Shelby Rogers

Emma Navarro Keeps Winning, Taylor Townsend Surprises On A Rain-Soaked Day In Charleston

April 4, 2024 by Admin

BY JAMES BECK

Emma Navarro played her usual highly concentrated, spectacular game to advance to the round of 16, and Shelby Rogers played her heart out only to lose.

But what about Taylor Townsend!

Townsend upended former Australian Open champion Sofia Kenin in the first round, then on Wednesday night she upset 15^th-ranked Ekaterina Alexandrova, 7-5, 6-2, to earn a berth in the round of 16 of the Credit One Charleston Open.

VETERAN TOWNSEND HAS AZARENKA NEXT

Although now just 27 years old, Townsend has been around for awhile, even making the round of 16 of the 2019 U.S. Open and round of 32 of the 2014 French Open.

And she’s had her share of success in the ITF tournaments held over the years at LTP Tennis in Mount Pleasant.

She has used her powerful left-handed strokes well enough to spend much of her time ranked in the top 100 over the last decade.

But Townsend could run into serious opposition against two-time former Australian Open champion Victoria Azarenka in the round of 16. The 34-year-old Azarenka is talented enough to maybe even win this Credit One Charleston Open.

NAVARRO WINS ON HOME COURT

Navarro, currently ranked 20^th in the world and seeded 10^th, was near-perfect in a 6-1, 6-1 victory over qualifier Katie Volynets on Wednesday.

Volynets must have been quite surprised by the dominance of Navarro all over the court and in almost every situation in the round of 32 match. Back in the final of the 2019 USTA Billie Jean King girls 18 national championships at the Barnes Tennis Center in San Diego, Navarro was no match for the then 17-year-old Volynets. Navarro spent most of that match trying to chase down Volynets’ shots to the corners.

A COOL WIN OVER OLD RIVAL

How things have changed in the last five years for these two players. Volynets it now ranked 110^th in the world, while Navarro looks like the new star of the WTA Tour. She certainly had that look in Wednesday night’s green-clay bout at the Charleston Open.

It was a knockout from the start for the 22-year-old Navarro, a former NCAA national collegiate champion and the daughter of Credit One Charleston Open owner Ben Navarro.

“I thought I had played her twice, but apparently I was 0 and 3 against her. So definitely (it was) good to get the win tonight,” Navarro said.

“It was cool to be able to get the win on that (stadium) court, my first win on center court here at Credit One.”

KUDERMETOVA ELIMINATES ROGERS

Rogers, Charleston’s other WTA Tour standout, wasn’t so fortunate against 19^th-ranked Veronika Kudermetova of Russia, the 2021 winner of this event.

Kudermetova used a big serve and solid ground strokes to stay ahead of Rogers most of the match. Rogers rallied to force a first-set tiebreaker and also rallied late in the second set to keep pressure on Kudermetova, but couldn’t overtake her in a 7-6 (5), 6-4 win by Kudermetova.

“I had a lot of chances tonight . . . very untimely double fault is frustrating,” Rogers said.

““I thought I did some good stuff out there. It’s just you gotta win the right points at the right time, I guess.”

RAINY DAY CREATES TOUGH SCHEDULE

Having to play her first two matches at night probably didn’t help Rogers’ cause, especially after having to wait around all day Wednesday for an all-day rain to pass.

“Today was a long day, for sure, but everybody is dealing with it. We’re used to adapting to different things every week,” Rogers said.

“Tennis is hard. The scheduling is hard. It’s hard to prepare and know when to eat, you know, all those little things. When you’re away from the game, you gotta like figure out how to do all that again. And it can be tricky.”

Prior to her 6-1, 6-1 win over Claire Liu on Monday night, the 31-year-old Rogers had scored only one other victory since undergoing a second knee surgery last July.

“The knee, you know, there’s still good days, bad days,” Rogers said. “I gotta do a little work there still. But overall it’s all right.”

—

James Beck was the 2003 winner of the USTA National Media Award for print media. A 1995 MBA graduate of The Citadel, he can be reached at Jamesbecktennis@gmail.com.

