CELEBRITY FRIDAY: Serena Williams Turns 38!

Although she doesn't celebrate birthdays due to her professed Jehovah's Witness faith, Serena Williams birthday is this week (Thursday September 26) when she turned 38 years old. She is one of only four women who have been ranked in the Top 10 over the age of 38: Venus Williams (38 years and 29 days), Martina Navratilova (38 years and 75 days), and Billie Jean King (39 years 322 days).

Amazingly, for the second year in a row, Serena reached 2 consecutive major finals (Wimbledon and U.S. Open) and lost both of them without winning a set. Regardless, I still have confidence that she will eventually win major title number 24.

Happy Birthday, G.O.A.T.!

2019 WIMBLEDON: Women's Final Preview (and Semifinals Review)

Serena Williams (USA) [11] vs Simona Halep (ROU) [7]

This is my prediction post for the 2019 Wimbledon women's final. Last year I did not predict that Angie Kerber would defeat Serena Williams. This year I correctly predicted the results of  2 of 2 men's semifinals, 2 of 2 women's semifinals, 4 of 4 men's quarterfinals and 3 of 4 women's quarterfinals. 

WOMEN'S SEMIFINALS REVIEW

Serena Williams (USA) [11] d. Barbora Strycova (CZE) 6-1 6-2.  This was a devastating performance by Serena; she had 28 winners to just 10 errors. Although there was much ink spilled about how Strycova was replacing Roberta Vinci as the oldest first-time major semifinalist and what this might portend for Serena's chances to win this match. However, by playing first-strike tennis Serena was able to rush her opponent and not give her a chance to deploy her net-based skills and tricky spins Strycova also did not player her best. She attempted multiple drop shots that failed to clear her side of the net and suffered double faults at inopportune times. For Serena it was an awe-inspiring performance.

Simona Halep (ROU) [7] d. Elina Svitolina (UKR) [8] 6-1 6-3. Each of the first two games of this match were extremely high quality and were tense, 10-minute affairs that featured over 10 deuces between them, and multiple break points and game points and very long rallies. But Halep won both of these games and did not look back from there as she served out the set quickly. In the second set Svitolina put up much more fight but once the first break happened Halep took advantage and never looked back.

WOMEN'S FINAL PREVIEW

Despite now holding the record for the oldest woman to appear in a major final, Serena has to be considered the overwhelming favorite to win her 24th major title. Serena has a dominant 9-1 head-to-head record against Simona Halep. But this is the third time in a year when she had an opportunity to win her 24th major title and in the first two (2018 Wimbledon loss to Angie Kerber and 2018 US Open loss to Naomi Osaka) Serena was unable to play anywhere close to her best tennis. Most observers attributed these results to Serena's nervousness and tension caused by finally confirming her G.O.A.T status by winning her 24th title. I agree that the emotional/mental side was part of the reason she lost those matches (especially the  US Open final) but also she never looked like she was moving as well as she has in the past and her serve was not as effective as it has been in this tournament. With all that said, I think Halep has a non-trivial chance to win the match. The courts are playing more like a clay court and Halep is a better mover than Serena on clay (or slow) courts. She will get a lot of balls back in play and this may frustrate Serena if she has to hit 2 or 4 winners to win the point. But I think Serena will be mentally prepared and physically to do so. MadProfessah's pick: Serena.  

2019 WIMBLEDON: Women's Semifinals Preview (and Predictions)

Here are my predictions for the women's semifinals at the 2019 Wimbledon Championships.  This year I correctly predicted the results of  4 of 4 men's quarterfinals and 3 of 4 women's quarterfinals. Last year I correctly predicted 1 of 2 men's semifinals and 2 of 2 women's semifinals.

