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Monday, October 25, 2021

Wk.39- Estonian Doll Unveiled in Russia

Like the unveiling of a Russian nesting doll, Moscow proved once more that winning begats winning begats winning as Anett Kontaveit found herself lifting yet another championship trophy this weekend.

A development literally years in the making, it has suddenly become the Estonian's "new normal." Finally.







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*WEEK 39 CHAMPIONS*
MOSCOW, RUSSIA (WTA 500/Hard Court Indoor)
S: Anett Kontaveit/EST def. Ekaterina Alexandrova/RUS 4-6/6-4/7-5
D: Alona Ostapenko/Katerina Siniakova (LAT/CZE) def. Nadiia Kichenok/Raluca Olaru (UKR/ROU) 6-2/4-6 [10-8]
TENERIFE, SPAIN (WTA 250/Hard Court Outdoor)
S: Ann Li/USA def. Camila Osorio/COL 6-1/6-4
D: Ulrikke Eikeri/Ellen Perez (NOR/AUS) def. Lyudmyla Kichenok/Marta Kostyuk (UKR/UKR) 6-3/6-3


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PLAYER OF THE WEEK: Anett Kontaveit/EST
...it's taken quite a while, but Kontaveit seems to be getting used to being the last woman standing. Albeit belatedly, if it's become part of her ongoing tennis DNA, 2022 couldn't get here soon enough for the Estonian.

The 25-year old began her season by being unable to play the Grampians final in Melbourne, ending the event as simply a "co-finalist" with Ann Li after both had won their semifinals knowing that the final, which had been originally scheduled to take place the day before play started at the Australian Open, had been cancelled altogether because of an early-week Covid-related delay in the tournament. But ever since she started her tour life anew without the presence of coach Nigel Sears this spring, and especially since she brought aboard Dmitry Tursunov during the summer hard court season, Kontaveit has been making up for that lost opportunity.

In three years with Sears, Kontaveit consistently reached a final a year from 2018-20, and then extended that run with that early Melbourne result in '21. But the Estonian always seemed capable of so much more, and in fact didn't win any of the finals in which she'd appeared since her victory at Rosmalen in 2017. Without Sears, she reached the Eastbourne final this summer, losing yet again to fall to 1-6 in tour singles finals. Starting with that defeat at the hands (and racket) of Alona Ostapenko, Kontaveit dropped five straight matches. It was around that time that Tursunov, former coach of Aryna Sabalenka during her 2018-20 rise into the Top 10, stepped in to assist.

Things seemed to click pretty quickly for the native Muscovite and Kontaveit. She won her first title in four years in Cleveland right before the U.S. Open and has continued her 4Q run on indoor hard courts in Ostrava!!! and Moscow, winning titles at both events in recent weeks.

At this week's Kremlin Cup, Kontaveit knocked off Katerina Siniakova, Andrea Petkovic, Garbine Muguruza (allowing 2 games) and Marketa Vondrousova to reach her fifth final of the year, and third in her last six events. After trailing Ekaterina Alexandrova 6-4/4-0 in the championship match, the Estonian ran off six straight games to win the 2nd set, then battled back after the Russian served for the match at 5-4 in the 3rd, winning the final three games to claim her third title of the year, behind only Ash Barty (5) on tour in '21. After winning just one of her first seven career finals (not counting Grampians), she's now won in three straight.

With this week's result, Kontaveit improves to 40-15 on the year, including going 21-2 and winning 28/31 sets since breaking that five-match losing streak with her Cleveland title run in August.



She'll jump up to #14 this week, matching the career high she first reached in April 2019. Next up...

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RISERS: Ekaterina Alexandrova/RUS and Marketa Vondrousova/CZE
...Alexandrova's week didn't end well, as she squandered a golden opportunity to win her second career tour title (it'd been her first since her last final in Shenzhen in January of last year) and become the ninth Russian women's champ at the Kremlin Cup in Moscow. She led Anett Kontaveit 6-4/4-0, 30/30 in the final before things started to go haywire. She lost her lead, appeared to be bothered by a hip injury, then after rebounding in the 3rd set served for the title at 5-4. She was broken, but later held GP to send things to a deciding TB before ultimately committing the loose error that ended the match.

