Why “pushers” are good for WTA?

How many times have we heard tennis experts complaining about overly defensive players getting to the top of the world rankings?


Solidity takes you to the top, but will not make you win slams. Or so they say.

But is this really a bad thing for women’s tennis?

Jelena Jankovic and Caroline Wozniacki have been world number ones for 85 weeks combined, Agnieska Radwanska has reached a slam final and peaked at world number two, Sara Errani has been a solid top 10 player with a slam final in Paris.

Nonetheless, thevmedia seems to crucify them and describe them as being one of the worst plagues in the history of tennis, but they are very wrong, and this is why:


Let us take the Pole as an example.

The older of the Radwanska sisters constantly receives a great amount of criticism by the press and yet she has won the Fans' Favourite award held by the WTA for three consecutive seasons.

The 2012 Wimbledon finalist does not have the power to out-hit her physically stronger opponents, but her smart reading of the game and the variety of shots in her game-plan, often set her in a position of advantage against the one-dimensional ball strikers.


Probably the hottest potato is Caroline Wozniacki though.

© Hillarie

The Dane has reigned on the top of the rankings for 67 weeks, finishing the season as world number one for two consecutive years. Amazing stats, but she has never won a slam title.

The beautiful blonde player from Odense has probably attracted the most criticism a world number one has ever faced.

Curiously, whenever she steps on court, the crowd, more often than not, sides with her, even now that she has fallen from grace and struggles to remain in the top 10.

© Matanya

Wozniacki has got career wins against all the players currently in the top 10, but for most of the experts there is little merit in those wins, which were “handed to her by the errors of her opponents.”

What often goes under the radar is the fact that the amazing defensive skills of the likes of Wozniacki force their opponents to always hit one or more additional balls.

This consistency and athleticism exposes the weaknesses of most of the hard hitters and makes the matches more mentally demanding.

One could say that they make their opponents play badly, which is not far from the truth. Their defensive game is the key to forcing opponents’ errors and at the end of the day, is that not just as much of a weapon as a massive forehand or deadly slice?

Another argument in support of the “pushers” is given by their long-term consistency. Their rankings are based on numerous solid results and a level of play that may not peak as high as many other players on tour, but rarely sinks as low.

Last, but not least, they provide a spectacle.
It may seem a paradox just after my point on their ability to make others play badly, but when watching their matches, the intensity of their rallies and the variety of solutions to turn defence into attack is what keeps the crowd on the edge of their seats.

A flashing return winner may result in loud applause, but a long and intense rally, ending with a winner on the run, makes the public jump and scream.



Originally posted on Sports Gazette

Video Preview of WTA Finals

Kerber wins Linz and qualifies for Istanbul

Angelique Kerber defeated the former world n°1 Ana Ivanovic in just two sets to conquer her first title of the year.

Her run to the title has been impressive; after the first set lost to Monica Niculescu in her opening match, ‘Angie’ didn't drop a single set all the way through to the title.

 

©Jimmie48

The world n°9 showed great attitude throughout the week, ignoring the major media attention gathered by her last-minute entry, to the detriment of Austrian WC Lisa-Maria Moser (for more on this story click here).

In addition to that, there was much pressure on her shoulders, since any result better than a Quarter Final would have meant the mathematical assurance to be qualified for the year-ending masters in Istanbul.

As a result, her QF match against local WC Patricia Mayr-Achleitner was tougher than the score line would suggest. Furthermore, the Austrian was playing some brilliant tennis heading to the match and had her chances in the first set, but Kerber reacted well and finished the match in total control.

The semi-final was a complete dominance by the German, who gave only two games to the world number 18, Spaniard Carla Suarez-Navarro.

This result and the great show of form and consistency in the past weeks set Kerber as the favourite in the final as well, despite trailing 3-1 in the head to head with Ivanovic.

The final resulted in a rollercoaster. Kerber started with the right mindset, taking the initiative whenever possible and exploiting her terrific defence to neutralise Ivanovic’s initial shots, especially off her forehand.

Suddenly the Serb’s shot increased in speed and accuracy, so in a blink of an eye, she won three games in a row to tie at 4-all.

It was then another big reaction from the German who broke Ivanovic for the third time of the set and went on serving the set out 6-4.

The second set witnessed a bit of everything, with the Serb starting with a ten-point-in-a-row streak, before surrendering to the massive comeback of Kerber, which led to a 5-4 40-0 lead on her serve. Swiftly, Ivanovic noticed the more passive attitude of her opponent and took advantage of it, saved all the match points, and broke back.

On 6-5 for the Serb, Kerber suffered a bad call that helped Ivanovic gain two set points, but instead of arguing, the German decided to fix the situation with a massive serve and a huge forehand down-the-line winner, to clear the set points and go to the tiebreak.

