Previewing The 2019 WTA Season

With the 2019 season fast approaching, it is a good opportunity to have a look at some of the players of the WTA and their prospects for winning the big prizes on offer.

Simona Halep

In 2018 Simona finally achieved her lifelong ambition of winning a major title, and her favourite tournament to boot at the French Open where she played and lost two previous finals. Before her French Open triumph the year started well enough, although with crushing disappointment as Simona lost the Australian Open final to Caroline Wozniacki in the battle of the counterpunchers. The match was special because whoever won the match would become number 1 and win their first major title. Wozniacki came through after a nail biting third set but Simona would have been disappointed with the manner of defeat, having opportunities with breaks in the third set but ultimately losing it. I would suggest Simona caused her own problems by again backing off at crucial moments instead of going to net to put pressure on Wozniacki, that ultimately cost her the title and undoubtedly prompted more soul searching afterwards. 

However, Simona made up for that in the French Open semifinals and final where she was at her best against Garbine Muguruza and Sloane Stephens to take the title. In the final, Stephens was up a set and a break and then finally Simona found something deep which had been missing for so many years, she started hitting constantly to Sloane’s backhand and attacked the net, putting away volleys and overheads. Despite the fact we are in a baseline era, it cannot be underestimated how much difference finishing points at the net makes, this crushed Sloane’s spirit and in the end Simona cantered to the title.  Simona didn’t do too well at Wimbledon, no doubt an overhang from the French Open triumph, and lost in the first round of the US Open to Kai Kanepi. Simona missed the WTA Finals in Singapore but still finished number 1 with a very good 46 to 8 win loss ratio.

2019 should be an interesting year for Simona as she is set to start the year without a full time coach as Darren Cahill has joined the board of Tennis Australia. I have always questioned what Cahill brought to Simona’s game as I saw no real improvement in strategy over a four year period. That could be because Simona was either not a good listener or Darren was not offering enough. The French final was an indication that the right strategy and willingness to take risks could bear fruit. The question is simple, is Simona hungry enough to win more major titles? I would like to see Simona continue to improve and add elements to her game, as opposed to just hitting from the back of the court and not trying to make things happen. If Simona can do that, she has a good opportunity to at least defend her French Open title as she is the best clay court player in the world.  It would also be interesting to see who Simona eventually hires as coach. Carlos Rodriguez would be an excellent choice, if available.  He is a different character to Darren, more demanding which could be a great help if Simona is willing to listen.

Angelique Kerber

2018 was the year Angelique validated herself as a great player by winning her first Wimbledon title and third major title so far in her career. She has a three in four win rate in finals so that has to be very impressive, and she has beaten Serena in two finals on different surfaces.

After finishing 2017 ranked number 19, Angelique was in need of a good start to 2018; she started the year winning Sydney International and then reached the semifinal of the Australian Open and saved three match points against Halep before going down 9-7 in the third set. That would have been a disappointing result but still given her confidence to know she was back on the right path.  Angelique had a string of decent results, mainly making the quarterfinals and a couple of semifinal appearances in most of the tournaments she competed in, culminating in a semifinal appearance in Eastbourne and winning the Wimbledon title in July.  Angelique didn’t have a very good second half to the season with a string of early round losses during the hardcourt season including a third round loss to Dominika Cibulkova at the US Open. In the autumn period in Asia, Angelique lost early in Wuhan and Beijing, and was not able to get out of the group stage of the WTA Finals in Singapore.  

Despite finishing the year as number 2, Angelique would not be totally satisfied with how the last few months went, and like Halep is looking for a new coach to start the 2019 season after dispensing with Wim Fisette’s services in October. I’ve said this before but to me, Angelique plays very much like the veteran, peaks at certain times of the year where she can cause damage to the draw but is ultimately inconsistent over a twelve month period. However, what I don’t know is whether the idea of peaking at certain events is by design or accident.  Even when Angelique was world number 1 in 2016, she only won three tournaments and lost five further finals, so she is never going to be a dominant player. There is a simple reason for that, her serve is a liability but she has the best fast twitch fibres out of the women players on the tour and is able to use her athleticism around the court to great effect, I still think she could win much more if she was courageous enough to use her athletic ability around the net more often, she has one of the best smashes on the tour and has solid volley technique.

Therefore, if Angelique can grab one or two more big titles in 2019 including a major and one of the tier one tournaments, that would be a very good return for her.  To do that she will have to stay as injury free as possible and work on improving her serve and second serve in particular, using the left handedness to her advantage.  If she can find a coach that can persuade her to use her athleticism around the net more often, that would be a good start.  Angelique is already guaranteed to be in the hall of fame a few years from now so this part of her career is a bonus. One ambition for her will be to win the Federation Cup for Germany.

