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Sunday, December 4, 2022

2022 BSAs: Performance and MVP Lists

The best, the brightest and the most "useful."










#1 - IGA WINS THE CITY
...Iga Swiatek did so many great things in 2022. She won the "Sunshine Double," went undefeated on springtime clay, picked up her second Roland Garros title in three years and put together the longest winning streak (37 matches) this century. But what she did in New York, in many ways, was even more impressive because, unlike the majority (Indian Wells excluded) of her successes, it was hard, and the product of precisely the sort of she-reads-the-fine-print-and-the-footnotes qualities that have immediately made the Pole a "2.0" sort of champion, from her early employing of a full-time sports psychologist to her willingness to find ways to both accept and conquer the sort of challenges that might bedevil other champions for years.

At Flushing Meadows, Swiatek concluded her two week work-study course with a defeat of Ons Jabeur in the final to win her third career major and maiden U.S. Open, becoming the first #1 seed to win in New York since 2014 (Serena Williams), and pulling off the fifth Roland Garros/U.S. slam combo season this century (Serena and Justine Henin twice each, w/ Williams the last in '13). Working her way through the draw and winning while at times struggling with the faster surface and lighter balls (causing her to routinely switch rackets as she attempted to find the correct string tension), the world #1 defeated three Top 10 players (Jabeur, Pegula and Sabalenka) and a former Open champ (Stephens). Swiatek is the third woman to win Indian Wells, Miami and the U.S. Open in the same year (joining Steffi Graf in '96, and Kim Clijsters in '05).



To be continued at Wimbledon in 2023-24, as Swiatek tries to conquer her *next* big challenge.

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#2 - SWIATEK SOAKS UP THE SUN
...maybe Iga Swiatek should have just worn a cape, for a player couldn't have more come to the rescue of the tour than she did in the 1Q's closing weeks. In this case, timing really was everything.

In the first half of her "Sunshine Double" two-fer in Indian Wells, Swiatek's run was a study in patience and will as she won three straight, mid-draw three-setters (rallying from a set down to defeat Anhelina Kalinina, Clara Tauson and Angelique Kerber) before surging through the finish line with straight sets wins over Madison Keys, Simona Halep and Maria Sakkari in a prelude to the she-can't-lose-a-set dominance that marked a spring run that included a 37-match winning streak and another Roland Garros crown.

The 20-year old Pole's win in Miami, with the inherited #1 ranking awaiting her after the event due to Ash Barty's pre-tournament retirement annoucement, made her the fourth (and youngest) woman to complete the North American sweep, winning in South Florida without dropping a set, ending with consecutive wins over Coco Gauff, Petra Kvitova, Jessie Pegula and Naomi Osaka with



Swiatek ended the 1st Quarter on a 17-match (and 20-set) winning streak, became the first player to ever sweep (w/ Doha) the first three 1000 events in a season, and officially became the first Polish player to be ranked #1. Maybe more "importantly," at a time when the tour's #1-ranked player, the reigning champ at two majors, announced her retirement at age 25 less than two months after having completed the third leg of a Career Slam, Swiatek's dominant surge allowed the WTA to move forward without skipping a beat. The handoff from the "Ash Era" to the "Iga Era" couldn't have gone any more smoothly. In fact, the Aussie was (for now, at least) relegated to "history" quicker than any former #1. Ever.

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#3 - RYBAKINETICS
...with a cool, calm demeanor and power game that left oft-helpless opponents flat footed on the grass, Elena Rybakina's long-awaited breakthrough comes at Wimbledon, as the 23-year old becomes the first player representing Kazakhstan to claim a major singles title, eliminating Bianca Andreescu, Simona Halep and Ons Jabeur en route to becoming the youngest winner at SW19 since 2011. Against Jabeur, she becomes the first women's champ at SW19 since 2006 to rally from a set down in the final to win in three sets.


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#4 - DIEDE SLAM 2.0
...Diede de Groot completes her second straight wheelchair Grand Slam season, winning her eighth straight major title (and fifth in a row at Flushing Meadows).



De Groot's three-set win over longtime rival Yui Kamiji, in their 14th slam final match-up, extended her winning streak to 65 straight singles victores dating back to early 2021. She ended the season on a 74-match run (38-0 in '22), having won 19 straight singles titles while going a combined 79-1 in 2021-22.

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#5 - TH-TH-TH-THAT'S ALL, ASH!
...before announcing her retirement less than two months later, Ash Barty's final touches on her multi-year run (including three straight season-ending top rankings) were virtually spotless.

Barty swept through Australia before walking into the sunset (and onto a series of golf courses, and down the aisle, and who knows what next). Playing her first matches since the U.S. Open, the Aussie opened '22 by trailing Coco Gauff 6-4/4-2, with the teenager holding GP for a 5-2 lead. Barty rallied to win in three sets, then proceeded to never lose, going 11-0 (w/ 22 straight sets), taking the title in Adelaide (along with the doubles w/ Storm Sanders) and then going on to become the first Australian woman to win the AO singles crown since 1978, dropping serve just twice in seven matches (six played under the lights, avoiding the summer sun) in Melbourne.



The title run gave Barty titles at three of the four slams (on three different surfaces), improved her record on Australian soil since 2020 to 28-3 and saw her (at least for the moment) close out her career having gone 22-1 in her last 23 matches vs. Top 30 opponents.