Once again Ana Ivanovic started strongly and went up 6-4, but similarly to the previous game, Kerber could find her best focus on the important points, while the Serb melted fast once those two more set points were gone. The fourth match point, the first in the tiebreak, was the final one, gifted by the Serb with a backhand error, which cost her the match and gave to Kerber the first title of year.

Originally posted on the sports gazette

Moser controversial withdrawal gives Kerber new chances for Master

Austrian Wild Card Lisa-Maria Moser withdrew today from Linz main draw, leaving space for a last minute entry of German Angelique Kerber, world n°9.

Nothing strange, one might think, such changes happen very often, especially at the end of the season. But this time the situation is very different and this last minute change looks far more complicated and not as clear as it should be.
The young Austrian had her breakthrough earlier this summer, when in another WTA International in Bad Gastein reached the Quarter Finals by defeating en route world number 30 and top seed German Mona Barthel. Ever since her ranking kept rising, but as the cut off for Linz was out, it still wasn't enough to make it to the Qualifying draw.
Once Petra Kvitova withdrew from the entry list, because of her deep run in Beijing, the Austrian federation gave a WC to Moser, who moved to Linz and no longer than yesterday was drawn to face Swiss Stephanie Voegele in the first round.

Overnight something happened though, it's not very clear when exactly, but the team of German Angelique Kerber requested a WC for the tournament, as the withdrawal of Kvitova left a spot for another top 10 in the draw -we shall remind that International events are allowed to have only one top tenner. This WC appeared as very needed for Kerber, who needs to score as many points possible in the next weeks, as she's fighting with Jelena Jankovic and Caroline Wozniacki for a spot in the year ending Master, soon happening in Istanbul.
Apparently the request of WC for the German came too late as the draw was already out, but then, unexpectedly, this morning Lisa-Maria handed in her request of withdrawal from the singles maindraw for "personal reasons" and immediately afterwards she appeared on the entry list for doubles partnering with another Austrian WC, Nicole Rottmann. At this point it won't surprise anyone to find out that her WC went straight to the German and all the seeding of the draw changed.

Another interesting detail about this unusual situation is added by the fact that rules allow the players who finished the previous year within the top 10 to play only two international events and Kerber this year played Monterrey and Washington already.
A quibble though gave Kerber another shot to an additional international event, because Washington was played during the same week of Carlsbad, a premier tournament that Kerber couldn't play because it had reached the limit of top 10 players allowed there. This situation, according to the rules of WTA, allows the "damaged" player to enter an additional international event and so Kerber had her right to get it.

Nonetheless, it still seems questionable that a player -like Moser this time- can be "suggested" to withdraw and let another player compete on her place simply because of a bigger fame and better ranking.

Originally posted on the new project I am working on, the Sports Gazette

Maria Sharapova wins IW and is back to world number 2

It had been a long while since Maria Sharapova won her last tournament on Hard Outdoor, but the last year Roland Garros champion couldn't hope for a better stage to find a title on the favourite surface. The Russian lost no sets in her win to the title, defeating two top 10 players and as a result to this run she will be back to world n°2 in the next week ranking.
Masha's way to the final might have seen no sets lost, but it was as easy as it may seem: in her first match on round 2, she had no problems against an uninspired Francesca Schiavone, but already in the 3rd round she needed all her attitude to run away with a win in straight sets against Spanish Carla Suarez Navarro. The Spaniard took advantage of a Sharapova's not-so-good day and definitely had her chances to win the first set and take the lead in the second, but despite the difficulties Maria fought back and closed 7-5 6-3.
Another round, another Spanish player to fight against in the first set before closing it 7-5 in her favor, but this time it was a more modest opponent, Lara Arruabarrena Vecino, whose inexperience on big stages took a toll on her called disbelief and in the second set she just raised white flag, while Masha sailed onto the next round with a 7-5 6-0 victory.
In the QF she faced Italian Sara Errani, in the rematch of the RG final, but if in Paris Maria never looked in troubles, here she had a lot of problems given by Errani's continuous changes of pace and lenght. Sarita served for the first set and had a bunch of set points, but in the end Maria could find a way out and closed the set in a long tie-break. The second set wasn't any less of a battle as the Italian didn't let the lost chances discomfort her, but her lack of a powerful serve in the end made the difference and Sharapova could win the match 7-6 (6) 6-2.

