The top 32, 2015: The WTA, from No. 12-9
No. 12
Timea Bacsinszky
The Swiss had almost retired a couple of years back because she was seriously hurt, but she hung in there and in 2015, she flourished. She won Acapulco and Monterrey. She reached the Roland Garros semifinals, knocking off Petra Kvitova before she went down against Serena Williams in three sets. Let’s recall that she was up a set and a break in the second set, and she folded, not just because Serena began to play great, but because she panicked and lost 10 games in a row.
She does move forward constantly, and she can hit from both wings, reaching the quarters of Wimbledon and overcoming Ana Ivanovic in Beijing before going down against Garbine Muguruza in the final. The 26-year-old is not very tall and she isn’t the strongest player out there, but she is very smart and ambitious.
No. 11
Katarina Pliskova
The Czech is so incredibly powerful and when she is feeling right, she can take out anyone and anywhere. She has one of the biggest first serves; she can rip both her forehand and her backhand. She rarely hesitates. However, admittedly, she has played way too much in 2015. Yes, she has beaten a number of terrific players like Angie Kerber, Muguruza, Lucie Safarova and Ivanovic. But she can also be very impatient against the tricky players, like losing against Aga Radwanska and Robera Vinci, who know how to mix it up. Pliskova believes she can go deep at the Slams in 2016. But in order to do so, she has to be very calm and understand where exactly her racket is.
No. 10
Angelina Kerber
The German veteran never seems to get tired. She will play hour after hour, running around, going back and forth and, when she is feeling super confident, she will crush it down the line. However, the reason why she has yet to win a major is because she isn’t aggressive enough. On occasion she will, but when she is facing off against the top 10, she can hesitate. Obviously, the left-hander needs to improve her serve, but if she pushed herself and not become too conservative, Kerber can reach the final at a major in 2016.
No. 9
Lucie Safarova
It has taken Safarova such along time to rise up. And, finally she did, reaching the final at a major for the first time. She upset Maria Sharapova, Muguruza and Ivanovic, before finally going down against Williams in three sets. The 28-year-old Czech was more creative this year, her forehand is stronger and she is more directive. Unfortunately, Safarova got hurt just before the US Open and she was unable to play for six weeks. She managed to come back and play the WTA Final, where she lost against Muguruza and Petra Kvitova, but it was close. Then she bested Kerber even though she was already knocked out of the competition. She was still trying and pushing herself. Without a doubt, if she stays healthy, Safarova will stay in the top 10 in 2016.
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