Top Shelf Tennis

There may not be any fans in the stands, or the usual post-match handshakes. There's not a ton of prize money or ranking points on the line. For so many reasons these first few weeks back in action since the lockdown really highlight how much has changed in for tennis, and of course, for the entire world. But that didn't stop us from getting some of the most inspiring match play we'd seen since even before the five-month pause went into effect.

One of the most powerful sports pictures of 2020

(Via @CCSMOOTH13 / 📸 Getty) pic.twitter.com/HGJHwIkR0s

— Bastien Fachan (@BastienFachan) August 11, 2020

Let's start in Prague, where Simona Halep, the highest ranked player we've seen in action since March, took the court after bowing out of Palermo a week earlier. The top seed got off to a shaky start, splitting lopsided sets with Polona Hercog in her opener and then dropping the first set to wildcard Barbora Krejcikova a round later. But she seemed to get her groove back after that, downing lucky loser Magdalena Frech in less than an hour in the quarters and coming back from a break down in the final against Elise Mertens to capture her 21^st career trophy.

But her performance wasn't necessarily the biggest standout. Fellow Romanian Irina-Camelia Begu, once a stone's throw away from the top twenty, had fallen a bit down the rankings in recent years, spending a lot of time on the ITF circuit and playing qualifying rounds in Shenzhen and Hobart. But she picked up steam just before quarantine, winning the Indian Wells Challenger Series, the last event before August. In Prague she opened with an upset of Anastasija Sevastova, and then was cursed with a series of night matches that were suspended for darkness, subjecting her to two straight days of double-headers. She eventually fell to Halep in the semis, but may have done a lot to get her game back in gear.

The biggest surprise out of Prague, though, might have been the showing from one-time world #5 (and three-time Major semifinalist) Genie Bouchard, now ranked all the way down at #330 in the world but granted a wildcard here. She'd had some encouraging results early this year, beating Caroline Garcia in Auckland, and helped the Chicago Smash make the finals in World Team Tennis last month, and that could have helped her this week. She dominated eighth seed Veronika Kudermetova in her first round and endured a tight three setter versus Tamara Zidansek before finally falling in three to Mertens. Whether that's enough to propel her for the rest of the year, we'll certainly see, but it was nice to see glimpses of the former Wimbledon finalist again.

Things were even more interesting at the inaugural Top Seed Open in Lexington, Kentucky, which boasted plenty of starpower in its initial field -- and even more excitement by way of the upsets. Serena and Venus Williams faced off in their 31^st career meeting in the second round -- a match after Venus had dismissed fellow former world #1 Victoria Azarenka -- and put on a show reminiscent of any of their heyday championship matches. Meanwhile, sixteen-year-old Coco Gauff added more big upsets to her resume, taking out second seeded Aryna Sabalenka and the barrier-breaking Ons Jabeur.

Then there was wildcard Shelby Rogers, who back in 2014 took out Carla Suarrez Navarro, Sara Errani and Camila Giorgi to make the final in Bad Gastein as a qualifier and, two years later, reached the quarterfinals at Roland Garros. After knee surgery took her out of the game for over a year, she'd struggled to regain form and came into this event ranked #116 in the world. But after a solid showing against up-and-comer Leylah Fernandez, she pulled off what's undoubtedly the biggest win of her career. Down a set to Serena Williams in the quarters -- she dropped the first 1-6 in less than 30 minutes -- the 27-year-old somehow rallied over the next hour, taking advantage of her opponent's errors to defeat the top seed in a third-set tiebreak. It was the first time Serena has lost to a sub-100 player in eight years. Rogers would lose a round later to Switerland's Jil Teichmann, but the win should give her confidence that she still has what it takes to get those big wins.

But of course, the standout story from Lexington is that of champion Jennifer Brady, who picked up her first career trophy with a straight set win over Teichmann today. The 25-year-old entered the event near her peak ranking just inside the top fifty, helped by wins over Maria Sharapova and Ashleigh Barty in Brisbane and a run to the semis in Dubai. Still, unseeded at the event, she had a tough road to the final facing sixth-seed Magda Linette in the second round and a surging Gauff in the semis. But the former UCLA national champion didn't lose a set all week, closing out the Swiss in a little more than 100 minutes. The win helps her not only break the seal of claiming that maiden crown, but also pushes her up the rankings, now within seeding territory for the U.S. Open.

Speaking of the U.S. Open, the field there continues to thin out as players elect not to make the trip to New York in these uncertain times -- while Novak Djokovic finally confirmed his intent to play not just the Major, but the lead up "Cincinatti" tournament this week, defending champion Bianca Andreescu and 2019 semifinalist Belinda Bencic both withdrew. In all, fourteen wouldbe seeds -- nine women and five men -- are sitting out the Slam.