Waiting for Maria in the semifinal, there was the surprise of the tournament: Maria Kirilenko, who came through a really "packed" section of the draw, where she -for the first time in her career- defeated two top tenners in a row, edging world n°4 Agnieska Radwanska 7-5 in the third and then coming out of a deep hole against Kvitova in the quarters, as she was down of a set and a break before entering in the Czech mind and gradually destroy her confidence and finally win the match.
The match between the two Marias ended in straight sets, but there was a lot to regret for Kirilenko as by the end of the match she could transform none of the many balls she had to break Sharapova. 6-4 6-3 in the end, but Maria looked on her way to find a much more solid game than in the earlier rounds and she knew she needed all the consistency she is capable of in order to beat Caroline Wozniacki, who was meant to meet her in the final and is known for the few points she gives away for free.
The former world n°1 arrived to this final after a marathon match and incredible mental battle against German friend and seed n°4 Angelique Kerber (oddly enough both of them reached their final thanks to a walk over as Azarenka and Stosur had to pull out because of injuries before their matches).

Kerber, who was leading the H2H for 3-2 with all the last 3 matches played last year ended in her favor, was the favourite for the win and she didn't let the expectations down as a terrific start let no chances to a Wozniacki that looked left with no key to break Kerber's defence. The German took easily the first set, but then in the second the Dane started to cut down the errors and mostly decided to change strategy and added more variety to her game, forcing Angie to adapt to the different balls continuously until her error or an easy ball to attack came.
The match grew of intensity and the public loved it, as the two girls fought hard for every point until the very end, when finally Caroline could close 7-5 in the third to get back to a Premier Mandatory final after almost two years.
In the final though Caroline knew that she couldn't rely on the same strategy she used to break down Kerber, as Sharapova is known for her ability to jump on high-balls and smack winners out of those, moreover the Russian hits always very hard and flat shots, that makes it really hard to rally with her. At the same time Maria knew she had to avoid rallying with Wozniacki if she wanted to stay away from her territory and she needed to put pressure on her serve from the very beginning.
So it was, Maria started tremendously breaking to love and holding back in a few minutes. Winner on winner, the Russian completely gave no breath to Wozniacki, whose strategy seemed to very soon move to "try to survive" mode, as there was very few she could do against such an inspired Sharapova.

The two sets moved on on a very similar plot, with the Dane starting bad and then trying to pressure more Maria, with stronger, deeper and sharper shots whenever she had the chance, but those chances happened very rarely as Sharapova dominated most of the rallies from Serve or Return. 6-2 6-2 the final score in favor of the Russian, who later said about the match:
"The scoreline makes the match look a lot easier than it was - it was a tough match, a tough battle, and there were a lot of games that went to deuce and long games, those games could have easily swung the other way, especially some opportunities she had in the second set. I felt like I was always a foot ahead though, especially with the breaks - I served well today, and that helped me."
"She was putting pressure on me from the start," said Wozniacki. "I felt like everything she wanted to do today was going in - she was making very few errors, and when she did, it was at times where it didn't really matter. Her first and second serves were pretty much the same speed, she stepped into the returns, and even when she was running, she still came down with some shots that were going very close to the lines. I have to say she just played too well."
 Caroline's reaction after the match was good though, as she knew she had a good week and a lot of positives to take from the two weeks in California despite the severe loss in the final: 
"I have to be happy with the finals here. It's a very big tournament. It's been a good two weeks for me. I've been fighting and playing some really good tennis. I've been having to think a lot and play some chess out there - I've had to play aggressive, defensive, and everything that I had. Today there wasn't time for chess."

But the WTA doesn't give time for breaks and this week all the protagonists of Indian Wells will be playing for another important Mandatory Title in Miami.

WTA goes fast from worst to best in Istanbul

Serena survives a bad day

In such tight and high-level competitions like the Year Ending Championships, generally one isn't allowed to have any kind of bad day, not even black-outs during matches as the quality of the opponents and the format of the round robin, can kick you out shorter than it seems.
But this time, it wasn't like that, or better, in tennis it's impossible for both player to lose, so one between Serena Williams and Li Na had to. Honestly the display of tennis in this match was probably one of the poorest ever in the story of this competition, with both players playing very far, not just from their best, but from an acceptable level for a top 10 player.
A scary number of shots landed out of the courts as if hitting inside was too main stream and the two challenged each other over who could miss more or in a worse fashion. No surprises then if the score was tight, but in such a terrible day for both of them, Serena at least could find a lifeline on her serve and that was the sole reason why she eventually won it 7-6 6-3.

Azarenka edges past Kerber in the best match of the year

World number one had to start her campaign here in Istanbul having already the duty to show all her skills in order to pass through the outstanding game of Angelique Kerber. Azarenka got inside the match with the knowledge that she was just a win away from finishing the year as world number 1, but she didn't let this put a bigger pressure on her shoulder and soon realised she had to fast find a good feeling with the court as "Angie" wouldn't give her an easy way to that accomplishment.