After having seen Ons Jabeur retire during her opening match of the week, Alexadrova had gone on to notch wins over Anhelina Kalinina, Aryna Sabalenka (the Russian's third career Top 5 win) and Maria Sakkari (another retirement, and Alexandrova's third Top 10 victory of the week to nearly doubles her career total to seven). Before this run, she'd had just one multi-win event since before Roland Garros and hadn't reached a SF since the Gippsland tournament in February.



Also in Moscow, Vondrousova maintained her second-half resurgence by reaching her fifth SF of the season (rebounding from her 1st Round loss to Viktorija Golubic in Indian Wells) with wins over Elena Rybakina, Lesia Tsurenko and Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova. She was finally downed by Anett Kontaveit, but improved her record since the start of the Olympics to 18-7, a stretchthat has included her Tokyo Silver, three SF and a QF.

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SURPRISES: Ulrikke Eikeri/Ellen Perez, NOR/AUS
...the rarified air of a Norwegian/Aussie partnership produced a doubles title in Tenerife as Eikeri & Perez won three straight contests that came down to match tie-breaks to reach the final, where they handled Ukrainians Lyudmyla Kichenkok & Marta Kostyuk 6-3/6-3. It's a maiden tour title for Eikeri, while Perez picks up her third in her fourth tour-level final appearance (2-2) this season with a fourth different partners.

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VETERAN: Alize Cornet/FRA
...her '21 season hasn't been what she might have hoped for, but Cornet (for what it's worth, though it likely says more about the rest of the Pastries' seasons) *is* the highest-ranked French player on tour as we head toward November. Of course, she entered as only #66 (a ranking that would be her worst since 2011 should Cornet finish the season there), and her semifinal run this week in Tenerife will only marginally improve that standing (her worst finish since '11 was #60 in '19, about where she'll end up on Monday).

This past week, Cornet posted wins over Stefanie Voegele, Wang Xinyu (ret.) and Anna Karolina Schmiedlova, reaching her third semi since June (Berlin/Chicago 250). She lost to eventual champion Ann Li. The 31-year old has seen her results improve as the season has progressed. After a 10-14 start, she's gone 15-11 since to level her season mark at exactly .500 (25-25).

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COMEBACK: Camila Giorgi/ITA
...times had been lean for the Italian since her career moment of winning the Montreal title prior to the U.S. Open. Giorgi came to Tenerife having gone 0-4 since her title run. She drew Aliona Bolsova in the 1st Round a day after the qualifier had won a three-hour Q3 match to reach the MD and took out the Spaniard in another three-setter. Giorgi followed up with additional victories over Danka Kovinic and Arantxa Rus to reach her third semifinal of the season, where she fell at the hands of Camila Osorio.

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FRESH FACES: Ann Li/USA and Camila Osorio/COL
...after joining Anett Kontaveit in the "non-winners circle" back in February when their Grampians final wasn't contested the day before the Australian Open, Li again stands shoulder-to-shoulder with the Estonian in Week 39... only this time as tour singles champions, albeit in tournaments more than 3000 miles apart.

While Kontaveit was prevailing in Moscow, Li was doing the same in Tenerife in the Canary Islands, stringing together wins over Nuria Parrizas Diaz, Varvara Gracheva, Irina-Camelia Begu, Alize Cornet and Camila Osorio in a 6-1/6-4 final to claim her maiden tour title (the 17th first-time champ in '21).

By simply reaching the semifinals, 21-year old Li had posted her best tour result since March, when she'd wrapped up a 9-2 stretch that had included the Grampian Final 2 appearance, Australian Open 3rd Round and Monterrey semi.