Serena Williams (USA) [11] vs. Johanna Konta (GBR) [19] Barbora Strycova (CZE).  This is definitely not the semifinal Britain expected (or wanted) to see. British #1 Jo Konta led 4-1 in the first set against the crafty Strycova but somehow managed to lose her lead and then a tight tiebreak (7-5). For some reason, instead of buckling down and summoning another come-from-behind victory like she had done against two major champions, Konta unravelled completely and lost in straight sets 7-6(5) 6-1. Meanwhile Serena was locked in the most exciting match of the tournament so far with fellow American Alison Riske, who had taken out the reigning World #1 in straight sets the round before and used her burgeoning confidence and grass-suitable game to go toe-to-toe with the G.O.A.T. The result was a highly entertaining (and high quality) 6-4 4-6 6-3 win for Serena. The 23-time major champion is trying to reach her 32nd major final by playing in her 37th major semifinal and become the oldest woman in the modern era to reach a major final (older than Martina Navratilova was in the 1994 Wimbledon final by 33 days!) She faces Strycova who is now the oldest player to become a first-time Grand Slam semifinalist (older than Roberta Vinci who did it at the 2015 US Open). These records are a bit ominous for Serena but the good news is that she has played 3 matches (6 sets) against her semifinal opponent and has won all of them. I expect that streak to continue on Thursday. PREDICTION: Williams.

Elina Svitolina (UKR) [8] vs. Simona Halep (ROU) [7]. Elina Svitolina and Simona Halep are beginning to develop an interesting rivalry, which Svitolina leads 4-3 (but Halep won their last meeting earlier this year in Doha). Halep is playing in her 7th major semifinal (4-2 record) while Svitolina has finally made her first one here at Wimbledo this year. Halep definitely has  experience on her side while Svitolina has current form on hers. This semifinal will probably be the more exciting of the two matches and I would be surprised if it does not go to three sets. When matches are this tight unless there is some external factor (like an overly lopsided head-to-head) I usually go with the person who I think is the better "athlete." In this case, I think that is the Romanian former #1 and major champion. PREDICTION: Halep. 

QUEER QUOTE: Navratilova Calls Court "Racist" & "Homophobe"

18-time major champion Martina Navratilova is calling out 22-major champion Margaret Court for her rampant homophobia and arguably racist beliefs by writing an open letter calling for a renaming of 'Margaret Court Arena" at the Australian Open in Melbourne. Last week, the 74-year-old Court announced that she was going to boycott Qantas, her country's national airline, because the company had endorsed marriage equality, which is still not the law of the land in Australia, although a heated public policy debate  about the issue has been ongoing for years.

This excerpt from Navratilova's letter is today's Queer Quote:

It is now clear exactly who Court is: an amazing tennis player, and a racist and a homophobe. Her vitriol is not just an opinion. She is actively trying to keep LGBT people from getting equal rights (note to Court: we are human beings, too). She is demonising trans kids and trans adults everywhere. 

And now, linking LGBT to Nazis, communists, the devil? This is not OK. This is in fact sick and it is dangerous. Kids will suffer more because of this continuous bashing and stigmatising of our LGBT community.

Interestingly, the debate over Margaret Court's comments is prompting tennis players to publicly declare where they stand on LGBT equality. ATP World #1 Andy Murray made this remark at the French open this week:

"I don't see why anyone has a problem with two people who love each other getting married. If it's two men, two women, that's great. I don't see why it should matter. It's not anyone else's business."

Now that's a winner, Andy!

CELEBRITY FRIDAY: Angelique Kerber Becomes WTA World #1

Angelique Kerber will become the World #1 female tennis player on Monday September 12 when the new WTA rankings are released. Because Serena Williams gained no ranking points in this year's U.S. Open, losing in the semifinals two years in a row, while Kerber improved her 3rd round defeat and is in the final, where she will play Karolina Pliskova on Saturday night.

Kerber is the second German player, after the great Steffi Graf to top the WTA rankings and only the third left-handed player (Martina Navratilova and Monica Seles) to do so. She ended Serena's streak of consecutive weeks at #1 at 186, which is exactly the same record number of weeks Graf had achieved.

Of the 24 people who have held the WTA ranking, Kerber, 28, becomes the oldest player to debut at #1. The record for most weeks at #1 is still held by Graf with 377, second is Navratilova with 332 and Wiilliams is 3rd with 306. I am fairly sure Serena can surpass Navratilova's record, but can she get past Steffi's? Time will tell.

2016 WIMBLEDON: Serena Beats Kerber To Win 22nd Major Title (7th Wimbledon)

As I expected, Serena Williams defeated Angelique Kerber 7-5 6-3 to win her 7th Wimbledon title and 22nd major title, tying Steffi Graf's open era record, and cementing her status as the greatest female tennis player of all time. (Technically, Margaret Court has 24 major singles titles, but only 11 of those were in the open era which began in 1968 and 7 of her 13 titles won before 1968 were in her home country of Australia, when not every top player competed in the Australian Open.)

