Tag: Women’s Tennis

Serena Leads Strong Performance by American Women at Wimbledon

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Serena Williams topped off an exceptionally strong performance by the American women at Wimbledon with her 22nd Grand Slam singles trophy. In addition, Serena and Venus captured their 6th women’s doubles title.

Overall the 18 American women were 25-17 in singles, although the Williams sisters accounted for almost half of those victories. Venus was 5-1 and lost in the semis, while Serena was 7-0.

Coco Vandeweghe and Madison Keys both had respectable 3-1 showings as they reached the round of 16. Vandeweghe was seeded 27th and Keys was 9th.

The nine American women to lose in the first round were: Anna Tatishvili, Alison Riske, Nicole Gibbs, Louisa Chirico, Madison Brengle, Victoria Duval, Irina Falconi, Shelby Rogers, and Bethanie Mattek-Sands.

Christina McHale, Varvara Lepchenko, and Samantha Crawford were each 1-1. They bowed out in the round of 64.

Julia Boserup and Sloane Stephens fared slightly better. They were 2-1 and lost in the round of 32.

The performance is in line with the WTA rankings. On June 20th there were 3 American women in the top 10, 5 in the top 30, and 14 in the top 100. It is impressive to be able to say that about 1-in-7 players among the top 100 are American women.

World Ranking Athlete Birthday
1 Serena Williams 26-Sep-81
9 Venus Williams 17-Jun-80
10 Madison Keys 17-Feb-95
20 Sloane Stephens 20-Mar-93
29 Coco Vandeweghe 6-Dec-91
61 Shelby Rogers 13-Oct-92
62 Madison Brengle 3-Apr-90
64 Varvara Lepchenko 21-May-86
66 Christina McHale 11-May-92
72 Irina Falconi 4-May-90
74 Louisa Chirico 16-May-96
76 Nicole Gibbs 3-Mar-93
80 Alison Riske 3-Jul-90
85 Bethanie Mattek-Sands 23-Mar-85

It is also interesting to note that half of the women are younger than 25 and half are older. Of the players who are 25 years or younger, only Stephens, Keys, and possibly Vandeweghe have the potential to win Grand Slam events after the Williams sisters retire. Of the older players, only Serena Williams is capable of winning a Grand Slam singles title.

Next stop, U.S. Open – with the exception of the few players who will participate in the Olympics. Look for another strong performance by the American women at Flushing Meadows.

Is Serena Williams on the Decline?

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Some think that Serena Williams is on the decline.

To justify that viewpoint they would argue that she has lost in the finals of the last three Grand Slams to players she should have beaten. Not only that, in 2016 she has won only 1 tournament, she has lost in the finals of 3 tournaments (including 2 grand slams) and she was defeated in the round of 16 in the other tournament.

Even though she is #1 in the world, she is “only” 24-4.

By comparison, #2 ranked Agniewszka Radwanska is 25-7 in 8 tournaments this year. She has won 1 tournament, made it to the semis of 4 tournaments, lost in the round of 16 twice and was defeated in the round of 64 on 1 occasion.

Here is where it gets interesting!

The case that Williams on the decline can be made by saying that:
• She has “only” won 55.6% of the points played this year.
• She has “only” won 62.6% of the games played this year.
• Given the low percentage of points she has won, she is lucky to win 87.1% of her matches.

Compare those stats to Radwanska. Her stats show that:
• She has won 53.7% of the points played this year.
• She has won 59.4% of the games played this year.
• She is not far behind Williams and has won 78.7% of her matches.

The following tables from the WTA website (wtatennis.com) show YTD serving and receiving data (through the French Open) for both women. The difference between #1 and #2 is a reflection of contrasting styles of play.

WILLIAMS SERVICE RECORD

Category Number/%
Aces 186
Double faults 77
1st serve 60.20%
1st serve points won 73%
2nd serve points won 49.60%
Break points faced 145
Break points saved 62.80%
Service games played 273
Service games won 80.20%
Service points won 63.60%

WILLIAMS RETURN RECORD

Category Number/%
1st serve return points won 40.90%
2nd serve return points won 58.50%
Break points opportunities 263
Break points converted 46%
Return games played 270
Return games won 44.80%
Return points won 47.90%
Total points won 55.60%

RADWANSKA SERVICE RECORD
Category Number/%
Aces 81
Double faults 54
1st serve 63.10%
1st serve points won 65.20%
2nd serve points won 45.20%
Break points faced 220
Break points saved 56.40%
Service games played 314
Service games won 69.40%
Service points won 57.80%

RADWANSKA RETURN RECORD YTD,

Category Number/%
1st serve return points won 43.60%
2nd serve return points won 60.20%
Break points opportunities 288
Break points converted 52.40%
Return games played 307
Return games won 49.20%
Return points won 49.60%
Total points won 53.70%

The data shows that Williams is more of a power player and holds an advantage in the percentage of first serve points won and in the percentage of break points saved. As a steadier player, Radwanska holds an advantage in the percentage of return games won.

