32. Kaia Kanepi
She is 37 years old and she still is a darn good player. She has never gone too deep at the Slams. In at least in four of them, she has reached all the quarters. That is a fair accomplishment. However, even though she is very strong, a huge hitter, she does not have enough variety. Next year, if she wants to reach into the top 20, she has to be much more aggressive.
31. Karolina Pliskova
The Czech was so close to winning the US Open and Wimbledon,. But her mental game disappeared. When she is playing amazing, she can crush her first serve, her forehand and her backhand, but unfortunately, she is not very fast. That is too bad, but after she finished her match, when she talks to the press, she is so honest and real. Just turning 30, when she walks on the court, and she has to realize that pretty soon she will retire. In 2023, at the important tournaments, then she has to go for the lines. Maybe she can push herself at the net, as she has rarely done it. So, do it now.
30. Aliaksandra Sasnovich
She seems to really like clay, going somewhat deep at Rome and Roland Garros. She is even-keeled. There are other times when she loses early and she is upset. She has been around for 10 years. If she wants to knock down the excellent players, then she must attack very early and then try to clip the lines. Try to rip it.
29. Elise Mertens
She can really hustle. The Belgian plays all the time, and certain weeks, she is thoughtful, but other times, she loses her control. It is hard to know why she is doing. She can play great, or she can play mediocre, at best. Perhaps next year she can try to hit the ball harder, because when she does it, here and there, she can be very tough to beat her. That is up to her.
28. Martina Trevisan
Here is another young player who is rising now. The Czech is only 20 years old, and she started the year ranked No. 81. She took down a number of good players, like Jessica Pegula and Caroline Garcia. She actually won Prague this year and she wants to win when it is extremely important. She knows that, and next year she can meld it around. Finally, she can pop the ball.
27. Qinwen Zheng
Another 20-years-old who has reached the top 30, Zheng is certainly climbing up the later. Maybe she is not that powerful, but she is very quick, and steady. On court, her eyes are locked in. She started the year No. 108, and now when she starts in January, it is very possible that she can be seated at the Australian Open. If she wins a few matches, then the fans will go to watch her. She has some wonderful variety, and she has to use it all the time.
26. Victoria Azarenka
The so-called ‘Vika’ is one of the most powerful players over the past 12 years. Yes, when she started, she was very shy, and she realized that to grow, and she had to really listen, on court and off. Finally, she did, not only banging her forehand and backhand, but in some key moments, she locked in, winning two Grand Slams. However, that was a long time ago, so the 33-year-old has to find out what is working for her. She still needs a couple pieces so she can have one more shots at a huge event.
TennisReporters.net, the top 32, in 2022: women 32-26
Emma Raducanu: ‘I’m just trying to stay on one path’
Emma Raducanu might be the US Open champion again, if she manages to clean it up on court. On Tuesday, she easily beat Serena Williams in Cincinnati, 6-4, 6-0. She was injured — and many people have in the summer — but currently, she is getting better. The next day, she blew out Vika Azarena, 6-0, 6-2, another Grand Slam champion.
Over that last 11 months, that might have seemed impossible, but she was so impressive in this tournament.
When Raducanu is on, she can be very fast, and she can also bang the ball. Her first serve is very big, and her return is muscular.
Against Serena, she was so excited to take her down, even though she thinks that she is the best player ever.
“I think that a big part of the match today was definitely the mental side, to not be intimidated by all her achievements. That was what I was focusing the most on, really present and thinking of my game, thinking of what I needed to do. Physically I held up pretty well” said Raducanu, who will face against Jessica Pegula next. “Like there were some longer exchanges, I held up well and I scrapped. I made her work. I feel good right now.”
She was also against Azarenka, who can crunch her forehand and her backhand, but her serve is still marginal. Plus, Azarenka is not a super quick runner. However, Raducanu can sprint.
The brit does want to win at Cincinnati or go deep. Still, on the mind of this 19-year-old was her run to US Open glory.
“I think that at this level, you play anyone, it’s a really difficult match. Each of those wins kind of build confidence regardless of the level you’re playing, every single win counts,” she said. “But, of course, this one more so, because you’re playing like the greatest. But I’m not trying to get too high or too low right now. I’m just trying to stay on one path and trajectory, because I know like I kind of feel like I have been on both ends of that, and, yeah, I’m just happy, proud of myself, but just moving on.”