In the aftermath, just weeks after setting down her rackets, Barty was already finding a new way to scratch her competitve itch...



To be continued at a later date?

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#6 - DIRTY IGA
...while she was going undefeated on dirt (16-0) in the spring and picking up an accompanying bookend to her 2020 Roland Garros trophy, we saw several different versions of Iga Swiatek during the stretch.

In Stuttgart, she lost multiple leads and nearly lost to Liudmila Samsonova, but *found a way* to prevail. She raced through Rome, knocking off two Top 10 players (Sabalenka/Jabeur) and only *almost* "blinking" in one stretch vs. Bianca Andreescu (but still winning a 1st set TB, then bageling the Canadian in the 2nd). In Paris, Swiatek stressed herself out (for 10 minutes) vs. Danka Kovinic, lost a handful of big points and dropped a set vs. big-hitting teen Zheng Qinwen before an injury and menstrual difficulties slowed the young Chinese future star.

Then the Pole won 48 of her final 62 games at RG, never dropping more than three in any of her final eight sets while brushing aside Jessie Pegula, Dasha Kasatkina and Coco Gauff from the QF-F, winning her second RG in three years and becoming the first woman since 2004 (Henin/AO) to win a major as a first-time #1 seed.



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#7 - GARCIA'S WESTERN ADVENTURE
...pretty much everyone else knew a while ago what she was capable of, but it just took Caroline Garcia longer to believe it herself.

For a bit, in 2017-18, the Pastry found that inner greatness and climbed up the rankings, only to tumble back down over the past few years. After winning her second Roland Garros doubles title in the spring, a big turn happened in the middle of the summer. With her ranking having fallen to almost #80, things finally "clicked." Behind an aggressive, often fearless on-court mindset and a big serve (she became the new tour ace leader in '22), Garcia flipped the switch once more that had seen her first climb into the Top 10 five years ago.

After a 1-3 stretch following her maiden slam SF at the U.S. Open, Garcia arrived in Fort Worth for her second WTA Finals singles appearance, and just days before the start of play the coach (Bertrand Perret) who'd played such a large part in her resurgence abruptly left her team, citing vague reasons (father Garcia, perhaps?) that had made his time in the player's inner circle "less fun." At best, Garcia seemed a question mark for much success in the tour's season finale.

But the Pastry embraced all the accoutrements of a big time event in Texas -- e.g. western wear, boots and cowboy hats, etc. -- and quickly settled into a nice groove.



With Juan Pablo Guzman serving in the role of coach for the WTAF, Garcia smiled and didn't skip a beat. In a round robin finale face-off for the final SF berth, she came within two points of a loss to Dasha Kasatkina, but her big-hitting aggression put away the Hordette down the stretch of a three-set victory. A 3 & 2 win over Maria Sakkari in the semis carried Garcia into her fourth '22 final (all since June, after not having appeared in any since '19), where she rode her serve to the biggest win of her career.

Garcia was never broken in her straight sets win over Aryna Sabalenka. In fact, she never even faced a break point in collecting her fourth Top 10 win of the week. Surging from 0-2 down in the 1st set TB, Garcia grabbed the match lead, converted only her only BP on the Belarusian's serve in the opening game of the 2nd and held her edge before finally serving out the win, her fourth in four finals in '22.

Since her 9-11 start, beginning with her Bad Homburg title run, Garcia went 36-9, jumping from a season low of #79 in late May/early June -- her lowest ranking since 2014 -- to what will now be a season-ending #4, matching her career-best standing from 2018.

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#8 - ONS-WARD AND UPWARD
...if not for Iga Swiatek, Ons Jabeur would have been the talk of the clay season heading into Roland Garros. The Tunisian reeled off eleven straight wins, won her biggest career title in Madrid and became just the fourth woman in tour history to reach the final there *and* in the follow-up event in Rome. She also reached the Charleston final and Stuttgart QF, compiling a 17-3 record heading into RG.



On a tour with so many proverbial flavors, Jabeur is one of the most unique. And, right on cue, in Madrid she added still more layers to her career story by becoming the first Arab, African and Tunisian woman to claim a 1000-level title, using her blend of passion and shotmaking to snatch yet another "biggest career moment" on what are becoming increasingly larger stages for the 27-year old.

Jabeur roared through the Madrid draw, hitting her full stride after avenging her Charleston final loss to Belinda Bencic by taking her out in another three-setter in the 3rd Round, ending the Swiss' eight-match winning streak. A pair of straight sets victories followed over Simona Halep and Ekaterina Alexandrova, with the former a particularly shining moment as the Romanian veteran had looked like a potential (yet again) Madrid champ before she ran into the brick wall that was Jabeur, who used her power to push Halep back, and finesse (complete with jumping drop shots) to control the match, winning 3 & 2. In the final against Jessie Pegula, Jabeur rebounded from a poor 2nd set (lost a love) to regain her dominant form in the 3rd, defeating the Bannerette 7-5/0-6/6-2 to pick up her biggest career title.



Jabeur then came into Rome and posted a second 1000 level final, putting away Ajla Tomljanovic and Yulia Putintseva before staging back-to-back comebacks to set up a date in the final with the world #1.