With her name newly-shortened (she showed up in the rankings this past week as "Camila Osorio," rather than Maria Camila Osorio Serrano), the 19-year had another productive week. She opened her time in Tenerife by recording her first career Top 10 win with an upset of Elina Svitolina (dominating the "world #6" on Day 2 after play had been suspended with Osorio a set down the previous evening), then keeping her momentum going with wins over Mayar Sherif, Zheng Saisai and Camila Giorgi to reach her second tour final. She fell to Li in straights. The Colombian will set a new career high on Monday, moving to just outside the Top 50.

Osorio had arrived on the island having gone just 1-7 since reaching the Wimbledon 3rd Round as a qualifier, climbing out of a low point that she'd encountered not long after her first big pro surge in the spring when she won Bogota and reached SF in Charleston (250) and Belgrade amidst a 13-2 run.

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DOWN: Elina Svitolina/UKR
...one could make some sort of canary in the coal mine reference regarding top-seeded Svitolina's ongoing standing on tour after falling in the 1st Round in Tenerife to the newly-name-shortened Camila Osorio, but at this point if anyone at this point ever expects something revolutionary (or even mildly *not* disappointing) from the Ukrainian, well, they must be living in the past (say, about 2017-18 or so). There is no longer any process to trust.



Rather than coast to a semifinal or better, or at least the QF, as the only Top 30 player in the 250 tournament draw, Svitolina claimed the 1st set against the Colombian before play was stopped due to darkness, then returned the next day and won just five games in the 2nd and 3rd sets against the teenager, who posted her first career Top 10 win and ended her recent 1-7 slide.

2021 hasn't been without its high points for the (still, undeservedly) #6-ranked player on tour -- a U.S. Open QF, Miami/Olympic/Stuttgart 500 SF and Chicago 250 win -- but never once has any result felt like it was a leading anywhere, a stepping stone to something greater, or even the start of a consistent run of similar results.

There was a time when *big* (non-slam) events were threats to be taken by Svitolina, but no longer. Her low-level Chicago win, the week before a major in a poorly-stocked draw (the #2 seed, at #38, was ranked even further behind Svitolina than was the case this week), was her third straight title (w/ two in '20) at the tour's lowest-valued level, after her previous six had included wins in the WTAF, three Premier 5 (now WTA 1000) and two Premier (500) tournaments between 2017-18. In was during that stretch of time that Svitolina scored 25 Top 10 wins (six vs. #1) over three seasons (2016-18), with a +10 edge in 40 matches vs. such players (25-15). In 2019-21, she's collected just six while playing herself into only fourteen such matches (-2, 6-8).

The lowering of the level of expectation for Svitolina's results is similar, and at the moment there doesn't seem any sort of established plan for changing that. She appears content with running in place, and losing ground to those all around her with each passing season. Seems a bit of a waste.

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ITF PLAYER: Madison Brengle/USA
...while Li was winning her maiden title in Tenerife, Brengle was winning her first crown in two years on the ITF circuit in Macon, Georgia. The 31-year old picked up ITF title #16 with a 6-4/4-6/6-4 win in the final over Zarina Diyas.

Brengle had made her way past the likes of Tessah Andrianjafitrimo, Louisa Chirico and Wang Xiyu en route to the final, her second this year after a runner-up result in the Charleston $100K in May against Claire Liu.

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JUNIOR STAR: Linda Klimovicova/CZE
...the march of the Czech maidens continues on the junior circuit, as 17-year old Klimovicova (#54) picked up her biggest career title, not dropping a set all week in the J1 Sanxenxo, Spain event and concluding her run with a 6-1/6-2 victory in the final over Hordette Mirra Andreeva, fresh off her own J2 title a week ago. The two met in the doubles final, as well, this time with Andreeva (w/ Waffle Hanne Vandewinkel) getting the best of Klimovicova (w/ Romanian Alexia Todoni).

Klimovicova had reached the J1 final in Roehampton this summer, losing to Czech Lindra Fruhvirtova.