Serena's win today means that she is 22-6 (79%) in major finals; it took her 346 grans slam matches to win 22 major titles, while it took Graf 303. Serena has won 304 grand slam matches (which is second behind Martina Navratilova's 306 grand slam match wins). At age 34, Serena is the oldest major champion ever, Graf won none of her titles over the age of 30, while Serena has won 10 (so far!) Serena won her first title at the age of 17 in 1999, but Graf won 9 of her titles before her 20th birthday.

WOMEN'S FINAL REVIEW

The match was a high quality affair, with both women hitting far more winners than errors. The key weapon in he match was Serena's serve. She had 13 aces, and only faced one break point (which she saved with an ace). From the back of the court, Kerber was superior, and when they got into long rallies the German was often the victor. However, with Serena holding serve relatively easily, most of the action was in Kerber's service games, and eventually the breaks came (in the 12th game of the first set) and the 8th game of the second set. Serena served out the match with 3 unreturnable serves and on championship point hit a duck volley into the open court.

SHOCK! Serena Announces End of Her 2015 Season, Withdraws from China Open and WTA YEC

Serena Williams announced today that she was withdrawing from the China Open in Beijing and the WTA Year-End Championships in Singapore, bringing her 2015 professional tennis season to an early close. Despite losing her chance to accomplish the career grand slam by losing in the semifinals of the 2015 U.S. Open, the World #1 still won 3 major titles (Australia, Roland Garros and Wimbledon) winning 53 matches and losing 3 (to Roberta Vinci, Petra Kvitova and Belinda Bencic).

Serena's statement in full is below:

"It's no secret I've played injured most of the year -- whether it was my elbow, my knee, or, in the final moments after a certain match in Flushing, my heart. 

"I'm a fierce competitor. And I want to compete as well as I can, for as long as I can. So I am taking a proactive step and withdrawing from tournaments in Beijing and Singapore to properly address my health and take the time to heal. 

"This is a very difficult decision but one ultimately made because of the love of the game. 

"I plan to return to practicing and participating in exhibition matches later this year. And when I do, l will focus and focus and focus so I can continue my journey in this beautiful game."

Serena's withdrawal could cost her financially. She will lose $450,000 in potential bonus money because she did not end up playing the four mandatory Premier tournaments in 2015.

Even by ending her season in September Serena's list of accomplishments in 2015 is impressive.  She will end the year at World #1 for the fifth time in her career and next week, Serena will rise to #3 in the all-time list of most weeks at #1 (behind Steffi Graf at 377 and Martina Navratilova at 332) when she enjoys her 261st week at the top. She currently has such a huge lead at #1 that she will be #1 at least through the start of the 2016 Australia Open, where she will begin her quest to match Graf's gaudy total of 24 major career titles.

Mathematical Analysis of Women's Tennis Open-Era Challenges Serena's GOAT Status

On the eve of the start of her campaign to secure her 22nd major title, fourth of the year, Serena Williams's claim to the title of Greatest of all Time is being analyzed in an article at Five Thirty Eight titled "Serena Williams And The Difference Between All-Time Great And Greatest Of All Time." The article uses a particular mathematical technique called computing an ELO rating to assign a number (which varies over time) to the relative strength of players in head-to-head competition. The graph of all the major champions (Navratilova, Evert, Graf, Seles, Henin, Venus and Serena) are depicted.

From the graph it can be shown that Serena does not achieve the highest ELO rating of all time.

Elo definitely puts Williams in the top tier of female tennis players, but it tells a slightly more muted story than other measures. In particular: While Williams has been great, and has been doing unprecedented things for a player of her age, the relative weakness of the tier of players beneath her undermines her GOAT claim. 

The possibility that Serena has benefited from “weaker competition” is pretty conventional, and certainly debatable, but Elo gives us a useful way to examine exactly what that possibility means and what it implies.
For the unfamiliar, Elo is a rating method originally developed for chess, but eminently suitable for tennis. It’s very simple: Two players enter a match with Elo ratings based on their prior results. Elo uses their ratings to predict their head-to-head outcome, and then updates those ratings depending on the outcome.² It’s not without limitations: Elo makes every head-to-head prediction based solely on the two players’ ratings, which, in turn, are only affected by previous match results.

