Feels Like Forever

In truth, it hasn't been that long since this weekend's champions last hoisted a trophy, but it sure feels like it's been a while. Whether dealing with injury, being overshadowed by rising stars, or falling in early rounds to players ranked far below them, both Aga Radwanska and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga had been pushed from the headlines the last few months. But their performances this week in Canada might have turned the tide back in their favor, and it couldn't have come at a better time.

Agnieszka Radwanska had put up a couple solid performances this season, reaching the semis in Melbourne and the final in Indian Wells, but she hadn't won a title since Seoul last fall and was upset in the first week at both the French Open and Wimbledon. She still held onto the third seed in Montreal this past week, but she faced a tough draw from the start -- she opened against All England Club Cinderella Barbora Zahlavova Strycova, followed up with a win over record-breaking server Sabine Lisicki and then scored her second straight win over long-time rival Victoria Azarenka. In her semifinal against Ekaterina Makarova she avenged her loss in the Wimbledon fourth round and set up a clash with veteran champion Venus Williams for the title. Sure, Aga was the on-paper favorite against the unseeded Williams, but Venus had already notched wins over Stanford runner-up Angelique Kerber and recent foil Carla Suarez Navarro before stunning younger sister Serena in a three-set semi, her first win over the world #1 since 2009 -- she certainly was more than capable of getting another win on Sunday. But Radwanska got the upper hand this time, pouncing on Venus's second serve and breaking her opponent five times. In under an hour and a half, the Pole had picked up trophy number fourteen, her biggest since 2012, and put herself squarely back in the conversation as the summer hardcourt season really heats up.

Jo-Wilfried Tsonga seemed to have fallen even further out of that conversation -- the one-time world #5 failed to defend his Marseille title in February and hadn't made it to the second week of a Major since Roland Garros last year. He'd posted losses this season to players like #46 Santiago Giraldo in Madrid, #60 Marinko Matosevic at Queen's Club, and #119 Peter Gojowczyk at Davis Cup and went 0-7 against opponents ranked in the top ten. That was, of course, before he got to Toronto. A low thirteenth seed at the Rogers Cup, he stunned two-time champion Novak Djokovic in the third round and followed up with wins over Andy Murray and Grigor Dimitrov to make his first Masters final since 2011. There he faced off against legend Roger Federer, who'd reached his fifth final at this event, albeit by facing a couple challenges on the way -- he'd played late into the night in two-and-a-half hour-plus third round battle against Marin Cilic and needed another three sets to get past David Ferrer in the quarters. Tsonga, though, who'd notched a couple big wins over Federer in the past, proved the cooler of the two in the final -- on serve through the first eleven games of the match, he converted the only break opportunity of the opening set and created six more chances in the second while winning more than ninety percent of his first serves. Though he squandered one match point on Roger's serve, he ultimately took the championship in a tiebreak, capping off what might have been the most successful week of his career.

With their wins this week, both Radwanska and Tsonga have not only ended a long dry spell, but put themselves back in the mix as we head to the final Grand Slam of the year. While the stakes are only getting higher in the weeks to come, their performances in Canada show they know how to perform under pressure. And if they can keep it up, there's no telling how much more they can do.

Homecourt Disadvantage

It's a little surprising, given how successful Canadians have been on the tennis courts this year, that when they get to the biggest tournaments played in their own homeland, where presumably the crowd support would give them a nice boost, so many are having troubles.

Not everyone has fallen, of course, but even DC champion Milos Raonic had to fight back in Toronto after losing the first set to Jack Sock last night, and needed two tiebreaks to ultimately advance. He next faces Julien Benneteau, a thirty-two year old veteran who is still looking for that first career title, and while he has won two of the pair's three meetings, the fight for the quarterfinals could be quite a battle. The Frenchman dropped just three games against Newport champ Lleyton Hewitt in his opener and then took out eleventh seed Ernests Gulbis in straight sets. If he catches Raonic off guard, he might just pull off another upset.

