File This Under Interesting...

by Savannah

It's still the silly season. Fans are posting soft porn pics of female tennis players while the PR machines for the men are busily posting pictures of various and sundry men practicing on hard courts or posting announcements that Player X is now back training. Officially.

Maria Sharapova gave an interview with claws barely concealed. The only thing interesting was that it took her and her team so long to craft a statement about the Connors fiasco that didn't include the words "IMG thought it was a good deal for Jimmy. He could get some scratch and I would get some publicity". Otherwise it's the same old same old.

Roger Federer and his agent, Tony Godsick, husband of ESPN commentator Mary Joe Fernandez have formed their own publicity firm. They've already got Juan Martin del Potro under contract. So this season when Mary Joe is praising some player you either never heard of or who doesn't have a snow balls chance in hell of winning the match they're playing don't think that she's playing up one of her husbands clients. She'd never do such a thing. After all that would be a conflict of interest and we all know that would never, ever, happen with ESPN's tennis coverage.

So if that's pretty much all the news why am I even posting this a few days before the Holidays? I think this will make it all clear.


photo via Rajiv Dhoot top news in.

Novak Djokovic is turning to Boris Becker for help in 2014.

The second-ranked Serb said Wednesday that Becker will join his staff for next season as head coach.
"He is a true legend, someone who has great tennis knowledge and his experience will help me win new trophies from the Grand Slams and other tournaments," Djokovic said in a statement. "Becker is a great person, too, and I am sure he will fit in our team in the best possible way."

The 46-year-old Becker, a six-time Grand Slam champion, will travel with Djokovic and other coaches to tournaments, including next month's Australian Open.

Djokovic won his fourth Australian Open title last year and finished the 2013 season ranked No. 2 in the world behind Rafael Nadal.
Becker will join a coaching staff that also includes Marian Vajda, Miljan Amanovic and Gebhard Phil-Gritsch.
"I will do my best to help him reach his goals, and I am sure we can achieve great things together," said Becker, who became the youngest man to win Wimbledon when he was 17 in 1985.

Vajda, who has been working with Djokovic since 2006, said the Serb needed a new head coach to continue improving.
"Becker's assignment will not affect much my position in the team, since I will do all I can for Novak, just like I did before," Vajda said. "On the other hand, choosing Boris as the head coach is a good solution, I am sure we will get along very well, and that Novak will continue to progress."

See nothing happens in a vacuum. I was puzzled by Twitter posts a few days ago asking whether Andre Agassi or Pete Sampras had ever been approached about coaching a top player. Personally I don't think either man is cut out to be a coach and yes that could be personal bias. But the people posting were dead serious and went on. And on. And on. And just as suddenly the subject was dropped. Now I understand why the flurry of interest and faux rage about why they've never been publicly considered by anyone.

I guess the USTA has its panties in a bunch because no one really wants an ex American superstar to coach them. Todd Martin, who was never a superstar in the way Agassi and Sampras were was coaching for about a minute and that's been it. As for the women Martina Navratilova has expressed interest in coaching but if she has gotten feelers nothing has been made public.

So back to Boris. It's an interesting choice to say the least. Boris has stayed around the sport but has, to my knowledge never coached a player, let alone a top ten player.

Long time readers of this site know that I am not a fan of the man ranked #2 in the world but putting that aside what does Boris bring to the table other than a name? Is this another Jimmy Connors moment for Becker? It'll be interesting to see what changes he will have made in his charge going into Melbourne.

The Year that Was - 2013

by Savannah

The recently ended tournament season for the WTA and ATP was really about two players: Serena Williams and Rafael Nadal. No amount of hype by agents or in some cases the tour itself (I'm looking at you WTA), can change that. Serena was too old. Rafa was too beat up physically. There were other stars for the tours to hype, stars they wanted to hype. Anybody but these two seemed to be the mantra.

