Now that the 2011 season is over for the WTA, here are my four favorite story lines from the year that was.
1. Sabine Lisicki - She just turned 22 in late September, but the 5-foot, 10-inch German turned on the jets late to finish 47-17 and rise 200 spots from 218th entering Indian Wells to 18th at year's end.
The German came into the limelight in Birmingham two weeks before Wimbledon, taking out two top 30 players to win her first ATP title.
She jumped 38 spots in the rankings on that tournament alone, then took Wimbledon by storm, shocking French Open champion Li Na in the second round, 3-6, 6-4, 8-6, and wiping out Marion Bartoli in the quarterfinals before falling to Maria Sharapova in the semifinals. She rose to 26th with the victory and followed that up with a semifinal appearance at Stanford, a quarterfinal at Carlsbad and a second victory, this one on tour at Dallas.
2. Petra Kvitova - An unassuming 34th to start the season, the 6 foot 20-year-old Kvitova was still riding high off her Wimbledon semifinal appearance in 2010, but had never made it past the fourth round in any other major.
She showed she was in it for the long haul immediately in 2011, winning the title at Brisbane and reaching the quarterfinals of the Australian Open with an upset of No. 6 Samantha Stosur.
She followed it up with a win at Paris, defeating Kim Clijsters in the final, improving to a blistering 17-2 start on her way to a 58-13 season. After a lull of about six weeks, she won Madrid with wins over three top 10 players, lost in the final at Eastbourne and then shocked the world by defeating the seemingly impregnable Maria Sharapova in straight sets in the final, 6-3, 6-4.
Although she struggled during the US Open series, she found her game towards the end of the year and played brilliantly to win the WTA Championships. We could be looking at a future World No. 1 here, folks.
3. Li Na: first Asian to win a Grand Slam - The media heaped praise on Li Na for reaching the finals of the Australian Open, where she was simply overmatched by new No. 1 Kim Clijsters.
It was a career achievement for Li, and one absolutely no one thought she would not only repeat, but exceed just a few months later.
Li started the season by beating Clijsters at Sydney before losing to her in three sets at the Australian Open, a tournament in which she upset No. 1 Caroline Wozniacki in the semifinals and rose from 11th to 7th in the standings as a result.
She looked a bit like a flash in the pan after Australia, going just 1-5 from then until the end of Apil when she reached the semifinals at Madrid and Rome back-to-back, gearing her up for the French Open, which she entered as the sixth seed.
In her finest hour, Li faced four straight Top 10 opponents from the fourth round on, and unseated defending champion Francesa Schiavone in the final to become the first Asian player to win a Grand Slam title. She finished the year 32-17, ranked No. 5 in the world.
4. Samantha Stosur: US Open champion - Reaching the finals of the 2010 French Open saw Australian Samantha Stosur vault to No. 4 in the world, a position she held for much of last season.
With the top of the rankings in constant flux, the pressure was on Stosur to make a push early in her home country, and the pressure seemed to get to her as she went out in the second round at Brisbane and Sydney, and was upset by Kvitova in the third round at the Australian Open.
She reached her first final at Rome, but bombed out in the third round at Roland Garros to lose a ton of points and drop to No. 10 in the world, briefly slipping out of the Top 10 to 11th before reaching the finals at Toronto, where she lost to a resurgent Serena Williams.
Williams, who had just come back from a serious illness, was the talk of the US Open Series. Despite being ranked 28th in the field, she was one of the favorites to win the final Grand Slam of the season.
The Aussie barely made it to the final eight, escaping 30th-ranked Nadia Petrova 7-6 (5), 6-7 (5), 7-5 and 29th-ranked Maria Kirilenko in a record-setting 6-2, 6-7 (15), 6-3 match.
In the final eight, she stunned No. 2 Vera Zvonareva in straight sets, put down German Cinderella Angelique Kerber in three, then stunned the hometown crowd by thrashing Williams in straight sets for her first Grand Slam title.
