On Monday, Maria Sharapova had a big announcement. There was speculation about retirement, surgery, and just about anything you could think of. But, about the one thing I didn't hear people talking about was a failed drug test. And a failed drug test was exactly what Maria Sharapova announced had occurred at her press conference.
If we are to believe Maria, she was taking the now-banned substance named meldonium for the previous ten years. She claims that her family doctor had recommended this medicine, if we are to call it that, to her because she was getting flu often, had an irregular EKG, and also has diabetes, along with the all-important family history of diabetes.
Now, I'm not going to get into the speculation about how long Sharapova actually needed to take it, how it wasn't FDA approved, nor whether her true intentions of taking the substance were good enough. The ITF will do their investigation, and as of now, Sharapova is intentions are innocent until proven guilty in my mind, and this is coming from a huge Serena fan. I trust that Maria wouldn't blatantly disrespect the rules and that she would realize that she can beat the vast majority of the tour without trying to artificially enhance her performance. And maybe this is naive of me, but Maria does not seem like someone who would purposefully disrespect the game in this manner.
With that said, let me get to the brunt of my argument. I recently saw on Twitter that talked about how Maria had "guts"for holding a press conference to admit she failed a drug test. And someone else on Twitter reminded me that I read yesterday that in Serena Williams' press conference yesterday, she essentially said that Maria was very courageous for coming out and admitting that she was using meldonium. Now, do I think that Serena really believes that? Of course not, but I have to take her word for it and believe what she says and analyze based on her words alone.
But, let's be honest here, with all due respect to Serena, Sharapova's press conference was anything but courageous. At the end of the day, she broke the rules, and that's all that matters. As Sharapova stated, she was sent something linking to a list of banned substances. However, as she stated, no one on her team even bothered to look at this list, knowing full-and-well she was taking this meldonium medicine. If you are putting any sort of supplement or medicine in your body, even if you think it's approved, it would still be a good idea to check the new banned substances list. And so, I don't think her negligence should be excused just because she holds a press conference on short notice for herself.
But, beyond that, let's just take a look at how Sharapova benefits from holding a press conference to say she tested positive for meldonium. First off, Sharapova gets to spin the narrative in her direction by holding this "courageous" press conference to announce her illegal drug use. Before anything else gets out into the media, Sharapova can insert words and phrases such as "family doctor", "diabetes", "legal until this year", and "taking full responsibility" into our mind to try to put her in the best light and lessen the damage done to her image by getting out ahead of the ITF's announcement.
And I'm not saying this was a stupid thing for her to do. She has, effectively I may add, made it almost seem like she is a victim of the ITF's covert effort to trick players into taking drugs that were snuck onto the banned list. However, I think this was a necessity for her and not an act of courage or something worthy of praise. Maria Sharapova broke the rules out of negligence and put something in her body that shouldn't have been there. There is no way around this fact.
I'd expect any athlete who broke the rules to own up to it. And whether or not Sharapova called a press conference for herself or not should have any effect on how she is treated because it shouldn't matter that Maria has the resources surrounding her to be able to hold a press conference for herself, a video or a statement released the day before would have been fine, and it wouldn't have caused so much unnecessary speculation. Even a conference call with reporters on Sunday, giving them the ability to ask questions, would have been perfectly fine.
Look, I understand why Maria Sharapova got ahead of the curve and personally announced that she had taken meldonium. However, to call her "courageous", or say that she has "guts" for doing it, is a slap in the face to everyone who has actually been courageous or had guts over their lifetimes. You want courageous? A fireman rushing into a burning building is courageous. You want guts? Dr. Martin Luther King's efforts to stop segregation took guts.
So, should Maria Sharapova be praised for personally announcing her illegal meldonium use? I don't think so.
Wednesday, March 9, 2016
Saturday, March 5, 2016
Teliana Pereira's Road To The Top 50 And The WTA's Scheduling Problem
*Note: when I talk about rankings, I mean the live rankings when I wrote this article
Earlier this week, I wrote an article blasting Inigo Cervantes for gaming the system and somehow getting a Top 60 ranking on the strength of a bunch of ATP Challenger tournaments on clay, along with offering the ATP solutions to solve the problem. Well, today I want to turn my attention to a similar problem in the WTA. But, I don't want to totally blame Teliana Pereira for her ranking, as at least she is playing WTA Tour-level tournaments, but I want to turn the attention to the mechanisms behind Pereira's ranking and how the WTA enables players to do what has done.