Jabeur knocked off Maria Sakkari after having trailed 6-2/5-2 in the QF, then saved a MP (w/ a drop shot, naturally) against Dasha Kasatkina, winning her eleventh straight match. After falling down a set and double-break vs. Swiatek in the final, Jabeur had four BP chances to get back on serve in the 2nd set but wasn't able to find the very small crack (if it existed in the moment, that is) in Iga's game that might have allowed for the possibility of a comeback victory (or at least a three-set tussle).

Unfortunately, Jabeur's clay season ended with a whimper, as after the three previous players to post the Madrid/Rome final combo (Safina/Serena/Simona) all *at least* reached the RG final. Jabeur was the first seed out, falling to Magda Linette in three sets.

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#9 - CARO FLYS OVER CINCINNATI
...Caroline Garcia becomes the only player in '22 to win titles on grass, clay and hard courts, checking off the latter in Cincinnati by stringing together *eight* consecutive victories to become the first qualifier to claim a WTA 1000 (or Premier Mandatory, since 2009) crown.

Garcia won a pair of three-setters in qualifying, then went on to the MD and defeated the likes of Petra Martic, Maria Sakkari, Elise Mertens, Jessie Pegula, Aryna Sabalenka and Petra Kvitova in a 6-2/6-4 final, finishing off a string of opponents better than most slam winners have had to take down en route to a major title.



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#10 - BARBORA'S INDOOR FUN & GAMES
...after a season filled with success, but with an underlying sense of disappointment and "lost time" due to injuries and illness, Barbora Krejcikova finished on a spectacular note in the closing weeks, winning back-to-back titles in Tallinn and Ostrava!!!.

In Tallinn, Krejcikova won out over Belinda Bencic (from a set down, in almost three and a half hours, on her 6th MP) to reach her first final since Sydney some 38 weeks earlier, then handled home favorite Anett Kontaveit 2 & 3 in the final (on an indoor hard court, which is even more impressive), picking up her first singles title since winning in her own home nation in Prague in July of last year.



In Ostrava!!!, the Czech claimed a second straight indoor hard court title in her *own* backyard, taking down world #1 Iga Swiatek (and her legion of Polish supporters from just across the border) in a classic final in which she notched her fifth Top 30 win in two weeks (after having none since January) with the first of her career over a reigning #1 in a back-and-forth championship thriller that ranks amongst the very best matches of 2022 (as it would have even if Iga had won in straights, which she *almost* did).



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#11 - A SENSATIONAL STREAKING SAMSONOVA
...after coming into the summer hard court season on a 1-7 slide, Liudmila Samsonova wins back-to-back titles and 13 straight matches (ending in the U.S. Open 4th Round), then adds a third title in seven weeks (in Tokyo).

In Washington, the Russian battled from behind. After opening with a win over Elise Mertens, she rallied from a set down to defeat Ajla Tomljanovic, then handled Emma Raducanu in two (but only after saving four SP in the 1st). Samsonova allowed just two games against Wang Xiyu to reach her first singles final since winning in Berlin last summer. In the final, she came from a set back vs. Kaia Kanepi to win.



Two weeks later, Samsonova went to Cleveland and dominated the field, not dropping a set all week (and holding 36 of 38 service games). In the SF, she lost just four points on serve vs. Bernara Pera (who'd gone 19-1 in her previous 20 matches), the defeated Aliaksandra Sasnovich 6-1/6-3 in the final.



In Tokyo, Samsonova opened with a straight sets win over Wimbledon champ Elena Rybakina, followed by victories over Wang Xinyu (w/ 12 aces), Garbine Muguruza, Zhang Shuai (40 winners) and, finally, Zheng Qinwen in the final after taking advantage of the Chinese teenager's lone blink in the 1st set (at 5-5, her first DF gave Samsonova her first BP) to take the lead and then further outdueling her down the stretch in a 7-5/7-5 win to add another "W" to her W-W-4r-W stretch since her enforced (by the LTA and AELTC) Wimbledon break.



Samsonova's Tokyo win was her second '22 title grab without dropping a set, as during her 18-1 run she rose from #60 to inside the Top 25 while winning 36 of 40 sets (including 18 straight at one point).

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#12 - SOUTH OF THE BORDER SUCCESS
...after arguably being the most consistent (especially big event) player on tour (not named Iga) for the last two seasons, time was running short for Jessie Pegula to add the one thing that had eluded her as she's climbed up the WTA rankings -- a singles title. The Buffalo native was something of a surprise winner in Washington three years ago, but had put together about as admirable a record as any player ever could ever since without *also* winning title #2, even while reaching four slam QF, a 1000 F, 3 1000 semis and four QF heading into Guadalajara.



Finally, it all came together. Pegula dropped just one set all week, though it came in her opening match and very nearly ruined everything. Wimbledon champ Elena Rybakina held three MP in that 2nd Rounder, but the Bannerette prevailed and never looked back, knocking off three *more* former slam winners in succession in Bianca Andreescu, Sloane Stephens and Victoria Azarenka to reach her second 1000 final (w/ Madrid) of the season. There, she never allowed Maria Sakkari the chance to dream, winning 2 & 3 to claim her biggest title, posting a tour-best 38th 1000-level event match win in the last two years.