By the way, she wants to play Simona Halep – that would be their first matchup – because “I think she all around is like, for me, all around the most complete player. She moves extremely well. She’s aggressive. She can defend. She makes you work so hard for every point. Could be like a slow, painful like she gets you (smiling).”
NOTES
Karolina Pliskova lost today. Yesterday, she said that “I’m 30 and I’m still like here. I don’t really want to like quit at the moment. So, I think I just want to see how it’s gonna go like this year, next year. Then I will make decision.” She still does like playing tennis, so maybe she can run up at the US Open. She reached the final in 2016.
Taylor Fritz stepped on Nick Kyrgios in two sets. Kyrgios wants to rest, and his body wore down, but the American played terrific today. He is No. 13, and he has been saying that he wants to be in the top 10 ASAP. Well, then he can do it this week, as long as he will not freeze up.
Where did Ben Shelton come from? His dad, Bryan, also played in the tour, winning Newport, twice. The 19-year-old Ben just upset Casper Ruud, so he must be very good, already. John Isner had two very good wins, beating the No. 10 Hubert
Hurkacz. The 37-year-old may not win Cincinnati, but if he can return better than he usually does, Mr. Ace may go further.
California rising, in Indian Wells
To start, California’s Indian Wells will play in October, which is fantastic. Over the years, in March, hundreds of thousand fans came out and watched some thrilling matches during the day and night. Last year and early this year, they couldn’t play due to coronavirus. But they waited. Last week the owners decided to push into October when many more people will have taken the vaccine. So now, it is time to try again, with the players and the fans. Go for it.
Roland Garros will start in May 29. Here comes the Grand Slams again. But, this week, who will rise up and play fantastic? Who is playing great, who is mediocre, or someone who is playing bad?
Here is the first one. Casper Ruud believes that he can reach the second week. He has had a good year, taking down Diego Schwartzman, Pablo Carreno Busta, Fabio Fognini and Stefano Tsitsipas. Ruud is playing this week in Switzerland. The 22-year-old has much more aplomb.
”I’ve shown myself that I’m up there at the high level of clay court players and I can compete well with pretty much any player on clay,” Ruud said. “I’ve been winning a lot of good matches against good opponents. So, it gives me a lot of confidence going into the Roland Garros and I have to say I’m hoping to be in Paris for the second week of the tournament. That’s my goal.”
Ruud did mention that his forehand and his backhand are strong, but he needed to improve his return, so he worked on it a lot, and now, it is better.
As he said, later, he might be playing terrific, but he is not there to knock off the big boys: [But] “I’m not a rock star in Norway yet,” Ruud said.
This was a stunner last Sunday. During the final in Rome, Karolina Pliskova lost 6-0, 6-0 against Iga Swiatek. Yes, who would believe that? The 19-year-old Swiatek won the 2020 RG and, when she plays on clay, she is incredibly good.
The 29-year-old Czech Pliskova has won some big wins over the years, reaching the final at the 2016 US Open, winning Rome in 2019, and grabbing other titles, such as Cincinnati, Doha and Brisbane.
But Swiatek was on fire in Rome, every game.
“[Swiatek] didn’t give me anything, but sometimes I just tried to make it a bit difficult just to put the ball in. I just was feeling horrible out there,” Pliskova said. “She really made it extremely difficult for me to do any point. She was playing super fast. I thought she was just going for it. She had amazing day and I had horrible day. She’s really extremely confident on clay,”
Swiatek is powerful, and more than that, she can mix it up and it is hard to read where she will go. She does like to adjust.
“She can just redirect so well and she can play even faster, and especially on clay. Because she has so much spin, it’s super tough to do something from it,” Pliskova said. “She had amazing placement of the ball. Everything was super, like, deep and just like close to the lines. She was serving quite big. She has a good serve overall. I think she didn’t have really any — I think overall she didn’t really miss anything today. Even though I was not playing great, but she was having maybe a moment of her life,”
Swiatek can win it again to win another Slam. On the other hand right now, Pliskova is in the cloud.
