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Tuesday, June 11, 2024

2024 Clay Court Awards: The Best Performances on the Dirt


The spring 2024 clay court season is in the books.

Who sold it well the very best?










Clay Court Top Players list: HERE





#1 - THE IGA ERA OF THREES Iga Swiatek becomes the second woman (Serena '13) to complete the Madrid-Rome-Roland Garros triple title sweep, winning 19 consecutive clay court matches (a career high) and becoming the third (Seles '92/Henin '07) in the Open era to three-peat in Paris as the women's champion, winning her fourth title there in five years. Along the way, she saved MP en route to *two* of the crowns, saving three in the Madrid final vs. Sabalenka and one in the RG 2nd Round against Naomi Osaka.
#2 - DIEDE DOES THE THING (again) Though she saw her 145-match winning streak end this spring, Diede de Groot still rules the slam landscape like no others (sorry, Iga). The Dutch wheelchair legend completed her *14th* straight slam singles title run with her fifth title (in six years) at Roland Garros final, extending her match winning streak in majors to 48. She swept the titles, winning the doubles with Aniek Van Koot, at a second straight '24 major (w/ AO) and for the 15th time in her slam career.
#3 - POWER TO PAOLINI, PEOPLE After previously being 4-16 in her slam MD singles career prior to '24, Jasmine Paolini backed up her AO 4th Round with a stunning run to the Roland Garros, becoming the fifth Italian woman to reach a major final. After having upset #4 Elena Rybakina in the QF, the #12-seeded Paolini lost to #1 Iga Swiatek in the title match, but cracked the Top 10 with the result. She also reached the WD final with Sara Errani (a loss to Gauff/Siniakova), and is now in the Top 15 in doubles. Only Paolini, Gauff and Alona Ostapenko currently rank in the Top 20 in both s/d.
#4 - THE DANIELLE DOUBLE Danielle Collins follows up her 1Q Miami win by heading to Charleston a week later and winning on the green clay there. It's just the fifth time *this century* that a woman has won hard and clay court titles in consecutive weeks in tour-level events. She ultimately extended her winning streak to a career-best 15 matches.
#5 - BUTTON-DOWN DRIVING PRECISION Though she was pushed to three sets in three matches along the way, Elena Rybakina barely seemed to break a sweat on her way to the title in Stuttgart, defeating Iga Swiatek in the SF (her fourth win in five meetings vs. the Pole) as well as eventual RG finalist Jasmine Paolini. The only question she left unanswered was when she'd get the driver's license that would allow her to legally drive the new Porsche she won along with the title.
#6 - HAPPY RO-MA-NIANS! A year ago, Romania was the first nation in BJK Cup play (#8 counting the old "World Group" format tie) to lose a best-of-five tie after having a 2-0 lead, falling to Slovenia in the Qualifying round. Well, it's 2024... and one good turn(around) deserved another.

