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Post by bangkokbobby on Jun 26, 2015 3:52:46 GMT
Defending Wimbledon Champion, Petra Kvitova
Taking a break today from the Aegon International to highlight the 2015 WTA Pre-Wimbledon Party. It’s always nice to see the ladies let their hair down and relax before the games begin. Last year, Petra Kvitova won the ladies singles title, defeating Eugenie Bouchard in the final. This year, Serena Williams enters Wimbledon with the first two Majors of the year already in her trophy case. A win here would give her a shot at the calendar year Grand Slam at the US Open. But there’s a lot of tennis to be played before we get to that. Maybe Maria Sharapova will win again. Maybe Simona Halep or Ana Ivanovic will make a run. Maybe a young American like Madison Keys or Sloane Stephens will take the big step to Major winner. For this night, those things can be laid aside as the ladies walk the carpet at the WTA party.
Maria Sharapova
Eugenie Bouchard
Simona Halep
Madison Keys
Ana Ivanovic with Bastian Schweinsteiger
Kurumi Nara
Laura Robson
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Post by bangkokbobby on Jun 28, 2015 23:41:46 GMT
Petra Kvitova
Going into Wimbledon 2015, much of the attention is focused on Serena Williams. That’s absolutely warranted and understandable. The undisputed Queen of the Courts is 3/4 of the way to another Serena Slam and halfway to a 2015 calendar year Grand Slam. Whether she pulls either or both off or not wouldn’t take anything away from the fact that she should be celebrated for what she has already accomplished. With 20 singles Majors, not even counting her doubles Majors, Serena has transcended tennis and stands with those considered the greatest female athletes of all-time regardless of the sport. But having said all that, let’s not forget who the defending Wimbledon Ladies Singles champion is, a 2-time overall champion, Petra Kvitova. She might be unpredictable elsewhere, but on the lawns of the All-England Club Petra is often brilliant, as she displayed last year turning the final against Eugenie Bouchard into a rout. Here are a few pre-Tournament photos and videos of Petra, along with Maria Sharapova and Ana Ivanovic. Masha is test driving the new Porsche Boxster Spyder while Ana is representing the Quercus Foundation, which raises money and awareness for children living in extreme poverty. Quite the juxtaposition there, I know. But suffice it to say that while Masha always comes out to promote her sponsors, she also does a lot of work with children’s charities as well.
PETRA KVITOVA
MARIA SHARAPOVA
ANA IVANOVIC
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Post by bangkokbobby on Jun 30, 2015 2:35:10 GMT
Ana Ivanovic
There were some pretty lopsided routs on day 1 of Ladies Singles play at Wimbledon 2015. Sure, #6 Lucie Safarova was pushed by Alison Riske. 2014 Girls champion Jelena Ostapenko upset #9 Carla Suarez Navarro. However, by and large, it was blowout city. # 4 Maria Sharapova 2 and 2 over Johanna Konta. #7 Ana Ivanovic 1 and 1 over Yi-Fan Xu. #23 Victoria Azarenka 2 and 1 over Anett Kontaveit. And the two biggest beatdowns of all; #16 Venus Williams serving up a double bagel to Madison Brengle and #14 Andrea Petkovic doing the same to Shelby Rogers. Those last two hurt a little bit for me. Not because Venus and Andrea won. I actually was pulling for both of them to win. Rather, it was because I am quite fond of both Americans Brengle and Rogers. I hate to see them…or anybody really…go on to the court at the Cathedral of Tennis, Wimbledon…the cradle of our sport, as Novak Djokovic calls it…and get embarrassed by not even winning one game. But that’s how sports is. Venus and Andrea had a job to do. They cannot let up. You never know what can happen if you relax. I’ve watched tennis my whole life and seen strange things happen.
1 SERENA WILLIAMS (won 6-4 6-1 vs Margarita Gasparyan)
4 MARIA SHARAPOVA (won 6-2 6-2 vs Johanna Konta)
7 ANA IVANOVIC (won 6-1 6-1 vs Yi-Fan Yu)
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Post by mr3putt on Jun 30, 2015 4:54:21 GMT
BKB so is Eugenie gonna fold like a cheap suit?