Teliana Pereira, from Brazil, is currently number 50 in the world and she had what, on the surface, seems like a very successful 2015 season. She won two international-level titles last season, in Bogota and Florianapolis, and shot up the rankings, even getting as high 43 in the world in the second half of last year. Pereira seems to a WTA success story, finally breaking through in her mid to later 20's after struggling in her initial days on the WTA Tour. So, what's the problem? Let's dive into the two tournaments she won, for starters.
Let's start by examining her tournament win in Bogota. Pereira started the tournament off by playing the four seed, Francesca Schiavone. Despite being a former French Open champion, Schiavone has really fallen off over the past few years, seemingly playing for a love of the game more than anything else. Schiavone's current ranking is inflated by Florianapolis, but she is currently number 100 in the world, certainly not a world-beater at the moment. Pereira went on to beat qualifier Mandy Minella, currently number 168 in the world, and just like that, she was into the Quarterfinals without having to beat a player currently ranked in the 90s.
Teliana's Quarterfinals match once again showed the weak nature of this tournament, as she took on the present 116 in the world, Lordes Dominguez Lino. Finally in the Semifinals she took on a player with a current ranking in the double digits when she played Elina Svitolina. And while Svitolina is presently number 16 in the world, it is important to note that all of Svitolina's titles have been at the international level and that her best surface is on hard court, not clay (Pereira's best surface is clay). So, while it was a nice win for Teliana, the match was much closer than it originally seemed. And finally, in the Final, remember, this is the Final of a WTA-level tournament, Teliana took on WTA current number 71 Yaroslava Shvedova, winning that match, and the title. This meant that she won the title playing one match against someone currently in the Top 70 and two matches against a player who's live rankings is in the double digits.
Now, let's turn our attention to Florianapolis, because a similar story unfolded there. Teliana played her first match in that tournament (a tight three-setter) against Maria Irigoyen. Irigoyen is number 225 in the live rankings, and mind you that she didn't even have to qualify for this tournament, that is how weak this field is. Pereria then took on Risa Ozaki, the current number 125 in the world to reach the Quarterfinals. Yes, Teliana Pereira got to the Quarterfinals of a tournament without having to beat a player who's live ranking is better than 125 in the world. This is making the Bogota tournament look like Premier Mandatory event! (Not really, but you get the point.)
In the Quarterfinals, Teliana took on the seven seed, Laura Siegemund, presently number 79. Then, in the semis, Pereira played world number 92 (in live rankings), Anastasija Sevastova, meaning that Pereira reached the Final without taking on a player in the Top 75, this unbelievably occurring in a WTA Tour-level tournament. In the Final, Pereira finally played a Top 50 player when she battled current world number 41 Annika Beck. But this meant that Pereira, somehow, some way, won a WTA Title without ever beating someone in the Top 40 and only playing a single Top 75 player. If that isn't a farce, then I don't know what is.
But, if Teliana Pereira was doing great in the majors, then perhaps we can look back that a lot of her points were coming from tournaments with such poor fields and perhaps she deserves her Top 50 ranking, after all. But, this is VERY far from the case. In fact, at the Australian Open, Wimbledon, and US Open, she has never even made the Second Round! This shows an extreme one-dimensional nature to her game, much like Cervantes, and is really a huge discredit to her.
But, her best surface is clay, so she must have made a run to the second week of the French Open at some point, right? Wrong. Teliana has only reached the Second Round at Roland Garros, a pathetic mark for someone who has two WTA-level titles on the dirt. And since winning Florianapolis, Pereira has won a combined nine games in straight set losses to Ekaterina Makarova at the US Open (2015) and Monica Niculescu at the Australian Open this year. While both players are higher ranked than Teliana, just how far she was from winning was disturbing.
