Category: Grand Slam Results

Another Weak Performance by American Men at Wimbledon

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Only one of the seven American men made it to the second week of the Championships at Wimbledon. The top performer for the Americans was Denis Kudla, a Ukranian who moved to the U.S. when he was a youngster.

Kudla entered the tournament ranked 105th in the world. He won three matches before losing in the round of 16.

The storyline hasn’t changed for the American men and it won’t in the near-term. The American men are excellent players, but they are not among the elite players in the world.

The top ranked American, #17 John Isner, won two rounds before losing to Marin Cilic in another excruciating five set match. Isner’s big serve isn’t enough to make him a Grand Slam champion.

American Men World Ranking 6/29 First Round Loss Second Round Loss Round of 32 Round of 16
John Isner 17th X
Denis Kudla 105th X
Donald Young 58th X
Steve Johnson 52nd X
Tim Smyczek 77th X
Jack Sock 31st X
Sam Querrey 36th X

Combined the American men were 7-7.

While the short-term outlook for the American men is dim, it should be noted that all eight junior boys won their first round matches in the Junior Championships. There may be a light at the end of the tunnel for the American men if the current juniors can make the transition to pro game in the next couple of years.

Wimbledon Trivia

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The following facts, figures are a small part of the Wimbledon trivia highlighted on the official website of The Championships.

The Crowd
• In 2014 the attendance was 491,084.
• On a daily basis there are 39,000 spectators
• There are 15,000 seats for the finals matches.

Courts
• 41 total
• 19 Championships grass courts (Centre + Numbers 1-19, less 13)
• 22 grass practice courts in Aorangi Park and at Southlands College.
• Championships playing height 8mm. Court grass composed of 100% rye grass.

Balls
• 54,250 balls are used
• Slazenger is the official ball.

Racket Stringing
• Championships stringing team string on average over 2,000 rackets
• 60% for men
• 40% for women.
• Over 40 miles of string.

Catering
Wimbledon is the largest activity for catered food in Europe:
• 350,000 cups of tea and coffee
• 150,000 bottles of water
• 207,000 meals
• 230,000 glasses of Pimm’s
• 190,000 sandwiches
• 150,000 bath buns, scones, pasties and doughnuts
• 130,000 lunches
• 100,000 pints of draught beer and lager
• 60,000 sausage baguettes
• 40,000 char-grilled meals
• 32,000 portions of fish and chips
• 30,000 liters of milk
• 142,000 portions of English strawberries
• 28,000 bottles of champagne
• 15,000 bananas (for players)
• 60,000 portions of ice cream
• 12,000 kg of poached salmon and smoked salmon
• 7,000 liters of dairy cream
• 6,000 stone baked pizzas.

Retail
The top selling items in the Wimbledon Shop were:
• 16,000 Men’s Championships Towel
• 9,000 Women’s Championships Towel
• 11,000 Mini Tennis Ball Key ring
• 10,000 Twin pack wristbands
• 10,000 Mini Umbrellas
• 8,000 Yellow Midi Autograph Balls.

Staff
Around 6,000 staff are on staff for the Championships:
• Ball boys & girls: 250
• Ball distributors: 7
• Building Services: 84
• Catering Staff: 1,800
• Cleaners (night): 191
• Cleaners (day): 114
• Court attendants: 151
• Data Collectors: 36
• Dressing room attendants: 22
• Groundsmen: 20
• Left luggage office: 30
• Lift operators: 30
• Physiotherapists: 14
• Practice courts: 8
• Media staff: 38
• Referee’s Office: 15
• Scoreboard operators & data collectors: 46
• Security guards: 700
• Stewards (Honorary): 185
• Stewards (Service & London Fire Brigade): 595
• Transport service drivers: 320
• 350 officials on duty comprising mostly British plus 60 from overseas.

Serving – Aces/Fastest Serve
• Men: 212 Aces – Goran Ivanisevic (CRO) 2001
• Ladies: 57 Aces – Alexandra Stevenson (USA) 1999,  Serena Williams (USA) 2008
• Men: 148 mph – Taylor Dent – 2010
• Women: 129 mph – Venus Williams – 2008.

Hawk-Eye – Challenges (singles only) 2014
• Men made 428 Challenges and 120 were correct, a 28.0% success rate.
• Ladies made 191 Challenges of which 49 were correct, a 25.7% success rate.