However, one aspect of Serena which makes her career unique is her 2nd peak in her ELO rating, which has happened at an unprecedented stage of her career, in her 30s. It also claims that Serena was at her best in 2003 (when she won her first Serena slam).

I understand that these results will disappoint some and encourage others but I appreciate the analysis in that bring at least a measure of quantitative rigor to a discussion which is essentially Qualitiative and subject in nature: Who is the Greatest of all Time? In my mind, the figures STILL indicate hat the answer is Serena Williams.

2015 FRENCH OPEN: Serena Wins 20th Major, 3rd FO Despite Losing Huge Lead Over Safarova

As I predicted, Serena Williams won her 20th major title, her 3rd French Open at Roland Garros, by defeating Lucie Safarova. The win means that she becomes the second player in the open era (after Steffi Graf) to win at least 20 major titles, and that she has won the last three major tournament. If she wins Wimbledon in a month, she will have her second Serena slam, and it is very possible she could complete the calendar Grand Slam by then winning the U.S. Open (for the fourth consecutive year).

However, the match itself was anything but predictable. After hitting the ball cleanly and powerfully for a full hour and wracking up an apparently insurmountable lead at 6-3, 4-1, 40-15 serving, Serena (as she herself put it) "choked." Safarova hit a screaming return winner at that point and Serena started putting the ball into the net and suddenly she couldn't buy a first serve and started double faulting. Okay, we thought, it's a good thing she's up an insurance break, surely she will right the ship when serving at 4-3? Nope! She double-faulted multiple times, including on break point and again Safarova held, to go up 5-4 in the second set. Seren played a strong service game and broke Safarova to serve for the championship, getting to 30-15 (2 points away!) before Safarova struck back again, hitting powerful ground strokes and earning weak replies to break Serena and take the match to a middle set tiebreak. Safarova had played 5 tiebreaks in the tournament to date and won all 5 of them, and the sixth was no different, with Serena continuing to have service difficulties, including a double fault and no aces.

Amazingly the drama was not complete, because Serena started the third set by unceremoniously losing her serve, which Safarova consolidated. Serena at this point was absolutely livid, and received a code violation for the numerous and vociferous expletives she hurled into the Paris sunshine. It must have worked because the American was able to rattle off 6 consecutive games (a repeat of what she did last Saturday when she was down 0-2 in the final set against Victoria Azarenka in the 3rd round) and won the match and the championship 6-3 6-7(3) 6-2.

Serena is now 31-1 for the year and is on a  21-match winning streak at the major tournaments dating back to the 2014 U.S. Open.

TENNIS TUESDAY: Djokovic Skips Madrid; Kerber On Clay Hot Streak; Isner Turns 30; Mauresmo On Maternity Leave

Kerber On 11-Match Winning Streak On Clay; Keys, Sharapova, Wozniacki In Her Wake
Building on her win on the green clay of Charleston a few weeks by coming back from 1-4 down in the final set to defeat Madison Keys, German Angelique Kerber has been absolutely on fire during the clay season so far. She defeated the reigning French Open champion on Thursday and then continued her winning ways by coming back from 3-5 down in the final against Caroline Wozniacki to ride the hometown crowd support to snatch the Stuttgart title. This is her 5th career title and she had to defeat two Top 5 players to do it, which she did in two 3-set thrillers.

John Isner Turns 30
John Isner had a big birthday on Sunday, turning thirty years old. The Top American has not made as much an impact in the majors as Andy Roddick but in this era of men's tennis it is very possible for 30-somethings to have success on the tour and hoping that continues with Isner in the next few years.

Djokovic Says Enough Is Enough; Gives Someone Else A Chance To Win Something!
After winning the first three Masters series titles of 2015, World #1 Novak Djokovic has decided to withdraw from next week's Madrid Masters. Since he also didn't play last year he is not losing any ranking points. I'm sure the rest of men's field thanks Nole and wishes him a peaceful week!

Mauresmo Is Pregnant And Taking Time Off From Coaching Andy Murray 
Andy Murray has made an important statement for women's equality in sports by naming former WTA #1 Amelie Mauresmo as his coach. Mauresmo, 35,  announced recently that she is expecting her first child in August, and while she is on maternity leave (an issue which has never come up before for the coach of an elite men's player) she will be replaced (temporarily) by Jonas Bjorkman.

