Summary of 2011

Hi everyone,

For everybody who has been hiding under a rock for the last year or for the one’s with a very questionable long term memory (don’t worry, I’m one of you!): here are some highlights of last year!

And what a year it was! Four different grand slam winners and a lot of come backs and great upsets.



Kim Clijsters - Australian Open - "Finally Aussie Kim"                                                              

                                                                                          

                                                                                  

                                                                                             Na Li - Roland Garros - "One billion Chinese, no pressure"

Petra Kvitova - Wimbledon - "Can't beat 222 winners"

                                                                                               Sam Stosur - US Open - "Sammy, WHAT YA DOING?!"

So let’s start from the beginning: Australian Open.

No major surprises in the quarter finals with: Wozniacki, Schiavone, Petkovic, Na Li, Radwanska, Clijsters, Kvitova and Zvonareva. A lot of my favorites in fact! Except for Stosur maybe, who lost in the third round to Kvitova (no hard feelings, it was a close one and she rose to number five in the WTA nonetheless).

I admit, I was quite nervous for the finale between Na Li and Clijsters. It was just a few weeks before that the exact same players battled in the Brisbane final and suprisingly Na Li came out victorious. With losing the first set 3-6, Clijsters really tested my calmness but she's a real hero in fighting back with: 3-6, 6-3, 6-3 as a result. I absolutely didn't pass the test of being zen that match but fortunately I did pass my exam I had a few hours after, double yeey!

I loved the fantastic interviews of the Australian Open (remember Na Li about her husband and Clijsters toying with Todd Woodbridge “She looks grumpy and her boobs are bigger”).
And don't forget the amazing match between Schiavone and Kuznetsova, lasting 4 hours and 44 minutes. The only thing I can say: yes Schiavone, you're absolutely right to call yourself tough!

Furthermore, it was sad Justine Henin announced her second retirement after a third round loss to Kuznetsova because of injury. It really is a big loss for the WTA!

Here some pictures of last year's Australian Open with just a little bit of humble Hawk Eye comment:

- Todd Woodbridge, just stay away from Kim if you want to have a tv career left;

- Green really isn't the best color against sweat;

- I'm not messing with your heads, Radwanska lost half of her racket when playing Kimiko-Date Krumm in the first round (and at an important point of the match nonetheless). I really loved her calm 'WTF'-face! 

I picked one tournament between the Australian Open and Roland Garros because of its major upset: the Porsche tennis grand prix in Stuttgart. It was Julia Görges (and not pronounced as ‘gorgeous’ like all the umpires did) beating Wozniacki in the final: whoever saw that coming? Playing in her own country, she got the whole crowd behind her but beating the number one: just fantastic! Score: 7-6, 6-3.

Further more I absolutely loved the partnership of Lisicki with Sam Stosur in the doubles at the same tournament. I never expected that they would eventually win it too with 6-1, 7-6(5) against Kristina Barrois and Jasmin Wöhr (doubles team playing on home soil)! Especially because they were just doing it for fun (never saw a doubles team laugh so much as them).

And then Roland Garros came along to decide who was gonna be the empress of clay. With an other surface immediately totally different quarter finalists emerge: Kuznetsova, Marion Bartoli, Pavlyuchenkova, Schiavone, Na Li, Azarenka and Petkovic.

Clijsters surprisingly got send home after a second round loss against the quite unknown Aranxta Rus from the Netherlands. A matchpoint and the famous lucky net post winner couldn't keep her from defeat. Stosur couldn’t defend her finalist place of last year with a loss in the third round to Gisela Dulko with 6–4, 1–6, 3–6, quite an upset.

The final between Schiavone (empress of clay in 2010) and Na Li promised to be a real nail-biter and they didn't fall short. Na Li had to ask the umpire to tell the Chinese fans to stop saying her how she had to play tennis but it didn't stop her from winning the first set with 6-4.

The second set had to be decided by a tiebreaker (at this point I was rooted to the screen). 1-0, 2-0, 3-0, 4-0, 5-0, 6-0: I couldn't believe it! Na Li was completely dominating the tie break but still it seemed she feared a crashdown at any point. She didn't have to worry that much, one point later and she could drop her white outfit in the red clay (just grateful I'm not her washing machine) and call herself empress of clay for a year!

Next stop: Wimbledon! The queens of grass really showed us amazing matches on this fast surface. And yes here where some surprising quarter finalists with: Cibulkova, Sharapova, Lisicki, Bartoli, Paszek, Azarenka, Kvitova and Pironkova. But that isn’t that unusual on grass in combination with a lot of top 25 players not competing (Serena ranked 26^th at the moment because of her lung embolism was seventh seeded).

