And now, as the eighth seed this year Petra Kvitova in the 2011 Wimbledon Champion as she 'upset' three times slam champ Maria Sharapova 6-3 6-4 to raise The Venus Rosewater Dish. The left handed powerhouse has now become the youngest winner since her opponent at 21 years old.
Perhaps some would have assumed Kvitova would have had some nerves coming into the match, it was not the case. Kvitova bought her trademark hard hitting ground strokes and looked as if she was playing for her 10th slam title, defiantly not her first. Firing winners off both wings and from all angles of Centre Court.
Having already won Brisbane (hard), Paris (indoor hard), Madrid (clay) and now the Grand Slam of Grand Slams Wimbledon, obviously on grass has won tournaments on all the surfaces this year. Kvitova's fearless attitude and love of the big stage as cemented the fact that she could very much be the next domination of tennis, as the win sets her up to take over the likes of the Williams' and Clijsters.
After winning the first in fine form and getting a break in the second, Kvitova found herself against a resurging Maria Sharapova has she found her fight, but it was not enough to see off Kvitova and after four consecutive service breaks, Kvitova found the fatal one to wrap up the win 6-3 6-4.
Many could has it a guess that history was not made today...well you would be wrong, Petra Kvitova has now become the first EVER eight seed women's winner of a grand slam, hows that for useless trivia!
With this inspiring win, I am going out on limb, with Matt Cronin and say that Petra Kvitova is now the greatest player of her generation, as the first of her generation to win a slam, beating Caroline Woniacki, Victoria Azarenka and Agnieszka Radwanska to reach the crowning glory of tennis. I will also make a bold prediction for Petra to be top 2 by the end of the year.
As always HAPPY SNAPS;
Yeah, as you would assume Nike already has their facebook all up in this things twitter.
16 comments:
Something tells me Bunny is feeling mighty jealous about right now.
Ostrich didn't even have to play very hard and took care of Diva with ease. And, she is definitely NO one slam wonder.
I don't want to take away from Petra but Maria's performance today was not too fearsome either. Those double faults, tons of errors...OMG.
Against Maria 08 she'd not stand a chance, I am afraid. On the other hand nice to see a bit of a change at Wimbly.
Lost my post...now I'm mad...Damn cell phone!
The Ostrich's court coverage wad the reason for her victory.
Everyone in this blog picked the Ostrich to win except the U.S. Media I guess we know more than they do.
The Ostrich was playing at a higher level than Divapova, she would have spanked the Diva in any surface at any particular time.
The Ostrich set the standard today like the way the Wlliams sisters set the standard when they came to the scene.
At one point in the first set, when returning serve the Diva looked like she wanted to cry.
In another instance the Diva stopped playing after she made a shot. The Diva probably thought she she had won the point, but the Ostrich tracked down the ball and returned it. At that moment IMO the Ostrich set the new standard of play the rxact same wsy as the Wiliams sisters. Also the Diva was surprised about the Ostrich's court coverage, did she or team do scouting on the Ostrich?
Caps, the Bunny would be fuming! And Kvitova is going to win many more slams, I see this as the beginning of the changing of the guard, so to speak.
Marine, Kvitova today could have beaten Maria '08 but would have lost to Maria '06
Carlos, Ostrich had amazing court coverage. Me picking the winner already proves what I know...I am better than all the "experts" Hahaha. Ostich defiantly set the tone for the next generation very much in the was the Williams' did, Kvitova beating Maria here reminded me of Serena beating Hingis in US final when Serena was 17. I now expect Williams like domination from Petra in the years to come.
I have my doubts over weather Maria or her team did there research, she played like Vika did in the RG SF, thinking she was invincible and there was no way she could lose...it never works out.
Emily, I think she'd lost to both Maria 06 & 08. As for the domination, I think time will tell. Many of those who won a slam just won a slam...
It will be very interesting how will she cope in hardcourt season because, let's face it, most of the tour SUCKS on grass. But the hard courts are the majority favourite. The US Open will be the test of how good she really is.
As for Caro, well, three slams have passed and nobody was able to challenge. Even with this victory, Kvitova made it to a great ...no.4. So, congrats, but that is far from domination in my eyes.