Shelby Rogers Looks Even Better Than Her Old Self

April 2, 2024 by Admin

BY JAMES BECK

Is Shelby Rogers really back?

It certainly looked that way for the hometown girl during Monday’s opening round of the Credit One Charleston Open. Rogers was superb on the green clay. She’s never hit better than in her 6-1, 6-1 win over fellow American Claire Liu.

It wasn’t that the 23-year-old Liu played that badly. Rogers simply played that well. She was at the top of her game.

Yes, at 31 years old, and now a traveling married woman.

All of the injuries haven’t stopped Rogers from trying to be the best tennis player she can be.

She was only in the main draw because of a wild card that came her way. The fact she’s a Charleston girl and grew up on the courts of the old Family Circle Cup complex on Daniel Island and the ones at nearby LTP Mount Pleasant didn’t hurt.

Rogers had notched her first win on the WTA Tour in 11 months just a couple of weeks earlier in Miami. Last July, she had undergone a second knee surgery.

Ranked as high as No. 30 in the world just two years ago and having been a quarterfinalist at both the 2020 U.S. Open and the 2016 French Open, she could have been down in the dumps these days about her tennis game.

But she’s not. She’s chipper and articulate, and a prize catch for any interview session.

“I get nervous before every match I play, but tonight I actually felt really excited. I felt free out there. I wasn’t trying to put too many expectations on myself. I just wanted to really soak up the moment and try to enjoy competing as best as I could, fight for every point, try to play the way that I like to play and how I play my best tennis,” she said.

“I think something I’ve really tried to focus on this comeback, the last few matches I played is smiling a little bit more on the court.”

She’s now always looking on the bright side of her tennis career. And Charleston has been a huge part of it.

“I think without this tournament here, I would not have been exposed to professional women’s tennis,” she said after her win over Liu.

“I was able to have the chance to be a ball girl (for WTA Tour events on Daniel Island). I was able to be up close and personal with professional tennis players, have conversations with them, see how they train, see how they practice.

“It made it more tangible for me. It wasn’t something I just watched on TV and it seemed so far away from me. It doesn’t feel like it’s a dream that could never come true.”

Once the diamond of Charleston tennis, Rogers has had to move over bit for the emergence of young Emma Navarro, who has so quickly charged up to the 20^th spot on the WTA Tour rankings.

“It’s so great to see, again, Emma coming through. I’ve always said I never wanted to be the best player from here because then we’re doing something wrong. Right?

“We want to keep getting better and better and pushing and seeing more players come out of here . . . it makes my heart really happy.”

—

James Beck was the 2003 winner of the USTA National Media Award for print media. A 1995 MBA graduate of The Citadel, he can be reached at Jamesbecktennis@gmail.com.

Rafael Nadal Withdrawal Rocks First Week of Roland Garros – Mondays with Bob Greene

May 30, 2016 by Admin

Mondays with Bob Greene

STARS

French Open (first week)

Kiki Bertens beat third-seeded Angelique Kerber 6-2 3-6 6-3

Karin Knapp beat fifth-seeded Victoria Azarenka 6-3 6-7 (6) 4-0 retired

Richard Gasquet beat fifth-seeded Kei Nishikori 6-4 6-2 4-6 6-2

Ernests Gulbis beat sixth-seeded Jo-Wilfried Tsonga 2-5 retired

Kateryna Bondarenko beat seventh-seeded Roberta Vinci 6-1 6-3

Albert Ramos-Vinolas beat eighth-seeded Milos Ranoic 6-2 6-4 6-4

Shelby Rogers beat 10^th-seeded Petra Kvitova 6-0 6-7 (3) 6-0

Marco Trungelliti beat 10^th-seeded Marin Cilic 7-6 (4) 3-6 6-4 6-2

SAYING

“It’s not broken, but if I keep playing, something will break in the next couple of days.” – Rafael Nadal, withdrawing from Roland Garros with a left wrist injury.

“Today was pretty, you know, stressful.” – Andy Murray, after finishing his two-day, five-set victory over Radek Stepanek.

“This is an experience, something to do, it’s a dream.” – Kristina Mladenovic, before playing Serena Williams.