But when the dust settled Williams and Nadal sat on top of the heap. And what about the players who were supposed to take their place at the top of the heap? By the end of the year Victoria Azarenka's mind seemed to be elsewhere. Her problems on court were not physical but mental. Maria Sharapova's shoulder injury once again appeared, this after she had been said to injure her hip in a fall at Wimbledon. They're saying she has shoulder bursitis now and the spineless tennis media simply parrots every word her agent says. Li Na is now working with known cheater Carlos Rodriguez and showed that without his "guidance" she was no match for a physically tired and mentally fried Serena Williams at the WTA YEC in Istanbul.



Never in doubt is the only thing you can say about Serena being named WTA Player of the Year. Looking forward to 2014 the question becomes what next for this living legend? Will she play as full a schedule as she did this year? Will she play Båstad again? Or will she, with her huge lead over the top ten, focus on majors and the Slams and give herself a rest?



As you all know I don't talk about the ATP that much since I'm a fan girl but I have to mention the achievement of Rafael Nadal in coming back to dominate the mens tour in 2013 after he'd been consigned to the scrap heap by many in tennis, fans and "journalists" included.

What's amazing is that he had such a dominant season while building in time to rest. Everyone knows he doesn't play well indoors but he came ohsoclose to winning the WTF in London.

His challenges next year are different from Serena's. His tentative schedule for the beginning of the year looks like this:

Abu Dhabi Exhibition

ATP 250 Doha

(1 week break)

Australian Open

(2 week break - potential Davis Cup ties vs Germany on indoor hard)

ATP 250 Buenos Aires (Clay) - 10-16 February

ATP 500 Rio (Clay) - 17-23 February

(1 week break)

ATP 1000 Indian Wells

I'd say that's a pretty good start.

What makes Rafa and Serena different from other players is their ability to think and adjust to what the person on the other side of the net is doing. Are there times where they can't think themselves out of trouble? Of course. But they both have a will to win, to find a solution, that, coupled with their skill set allows them to battle their way through matches that other players would give up on.

Both Serena and Rafa work hard at their tennis and neither one sits back and rests on his or her laurels. Tennis is hard work on and off court and neither of them thinks they can do it on raw talent alone. That approach catches up with you eventually especially since even lower ranked players are more physically fit than ever and many have an understanding of the work that's needed to be at the top.

I ignore the end of season awards given by the tours for best shot, best dis of the chair by a player, etc. They're a way to get players not at the top a little post season PR. Nothing wrong with that. I used to do a whole thing about the best this and that but after this season in my opinion the only two players who deserve props are the ones I've singled out.

There is one coach that deserves to be singled out though and that is Marko Jankovic who took over coaching duties for his sister Jelena Jankovic. I for one thought it was an act of desperation for JJ to put her brother in charge of her tennis but she got the last laugh as she ended up among the top eight for the WTA YEC at Istanbul. She's cut down somewhat on her schtick and is playing tennis I wouldn't have thought she could play at the beginning of the year. She's a dark horse to fight her way into the top three or four and I think if she continues to play the way she has she'll kick someone out.

As for the ATP my end of season nod is for a team and goes to Rafael Nadal's coaching staff. He played most of the year with no tape on his knees. He was able to play grueling matches with nothing more than the normal wear and tear of a match.
As far as his thought processes he was ready for whatever challenges he faced. That is all a player can ask and his team delivered. So congratulations to Toni Nadal, Francisco Roig Genís, Rafa's Physio Titin Maymo, and the entire Nadal Parera family for keeping their player fit and focused during 2013.

A special shout out goes to Patrick Mouratoglou who has stepped into what had been a family affair with little or no public signs of discord. He gets credit for helping Serena manage herself this past year. That doesn't mean he "saved" her as some imply. It just means he gave her the means to rein herself in, to take all that emotion and fire and channel it productively. He, Aleksandar "Sascha" Bajin and the rest of Serena's team kept their charge focused and ensured that nothing happened to tarnish her reputation on the way to achieving her goals for the year.

Congratulations to all!