So, now that we have established that Pereira's ranking is ridiculous, let's take a look at how the WTA schedules (look specifically at 2015, when Teliana won these titles) allows such "glitch" (as we'll call it) occurs. In regards to Bogota, it's just out of the way when looking at the geographic flow of the WTA calendar. The week before Bogota was a WTA Premier event in Charleston (United States) and an International event, indoor hard court, in Katowice, Poland. Bogota is then the only event in the next week, as many of the top players move from the United States to Europe for the following week's Premier event in Stuttgart and the rest of the clay season following (Madrid is only a couple weeks after Stuttgart). Therefore, if we look at things from a "flow" perception, players are moving east to Europe and Northern Africa (for Marrakech) following Charleston, if they're not already in Europe for Katowice or to practice for the clay court events across the Atlantic. Going south to Bogota just seems out of the way and certainly not a popular option for WTA players.
Florianapolis is also poorly scheduled by the WTA, at least last year (for more info: http://www.tennisforum.com/12-general-messages/907769-wta-florianopolis-goes-deluxe-moves-5*-resort-beach-clay.html) when it was on clay instead of hard. The problem was that, while everyone was making the transition from the western hemisphere, the vast majority of the tour was also moving from clay courts to hard courts as players started preparations for the US Open. In fact, this was the last WTA-level event on clay for the rest of the season. And guess what the last clay event in the western hemisphere was on the WTA Tour? If you guessed Bogota, you would be correct. Clearly this was against the flow of the WTA calendar, as the tour was clearly moving to hard courts.
The WTA, therefore, needs to really look at rescheduling these events (at least last year for Florianapolis) in order to get better fields and better go with the flow of the calendar. There is no reason why Bogota should be where it is on the schedule, as it is just asking for a weak field and "point stealing" as I'm going to call it. I would suggest perhaps moving Bogota to the week before the clay event in Rio De Janeiro to provide at least some continuity in the fact that both events are clay and in South America. As for Florianapolis, as long as it is on a hard court, I believe it's position on the WTA schedule is fine, but they should have really rescheduled it for, perhaps, the week following Rio last year in order to again, provide the continuity that seems to be not present in the scheduling for the WTA.
But, beyond all of this, I am left wondering why a player, like Teliana Pereira, would choose to go against and play in these events? And I am, unfortunately, left with one answer. Players like Pereira know that they can't compete in matches against most of the Top 50 (or even the Top 100, for that matter), so they decide that they would rather play ITF-level fields while picking up WTA-level points.
And, I give a player like Pereira credit. She played this situation perfectly. She got a couple WTA-level titles and got WTA-level points without playing, for the most part, WTA-level competition. Kudos to her. But, this situation is beyond a "point thief" like Teliana Pereira. This is a problem with the WTA schedule.
Earlier this week, I wrote an article blasting Inigo Cervantes for gaming the system and somehow getting a Top 60 ranking on the strength of a bunch of ATP Challenger tournaments on clay, along with offering the ATP solutions to solve the problem. Well, today I want to turn my attention to a similar problem in the WTA. But, I don't want to totally blame Teliana Pereira for her ranking, as at least she is playing WTA Tour-level tournaments, but I want to turn the attention to the mechanisms behind Pereira's ranking and how the WTA enables players to do what has done.
Teliana Pereira, from Brazil, is currently number 50 in the world and she had what, on the surface, seems like a very successful 2015 season. She won two international-level titles last season, in Bogota and Florianapolis, and shot up the rankings, even getting as high 43 in the world in the second half of last year. Pereira seems to a WTA success story, finally breaking through in her mid to later 20's after struggling in her initial days on the WTA Tour. So, what's the problem? Let's dive into the two tournaments she won, for starters.
Let's start by examining her tournament win in Bogota. Pereira started the tournament off by playing the four seed, Francesca Schiavone. Despite being a former French Open champion, Schiavone has really fallen off over the past few years, seemingly playing for a love of the game more than anything else. Schiavone's current ranking is inflated by Florianapolis, but she is currently number 100 in the world, certainly not a world-beater at the moment. Pereira went on to beat qualifier Mandy Minella, currently number 168 in the world, and just like that, she was into the Quarterfinals without having to beat a player currently ranked in the 90s.