What that means for who's going to walk away with the trophy, I don't know yet. But if this week's action is any indication, we're certainly in store for a lot of great tennis, whatever happens.

Cancelled

We are living in highly unusual times.

Last night, organizers of this year's BNP Paribas Open announced that the tournament, one of the biggest events of the season, would not be held due to concerns over the spreading coronavirus.

The 2020 BNP Paribas Open will not be held.https://t.co/BVKQmmcbth pic.twitter.com/CHOd0PgJeV

— BNP Paribas Open (@BNPPARIBASOPEN) March 9, 2020

It's not the most surprising decision given what's going on. For weeks we've been seeing measures taken to rein in the spread -- companies restricting employee travel to impacted areas and encouraging work from home, major corporations like Facebook and Amazon pulling out of huge industry conferences and scrapping their own. Just Friday SXSW cancelled its annual festival in Austin, Texas, a decision that could cost the city hundreds of millions of dollars.

So it makes sense that Indian Wells would be affected too. California Governor Gavin Newsom on Wednesday declared a state of emergency, and last week the tournament released a list of precautions it was taking, barring ball kids from handling player towels or drinks and telling players not to toss shirts or headbands to fans after matches. But as the situation in the U.S., particularly on the west coast, gets more severe, event staff ultimately decided they were better safe than sorry.

Tennis players, after all, are required to travel all over the world on a weekly basis, and some of their stops on tour are in places that have been particularly hard hit. Davis Cup matches were held over the weekend in Japan, where there have been more than a thousand confirmed cases of the virus and whose government has been sharply criticized for its handling of the disease, as well as in Cagliari, Italy, where the stadium was open only to officials and media. And of course the epicenter of everything is Wuhan, China, a city most of my friends and colleagues had never heard of before, but which we all know as the site of a huge WTA event at the end of the season.

Still, the timing of the cancellation is interesting, coming just hours after Steve Johnson and Irina-Camelia were crowned champions of the Challenger events being held at the very same venue that would house this week's matches. And wildcards had just been awarded to teens Caty McNally and Leylah Fernandez, as well as Aussie standout Tennys Sandgren and an on-the-mend Jack Sock. Qualifying events were scheduled to start today and many players had already made their way to the grounds. It's certainly a disappointment for those looking to make their debuts at such a premier event.

But some players were already thinking of skipping not only Indian Wells, considered by many to be the fifth Grand Slam, but also Miami, with similar prestige, which is currently still slated to start in two weeks' time. Fabio Fognini, who helped Italy get past South Korea over the weekend and qualify for the Davis Cup finals, said he was thinking about skipping both events despite what it would mean for his ranking -- he was eager to get match play after some recent early exits. Now, I assume, the cancellation means everyone essentially forfeits any points they may have accumulated or defended during the fortnight, so no one is necessarily hurt more than anyone else.

If the virus, though, persists deeper into the spring it could hit the European clay court season hard -- Italy just advised cancelling all sporting events until at least April, and that's just a few weeks before the Rome Masters tournament, nevermind the French Open, Wimbledon, and, lest we forget, the Tokyo Olympics.

The cancellation of Indian Wells has an impact not only on the players. The California desert city was expecting some half a million visitors for the event, and their absence could take a big bite out of the economy. And while tournament director Tommy Haas is leaving open the possibility of rescheduling the event for some time later this season, it's unclear when, during an already-packed calendar, that could be.

To be clear, all these measures are unquestionably necessary -- the priority of course is first and foremost the health and safety of everyone involved -- but it's going to require a lot of adjustments. Hopefully in a few weeks time, this will all be past us and things will start returning to normal, as much as they can, anyway.

But until then everyone take care of yourselves and each other.

Never Too Late

This hasn't always been the best season for all the ladies on Tour -- even when a couple stars seemed to have an opportunity to do something big, they seemed to fall just a little bit short when it counted. But luckily the year isn't quite over yet, and for a few players this week turned out to be one to put their careers back on course.

