By Chris Oddo | Monday July 20, 2015
Timea Bacsinszky's rise to relevance in 2015 is one of the biggest surprises of the tennis season.
Photo Source: Christopher Levy
A *relatively* slow news week in the aftermath of Davis Cup and Wimbledon gives us the rare opportunity to take stock of what has been yet another remarkable tennis season (so far).
More: Nadal Will Play Hamburg Next Week
Surprise: Serena’s Outright Defiance of Age At 33, Serena’s quest for the Calendar Slam is a slap in the face to anyone who believes that a professional tennis career can’t peak beyond the age of 30. And it’s about time. In 2014 it took Williams a year of fumbling and bumbling before she finally won a major. Was she nearing the end of the line, at 32? We wondered. She was stunned in Australia, stung at Roland Garros and rocked at Wimbledon before finally breaking through to tie Martina Navratilova and Chris Evert on the all-time Grand Slam title list at the 2014 U.S. Open.
11 months later and Williams is on the cusp of tying Steffi Graf and winning her fifth straight major. When the season’s over, no matter what happens, Williams will turn 34. Even if she doesn’t win in New York she's already won eight majors since turning 30. That's A WHOPPING FIVE more than any other player in the Open Era.
What Serena Williams is currently doing is in complete defiance of what we’ve all come to believe about age and how it relates to the success of the elite tennis player. Per the WTA, she has spent more time at No. 1 since turning 31 than she did in her whole career prior. Could it be that Williams is pulling this off because she can, for the first time in her career, actually see the finish line?
When this last jaw-dropping sprint concludes will our views on what is possible in professional tennis after 30 have changed, or will we see Serena as the exception?
Disappointment: Eugenie Bouchard There was a time where Eugenie Bouchard was 4-0 in 2015 and about to play in the Australian Open quarterfinals. The future was ridiculously bright. Sun reflecting off the water and blinding you bright. Not anymore. Since then Bouchard has gone 4-12 with first-round losses at Roland Garros and Wimbledon among her many head-scratching defeats.
The Canadian’s freefall is the stuff of nightmares, and she has lost all sense of belief in her game. What did Bouchard do or say to tick off the tennis gods? She’s still very young and presumably in possession of game-changing elite talent. But if this is how the young Canadian handles the pressure of being thrust into the limelight and being considered the game’s next great star, what does the future hold for her?
Handling pressure and walking the “megastar” tightrope comes with the territory that Bouchard sought to inherit. It's her burden to shoulder and if she can't somebody else surely will. Some of the blame can surely be placed on greedy agents and a rash decision to part ways with her longtime coach Nick Saviano, but Bouchard’s failures in 2015 rest squarely on her shoulders. And it will be up to her to play her way out of this funk—before it’s too late.
Disappointment: Nick Kyrgios
The young Aussie possesses some of the most stunning and creative talent that tennis has seen in a long time. But his inability to tone down his so-called edginess is turning fans and media against him. The last thing a 20-year-old needs to be wasting his energy on when trying to carve out a living in the dog-eat-dog world of professional tennis is picking fights with the media. And yet, that is what Kyrgios spent Wimbledon doing. In a lot of ways, it’s great that Kyrgios dares to be different. On good days, he’s refreshing, electric and alluring. But on bad days he’s arrogant and disrespectful. That’s the disappointing part about Kyrgios. Not his game. His talents are off the charts and an absolute pleasure to watch. But his antics are starting to look Fognini-ish now. Are they done with purpose, for good reason, or is Kyrgios just simply too bored to devote all his time and energy to becoming a great player?
Surprise: Roger Federer Much like Serena Williams, Roger Federer keeps rocking in the free world, battling hard to get every ounce of productivity out of his soon-to-be 34-year-old body. Federer is not quite the phenom he once was, but 2015 has been a brilliant encore to an encouraging 2014 that saw him come a few games from notching the Wimbledon title. This year he was back in the final again at SW19, playing a near-perfect lead-up that saw him unbreakable on serve and poetic on the volley, particularly in his sublime semifinal win over Andy Murray.
It’s really not a surprise that Federer is doing what he’s doing. He’s the maestro, after all. But given his performance in a 2013 that was marred by injury and peppered by a long, emotional breakup with his old racquet, seeing Federer back in prime form and heading into the hard court season as second in command behind Novak Djokovic is not something we would have predicted two years ago.
Again, much like Serena Williams on the women’s side. Federer is helping rewrite the book on what is possible for players that are well into their 30’s.
Disappointment: Ernests Gulbis Either you are surprised or you are disappointed. Whichever way you slice it, Ernests Gulbis’s 2015 has been, well, weird. And bad. The Latvian has completely lost all semblance of the sparkling game that saw him rise to the French Open semis and a Top 10 ranking in 2015. He’s currently 4-15 on the season and standing at a ranking of 81 in the world. We’ll leave it at that.\
Surprise: Timea Bacsinszky Forget about the fact that Bacsinszky put her career on hold for about a year in 2011 and was contemplating a career in hotel management. That’s a story that is making the rounds this year as Bacsinszky’s tennis has soared, and it’s an interesting one to be sure. But what is really surprising about Bacsinszky in 2015 is how amazing her tennis has been. Strip away the side story and just judge her on her tennis--she is more than deserving of respect and admiration based on that alone.