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Post by bangkokbobby on Jun 30, 2015 11:50:28 GMT
BKB so is Eugenie gonna fold like a cheap suit? Genie has had a horrible last 8 months or so. Today she plays Duan Yingying, a 6'1" player from China. Yingying is one of those players...everytime I see her I can see some raw skills but she's never been able to put it all together. This should be an easy win for Bouchard. If Eugenie can't beat Yingying...even given that Bouchard pulled out of Eastbourne with an abdominal injury, then she needs to step away from the tour and reexamine everything about her game, starting with swallowing her pride and asking Nick Saviano if he would come back to her team. But honestly, it shouldn't come to that against Yingying. If Bouchard loses this one, it's a very bad sign.
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Post by bangkokbobby on Jun 30, 2015 15:50:52 GMT
Not looking good, dropping the first set to Yingying...
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Post by bangkokbobby on Jun 30, 2015 16:32:33 GMT
and it's over...Yingying defeats Genie, 7-6 (3) 6-4. Last year's runner-up out in the first round. Time to reassess.
Genie in her press conference said she was diagnosed with a grade 2 abdominal tear. I don't know. That might be true, but her whole year has been subpar.
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Post by mr3putt on Jun 30, 2015 23:27:30 GMT
and it's over...Yingying defeats Genie, 7-6 (3) 6-4. Last year's runner-up out in the first round. Time to reassess. Genie in her press conference said she was diagnosed with a grade 2 abdominal tear. I don't know. That might be true, but her whole year has been subpar. Hmmmm...thx for the update....looks like Eugenie is TOAST......that "no handshake" arogance has come back to haunt her....lol she had it all....game and looks....now it looks like it's over b4 it began look like Ariya might be TOAST too.
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Post by bangkokbobby on Jun 30, 2015 23:54:59 GMT
and it's over...Yingying defeats Genie, 7-6 (3) 6-4. Last year's runner-up out in the first round. Time to reassess. Genie in her press conference said she was diagnosed with a grade 2 abdominal tear. I don't know. That might be true, but her whole year has been subpar. Hmmmm...thx for the update....looks like Eugenie is TOAST......that "no handshake" arogance has come back to haunt her....lol she had it all....game and looks....now it looks like it's over b4 it began look like Ariya might be TOAST too. I won't go as far as to say toast for either of them. Far too young. But I will say I drifted away from posting about the LPGA as Ariya continued to struggle. Still watching, but my golf buzz was coming from the JLPGA. Then, as I was about to fall asleep (figuratively) watching NW Arkansas, Na Yeon Choi shook me from my gloom with her play on 16 and 17. Don't get me wrong, I like Stacy and a lot of other players...but it's been rough watching Ariya struggle.
from her Facebook page:
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Post by bangkokbobby on Jul 1, 2015 2:13:34 GMT
Eugenie Bouchard
Three big names to hardcore tennis aficionados took first round exits from Wimbledon 2015 on day 2. All three are dealing with different issues at the moment. I’ll start with Laura Robson. Hers was the least surprising loss (6-4 6-4 to Evgeniya Rodina). This was only her second match back after missing 17 months with a wrist injury. Laura has a great game. If she wants to put in the work, she will be back. Then there’s Simona Halep, the third seed. Her losing to Jana Cepelova was the big upset of the tournament so far. Halep made the semifinals last year, is a multiple title winner this year and is ranked #3 in the world. She’s also going home, unfortunately. With Simona, she’s played so well for a long run the past couple of years. I wonder if she needs to maybe take a rest, play fewer events. Speaking of maybe taking a rest…or at least a break to reassess some things…Eugenie Bouchard rounds out the trio of first round upset casualties. Even though she was in the final last year, her loss to Ying-Ying Duan was far less surprising than Halep’s. I thought Genie would win, but she has now lost 12 of her last 14 matches so I am not shocked that she didn’t. Her reaching three Major semifinals in a row, including a final, wasn’t a fluke last year. But she has to find that player again. It’s non-existent right now. Maybe it starts with coaching, getting Nick Saviano back. Maybe it starts with her mental approach. Maybe…and I haven’t heard as much of this as I thought I might…she has become a bit too thin. I thought she had a little more weight on her last year. It reminds me of a few years ago when Ana Ivanovic to my eyes became a little too thin. Slim is ok, but in today’s women’s game you need power unless you are a magically creative shotmaker like Agnieszka Radwanska. I don’t know what the answer for Bouchard is, but I know she is far too young and talented to give up on.