The Year Ahead - 2014

So what's coming? Judging by all the coaching changes you'd think that a lot of changes are on the way in the WTA. Maria Sharapova and Caroline Wozniacki have changed coaches for starters. Sharapova has chosen Sven Groeneveld as her new coach. Groeneveld was the guru behind the Adidas coaching collective and the US tennis establishment loves him. But looking at what he accomplished he's only had success one year and that was with Ana Ivanovic, the year she won the French Open. Maybe that's why Sharapova hired him. Normally I'd say anyone is an improvement over Jimmy Connors but in my opinion that was a PR move that, like the Sugarpova name change thing, was laughable. There's an old saying about not being able to teach an old dog new tricks. Nothing can be done about Sharapova's lack of mobility and I'm wondering if she'll change her ball bashing ways. If she does I'll be surprised.
If she continues to get draws that guarantee her reaching the quarterfinals she should have a decent year.

Caroline Wozniacki has added Thomas Högstedt to her coaching staff, something that was rumored and vehemently denied after it was announced that Sharapova had let him go because he didn't want to travel anymore. It was finally announced late in the year along with the fact that Caroline's father was taking a back seat. That is something I'll believe when I see it. Caroline's problems are similar to those of Sharapova in the sense that she will have to make major changes to her game in order to be seen as a serious threat to the top players. I hope Högstedt will be telling her more during those horrible on court coaching visits than "she's gonna cave any minute now". Still I expect to see her father back on court screaming at her in Polish by the end of the year.

Since the off season is in full effect until the end of December every country is busy hyping it's top junior players. Keeping my focus on the women Canada's Eugenie Bouchard was named WTA Newcomer of the Year, a surprise to absolutely no one who was paying attention. She fits the marketing model for the WTA and since we've been told ad nauseam that the Asian market prefers blondes she's perfect for their plans going forward. Last year's winner Laura Robson is still playing a junior level game and ended 2013 ranked #46. Sloane Stephens, who many thought should've been last years Newcomer of the Year finished 2013 ranked #12. Bouchard ended 2013 ranked #32, about where Stephens ended last year.

Not to be left out Belgium's Fed Cup coach, Ann Devries is saying Alison Van Uytvanck is a more complete player than Sharapova. Okay Ann. All that means is that she can move and has a good variety of shots in her repertoire. She's 19, and has won a title, a $125k in Taipei and ended the year ranked #100. I do wish they would leave players alone and let them develop at their own pace instead of labeling them "the next ____________" and putting more pressure on them than what they put on themselves.

The ATP equivalent of Newcomer of the Year is Jiří Veselý of the Czech Republic. I don't know anything about him other than what I've read on Wiki. He's won one challenger and nine futures and ended the year ranked #84. He did win the Junior Australian Open Title and made the US Open Junior's final. He exited the French Open in the first round and Wimbledon in the second round in 2010 - 2011. I'll be paying more attention next year.

End Notes

I think that come this time next year the top four or five on both tours will look pretty much the same as it does now and that all of the movement will be between those ranked between six to twenty. On the ATP side will Juan Martin del Potro or Richard Gasquet make serious runs at the top? Gasquet has gone to the enemy camp so to speak and hired Spaniard Sergi Bruguera i Torner (his full name) who won the French Open twice in 1993 and 1994. This continues the trend of French players going outside of France for coaching help.

Will last years breakthrough star Jerzy Janowicz be able to keep his emotions in check? Will Tomáš Berdych live up to his potential? Will an American end the year in the top ten? Will Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and Gaêl Monfils be able to stay healthy for more than a couple of weeks at a time? Will the British have someone other than Andy Murray to brag about? Will Murray be able to repeat at Wimbledon? Will British tennis, where we saw the LTA importing a Canadian to run it's tennis operations bypassing the man who took the helm of the ATP be able to stop being a patronage system for favored players and be able to compete on the world stage?

What about the WTA's huge investment in Asia? Will they be able to attract fans to women's tennis or will it still rely on joint events with the ATP to try and fill seats? Hell will they begin marketing women's tennis and not individual players? If the off season is an example I don't think so. All I'm seeing are soft porn pictures of players posted on women's tennis fan boards. Of course the people posting these pictures may have the mental age of 13 but some of this stuff is coming from the tour in my opinion.

