Tag: Womens

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 Women Record Wins at French Open

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This past weekend, Maria Sharapova and Rafael Nadal were crowned Men’s and Women’s Champions at the French Open. For the trio of Djokovic, Federer, and Nadal, this was their 32nd win in the last 36 Grand Slams. Total dominance. For Nadal, this was his record setting seventh French Open championship.

Sharapova’s victory was also historic. She ousted a determined Sara Errani, retained her #1 ranking in the world, and completed a career grand slam. In a classy, post-match interview Sharapova provided some words of wisdom for life on and off the court, “I’ll retire the day I wake up and don’t believe I can be a better player.”

Overall, the showing by the Americans in singles was mixed. The women results for the women were respectable, while the outcome of the men’s matches was ugly.

The singles results for Americans are listed below.

U.S. Men’s Results
Round of 128
The 8 U.S. men players had a weak start – 3 wins and 5 losses.
• Winners – Brian Baker, John Isner, and Jesse Levine.
• Losers – James Blake, Ryan Harrison, Sam Querrey, Andy Roddick, and Donald Young.

Round of 64
The American players were pathetic in the second round – 0 wins and 3 losses.
• Winners – NONE.
• Losers – Brian Baker, John Isner, and Jesse Levine.

Round of 32
At the Australian Open 1 of 11 American men made it to the round of 32, while none of 8 American men made it to the round of 32.

At the French Open, the 8 American men won 3 matches and lost 8.
At the Australian Open, the 11 American men won 7 matches and lost 11.

U.S. – Women’s Results
Round of 128
The 12 U.S. women players showed promise in the first round – 10 wins and 2 losses.
• Winners – Lauren Davis, Irina Falconi, Alexa Glatch, Vania King, Varvara Lepchenko, Christina McHale, Melanie Oudin, Bethanie Mattek-Sands, Sloane Stephens, and Venus Williams.
• Losers – Jamie Hampton and Serena Williams.

Round of 64
The women didn’t fare as well in the second round – 3 wins and 7 losses, although 2 of the matches pitted American players against each other.
• Winners – Varvara Lepchenko, Christina McHale, and Sloane Stephens.
• Losers – Lauren Davis, Irina Falconi, Alexa Glatch, Vania King, Melanie Oudin, Bethanie Mattek-Sands, and Venus Williams.

Round of 32
The American women performed admirably in the third round – 2 wins and 1 loss.
• Winners – Varvara Lepchenko and Sloane Stephens.
• Losers – Christina McHale.

Round of 16
The American women lost to the 4th and 6th seeds – 0 wins and 2 losses.
• Losers – Sloane Stephens and Varvara Lepchenko lost.

The 12 American women won 15 matches and lost 12.
At the Australian Open, the 10 American women won 9 matches and lost 10.

The Grand Slams are not a team or country contest. Nevertheless, it is still interesting to look at the performance of the top players an countries.

France had 29 players with 30 wins and 29 losses.
Spain had 20 players with 30 wins and 19 losses.
USA also had 20 players with 18 wins and 20 losses.
Russia had 17 players with 10 wins and 16 losses.
Germany had 15 players with 13 wins and 15 losses.
Italy had 12 players with 15 wins and 12 losses.
The Czech Republic has 12 players with 14 wins and 12 losses.
USA Tennis is a solid performer, but clearly not a dominant factor in the sport.

American tennis fans can only hope that the women continue to play well at Wimbledon. With a little luck, some of the younger players will have a break-through tournament. While the American men are fabulous players, they demonstrated again that they are clearly not in the upper tier.