With Klimovicova's win, Czechs have won four of the last five J1 titles (three by Brenda Fruhvirtova), and six overall (plus the RG girls crown) in 2021.
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DOUBLES: Alona Ostapenko/Katerina Siniakova, LAT/CZE
...a week after solid dual singles *and* doubles semifinal runs in Indian Wells, Ostapenko returned in Moscow (w/ a different partner, after teaming w/ Lyudmyla Kichenok in the desert) and picked up the title. Of course, it helps when that partner in Siniakova, on a break (and maybe as a preview of the future?) from the idle Barbora Krejcikova, who picked up her fifth WD title of the season (tying for the tour lead) when the duo knocked off the *other* Kichenok sister (Nadiia) and Raluca Olaru in a 3rd set match TB to take the final. Kichenok/Olaru are 2-2 as a pair in '21 finals.

The win claims Ostapenko's fourth career title, her first since 2018 (she'd gone winless in her last four finals), while Siniakova now has thirteen. Nine of the Czech's last eleven titles (Krunic/'19 Sydney) have come alongside Krejcikova.
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1. Moscow Final - Anett Kontaveit def. Ekaterina Alexandrova
...4-6/6-4/7-5. Playing on home turf, Alexandrova led 6-4/4-0, 30/30 before losing her lead, dealing with a hip injury, and then finding the wherewithal to put herself in position to win the title yet again in the 3rd set. After breaking Kontaveit in game #9 of the 3rd, Alexandrova served for the match at 5-4, coming within two points of the win. She never crossed the finish line, adding a three-game losing streak to end the match to her six-game slide that had closed out the 2nd. At 5-6, Alexandrova had a pair of GP to hold and send things to a deciding tie-break, but it clearly wasn't meant to be.

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2. Tenirife 1st Rd. - Camila Osorio def. Elina Svitolina
...5-7/6-3/6-2. Svitolina took the 1st set before play was stopped for the day due to darkness. When the two returned a day later, Osorio dropped just five games en route to her first career Top 10 win and (eventually) a spot in the final.

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3. Tenerife Final - Ann Li def. Camila Osorio
...6-1/6-4. Li's win make her the third different Bannerette (Coco Gauff, Danielle Collins) to win tour singles titles in '21, and the second to become a maiden champion. In what was a final-less year for Serena Williams as well as two-time '20 slam finalist Sofia Kenin, only Li and Collins (w/ both reaching two) amongst the U.S. women played themselves into multiple WTA finals this season.

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4. Tenerife 1st Rd. - Varvara Gracheva def. Sara Sorribes Tormo
...6-4/5-7/7-6(4). Gracheva rallies from 5-2 in the 3rd to win in 3:26 in what was the third 3:20+ match this year that has features the Spaniard.

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5. Moscow QF - Maria Sakkari def. Simona Halep
...6-4/6-4. Sakkari knocks off Halep to reach her tour-best seventh SF of the year and qualify for the WTA Finals field, a first in her career.

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6. Tenerife 1st Rd. - Clara Tauson def. Heather Watson
...6-4/2-6/7-6(6). Tauson, *not* playing in the week's indoor event in Moscow, prevails outdoors after finding herself two points from the loss in the 3rd. She rallied from 5-2 down in the deciding TB, but fell a round later in three sets to Zheng Saisai.

Another indoor achiever, Alison Van Uytvanck, was also in Spain this week. She didn't fair as well as the Dane, losing in the 1st Round to Danka Kovinic.
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7. Moscow 1st Rd. - Veronika Kudermetova def. Oksana Selekhmeteva
...4-6/7-6(3)/6-4. The 18-year old qualifier falls, but not before signaling herself as a Hordette to Watch. In 2021, she's won her first pro singles title ($15K in February), picked up her second girls doubles slam win (RG), cracked the WTA Top 250 and made her tour-level MD debut with this match.

The teenager is the 61st player to maker her tour debut this season. Here's a gallery featuring them all.
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8. Moscow 1st Rd. - Anhelina Kalinina def. Dasha Kasatkina
...6-2/6-3. Kasatkina has often thrived at the Kremlin Cup -- '18 W/'17 RU in singles, w/ two WD finals ('15 W/'16 RU) -- but not this year.