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#13 - LATVIAN DESERT THUNDER
...Alona Ostapenko fed off a Saint Petersburg semifinal result to put together one of the more unique and dramatic title runs in recent memory in Doha, knocking off four consecutive former slam champions, coming from a set down against three, saving a MP versus one, and adding some belated "Parisian vibes" by bageling her final RG title run opponent in a deciding 3rd set (after having blanked her in a TB to take the 2nd).

It was a trip that didn't ultimately stack up with Ash Barty's dominating AO jaunt, or Iga Swiatek's many historic '22 triumphs, but still lingers in the memory and backs up the idea that the Latvian is *the* most exciting player in the sport, while also being its most unpredictable and potentially awe-inspiring figure as audiences watch from both close by and afar and either wait for "the other shoe" to drop or for Ostapenko herself to drop the thudding hammer down on the head of an opponent that can do little but hope that she (eventually) starts to miss.

In Dubai, when Ostapenko did just that, it was a trend that didn't last for long. Her journey to a fifth tour title began with a straight sets win over '20 AO champ Sofia Kenin, and she followed that up by taking down '20 RG winner Swiatek (dropping the 1st before winning a 3rd set TB), two-time Wimbledon champ Petra Kvitova (from a set and 5-3 back, saving a MP), and two-time slam winner Simona Halep, the Latvian's final foe in Paris five years ago, by taking a love 2nd set TB to force a 3rd, and then dropping a love final set on the Romanian to advance to the final. Once there, Ostapenko opened with a second consecutive love set in the 1st against Veronika Kudermetova, and went on to put away the Hordette in straights.

A week later in Doha, Ostapenko reached the semifinals after extending her winning streak to nine matches, a run which amazingly included (after additional defeats of Barbora Krejcikova and Garbine Muguruza) wins over six former slam champs.

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#14 - AS EASY AS 1-2-3... well, almost
...Aryna Sabalenka will never be satisfied with her efforts unless she one day finally lifts an elusive slam singles trophy, but all credit to her for rescuing a season that -- in a lesser player's hands -- might have crashed and burned by summer after she simply could not stop the overflowing number of double-faults coming from her racket in the opening weeks of 2022. Already an emotional figure on court, such frustration could have easily boiled over and resulted in a disastrous, Mugu-like monstrosity of a season. But that didn't happen.

Instead, Sabalenka gradually brought her DF to a (generally) managable total, put together a pretty good slam year (10-3, with a U.S. semi, her third in her last five majors), added two 1000 semis and reached three tour-level singles finals, the last coming at the WTA Finals. She didn't win a title in 2022, her first trophy-free year since '17, but she never dropped out of the Top 10, and finished there for a third straight season. Sabalenka's current 100+ plus week stretch of Top 10 rankings leads the tour by a fairly wide margin, with Maria Sakkari (at just under 70), and the combo of Iga Swiatek and Anett Kontaveit (tied, with a little over 50) next in the accounting line.

In Fort Worth, Sabalenka's tough season nearly turned glorious in the eleventh hour, as she rallied to defeat #2 Ons Jabeur in her WTAF RR opener, then added a victory over #3 Jessie Pegula before upsetting Iga Swiatek (her third career #1 win) in the semis, becoming just the fourth woman ever to defeat the top three ranked players in a single event.



True, Sabalenka's loss to Caroline Garcia and her unbreakable serve in the final means that the Belarusian is now the only player to pull off the 1-2-3 feat but *still* not win the tournament's title. But no one said the path to the only sort of prize that will soothe Sabalenka's frustrations would be a smooth, care-free one, did they?

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#15 - DOMINATING ON DUTCH GRASS
...Ekaterina Alexandrova puts on a commanding performance at Rosmalen.



For the week, doing her best "Iga," Alexandrova produced two bagel sets, and lost just a single game in two others. After dropping her opening set in the 1st Round vs. Dayana Yastremska, she swept her final ten sets, dropping 16 total games in her last four matches. After twice failing to serve out the 2nd set in the 1st Round, Alexandrova had no such issues the rest of the way. She held in 26 consecutive serve games before Veronika Kudermetova finally ended the streak in the semis, and ended the event having secured a hold in 36 of her last 38 service games. In her fourth career tour-level championship match, Alexandrova trailed Aryna Sabalenka 5-4 in the 1st set, then ran off nine straight games to pick up her second WTA title, ending the match with an emphatic ace.

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#16 - BRAZILIAN GONE WILD
...Beatriz Haddad Maia becomes the first women since 1991 to win two grass titles between Roland Garros and Wimbledon, sweeping the Nottingham and Birmingham crowns while becoming the first Brazilian to win a tour event on the surface since Hall of Famer Maria Bueno in 1968.

Haddad's ten-match run included wins over Maria Sakkari and Alison Riske in Nottingham, then defeats of a pair of former Wimbledon champs (Petra Kvitova and Simona Halep) in Birmingham. The second week's run included a comeback from 4-2 down in the 3rd (and a stoppage of play for the day) in a 2nd Round match vs. Magdalena Frech, and later saw Haddad record two wins on a single day (SF/F) over Halep (after twice being a break down in the 3rd) and Zhang Shuai (who'd won the Nottingham doubles w/ Haddad a week earlier, but retired in the 1st set from the Birmingham final).