Meanwhile Citi Open runner-up Vasek Pospisil, whose campaign there pushed him up nine ranking spots to #27 in the world, fell a bit short of last year's semifinal showing at the Rogers Cup. He drew a rematch of his DC semifinal in his opener, and this time fell to Richard Gasquet in straight sets. And the twelfth seed in Toronto kept that momentum with him -- after dropping his first set to Ivo Karlovic yesterday, he didn't allow another break opportunity and finally took out the big-serving Croat in about two hours. He faces Andy Murray next, certainly a big ask, but the Frenchman has gotten wins over the two-time Grand Slam winner in the past and could have the confidence to get it done again.

But by far the biggest upset for the Canadians this week was the opening round exit of 2014 standout Genie Bouchard. Fresh off a second-place finish at Wimbledon, her first Tour-level Grand Slam final, and a climb into single-digit rankings, the twenty-year old suffered a shocking defeat in her Montreal opener, dropping two bagel sets to qualifier Shelby Rogers on Tuesday night. The young American who's only won a handful of ITF titles during her career, stormed onto the scene last month, beating Carla Suarez Navarro and Sara Errani on her way to the Bad Gastein final. Last week she beat third seeded Alize Cornet in DC and, still ranked outside the top hundred, ousted Nanchang champ Shaui Peng to qualify for this event. Her win over Bouchard is her biggest victory to date, and while she'll certainly be tested by former world #1 Caroline Wozniacki in today's third round, there's no reason she can't add one more upset to her r&eacture;sumé.

Sure, it's a little disappointing to see the Canadians struggle this week, even as their stars shine bright on the broader tennis stage. Of course I don't think their performances signal an end to their rise, but those left standing at the Rogers Cup have a huge opportunity to capitalize now. After all, with wins over players who've really come to the forefront of the sport in recent weeks and months, they've shown they've got what it takes to keep on going.

And with just a few weeks left before the U.S. Open, there's no better time to do it.

Back in the Saddle

We saw a lot of players last week reassert themselves in the tennis world, and while many of them were encouragingly able to keep up their performances most of the week, when it came down to the wire it was the tried-and-true who came away the winners. But for some, it had been a long time since they tasted that kind of victory.

Milos Raonic had been putting together his most successful season to-date, but despite his first Grand Slam semi at Wimbledon and breaking into the top ten for the first time, he hadn't won a title all year. The big-serving Canadian came to the Citi Open in DC as the second seed, but faced some tough competition during his run. Despite fifty-four aces, the first five sets he played all went to tiebreaks, and it wasn't until the quarterfinals against Steve Johnson that he finally held onto a break lead. In Sunday's final versus compatriot Vasek Pospisil, who'd already come back from sets down in his previous two matches, he broke early in the match and never looked back -- after just over an hour he'd secured the win, the first 500-level title of his career. It was Raonic's first trophy since Bangkok last September, but after so many close calls this year, it might mean a little more.

Svetlana Kuznetsova has been away from the winner's circle a little longer -- the two-time Major winner claimed her last title almost four years ago and lost the only two championships she's played since then. She has remained relevant, though, reaching the quarterfinals at the last two French Opens and climbing back up the rankings from #85 in the world last January to #26 before making the trip to DC. The sixth seeded Russian was blessed with a fairly open draw, with red-hot Lucie Safarova losing her opener and two-time defending champion Magdalena Rybarikova falling quickly in her first round. But she didn't lose a set in her first three matches, beating compatriot Ekaterina Makarova in less than ninety minutes in their semi. Sunday she faced off against unseeded upstart Kurumi Nara, who'd won her first career trophy in Rio to start the year and was clearly going to put up a fight for title #2. After taking the first set, Sveta fell behind in the second to the young Japanese and was forced to a decider. And both ladies raised their games in that set, with the first and only break conversion coming at match point after more than two hours of play. The win not only ended Kuznetsova's long drought, but more importantly reminded us all of how relevant she still is as we draw closer to the last Grand Slam of the year.