Wawrinka Getting Divorced And Nobody's Happy
Stan Wawrinka had previously separated from his wife (ostensibly in order to focus on his tennis) but later reconciled well before he won his first Grand Slam title in Australia last year. Recently he announced that the two are definitely getting divorced and his wife issued a statement of her own clarifying her side of the story. His results have been spotty in 2015, with the former World #3 now down to #9 in the latest rankings.

Serena Officially 3rd Longest Stay At #1 (Behind Steffi and Martina)
Serena Williams has now been World #1 for 114 weeks in a row, which is third all-time, behind Martina Navratilova's 156 weeks (3 solid years!!) and Steffi Graf's 186 weeks and just 1 week ahead of Chris Evert's 113 weeks. Her current streak is exactly twice as long as her longest previous hold on the #1 ranking at 57 weeks. She has been #1 on 6 different occasions in her career. In her current #1 streak only 8 players have beaten her, but bizarrely Alize Cornet has done so three times!

2015 MIAMI: Serena Wins 66th Title, 8th In Miami, Now On 21-Match Win Streak

As I predicted, World #1 Serena Williams defeated Carla Suarez Navarro to win her record 8th Miami Open title, the 66th of her storied career. The score was 6-2 6-0, but really there was only something like 15-20 minutes of tension because after 5 consecutive holds of serve, Serena broke to go up 4-2 and never looked back, winning the next 8 consecutive games to close out the match and remains officially undefeated in 2015 (18-0) and was won the last 21 she played.  It should be noted that she defaulted her Indian wells semifinals against Simona Halep two weeks ago. Her last official loss on the WTA Tour was 22 matches ago in the round-robin of the Year End Championships in Singapore, when she lost 6-0 6-2 to Halep.

This is the first tournament Serena now won eight times, including the last three years (2015, 2014, 2013, 2008, 2007, 2004, 2003, 2002). Her win also insures that she will extend her reign at #1 to go past 113 weeks and jump past Chris Evert to the #3 position for most consecutive weeks at #1 (Martina Navratilova is at 156 and Steffi Graf is at 186). She is at #4 on the WTA Tour titles list (Martina at 167, Evert at 157, Graf at 110).

2015 AUS OPEN: Serena Beats Sharapova For 16th Consecutive Time To Win 19th Major

As I predicted yesterday, Serena Williams defeated Maria Sharapova for the 16th match in a row to win her 6th Australian Open and 19th grand slam title, 6-3 7-6(5). This win means that Serena is now only 3 behind Steffi Graf's 22 majors and improves to an incredible 19-4 in major finals and an undefeated 6-0 in Australian Open finals.

For Sharapova, the #2 player in the world it must be frustrating to have had so many opportunities and so many losses in the last 11 years. However, on the bright side, this was one of the Russian's better performances against Serena. It was only the third tiebreak set in 42 sets the two have played against each other, and one of the very few where Serena has failed to break her serve, despite having multiple opportunities, including one at 4-5 that was a Championship point! 

In the second set, Serena started hitting more errors, but also, more aces. In the first set she hit 3 aces and 3 doubles faults, but in the second set she had only one double fault and hit 15 aces (including one on her third championship point, the first on her own serve). At some point in the future (although probably not in a major final) Sharapova will reverse the streak (I think). Another thing Sharapova can look forward to is that she is 5 years younger than Serena and can possibly have success when Serena either exits the stage or her game starts to deteriorate with age.

As for now, though, Serena looks well placed to reach or exceed Graf's 22 majors and possibly even Margaret Court's 24!