Broadcast totals for 2014
• Gentlemen’s Singles final drew a peak audience of 10 million viewers. (BBC)
• The Ladies’ Singles Final drew a peak audience of 3.1m viewers (BBC).
• ESPN’s broadcast of the Gentlemen’s Singles final drew an average of 1,894,000 homes and 2,456,000 viewers.
• Australia: Channel Seven indicated the Kyrgios quarterfinal match attracted a viewing peak in Metropolitan and rural districts at just over 3.4m – the Gentlemen’s Singles final peaked at 2.5m and the total reach for The Championships was close to 7m.

Website
• Unique users – 17.1 million users
• Visits – 63 million
• Page views – 473 million
• Geography split in order of most trafficked: UK, US, Australia, Canada.
• Mobile app downloads (iPhone, Android and iPad) – 1.7million
• Live @ Wimbledon – 1.3 million streams
• Live @ Wimbledon Radio – 6.3 million streams
• Wimbledon-hosted Russian service – 3 million streams.

As can be seen by this list of Wimbledon trivia, The Championships are much more than a great tennis tournament.

I am Serena Williams – What is Your Super Power?

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Given her performance at the 2015 French Open,  the perfect Christmas gift for Serena Williams is a t-shirt that says, “I am Serena Wiilams –  American tennis player. What is your super power?”

She was one of 17 women playing as an American at the 2015 French Open. The event had a lopsided draw for the American Women – 13 were in the upper half and 4 were in the bottom half.

First round losers for the Americans from the upper half of the draw included:
• Alexa Glatch
• Venus Williams
• Shelby Rogers
• Christina McHale
• Alison Riske
• Coco Vandeweghe
• Bethanie Mattek-Sands
• Taylor Townsend
• Varvara Lepchenko

All four of the women from the bottom half of the draw were eliminated in the first round.
• Louisa Chirico
• Nicole Gibbs
• Lauren Davis
• Madison Brengle

After the first round there were only four American women left in the draw and they were all in the upper half. Both Irina Falconi and Madison Keys were 2-1, winning their first two rounds before bowing out in the third round. Sloane Stephens was 3-1 before losing to Serena Williams in the fourth round.

Williams was not particularly dominant  as she captured her 20th Grand Slam (6 Australians, 3 French, 5 Wimbledons, and 6 U.S. Open Championships). She only won 2 of her 7 matches in straight sets.

Overall, the American women were 14-16.

After the first two Grand Slams in 2015, the scorecard reads – two wins for Serena Williams. Historically she has fared well in Wimbledon and the U.S. Open. Is a calendar year Grand Slam in the cards for Serena? Will the other American women make a stronger showing at Wimbledon? The former is more likely than the latter.

Stay tuned, the Championships will begin on June 29 and run through July 12th.

American Juniors Dominate French Open

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In the online version of Tennis Briefs Bob Larson recently reported that Patrick McEnroe, former director of player development for USTA, said that he believes the current gang of teenagers is a good reason for optimism.  In other words, McEnroe expects to see American juniors dominate the Grand Slams in the not-to-distant future.

McEnroe was correct, at least as it pertains to the French Open Junior Championships.

Eight of the 64 boys were Americans – of which Tommy Paul and Harry Taylor Fritz met in the finals. Paul was the upset winner.

William Blumberg was ousted in the first round and Alex Rybakov, Ulises Blanch and Nathan Ponwith won their initial matches before losing in the second round.

The remaining four players won their matches in the round of 16. Reilly Opelka was defeated in the quarterfinals and Michael Mmoh was ousted in the semifinals. Three of the four semifinalists were Americans.

Overall the American boys were 21-7.

There were also eight American girls. The following four girls lost in the first round: Raveena Kingsley, Sofia Kenin, Francesca Dilorenzo, and Michaela Gordon. After winning her first match Usue Maltane Arconada was defeated in the second round.

Carolyn Dolehide won two matches before losing in the third round and Katherine Steward was defeated in the fourth round.

The last American girl standing was C.C. Bellis. She won four matches before bowing out in the semifinals.

Overall the American girls were 10-8.

Hats off to the American Juniors. Hopefully Patrick McEnroe is correct and we will see American juniors dominate the Grand Slams for many years to come.

Will the Americans Show up at the 2015 French Open?

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The 2015 French Open is right around the corner and the American men and women hope to erase their abysmal performance in 2014.

Last year Taylor Townsend and Sloane Stephens were the only American women to advance past the second round. Townsend lost in the third round and Stephens lost in the round of 16.

On the men’s side John Isner had the top performance last year. He held his seed by winning three matches before being defeated in the round of 16.