“Roland Garros announced my retirement, but I didn’t. So you can stand up and go back to work in the office because I didn’t say that. I will announce when I want to stop.” – Francesca Schiavone, who received a standing ovation from the French Open crowd following her first-round loss when it was announced she was retiring.

“At the risk of sounding really arrogant, I kind of think that I can play like the Top 10 players. I feel like I can play with anybody. I just have to be consistent and not freak out all the time.” – Naomi Osaka, after losing to her first Top 10 opponent, Simona Halep, in a third-round match.

“Frankly, I did not expect such a match. A double bagel. It hurts. Since I started tennis I have never experienced such a situation. It does hurt a lot. Maybe I didn’t prepare well the French Open. So basically I’m reaping the bad fruit that have sowed.” – Tessah Andrianjafitrimo, a French teenager who was crushed 6-0 6-0 in her French Open debut by China’s Qiang Wang.

“It’s the only time when being old is OK.” – Ivo Karlovic, after becoming the oldest man since Jimmy Connors to reach the third round of a Grand Slam tournament.

“I felt a lot of pressure and kind of this expectation if you win a match it’s normal, and if you lose it’s a disaster.” – Eugene Bouchard, explaining her life last year.

“I just want to consult and be part of his team and add a little bit to his quest on the grass. He is a guy who can win majors and one of five or six who can win Wimbledon. This is exciting.” – John McEnroe, announcing he will join the coaching team of Milos Raonic.

“I was sort of just looking for another set of eyes to be a bit more efficient on grass. … At the end of the day he loves tennis. He’s going to see matches. I’m sure he’ll have some quality advice to give.” – Milos Raonic, on John McEnroe joining his coaching team.

SPANISH SHOCK

In a shocking development, nine-time champion Rafael Nadal withdrew from Roland Garros after his second-round win. “I have to retire from the tournament because of problem with my (left) wrist that I have had for a couple of weeks,” the left-hander said. “Yesterday I played with an injection in my wrist. … I did an MRI and an echography and the results were not positive. … I came here to win the tournament, and that means playing five more matches. According to the doctor, that would be impossible, as there is a 100 percent chance something will break.” It was just the third time in his career that Nadal retired before a match. He withdrew ahead of the 2004 Estoril quarterfinals and the 2012 Miami semifinals. Nadal said he does not need immediate surgery. “For the moment I need a couple of weeks of immobilization,” he said. Then we’re going to do the treatment, and we’ll hope that the treatment works well. … I hope to have a fast recovery.”

SUPRISING SHELBY

Shelby Rogers was the second-to-last player to receive an automatic spot in the French Open women’s singles main draw. Now she’s one of the last eight remaining in the year’s second Grand Slam tournament. Ranked 108^th in the world going into the two-week French Open, the 23-year-old Rogers began her bid by coming from behind to stop 17^th-seeded Karolina Pliskova of the Czech Republic 3-6 6-4 6-3. Her next victim was Russian Elena Vesnina, who fell 6-4 6-2. In the third round the American shocked two-time Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova, the tournament’s 10^th seed, 6-0 6-7 6-0. Her 6-3 6-4 win over 25^th-seeded Irina-Camelia Begu of Romina gained Rogers a spot in the quarterfinals. “I always dreamed it would happen, but I’m not sure I thought it could,” Rogers told the crowd after her latest win.

SETTING RECORDS

Both Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal continue their assault on the record book. His second-round triumph over Belgian qualifier Steve Darcis was Djokovic’s 50^th French Open match win, the only Grand Slam tournament he has never won. Nadal became just the eighth man to win 200 Grand Slam tournament matches when he beat Argentina’s Facundo Bagnis before withdrawing from Roland Garros with a wrist injury. Roger Federer, missing from the French Open this year, tops the all-time list with 302 Grand Slam tournament match wins.

SHOULDERED ASIDE

Angelique Kerber is quickly discovering that being a Grand Slam tournament champion puts a big bullseye on your uniform. Kiki Bertens overpowered the third-seeded German 6-2 3-6 6-3 in a first-round encounter. Kerber also had a shoulder injury that prevented her from making much impact against her hard-hitting Dutch opponent. “That was for sure not my best tennis,” said Kerber, who took a medical timeout in the third set. “I tried to fight, but she played good then in the important moments.”