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9. Tenerife 2nd Rd. - Irina-Camelia Begu def. Donna Vekic
...4-6/6-2/7-6(4). Begu, who rallied on day two of this match after resuming play down 6-4/1-1, has gone 8-4 in her last thirteen, with a Cleveland RU (to Kontaveit) and QF (a loss to Li) this week.

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10. $25K Hamburg GER Final - Antonia Ruzic def. Timea Babos
...6-2/4-1 ret. Babos remains *completely* title-less (WS/WD on any level) in '21 for the first time since 2008, while the 18-year old Croat picks up season ITF crown #3 (3-0 in finals), claiming her second title in two weeks and extending her winning streak to twelve matches.
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11. Moscow 2nd Rd. - Maria Sakkari def. Anna Kalinskaya
...6-2/1-0 ret. The Russian has gone 13-5 in recent weeks, including a qualifying and 4th Round run in Indian Wells (w/ wins over Liu, Sorribes Tormo and Golubic), a Kremlin Cup Q-run (Kuzmova, Diatchenko) and 1st Round win in Moscow over Marta Kostyuk.
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12. $25K Seville ESP Final - Diane Parry def. Elina Avanesyan
...6-2/6-0. In a severely "off" year for Pastries on tour, the former junior #1 wins her third ITF crown of the season, improving to 4-0 in career pro singles finals. The 19-year old is currently the 11th-ranked French woman, standing just inside the Top 200, an improvement of 100+ spots over her #305 finish in 2020.

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HM- Montfermeil FRA WC Final - Pauline Deroulede def. Lizzy de Greef 6-7(4)/6-4/7-5
Montfermeil WC Final: Pauline Deroulede/Zoe Maras def. Lizzy de Greef/Wendi Schutte 6-1/7-5
...it's never to early to keep an eye on the *next* Dutch wheelchair phenom. It may very well be Lizzy de Greef.

The 17-year old, the inaugural winner of the ITF girls Player of the Year in 2020 and current junior #1, didn't pick up her first pro titles in France this weekend, but she reached her first two WC Futures Series finals. In singles, she upset the #4 seed in the 1st Round, top-seeded Zoe Maras (FRA) in the semis, and them barely fell short vs. #3 Deroulede in the final. In doubles, she and Wendi Schutte fell in straights to the same two players that de Greef had defeated in singles.

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1. Tenerife 1st Rd. - Anna Karolina Schmiedlova def. Kaja Juvan
...4-6/6-1/6-4. After Juvan had played in an ultimately needlessly tiring three-hour loss (vs. Aliona Bolsova) in the final round of qualifying, even with a lucky loser spot already awaiting her in the MD as the top Q-seed, she was handed an early exit by AKS in yet another three-setter. Qualifier Bolsova, too, fell in a three-set 1st Round match vs. Camila Giorgi.
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2. Moscow Final - Alona Ostapenko/Katerina Siniakova def. Nadiia Kichenok/Raluca Olaru 6-2/4-6 [10-8]
Tenerife Final - Ulrikke Eikeri/Ellen Perez def. Lyudmyla Kichenok/Marta Kostyuk 6-3/6-3
...they weren't playing together, but both Kichenok sisters still met the same fate this weekend, finishing as a doubles runner-up in a tour event final.

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Then don't play. It's really pretty easy... if stated beliefs outweigh the desire to win another slam in an event where you'll enter as the favorite to do so. I suspect he'll likely be playing.



This should be fun. Meanwhile...




Late addition to the "Quote of the Year" list, and maybe an honorable mention for "WTA Woman of the Year?"






=MOSCOW, RUSSIA=




=TENERIFE, SPAIN=






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*2021 WTA SINGLES TITLES*
5 - Ash Barty, AUS
3 - ANETT KONTAVEIT, EST
3 - Barbora Krejcikova, CZE
2 - Paula Badosa, ESP
2 - Danielle Collins, USA
2 - Dasha Kasatkina, RUS
2 - Garbine Muguruza, ESP
2 - Aryna Sabalenka, BLR
2 - Iga Swiatek, POL
2 - Clara Tauson, DEN