Naomi Osaka

Naomi finished 2018 as one of the best players in the world, winning Indian Wells, the US Open and finishing the year ranked 5, turning potential into reality at the age of 21. 

Naomi started off 2018 with a new coach in Sasha Bajin who previously worked with Serena Williams and Victoria Azarenka and made an immediate impact reaching the 4th round of the Australian Open beating Elena Vesnina and Ashleigh Barty along the way before losing to Simona Halep. Naomi then won her first big title of her career in Indian Wells, defeating Halep, Karolina Pliskova and then Daria Kasatkina in the final. Naomi also had a relatively easy win against Serena Williams in Miami, which no doubt gave her confidence for when they next met in the US Open final six months later. After her success on the hardcourts, Naomi lost in the third round of the both the French Open and Wimbledon, and lost both opening matches in Canada & Cincinnati before her stunning great performance in Flushing Meadow when it all came together. I think the semifinal against Madison Keys showed why Naomi will become a great player. Madison is considered to have one of the best serves in tennis but Naomi out served her in this match, producing aces at crucial moments and saving an incredible thirteen break points in only two sets of play. It was also Naomi’s first victory over Madison in four attempts. Better was to come in the final where Naomi showed incredible composure in the most bizarre of atmospheres, a cauldron would be the best way to describe it and when Serena was docked a game deep in the second set, Serena served to stay in the match inviting Naomi to serve it out, she did that with aplomb, which was brilliant and shows the value of acquiring a quality serve at the highest level. If Naomi didn’t trust her serve, she would no doubt have been broken and then anything would have been possible result wise.

The pity about the final is the circumstances and Naomi’s reaction which was a little sad, but nothing will be taken away from her incredible win and we could be looking at a multiple grand slam champion over the next ten years.  Naomi did relatively well in the autumn season getting to the final of the Japan Open but lost all of her matches in the WTA championships in Singapore.

So, as we have seen in recent times with players who win their first major title, it will be interesting to see how Naomi reacts to the 2019 season; will there be a dip in form or will she still be a threat at the major tournaments?  It is of course difficult to gauge but one thing I will say is that she has the serve to ensure her game stays relevant as that will be the key, if she serves well, she will probably return serve as well and continue to improve. The demands on her time will be great as a major winner and she has already been named as a brand ambassador with Nissan with the GTR Naomi Osaka edition. 

Sloane Stephens

Sloane Stephens had a very good season in 2018, consolidating her status as a top ten player in the world after her breakthrough US Open win in 2017. Sloane reached the finals of the French Open and WTA championships as well as winning the Miami Open where she had a very convincing victory over Jelena Ostapenko in straight sets. Sloane also reached the final of the Canadian Open but lost to Simona Halep, who also beat her in the French Open final. So, the one thing you can say with certainty is Sloane would love to have won more than one title.

Up until this year, Sloane had won every final she contested in at WTA and Grand Slam level. And that run was going smoothly right up until the second set of the French Open final where things started to go wrong. As I mentioned earlier, Simona Halep finally took the mental shackles off her own game and started playing true aggressive tennis, that doesn’t mean hitting the ball as hard as possible, but hitting down the lines and attacking the net to put the pressure on Sloane, which ultimately worked with Sloane going down meekly 6-1 in the third set. Simona’s change in tactics seemed to have the effect of completely deflating Sloane, who all of a sudden had to deal with a raucous crowd and a player who was constantly attacking her weaker wing as often as possible.  It showed a mental frailty in Sloane I didn’t notice before.  And interestingly, the same thing happened against Elina Svitolina in the WTA final, where she again allowed a lead to slip through the persistence of her opponent. 

That will be something Sloane will have to work on in 2019, the mental side of her game if she wants to be successful. A successful year will now mean winning a major or tier 1 titles, that is standard she will be judged by going forward. Game wise, Sloane is well placed; she has great defensive skills and can switch to offense when required. I think she needs a better transition game to net to make life easier for herself, she can get bogged down in too many rallies. I also think Sloane can improve her serve further although at 5 ft. 7 (1 metre 70) that will be difficult. Sloane’s best chances to win a major will come on the slower high bouncing surfaces i.e. clay and hardcourts.

Karolina Pliskova

Karolina Pliskova is a player who has experienced life at the top of the rankings in 2017 when she was number 1 in the summer of that year. Karolina finished 2017 in the top five and had a steady year in 2018, finishing ranked number 8 in the world and on a personal level got married so a memorable one for her.