You don't see that thing happening with the ATP do you? It's about the tour not the individuals. Yes you have fandoms that try and dominate all conversation about the men's tour (along with some commentators) but the official stuff is all very nice and above board.
Does that mean that in the final analysis the mens tour is run better than the women's tour? If so why? Is Martina Navratilova right to say it's easier for Roger Federer to be "universally loved" than it is for Serena? Can we ignore issues of race and gender when it comes to the polarizing effect she has on tennis? I don't think you can and that's why I will continue to call the WTA out for it's emphasis on blondes with long hair as representative of women's tennis. It also doesn't help that a player like Sara Errani is in the WTA top ten.

It seems that every year I end up saying the same thing about the WTA and I'm really tired of it. I'm hoping that the WTA will begin to promote women's tennis not just certain women who play tennis going forward. I hope the WTA stops behaving as if it's a fly by night organization getting rid of established tournaments with a high interest in its product to take risks in an area where the favored net sport is played with a shuttlecock not a yellow ball and where the YEC promised to be played in an empty stadium where canned cheers give the illusion of fan support.

Yeah, I know I did it again. I said the same shit I say every year. Maybe this year the WTA will realize it's potential to make a difference in 2014. Maybe pigs will begin flying.

Unless something major happens I'll see you at the end of December. Happy Holidays!!!

ETA: I just read that Rafa will indeed play Miami in 2014. I'm not sure how I feel about that.

WTA Official End Of Year Rankings

by Savannah

Here are the top twenty women players for 2013.

1. Serena Williams 13260

2. Victoria Azarenka 8046

3. Li Na 6045

4. Maria Sharapova 5891

5. Agnieszka Radwanska 5875

6. Petra Kvitova 4775

7. Sara Errani 4435

8. Jelena Jankovic 4170

9. Angelique Kerber 3965

10. Caroline Wozniacki 3520

11. Simona Halep 3335

12. Sloane Stephens 3185

13. Marion Bartoli 3172

14. Roberta Vinci 3170

15. Sabine Lisicki 2920

16. Ana Ivanovic 2850

17. Carla Suarez Navarro 2735

18. Samantha Stosur 2675

19. Maria Kirilenko 2640

20. Kirsten Flipkens 2495

Serena Williams is 5,214 points ahead of Victoria Azarenka, the only woman who comes even close to her point total. The rest of the top ten are eating the dust of the top player.


Source: Matthew Stockman/Getty Images Europe)

Serena had a great year, a career year to be honest in 2013. She played a full schedule for the first time in recent memory and the toll it took on her mentally and physically was clear in Istanbul. She was running right up to the wall and somehow managed not to run into it. It looked for awhile in the final that Li Na would slam her face first into it but that turned out to be an illusion since Li was being stage managed by her coach, her every move dictated by him. Once Li was forced to stop cheating Serena showed that even running on fumes her killer instinct, her will to win would overcome any of her rivals.

I'm going to be honest here. Serena is 31 now. Her team got her over the finish line this time but will she be able to repeat what she accomplished this year? Will she hit the ground running in Melbourne this coming January? Will she be able to play the schedule she played one more time? In my opinion I don't think she will. She will play the majors including Miami during the US spring hard court swing and Charleston. The big question is will she play Basel again? She got a great welcome from the tournament and the fans there but a championship season depends on more than sentiment. And lets not forget the 2014 YEC will require the women to go from Europe to Asia and all that entails.

In fact the WTA's increased emphasis on Asia is going to force all the players to have to make interesting choices about where and when they play. I'll take the time now to say I'm going to miss Istanbul. The fans there are enthusiastic about women's tennis, a sentiment that's not shared by many fans anywhere else in the world.

But back to the top players.