Well obviously Kvitova isn't able to get to number 1 straight away, and I think she will be able to get many more slams in the near future. I mean she made it to the QF at the AO and won Paris (beating Clijsters) both on hard courts, so I don't think it will be a huge issue, she has an all court game which is what the tour is lacking, in all honesty Caro struggles to do much outside the US hard courts. Serena will never be able to win RG again, if she is to return to form. Kim only won a slam outside of the US Open for the first time this year. Many players struggle to get results on all surfaces...Kvitova has done well so far.
As for Caroline, like a said before I do not see her being world number as such great 'domination' she won her first big big tournament this year at Indian Wells, she should have done much much better at RG and Wimbledon, and her style of game is boring.
That's my opinion...everyone is open to their own.
In my opinion Petra has a lot to prove. She beat Clijsters, yes, but that is not enough to dominate. Also, her tournament count is far from impressive. Caro has like three times more tournaments to her name. She is the one with the most titles. As for other surfaces than US hard courts,she scored 2 titles on clay this year. Kvitova has just one.
As for her slam perfomances this year the QF at AO...er, not enough. Caro got to the SF there.
This Wimbly she avoided playing names like Clijsters, sisters, Woz, Zvonareva or even the current rising stars like Petko, Goerges or Lisicki.
Obviously,not everyone likes Caro's style but, thing is, these days at WTA the slamless players have more success as far as the overall performance is concerned and are a tough challenge to overcome. Look, three slams passed and she is still holding on to her ranking. Kvitova has still a lot to prove in my opinion.
Why do I call Caroline The Big Stuffed Bunny, because she stuffed herself with ranking points. I gone over this time and time again. She plays as much tournaments as possible to rack up points, she looks great beating cup cakes, mean while she gets spank, trounce, smoked, by top players. She has zero slams titles, her game has been figured out, and she is only consistent in hard courts; how in the world is she supposed to dominate? Oh, BTW forgot to mention the Bunny can't win without on-court coaching.
The Ostrich would have kicked the butt of Divapova 06, 08, or next year! I don't care what date, year, month, the Ostrich has established a higher level play period! Now everyone has to catch up to her level.
Caps321 I'm thinking when The Big Stuffed Bunny saw the Ostrich raise the oversize appetizer silver tray, she threw her own stash of eggs at the T.V.
Bunny is notorious for playing rinky dink tournaments (as Carlos says "beating cup cakes") and she usually plays the 'B' tournament when 2 are going on at the same time. Translation: The one that has less quality players.
When is the last time Bunny beat Clijsters? Right. What is her record versus top 10 players? My guess is not that impressive.
That said, there really is no shame in her game. She is what she is and has made enough money for her future children to all be millionaires.
Finally, the book is out and she will have a tougher time defending points as lower level players take her out sooner in tournaments. And I'm not sure what her 'true ranking' should be but could guess between 10 - 20. Plus, once my prediction comes true with more embarrassing losses, you have to wonder how her confidence will hold up.
Petra would not be able to beat Sharapova in her prime. No way. At her best Sharapova was demolishing players like Henin or Ivanovic (when she still played well)and the sisters who are all a different (higher) caliber than Kvitova.
Caro's game needs tweaking but her success is well-deserved. It is quite symbolic, but the player whom she beat when she got to no.1 was ...Kvitova. Yup, she wins many tournaments which is what dominance is about. Tennis is not only about slams. Ideally, she should have a slam to her name but in this situation does she really need to be that bothered? Who is a real challenge to her ranking,anyway? Kvitova? Don't think so. Maybe Clijsters, but that depends on her health. There is always a big hype when she loses and her game being put down but I doubt she cares that much. If Kvitova ever makes it to the top it will be interesting to see how will she cope with the pressure. So far she's had next to none but now she is in the spotlight.
Good points Caps321 and I agree with you.
I remember the Bunny going through a stretch of a year and a half without beating a top 5 player. That is why I call her 'Faux number one'. The Bunny's ranking IMO should be somewhere around 11-17, similar yours Caps.
Every player wants to win the most important title of their respective sport. Gymnasts, swimmers, track and field athletes, they all want to win the gold medal in the Olympics. I remember former NFL quarterback Terry Bradshaw on Jay Leno talking about another legend quarterback Dan Marino, "Dan Marino would trade all his passing records for one of these". He lifted his hand waved his fingers, showing off his Super Bowl ring. Dan Marino set numerous passing records but he never won the Super Bowl which is where the NFL champion is crown.