Teliana's Quarterfinals match once again showed the weak nature of this tournament, as she took on the present 116 in the world, Lordes Dominguez Lino. Finally in the Semifinals she took on a player with a current ranking in the double digits when she played Elina Svitolina. And while Svitolina is presently number 16 in the world, it is important to note that all of Svitolina's titles have been at the international level and that her best surface is on hard court, not clay (Pereira's best surface is clay). So, while it was a nice win for Teliana, the match was much closer than it originally seemed. And finally, in the Final, remember, this is the Final of a WTA-level tournament, Teliana took on WTA current number 71 Yaroslava Shvedova, winning that match, and the title. This meant that she won the title playing one match against someone currently in the Top 70 and two matches against a player who's live rankings is in the double digits.
Now, let's turn our attention to Florianapolis, because a similar story unfolded there. Teliana played her first match in that tournament (a tight three-setter) against Maria Irigoyen. Irigoyen is number 225 in the live rankings, and mind you that she didn't even have to qualify for this tournament, that is how weak this field is. Pereria then took on Risa Ozaki, the current number 125 in the world to reach the Quarterfinals. Yes, Teliana Pereira got to the Quarterfinals of a tournament without having to beat a player who's live ranking is better than 125 in the world. This is making the Bogota tournament look like Premier Mandatory event! (Not really, but you get the point.)
In the Quarterfinals, Teliana took on the seven seed, Laura Siegemund, presently number 79. Then, in the semis, Pereira played world number 92 (in live rankings), Anastasija Sevastova, meaning that Pereira reached the Final without taking on a player in the Top 75, this unbelievably occurring in a WTA Tour-level tournament. In the Final, Pereira finally played a Top 50 player when she battled current world number 41 Annika Beck. But this meant that Pereira, somehow, some way, won a WTA Title without ever beating someone in the Top 40 and only playing a single Top 75 player. If that isn't a farce, then I don't know what is.
But, if Teliana Pereira was doing great in the majors, then perhaps we can look back that a lot of her points were coming from tournaments with such poor fields and perhaps she deserves her Top 50 ranking, after all. But, this is VERY far from the case. In fact, at the Australian Open, Wimbledon, and US Open, she has never even made the Second Round! This shows an extreme one-dimensional nature to her game, much like Cervantes, and is really a huge discredit to her.
But, her best surface is clay, so she must have made a run to the second week of the French Open at some point, right? Wrong. Teliana has only reached the Second Round at Roland Garros, a pathetic mark for someone who has two WTA-level titles on the dirt. And since winning Florianapolis, Pereira has won a combined nine games in straight set losses to Ekaterina Makarova at the US Open (2015) and Monica Niculescu at the Australian Open this year. While both players are higher ranked than Teliana, just how far she was from winning was disturbing.
So, now that we have established that Pereira's ranking is ridiculous, let's take a look at how the WTA schedules (look specifically at 2015, when Teliana won these titles) allows such "glitch" (as we'll call it) occurs. In regards to Bogota, it's just out of the way when looking at the geographic flow of the WTA calendar. The week before Bogota was a WTA Premier event in Charleston (United States) and an International event, indoor hard court, in Katowice, Poland. Bogota is then the only event in the next week, as many of the top players move from the United States to Europe for the following week's Premier event in Stuttgart and the rest of the clay season following (Madrid is only a couple weeks after Stuttgart). Therefore, if we look at things from a "flow" perception, players are moving east to Europe and Northern Africa (for Marrakech) following Charleston, if they're not already in Europe for Katowice or to practice for the clay court events across the Atlantic. Going south to Bogota just seems out of the way and certainly not a popular option for WTA players.