I'm not sure Victoria Azarenka will hold on to the Number Two ranking. She appeared almost disinterested at the end of the year and you have to wonder if her mind is elsewhere. She appeared in her boyfriend Stefan Gordy's last video and the bright lights can be distracting. Li Na is close but if she has become dependent on Carlos Rodriguez to guide her every move I don't know if on her own she'll be able to push past Victoria, assuming Victoria is still interested. Don't forget Victoria's infamous ten minute medical time out because "she had to win" and it seemed like a good idea to feign injury. The warning Kader Nouni gave to Li may have set the tone for how other chair umps will approach the problem of Carlos Rodriguez. Let's see if he chairs any more of her matches next year or if another ump seems to always in the chair for her matches.

I'm reading all this stuff about Maria Sharapova stepping away from the sport because of her "recurring shoulder issue". Yeah right. With Azarenka and Li ahead of her now and threats being made about her exit I can see more soft draws to get her through to the quarters of majors, pretty much what they've been doing all of her career.
Don't forget Sharapova has all those endorsements that depend on her being a tennis star. Of course we don't know the terms of those contracts and maybe they're going to expire. I'll believe Sharapova is leaving the game when I see it.

I would love to know how Agniezska Radwanska feels looking back on her year. On the outside looking in I'd think she's a bit disappointed. I also think she had some kind of injury this year. Remember all those Player's Party pics where she was wearing flats all the time? Aga is not that girl. I was also surprised that she checked out of the YEC so early. It was obvious that mentally she was on a beach somewhere having an umbrella drink or two. She has firmed up her game and become a bit more offensive minded though and it'll be interesting to see how she plays in Oz.

There isn't much to say about Petra Kvitova. Instead of playing all those exhibitions in the Czech Republic she needs to get in better shape. As an asthmatic - she was seen using her inhaler court side during the YEC - she's always going to have some issues. Her gut hanging over the top of her skirt shouldn't be one of them.

I'm not even going to give more than a sentence or two to Sara Errani. She has no business in the top ten of the main tour. If you get a chance go and see her play live. She's a junk baller with no serve. She can give people a hard time given the right circumstances but I'm still pissed about the two hours of my life she took playing a match that had fans in the stands going "for fuck's sake".

Of the three women left, Jelena Jankovic, Angelique Kerber and Caroline Wozniacki they can move up in ranking but it's going to depend on how they think about how they ended the year and what they expect of themselves for next year.

Wozniacki as we all know finally announced that her father will be stepping aside and that Thomas Högstedt will be her coach for 2014. I'm not quite sure what he will bring to her game but there's no doubt she has to improve her aggressiveness on court. JJ, under her brother's tutelage, has to be happy about how she ended the year. If she can keep it up she's going to make herself relevant again.

As for Kerber she shouldn't have been shoe horned into the YEC and she may think more of her abilities than she should. She's got a wonky serve and trouble closing out the big girls. She's not my cup of tea but it seems some are really anxious to make her a favorite.

I am going to mention two players not in the top ten, Simona Halep and Sloane Stephens. She had a very nice end to the year and won a total of six titles out of the blue. Fans are predicting her to take the top ten by storm. One thing about the WTA is that doing well on the International level and so so in the majors is a route to the top that many have taken in the past. JJ and Wozniacki of course come to mind. You just play as much as you can physically stand and suddenly you're in the top five or approaching the top three. Halep is going to have to play big tournaments better. She's going to have to get past Jelena, Angelique and Caroline. None of them are going to hold the door open for her.

Stephens problems are different from those of Halep. Sloane became the Queen of Semifinals in 2013 since she could never get herself into a final. The one thing I think Sloane needs to do is trust her instincts. She does think pretty well on court when she's not throwing temper tantrums because frankly her opponents don't give a shit that she beat an injured Serena in Melbourne early in the year. It's fascinating that she plays a great first set with minimal interference from her coach. After a good first set the coach comes out and whatever he tells her she goes off the rails and stops doing what she was doing. All that smoke blown up her skirt by those around her didn't help her one bit and at some point someone is going to have to cull the herd that surrounds her now. I don't know what happened to her first coach but he seems out of the picture now. He played up her strengths and her on court attitude was so much better. Sloane you're not the shit. Not yet anyway. You're young I know but you've got to start handling your business.