On the tennis front, I am sure Karolina would like to have done considerably better. In the majors her best result was at the quarterfinals in both Australia and US Open and at Wimbledon only made it to the fourth round where she lost to Kiki Bertens. In fact Karolina was the quarterfinals lady this year, losing six quarterfinals in various tournaments on the calendar. Karolina did win two tournaments in Stuttgart and Tokyo and also made the semifinal of the WTA Championships in Singapore where she lost to Sloane Stephens despite taking the first set 6:0.  Karolina helped the Czech Republic to regain the Federation cup, easily defeating the United States in Prague. 

Karolina also made some changes to her coaching staff throughout 2018, after parting company with David Kortyza, she has worked with both Rene Stubbs and ex Wimbledon champion Conchita Martinez, whom she will continue to work with in 2019. Karolina has a lot of talent but at this moment her career doesn’t seem to be going anywhere in particular other than just mid table mediocrity to borrow a football phrase. No doubt Karolina wants to get to the next level as quickly as possible and do much better at Wimbledon, considering she has one of the best serves in the world and is a very good returner.  However, to make that happen is much more difficult than wanting to do it. Karolina really needs to improve her movement, something we have talked about before. When she is stretched wide or forced to move forward she is in trouble. And interestingly, womens tennis has moved away from the power game to many smaller players who use guile to move you around and record wins that way. That includes Halep, Kerber, Svitolina and Stephens. Wozniacki is a tall player but plays like a counterpuncher anyway, not having the power to dominate her opponent. Therefore, Karolina needs to find a way to counteract this, whilst keeping her motivation levels up to put her name in the history books. It will be interesting to see if Conchita Martinez can help make the difference in 2019.

Other players to watch:

Caroline Wozniacki

Wozniacki realised her dream in 2018 by finally winning a major title at the Australian Open and reclaiming the number 1 position whilst doing so. Caroline did what Amelie Mauresmo and Jana Novotna achieved, which is winning the end of year championships and use that as a platform to win a major the following year. Caroline finished the year ranked number 3 and has really re-established her career, despite not having many good results after her Australian Open triumph.

On that basis it is difficult to predict what Caroline can do in 2019 so she is an unknown quantity. Does Caroline have the motivation to win another big title?  She is already in veteran stakes on the tour and has told the world of her arthritis issue, she has done a lot of running and has many miles on the clock.

Garbine Muguruza

Not sure what happened here, Garbine started the year ranked world number 1 and finished the year ranked 15 which is quite a drop!  Garbine won one tournament in Mexico and reached the semifinal of the French Open where she lost to Halep, a match I thought she was capable of winning beforehand.  After that Garbine lost early in both Wimbledon where she was defending champion and at the US Open. In fact, Garbine’s second round loss at Wimbledon as champion was the earliest since Steffi Graf in 1994 when she lost to Lori McNeil.  Garbine has also changed coach a few times, working with Conchita Martinez and her strange on off relationship with Sam Symk.  I said in 2015 that Muguruza reminds me of Marat Safin game wise and results wise. At her best, she looks like the best player in the world but capable of losing to anyone at any time, which is what exactly has happened in 2018.  It would be good for tennis if Garbine can stay healthy and find her motivation for the 2019 season.

Elina Svitolina

Elina made a big breakthrough towards the end of 2018, winning the biggest title of her career so far with the WTA championships in Singapore. Now, the question is can Elina do what Jana Novotna, Amelie Mauresmo and Caroline Wozniacki did, which is use the momentum from that win to a major title triumph the next season?  It is possible although up to now Elina has not really made a big impression at the majors. However, we are in an era where guile and tactical play is leading the way, so Elina must use this moment to get in amongst the trophies as similar counter punchers have done over the past twelve months.

Madison Keys

I recall in my preview of the 2016 season saying that Sloane Stephens was one of the players to look out for. That was despite the fact Sloane had injuries, was inconsistent and lower down in the rankings, but when a player has that kind of talent, it has to come through at some stage. I feel the same way about Madison Keys. However, despite the issues Madison might be experiencing with injuries, loss of form or whatever else is happening behind the scenes; Madison needs to find the motivation to consistently win tournaments and a major tournament in due course. She has one of the best serves on the tour but unfortunately still makes too many unforced errors. Is it the racquet? Or the wrong string tension? Whatever it is, it shouldn’t be happening at this stage of her career.

Serena Williams

This is a simple one. Serena is at a stage of her career where most of her contemporaries are long retired, many with children themselves. Is Serena really motivated to get back to the top and win major titles? The short answer is yes, but it is also up to her opponents to show her it is now their time at the top. It is going to be a difficult road for Serena but she has showed before she is capable of doing it, and winning a 24th major to tie Margaret Court.