Serena Williams also made a big statement this week. While the world #1 had already picked up three crowns this season, she'd been getting more attention lately for her early Slam exits and a weird Wimbledon meltdown. Though she'll still be the favorite to defend her U.S Open title later in the summer, plenty of pundits wondered whether she'd be mentally and physically fit enough to play against the top stars in the sport. She may have silenced those critics at the Bank of the West Classic, where she'd won the trophy on her last two outings. She kept that win streak going last week, coming back from a set down to Ana Ivanovic in the quarters and winning eight straight games to close out her semifinal against Andrea Petkovic. In yesterday's final she got down an early break to Angelique Kerber -- a woman who'd delivered her only loss in the in back half of 2012 -- but rebounded quickly, taking the first set in a tiebreak and allowing just two points on serve in the second. The win puts her squarely on top of the U.S. Open Series rankings, a place she's used to occupying, but more importantly proves she can't be counted out. And while there might be a few more openings for her opponents, she's not going anywhere any time soon.

With the summer hardcourt season now in full swing, it was the perfect time for this weekend's winners to get back on a winning track. Whether it'd been months or years since they last tasted victory, their recent results show us just how much in control of their games they are. And with just a few weeks left before action kicks off in New York, everyone else should stand up and take notice.

Don't Call This a Comeback...

Is it just me, or does it seem like a lot of players have taken the opportunity this week to put their names back on the tennis map?

Whether tried and true veterans or once-hot young guns, more than a few players had slowed down in recent months and years, some making more headlines for their lack of results than for any match wins. But someone seems to have lit a fire under these guys, one which hopefully won't flicker out any time soon.

Juan Monaco seems to have brought the momentum that took him all the way to the Gstaad final last week with him to Austria. Now ranked back in the top hundred dropped his opening set in Kitzbühel in a bagel, but came back strong to take out seventh seed Jarkko Nieminen and, earlier today, notched another upset over world #48 Andreas Seppi. He'll meet upstart Dominic Thiem in the second part of his double-header later today, but I like his chances to get back to a championship match. But the real story at the bet-at-home Cup is really David Goffin, a surprise fourth-rounder at the French Open two years ago. Since then he's lost in seven Major first rounds and this year has only won three ATP-level matches. He is, however, doing well on the Challenger circuit, claiming three clay court titles since Wimbledon and carried a 15-0 streak to Kitzbühel, where he took out top seed Phillipp Kohlschreiber early in his run. Earlier today he came back after losing his opening set to Maximo Gonzalez -- he'd been serving for it at 5-4 -- and will, against all expectations, be playing in his first career final tomorrow.

Over on the American hardcourts a couple more players are showing why they were once thought to have so much potential. Vasek Pospisil hit a career high of #25 in the world at the start of the year, but went on an eight-match losing streak during the spring and early summer. He did a little better in doubles, though, teaming with Jack Sock for a stunning victory at the All England Club and backing it up with a quick-and-easy title run in Atlanta. This week in DC, he scored his third win versus a top-ten player, repeating his win over Tomas Berdych from almost a year ago. He'll still be the on-paper underdog in today's quarterfinal against Santiago Giraldo, but he's shown he can pull off bigger wins than that. Donald Young too is having a bit of a resurgence -- after his famously unsuccessful 2012 season, he saw his ranking plummet from #38 to sub-200. But even with a few nice wins this year, he still has a losing record in 2014. He has managed wins over Julien Benneteau and Denis Istomin this week, though, so he might just be back on track.

The ladies in Washington haven't seen as many notable rebirths -- Kristina Mladenovic continued her stellar season by taking out top seed and Wimbledon semifinalist Lucie Safarova while consistently strong Ekaterina Makarova dominated two-time defending champion Magdalena Rybarikova in her opener. But she'll next meet 2012 finalist Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, who seems to have gotten her mojo back. Since claiming the title in Paris last February she's lost five matches to players ranked in triple digits, but hasn't dropped a set yet this week. And Svetlana Kuznetsova, who's been winning in fits and starts the last several years, had a surprisingly easy time against Kirsten Flipkens to make the quarters. She's the lowest seed still standing, but might just be able to re-harness the talent we know she has.