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#17 - SI-MO-NA IN CAN-A-DA
...after coming close, but always just missing out on "something big" since her Week 1 title, Simona Halep gets her "signature" result under new coach Patrick Mouratoglou in Toronto. Picking up her third title in the event (Montreal in 2016 and '18), Halep found her true form in the tournament's return to Ontario, defeating Coco Gauff (improving to 4-0 vs. the teenager) in straight sets in the QF, staging a comeback to defeat Jessie Pegula in the semis, then grinding out another three-setter vs. Beatriz Haddad Maia in the final to claim her ninth career 1000 win, her first since 2020.

Halep returned to the Top 10 after injury issues had ended her 373-week run there (2014-21) last year.



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#18 - FEARING THE KASATKINA AGAIN
...with her mind clear and game (though not perfect, see her second serve) in more than workable form, Kasatkina finally got back onto the title-winning horse in San Jose, putting together the sort of week's worth of results that originally made one "fear the Kasatkina."

A finalist in the event a year ago, Kasatkina displayed a persistent, never-say-die approach all week in California, three times coming back from a set down while posting wins over a pair of Top 10ers (#4 Paula Badosa and #6 Aryna Sabalenka, her first multiple Top 10 win event since she reached the Indian Wells final in 2018), Wimbledom champ Elena Rybakina and a pair of U.S. women (Taylor Townsend and, in the final, Shelby Rogers) playing on home soil. In her five wins, Kasatkina delivered 3rd set bagels three times, and allowed just 3 games in the final two sets in the final vs. Rogers after dropping a 1st set TB.



Back in the Top 10 for the first time since January '19 (she fell as low as #75 in '21 before finishing at #26), three weeks later Kasatkina rebounded from a few post-San Jose early-round losses to win again in Granby, claiming an all-Dasha match-up (vs. Saville) in the final.

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#19 - DON'T WORRY, BE HAPPY ONS
...when Ons Jabeur shows up, she brings the show along with her. Awe-inspiring shotmaking, great fan support, adoration from her fellow competitors and, the past two years, titles when she's playing with grass under her feet. This year, the Tunisian claimed the Berlin crown, the carried over the entertaining form and inspiring message of inclusion and belief to the All-England Club, where she rode a wave of excellence and adulation to the final, becoming the first from her nation and North Africa (and the first Arab) to reach a slam final.



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#20 - THE PERIL OF PERA
...unexpectedly, after ending '21 at #93 after reaching a pre-pandemic high of '59 in 2020, Bernarda Pera becomes a sudden star by winning consecutive titles in Budapest (as a qualifier) and Hamburg, not dropping a set in either event.

After defeating Aleksandra Krunic in the Budapest final, Pera went to Hamburg with momentum and confidence. The result was the 27-year old extending her winning streak to 12 matches and 24 sets as she knocked off no less than the defending champ in Gabriela Ruse in the 1st Round and top-seeded Anett Kontaveit in the final. Pera surrendered just 22 games through her five matches.

After standing at #130 two weeks earlier, Pera climbed to #54 after her second title..



After also reaching a WTA 125 final and WTA SF (Cleveland) this summer, Pera rose to a career high #44 after her 1st Round loss at the U.S. Open.

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#21 - THE BIA-TIFICATION OF TORONTO
...Beatriz Haddad Maia's takeover of the Toronto event was *nearly* complete.



It included wins over Martina Trevisan (RG semifinalist), Leylah Fernandez (U.S. Open finalist), world #1 Iga Swiatek (RG champion), Belinda Bencic and Karolina Pliskova, the latter her fourth Top 20 win of the week (Trevisan rose to #25 after the event) to send her into her third final of the season (tying the Open era mark for a Brazilian), her first at the 1000 level (a first for a woman from Brazil).

Haddad's big game gave her a shot in the final against Simona Halep, but she wasn't able to withstand the pressure of Halep's consistency and couldn't keep up (or change-up *enough*) her power game. When she was on, she controlled the action, but when Halep was able to extend rallies (which was often) it was the Romanian who won the most important points.

Haddad rose into the Top 20 the following Monday.

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#22 - THE CZECHS CHECK ANOTHER (the last one) OFF THE LIST
...Barbora Krejcikova & Katerina Siniakova complete their Career Doubles Slam at the U.S. Open, staging a comeback from 6-3/4-1 down vs. Caty McNally & Taylor Townsend in the final to take control down the stretch and win 3-6/7-5/6-1, claiming their third major title this season (and finishing off a spotless 18-0 record in slams, missing RG because Krejcikova got Covid).



Not only do Krejickova & Siniakova join the Williams sisters as the only two female pairs in history to complete a "Career Golden Slam," but they stand *alone* as the only women's team to complete a "Super Slam" (titles at all four slams, the Olympics and the year-end championships). The only men's duos to do it were Bob & Mike Bryan and Todd Woodbridge/Mark Woodforde.

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#23 - MOTHER'S DAY FORTNIGHT
...at 34, after twice taking time away from the sport to become a mom, Tatjana Maria becomes the oldest first-time slam semifinalist of the Open era at Wimbledon, staging a series of rallies while frustrating opponents with her slice-heavy game and steady (and increasingly resilient) play on big points. Maria had been down a set vs. Astra Sharma (1st Rd.), a break down in the 3rd against Sorana Cirstea (2nd), saved two MP vs. Alona Ostapenko (4th) and rallied from 4-2 back in the deciding set against fellow German Jule Niemeier (QF) before finally dropping a three-setter to Ons Jabeur in the SF.