Finally I can't say enough about the effect the increased WTA presence in Asia will have on the players. It has to be depressing to play in mostly empty stadiums where canned cheers are pumped in to give the illusion that there are really lots of fans there when that's obviously not the case. As for fans twelve to fourteen hour time differences don't make it easy to see matches and no one likes scoreboard watching. I'd like to be wrong but I don't think I am.
I plan to watch as much women's tennis as I can and I'm sure other fans will as well.

I also hope the WTA will start promoting the SPORT of women's tennis and not try and sell women's tennis as a bunch of hoochie's who happen to play tennis. We're often told that blondes are big in Asia so I guess that's the emphasis on players like Sabine Lisicki, Kerber and yes, Sharapova. That's why I don't see Pova walking away from the sport. They're going to find some way for her to win big again. You can bet that it won't involve her making too many changes to her game though. I think that horse is long gone.

Best of the Rest

by Savannah


Via WTA

I thought from the beginning that the tournament of the also rans was a dumb idea. Then I thought that maybe it wasn't such a dumb idea since it gave the women who play and win on the International level do deserve a chance to shine so I backed off criticizing the idea of the tournament.

After the shenanigans of this year I've reached a different conclusion: the tournament is being used to give WTA favorites a chance to win something pushing it's original raison d'être to the background.

Lucie Šafářová should've been among the eight women who journeyed to Sofia. Instead Ana Ivanovic, who has won...nothing this year on any level was granted a Wild Card. A wild card into a tournament where only the deserving are supposed to play for the trophy. Yes I know there was another wild card granted to Tsvetana Pironkova but I can half way understand that the Federation of the country where the event is taking place would demand one of its own be part of the field, especially since a WC was granted to someone who had no business being there. Lucie did win Quebec after all.

But I digress. While the male dominated tennis press drooled over Ana the real cream of the field went pretty much unremarked upon. Simona Halep, the Romanian the tennis press ignores in favor of Sorana Cirstea had won five titles coming into Sofia and she's the one everyone should've been looking at. Most serious fans of the game who don't think with their little head (or don't have a little head to think with) were talking about Simona though.

It amazes me that people still spill gallons of cyber ink on Ivanovic who wasn't playing well before she dropped so much weight. Because of all the smoke that's been blown up Ana's ass by TD's and tennis "journalists" she's never been forced to have to rethink and improve her game. She's pretty much playing the same way she did years ago barely acknowledging that the game has changed, that the skill set required to be at the top of the sport has changed. But she keeps getting soft draws and manages to win a few matches before being eliminated from contention. It's just like a parent coddling a child. Said child will have to step out of the nest and find out the world doesn't think the sun rises and sets on his or her head. Chaos often ensues afterward.

With her win in Sofia Halep has won a total of six titles this year and will be ranked #11. Ivanovic is currently ranked #16.

I think that Halep, if she remains injury free has a chance at wreaking havoc among the players ranked 4 to 10. A lot will depend on how she handles the transition from the hunter to the hunted.

ATP WTF

There were no shenanigans like those surrounding the WTA YEC and Angelique Kerber when it came to the ATP WTF in London. The top eight men made it and it was based solely on ranking. It's the little things that matter when it comes to running an organization. The ATP is considered classier because publicly it is. No one expects an association to flaunt its rules so that a favorite will get into its championship tournament. When it comes to the WTA however it's pretty much the wild west when it comes to rules. Don't like one? Wait a minute and the rule will be violated without a second thought. In case you don't know who made it into the WTF here are the eight in their groups.