But perhaps the player we should be most focused on is Venus Williams who this week returns to Stanford for the first time since 2009. The former world #1 has understandably slowed down a bit since being diagnosed with Sjorgrëns disease three years ago, but she remains relevant, picking up title #45 in Dubai last February. And she's reached the final here seven times before, the first one way back in 1998, and though she's unseeded at the Bank of the West Classic she's clearly still a threat. Late last night she notched her first top ten victory of the year over Victoria Azarenka, herself struggling to come back from injury, and next faces Andrea Petkovic -- a woman she beat on her way to the 2012 Luxembourg title. She could easily set up a showdown against sister Serena for a spot in the championship match, and while she'll of course be the underdog there, I wouldn't expect anything other than fireworks.

All of these guys and girls have tasted big victories in the past, and though it may have been a while since they've been at the top of their game, they've all been around for years and know how to win when it counts. And this might be just the time to do that.

Back in the Spotlight

This weekend's champions had been flying a bit under the radar this year. With so many young stars emerging and a couple tried-and-true veterans showing their still more than relevant, their names have stayed largely out of the headlines. But with wins this week, it seems they're all ready to grab back some of the attention, and maybe change the course of the rest of their years.

Former Junior #1 Elina Svitolina is the second highest ranked teenager in the WTA, but her successes have largely been overshadowed by the likes of Wimbledon finalist Genie Bouchard -- the woman to whom she lost the 2012 Girls' title, incidentally -- world #3 Simona Halep, and even Madison Keys, the nineteen-year-old champion at Eastbourne. But the Ukrainian has had some big wins on Tour this year, taking out Svetlana Kuznetsova in her Melbourne opener and forcing Aga Radwanska into three sets in the Miami fourth round. Last week she returned to defend her only super-125K level title in Baku as the second seed. And with many of the favorites falling early, she did face much of a challenge during her run -- she dropped one set to 2010 French Open champion Francesca Schiavone in the semis and and met just one seed, a resurgent Bojana Jovanovski in the final. After a quick first set, Svitolina needed a tiebreak to close out the match, but never dropped her own serve and in under ninety minutes was again raising the trophy. If she can keep the momentum up at the higher-profile events down the road, she might just be able to launch herself into the next level.

John Isner has been flirting with the elite for years, but since breaking into the top ten over two years ago, he's only reached the fourth round of a Major one time -- surprisingly at Roland Garros this year. He has kept winning titles, two a year in fact since 2011 and opened this season with a trophy in Auckland, but none above the 250 level, and his biggest win in 2014 was a four-set, three-tiebreak battle against then-#14 Tommy Robredo in Paris. But he's been a little more consistent than normal this year, reaching the quarters in Nice and Newport and the semis in Indian Wells, and he's much more comfortable on the American hardcourts, too. Twice a finalist in Atlanta he finally broke the seal here last year. This week the top seed at the BB&T Open held tough versus wildcard Robby Ginepri in his opener and got the upper hand on recently rising Jack Sock in the semis. And Israel's Dudi Sela, who'd already taken out two seeds during his campaign down south, couldn't keep up in Sunday's final. Isner fired off a not-unusual fifteen aces and, more surprisingly, converted both break points he got to recapture the title. And while history doesn't necessarily suggest the win will lead to a successful U.S. Open Series, his persistence this season may just indicate that's about to change.

Pablo Andujar's been a little farther removed from the winner's circle. The twenty-eight year old Spaniard won his only two previous titles in Casablanca, but the last one came back in 2012. Since then he'd fallen briefly out of the top hundred and despite a solid run to the Madrid semis last year and very nearly beating Rafael Nadal this past February in Rio, he hadn't made it back to another championship match. He changed that last week in Gstaad, though -- after getting a pass from Gilles Simon in his opener, he took out both Marcel Granollers and Fernando Verdasco, setting up a clash with former top-ten veteran Juan Monaco in the final. And it was quite a close battle too -- the Argentine, who'd pulled off a couple upsets himself on the way to Sunday's match, had break point early and then lost a solid lead on his own serve to give up the first set. Monaco fought hard in the second too, building a 4-1 lead to start, but ultimately Andujar proved the stronger -- he rattled off four straight games to clinch the win and claim his third career trophy. And while he still needs to find a way to translate that success onto another surface, he might just have found the confidence he needs to make the switch.