SO WHO’S RETIRED?

When Italy’s Francesca Schiavone lost her first-round match, tournament officials announced the 2010 French Open champion was retiring and had played her final match at Roland Garros. Whoa! Not so fast. The retirement was news to Schiavone. “I will announce when I want to stop,” Schiavone said. The false news may explain the great reception the crowd gave the Italian after her 6-2 6-4 loss to Frenchwoman Kristina Mladenovic. “When I finished, everybody stood up. I say, I don’t know if it’s respect. I love, I appreciate this situation,” Schiavone said. “But I think that everybody thought this because Roland Garros announced it. It was not the last one for me.” Besides capturing the title on the red clay courts in Paris, Schiavone, who turns 36 in June, was runner-up in 2011.

STOPPED BY INJURY

Kerber wasn’t the only former major winner who failed to make it past the first round at Roland Garros. Fifth-seeded Victoria Azarenka retired from her opening round match against Italy’s Karin Knapp with a knee injury. The former world number one and two-time Australian Open champion was trailing 6-3 6-7 (6) 4-0 when she called it quits. Azarenka hurt her knee midway through the second set and required a medical timeout. She saved a match point in the tiebreak, when she underwent a second session of treatment to no avail.

STRING BROKEN

Winning a fourth consecutive Grand Slam tournament is no longer possibly for Martini Hingis and Sania Mirza. The top-ranked women’s doubles team fell to the Czech Republic’s Barbora Krejcikova and Katerina Siniakova 6-3 6-2 in the third round. Hingis and Mirza – fondly called “Santini” – had won the last three Grand Slam events: Wimbledon and the US and Australian Opens. “We played bad and they played good, as simple as that,” Mirza said.

SINGLES ONLY

Playing two doubles matches in one day was too much for Venus and Serena Williams. The American sisters completed a second-round match, besting Vitalia Diatchenko and Galina Voskoboeva in a battle that was halted the day before because of darkness. Then, Venus and Serena took on Kiki Bertens of the Netherlands and Swede Johanna Larsson. The sisters lost 6-3 6-3, giving them time now to concentrate on singles.

SENT HOME

When Marcos Baghdatis posted a 7-5 6-4 6-1 first-round victory over Luxembourg’s Gilles Muller, the 30-year-old Cypriot had reached a milestone. It was his 300^th career match win. Baghdatis, who lost in the second round to Frenchman Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, was a finalist at the Australian Open in 2006, the year he reached his highest ranking, eighth in the world.

SECRET’S OUT

Canada’s Eugenie Bouchard says he has battled an eating disorder while attempting to get back on the winning track. Two years ago, the 22-year-old reached the semifinals of the Australian and French Opens and the final at Wimbledon. Last year saw her career dive into a tailspin with first-round exits at both Paris and Wimbledon. He got worse at the US Open when she suffered a freak fall in the showers and was able to play just one more match until the start of this season. “Before matches I was very nervous and definitely had trouble eating,” she said. “I just felt like it would come right back up. It’s a difficulty I went through. And not just before matches. It happened to me at other meals as well.” Denying she had been trying to purposely lose weight to sharpen and tone her body image, Bouchard said even now she has to force herself to eat. “I was just so stressed I was burning calories even more than I normally would, so it was hard to kind of intake enough to keep my weight up or even gain weight which was the goal, to become stronger,” Bouchard said. “I feel like I learned from it. I know now that even if I feel sick I have to force food down my throat. I feel like I’ve come out stronger and able to deal with a problem if it ever comes back to me again.”

SILENT BAN?

American Varvara Lepchenko refuses to say if she served a “silent ban” for testing positive for meldonium, the drug which has sidelined Maria Sharapova. Born in Uzbekistan, Lepchenko didn’t play on the WTA Tour from February to May this year. Russian physio Anatoly Glebov alleges the reason was that Lepchenko had tested positive for 1mg of meldonium. Since that small amount is below the limit set by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA), Lepchenko supposedly was allowed to return to competition in Rome. During a post-match news conference after she lost to Ekaterina Makarova in a French Open first-round match, Lepchenko was asked eight times to address the allegations. Eight times she refused. “At the moment I have to comment on any of this,” she said. “I’m here just to answer tennis questions. If you have any questions about my match, I would gladly answer them. But otherwise, I just have no comments.”