2 PETRA KVITOVA (won 6-1 6-0 vs Kiki Bertens)
3 SIMONA HALEP (lost 7-5 4-6 3-6 vs Jana Cepelova)
12 EUGENIE BOUCHARD (lost 6-7 (3) 4-6 vs Yingying Duan)
LAURA ROBSON (lost 4-6 4-6 vs Evgeniya Rodina)
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Post by bangkokbobby on Jul 2, 2015 4:20:47 GMT
Bethanie Mattek-Sands
Day 3 at Wimbledon 2015 saw every women’s singles match that featured an American result in an American win. Of course, the Williams sisters continued to win. As per my usual approach, I’ll save blogging about Serena until later in the tournament when she’s usually lifting a trophy, or at least among the final few competing to do so. There were also solid wins today by Sloane Stephens and my current favorite player, Madison Keys. Maddie was finishing up her 3 set comeback against Stefanie Voegele halted by darkness the previous day. But I’d like to highlight Coco Vandeweghe and Bethanie Mattek-Sands. Both pulled off upsets of top seeds. 11th seed Karolina Pliskova is one of the tour’s fast rising young stars, armed with a bazooka-like serve. However, one of the players who can match or exceed Pliskova, if they are having an “on” day, is Coco Vandeweghe. It was working for Coco in her 7-6 (5) 6-4 upset of the higher ranked Pliskova sister. Coco bombed away for 15 aces (against only 3 double faults), along the way winning 32 of 38 first serve points. It would be Bethanie Mattek-Sands who would claim the highest name upset as she handled 7th seed Ana Ivanovic, 6-3 6-4. With all of the talk of Serena being half way to a calendar year Grand Slam (and 3/4 of the way to a second Serena Slam), it should be mentioned that Bethanie and her doubles partner Lucie Safarova are half way to a calendar year doubles Grand Slam, having won the Australian Open and Roland Garros. On this day, she blasted 32 winners, slightly more than double Ana’s 15, in continuing Ivanovic’s disappointing 2015 season.
1 SERENA WILLIAMS (won 6-4 6-1 vs Timea Babos)
BETHANIE MATTEK-SANDS (won 6-3 6-4 vs 7 Ana Ivanovic)
COCO VANDEWEGHE (won 7-6 (5) 6-4 vs 11 Karolina Pliskova)
21 MADISON KEYS (won 6-7 (6) 6-3 6-4 vs Stefanie Voegele)
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Post by mr3putt on Jul 2, 2015 5:16:57 GMT
Bouchard eating a lot of humble pie in her presser...lol.
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Post by bangkokbobby on Jul 3, 2015 10:23:53 GMT
Bouchard eating a lot of humble pie in her presser...lol. Yep. She has a lot of soul searching to do. She's young...we'll find out if she "gets it" or not.
Madison Keys
Earlier this year, American Madison Keys had a magical run to the 2015 Australian Open semifinals, beating Petra Kvitova and Venus Williams along the way. Like a lot of young up and coming players, she’s been a little inconsistent since then (while also battling injury). But she has all the tools to be a future Wimbledon champion, chief among them one of the biggest serves in the women’s game. The draw at Wimbledon 2015 has opened up for Maddie. If she continues to win, as she did in round two 6-4 7-6 (3) against Elizaveta Kulichkova, she wouldn’t face a seeded player until the quarterfinals. That seeded player, however, would be Petra Kvitova, the defending champion. Keys might have beaten Kvitova down under, but Petra at Wimbledon is an entirely different beast. The 2-time and defending champion has looked awesome so far, just rolling through her first two opponents. Kurumi Nara had nothing to bother Kvitova as Petra blew through her, 6-2 6-0. Obviously, there is a lot of tennis to be played before a Kvitova v Keys quarter could happen. And Keys is playing closer matches than she probably should against her first two opponents. Maddie has the weapons to beat everybody in her draw until Petra, but she also is still up and down in her matches. But these are my favorite two players on tour right now so I definitely hope this quarterfinal match-up happens.