The difference in the percentage of total points won seems minor (55.6%-53.7%=1.9%); however, it translates to a much larger difference in the percentage of matches won (87.1%-78.7%=8.4%) Clearly, Serena Williams is the most dominant player on the women’s tour.

SEC and ACC Dominate Women’s D1 ITA Rankings

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On January 5th, the Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) released its pre-season poll for the women’s Division I NCAA tennis season. It comes as no surprise that the initial 2015-2016 rankings are only slightly different from the final 2014-2015 ITA rankings.

Only 13 conferences are represented in the top 50 teams with the SEC and ACC filling 22 of the 50 slots. The number of teams from each conference are listed in the table below.

# of Teams Conference
12 SEC
10 ACC
6 Big 10
6 Big 12
5 PAC-12
2 AAC
2 Ivy League
2 West Coast Conference
1 Big East
1 Big West
1 Colonial Athletic Association
1 C-USA
1 MVC

The January 5th ITA rankings of the top 10 singles players are  dominated by athletes from the ACC. Six of the top 10 players are from 4 schools in the  ACC, two are from the PAC 12, and one player is from the SEC and Big 10.

ITA Ranking Avg Player School Conference
1 64.91 Joana Eidukonyte Clemson ACC
2 64.81 Francesca Di Lorenzo Ohio State Big 10
3 60.17 Belinda Woolcock Florida SEC
4 56.35 Danielle Collins Virginia ACC
5 56.14 Maegan Manasse California PAC-12
6 54.31 Hayley Carter North Carolina ACC
7 53.23 Sinead Lohan Miami (FL) ACC
8 52.78 Julia Elbaba Virginia ACC
9 49.28 Stephanie Wagner Miami (FL) ACC
10 49.25 Klara Fabikova California PAC-12

While it is fun to follow the polls throughout the season, the early rankings (February and early March) may not be a good indicator of what is really happening. The rankings become more reliable once teams complete their preseason matches and are well into their conference season.

ITA Ranking School 2014-15 Final Rank Conference
1 Vanderbilt 1 SEC
2 USC 2 PAC-12
3 Florida 6 SEC
4 North Carolina 4 ACC
4 Georgia 5 SEC
6 California 7 PAC-12
7 Virginia 9 ACC
8 Stanford 11 PAC-12
9 UCLA 3 PAC-12
10 Texas A&M 10 SEC
11 Baylor 8 Big 12
12 Oklahoma State 12 Big 12
13 Miami 15 ACC
14 Michigan 13 Big 10
15 Alabama 14 SEC
16 Duke 19 ACC
17 Texas Tech 16 Big 12
18 Ohio State 21 Big 10
19 Pepperdine 22 West Coast Conference
20 Clemson 18 ACC
21 LSU 23 SEC
22 TCU 17 Big 12
23 Georgia Tech 20 ACC
24 Kentucky 25 SEC
25 Mississippi 24 SEC
26 Northwestern 26 Big 10
27 Arizona State 27 PAC-12
28 South Carolina 29 SEC
29 Mississippi State 32 SEC
30 Virginia Tech 30 ACC
31 Rice 28 C-USA
32 Dartmouth 31 Ivy League
33 Notre Dame 36 ACC
34 DePaul 33 Big East
35 Oklahoma 35 Big 12
36 Arkansas 38 SEC
37 Florida State 39 ACC
38 Houston 34 AAC
39 Wichita State 41 MVC
40 Long Beach State 40 Big West
41 Texas 37 Big 12
42 Auburn 46 SEC
43 Princeton 42 Ivy League
44 Purdue 43 Big 10
45 Saint Mary's (CA) 44 West Coast Conference
46 William & Mary 49 Colonial Athletic Association
47 Tulsa 51 AAC
47 Penn State 47 Big 10
49 Boston College 50 ACC
50 Indiana 48 Big 10

It will be interesting to see if Vanderbilt ends the season in the top spot and if Joana Eidukonyte captures the D1 singles title.

