TENNIS BITS & PIECES – An Anglo-Japanese duo aim for the Grand Slam. Wozniacki will run the New York marathon. Players are changing coaches. The young ones are coming through and will we see Fish and Roddick at the US Open? Joshua Bosco
A Grand Slam in sight
At this year’s US Open Anglo-Japanese duo Jordanne Whiley and Yui Kamiji will try to emulate Dutch duo Jiske Griffioen and Aniek van Koot and become the second consecutive Wheelchair women’s doubles team to complete the Grand Slam.
“Winning all the Grand Slams would be amazing. That’s the aim for this year” said Whiley, who at the age of fourteen became the youngest ever UK National women’s singles champion in wheelchair tennis.
Wozniacki runs in NY
World No.13 Caroline Wozniacki has announced she will run the New York City Marathon on 2nd November. “It’s always been on my bucket list. And always New York City was the one I wanted to do. […] so I thought, ‘Why not do it?’” said the Dane in an interview.
Wozniacki will become one of the few professional athletes to compete in a marathon during their careers. She will run alongside Meb Keflezighi, reigning Boston Marathon champion, as a Team for Kids Ambassador.
US Open 2015 Wildcard?!
Former World No.1 Andy Roddick and his compatriot Mardy Fish have already been offered a wild card for the 2015 US Open doubles tournament after the pair failed to land a spot in this year’s final Slam.
The American duo wanted to make a one-off appearance at their home-tournament but Roddick was refused entry as his official retirement from tennis removed him from the sport’s anti-doping programme. ITF laws require a tennis player to be in the drug testing programme for three months before being eligible to play in a tournament.
It remains to be seen if a rather unhappy Roddick and Fish will accept the invitation.
Another record for Serena
Today marks Serena William’s 200th non-consecutive week as World No.1. She becomes the third American and just the fifth woman in history to join this elite group after tennis legends Steffi Graf, Martina Navratilova, Chris Evert and Martina Hingis.
Her No.1 spot isn’t in immediate danger but Simona Halep, who will rise to World No.2 next week, will certainly do her best to put an end to the American’s permanence at the top.
New coaches
After splitting from Nemanja Kontic, World No.10 Ana Ivanovic has hired Dejan Petrovic as her new coach. The 36 year old, who played for and captained Serbia in the Davis Cup, has previously worked with Novak Djokovic and Jelena Jankovic.
Although neither man has yet confirmed the news, rumour has it that Roberto Bautista Agut has hired Javier Piles, who recently split from David Ferrer after sixteen years of collaboration, as his new coach.
Youngsters rule
It’s been a good month for young Belgian David Goffin. After losing in straight sets to Andy Murray in the first round at Wimbledon, Goffin has been on a roll winning 20 matches in a row and 40 out of 42 sets.
Along the way he picked up titles in three Challengers before reaching, and winning, his first ever ATP final beating home-favourite Dominic Thiem in Kitzbuhel on Saturday.
This was the first ever ATP final played between two players born in the 1990s, and Sunday saw the second when Milos Raonic took on Vasek Pospisil at the Citi Open in Washington. This was also a first – two Canadians in an ATP World Tour final – and Milos Raonic prevailed, taking him just 35 points shy of the World No.5 spot.
Happy Birthday Vika!
Former World No.1 Victoria Azarenka turned 25 last Thursday, but she didn’t have much to celebrate. She lost 6-4 7-6(1) to another former World No.1, Venus Williams, in the second round of the Bank of the West Classic, Stanford.
The Belarusian now has 2300 points to defend in the next couple of weeks, after winning in Cincinnati and reaching the final at the US Open in 2013. All we can do is wish her luck for the near future!