Florianapolis is also poorly scheduled by the WTA, at least last year (for more info: http://www.tennisforum.com/12-general-messages/907769-wta-florianopolis-goes-deluxe-moves-5*-resort-beach-clay.html) when it was on clay instead of hard. The problem was that, while everyone was making the transition from the western hemisphere, the vast majority of the tour was also moving from clay courts to hard courts as players started preparations for the US Open. In fact, this was the last WTA-level event on clay for the rest of the season. And guess what the last clay event in the western hemisphere was on the WTA Tour? If you guessed Bogota, you would be correct. Clearly this was against the flow of the WTA calendar, as the tour was clearly moving to hard courts.
The WTA, therefore, needs to really look at rescheduling these events (at least last year for Florianapolis) in order to get better fields and better go with the flow of the calendar. There is no reason why Bogota should be where it is on the schedule, as it is just asking for a weak field and "point stealing" as I'm going to call it. I would suggest perhaps moving Bogota to the week before the clay event in Rio De Janeiro to provide at least some continuity in the fact that both events are clay and in South America. As for Florianapolis, as long as it is on a hard court, I believe it's position on the WTA schedule is fine, but they should have really rescheduled it for, perhaps, the week following Rio last year in order to again, provide the continuity that seems to be not present in the scheduling for the WTA.
But, beyond all of this, I am left wondering why a player, like Teliana Pereira, would choose to go against and play in these events? And I am, unfortunately, left with one answer. Players like Pereira know that they can't compete in matches against most of the Top 50 (or even the Top 100, for that matter), so they decide that they would rather play ITF-level fields while picking up WTA-level points.
And, I give a player like Pereira credit. She played this situation perfectly. She got a couple WTA-level titles and got WTA-level points without playing, for the most part, WTA-level competition. Kudos to her. But, this situation is beyond a "point thief" like Teliana Pereira. This is a problem with the WTA schedule.
Wednesday, March 2, 2016
In Appreciation of Sara Errani
Sara Errani is a very polarizing player on the WTA Tour, to say the least. The about her, win or lose, on places such as Tennis Forum and Twitter are vile and make her out to be a talentless bum. However, what she has achieved in career has been outstanding and she is and exemplifies how I expect a professional tennis player to act. So, after the biggest title of her career in Dubai a couple weeks back, and as she gets ready to begin the WTA event in Monterrey today, just days after competing in the Doha doubles Final, I take a look at Sara Errani's illustrious career and retort a lot of the complaints I hear about her game.
Sara, currently the number 15 in the world from Bologna, Italy, has had a career that the vast majority of the WTA would envy. Ranked as high as number 5 in the world during the 2013 season, Errani has constantly placed her in the upper-echelon of the women's game. And she has not done this by occasionally having a big run in a larger tournament, but rather, more impressively in my opinion, consistently fighting for points, week-in and week-out.
This is evidenced by Errani's 19 WTA singles finals and nine victories. And these victories are spread out over the years too, proving that Sara didn't just "peak" for a year or two and then disappear into the shadows. While four of her titles did come in 2012, Errani has also won as early in her career as 2008 and as "late" (considering she is 28) in her career as Dubai last month (which was also her first WTA Premier Title). Sustainability towards of the top of the women's game is Errani's forte, despite almost always facing players with much more powerful games than she has.
However, at least in my opinion, Errani's greatest singles accomplishment was a tournament in which she lost: the 2012 French Open. Sara Errani made the singles Final of this tournament, coming within one match of a major title. And while she ultimately lost to Maria Sharapova 6-3, 6-2, the way she reached the Final was very impressive.
In the First Round, Errani could have easily given in to Casey Dellacqua's powerful lefty game, but after losing the first set, fought back to win the match in three sets. And in the Third Round, facing former French Open champion Ana Ivanovic, Sara was steamrolled in the first set 6-1. However, Errani's fighting spirit willed her through this match, winning a tight second set and ultimately pulling out the match in the three sets. I believe this match to be a pivotal one in Sara's career, because it ultimately proved she was a contender and not just another journeywoman going through the motions in her career, proving that her game, and fierceness, would take her above much of the competition.