Lady Buff Nuria Ormeño Ruiz Qualifies for NIIC

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University of Colorado junior Nuria Ormeño Ruiz won the USTA/ITA Mountain Region Championship on Sunday (October 18). She is the first Lady Buff to capture the regional singles title.

After losing the first set, Ormeño Ruiz rebounded to defeat the University of Denver’s Julia O’Loughlin by a score of 4-6, 6-4, 6-3. The cubuffs.com website reported that the match began outdoors and was moved inside for the final set because of inclement weather.

With the win, Ormeño Ruiz automatically qualified for the USTA National Indoor Intercollegiate Championships in New York City on Nov. 12-15. This marks the first time the Buffs have had a singles player competing in the NIIC.  Last season Julyette Steur and Kyra Wojcik were the first Lady Buffs doubles team to qualify for the tournament.

Ormeño Ruiz was born in Madrid, Spain and graduated from the Emilio Sanchez International School in Barcelona. The cubuffs.com website indicates she entered the fall season with 38 singles and 25 doubles career victories as a Lady Buff.

The Lady Buffs have had a strong fall season and will begin the spring season on January 17 in Boulder against Air Force. Make plans now to support the Lady Buffs during their PAC-12 play.

Nuria Ormeño Ruiz

Changing of the Guard in Women’s Tennis

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On Saturday, Serena Williams captured her 6th Wimbledon title and her 21st Grand Slam event with a 6-4, 6-4 victory over Garbiñe Muguruza. By winning her 3rd Grand Slam event of the year Williams is positioned to be the first woman since Steffi Graf (1988) to win a calendar-year Grand Slam if she captures the U.S. Open in September.

Finalist Garbiñe Muguruza joins Eugenie Bouchard, Belinda Bencic, Elina Svitolina, Karolina Pliskova, and Simona Halep as the young women who are part of the changing of the guard in women’s tennis. At the moment Madison Keys, Sloane Stephens, and Coco Vandeweghe are the leaders of the pack of American women who have flirted with being in this group of elite players.Changing of the Guard in Women's Tennis

Collectively the 16 American women were 24-15 at the 2015 Wimbledon. The best showing was by the Williams sisters, Vandeweghe, and Keys who all made it to the round of 16. Venus was the only player to lose in the 16s as she bowed out to Serena.

On a positive note, three American women reached the Wimbledon quarters. The last time this happened was in 2004 when Serena, Lindsay Davenport and Jennifer Capriati reached the round of eight. Unfortunately, Keys lost in three sets to Radwanska, while Vandeweghe suffered a similar fate at the hands of Maria Sharapova.

American Women World Ranking 6/29 1st Rd 0-1 2nd Rd 1-1 3rd Rd 2-1 16s 3-1 Qrtrs 4-1 Semis 5-1 Finals
Serena Williams 1 X
Madison Brengle 36 X
Venus Williams 16 X
Bethanie Mattek-Sands 158 X
Nicole Gibbs 103 X
Shelby Rogers 47 X
Irina Falconi 50 X
Coco Vandeweghe 51 X
Edina Gallovits-Hall 53 X
Sloane Stephens 58 X
Lauren Davis 60 X
Alison Riske 63 X
Varvara Lepchenko 40 X
Christina McHale 86 X
Sachia Vickery 98 X
Madison Keys 21 X
TOTAL W-L 8-8 6-2 4-2 3-1 1-2 1-0 1-0

Congratulations to Serena on her 21st Grand Slam title and to the young women who are part of the changing of the guard!

Strong is Beautiful

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The Women’s Tennis Association recently released its ad campaign Strong is Beautiful.

The effort was deemed necessary to maintain sponsorships, ensure attendance at events, and viewership on television. Despite growth in U.S. tennis participation, the WTA took a proactive stance because of a challenging global economy and the lack of dominant players on the circuit.

Some say the campaign is sexist and exploits the women athletes. Others think the campaign is a brilliant means of portraying the qualities of a champion.

The verbiage from several of the ads follows:

Ana Ivanovic
“During the War in Serbia they bombed us all day and all night, but if I got up early I could practice before the planes came.”

Kim Clijsters
“Before I had a baby I devoted all my time to tennis. Afterwards, I had to compromise. Now, I devote 100% of my time to the baby and 100% to tennis..”

Serena Williams
“Before every slam I pick out 7 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.”

Li Na
“China is a country of 1.3 billion people. Yet, we’ve never had a #1 player or a Grand Slam Champion. No pressure.”

Note: Li Na won the 2011 French Open Championships (after this ad campaign was released).

Strong Is Beautiful - Dominika Cibulkova
Strong Is Beautiful – Dominika Cibulkova