By Chris Oddo | Monday, October 27, 2014
Serena Williams was on top of the world in Singapore on Sunday, but she wasn't the only hero flying high.
Photo Source: Julian Finney/Getty
Here’s the lowdown of an absolutely amazing week in Singapore, Basel and Valencia, complete with social media quips, videos and of course, a healthy, heaping portion of snark.
Without any further ado, on to the heroes and zeroes…
The Trophy Kissers
Serena Williams
Have to start with Serena Williams here. Just have to. Mid-week, Williams was, in the eyes of many, a woman past her prime, after getting ingloriously vanquished by Simona Halep, 6-0, 6-2, in round-robin play. But after Williams culled all her focus and went into revenge mode to squash Halep, 6-3, 6-0, to claim her third consecutive WTA Finals title as well as back-to-back year-end No. 1 rankings, all we can do is bow down and acknowledge that we have been and still are in the presence of greatness while watching the 18-time Grand Slam champion compete.
Roger Federer
Aging like fine wine and gliding through indoor matches like Oksana Bayul, Roger Federer once again claimed the Basel title over the weekend, sending his hometown faithful into a frenzy, and inching ever so close to Novak Djokovic for the year-end No. 1 ranking. Federer was tested in Basel, but every time he was it seemed like he had the perfect and appropriately aggressive response to his would-be spoilers.
The Swiss maestro has now racked up 12 straight wins and leads the ATP in wins, hard court wins, Masters 1000 wins, top ten wins, and, most important: pizzas eaten with ballkids (love, love, love this tradition, don’t you?)
Andy Murray
Murray is showing talent, grit and perseverance at the right time in 2014. He’s had a challenging year, to say the least, but all the pieces of the clever, cunning and physical game of Murray are finally fitting together as they were meant to. Murray battled his way to his second consecutive title, taking out David Ferrer in the semis and then downing Tommy Robredo in an epic final that saw the Scot save five match points and then get flipped off. All in a day’s work for the rejuvenated Andy Murray, we suppose.
Other Standouts
The WTA and Singapore
How amazing were last week’s WTA Finals in Singapore? From the rocking venue to the rowdy crowds to the sublime website, app and media coverage that the WTA provided, everything was spot-on and fabulous to the max. Of course it didn’t hurt that the storylines were so enticing among the top eight players in the draw. With Halep pushing Serena, Bouchard gasping for air, Wozniacki and Ivanovic in full-on revival mode and all of the elite eight ready to leave it out there on the court, there was simply nothing bad about this event.
Even the sad moments were, um, happy and light-hearted…
The Zeroes
Eugenie Bouchard
The Canadian seemed to have that sinking feeling all week long in Singapore, and none of her peers were about to show her any mercy on court, as she was blasted out of the tournament, losing all three of her round-robin matches and, at one point during coaching visit, asking coach Nick Saviano why she was even playing.
How bad was Genie’s performance? This bad:
It’s a tough way to end a season for a woman who burst onto the scene in 2014 to reach her first major final and climb into the top five. She proved that she belonged in the WTA Finals all season long, and it’s a shame that she couldn’t prove it while in Singapore. But at 20, Bouchard has her whole career in front of her and will likely emerge stronger in 2015.
Rafa’s Appendix
Appendicitis? Really? Nadal won his ninth Roland Garros this season—a truly remarkable feat—but otherwise his body did not give him a break.
The Kids are Alright
A pair of 17-year-old were awarded wild cards into last week’s Swiss Indoor Basel, and while both performed excellently, it was Croatian Borna Coric who nearly brought the house down. A poised, athletic and intense player, Coric notched his first top 20 win against Ernests Gulbis in the first round then proceeded to take down Rafael Nadal in the quarterfinals for—obviously!—the biggest win of his career and his first semifinal appearance on the ATP Tour. He fell to David Goffin in three sets in the semis, but by the end of his run, it became pretty clear that Coric will be one to watch, and watch closely in 2014.
You know Uncle Toni was paying attention (sadly, the guy picking his nose was not)…
Kudos to Germany’s Alexander Zverev, also 17, as well. He nearly took down Grigor Dimitrov in the first round at Basel, pushing him to three sets with some fantastic tennis.
The Hot Shots
So many gems in Singapore!
Grigor, naturally, was doing what Grigor does in Basel…
Borna, again (love saying that)!
Roger that!
Top Tweets
1. Hey, you wanna go have some pizza?
2. He tried.
3. Awesome screen cap!
The Week on Instagram, Because Why Not?
Quote of the Week
Maria Sharapova, on how she found the motivation to defeat Agnieszka Radwanska after she knew that she was eliminated from the semifinals after dropping the second set:
“I wanted to end this tournament on a win. I'm very proud. It would've been very easy for me to get down on myself. I had so many chances being up, having match point, and just saying you know what? I've lost two matches. Just so easy to just let it go. I didn't, and that's what I wanted for myself today. I got the job done. I know I'm not moving forward, but I'm proud of that effort and to finish the year off on this way.”
Parents of the Week
Novak Djokovic and his wife Jelena, who became pround parents of a baby boy named Stefan on October 21:
Movers and Shakers
Borna Coric cracks the top 100 at 93 in the world. Jack Sock rises to a career-high of 44 in the world, and David Goffin, thanks to his final run in Basel, climbs to a career-high 22.
Congrats to Serena Williams, who claimed the WTA’s year-end ranking for a second straight season. Williams becomes the first WTA player to hold the No. 1 slot wire to wire since Steffi Graf in ’96.
Congrats to Cara Black and Sania Mirza for taking the doubles title at the WTA Finals.