Errani went on to soundly defeat two-time major champion (and also a French Open winner) Svetlana Kuznetsova in straight sets, including a 6-0 first set before going on to beat Angelique Kerber in straight sets in the Quarterfinals (also now a major winner). Then, in the Semifinals, Errani withstood a strong push in the second set (6-1) by defending US Open champion, winning that match in three sets too before her loss to Sharapova in the Final. But, when you look at Errani's run to the Final of that French Open, it looks even better in hindsight than at the time, with Kerber also winning a major. In total, of the six matches she played to reach the Final, Sara took on four major champions and beat them all (before eventually losing to Sharapova). That's pretty darn impressive.
I don't want to limit Errani's accomplishments to only singles, however, as her doubles feats might even top what she's done in singles. On the doubles court, Sara has 25 titles and has been in a doubles final 39 times! This includes a 5-3 record in grand slam doubles finals with her former doubles partner Roberta Vinci! In fact, Errani has the "grand slam" in doubles, meaning that she has won all four major titles at least once, with a victory in Melbourne occurring twice! Errani has won at least one title in doubles every year, starting in 2008, through 2015. So, when we judge Errani's career, it would be foolish to only look at her singles game when making judgment, as her doubles career has been more than impressive.
So, what do the critics have to go on, knowing all that Sara has accomplished. Let's break it down. One major critique against her is that her serve is so weak, so somehow this shows how weak the WTA Tour is that opponents can't be destroying Errani every match, given her serve. And to that, I would respond with this: Yes, there are many club-level players who can serve harder than Errani, but doesn't that just show good Errani is defensively and on returning serve, rather than demonstrating a "weak era" or somehow a knock on Errani?
It's amazing watching Sara somehow get back neutral when an opponent whacks what seems to be a great shot on Errani's serve. And when Errani is broken, I like to say that a break of serve in an Errani match is a like a hold against anyone else because the breaks just occur so often. In just Sara's final three matches in Dubai, she broke her opponents' serve a total of 18 times in 7 sets! That is an insane number of breaks. In fact, against Madison Brengle in the Quarterfinals, she broke serve 10 times in the match! If Errani is able to stay near the top of the WTA with her serve, it says more about the other aspects of her game than her serve itself.
Another reason why Sara is picked on by critics is because they somehow don't like her attitude, the same attitude that I see as a major reason why Errani has had so much success of her career. Like I just said, Errani has a very poor serve, both on her first serve and her second serve. At five-foot five-inches, it is also very hard for her to generate much power on her groundstrokes either. So, Sara has to make up for this deficit in other ways. One way is through her actual play, using lots of top spin, her superb defensive abilities, net play, and ability to use the entire court to her advantage. However, these tactics would be greatly compromised if it weren't for her gritty attitude. Sara needs to be so tough on court in order to fully engage herself to play the game that got her near the top of the women's game.
You see, other players have the physical abilities to use their serve to get through a service game or blast a few groundstrokes when needed to get out of trouble. Errani, however, doesn't have these luxurious and needs to play with that chip on her shoulder, that realization that the opponent might be physically talented than her, but that she is mentally tougher, in order to gut through the matches. Because, if she played with this "all smiles", "pretty girl" attitude that it seems as if many of her detractors want to see from WTA players, there's no way she would pull out matches like in the Quarterfinals of Dubai, where she was down 4-1 and a double break in the third set. So, to suggest that someone doesn't like Sara's on-court demeanor is ridiculous, as it is a major reason why she has been so successful over the years.
And yet another criticism of Sara is that her game is only applicable to clay, that she is a "one-surface wonder". Now, while she is certainly not great on grass, she was golden-setted by Shvedova at Wimbledon after all in 2013 , Errani did reach the Third Round of Wimbledon in both 2010 and 2012. For someone who can "only play on clay" that's pretty good results at a grass court event and demonstrate that, despite Errani not being at the peak of her game on grass, she can still tough out matches on her worst surface.
Now, that might not convince the detractors, but Errani's results on hard courts might. For starters, Sara has won two WTA singles tournaments on hard court, including recently winning her only WTA Premier-level victory in Dubai. In total, Sara has made the Final of seven singles tournaments on hard courts. As mentioned earlier, Errani has won three doubles majors on hard courts, and ten hard court doubles tournaments in all (and has 17 doubles finals in total on hard courts). And if that isn't enough, Errani is 3-1 in grass court doubles finals.