Pablo Cuevas might have given himself even more confidence with the performances he's put up this month. Though he lingered around the low double digits in the latter part of the last decade, the Uruguayan was ranked well outside the top hundred at just the start of the month. And though he'd been on Tour for a full decade and captured nine titles on the Challengers' circuit, he'd never reached an ATP-level final before July. Even after beating Fernando Verdasco on his way to his first big boy's trophy in Bastad, he had to qualify for last week's action in Umag. But he kept his win streak going in unexpected style -- he ran over sixth seeded Andreas Seppi in his second round and then trounced world #15 Fabio Fognini in the semis. Against defending champion Tommy Robredo in the final he again didn't drop a set, taking less than an hour and a half to stop the second seed in his tracks and extend his run to a maybe lucky thirteen match wins. Like Andujar, he'll need to transition his came to a new surface in the coming weeks, but with his surprising successes lifting him to #40 in the world -- his highest ranking to date -- there's no reason to believe he won't keep rising higher.

All of this weekend's champions put themselves back on the map with their title runs, for the first time in months for some and in years for others. With the summer hardcourt season now in full swing, and many of the players who've been in the spotlight getting back on court, we'll see whether momentum will stay on their side or if they'll fall back to the sidelines. And now that they've shown what they can do, they'd better be ready for a lot more attention.

Asia Rising

For occupying almost a third of the world's land mass, Asia doesn't get a lot of love from the tennis world.

The Australian Open, technically on a whole different continent, is referred to as the Asian Slam, the first Chinese woman cracked the top ten barely four years ago, and just in May Kei Nishikori became the only man from Japan ranked in single digits.

But a relatively new series of WTA tournaments showcases the region and its players, many of whom don't qualify for main draws at Tour-level events and spend most of their time on the ITF circuit. This week in Nanchang, the first stop on this year's WTA 125K schedule, only one player is ranked in the top fifty and the eight seeds were rounded out by world #168 Yuliya Beygelzimer. And when you look at the slate of athletes still standing, you may notice something more than how few names you recognize -- every single one of the quarterfinalists hails from Asia itself, and any of them has an opportunity to put their continent on the map in a very big way.

Of course the seeds probably have the best shot at making at statement. Shuai Peng, well off her career high ranking of #14 in the world, opened the year with a run to the Shenzhen final and beat Maria Kirilenko to make the fourth round at Wimbledon, matching her best performance at a Major. And Misaki Doi may have added only one ITF title to her mantel in 2014, but she's quietly become the #2 ranked player in Japan and could parlay a nice run here into greater success on the WTA down the road.

But keep an eye out for even lesser known players in Nanchang too. Fangzhou Liu was up a set and a break on two-time Slam semifinalist Jie Zheng when her opponent retired, but backed up the free pass with a straight set win over Slovenia's Nastja Kolar a round later. And Thailand's Luksika Kumkhum was ranked just inside the top hundred when she pulled off the upset of her career this past January -- playing in just her second Australian Open, she took out sixth seed Petra Kvitova in her opening round. She hasn't matched the glory of that win yet this year, but the fourth seed this week might just be the most likely dark horse in the field.

Only one of the previous six WTA 125K events was won by an Asian -- Shuai Zhang took the title in Nanjing last October -- but this week we're guaranteed to add another to the list. Of course, it's not like any of these ladies would be the first from Asia to take home a WTA title, but success here could open the doors for them on much bigger stages. And in a truly global sport like tennis, we're all better served by sharing the love.

The Rebirth

I have to admit I was pretty impressed by the action we saw on the tennis courts last week.

