Women’s Latest Tennis Update

Written by: Staff on 20th November 2013

Women's Latest Tennis Update

epa03587424 Serena Willams of the USA serves against Maria Sharapova of Russia during their semi final match of the WTA Qatar Ladies Open tennis tournament at the International Khalifa Tennis Complex in Doha, Qatar, 16 February 2013. EPA/STRINGER |

****** EXECUTIVE SUMMARY ******

* No Tour-level matches played

****** TODAY’S WOMEN’S NEWS ******

No WTA Matches Played

During the off-season, we don’t generally do Movers reports, because there isn’t that much movement to report. But we will note that Jana Cepelova this week rose 17 places, to #76. This is the result of winning the Dubai $75K Challenger, at which she was the #1 seed. Our biggest downward mover was Alison van Uytvanck, who lost her Top Hundred ranking just a week after gaining it, slipping from #100 to #110. So she’s borderline for the Australian Open after all, but we would guess she’ll make it.

The WTA officially announced on Monday what had long been expected: That Elena Baltacha, the former British #1 whose career was blighted by disease and other physical problems, has retired.

****** TODAY’S FEATURE ******

Premiering Now, Part 2

In our last statistical column, we looked at the players with the most wins at Premier events, find that Serena Williams had by far the most (71, compared to 46 for the next player on the list). But what about losses? There is a certain perverse accomplishment in having a lot of Premier losses; it at least means you’re getting into Premier events! So we thought we’d look at the players with the most Premier losses.

More than 150 players had at least two losses at Premier events. We initially thought we’d take the Top Hundred in terms of losses. (Or is that Bottom Hundred?) That’s this list, which we ended up extending slightly:

1. Lepchenko: 22

1. Vinci: 22

3. Errani: 21

3. Kvitova: 21

3. Suarez Navarro: 21

3. Wozniacki: 21

7. Cibulkova: 20

7. Goerges: 20

7. Jankovic: 20

7. Kerber: 20

11. Hantuchova: 19

11. A. Radwanska: 19

11. Safarova: 19

11. Stosur: 19

15. Ivanovic: 18

15. Pavlyuchenkova: 18

15. U. Radwanska: 18

15. Stephens: 18

19. Cirstea: 17

19. Wickmayer: 17

19. Zakopalova: 17

22. Cornet: 16

22. Hsieh: 16

22. Kuznetsova: 16

22. Makarova: 16

22. Rybarikova: 16

27. Kirilenko: 15

27. Mladenovic: 15

27. Robson: 15

27. Schiavone: 15

27. Vesnina: 15

32. Barthel: 14

32. Flipkens: 14

32. McHale: 14

32. Li: 14

32. Voegele: 14

32. Zheng: 14

38. Halep: 13

38. Keys: 13

38. Lisicki: 13

38. Morita: 13

38. Niculescu: 13

38. Paszek: 13

38. Peng: 13

38. Pennetta: 13

38. Petrova: 13

47. Arvidsson: 12

47. Hampton: 12

47. Jovanovski: 12

47. Mattek-Sands: 12

47. Puig: 12

52. Beck: 11

52. Bertens: 11

52. Pironkova: 11

52. Tsurenko: 11

56. Bartoli: 10

56. Burdette: 10

56. Dominguez Lino: 10

56. Erakovic: 10

56. Govortsova: 10

56. Medina Garrigues: 10

56. Scheepers: 10

56. Tatishvili: 10

64. Azarenka: 9

64. Bouchard: 9

64. Davis: 9

64. Oprandi: 9

64. Putintseva: 9

64. Soler Espinosa: 9

64. Svitolina: 9

64. V. Williams: 9

72. Cepelova: 8

72. Date-Krumm: 8

72. Hlavackova: 8

72. Shvedova: 8

72. Voskoboeva: 8

77. Garcia: 7

77. Giorgi: 7

77. Hradecka: 7

77. King: 7

77. Knapp: 7

77. Lucic-Baronu: 7

77. Martic: 7

77. Muguruza: 7

77. Oudin: 7

77. Petkovic: 7

77. Puchkova: 7

77. Rus: 7

77. Sharapova: 7

77. Vandeweghe: 7

77. Watson: 7

92. Begu: 6

92. Doi: 6

92. Johansson: 6

92. Kanepi: 6

92. Larsson: 6

92. Minella: 6

92. Parmentier: 6

92. Ka. Pliskova: 6

92. Torro-Flor: 6

101. Babos: 5

101. Cadantu: 5

101. Dellacqua: 5

101. Dushevina: 5

101. Dulgheru: 5

101. Hercog: 5

101. Larcher de Brito: 5

101. Manasieva: 5

101. Pervak: 5

101. Razzano: 5

101. Vekic: 5

101. Wozniak: 5

113. Arruabarrena: 4

113. Baltacha: 4

113. Czink: 4

113. Kleybanova: 4

113. Koehler: 4

113. Min: 4

113. Peer: 4

113. Kr. Pliskova: 4

113. Riske: 4

113. Rodionova: 4

113. Rogowska: 4

113. Schmiedlova: 4

113. S. Williams: 4

113. Tomljanovic: 4

If you managed to slog all the way through that list, you’ll know why we wanted to list the full Top Hundred: You had to get all the way down to co-#113 to get to Serena Williams, who — despite playing all top-tier events — had only four Premier losses.

But the top of the list is interesting. The two players with the most losses are Lepchenko and Vinci. Lepchenko is easy to understand: She started the year ranked high and collapsed — so she got into a lot of Premier events and proceeded to lose. Vinci just plain played a lot.

But it’s the #3-#6 players who are most intriguing; this group includes Errani, Kvitova, and Wozniacki. All Top Ten players. And all in the Top Six in Premier losses. It just goes to show that, on the WTA, losses don’t count. Not at optional events, anyway.

We had frankly expected Agnieszka Radwanska, who was #2 in Premier wins, to be near the top in losses also, but she was a mere co-#11. Of course, the other players in the WTA Top Five stood much lower: Serena was #113 in losses, Azarenka #64, Li #32, and Sharapova #77. So Radwanska was clearly the “losingest” player in the Top Five. There is probably a lesson in there somewhere, but we’re not sure what.

KEYWORDS: Premier Losses Women

******** THIS WEEK IN TENNIS ********

THIS WEEK ON THE WTA:

Challengers Only

NEXT WEEK ON THE WTA:

Challengers Only

************ STATS AND FACTS ************

No WTA Events This Week

******** SCORES ********

No WTA Events This Week

Topics: 10sballs, Ana Ivanovic, Angelique, Caroline Wozniacki, Elena Baltacha, Kerber, Maria Kirilenko, Petra Kvitova, Roberta Vinci, Samantha Stosur, Sara Errani, Serena Williams, Sloane Stephens, Sports, Tennis, Tennis News, Wta