Bacsinszky has won two titles, compiled a 32-8 record that included a 13-match winning streak and a trip to her first career Grand Slam semifinal at Roland Garros. Currently at No. 14 in the world, Bacsinszky has been as consistent as she has been good—the only first-round match she has dropped all season was to Maria Sharapova in Madrid. At 26, the Swiss looks like she could become a consistent member of the Top 10 in the years to come. There are very few who had that called in January.
Disappointment: Rafael Nadal Seeing Rafael Nadal’s name beside a ranking of 10 still takes a bit of getting used to. Okay, a lot. But Nadal has earned that ranking by underperforming by his own lofty standards this season. There’s still time for Nadal to rocket back up the rankings by the end of the season, but we think even the staunchest Nadal superfan wouldn’t have a problem admitting that 2015 has been disappointing thus far.
He’s been good. Very good at times. But, despite his best efforts and an always positive approach to his tennis, he’s never been great. And that is just strange for Rafael Nadal.
Nadal has already lost six matches to players outside the Top 10, continuing a trend that began in 2014 when he lost seven. In the six years preceding, Nadal never lost more than five to players outside the Top 10. So “easier” matches are getting harder for Rafa, and that is resulting in harder victories, more court time and less titles. Nadal has earned two titles this season, but both have come at the 250-level.
In the fast-twitch world of tennis analysis, Nadal is already being written off as a player who relies too much on physicality. Many truly believe that the magic may be gone from his body due to the fact that his swashbuckling brand of tennis has caused his body to deteriorate more rapidly than his rivals, but is it really true? How does a 14-time major champion, one who has been known to be the best problem-solver and fighter in all of tennis, suddenly lose his mojo? And, even if he has lost it, how do his best efforts not allow him to get it back while he is still 29 and should be very much in his prime? This is the mystery that tennis fans will watch unravel this summer.
Surprise: Stan Wawrinka It would have been very easy for Stan Wawrinka to rest on his laurels after his first major title. Maybe one Slam title wouldn't have left him with a shot at becoming a Hall of Famer, but it was more than most had earned in this the era of big four domination. But that 2014 Australian Open final would have always carried a tiny asterisk beside it, because of Nadal’s back issues in the match, had Wawrinka not won another. Think of it as a tiny pimple on an otherwise perfect movie star complexion.
But Wawrinka rose from a scratchy start to 2015 to provide doubters with the most convincing encore possible: His triumph in the French Open final over Novak Djokovic. With each blistering winner struck in that final he obliterated a piece of the aforementioned asterisk until it had completely vanished. Now that we’ve seen what Wawrinka can do in a major final against a player in full flight and in hot pursuit of a long-sought-after milestone, there’s no denying that the Stanimal, now a two-time major champion, is a bona fide tennis hero.
Disappointment: Bernard Tomic The controversial Aussie was actually having a pretty decent year until he went on his epic rant against Tennis Australia after losing to Novak Djokovic at Wimbledon. Having a beef with a federation is one thing, but handling it in the worst possible way is what makes Tomic such a disappointment. There are reasons why Tomic is a Tennis Australia pariah and his monologue at Wimbledon is clear proof of that. His arrest in Miami a week later is more proof. The long and short of this lesson? Tomic may be a unique talent, with a refreshing, quirky game, but he’ll never learn how to behave or how to harness his talents to reach his potential. Never say never? We’re trying, but Bernie’s not letting us.
Surprise: Lucie Safarova The Czech is currently sixth in the Road to Singapore standings with a French Open singles final and two Grand Slam doubles titles to her name in 2015. More proof that amazing things can happen to amazing people. Safarova has always shown electric game, but has struggled to hurdle mental barriers in the past. Not anymore. She’s been a pillar of belief in 2015, and has played like she’s expected to win.
Disappointment: Grigor Dimitrov He’s long on talent and we’re short on patience. It hasn’t been easy for Dimitrov from the beginning (who in their right minds would want to be compared to Roger Federer as a junior?), but when Grigor Dimitrov reached the Wimbledon semifinal last season, expectations went sky high. Now that he’s been bounced out of Roland Garros and Wimbledon early in 2015, the Bulgarian has elected to part ways with coach Roger Rasheed. Many feel it’s the right move. Rasheed was a good taskmaster who helped Dimitrov get serious about his fitness and take his game higher. But after a 21-13 season through Wimbledon, Dimitrov made the bold call to look for something else. Will it pay off? Have we all jumped the gun a bit with Dimitrov, judging him on his flashy, explosive game, and overlooking the fact that he may not be the type of player that can consistently threaten the big four let alone consistently beat his peers?
Those Who Didn’t Make the list, but could have (and kind of did):
Surprise: Garbine Muguruza We knew she was talented and destined for big things, but reaching a major final on her least favorite surface at Wimbedon was impressive indeed... Disappointment: Agnieszka Radwanska The Wimbledon quarterfinal was a good sign, but remember the season started with high hopes that Martina Navratilova might be able to take Aga to the next level. The opposite happened, and she is just now recovering... Surprise: Borna Coric At 18, the young Croatian is the highest-ranked player under 21 on the ATP. That’s a big wow. And when you watch him play, it’s big wows as well... Surprise: Jack Sock The American has been a very pleasant surprise, returning from an injury-riddled 2014 to put forth some gritty tennis. He’s currently one spot off his career-high ranking, at 31 in the world, and about to head to the U.S. with a shot to go higher... Surprise: Belinda Bencic Not a huge surprise, as she’s highly touted, but Bencic’s 14-3 record on grass this summer was eye-opening.