Irina-Camelia Begu has shown a lot of potential since the start of her career, but even after a breakout 2011 season, she never quite followed through. The other young Romanian did earn a title in Tashkent, but couldn't make much of a run at the Majors. She started out this year strong, strong, taking out Angelique Kerber in her Melbourne opener and going all the way to the fourth round. She got to the quarters in Charleston and Madrid too, and even scored a seed at the French Open, the first time she'd risen that high. She slowed down since then, though, upset by Olga Govortsova for the second time this summer in her U.S. Open first round. But she seems to have shaken that loss off pretty well -- this weak in Seoul she took terrific advantage of her top seed, only challenged once, dropping a set to Polona Hercog early on her way to the final. There she met super Cinderella Aliaksandra Sasnovich, a qualifier who'd already beaten Anna Schmiedlova and Sloane Stephens in Korea. But the Belorussian may have run out of steam on Sunday, and Begu was able to pounce -- breaking her opponent's serve six times she clinched the match in just under eighty minutes and picked up just the second trophy of her career. It should give a nice boost to her current #29 ranking, but more importantly might help her make a sustainable push into the top tiers of the sport. And there's no telling what she'll be able to do once she's there.

Jelena Jankovic has already had some major accomplishments during her career, reaching the final at the 2008 U.S. Open and holding onto the #1 spot for an impressive eighteen weeks -- that's only a week less than Victoria Azarenka and just three weeks short of Maria Sharapova. But those days sometimes feel very far behind us -- now the world #25, she made her way to the final at Indian Wells, but lost in the first round at Roland Garros, she picked up a 125K title in Nanchang and stunned Karolina Pliskova in Cincinnati, but fell early again in New York, this time to sub-hundred Oceane Dodin. It had been more than two years since her last main Tour title when she took the court in Guangzhou as the fourth seed, and with players like Simona Halep and surprise Tokyo International champ Yanina Wickmayer in the field, the Serb had her work cut out for her. But after handling an always-tough Svetlana Kuznetsova in the quarters, she finally ended Wickmayer's win streak in the semis. Meanwhile in the top half of the draw, Denisa Allertova, ranked just seventy-fourth in the world, followed up a shocking win over Halep by taking out third seed Sara Errani to make her first Tour final. But Jankovic proved a little too much to handle -- after trading breaks early, the thirty-year-old rattled off a string of games and bageled her opponent in the second set. She may not have had to pull off any big upsets to claim her fourteenth career title, but breaking the seal should serve as a reminder of what she is still more than capable of doing.

The same can be said of Aga Radwanska, who was getting dangerously close to finishing the year outside the top ten for just the second time in eight years. The one-time world #2 started the year off huge with an exhibition win over Serena Williams, but seemed to struggle right after that -- early in the season she lost twice to both Venus Williams and Garbiñe Muguruza and fell well short of her 2014 performance at Indian Wells with a third round loss in the California desert. Even when she looked strong to start an event, she'd end up crumbling -- in Katowice, her homeland's tournament, she sailed through her first three rounds but then was stopped short in the semis by Camila Giorgi, and even during her traditionally strong grass season, she was three times upset by players ranked well below her at the time. It was the first time since 2010 she'd gone so long in a year without a title. Ranked just thirteenth in the world at the start of the week, she was given a relatively low seventh seed at the crowded Pan Pacific Open, which boasted four top-ten players and eight seeds in the top fifteen. And Aga was challenged from the start -- she opened against Wimbledon Cinderella Coco Vandeweghe and went on to beat Karolina Pliskova and a resurgent Dominika Cibulkova, last year's runner-up at the Australian Open. In the final she faced off against Belinda Bencic, the woman who not only beat her in the Eastbourne final, but who also usurped her Rogers Cup title just last month -- the young Swiss may still have been seeded slightly below, but with a win over Serena in Toronto, she arguably has had the better year and might have been the favorite in Sunday's final. But this time Aga got the better of her, taking advantage of weak serving and scoring five breaks for herself. The win may have saved her from going titleless for the first time in five years, but with so many true powerhouses in the field, it might have also reminded us all of her place among the elite.

And with a couple more weeks left in the season, after all, we might just see her -- and any of these ladies, really -- make a play to get back there.

Sneaking Through

It's been a rough couple days for seeded players since the U.S. Open. With many of the sport's very top tier taking a short break from competitive play, a couple others may have hoped to get in some easy wins at this week's events. But, it turned out, the challenges started from the get-go, and those who've survived may find themselves with some big opportunities.

The draw in Tashkent was a little sparse. Defending champion Ksenia Pervak, struggling still with injury -- she pulled out of Dallas with a hamstring strain and retired from her first round in New York -- skipped the event entirely, and top seeded Monica Niculescu, who'd only put together ten match wins on the season -- couldn't maintain an early lead in her opener and fell to Karin Knapp after nearly three hours of play. With the top half of the bracket cleared out, some lesser known players like qualifier Donna Vekic and last year's runner-up Eva Birnerova, who'd only scored two main draw wins on Tour this year, have been able to progress largely unchallenged.