*2021 FIRST-TIME WTA CHAMPIONS*
Lyon - Clara Tauson, DEN (18/#139)
Guadalajara - Sara Sorribes Tormo, ESP (24/#71)
Monterrey - Leylah Fernandez, CAN (18/#88)
Bogota - Camila Osorio, COL (19/#180)
Charleston - Veronika Kudermetova, RUS (23/#38)
Charleston 250 - Astra Sharma, AUS (25/#165)
Belgrade - Paula Badosa, ESP (23/#44)
Strasbourg - Barbora Krejcikova, CZE (25/#38)
Birmingham - Ons Jabeur, TUN (26/#24)
Berlin - Liudmila Samsonova, RUS (22/#106)
Hamburg - Gabriela Ruse, ROU (23/#154)
Lausanne - Tamara Zidansek, SLO (23/#50)
Gdynia - Maryna Zanevska, BEL (27/#165)
Palermo - Danielle Collins, USA (27/#44)
U.S. Open - Emma Raducanu, GBR (18/#150)
Porotroz - Jasmine Paolini, ITA (25/#87)
TENERIFE - ANN Li, USA (21/#60)

*2021 YOUNG WTA CHAMPIONS*
17 - Coco Gauff, USA (Parma)
18 - Clara Tauson, DEN (Lyon)
18 - Clara Tauson, DEN (Luxembourg)
18 - Emma Raducanu, GBR (US Open)
18 - Leylah Fernandez, CAN (Monterrey)
19 - Camila Osorio, COL (Bogota)
19 - Iga Swiatek, POL (Adelaide)
19 - Iga Swiatek, POL (Rome)
21 - ANN LI, USA (TENERIFE)

*2021 WTA FINALS*
6 - Ash Barty, AUS (5-1)
5 - ANETT KONTAVEIT, EST (3-1-1)
4 - Barbora Krejcikova, CZE (3-1)
4 - Dasha Kasatkina, RUS (2-2)
4 - Garbine Muguruza, ESP (2-2)
3 - Aryna Sabalenka, BLR (2-1)
3 - Ons Jabeur, TUN (1-2)
3 - Belinda Bencic, SUI (1-2)
3 - Karolina Pliskova, CZE (0-3)
2 - Iga Swiatek, POL (2-0)
2 - Paula Badosa, ESP (2-0)
2 - Danielle Collins, USA (2-0)
2 - Clara Tauson, DEN (2-0)
2 - ANN LI, USA (1-0-1)
2 - Sorana Cirstea, ROU (1-1)
2 - Leylah Fernandez, CAN (1-1)
2 - Veronika Kudermetova, RUS (1-1)
2 - Elise Mertens, BEL (1-1)
2 - CAMILA OSORIO, COL (1-1)
2 - Alona Ostapenko, LAT (1-1)
2 - Andrea Petkovic, GER (1-1)
2 - Yulia Putintseva, KAZ (1-1)
2 - Gabriela Ruse, ROU (1-1)
2 - Viktorija Golubic, SUI (0-2)

*2021 BEST WIN % IN WTA FINALS - 2+*
1.000 - Iga Swiatek, POL (2-0)
1.000 - Paula Badosa, ESP (2-0)
1.000 - Danielle Collins, USA (2-0)
1.000 - Clara Tauson, DEN (2-0)
0.833 - Ash Barty, AUS (5-1)
0.833 - ANETT KONTAVEIT, EST (3-1 +DNP)
0.750 - Barbora Krejcikova, CZE (3-1)
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NOTE: Li 1-0, w/ 1 DNP