TENNIS TUESDAY: Serena WTA's Player of The Year (Again!), ATP Year-End Rankings

The year end rankings of the ATP were released yesterday and there are some interesting stories buried in the Top 10:

1. Novak Djokovic (SRB) – No. 1 for the third time in four years, finishing in the Top 3 for the eighth straight year
2. Roger Federer (SUI) – Oldest year-end No. 2 (at 33 years of age), finishing in the Top 10 for the 13th straight year (tying Ivan Lendl).Andre Agassi and Jimmy Connors (16) hold the record for most Top 10 finishes
3. Rafael Nadal (ESP) – A three-time year-end No. 1 and the third left-hander – after Connors (16) and John McEnroe (10) – to finish in the Top 10 for 10 straight years
4. Stan Wawrinka (SUI) – Finished in the Top 10 for the second season in a row at a year-end high of No. 4 after winning his first Grand Slam title (Australian Open), first ATP World Tour Masters 1000 (Monte-Carlo Rolex Masters) and first Davis Cup trophy for Switzerland
5. Kei Nishikori (JPN) – First Asian to finish in the Top 10 and the first player to debut in the year-end Top 5 since Andy Murray in 2008. He was also the first Asian male to reach a Grand Slam final, at the US Open (l. to Cilic), and first Asian player to compete at the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals (his semi-final match against Djokovic, on 15 November, was watched by 10 million viewers on TV Asahi between 11 p.m. and 1 a.m. local time in Japan)
6. Andy Murray (GBR) – Seventh consecutive finish in the Top 6
7. Tomas Berdych (CZE) – Fifth consecutive finish in the Top 10
8. Milos Raonic (CAN) – First from his country and first player born in the 1990s to finish in the Top 10.
9. Marin Cilic (CRO) – Made the biggest jump from year-end 2013 ranking of No. 37
10. David Ferrer (ESP) – Second-oldest Top 10 finisher (at 32 years of age), ending the year in the Top 10 for the fifth year in a row and sixth time overall.

On the WTA side, World #1 Serna Williams has been named Player of the Year for the 6th time in her career and the third consecutive year. She won the honor in 2002, 2008, 2009, 2012, 2013 and 2014. Only Steffi Graf (8 times) and Martina Navratilova (7 times) have been named Player of the Year more times, and these three are the only ones to have ever won it more than twice. Interestingly, Serena has only ended the Year End Rankings at #1 four times (2002, 2009, 2013 and 2014). It will be interesting to see what 2015 bring for Serena, and her sister Venus Williams, who ended the year at a very respectable #18 in the world.e

2014 WTA YEC: Serena Routs Halep To Win 3rd Consecutive YEC; 5th Of Career

Serena Williams got quick revenge for her bad loss earlier in the week to Simona Halep by winning the 2014 WTA Year-Ending Championship final 6-3 6-0. Serena's win means that she has won the year-ending championship three consecutive years and five times in her career (2001 d. Lindsay Davenport (walkover), 2009 d. Venus Williams, 2012 d. Maria Sharapova, 2013 d. Li Na and 2014). She is now tied with Stefi Graf with the number of year-ending championships but is behind Martina Navratilova's eight. She also matches Monica Seles' feat of winning three consecutive year-ending championships. It is Serena's 64th career title.

Serena ends the year 52-8, a surprisingly large number of losses for the World #1, including an improbable 3 losses this year to Alize Cornet, but notably none to World #2 Maria Sharapova (whom she has not lost to in over a decade) or last year's rival Victoria Azarenka.

However, the most important aspect of her tennis year was that she won another major, her 18th at the US Open in September, tying her with Chris Evert and Navratilova. 2015 will be all about breaking that tie and trying to reach Graf's seemingly unsurmountable 22 majors before she retires.

2014 US OPEN: Serena Wins 18th Major, 3rd Consecutive U.S. Open

As I predicted, Serena Williams defeated her good friend Caroline Wozniacki in the final of the 2014 U.S. Open, winning her 18th major championship, 3rd consecutive in New York City. Serena won in dominant fashion, 6-3 6-3, despite a nervous first set that saw her barely making more than 1-in-3 first serves and featured 5 breaks of serve in the first 6 games. After that, both players settled down, and once Serena's service percentage went up, she concentrated on maintaining her early break advantage in the final set by serving powerfully and pushing her opponent all over the court,, eventually ending the match on another service break two points after a thrilling 26-stroke rally that the American also won.

Serena's win was the 5th time that she has won a major title without dropping a set--in fact no player won more than 3 games in a single set with her all tournament long. Winning 18 majors means that she will go down in history as a legendary American tennis player, currently tied with the great Chris Evert and Martina Navratilova and could possibly catch up to Steffi Graf's 22 before she retires. At age 32 (just a few weeks before her 33rd birthday) Serena is the oldest major champion since Navratilova won her ninth(!) Wimbledon title at age 33 in 1990.