People talk about Divapova as if she was the greatest player of her generation. Let me get this clear: Divapova is NOT the greatest player of her generation SERENA IS. Divapova hasn't won all four majors. Unlike Pete Sampras the majors that she won she hasn't won them multiple times. Serena is a legend, Divapova is a great player like the phony of Davenport but not in the legend stratosphere. Even if the Divapova wins another slam which is possible, she won't be the greatest player of generation. Divapova had not faced a player that tracked down and returned her shots like the Ostrich did and that rattled the Diva in the Wimbledon 11 final. She thought The Ostrich was going to be overwhelmed, and the Ostrich wasn't. When the Diva found out that her game wasn't good enough to beat the Ostrich and found herself with the possibility to lose the match is when she wanted to cry. The style of play of Kvitova set the new standard, new standards always bat old standard. Divapova 06, 08, would have lost to Kvitova.
Captain I agree with you Kvitova is the best player of the young ones: Bunny, Angry Bird, Aggie, Clefairy and yourself :P Wait, how did you guys get in the list? :P
She beat Serena at 17. Which other player accomplished that?
Well, Petra has a losing record against Serena as well,doesn't she? She beat Clijsters, yes, but was it at slam? Nope, was in Paris.
She did not beat Henin easily. I liked that one a lot. Isn't a hard-fought victory is great? If Nadal does not beat someone easily does it make him a loser or something? (Think well about the answer,lol).
As for Caro, it is obvious that you put her results down because she has no slams and you don't like her personality. But the fact is she is still the best player in the world and if Petra wants to challenge she will have to show up at more than just at Wimbledon.
This getting a little out of hand here guys, everyone just breathe!
At the moment Caro is world number 1, if you don't like it, you can't do much about it apart from learn to live with it...
Lets not forget, the main reason the Williams' ran roughshod is because they were big ball bashers (and still are) in a game that had little to none. One big ball basher I can think of is Davenport. But, she couldn't 'move' like the Williams' sisters so she was at a disadvantage from the start.
Fast forward to 2011.. The game is full of big ball bashers (a lot more than in previous times) so, simply being one doesn't allow you to blow everyone else off court. The women now are also returning a whole lot better.
Guess you could say it was a different era.. I know its easy to lump the Williams sisters together but I think we all know Serena is a much better player than Venus. (Even though they played like crap against each other which was a huge let down for the game as a whole.)
Next up - the Wta rankings.
As of July 4, 2011
Azarenka, Victoria - current 4 - previous 5
Sharapova, Maria - current 5 - previous 6
Li, Na - current 6 - previous 4
Kvitova, Petra - current 7 - previous 8
Schiavone, Francesca - current 8 - previous 7
Peng, Shuai - current 17 - previous 20
Cibulkova, Dominika - current 20 - previous 24
Peer, Shahar - current 23 - previous 22
Kirilenko, Maria - current 24 - previous 27
Kanepi, Kaia - current 26 - previous 17
Lisicki, Sabine - current 27 - previous 62
Petrova, Nadia - current 32 - previous 37
Vesnina, Elena - current 33 - previous 36
Williams, Venus - current 34 - previous 30
Paszek, Tamira - current 41 - previous 80
Benesova, Iveta - current 44 - previous 53
Pironkova, Tsvetana - current 48 - previous 33
Date-Krumm, Kimiko - current 50 - previous 57
Cetkovska, Petra - current 55 - previous 81
Pervak, Ksenia - current 61 - previous 89
Martinez Sanchez, Maria Jose - current 62 - previous 76
McHale, Christina - current 66 - previous 73
Brianti, Alberta - current 67 - previous 56
Arn, Greta - current 72 - previous 47
Rezai, Aravane - current 75 - previous 61
Tatishvili, Anna - current 84 - previous 118
Yakimova, Anastasiya - current 93 - previous 100
Keothavong, Anne - current 94 - previous 111
Oudin, Melanie - current 99 - previous 87
Will the WTA continue giving WC's to Mr. Oudin when she slides out of the top 100?
moving to newer thread
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