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#24 - THE UNITED STATES OF IGA, PT.IV
...days after coming up a set short (a 2nd set TB, really) in Ostrava!!!, Swiatek was back at in on another continent, in San Diego, just a few hours away from the site of the start of the month-long, two-event sweep that the Pole completed back in March as she was both assuming *and* solidifying her rise to the top of the rankings in the wake of Ash Barty's sudden retirement.

Back in California, Swiatek again caught a case of the "threes," as in a penchant for three-setters. After seeing her final two matches in the Czech Republic go the distance, Swiatek opened with another in her first match in the U.S. since winning at Flushing Meadows. Against Zheng Qinwen, Iga put away the young Chinese upstart in a 6-1 3rd, then handled Coco Gauff in straights (dropping just three games, and counting up bagel set #20 of '22) before going three yet again, dropping the 1st but winning a 6-2 3rd, against Jessie Pegula to reach her ninth final of the season, her third in her last three events.

The trend maintained itself there, as well, as Donna Vekic pushed the world #1 to a 3rd, where Swiatek once again slipped on her dominating shoes and streaked to yet another bagel set to close the match and claim her eighth (and final) title of the season, improving her career tour final mark to 11-2, including 11-1 in her last twelve (all of them in 500 level or higher events).

While Swiatek mostly ruled the virtual roost in the U.S. this season, pulling off the "Sunshine Double" in Indian Wells and Miami, and winning the U.S. Open before her San Diego triumph (her WTAF SF in Fort Worth left her with a 27-2 record in the U.S. in '22), she hasn't yet lived out the full "Cali experience," one would assume.

Well, after the San Diego trophy ceremony, while she's not likely to risk life and/or limb anytime soon, she's at least one step closer to "hanging ten" at some point down the line...



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#25 - PETRA + GRASS = ❤️‍
...right when she needed it, the grass was there for Petra Kvitova. The Czech came into Eastbourne having lost five of her last six matches. After a win over Donna Vekic, Kvitova prevailed over a pair of Brits (Katie Boulter and Harriet Dart), then "erased" her loss from a week earlier to Beatriz Haddad Maia with a semifinal win over the Brazilian to reach her first final since last year in Doha. Once there, she dominated Alona Ostapenko to improve to an impressive 29-10 in WTA finals in her career, picking up her first grass title (#5) since Birmingham four years ago.



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HM - DANA THE FIRST (aka Wheelchair Tennis History That Doesn't Involve Diede)
...Dana Mathewson wins the Wimbledon doubles with Yui Kamiji, becoming the first U.S. woman to win a wheelchair slam major



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==TOP PERFORMANCE==
2003 Justine Henin-Hardenne (U.S. Open)
2004 Maria Sharapova (Wimbledon)
2005 Kim Clijsters (North American hardcourts)
2006 Maria Sharapova (U.S. Open)
2007 Justine Henin (U.S. Open)
2008 Venus Williams (Wimbledon)
2009 Serena Williams (Wimbledon)
2010 Serena Williams (Wimbledon)
2011 Petra Kvitova (Wimbledon)
2012 Serena Williams (Olympics)
2013 Serena Wiliams (Roland Garros)
2014 Petra Kvitova (Wimbledon)
2015 Belinda Bencic (Toronto)
2016 Monica Puig (Olympics)
2017 Alona Ostapenko (Roland Garros)
2018 Naomi Osaka (U.S. Open)
2019 Simona Halep (Wimbledon)
2020 Iga Swiatek (Roland Garros)
2021 Emma Raducanu (U.S. Open)
2022 Iga Swiatek (U.S. Open)



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=BEST GIF (AFTER A GREAT SHOT)=





=BEST WAY TO GET THE BEST OF IGA=





=BEST TEXAS DANCE ROUTINE=





=AND IN THE WIMBLEDON LEGENDS COMPETITION...=

Not only did we see Aga Radwanska on-court again at the AELTC, we got Jelena Jankovic, too! As her partner! Their first match was against an equally entertaining duo, Italians Flavia Pennetta and Francesca Schiavone.














During a year in which real-world realities and the personal decisions of players often seemed to cut into the season's ongoing dance like a tap on the shoulder during a lull between songs, it's always helpful to have touchstones and fallbacks to, well, fall back on and provide a structure of discussion in this space over the course of a WTA schedule.

Backspin's personal list of 2022's "most valuable" (often "favorite," but sometimes just "useful") people, fascinations, brow-furling notions, future trends, timely monikers and eye-opening (and eye-rolling) actions that formed the backbone of a weekly rundown of ups, downs and in-betweens...


1. The Crush of Czechs
...every new generation of special talent needs a moniker, and the overwhelming "Crush" of Czechs (aka the Crushers) are easing the sense of inevitable loss that'll occur as the first wave of the "Petra Generation" of Czech stars enter their waning, late-stage career arcs, soon to leave only their accomplishments behind to speak for themselves. From the Sisters Fruhvirtova to the next set of one-name stars -- Sara, predominantly, at the moment -- to the collections of similarly-addressed young women -- Linda, Lucie, and the sure to be multiple Barboras -- who'll come to be known and differentiated by their game styles, on-court personas and, of course, the sizes (and quantity) of the trophies they ulimately lift, the long-term Czech presence on tour seems more than secure. Quite a bit more.