Stosur ultimately reached the semifinals of the WTA Championships to end 2011 with a 45-23 record, ranked No. 6 in the world.
Photo Credits: Getty Images
Posted to Tennis and stuff. by
Nick on 11/4/2011 6:58:59 AM | with 0 comments
Welcome to the first installment of The Opening Serve - a daily list of tennis facts, figures, stats, stars and humor (we hope).
If you have a suggestion for the Opening Serve, send an email to nick@tennisnow.com
Top 7 WTA Players who Could Kick My Ass
7. Serena Williams - a no-brainer. Serena and I could arm-wrestle 100 times and all that would happen is that my arm would fall off and Serena might miss another five months of the seaon, but what else is new there?
6. Svetlana Kuznetsova - When she pumps her fist after wining a big point, that bicep bulges in a way that intimidates opponents and scares the heck out of me. She also sweats more in a match than I have in my entire life.
 5. Kim Clijsters - No knock on Kim, she's probably my favorite female player, but when she gets that mean face on when she's dead-set on winning a point, I do not want to be the one between her and that point.
4. Dominika Cibulkova - Absolutely stunning, particularly in that ad in our last digital magazine - you know which one i"m talking about. And she's only 5'3", but she has a glint in her eye that tells me, "I will rip your face off".
3. Bethanie Mattek-Sands - People call her the Lady Gaga of Tennis, and I sure as hell know Gaga could kick my ass.
2. Akgul Amammuradova - At 6'3", she's one of the only tennis players who could almost look me eye-to-eye. She grew up in a town where the average high in the summer is 96 and the average low in the winter is 26. I'd be down in 20 seconds.
 1. Maria Sharapova - Most people think she's the ultimate tennis hottie with a body, but she really creeps me out. When she isn't smiling, she looks like she's getting read to cut your head off, and without being too stereotypical 1980s American - she grew up in Russia, and she probably knows at least five or six KGB secret ways to kill a man.
Posted to Tennis and stuff. by
Nick on 11/15/2011 6:51:37 AM | with 0 comments
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Carbs or Slams? I think the choice is obvious at this point
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Welcome to The Opening Serve - a daily list of tennis facts, figures, stats, stars and humor (we hope).
 Top Six Reasons I Could Never Share Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray's Gluten-Free Diet
1. Ice Cream - You know how I know there's tons of glutens in this? By the size of my glutes.
2. Butter - How am I supposed to eat my pancakes and waffles without butter?
 3. Ketchup - This is turning into a cruel joke. Hello? Hamburgers and french fries? This gluten thing is probably the only reason I didn't become a successful tennis player. That, my utter lack of coodination, my inability to keep the ball on the court, having no serve/receive game and being utterly out of shape.
4. Bluebell Ice Cream - I went on a tour of their factory in Brenham, Texas, and got to see vats of chocolate fudge the size of your torso and they give you a free bowl of whatever flavor you want at the end. All that for $5!
5. Bread - C'mon now, what the heck am I going to put my butter on?
 6. Dessert Trio Bluebell Ice Cream - Oh, this was the flavor I picked on the aforementioned factory tour. From the official website, it's smooth vanilla loaded with chocolate chip cookies, pecan brownies and chocolate-coated cake, all surrounded by a swirl of rich chocolate sauce. I might not be able to score a point on Murray or Djoker, but I guarantee you I could down a pint before either of them.
If you have a suggestion for the Opening Serve, send an email to nick@tennisnow.com
Posted to Tennis and stuff. by
Nick on 11/17/2011 6:58:19 AM | with 1 comments
Posted to Tennis and stuff. by
Nick on 11/19/2011 9:53:51 AM | with 0 comments
Posted to Tennis and stuff. by
Nick on 11/27/2011 1:11:16 PM | with 0 comments
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Stocking stuffers for all!
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The Christmas shopping season is officially upon us, and there's no better time to revisit my favorite blog entry - scouring the wonderful world of Ebay for the very best gifts that other people no longer want.
