of all time-there's a young Czech who has made a very,impressive debut.

Denisa Allertova,a 21-year-old up and comer,ripped a 124.9mph serve (201.0kph) against Alize Cornet in the second round.She would fall to the No 19 seed Frenchwoman,6-4,6-7(2),6-2,but that serve was the second-fastest serve of the year so far and the eighth-fastest of all time.

The Australian open only Allertova's second WTA main draw,and if the first two are anything to go by,she's got a big career ahead of her.She made her WTA debut as a qualifier at Luxembourg last October,upsetting Top 40 players Lisicki and Lepchenko and making it all the way to the semi finals.She came out of qualies in Melbourne too,reaching the second round.

This week she broke into the Top 100,going from No 107 to No 91 after that result Down Under.

 

[MargaretMcAleer]

Breaking News,

Eugenie Bouchard is set to announce her new coach,Sam Sumky the 47 year old Frenchman who is highly respected and experienced,who was coaching Victoria Azarenka,just last week at the Australian Open.

More details to follow.News reported from Steph Myles,from the Star,4 hours ago.

 

[MargaretMcAleer]

When Canadian tennis star Genie Bouchard gets on the plane in Montreal Friday night to head to Antwerp,Belgium,for her next WTA tournament she'll have a new coach by her side.

The 20 year old from Montreal is set to announce the hiring before she leaves town,but the Star has learned his identity.It's a surprise choice-not one of the names speculated about since she parted ways with long time coach Nick Saviano in November.

Bouchard's new coach will be the experienced and highly respected Sam Sumyk.As recently as last week's Australian Open,the 47 year old Frenchman was working with former No 1 Victoria Azarenka.Prior to that,Sumyk coached Russian Vera Zvonareva.

Sumyk and Bouchard were spotted training at the National Tennis Centre in Montreal this week,almost hiding in plain sight among recreational players on the surrounding courts.The coaching hire was confirmed to the Star by a reliable source.Reached at his down town Montreal hotel,Sumyk declined to comment,referring any questions to Bouchard or agent Jill Smoller.

It may prove to be a bit of a delicate situation-only in tennis-as Sumyk's wife,former Tour player Meilen Tu,is Azarenka's agent.Tu works for Legardere,which long represented Bouchard until she didnt renew them in October and subsequently signed with rival agency IMG.The three are neighbours in Mahattan Beach,Calif.

Azarenka is currentlu in Budapest,Hungary,playing Fed Cup for Belarus.She is not entered in the Antwerp tournament.

Sumyk and Azarenka had a long association by WTA Tour standards-five years-and she has given him full credit for her rise to the top.When they started working together,Azarenka was 21 years old and was ranked No 7 in the world.Just two years later,she was No 1 with her first Grand Slam Title,the 2012 Australian Open in her pocket.She won it again in 2013.

Report from Steph Myles for the Star,Feburary 5th.

 

[MargaretMcAleer]

WTA Rising Star of The Month Of January: Madison Keys.

19 year old Madison Keys began her 2015 season at the Brisbane International,upsetting 2014 Australian Open finalist Cibulkova and then defeating two time Grand Slam champion Kuznetsova.The following week at the Apia Interntional,Sydney,Keys carried that momentum into the Australian Open where she defeated three Top 30 players,Dellacqua,Kvitova and Venus Williams,en route to her first Grand Slam semi final.The young American would eventually fall to world No.1 Serena Williams in the semi finals.Following the Australian open she rose to a career high ranking of world No.20.

Following her Australian Open semi final loss to Serena Williams the current world No.1 had very high praise for Keys.

"She's awesome,she's so positive,just a great player.It was a honor for me to play someone who will be ranked No.1 in the future".

Finals results for January's WTA Rising Star Of The Month.
1. Madison Keys (83%)
2. Garbine Muguruza (10%)
3. Heather Watson (7%)

From the WTA Website,5th February.