The expectations are low for the seven American men in the 2015 draw. Going into the tournament the following six American men were ranked in the top 100 on the ATP tour:
• 16 John Isner
• 37 Jack Sock
• 38 Sam Querrey
• 52 Donald Young
• 56 Steve Johnson
• 73 Tim Smyczek
Frances Tiafoe was not ranked in the top 100.

Isner is seeded 16th. He is a steady performer who usually holds his seed. With good fortune, he will hold his seed this year.

The outlook for the women is slightly brighter, if for no other reason than 17 American women are in the draw. Unfortunately, 13 of them are in the upper half.

The four players in the lower half will be fortunate to get past the second round (Chirico, Gibbs, Davis, and Brengle).

There are three American women seeded. As expected Serena Williams is first. Her sister, Venus, is seeded 15th, and Madison Keys is seeded 16th. The outlook for these seeds follows:
• Venus will play Sloane Stephens in the first round. That is an intriguing match-up.
• Keys has had a solid year; however, she is in a tough bracket. It is unlikely she will hold her seed.
• Because Serena is so dominant it will be hard to cheer against her to win the tournament, especially since she lost in the first round last year. Unfortunately, the upper half of the draw is clearly more loaded with talent than the lower half.

Going into the French Open the following 13 American women were ranked in the top 100:
• 1 Serena Williams
• 15 Venus Williams
• 16 Madison Keys
• 33 Coco Vandeweghe
• 34 Varvara Lepchenko
• 36 Madison Brengle
• 41 Sloane Stephens
• 46 Alison Riske
• 55 Christina McHale
• 64 Lauren Davis
• 80 Shelby Rogers
• 84 Irina Falconi
• 97 Nicole Gibbs
Alexa Glatch, Bethanie Mattek-Sands, Taylor Townsend, and Louisa Chirico were not ranked in the top 100.

Best wishes to the Americans for a strong performance and some upsets at the 2015 French Open.

French Open Dominated by American Women During Open Era

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Right or wrong, the strength of tennis in a country is often measured by the performance of its singles players in Grand Slam events.

Based on this definition of success the U.S. women clearly dominated the French Open during the Open Era of tennis (since 1968). The American women won 14 French Open championships, led by Chris Evert with seven titles. Serena Williams and Martina Navratilova have both been champions on 2 occasions.

By country, the dominance during the Open Era is summarized as follows:
• 1968 -77 – American and Australian players dominated.
• 1978 – 87 – Chris Evert won seven of nine French Opens between 1974 and 1986. Martina Navratilova won the other two.
• 1988 – 97 – Steffi Graf, Monica Seles, and Arantxa Sanchez Vicario dominated.
• 1998 – 07 – Justine Henin captured four titles; however, players from six countries were champions.
• 2008 – 14 – Russian players dominated during this period.

The dominance by the U.S. at the French Open ended with the retirement of Chris Evert. Since then:
• Steffi Graf has won 5 titles.
• Justine Henin has won 4 championships.
• Monica Seles and Arantxa Sanchez Vicario have each won 3 titles.
• Maria Sharapova and Serena Williams have both won twice.

Stay tuned for the 2015 French Open starting on May 24th.

Will Sharapova defend her title? Will Serena regain her form of 2013? Will the younger players such as Halep or Bouchard bring home the trophy in 2015?

Women French Open Winners During Open Era

French Open Dominated by Spain and Sweden During Open Era

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The strength of tennis in a country is often measured by the performance of its singles players in the Grand Slam events. Based on this definition of success the Spanish and Swedish Men clearly dominated the French Open during the Open Era (since 1968).

Overall, the Swedes won 9 titles and the Spanish men won fifteen. Combined, this is slightly more than half the total titles for the Open Era. The Swedes dominated from 1974 to 1988 and the Spaniards have been in charge since 1993.

A summary of the French Open winners during the Open Era is summarized below:
• 1968 -77 – No country dominated the scene during this period. Players from Australia, Czechoslovakia, and Sweden won two titles each.
• 1978 – 87 -The Swedes (Bjorn Borg and Mats Wilander) controlled the scene.
• 1988 – 97 – Early in this period the American players won three titles. Players from Spain won two titles during the second half of this ten year period.
• 1998 – 07 – Players from Spain won six championships, including three by Rafael Nadal.
• 2008 – 14 – Nadal won six of seven titles during this period.

Stay tuned for the 2015 French Open starting on May 24th.

Does Nadal have enough left in the tank to win his tenth title? Will 2015 be the first year for Djokovic to win in Paris? Will the U.S. have anyone playing during the second week?

