Category: Tennis

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

Lady Buffs Tennis Playing Stronger in PAC-12 Competition

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It is an understatement to say that the move to the PAC-12 has been a challenge for the CU Lady Buffs Tennis team. The PAC-12 is arguably the toughest tennis conference in the U.S.

This past season the Lady Buffs defeated only Washington State, but lost 4-3 heart breakers to Oregon and Utah. With a little luck and a healthy team, CU would have won both matches.

In the Championship Draw of the PAC-12 tournament the Lady Buffs played competitive matches:
• (First Round) Julyette Steur lost a tough match to Krista Hardebeck of Stanford 4-6, 6-4, 6-4.
• (First Round) Tina Bokhua fell to Zoe Scandalis of USC in the first round, 6-3, 7-5. Scandalis made it to the semifinals.
• (First Round Doubles) Julyette Steur and Ashley Tiefel bowed out to Giuliana Olmos and Zoe Scandalis of USC 8-3.

Lady Buffs Tennis
Lady Buffs Tennis – Alex Aiello

In the Invitational Singles Bracket the Lady Buffs got on the scoreboard:
• (First round)Ashley Tiefel was soundly defeated Elena Najera-Salas, Utah, 6-3, 6-1.
• (First round) Kyra Wojcik Colorado was edged by Zoe Katz, USC, 6-3, 7-5.
• (First round) Alex Aiello upset 8th seed Kristin Wiley, UCLA, 3-6, 6-2, 7-5.
• (Second round) Aiello defeated Alexia Petrovic, Utah, 4-6, 6-3, 7-5.
• (Quarterfinals) Aiello lost decisively to #2 seed, Meredith Xepoleas, USC, 6-0, 6-2. Xepoleas went on to win the tournament.
In this bracket the Lady Buffs won a total of two matches, while losing three.

Lady Buffs Tennis - Tina Bokhua
Lady Buffs Tennis – Tina Bokhua

The Lady Buffs also fared well in the Invitational Doubles Bracket:

• (First Round) Alex Aiello and Nuria Ormeno-Ruiz edged Krista Hardebeck and Paulette Wolak, Stanford, 8-6.
• (First Round) Tina Bokhua and Kyra Wojcik beat Gussie O’Sullivan and Ebony Panoho, ASU, 8-4.
• (Quarterfinals) Aiello and Ormeno-Ruiz beat Alexandra Osborne and Leighann Sahagun, ASU, 8-5.
• (Quarterfinals) Bokhua and Wojcik lost to Jena Cheng and Sarah Richter, Utah, 8-5.
• (Semifinals) Aiello and Ormeno-Ruiz lost to Capucine Gregoire and Riko Shimizu, Washington, 8-6.
In this bracket the Lady Buffs won a total of three matches, while losing two.

Hopefully this is a sign of more wins for Lady Buffs Tennis in the upcoming seasons.

Winning and Losing – Gabriela Sabitini

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Most world-class athletes create the appearance they have never struggled with winning and losing during their careers. A closer look shows that is not the case.

Consider the case of Gabriela Sabitini. Sabatini reached number 3 in the world, but never attained the top ranking. Dealing with the challenges of winning and losing may have prevented her from reaching the top spot.

About a year and a half ago Sport 24 reported that winning and losing did not come easy for Sabitini. At times she creatively took the easy way out. She intentionally lost matches as a junior player to avoid having to talk to reporters.

“When I was younger and thought that I had to talk after winning a tournament, I often lost in the semifinals so I did not have to. It was that bad!” Sabatini told the Argentine newspaper La Nacion.

“I was very introverted. I had some issues at school because I was very inward-looking,” she said.

Sabatini, now 43, said her shyness was a major problem.

“I got very nervous at that point. But at the same time I was very competitive and I got frustrated when I did not win,” she said.

“I might lose the first set, when I was little, and I gave up on the match just because I was so angry that I could not bear having lost the first set.”

“I think my fame and my public profile had something to do with the fact that I did not become world number one.

“I loved to play, I was competitive, I wanted to win, that was all I knew. In the first few years tennis was a game. Later, it becomes a job,” she said. (October 18, 2013 http://www.sport24.co.za/)

The story about Sabitini’s challenges with winning and losing is old news, but the saga of athletes struggling to deal with winning and losing is an ongoing story for junior and world-class athletes in all sports.

How do you deal with winning and losing?

winning and losing

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!

American Juniors Have Mediocre Outing at 2015 Australian Open Juniors

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The nine American juniors who played the 2015 Australian Open juniors had limited success.

Raveena Kingsley (3-1) advanced to the quarterfinals before losing to Katie Swan. Swan actually lives in Wichita Kansas, but represents Great Britain.

Kingsley was joined by Jessica Ho (1-1) and Olivia Hauger (1-1), who won a round before losing. In 2014 Hauger (3-1) was a quarterfinalist.

Raquel Pedraza (0-1) and Mia Horvit (0-1) both dropped their first round matches.

The boys had similar results. Taylor Harry Fritz (3-1), the number three seed was upset in the quarterfinals.

Sameer Kumar (2-1), won two matches and William Blumberg (1-1) lost in the second round.

Michael Mmoh (0-1) lost in the first round. Last year Mmoh was 1-1.

Overall, the boys were 6-4 and the girls were 5-5.

Here’s to a larger contingency of players and a stronger showing at the French Open in June.

American Men Out in First Week of Australian Open

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Week one of the 2015 Australian Open has come and gone – and so have all of the American men.

Sad to say, their performance supported the comments made by Pete Sampras at a recent IPTL press conference. He stated that he doesn’t see any American men on the horizon who are capable of breaking into the top ten. Sampras was asked to comment on the reasons for the demise of the American me. He was diplomatic and mentioned there were a lot of reasons.

Many in the industry would say the crux of the problem is the inept USTA Player Development program. Without any star American men, young boys don’t aspire to be tennis players, much as they did when Andre Agassi and Pete Sampras were at the top of their games.

In addition, some feel that American kids have too many options. The sport has enjoyed growth around the globe and young players from other countries are motivated than you Americans.

This year there were only 7 men in the Australian Open, compared to 12 last year. Fortunately Tim Smyczek and Michael Russell qualified, otherwise there would have only been five Americans.

John Isner is the constant for the American men. He was seeded in 19th and he held his seed. He won two matches prior to bowing out in the round of 32. Steve Johnson was also 2-1.

Denis Kudia, Sam Querrey, and Michael Russell were first round losers.

Donald Young and Tim Smyczek both won a match before losing in the second round. To Smyczek’s credit, he took Rafael Nadal to five sets before bowing out.

Overall the men won six matches and lost seven.

The Grand Slams are much more fun to follow when there are American men playing during the second week of the tournament!