Sure we still haven't hit the sweet spot of the summer hardcourt season and most of the sport's top athletes were not yet in action. But we saw more than a couple players carry success through from one week to the next, and a few players long missing from the winner's circle made triumphant returns to glory that could right their paths for the rest of the year.

Mona Barthel was one of the standouts of the 2012 season -- a qualifier in Hobart that year, she shocked four seeded players to claim her first career title and a year later she took out Marion Bartoli and Sara Errani in her trophy run at the Paris Indoors. She peaked at #23 in the world that March, but ended the season with four straight first round losses and fell out of the top eighty for most of this spring. It wasn't an easy road for her in Bastad either -- with all but one seed losing their opening matches, the young German upset just one favorite on her way to the final, but lost a set to qualifier Gabriela Dabrowski in her second round and had to come back from 2-4 down against Sylvia Soler-Espinosa in the semis. Against Chanelle Scheepers Sunday, another woman who'd been struggling before making the trip to Sweden, she was tested too, finding herself in a 3-5 hole in their second set. But Barthel was able to stay strong and ultimately closed out the match in straight sets, capturing her third career crown and reminding the field what she's capable of.

Bernard Tomic seems to have been missing from the spotlight a little longer. Once hailed as the Next Big Thing in the sport, he hadn't won more than two matches at any tournament since losing the Sydney final -- he'd won his only previous title there a year before -- and dropped out of the top hundred after a second round loss at Wimbledon, his lowest ranking in over three years. He was unseeded in Bogota, positioned behind little-known players like Alejandro Gonzalez and Victor Estrella Burgos, and just barely eked out a win over the latter in the semis, needing three tiebreaks and nearly three hours to score the win. He ran up against big-serving Ivo Karlovic on Sunday -- the Croat was playing his second final in as many weeks, and as the second seed was the on-paper favorite this time too -- but even without converting a break opportunity, Tomic was able to secure the win in tiebreaks. It was just his second career trophy, putting him a little behind expectations, but may have been just what the young Australian needed to kick him into gear.

Over in Istanbul another former champion -- albeit one who's got a little more hardware on her mantle -- took a huge step in putting herself back on the map. Caroline Wozniacki fell out of the top ten early this year and struggled with injury, etc., for most of the spring. She was somewhat redeemed by making the semis in Eastbourne and her fourth round showing at the All England Club, but she really proved she was back this past week at the reestablished Istanbul Cup. The top seed in Turkey, she opened with a double bagel against rising star Belinda Bencic, and though she dropped sets to early opponents, ultimately made her first final of the year with a straight set win over another of the year's standouts, Kristina Mladenovic. In the final against Roberta Vinci -- playing her second straight final despite her inauspiciousstart to the year -- she took control again, never dropping serve and taking five games off her challenger. It took just over an hour to win her twenty-second trophy, but after the year she's had, it sure seems like she put up an even bigger effort than that.

Things went down a little differently in Hamburg, where unseeded Leonardo Mayer was looking less for reawakening than for a first launch. The twenty-seven year old Argentine only made his first singles final in February and had spent most of the last five years in the low double-digit rankings. He did manage a win over world #16 Tommy Robredo in Viña Del Mar, but before last week -- even with a fourth round run at Wimbledon -- he was a whopping 0-16 against top ten players. He cracked that goose egg in Germany though -- after taking out tenth seed Guillermo Garcia Lopez, he battled past a couple young guns and earned the right to meet last year's French Open runner-up David Ferrer for the title. It didn't look like it would go his way at first -- the veteran Spaniard had ceded a total of three games in his quarter and semifinal matches and came back from breaks down to take the opening set on Sunday. But Mayer rebounded in grand style, finally scoring that elusive win over an elite player and taking home that all-important maiden trophy.

And while Mayer may have just broken the seal of tennis champions, he and the rest of this weekend's victors have all recaptured the feeling of being at the top of their game. And if they can keep it up there's no telling how much more success we'll see from them down the road.