Currently ranked #1 and threatening to play until at least the Rio Olympics in 2016, Serena has a decent chance of reaching at least 20 titles.

2014 US OPEN: Women's Final Preview

Here are my predictions for the women's final at the 2014 US Open. This year I have correctly predicted 2 of 2 women's semifinals, 2 of 4 women's quarterfinals, 0 of 2 men's semifinals and 3 of 4 men's quarterfinals at the U.S. Open. Last year I correctly predicted Serena Williams would defeat Victoria Azarenka in the 2013 U.S. Open women's final.

WHAT HAPPENED: Women's Semifinal Review

Serena Williams (USA) [1] d. Ekaterina Makarova (RUS) [17] 6-1 6-3. Serena Williams got revenge for her loss to Makarova in the doubles draw by opening up a can of whoops a** in their singles match. Serena had lost to the lefty Russian in a major before so she took this match very serious and was never in any danger of losing, enjoying hefty leads in both sets. Serena ended the match with 24 winners to only 15 unforced errors.

Caroline Wozniacki (DEN) [10] d. Shuai Peng (CHN) 7-6(1) 4-3 (ret.). As expected, Wozniacki was able to reach her second career major final by outlasting Peng Shuai. However, what was unexpected was the near-farcical manner in which the match concluded when Peng collapsed on the court due to heat exhaustion after leaving the court for 10 minutes prior where she was assessed and treated by medical professionals. The match ended with a retirement from Peng and soon after she was removed from the court in wheelchair!

WHAT WILL HAPPEN: Women's Final Preview

Serena Williams (USA) [1] vs Caroline Wozniacki (DEN) [10].  Serena boasts an 8-1 head-to-head over her gal pal Caro and has to be highly favored to finally win the 18th major title of her career. The main problem for Wozniacki is that she has no weapon that  Serena has to fear. Wozniacki's best chance to win the match (which certainly is possible) is if she is able to absorb and redirect her opponent's power and ultimately frustrate Serena into making too many unforced errors. 
This is unlikely to happen because Serena does not have to bring out her overwhelming weaponry to overpower Caroline. 

It is significant that the two have met twice in the last three weeks and both matches were tight, tough 3-set affairs decided late in the 3rd set. It is also true, that mentally, more pressure will be on Serena, because she will be expected to win this match. For Wozniacki no one ever thought she would reach another major final, so just by reaching the final she has exceeded expectations. However, as Billie Jean King says, "Pressure is a privilege" and I'm confident Serena will get through the pressure situation to win her 3rd consecutive title in New York, and record 18th overall, tying the mark of Martina Navratilova and Chris Evert. PREDICTION: Williams.

TENNIS TUESDAY: Serena,Sveta,Raonic Win Titles; Ivanovic Returns To Top 10

Serena Williams came back from 1-5 down in the first set of the final of the Bank of the West Classic at Stanford University against Angelique Kerber, saved two set points and won the match 7-6(1) 6-3 to win her 4th title of 2014. It was both competitors fourth final appearance of the year but Serena has not lost a final and Kerber is yet to win one. Serena, playing in her first tournament back after her disastrous French Open and Wimbledon results, confirmed her #1 ranking, which she has now held for an astonishing 200 weeks in her career. Only Steffi Graf (377), Martina Navratilova (332), Chris Evert (260) and Martina Hingis (209) have held the top spot longer. Serena now has 61 career titles, having won earlier this year in Rome (d. Errani), Miami (d. Na) and Brisbane (d. Azarenka).

Also wining titles this weekend were Sveta Kuznetova, who won her first title in four years by outlasting tough competitor Karumi Nara 6-3 4-6 6-4 in the final of the Citi Open in Washington, DC. It was vindication for the 2-time major champion, who led 3-0 in the second set. It was just Kuznetsova's 14th career title. Last year, I attended the men's final of the D.C. tournament, seeing John Isner lose to Juan Martin del Potro in three sets. This year it was an all-Canadian affair, with Milos Raonic defeating Vasek Pospisil 6-1 6-4.

Raonic is now at #6 in the world, just two slots above fellow "Young Gun" Grigor Dimitrov who moves up to World #8. The Top 5 was unchanged with injured del Potro making his way out of the Top10.