Group A

N. Djokovic (SRB)

J. del Potro (ARG)

R. Federer (SUI)

R. Gasquet (FRA)

Group B

R. Nadal (ESP)

D. Ferrer (ESP)

T. Berdych (CZE)

S. Wawrinka (SUI)

Simply The Best

by Savannah



AFP/Ozan Kose

The comment is almost apocryphal now. Asked by some reporter covering the tennis beat which of his daughters was the best without hesitation he said Serena, who was barely on anyone's radar at the time. The reaction was "what does this crazy black man know?" That reaction resulted in a lot of time and money being spent to create an answer to Venus Williams. Meanwhile Serena, cat suit and all, did her thing almost in the shadows. She won, but unlike her sister she seemed freer to express her inner self.

Fast forward to October 27, 2013 and the WTA YEC in tennis crazy Istanbul, Turkey. Having played a full schedule this year Serena Williams came into Istanbul the favorite to win the crown and the title of Best of 2013.

Barely challenged in her first three Round Robin matches there was a lot of surprise when Jelena Jankovic, the Clown Princess of the WTA, pushed Serena around the court. Was the Great One hurt? Tired? Disinterested since she would end the year at #1 no matter what?

After recouping and winning the match Serena said that she was tired, that she had simply run into the proverbial wall. But she still had one match to win before she could find a beach somewhere and chill out for a few weeks. That match was against Li Na who, like Serena, came into the final undefeated. Li had not won a set off of Serena since practically the Year 1 but that was all to change. The Li Na who played the first set looked nothing like the Li Na fans knew. She was nearly perfect at the net. Whatever offense Serena tried to generate she negated. Serena was so flustered she was hitting the ball to where Li was standing instead of to the open court. That's stuff she does in her sleep. Li started the second set much like she had the first although Serena showed signs of waking up. She had no legs. She was playing on instinct as Alicia Molik, half of the commentary team along with Kevin Skinner, said. And it looked as if she were on her way to a loss.

I'm going to go slightly off topic for a minute. A win by Li would've been great for WTA CEO Stacy Allaster who has overseen a transfer of WTA tournaments from Europe and the United States to Asia. During the semi final a young woman from Singapore did the coin toss. And in the group picture taken after the event Stacy positioned herself between Hsieh Su-Wei and Peng Shuai, the doubles champions.


Via WTA

I think this is an amazing picture. No serious tennis fan expects the atmosphere provided by Istanbul at next years Year End Championship Yet Stacy is implying that China will provide next years champion. That's a tall order for a country that is obsessed with table tennis. I for one will miss Istanbul. The fans there provided the only full and enthusiastic houses for women's tennis for the last three years.

But back to today's match. First Serena braided her hair. She was wearing A LOT of hair for this tournament and some wags speculated that the weight of it was weighing her down. She began to wake up towards the end of the first set after she braided her hair though but that wasn't what turned the match.

The man with the Golden voice, Kader Nouni, rather loudly told Li to tell her coach to "stop it". She knew what he meant. It was said with the mic open so Carlos Rodriguez knew what it meant. For the next five to ten minutes Molik and Skinner praised Rodriguez to the hilt while on court Li Na, no longer having her coach choreograph her every move and shot, began to play like she always does against Serena.

It remains to be seen how many bloggers and commentators pick that as the turning point. It took years of fans calling Rodriguez and his former pupil out for the obvious coaching and her inability to think on court without his "guidance". Sunday the dependance on him Rodriguez fosters in his charges and what happens when he can't do his thing was painfully obvious. Li wasn't the player she'd been for a set and a half. Serena lifted her game but it wasn't a "dramatic" come back. It was Serena showing that even running on fumes she's the best woman on the court everything else being equal.

In my opinion Serena had to win today. It was the win she needed to stop anyone from saying she had not had the best year in recent memory reducing all of the rivals to sad wannabes. Give Victoria Azarenka credit. She showed up in Istanbul. A mysterious, recurring shoulder injury kept someone else away from any competition after Wimbledon.

But that is the stuff to talk about until players report for Hopman Cup at the end of December. Right now the moment belongs to Serena Jameka Williams and her team. They helped her keep body and mind together and they, along with their boss, can hold that trophy up high. And at the end Serena gave a shout out to the man who put her on the road to her triumph this year, her father, Richard Williams.