But there may be more at stake in the bottom half of Tashkent bracket. Irina-Camelia Begu, one of my newcomers of last year, has dropped well down the rankings this season, failing to defend points in Budapest or Marbella. She did upset Caroline Wozniacki in the first round of the U.S. Open, but otherwise hasn't made much impact. She's unseeded in Uzbekistan, but with upsets of Alize Cornet and Galina Voskoboeva already this week, she's playing like she did a year ago. If she can keep it up, she might be ready for her real breakthrough, and make a real play for that first career trophy.

Unfortunately for Begu, she'll next face the only seed remaining in Tashkent -- while Aggie Radwanska has been stirring the pot in the top five of the sport, younger sister Urszula has been having a coming out party of her own. Ranked out of the top hundred at the start of 2012, she beat Marion Bartoli in Brussels, made the final in 's-Hertogenbosch and handed Serena Williams her only break on the way to Olympic Gold. Now at #40 in the world, the young Pole rebounded after losing a set to Alexandra Panova in her quarterfinal and is in a good position to make the final. Begu won't be an easy foe, but it could be exactly the prep she needs as she looks to make the big breakthrough.

There was a little more star power at the Bell Challenge in Quebec City, but so far it hasn't served them any better. Second seeded Yanina Wickmayer, who's made a couple finals this year, but only won two matches since Stanford, was handily ousted by qualifier Lauren Davis in the second round. And similarly spotty Dominika Cibulkova, who put up a couple good fights at the U.S. Open, didn't even make it out of her Canada opener -- a game from a three set win, she eventually succumbed to the veteran Belgian Kirsten Flipkens, marking her tenth first round loss of the season. And while these vanquishers have made a statement already, they're not the only ones.

Homegrown Aleksandra Wozniak has been on the comeback trail all year, winning her second ITF title since getting over a wrist injury and very nearly ousting Venus Williams in Miami. She's had a couple big wins on hardcourts this year -- Klara Zakopalova in Dallas, Jelena Jankovic in Montreal -- and after surviving a tough Elena Vesnina on Tuesday, she seems to have her wits about her. She'll next meet one-time American sweetheart Melanie Oudin, who's won their previous two meetings, but momentum and the crowd may be on the Canadian's side, and I'd look for her to do well as she tries to reach the quarterfinals here.

Mona Barthel has already booked her spot in the quarters, and tomorrow will take on defending champion Barbora Zahlavova Strycova for a spot in the semis. Barthel stormed on the scene early this year, beating four of the top five seeds as a qualifier in Hobart to take her first title, but she's been relatively quiet since. She had a couple of wins over big stars -- go figure, Jankovic and Bartoli were among them -- but only made one semi since January. Winless in her last three Majors, she's looking to redeem herself in Quebec and, unpredictable as she may be, it looks like she's getting her feet back under her. If she keeps up her level, she might be able to end the year the way she started it.

There are still a couple rounds of action left before any of these ladies is able to claim a title for themselves. But their performances so far this week bode well, if not for these tournaments, then hopefully for the rest of the year. The Slams may be over for 2012, but there's a lot more play left to be had, after all. And ending this season on a good note could put any of these ladies in a position to make a splash in the coming years.

Time Warp

I've never understood the rationale, these few weeks after the end of Wimbledon, of taking players directly from the super-short grass court season, just weeks away from the hard court U.S. Open, and sticking them back on the red clay, a surface on which they won't be chasing any big titles again for another eight months.

It's a jarring shift for the athletes, I'd wager, but one which suits some significantly more than others -- and it's not necessarily the ones who'd been favored to win.

There were very few surprises in Palermo, Italy, where a struggling Flavia Pennetta took the top seed here. She'd only won a handful of matches since Dubai and fell in four straight openers during the spring. But she seems to have regained her footing in her hometown, reaching the quarters along with six other seeds. She'll next face Tsvetana Pironkova, another semi-elite player trying to rebuild her year -- and though the Bulgarian has more recent success, I feel Pennetta's prowess on the surface should help her through.

The only big surprise of the tournament so far has been the loss of red-hot (okay, maybe just pink-hot) Roberta Vinci. A three-time titleist already this year, the twenty-eight year old was sitting on a career-best ranking of #23 in the world. But in a rematch of last Sunday's final in Budapest -- which she won -- Vinci didn't have many answers to rising star Irina-Camelia Begu this time, getting less than half her first serves in and only making a slight dent in her return games. Begu's recently beaten her next opponent, too, but Anabel Medina Garrigues could easily avenge that loss and further make the case for the veterans in Italy.