*U.S. WOMAN WINS MAIDEN WTA TITLE - since 1998*
1998: Venus Williams (Memphis)
1998: Tara Snyder (Quebec City)
1999: Serena Williams (Paris Indoors)
1999: Corina Morariu (Bol)
2000: Meghann Shaughnessy (Shanghai)
2001: Meilen Tu (Auckland)
2002: Jill Craybas (Tokyo JO)
2006: Vania King (Bangkok)
2012: Melanie Oudin (Birmingham)
2014: Madison Keys (Eastbourne)
2014: CoCo Vandeweghe (Rosmalen)
2014: Alison Riske (Tianjin)
2015: Sloane Stephens (Washington)
2016: Irina Falconi (Bogota)
2016: Christina McHale (Tokyo JWO)
2017: Lauren Davis (Auckland)
2019: Sonya Kenin (Hobart)
2019: Amanda Anisimova (Bogota)
2019: Jessie Pegula (Washington)
2019: Coco Gauff (Linz)
2020: Jennifer Brady (Lexington)
2021: Danielle Collins (Palermo)
2021: Ann Li (Tenerife)

*UNITED STATES - WTA TITLES (active)*
73 - Serena Williams
49 - Venus Williams
6 - Sloane Stephens
5 - Sofia Kenin
5 - Madison Keys
2 - Danielle Collins
2 - Coco Gauff
2 - Monica Puig (Puerto Rico)
2 - Alison Riske
2 - CoCo Vandeweghe
1 - Amanda Anisimova
1 - Jennifer Brady
1 - Lauren Davis
1 - Irina Falconi
1 - Ann Li
1 - Christina McHale
1 - Jessie Pegula

*MOST WTA SF in 2021*
7...MARIA SAKKARI, GRE (1-6)
6...Ash Barty, AUS (5-0+W)
6...Aryna Sabalenka, BLR (3-3)
5...ANETT KONTAVEIT, EST (5-0)
5...Ons Jabeur, TUN (3-2)
5...Paula Badosa, ESP (2-3)
5...MARKETA VONDROUSOVA, CZE (1-3+L)

*2021 WTA DOUBLES TITLES*
5 - Shuko Aoyama, JPN
5 - Ena Shibahara, JPN
5 - KATERINA SINIAKOVA, CZE
4 - Barbora Krejcikova, CZE
4 - Elise Mertens, BEL





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Of note, Powell acknowedged (as he should have) to no end the "black mark" on his memory that that speech to the U.N. would always be. Good luck getting *some* current political actors to ever perform a similar service for their own dangerous actions, inactivity or blatant lying.

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Most eyebrow-raising/unfortunate take of the week by a former player...



While a case can be made for some of Pennetta's takes on the matter (though a qualifier *did* reach a slam semi in '99), she's probably not the former player in the position to make them, considering Flavia's lone singles slam win came in a final against Roberta Vinci in a draw in which a player going for a Grand Slam (Serena) failed to make the final. And, of course, that Pennetta is married to an active ATP player clouds the issue, as well. She sort of set *herself* up on a proverbial tee here.



Naturally, the snide (or worse) remarks directed toward Pennetta after her comments were plenty, but I wonder how many denigrating her career in the aftermath also knew that she's a current nominee for the Hall of Fame? Not many, I'd gather.

Also, another case can be made that Raducanu's win, and what has happened with her *off* the court, sort of belies (or complicates) that "hard to market" notion when the discussion involves her recent U.S. Open title run. If Raducanu winning is somehow bad and women's tennis is so hard to market becasue of results such as hers, why do companies throw so much money at players such as her (and Osaka, and Sharapova before her, etc.) after they win a big title?



In truth, it's really *way* too early to know what Raducanu's title in New York means. It could be the anomaly of slam champion anomalies this century, or it could be the intitial sign of something great. Only time will tell. Remember, it took Pennetta herself more slam appearances than anyone to win a major.



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Not sure which is worse. The answer, the question, or the idiocy of the listener who'd care what his opinion was in the first place.

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Personally, I'd put "Breaking Bad" at #1 (it's #3), but "The Wire" would be right there. Of course, this continues the trend of "The Wire" being virtually ignored in the ratings, at the Emmys and even discounted by some critics during it's initial 2002-08 run, only to be awash with praise and honors in the years (now more than a decade) that have followed its exit from the air. It was *never* nominated for a Best Drama Emmy (it's only two nominations were for writing honors it predictably lost) and *none* of the show's actors were ever nominated for their roles. Not Michael K. Williams. Not Idris Elba. Not Dominic West. Zippo.

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All for now.
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