MORE
Sloane Stephen has won three wins in a row. Two years ago, in Madrid, she reached the semis. Two years later, she lost so many early matches, and currently she is ranked No. 65. Now the former US Open champ is in Parma this week, she appears to be slightly back. We hope …
Grigor Dimitrov lost again. He can be pretty good, but week after week, he can collapse. … Dominic Thiem lost this weekend and really thinks he can win RG for the first time. He has been there twice in the final but Rafa Nadal took him down. To do that, he is going to have to pound Nadal’s backhand, over and over.
On Fire: Nadal and Swiatek win Rome
On Sunday in Rome, Rafa Nadal and Iga Swiatek won the tournament, and they were joyful. Nadal knocked down Novak Djokovic 7-5 1-6 6-3. In the third set, he hit deeper, he moved to different areas, and his massive serves can twist it into the corners and he yanked Djokovic almost on the ground. Then Nadal would crack a winner.
Swiatek played one of the best matches ever. Given feeble opposition from Karolina Pliskova 6-0 6-0, Swiatek still performed at the level we saw when she took 2020 Roland Garros. Let’s say it again: The former US Open finalist Pliskova was out of it. She couldn’t face come with anything when it was time to raise her game. She was sleeping, maybe a bad dream? Where she goes, it is ruthless to say. Playing great or awful? In the last 10 years, for the most part, she is a head case.
Swiatek really understands how to play fantastic on clay, which is why she dominated Sofia Kenin in last year’s French final. Now she can do it again. She moves really well, she can scramble, and eventually, she can smoke a winner, with her forehand and backhand. She returns super well, too.
In Paris, she should be ranked No. 8, as Simona Halep is injured and likely she won’t play at the French Open. Is Swiatek the favorite? I would say yes, but Aryna Sabalenka , Garbiñe Muguruza and Jessica Pegula have a shot to win it, too.
NOTES
At RG, Nadal will be ranked No. 3, while Djokovic stays No. 1. Guess who is ranked No. 2? That’s right, Daniil Medvedev, who loves playing on the hard courts. But, as he said, he just doesn’t like clay. He could lose early in the first week in Paris…
Novak said: “Rafa and I had a little laugh today in the locker room after I won against [Stefanos] Tsitsipas. We kind of joked around that the old guys are still not giving up. I saw he said somewhere a few days ago that Roger [Federer], him and I think we’re showing some different, fresh energy.”
Swiatek likes to attack, and last year at RG, few of the fans knew who she was. Not know: ‘I’m, like, surprising myself actually when I’m not doing well because I’m pretty ambitious. I’m a perfectionist, which I’m fighting with actually sometimes.
“I always try to learn from what other girls experienced. There are many players that had some kind of regress, after winning their first Grand Slam. I always thought try to be different, just work, just focus on not doing the same mistakes. It works pretty well.”
Australian Open racks up upsets
American Sofia Kenin wept in the second set. She was nervous, she was shaking, and she could not come down. Last year at the Australian Open, she won the tournament. But this week, she could not concentrate.
She lost in the second round, against the older player, Kaia Kanepi, 6-3, 6-2. When the No. 4 plays again, she has to suck it up. She just has to forget it about it.
“I obviously felt like I’m not there 100% — physically, mentally, my game. Everything just feels real off, obviously. It’s not good,” Kenin said. “I know I couldn’t really handle the pressure.”
Over the past couple days, not only did she lose, but two other top-10 players went down: Bianca Andreescu and Petra Kvitova. The teenager Andreescu just came back from more than a year off. So, she will shake it off.
However, the two-time Grand Slam champ Petra Kvitova is mentally gone at times, thinking of something else when she is playing. She might be thinking, “Why I am playing so badly, and should I actually be here. I just can’t stand it.”
It is still early, and we all know that Karolina Pliskova can be super powerful and take down anyone. In the first week of a Slam, she can just get away, with mediocre play. But, in the second week, it is hard to figure out if she is will be patient or nutty when she hits the ball. She has yet to win a Grand Slam, but once again, she still has a shot to win it all. On Thursday, she beat Danielle Collins.
The other American, Shelby Rogers, beat Olga Danilovic…
Canadian Denis Shapovalov won easily over Bernard Tomic. Shapovalov will face Felix Auger-Aliassime on Friday, another rising and very good player. This will be a test.
Spaniard Feliciano Lopez is 39 years old and he is still playing singles, doubles and mixed. He just keeps churning. On Thursday he won another long fifth-setter, dispatching Italian Lorenzo Sonego, which is so impressive.