For the women, Ana Ivanovic returns to the Top 10 after a 4-year absence, while Serena celebrates her  200th week at #1. Next week, 2014 French Open finalist Simona Halep will rise to #2 because Li Na has withdrawn from the entire summer hard court season (Canada, Cincinnati and New York) with an injury.

2014 WIMBLEDON: Kvitova Dominates Bouchard To Win 2nd Major Title

As I predicted yesterday, Petra Kvitova of the Czech Republic won her second major title by defeating Genie Bouchard in the 2014 Wimbledon final. However, what was unexpected was the lopsided nature of the match: 6-3 6-0 (the fewest amount of games lost by the champion since Steffi Graf beat Monica Seles in the Wimbledon final in 1992). Kvitova just dominated her opponent in all aspects of the game: 28 winners to just 12 unforced winners in 15 games played and winning 6 of 13 breakpoints while serving at 68%. Bouchard hit 8 winners to just 4 unforced winners but the outcome of the match was not really in her hands due to Kvitova's stellar performance.

Kvitova will now be ranked #4 in the World on Monday while Bouchard will be World #7. By winning her second major final, Kvitova joins others like Lindsay Davenport, Monica Seles and Jennifer Capriati who won their first two major finals played. Kvitova clearly plays her best tennis at Wimbledon: in the last 5 years she has won 2 titles here (reaching the quarterfinals or better) and lost two Serena Williams in 2010 and 2012 when the American won the title instead.

Interestingly, the toughest match that Kvitova had in the entire two weeks this year was her amazing 3-set match against 5-time Wimbledon champion Venus Williams where she won 5-7 7-7(5) 7-5. For Bouchard, this year in every last major tournament she has lost to the eventual winner, which is a very good sign for the 20-year old, especially considering she has only played six major tournaments in her career and just two years ago she won the Junior Wimbledon title.

It will be very interesting to see how the rest of their years will go. With something not right with Serena, there is an opening at the top of women's tennis right now. Will one of these players occupy the void?

2013 WTA YEC: Serena vs Li Na In Final

As expected, Serena Williams continued her recent undefeated streak by outlasting Jelena Jankovic 6-4 2-6 6-4 in the semifinals of the TEB BNP Paribas WTA Championships in Istanbul. Williams will face Li Na, who defeated the 2011 WTA Championships winner Petra Kvitova 6-4 6-2. With her win, Li will reach world #3 for the first time, becoming the highest ranked player of Asian descent, male or female.

Serena was clearly physically hampered in her match with Jankovic, who is one of the rare players on tour to have beaten Serena four times and matches up well with her. Oddly, both players ended the match with an equal number of winners and errors, 40 each for Williams and 22 each for Jankovic. But somehow Serena was able to gut out her record 77th win of the year.

In the final, Serena has a 9-1 head-to-head advantage over Li Na, although the two have played some relatively close matches this year that were decided by a single service break or less per set. With Serena ailing and Li Na ascendant, this is probably the Chinese player's best chance to score  a big win over Serena.

However, Serena is playing in her 6th year-end championship (having won 3 times before, including last year) while Li Na is playing in her first. Serena is playing for history, since only Chris Evert (4), Steffi Graf (6) and Martina Navratilova (8) have won more than four year-end championships.

MadProfessah's prediction: Serena.

2013 US OPEN: Serena Defeats Vika To Win 17th Major Title

As I predicted earlier today, World #1 Serena Williams outlasted World #2 Victoria Azarenka to win her 17th major title and 5th U.S. Open women's singles championship. The final score was 7-5 6-7(6) 6-1 and at 2 hours and 45 minutes is the longest women's final since 1980, when duration records started being kept.

The win puts her major title total at seventeen, just one behind fellow all-time great American players Martina Navratilova and Chris Evert, and resulted in one-day payday of $3.6 million, $2.6 million for winning the US Open women's singles championship itself and an extra $1 million bonus for winning the US Open Series. That is the single largest payday in women's tennis history and is larger than the career earnings of every single active American male player.

In addition, Serena now has 67 wins and 4 losses (2 to her final opponent  Azarenka) on the year, including 9 WTA tour titles to add to her career haul of 55. The win also cements her World #1 ranking and assures she will end the year as #1, having won two majors in a calendar year for the 6th time and defending a major title for only the 4th time.