You don't have to go far to find a gift worthy of anyone on your list. The internet domain courtgear.com is up for sale, and can be yours for the lovely low price of $21 million.
 A more impressive item is available after pages and pages of tennis bracelets - the Roger Federer Offical Tennis Locker Bundle from the Barclays, which Mr. Federer won earlier on Sunday.
With the entire proceeds going to the Save the Children & Roger Federer Foundations, fans can bid through 7 p.m. GMT on Monday on five autographed Federer items, a Federer duffle bag full of Lindt Chocolates and a limited edition Federer towel. The first bid on Nov. 19 was for $20, the current bid, the 63rd, is $17,600.
By comparison, Nadal's locker is currently going for $15,100 on its 78th bid, and Novak Djokovic's is up to a scant $5,500 on its 55th bid.
 In the realm of the truly weird, we find this dandy item - an autographed photo of Anna Kournikova with Snoop Dogg. Yours for just $129.87.
The battle between Djokovic, Federer and Nadal on the aforementioned items leads me to do a little popularity contest based on Ebay results per person.
Federer - 2,865 items; Nadal - 2,831 items; Andy Roddick - 1,182 items; Andy Murray - 286 items (ouch); Djokovic - 721 items; John McEnroe - 962 items; Jimmy Connors - 1,192 items; Pete Sampras - 506 items; Andre Agassi - 845 items.
For the ladies: Serena Williams - 928 items; Venus Williams - 633 items; Caroline Wozniacki - 324 items; Steffi Graf - 430 items; Martina Navratilova - 741 items; Chris Evert - 935 items; and of course, Kournikoa - 1,472 items.
Posted to Tennis and stuff. by
Nick on 11/27/2011 2:55:17 PM | with 0 comments
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My favorite stories of the year that was
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You couldn't ask for more from the ATP regular season that just wrapped up (Davis Cup notwithstanding).
A new champion emerged, a historic winning streak took place and was broken in dramatic fashion and new faces popped up all over the map.
Here are my five favorite story lines for the 2011 ATP season (so far)
1) Another point for Milos! - If you're not on the ice or in the Winter Olympics, Canadian star athletes are rather few and far between. Milos  Raonic moved from Serbia to Canada at age three and started the season ranked 156th in the world and struggling to a third-round qualifying loss at Chennai.
Two weeks later at the Australian Open, he blew through those qualifying rounds and was even better in the main draw, sweeping No. 24 Michael Llodra in the second round and decking 10th-ranked Mikhail Youzhny in four sets in the third round before finally succumbing to future finalist David Ferrer in the fourth.
The big splash landed Raonic in the top 100 for the first time, and his monstrous serving prowess brought extra attention. He continued to dazzle at San Jose, winning his first ATP title by dropping 13 aces in a two-set sweep of No. 9 Fernand Verdasco.
He reached the finals at Memphis, losing to Andy Roddick in a 6-7(7), 7-6(11), 5-7 marathon despite 32 aces after defeating both Verdasco and Mardy Fish. He beat Fish again at Indian Wells and entered Wimbledon ranked 25th in the world.
Alas, an injury robbed him of a chance to prove himself ont he grass, and he missed the next three months of play. He was back on point at Stockholm, reaching the semifinals, and finished the season 31-19 after having compiled a 4-7 career marke previously.
The best part of this story? Raonic doesn't turn 21 until two days after Christmas.
2) The Living Legend - In the original incarnation of the sci-fi TV show "Battlestar Galactica", there's an episode called "The Living Legend" in which a legendary hero (played by a scenery-chomping Lloyd Bridges), thought dead, returns to prove that he's very much alive and well.
Entering the 2011 French Open, all eyes were on Novak Djokovic, who had a chance to both take over the No. 1 ranking in the world for the first time and break John McEnroe's all-time record of 44 consecutive wins.
Roger Federer, who has won the French Open only once, entered the tournament having fallen to No. 3 in the world and was 0-3 against Djokovic already in 2011.
