Good thing there was Kim Clijsters’ Australian Open win to bring a sense of normalcy to the Major season!
After that, all bets were out the window as Li Na won the French Open, Petra Kvitova captured the Wimbledon title and Sam Stosur was crowned the U.S. Open champ. It’s safe to say those were three of the most unpredictable Slam wins in WTA history, and the fact they all happened in the same year makes them all the more surprising.
But perhaps, there were clues there that pointed to those three emerging to top prior Slam titlists in their respective finals. Here’s a look at the three and some signs that showed how, just maybe, they were favorites to win after all.
Li Na wins the French Open, 6-4, 7-6(0) over Francesca Schiavone
The Dirt: Li was playing in her second Grand Slam final of the year in Paris, facing the defending champion Schiavone, in a match that was a bit of a shock. Li overwhelmed Schiavone with powerful groundstrokes, negating the Italian’s versatility, and became the first Chinese tennis player to win a Grand Slam singles title.
The Signs: Li had as close to perfect a start to the season as one could imagine: She won her first 11 matches before falling in the Australian finals to Clijsters. She struggled on the hard courts after that run before turning things around on the clay. In her second tournament on the dirt, in Madrid, she advanced to the semifinals. At her next tournament, in Rome, she advanced to the semifinals again. Over the course of those events, she faced opponents that would force her to hit a lot of balls, such as Roberta Vinci and Lourdes Dominguez Lino, helping her get into a groove by the time Paris rolled around. Overcoming four top 10 players to win the grand prize can perhaps be traced back to those deep tournament runs in back-to-back weeks.
Petra Kvitova wins Wimbledon, 6-3, 6-4, over Maria Sharapova
Blades of Glory: Sharapova must have felt a sense of reverse déjà vu going into the match. This time, she was the veteran facing a newcomer in their first Major final, similar to her 2004 title contest against Serena Williams. Just like then, the younger player prevailed.
The Signs: Like Li, Kvitova kicked off 2011 in style, winning 16 of her first 17 matches. She performed solidly on the clay, too: winning in Madrid and reaching the fourth round of the French Open. Success on hard courts and dirt don’t necessarily translate to Wimbledon champ. However, a run to the semifinals the year before, which included wins over Victoria Azarenka and Caroline Wozniacki before a tough loss to Serena Williams, has to build confidence. Then in ’11, Kvitova made the finals in Eastbourne, losing a three-setter to former Wimbledon finalist Marion Bartoli. Also, grass makes the big groundstrokes of Kvitova even more of a task for her opponents to deal with.
Sam Stosur wins the U.S. Open, 6-2, 6-3, over Serena Williams
Hard to Handle: Stosur, one of the most physically fit women on tour, took everything Williams had to offer and returned it with interest. Stosur became the first Australian woman to win a Slam in more than 30 years.
The Signs: Unlike Li and Kvitova before her, Stosur’s year left much to be desired up until the hard-court season: She lost in the third round of the Australian and the French (where she made the finals in 2010) and the first round of Wimbledon. Stosur also only made one final, Rome, in the first eight months of ’11. She did notch her second runner-up appearance at the Premier event in Toronto, then got to the quarterfinals in Cincinnati. At the U.S. Open, she was forced to dig deep early in the tournament in matches against Nadia Petrova and Maria Kirilenko. Getting through those helped her resolve as she only dropped one set in her final three matches.
So now that we know what to look for, predicting the Grand Slam titlists in 2012 should be easy!
Van Sias is a freelance tennis writer based in Brooklyn, NY. A member of the United States Tennis Writers Association, he is also the creator of the blogs Tennis Talk, Anyone? (www.tennistalkanyone.com) and The Doubles Alley (http://thedoublesalley.com)
I’m not sure what was surprising about Kvitova’s Wimbledon win. She was poised to take the title, and it seemed–even before the event began–that Sharapova would be the only player to get in her way. I thought she might take the Australian title, too.
How Could Kvitova be one of the “biggest surprises in history”; when she made the semi finals last year as a 20 yr old, and would of probably won it if she didn’t face Serena (who she played well, and “got hers” against). That wasn’t hard to see.
In addition, Kvitova had already won 3 titles by the time Wimbledon rolled around, had the best record (percentage wise in the WTA), and was one of the top 5 favorites by odds makers at the start of Wimbledon, and she was practically even to Sharapova by those same odds makers after the semi-finals.
So just because you didn’t consider her to win or know much about her, doesn’t mean others didn’t.
I picked Kvitova to Win Wimbledon this year before Wimbledon even started (as Brad Gilbert, Martina Navratilova, Ravi Uhba, Sam Smith, as many people in the blogosphere, and John McEnroe-picked her to make the finals, etc.) .
PS: Everything that you listed was certainly true (just read your article) regarding Kvitova, but your intro about it being such a surprise left something to be desired.
But I’ll give you credit for having the right info in the body of your argument.
That was succinct and excellent argument, regarding Kvitova.
Li Na seemed fine as well, though she was more of a surprise.
Sam was the ultimate Surprise, considering she hadn’t won much the past year.