I have yet to even mention Errani's superb performances in majors on hard courts. In Melbourne, Sara made the 2012 Quarterfinals and hung tough with Petra Kvitova in the Quarterfinals. And in New York, Errani made the Semifinals of the 2012 tournament, losing to the 2012 champion, Serena Williams, in the semis. Given all of her credentials off of hard, which I've just listed, I don't know how anyone could possibly conceive the argument that she is only good on clay courts. Is clay her best surface? Yes. But, is her game only effective on clay? Absolutely not. Errani has proven many, many times, that she can adapt her game to hard courts and even win some on grass.
And yet, with all of this said, detractors will still take swipes at the Errani. They moaned and groaned that Errani didn't have to play a tough opponent during her title run in Dubai, somehow "forgetting" that the reason why she didn't have to play higher ranked opponents is not because they weren't in the draw, the field was very strong, but rather, because they lost early, something totally out of Errani's control.
I think it's time everyone, whether they like her style of play or not, respect and appreciate Sara Errani for what she has accomplished during her time playing on the WTA Tour.
Sara, currently the number 15 in the world from Bologna, Italy, has had a career that the vast majority of the WTA would envy. Ranked as high as number 5 in the world during the 2013 season, Errani has constantly placed her in the upper-echelon of the women's game. And she has not done this by occasionally having a big run in a larger tournament, but rather, more impressively in my opinion, consistently fighting for points, week-in and week-out.
This is evidenced by Errani's 19 WTA singles finals and nine victories. And these victories are spread out over the years too, proving that Sara didn't just "peak" for a year or two and then disappear into the shadows. While four of her titles did come in 2012, Errani has also won as early in her career as 2008 and as "late" (considering she is 28) in her career as Dubai last month (which was also her first WTA Premier Title). Sustainability towards of the top of the women's game is Errani's forte, despite almost always facing players with much more powerful games than she has.
However, at least in my opinion, Errani's greatest singles accomplishment was a tournament in which she lost: the 2012 French Open. Sara Errani made the singles Final of this tournament, coming within one match of a major title. And while she ultimately lost to Maria Sharapova 6-3, 6-2, the way she reached the Final was very impressive.
In the First Round, Errani could have easily given in to Casey Dellacqua's powerful lefty game, but after losing the first set, fought back to win the match in three sets. And in the Third Round, facing former French Open champion Ana Ivanovic, Sara was steamrolled in the first set 6-1. However, Errani's fighting spirit willed her through this match, winning a tight second set and ultimately pulling out the match in the three sets. I believe this match to be a pivotal one in Sara's career, because it ultimately proved she was a contender and not just another journeywoman going through the motions in her career, proving that her game, and fierceness, would take her above much of the competition.
Errani went on to soundly defeat two-time major champion (and also a French Open winner) Svetlana Kuznetsova in straight sets, including a 6-0 first set before going on to beat Angelique Kerber in straight sets in the Quarterfinals (also now a major winner). Then, in the Semifinals, Errani withstood a strong push in the second set (6-1) by defending US Open champion, winning that match in three sets too before her loss to Sharapova in the Final. But, when you look at Errani's run to the Final of that French Open, it looks even better in hindsight than at the time, with Kerber also winning a major. In total, of the six matches she played to reach the Final, Sara took on four major champions and beat them all (before eventually losing to Sharapova). That's pretty darn impressive.
I don't want to limit Errani's accomplishments to only singles, however, as her doubles feats might even top what she's done in singles. On the doubles court, Sara has 25 titles and has been in a doubles final 39 times! This includes a 5-3 record in grand slam doubles finals with her former doubles partner Roberta Vinci! In fact, Errani has the "grand slam" in doubles, meaning that she has won all four major titles at least once, with a victory in Melbourne occurring twice! Errani has won at least one title in doubles every year, starting in 2008, through 2015. So, when we judge Errani's career, it would be foolish to only look at her singles game when making judgment, as her doubles career has been more than impressive.