Congratulations Serena!

There Can Only Be One, and other Tales from Istanbul

by Savannah


via WTA

We're down to the last two players in Istanbul. Serena Williams will play...Li Na? But, but wasn't Victoria Azarenka supposed to be across the net from Terror Fabulous (still my favorite nick name for her) on Sunday? Oh yeah, she showed up looking and playing as if she hadn't touched a racquet since we last saw her. Sure she had time to appear in Stefan Gordy's latest video but that put no stress on her back...not the kind you get from playing tennis anyway but could it be she was more severely injured in the fall at Wimbledon than has been let on? I mean Maria Sharapova is still injured from her falls right? Oh it's her shoulder? Nevermind.

And after all the shit they went through to get Angelique Kerber into the final eight at Istanbul she didn't show much did she? I mean she did beat a totally disinterested Agniezska Radwanska in what was the most bizarre match of the tournament for me. Kerber's finger wag was just annoying.


AFP/Getty Images

Sara Errani, who will be on my list of worst ever top ten player for a long time won a match from someone else who had no interest in beating her, Jelena Jankovic, avoided ignominy in a way I guess. I mean if your opponent shows absolutely no interest in winning her match you have to win right?

It was obvious that JJ wanted to conserve both mental and physical energy for her match against the World Number One and she put up the best fight of anyone this week.

Serena looked to be in pain although she says she hit the wall and there was no visible taping it was Serena in tears on court à la Sabine Lisicki against Marion Bartoli. The difference is that Serena found a way to win despite being out of sorts for whatever reason.

In my opinion Jelena Jankovic should be the come back player of the year. She was going nowhere fast until her brother showed up as her coach. She's gone from counter puncher to aggressively trying to win points. She's cut out the clowning somewhat - I mean she did do a bit of her schtick during her match against Errani but then Errani...oh never mind. Anyway there was none of that versus Serena today.
It seems that JJ is back from her disastrous association with Ricardo Sanchez and looks to be in great shape mentally and physically. She's going to make a lot of people very nervous down under in January. And while I snarked about Alicia Molik and Kevin Skinner singing Marko's praises I agreed with them. You know they're going to try and put some teenager from Britain in there but if you've watched her play the end of this year JJ is number eight with a bullet.

I haven't said much about Petra Kvitova have I? There really isn't that much to say about her. Her physical condition is not the best. I mean the gut isn't hanging as far over the top of her skirt as it was earlier this year but it's still there and they did show her using her inhaler during a break at one point. Still I think her biggest problem is between her ears. She needs a steady diet of players who aren't used to winning in order to be ready for the big matches. When she's playing women who are used to winning and want to win she has trouble playing well back to back. The comms said her physical condition is what her camp says they'll be working on during the off season. Let's hope they don't have her playing a shit ton of exhibitions in the Czech Republic like they did last year.

There will be one more match on the main tour before the farce that is Bulgaria begins. Shouldn't they play that before the YEC? I'm just being that person again? Shrug. Deal with it.

WTA YEC Round Robin Groups

by Savannah

Red Group

Serena Williams

Agnieszka Radwanska

Petra Kvitova

Angelique Kerber

White Group

Victoria Azarenka

Na Li

Sara Errani

Jelena Jankovic

There it is. The Red Group is the stronger of the two in my opinion. The weakest link in that group is Angelique Kerber, who has the worst head to head of almost everyone in the tournament except for Sara Errani. Think I'm wrong? A fan was good enough to put together a chart or two comparing stats. The first chart compares all time H2H's.




Still not convinced? Lets look at the 2013 H2H between the same players.



Thanks go to the fan on Tennis Forum who put these together. I'm not this good with computers.

Looking at these charts I have to wonder what the rush was to get Kerber in.

Still a tournament like this exists in its own reality. Anyone could get hot. Someone can falter. Should they just play the final now? Some think so but as the saying goes one never knows do one?