The defending champion however got defeated in the fourth round by Bartoli in two sets: 3-6, 6-7. Bartoli said herself it was the greatest win of her life. You could tell that match, Bartoli seriously had to win that second set or she would get crushed in the third set Serena Williams-style. But she pulled through although you would think she was playing a match against herself too with all the jumping and running around like she does.

The next Williams-killer was Pironkova, also in the fourth round. Don’t be surprised by this upset of 6-2, 6-3 because she’s actually been responsible for throwing Venus out of Wimbledon in 2006 and 2010 too. That’s what you call a soft spot for one player in a particularly tournament!
It was a little sad for Pironkova and Bartoli that they both lost in the next round, probably because of their energy draining wins against the Williams sisters. But lucky for me that mend Lisicki and Kvitova reached the semifinals.

Ok after all that madness I thought Sharapova was gonna win and would deserve it too. But after I watched that match: woow! Kvitova was sending her left to right, one winner after another until her first ace decided 6-3, 6-4. A new queen of grass has emerged ladies and gentlemen (politeness is key in UK right?) and she’s going to keep us satisfied for many years to come.

I love the US Open Series: it’s vacation time, every week another great tournament and as an amazing climax: the US Open.

It was a strong starting field but everything revolved around Serena Williams. She was on a roll in America winning Stanford (revenge on Bartoli), the Rogers Cup and – be honest – if she wouldn’t have withdrawn from Cincinnati Open, she would have won that too! But something was different: she was happy with winning, almost like a little child and I appreciated it. Not anymore the kid being cranky with losing (except for the little incident in the US Open final but that's just tradition, right?).

So with the next quarter finalists: Wozniacki, Petkovic, Serena, Pavlyuchenkova, Kerber, Pennetta, Sam Stosur and Zvonareva, everybody was looking at the youngest Williams to win. I actually enjoyed the matches of Kerber the most, an unexpected semifinalist, against Pennetta and then Stosur.

I’m gonna sketch you an image of how I experienced the final between Stosur and Serena Williams. I was on holiday in sunny, warm Italy and after a day of swimming and doing nothing, I calculated the match would start around midnight (stupid time differences). A friend at the wrong time and the wrong place (that would be next to me while watching the game) is still traumatized as we speak! Because it turned out I suck at calculating and it was already 6-2, 5-3 for Stosur before I turned on a German Eurosport (at least it wasn’t Italian). The comment – far, far – above beneath Stosur’s bumpy road to her box of friends and family (she’s actually being lifted up by security guys, isn’t that great about America!) wasn’t something I said to myself. I actually was screaming it to the screen at midnight in an Italian camping, while hitting my friend because I was so excited. ‘Sammy? You’re a set and a break up against Serena. Serena Williams! And now you have a matchpoint! How is it possible? And now you’re raising your arms because you won! Sammy? WHAT YA DOING?!’

I have to apologize to Sammy, I totally went up in the Serena Williams craziness but it’s amazing you won and how (but just don't do that ever again to me!). And of course apologize to my friend, I think I was so tennis crazy that moment, he's probably still having nightmares!

And last but not least: the WTA championships. It's something the players absolutely like because they can mesure themselves against the best. Fans a little less because whoever can remember who won against who to qualify for the semifinals anyway?

But I liked the entire Asian autumn season (Turkey is Asia right?) with tournaments in China and Japan too. One of my favorites really played her best tennis to win the Toray Pan Pacific Open and the China Open: Radwanska. She's no more than a suptopper in all the grand slams but she plays so smart and focused and it paid off. And you gotta love names like 'Moon Court' and 'Lotus Court' in China (it's maybe just a little bit early to call them Na Li I and Na Li II).

Flash forward to the campionships. I could tell you something about every match because it's all still fresh but let's keep it brief. Quite disappointed about Wozniacki's performance (ending last in her group) and unfortunately Bartoli was one spot ranked above Petkovic because with Sharapova dropping out after two matches, the next reserve could play instead. Amazing 6-1, 6-0 win of Stosur against Na Li but she fell short to Kvitova in the semifinals.

Days of spectacular matches gave us the two finalists: Azarenka and Kvitova. No surprise there, I was totally cheering for Kvitova and she deserved the win with just two sets lost in five matches! Score: 7-5, 4-6, 6-3. Consequence: a number two spot for the 'Champion of the World' (admit it, it's catchy!). That deserves a really big picture at the end, doesn't it?

So keep tuned, this year is gonna be just as good or (if that's even possible!) better!