Kerber showed indeed a very brave attitude and really put a great effort to make her game work, she started to run over every shot from Azarenka before turning the defence into offence whenever she had the chance, producing incredible winners out of both wings and every angles.
On the other side of the net though, Vika wasn't keen on giving up and kept hitting the ball clean and strong and the two battled over every point as if it was the last one of a final producing such an amazing tennis that couldn't but lead to a tie break. There Vika started with a terrific rush that made her flow on a 6-2 lead, but Kerber didn't let this scare her and pushed on the throttle and with a couple of outstanding shots could even the score and the two then fought up to 11-11 when Angelique took her chances and closed the set.
The second set kept going with the extremly high intensity of the first, both players showed all their skills and heart, with grunts and screams that would but underline all the effort they were bringing in and the packed stadium can't but cheer for both of them.
On 5-4 Vika suffered another acceleration by the German who went 15-40 up on the world number one's serve, but at this very moment Azarenka would answer with a terrific raise of her game, that made her save those two Match Points and push the second set to the tie break.
The moment seemed to have switched to the Belarussian's side after the match points she saved and fast she took a lead of 6 points to 1, Kerber could save one set point, but didn't menage to re-make the first set's comeback and was forced to give the tiebreak to the world number 1.
In the thrid things seemed to finally go smooth for Azarenka as she early broke Angelique's serve, but after a little it was clear that the German wouldn't ever give up without fighting and so she came back levelling the score once again.

On 4-3 though, Azarenka could push her game a little over once again and broke Kerber in a very thrilling game in which the German cancelled the first chances of break by Vika with some brilliant winners, but in the end it was the Belarussian taking the game and going to serve for the match.
Once again Kerber took all the pride and energies left in her body and with a terrific effort broke back before Azarenka had any chance to close. Sadly for her, that burst seemed to have dried her out as in the very next game, Vika went up 15-40 and unlike what happened to Angie in the second, she could secure herself the win for 6-7 (11) 7-6 (2) 6-4 in over 3 hours of some of the best tennis of the season, if not of the past few years.

The best 8 showing great tennis in early stages

Reigning Queen already on troubles

Last year's winner and the best player indoor of her generation for many experts, Petra Kvitova reached this year's edition of the Year Ending WTA Championships in a very different way compared to 2011, the Czech had for sure a more solid season, but always looked one step back from the very top players of this season, one of them being Radwanska indeed.
Agnieska had never won against Petra before, but she seemed to be more confident about her today's chances as because she's proved to have improved a lot from last year, as because she knew Petra wasn't the unplayable spreading-winners machine she was last year on that surface. And she was proved to be right, Petra fought hard, but she never looked to be able to win the match, even in the rare moments of even score. Aga was simply too solid, even with her serve, whilst Petra couldn't hit as she wanted to, with far too many free errors given away. 6-3 6-2 the final score in favor of the Polish player.

Serena too strong for Kerber

Serena Williams started her campaign in the 2012 Year Ending WTA Championships of Istanbul in a very convincing fashion going undefeated after her first match, without dropping a single set.
She played against German Angelique Kerber and had to face a very determined opponent before scoring her first win here in Turkey.
Williams started very solid, whilst Kerber looked as if she was feeling the pressure of being for the first time at the year ending Championship and in a eye blink she found herself trailing for 3 games to 0.
The German reacted though and with a burst of pride she tied up the score again even if Serena looked unplayable on serve. Serena didn't let this come back discorague her and kept playing her terrific game holding with ease, sending Kerber to serve to stay into the first set on 5 games to 4.
That 10th game was eventually crucial for the developement of the match as Kerber had a lot of chances to hold, but had to save many set points as well, until Serena took one and put an end to that first set.
Kerber fell under the pressure of a very motivated Serena, who seemed to really want to close the match fast, while on the other hand the German accused the missed chances to at least take the first set longer and so the second set lasted very much fewer than the first, with clearly no doubts about the outcome: Serena took it and the whole match 6-4 6-1.

Clay or Indoors? Masha does the same effect to Errani

The only previous meeting between Sharapova and Errani was at this year's Roland Garros final, when Maria won -completing her carreer Grand Slam- won in a very impressive way with a score of 6-3 6-2. Funny enough last night's score was exactly the same, even though the match followed another path.
Masha started the match playing an over-aggressive tactic, which produced a lot of winners, but also a little bit too many Unforced Errors, even though, for a nice part of them, credits should be given to Errani, who knew she had to run a lot in order to have a chance in this match and so she did. The first couple of games lasted over 40 minutes, but even if the score was tight, Maria never looked on any danger. And so it was, Masha raised her game, by deciding not to go for winners too early in the rally and it really paid off as she took the first set for 6 games to 3. The second set then was never close, Maria looked very confident and her shots never left her on her feet, but as usual Errani never gave up until the very end, honouring her presence here by proving why she's a top 8 player -no matter all the criticism she got for that- if a slam final, a semifinal and a quarterfinal shouldn't be enough for that!