2 PETRA KVITOVA (won 6-2 6-0 vs Kurumi Nara)
5 CAROLINE WOZNIACKI (won 6-1 7-6 (6) vs Denisa Allertova)
18 SABINE LISICKI (won 2-6 7-5 6-1 vs Christina McHale)
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Post by bangkokbobby on Jul 4, 2015 2:00:16 GMT
Heather Watson Applauds Crowd As She Leaves Centre Court with Serena Williams
I’ve been following and posting about Heather Watson since 2011. In fact, earlier this year I wrote about her win in Hobart (click for link: WTA Wrap-Up 1.17.2015: Petra Kvitova Wins In Sydney, Heather Watson Takes Hobart). Even as I see her run through American players like she did in Hobart (Sloane Stephens, Alison Riske and Madison Brengle) I am still absolutely delighted watching her success. Delighted..hmmm…yes, if I were to describe how I find Heather Watson, the word would be delightful. I don’t mean that to be patronizing in any way. She is simply armed with an engaging personality and megawatt smile. But I didn’t see what happened today on Centre Court at Wimbledon 2015 coming. I thought against world #1 Serena Williams that Heather would be lucky to lose 4 and 3. After Serena won the first set 6-2, my expectations for Heather lowered even more. But then the Guernsey native showed she has more game, more heart and more moxie than I ever imagined. Playing incredible defense, she started to do the seemingly impossible…take it to Serena’s serve. Big forehands, slice returns, running down shot after shot…Heather was playing the best tennis I’ve ever seen from her. Next thing you know, Heather put a dent into Serena’s armor of invincibility, taking the second set 6-4 as Henman Hill was going bonkers. And she wasn’t finished. She sent the British crowds into a frenzy as she broke Serena not once, but twice, to open the final set. Ah, but then it happened. Up two breaks and 3-0, I just had the feeling she needed to get it to 4-0 to win. Catherine Whitaker on The Tennis Podcast mentioned that she was watching the match with 7-time Major winner Mats Wilander and he said if Heather lost the fourth game, she would lose the match. I thought the same thing. Two breaks is only two breaks if you have holds of serve to back it up. In tennis, you often see players break and then get broken right back. Add in the fact that Serena has come back more times than I can count in third sets. Heck, her recent Roland Garros title run was built on a series of three setters. When Serena earned one break back to get it to 3-1 Watson, I knew Heather’s chance had slipped away regardless of still being a single break up. Oh, she didn’t go quietly. Watson fought like a champion down the stretch but just couldn’t get enough big points to pull it out as Serena eventually, tearfully, won 6-2 4-6 7-5. It was a Rocky-like performance from Heather…the first Rocky in particular, where the challenger comes up a little short but gets the respect of everybody who watched. Serena was asked if Heather could be a top 20 player. Serena responded that Heather should shoot higher. Indeed, if Heather can even reproduce 85% of what she did on day 5 of Wimbledon 2015 she can be one of the game’s best players. She has 2 WTA titles and only recently turned 23. She has time to do great things in her career. I’ve been following her for the last four years. I suspect a lot more people will follow her now.
HEATHER WATSON (lost 2-6 6-4 5-7 to 1 Serena Williams)
4 MARIA SHARAPOVA (won 6-4 6-3 vs Irina-Camilia Begu)
16 VENUS WILLIAMS (won 6-3 6-2 vs Aleksandra Krunic)
COCO VANDEWEGHE (won 6-2 6-0 vs 22 Samantha Stosur)
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Post by bangkokbobby on Jul 5, 2015 2:06:23 GMT
Jelena Jankovic
It’s been 7 years since Jelena Jankovic was ranked #1 in the world on the WTA singles rankings. She hasn’t reached the quarterfinals of a Major since 2013 and hasn’t reached a Major semifinal since 2010. Her last WTA singles title came in February 2013. Despite an inspired run to the 2015 Indian Wells final, Jeca was a decided underdog taking on defending champion and 2nd seed Petra Kvitova in the third round of Wimbledon 2015. Ah, but that’s the beauty of sports. On this day, after a stuttering start to the match, JJ pulled it together and delivered the biggest upset so far in Ladies Singles play, knocking Petra out of the tournament, 3-6 7-5 6-4. It was a great moment that harkened back to Jeca’s best days on tour. Jankovic was joined in the upset party today by Garbine Muguruza. Gabi took out 10th seed Angelique Kerber, 7-6 (12) 1-6 6-2. Since the beginning of April, Angie has won three tournaments, including on grass at the Aegon Classic. There were those that thought Kerber might be a darkhorse pick for the title if Serena stumbled along the way. Muguruza is a powerful up and coming player who could be a part of the next generation of great champions along with players like Simona Halep, Eugenie Bouchard, Sloane Stephens and Madison Keys.
28 JELENA JANKOVIC (won 3-6 7-5 6-4 vs 2 Petra Kvitova)
5 CAROLINE WOZNIACKI (won 6-2 6-2 vs 31 Camila Giorgi)
20 GARBINE MUGURUZA (won 7-6 (12) 1-6 6-2 vs 10 Angelique Kerber)
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