So, what do the critics have to go on, knowing all that Sara has accomplished. Let's break it down. One major critique against her is that her serve is so weak, so somehow this shows how weak the WTA Tour is that opponents can't be destroying Errani every match, given her serve. And to that, I would respond with this: Yes, there are many club-level players who can serve harder than Errani, but doesn't that just show good Errani is defensively and on returning serve, rather than demonstrating a "weak era" or somehow a knock on Errani?
It's amazing watching Sara somehow get back neutral when an opponent whacks what seems to be a great shot on Errani's serve. And when Errani is broken, I like to say that a break of serve in an Errani match is a like a hold against anyone else because the breaks just occur so often. In just Sara's final three matches in Dubai, she broke her opponents' serve a total of 18 times in 7 sets! That is an insane number of breaks. In fact, against Madison Brengle in the Quarterfinals, she broke serve 10 times in the match! If Errani is able to stay near the top of the WTA with her serve, it says more about the other aspects of her game than her serve itself.
Another reason why Sara is picked on by critics is because they somehow don't like her attitude, the same attitude that I see as a major reason why Errani has had so much success of her career. Like I just said, Errani has a very poor serve, both on her first serve and her second serve. At five-foot five-inches, it is also very hard for her to generate much power on her groundstrokes either. So, Sara has to make up for this deficit in other ways. One way is through her actual play, using lots of top spin, her superb defensive abilities, net play, and ability to use the entire court to her advantage. However, these tactics would be greatly compromised if it weren't for her gritty attitude. Sara needs to be so tough on court in order to fully engage herself to play the game that got her near the top of the women's game.
You see, other players have the physical abilities to use their serve to get through a service game or blast a few groundstrokes when needed to get out of trouble. Errani, however, doesn't have these luxurious and needs to play with that chip on her shoulder, that realization that the opponent might be physically talented than her, but that she is mentally tougher, in order to gut through the matches. Because, if she played with this "all smiles", "pretty girl" attitude that it seems as if many of her detractors want to see from WTA players, there's no way she would pull out matches like in the Quarterfinals of Dubai, where she was down 4-1 and a double break in the third set. So, to suggest that someone doesn't like Sara's on-court demeanor is ridiculous, as it is a major reason why she has been so successful over the years.
And yet another criticism of Sara is that her game is only applicable to clay, that she is a "one-surface wonder". Now, while she is certainly not great on grass, she was golden-setted by Shvedova at Wimbledon after all in 2013 , Errani did reach the Third Round of Wimbledon in both 2010 and 2012. For someone who can "only play on clay" that's pretty good results at a grass court event and demonstrate that, despite Errani not being at the peak of her game on grass, she can still tough out matches on her worst surface.
Now, that might not convince the detractors, but Errani's results on hard courts might. For starters, Sara has won two WTA singles tournaments on hard court, including recently winning her only WTA Premier-level victory in Dubai. In total, Sara has made the Final of seven singles tournaments on hard courts. As mentioned earlier, Errani has won three doubles majors on hard courts, and ten hard court doubles tournaments in all (and has 17 doubles finals in total on hard courts). And if that isn't enough, Errani is 3-1 in grass court doubles finals.
I have yet to even mention Errani's superb performances in majors on hard courts. In Melbourne, Sara made the 2012 Quarterfinals and hung tough with Petra Kvitova in the Quarterfinals. And in New York, Errani made the Semifinals of the 2012 tournament, losing to the 2012 champion, Serena Williams, in the semis. Given all of her credentials off of hard, which I've just listed, I don't know how anyone could possibly conceive the argument that she is only good on clay courts. Is clay her best surface? Yes. But, is her game only effective on clay? Absolutely not. Errani has proven many, many times, that she can adapt her game to hard courts and even win some on grass.
And yet, with all of this said, detractors will still take swipes at the Errani. They moaned and groaned that Errani didn't have to play a tough opponent during her title run in Dubai, somehow "forgetting" that the reason why she didn't have to play higher ranked opponents is not because they weren't in the draw, the field was very strong, but rather, because they lost early, something totally out of Errani's control.
I think it's time everyone, whether they like her style of play or not, respect and appreciate Sara Errani for what she has accomplished during her time playing on the WTA Tour.
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