Men's French Open Winners by Country for Open Era

American Women Dominate Australian Open

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At the dawn of the Open era for tennis, the best women players were Australian. For example there were 6 Aussies, 1 Brit, and 1 Swede in the quarterfinals of the 1970 Australian Open.

Looking at the quarterfinalists for the Women’s Australian Open in five-year increments from 1970 to 2015 (see chart below), it can be seen that the depth of the women’s field improved and the range of countries increased. There are 23 countries listed on the table. At the same time the number of elite players remained small and they dominated the sport – Williams sisters, Sharapova, Graf, Seles, Sanchez, Navratilova, and Evert.

In this snapshot the Americans had the highest number of quarterfinalists (20), followed by Australians (11). Interestingly enough, the American women did not become a force at the Australian Open until 1980. Since then, at least 2 American women have been in the quarterfinals. Most recently, 2015, there were three American women (Madison Keys and the Williams sisters).

It is worth noting the USSR, Russia, and Belarus also had a total of 11 quarterfinalists. Many think that Anna Kournikova was the first Russian/Soviet player to hit the scene. Because she was so popular it is easy to forget that there were a number of great Russian women players over the years.

The combination of the increased depth, greater number of countries represented, and marketing by the WTA have greatly increased the appeal and drawing power of women’s professional tennis.

For additional details on the Australian Open go to its website, http://www.ausopen.com/.

australian open

Australian Open – Aussies and Americans Used to Dominate Tennis

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The Open era of tennis began in 1968 and with it came more good players from a variety of countries. This can be seen in the chart below which is a sample of the number of players by country in five-year increments who reached the quarterfinals of the Australian Open.

In 1970 the Australian Men’s Open featured 4 Aussies, 2 Americans, 1 Brit, and 1 Dutch player. Five years later (1975) the quarterfinalists included 6 Aussies, an American, and a Russian. In 1980 there were 4 Americans, 3 Aussies, and 1 Argentinean. During the 1970s and early 1980s, the Americans and Australians dominated tennis.

Fast forward to 2000, 2010, and 2015. In those three years each of the quarterfinalists was from different countries.

A closer look at the data shows the United States had the greatest number of quarterfinalists, 19; however, 15 of them made the top 8 prior to 2000. The results reflect the lack of production from the USTA Player Development program in recent years.

Australia went through a dry spell in player development similar to what is currently happening in the U.S. For this sample, they had the second highest number of players, 15, in this snapshot. Most of the quarterfinalists from Down Under played in 1970, 1975, or 1980.

For additional details on the Australian Open go to its website, http://www.ausopen.com/.

Australian Open

 

Seven Outfits for Serena

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Several years ago Serena Williams was featured in a 30-second video for the WTA’s ad campaign, Strong is Beautiful. In the ad she stated, “Before every slam I pick out seven outfits. SEVEN – one for every match I need to win. I wouldn’t pick seven outfits if I didn’t plan on wearing them all.”

For the sixth time Willams wore all 7 outfits at the Australian Open. And for a change, the American women had an exceptional AO.

Sixteen American women entered the tournament. Combined, they won 30 matches while losing 15. Seven Outfits for Serena

Grace Min, Alison Riske, Sloane Stephens, and Taylor Townsend bowed out in the first round. At one point Stephens and Townsend were thought to be the replacements for the Williams sisters as America’s top players. That certainly wasn’t the case this tournament.

Twelve American women advanced to the second round.

Nicole Gibbs, Anna Tatishvili, Irina Falconi, Lauren Davis, and Christina McHale lost in the second round. It should be noted that Tatishvili changed her country of representation from Georgia to the United States in April 2014.

Three of the seven Americans who advanced to the third round were ousted: Bethanie Mattek-Sands, Varvara Lepchenko, and Coco Vandeweghe.

Four American women remained in the draw as play began in the round of 16.

Madison Brengle lost in the round of 16s and Venus Williams was defeated in the quarterfinals.

Up and comer Madison Keys was defeated by Williams in the semifinals, while Russians Maria Sharapova and Ekaterina Makarova battled it out in the other half of the draw.

Williams defeated Sharapova 6-3, 7-6 in the finals. The loss made Sharapova 2-17 lifetime against the 2015 champion.

The win at this year’s AO gave Williams 19 Grand Slam victories, 1 more than Chris Evert and Martina Navritilova. Next on the list is Steffi Graf, with her Open-era record of 22 major titles and Margaret Court, the victor in 24 Grand Slam singles events.

Congratulations to Serena Williams for getting to wash her seven outfits on the way to another title!