All seemed well for Ukraine on Friday, as Lesia Tsurenko (def. Ana Bogdan) and Elina Svitlova (vs. Jaqueline Cristian) posted singles wins to take a (seemingly) commanding 2-0 edge. Then came Saturday. In a pair of three-setters, both Bogdan and Cristian switched off opponents and posted stunning victories to send the tie to the deciding doubles. Then Lyudmyla & Nadiia Kichenok fell in straight sets to -- guess who -- Bogdan & Cristian (late subs by Captain Horia Tecau, who smartly went with the hot hands) as the Romanians burned a rare path to their first BJK Cup Finals appearance.
#7 - MADISON, KEYED-IN ON CLAY Madison Keys hits the high point of her best-ever clay season, winning in Strasbourg without dropping a set and destroying Danielle Collins in a 6-2/6-1 final to claim her first career title on red clay (in her first RC final since '16). The win made Keys one of five active women on tour -- w/ Jabeur, Kerber, V.Williams and Wozniacki -- with WTA titles on hard court, grass, green and red clay.
#8 - 16 17 AND THE SKIES ARE SUNNY After making waves as a 16-year old in big events last season, now 17-year old Mirra Andreeva is back at it, and causing even more havoc. In Paris, the Hordette -- in just her fifth career slam MD, and first return trip to any major -- became the youngest slam semifinalist in 27 years (Hingis, '97 US Open) by reaching the Roland Garros final four, her first semifinal in *any* tour-level event. She got past an ill world #2 Aryna Sabalenka in the QF to do it, becoming the youngest player to upset a Top 2 foe in slam play since 1999 (Dokic, 16, defeated Hingis in Wimbledon 1st Rd.).
#9 - ...AND CO-STARRING ARYNA SABALENKA Aryna Sabalenka had a hard-luck spring, becoming just the sixth woman to reach both the Madrid & Rome finals in the same season, but losing in both to Iga Swiatek as the Pole won those two titles *and* RG. Sabalenka had had 3 MP in the Madrid championship match, and seemed on her way to a third final meeting vs. the world #1 in Paris until she came up ill in the QF, yet *still* almost topped teenager Mirra Andreeva in a three-setter.
#10 - EMMA PLAYS IN THE DIRT Emma Raducanu wasn't around long during the clay season (just 6 total matches, and none in Paris after being denied a WC), but she had a memorable moment during her brief stay. In the BJK Cup qualifiers in Le Portel (FRA), her MVP performance saw Raducanu lead Team GB to victory over France, rallying from a set down (plus a 2nd set break vs. Caroline Garcia) on Friday to keep the Brits' ship afloat at the end of Day 1, then crushing the Pastries' hopes as if between two copies of The Complete Works of William Shakespeare with a second (clinching) comeback on Saturday vs. Diane Parry (via a 3rd set TB).
#11 - HORNS UP After a tough opening to her season -- starting 1-9 in three-setters, losing 6 of them in a row, and falling to 1-12 in such contests gonig back to '23 -- Peyton Stearns hits her three-set stride in Rabat, winning four consecutive matches that went the distance while staging big comebacks on multiple occasions. Stearns rallied from 5-0 in the 3rd (saving 2 MP) vs. Lucia Bronzetti in the QF, then 4-1 in the 3rd vs. Viktoriya Tomova in the SF on her way to her maiden tour singles crown.
#12 - ITALY IS FOR ITALIANS Before their run to the RG final, Sara Errani & Jasmine Paolini became the first all-ITA duo to win the Rome doubles since 2012. Then the winning pair also included Errani (but w/ Roberta Vinci). This time around, it took a trio of match TB to get the job done -- vs. #2 seeds Melichar-Martinez/Perez (1st Rd.), L.Kichenok/Ostapenko (QF) and #3 Gauff/Routliffe (F) -- but Errani/Paolini picked up their third crown as a pair and the biggest so far.
HM - MARTA ON THE MOVE Though Marta Kostyuk didn't win the title in Stuttgart, her week was surely one of the best we'll see all year when it comes to a player *not* walking off with the big(ger) trophy. Resilence proved to be the Ukrainian's "norm" for the week. Kostyuk twice failed to serve out the match in the 2nd set of her 1st Round encounter with Laura Siegemund, but ultimately won in 3:09. Against Zheng Qinwen she saved 5 MP, and against Coco Gauff she rallied from a set down, a break down twice in the 2nd, 3-1 in the 3rd (Gauff served for the match) and didn't let squandering seven MP get in the way of her finally winning on #8. A third straight Top 10 win came vs. Marketa Vondrousova in the semis as Kostyuk reached her second 500 final this season (w/ San Diego) to go along with a SF in 1000 Indian Wells. She ran out of comebacks in the final vs. Elena Rybakina.



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*A ROARING SUCCESS, BY JORGE (SISTERS)*

In the Oeiras 125, the homegrown Jorge sisters proved to be unexpected stars.



First, both progressed through the singles draw. Francisca (24, #190... she took Ostapenko to three sets in BJK play this spring) defeated Anastasia Zakharova and Renata Zarazua, while Matilde (20, #556) knocked off Harriet Dart (her first Top 100) win. Both reached the QF, one round from facing each other for a berth in the final. Well, at least until Francisca lost to top seed Bernarda Pera, and Matilde fell to Clara Tauson.

Ah, but their story didn't end there. There was still doubles to play!

Having played in 29 ITF finals together since 2021, winning 14, the duo played into their biggest final ever, defeating the #4 (Barnett/Christie) and #1 (Kolodziejova/Siskova) seeds en route, then taking out #2 Dart/Mladenovic in a 6-0/6-4 final to claim their greatest prize to date in their nation's biggest women's event.



And then, a week later, another (for their *second*-biggest title)...




*BEST TROPHY NOMINEE (125 division)*





*BEST REDESIGNED TROPHY (Madrid)*


And by that, I mean, Best Redesigned So That It'd Be a Better Murder Weapon. In this case, the guess would be "Iga in the Magic Box with the trophy"




*THE TORTURED OPPONENTS DEPARTMENT*





*AND THE NOMINEE FOR...*

"Best WTA Dog In a Guest Role in 2024" is... Quincy!





*BEST SHADE-PROVIDING UMBRELLA TECHNIQUE ADVICE (Clay Court Edition)*





*A CENTURY LATER, SHE'S STILL MAKING NEWS*




Hey, La Divine was a little messy at times, too.





*DON'T MESS WITH THE KENIN*





*BEST GARBI GOODBYE VIDEO*





*BEST TWEENER DOWN-THE-LINE PASSING SHOT*

Were there any other nominees?





*BEST TEENAGED TWEEN-... uh, to be continued (maybe until Mirra is 18)*





*BEST SOCIAL MEDIA COMMENT BY A PLAYER*

Paula, for the score.





*BEST WORLD #1 ON THE COVER OF ELLE Poland*





*BEST WORLD (now) #2 ON THE COVER OF TIME*





*BEST RYBAKINA LEAP*

Umm, yeah... I guess we'll stick with "leap."





*BIGGEST WHAT IF...?*







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Questionable business partnerships have long been a WTA tradition. When a women's athletic tour was supported by a cigarette brand...




At least they included a warning on that ad. The same won't happen during the new, Saudi-sponsored version of the WTA Finals, I'm guessin'.


All for now.
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