Federer had blitzed through the first five rounds at Roland Garros without losing a set, then stunned the Parisian crowd by taking the first two sets off of Djokovic.
The Serbian rallied back for the third set win, but Federer closed him out with a 7-6(5) fourth set to snap the longest tour winning streak in 30 years and put an end to Djokovic's undefeated campaign. Usually a finesse player, Federer rifled 18 aces past Djokovic and hit 76% of his first serves for winners.
3) The Donald Shows His 'A' Game - In the age of digital technology, media outlets are always clamoring to find the next best thing, heck, ESPN's magazine even does an anuual issue on "The Next" in a host of sports. American Donald Young was tabbed as the next great US male tennis player long before he could cast a vote or legally drink a beer,  serving as a ball boy at the age of 10 and getting praise of the highest order from John McEnroe after hitting balls with him.
But instead, Young found struggle on his way up through the ranks, and early in 2011 had to publicly apologize to the USTA after criticizing the organization on Twitter. But he showed his stripes at Indian Wells, upsetting then-No. 5 Andy Murray in straight sets, and really turned on the jets at Washington D.C., reaching the semifinals with upset wins over No. 18 Jurgen Melzer and No. 26 Marcos Baghdatis.
Proving that the jaunt through the nation's capitol wasn't a flash in the pan, Young captured the hearts of the locals at the US Open by advancing to the fourth round of a major for the first time in his career, besting No. 14 Stanislas Wawrinka and No. 24 Juan Ignacio Chela before falling to Murray.
Murray was his nemesis again in Bangkok, although that came in the final, and only after Young had upset Gael Monfils in an epic 4-6, 7-6(5), 7-6(5) semifinal. He finished the season ranked No. 39 in the world.
4) Djoker's Wild - I'd be remiss if I didn't mention the player of the year. What Novak Djokovic accomplished in 2011, particularly in the era of Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal's dominance, is nearly unprecedented, and no matter how you slice it, will go down as one of the greatest seasons in Open Era history.
With a 70-6 record, 10 titles and just shy of $11 million in prize money, not to mention that 41-0 start, it's hard not to put Djokovic right up there with the very best seasons of McEnroe, Bjorn Borg and Federer. Add in Djokovic's part in Serbia's Davis Cup win to end the 2010 season and  his utter dominance of last year's de facto No. 1 player, Nadal, and you have the stuff that sports legends are made of.
What's almost as remarkable as the 41-0 start is what Djokovic did after it. He took two weeks off, then returned to win Wimbledon and the Rogers Cup back-to-back, then ran a new win streak to 16 before being force to retire against Andy Murray in the finals at Cincinnati.
Taking away that retirement, Djokovic had a second undefeated streak of 26 in a row before falling to No. 32 Kei Nishikori in a shocking upset in the semifinals at Basel.
5) Silently Tsonga - Lost in the Djokovic-Federer-Nadal triumvirate was the re-emergence of Frenchman Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, who took on Roger Federer for the ATP Barclays Championships and finished the year ranked No. 6 after missing the second half of 2010 with a tough injury.
Tsonga was ranked in the Top 10 multiple times in 2009, but was down to No. 22 in the world by this May. The next month he turned it around,  reaching the finals at the Queen's Club, including a memorable quarterfinal victory over Nadal, 6-7(3), 6-4, 6-1.
He rounded into form at Wimbledon, reaching the semifinals by upsetting No. 6 David Ferrer in straight sets in the fourth round and staggering Federer in the quarterfinals by rallying from a 2-0 set deficit to take a 3-6, 6-7(3), 6-4, 6-4, 6-4 victory.
It was the first time Federer had lost a two-set lead at a Grand Slam ever.
Tsonga went on to reach the Rogers Cup semifinals, upsetting Federer again, this time in the third round. He reached the quarterfinals at the US Open, won at Metz and again at Vienna.
Posted to Tennis and stuff. by
Nick on 11/30/2011 5:18:52 PM | with 1 comments
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