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2. Diede the Undefeated
...how do you follow up a "Golden Slam" season? By having a regular old "Grand Slam" singles campaign *and* never losing a match (38-0), that's how. At least if your name is Diede de Groot and you're wearing out a path toward being the most successful wheelchair athlete ever.

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3. The Manifestation of Iga
...two seasons ago, Iga Swiatek seemed to present a nice template for the sort of level-headed, studious and self-aware champion who might thrive in the post-Williams/Halep/Kerber era should many of the more inconsistent and/or oblivious players of her generation fail to reach their potential. Suddenly, with "the future" thrust upon her in March, the then 20-year old Pole made all the early predictions come true, and then some, securing her place atop the sport with two majors, a "Sunshine Double," a 37-match winning streak, an off-court sense of duty and responsibility to her position of influence and, frankly, enough bagels to open an Iga Pastry Shoppe.

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4. The Ons Show
...Jabeur has been filling all "the first Arab/Tunisian/North African..." categories for a while now, but stepped up her game in '22 with two major finals, a #2 ranking, and assuming the part of the most beloved player (by fans and competitors alike, as the "Minister of Happiness") on tour while also laying down a foundation on and off court for her dream of being able to help to make the success of others just like her (well, at least from the same part of the world) a reality.

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5. Rybakinetics
...aside from the Shutdown and Restart, and Swiatak's fall RG run, the most memorable thing about the 2020 season was Elena Rybakina's blazing start. Two and a half years later, the Kazakh finally recaptured the fire at SW19. Then she had to (unsuccessfully, it turned out) fight to try to attain the ranking points she *didn't* get for winning Wimbledon, ultimately falling short of a Top 20 finish and (thanks to the absence of a let's-make-this-right rule change by the WTA) a WTAF appearance, too.

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6. Caro's Return Flight
...we all sort of knew she had it in her (heck, Andy Murray saw it the very first time her saw her play), but Caroline Garcia's career had been a series of precious highs (the '16 RG doubles title, a Top 10 run in '17 and a Fed Cup clinching win in '19) and the equally disconcerting and disappointing results that soon followed. In 2022 it all finally came together, with a career year that saw the French woman reach her maiden slam semifinal, win another WD major, climb into the Top 5 (from outside the Top 70 at the start of the year) and claim the WTA Finals event while winning titles in every conceivable environment (three surfaces *and* indoor/outdoor). Now comes the "year after."
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7. The Real World: WTA
...vax mandates, #WhereIsPengShuai?, #WeStandWithUkraine, flag-less names in draws, no Russians or Belarusians at Wimbledon, exhibitions for peace and (of late) maybe even a long-overdue focus on the mistreatment of young tennis players by individuals in positions of power (i.e. coaches and federation administrators), with no less than the world #1 trying to use her platform to shine a needed light "in the dark places".

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8. Faith in Simona
...over the years, the Church of Simona has always been busy when it's come to Halep's on-court fortunes. In 2022, it was unusually so, both on *and* off court. After opening her year with a singles win, a would-be great season spent the rest of the schedule looking for a "signature" win for her new partnership with coach Patrick Mouratoglou and his team that would moor her season to a tangible port of call. She finally got it in late summer in Toronto, but weeks later was given a "signature moment" of a different kind with her new inner circle when she shockingly tested positive for a banned substance at the U.S. Open and was given a provisional suspension (which she is currently fighting against).

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9. To Mugu or Not to Mugu?
...indeed, that is the question. In the follow-up to one of her most successful years on tour, the always-hot-or-cold Garbine Muguruza's season turned out to be the most disappointing in all of women's tennis. Does anyone else have a sense of deja vu?

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10. The Perils of Kiki
...Kristina Mladenovic's singles game (w/ more DF than even Sabalenka could count) continued to be a menace (though she won two $60K challengers, her first WS wins since 2017), but she finally returned in full force to her longtime go-to: doubles. She won a pair of slam crowns (1 WD, 1 MX), three other tour titles (she's 9-1 in her last 10 WTA doubles finals) and a WTA 125 challenger, each with a different partner.

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[alphabetically]

Alize is (still) Life - we thought 2023 was going to be a goodbye season for Cornet. It turned out to be one of her best -- and most noteworthy, with her maiden slam QF, career slam MD streak (63 and counting) and the ending of Iga's 37-match run -- ever and may have pumped a few extra seasons of life into the career of the veteran Pastry.

Aryna Sabalenka vs. Aryna Sabalenka's Serve - after racking up near-historic double-fault totals early in the season, Sabalenka managed to corral her oft-wayward weapon enough to put forth a pretty good season, going title-less but finishing in the Top 10 for a third straight year (five straight if you make it Top 11) and ending her season with a WTAF final run. In Fort Worth, she was just the fourth player in tour history (the others were named Steffi, Serena and Venus) to defeat the #1, #2 and #3 ranked players in the same event... but the first to do so and *still* not win the tournament title. (Face slap.)