SHOWPIECE ROOF

Court Philippe Chatrier, the main stadium at the French Open, will have a roof by 2020, according to French Open chief Guy Forget. The roof would have helped this year. Only 10 of 32 matches were completed in a little over four hours of play on Sunday, and rain played havoc with the schedule for most of the first week. The other three Grand Slam tournaments have stadiums with covered courts. “I think it’s a question of respect to the crowd, to the people, to you guys from the media and the players that are waiting hours and hours in the lounges, in the locker rooms,” said Forget, a former player. “We wait and wait and wait and wait. While Wimbledon, Melbourne and New York now have the roof, you know, we’ll have to wait until 2020.”

STUPIDITY SQUARE

Bernard Tomic admits he shouldn’t have boasted about how much money he has. An apology, however, is a completely different thing. After the 23-year-old Australian held his racquet the wrong way to face a match point in Madrid, Tomic told a news conference: “I don’t care about that match point. Would you care if you were 23 and worth other $10 million?” In Paris, Tomic said: “Yeah, I shouldn’t have said that, but that’s in the past. That was my fault. You got me there. I was just in that moment. I just said that and I was talking to my friends about some things, so it just sort of came out.” Then he added: “I don’t really care. Maybe if I had 100, that’s different.” Tomic lost his second-round match to another youngster, Borna Coric of Croatia, in four sets.

SENIOR

Shades of Jimmy Connors. When Ivo Karlovic beat Australian Jordan Thompson, he became the oldest man to reach the third round of a Grand Slam tournament since Connors pulled off the same trick 25 years ago. The 37-year-old Karlovic slammed 41 aces in his 6-7 (2) 6-3 7-6 (3) 6-7 (4) 12-10 win over Thompson, a 22-year-old wild card. “It’s unbelievable because this year I was struggling with the injury, with the knee,” the 6-foot-11 (2.11m) Croatian said. Connors was 38 when he reached the third round at the French and US Opens in 1991. He went on to reach the semifinals at Flushing Meadows that year. Karlovic’s run in Paris ended in a straight-set loss to second-seeded Andy Murray.

SHARAPOVA TO OLYMPICS?

Although she’s currently serving a provisional ban after testing positive for the drug meldonium, Maria Sharapova will be selected for the Russian tennis team competing in the Rio Olympics this summer. She hasn’t played since the Australian Open in January. The Olympic rosters are due June 6. It is believed the ruling on the drug charges will be made in June. Also named to the Russian Olympic team were Svetlana Kuznetsova, Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, Daria Kasatkina and Ekaterina Makarova.

SET TO COACH?

Milos Raonic is adding John McEnroe to his coaching team. The Canadian, who was upset by Spaniard Albert Ramos-Vinolas at Roland Garros, is hoping McEnroe can help him with his grass-court game at Wimbledon. McEnroe told Eurosport that he is going to be a consultant for Raonic at the next Grand Slam tournament next month. Now 57, McEnroe won Wimbledon three times. Raonic is currently coached by 1998 French Open winner Carlos Moya and Riccardo Piatti. “Milos … is a guy who can win majors and one of five or six who can win Wimbledon,” McEnroe said.

SURFING

Paris: www.rolandgarros.com/en_FR/index.html

Marseille: www.tennisclubmarseille.fr

Prostejov: www.czech-open.cz/

Bol: http://bolopen.com/en/home/

Stuttgart: http://tennis-weissenhof.de/

‘s-Hertogenbosch: http://ricoh-open.nl/

Caltanissetta: www.atpcaltanissetta.com/

Nottingham: www.lta.org.uk/major-events/aegon-open-nottingham/

TOURNAMENTS THIS WEEK

MEN

French Open, Roland Garros, Paris, France, clay (second week)