The seeds have had similar luck in Sweden where two-time French Open runner-up Robin Soderling looks to reverse some of his recent luck. After kicking off the year winning three trophies in four tournaments, he lost in the quarters at Roland Garros and was summarily upset in the third round of Wimbledon. He only lost one game in his opener in Bastad, and didn't allow Potito Starace a break chance in the quarters. From here it'll be difficult for someone else to wrest the crown in his homeland from the world #5.

But that's not to say it can't be done. David Ferrer is coming off a solid Davis Cup showing last week, and had one of his best clay court seasons this year. And Nicolas Almagro, a winner of three titles on dirt himself in 2011, should have a fairly easy road until at least the semis. And with so much talent left in the field, we should see at the very least some high-quality matches the next few days.

Things have been a little more surprising elsewhere this week. In Bad Gastein only one seed made it out of the first round -- defending champion Julia Goerges and top-thirty player Jarmila Gajdosova, among others all lost their openers, leaving world #61 Ksenia Pervak as the on-paper favorite. The twenty-year-old has won a couple ITF titles and has wins over Goerges and Andrea Petkovic already this year. But though her future road is less bumpy thanks to her colleagues' losses, some with more experience may win out in the end.

Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez has been climbing her way back from injury after a stellar start to 2010. Last year's champion in Rome, MJM hasn't won more than two matches at one event all year, but as a former top-twenty player, she's probably the most accomplished of the field. And Carla Suarez Navarro, who lost most of last season with an ankle injury, has been marking time this year at ITF events. She still hasn't won a Tour title, but with wins over Svetlana Kuznetsova and Venus Williams on her record, she certainly has the ability to make her mark.

It was just as hard a road for the favorites in Stuttgart. Mikhail Youzhny and Guillermo Garcia-Lopez both won their first round matches, but that was as far as either made it. In their place qualifier Federico Del Bonis and wildcard Cedrik-Marcel Stebe have emerged as the big spoilers. But here, again, it might be the journeymen who are standing at the end of the day.

Juan Carlos Ferrero, making his umpteenth career comeback, took out Youzhny on Thursday and has fought back from breaks down against Marcel Granollers to get the win in his quarterfinal. And twenty-nine year old Lukasz Kubot, who caused upsets this year at both Roland Garros and Wimbledon, seems to be putting out his best career performances these days. With a battle against Santiago Giraldo for a spot in the semis, he has a more-than-likely shot at getting the win.

The return to clay has proven something of a comfort for these players as they get back to their winning ways. Hopefully it won't be too tough a transition when they begin their U.S. Open prep in earnest, but with the wins they've accumulated, they should at least bring the confidence they need when they come back to the present.

The New Class

The ladies' championship at Wimbledon was many things, but perhaps most importantly it served to usher in the next generation of tennis superstars. And some of the players making a statement over the past week prove that Petra Kvitova is not the only young player to watch. In Budapest, twenty-year-old Irina-Camelia Begu has been on a roll. The Romanian had already made a splash this year, making the final in Marbella after taking out then-rebuilding Alberta Brianti and heavy favorite Svetlana Kuznetsova as a qualifier. This week she hasn't had quite as difficult a draw, but in three matches, she hasn't dropped a set -- earlier today she won eight games in a row in her victory over Estrella Cabeza Candela. With a semifinal meeting against veteran Anabel Medina Garrigues she'll be surely tested, but if she's fresh and confident she might be able to get the upset. Sweden's Johanna Larsson has been on Tour for a couple years, but she's only really made an impact in the last twelve months. It started with a win over Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova last July in Portoroz, and this year she's notched wins over both Na Li and Ana Ivanovic. She came to the Swedish Open, her home tournament, unseeded, but already knocked out Vera Dushevina and Lourdes Dominguez Lino. She was up a break early against Sofia Arvidsson when play was suspended for rain on Friday, but she's got more than a few surprises in her, and could very well keep her run going. In the other half of the Bastad draw, journeywoman Barbora Zahlavova Strycova is trying to initiate her own breakthrough. By far the most experienced of this bunch, she hasn't yet won a singles title on Tour, but she has defeated players like Kvitova, Nadia Petrova and Aravane Rezai already this year. More importantly, this week, she stopped second-seeded Flavia Pennetta's comeback cold on Thursday, battling through a two-plus hour third round to make her first semi since Prague last year. She's scheduled to face a tough but spotty Polona Hercog today, and she's certainly got the talent to keep up her streak. Whether these ladies translate success this week into longer term gains remains to be seen. But as we patiently wait for the next crop of talent to take the reins in women's tennis, any one of them could be up to the task. And as has been true for quite some time, we're certainly open for some new big-hitters to shine.