The Ash That Roared (Right Out the Back Door) [aka "Did Barty *Really* Play in 2022?"] - world #1 Ash Barty roared out of the gate, winning all 14 matches she played (11s/3d) and becoming the first Australian AO champ since 1978. Then she never played again, retiring in March. By the end of the year, with all the multiple WTA plotlines that had developed in her absence (and Swiatek's seamless assuming of the top ranking and equally dominant form), it was realistic to ask whether *any* #1 had so effectively slipped into the proverbial shadows as quickly as Barty? It feels like she last played *years* ago.

Desert Thunder - in Dubai, Alona Ostapenko (as she does) ran off four straight match wins vs. past slam singles champions, then a week later in Doha knocked off two *more* (for 6 in 9 matches). She mostly spent the rest of the year doing pretty well in doubles and producing her normally high number of meme-able moments between singles points.

Coco Comes of Age - is it possible for an 18-year old ranked in the Top 10 in singles *and* doubles, who has been the doubles #1 and reached singles ('22 RG) and doubles ('21 US/'22 RG) slam finals to be *underrated?* In Gauff's case, maybe so. Many still grasp at straws by focusing on what she *hasn't* yet done (a lists that gets shorter all the time) since her (over)heatedly-covered arrival a few years ago, but it's important to remember that Coco will still be in her teenage years until around the end of Indian Wells... in 2024.

Comebacks-R-Us - the slam Invitational/Legend exhibitions were unusually noteworthy in 2022, as the all-Quartet pair of Flavia Pennetta/Francesca Schiavone triumphed in Paris while the duo of Kim Clijsters/Martina Hingis won at the All-England Club (but were upstaged by the even-more-entertaining sight of seeing Aga Radwanska *and* Jelena Jankovic return to action as a doubles team)

Farewell, Serena (??) - right? RIGHT? We're not going to have to do all that AGAIN, are we?

The Fearless Kasatkina - Dasha Kasatkina carried over her '21 comeback into '22, reaching her first slam SF and returning to the Top 10. But she maybe made even *more* news off court by publically revealing that she's gay (which really *shouldn't* have been such a big deal, at least anywhere but in her home nation) and speaking out against Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

Enter the Dragons - the youth of the Li Na Generation are finally stirring, with Zheng Qinwen looking set to soon follow in the big-time path of her nation's greatest tennis star

Fake News - Anastasia Gasanova, who ironically opened '22 with an upset of Ukrainian Elina Svitolina in the Adelaide 1st Round and was an anti-war voice in February, half a year later turned into a Putin propaganda-spewer

Hana's Kid - Elli Mandlik begins to make a move

Wheelchair's Hard Luck Woman - WC #2 Yui Kamiji completes a 43-1 mark vs. everyone not named Diede, including winning 38 straight to end the season. Unfortunately, she went 0-7 vs. world #1 de Groot and was shut out as far as slam singles trophies for a second straight season (during which she's lost six slam finals, and gone 1-16 overall, vs. Diede).

A Hordette Renaissance - Russian women won more titles (9) in a season since 2010, and put two players (Kasatkina, Kudermetova) in the Top 10 for the first time since '11. With another (Samsonova) looking to make a push in 2023, could we have three there for the first time since '09? And, don't forget, Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova is set to return.

Marta Kostyuk Grows Up - hmmm... or maybe impetuously/antagonistically tries to level her and her nation's (legitimate) grievances directly at fellow athletes who really have nothing to do with the horrendous actions of their nation's leader and who have to publicly walk a far more delicate line due to familial safety concerns, even in a time of indiscriminately murderous actions taking place during the time of war. Still, Kostyuk's standing will likely come out on the positive side when this is all over (no matter how long, alas, that may take).

Naomi's (Continued) Search for Her Safe Place - with all "the rest," and the fact that -- even without a major injury keeping her sidelined -- she played in just 11 events in the last 15 months (and won only two completed matches in her last seven touranments), it's easy to forget that Osaka played in the Miami final in the spring. Come the '23 AO it'll have been two full years since she last won a title.

The New Germans - with the career works of the successful Angie/Petko/Siegemund/Maria/Lisicki generation complete or nearing completion (though soon-to-be-a-mom Kerber has recently vowed to return in top form), Germany has restocked with an intriguing new group of young potential stars. First up and ready for her close-up in '23: Jule Niemeier.

The Pegula Experience - while she still seeks great slam (SF+) success, and only hopped on the big-title train at nearly the 11th hour (winning Guadalajara in late October for her first singles title in three and a half years), Buffalo's Jessie Pegula been the most consistent big-event player on tour not named Iga for the last two+ years (4 slam QF and a 23-7 record, and 10 QF+ results in her last 16 1000s).

The Transylvania Open, Year 2 - The Countess (sans the hoped-for addition of fangs... maybe in 2023?) returned, as did Dracula and the coolest environment on the tour schedule, at the Romanian tournament that tries with all its might to match the "!!!" that Ostrava literally had painted directly on its courts just a week earlier.

Vika's Deep Thoughts - for weeks on end, Victoria Azarenka's Twitter feed provided what was a virtual daily dose of "life-affirming" platitudes clearly sampled from a Thought-a-Day calendar (or a similar web page or app). The ideas were good, but the practice was a tad sigh-inducing.



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Vergeer: The Wait Ends - at least it had better end before the start of the 2023 season, with the (already too long in coming) announcement that wheelchair tennis legend (and maybe most dominant individual athlete *ever*) Esther Vergeer will be inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame next year. (Taps watch.) Come on, let's get to it!







All for now.
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