The conclusion of the 2019 tennis season has brought on a twofold of summations: in memory of the twists and turns of the year itself, naturally, but also because 2019 marks the always-notable historical marker of closing out yet another decade. As a result, you're likely to have already encountered a great number of these summaries - players of the decade, matches of the decade, moments, importance, defining, essential, insert your weasel word of choice here, etc.
All of these things are well and good, and I'm not one to begrudge anyone their fun; I've certainly consumed a fair amount of these summaries myself, and it's always fun to take a trip down memory lane. As someone who has grown quite weary of ranking stuff, however, it's been a bit difficult for me to get as worked up over these lists; my usual reaction is usually more of, "oh, that's interesting" rather than feeling any boiling rage about any perceived injustices or slights. Again, it isn't that I don't necessarily appreciate the significance of these things - someone's gotta do it, after all, and heaven knows that we all enjoy our neatly categorized criteria and value sets to argue and debate endlessly.
As I did my own contemplating upon this past decade and where I stand as a tennis fan, however, I began to carefully consider what it was that I found myself thinking about, exactly what type of content I enjoy pondering over and what it is that gets me to reminisce. It is never my aim to sound holier than thou or above the fray, certainly not, it's just that I ultimately realized that my preferred method of memorializing usually occurs in a much different format. Rather than continue to get on my old man high horse about what it is I don't like and don't find myself as worked up about, it seemed far more reasonable to try and actually coalesce these thoughts into something productive, as someone who (surprise surprise!) still struggles with self-esteem and motivation when it comes to this whole writing thing.
What am I blabbering about? None other than good ol' hypotheticals, of course!
This, this, has always been one of the key parts of cherishing sporting memories for me. Merely glancing at the scorelines of a great sporting match could never in a million years hope to summarize the singularly unique experience of seeing such a thing in real time; the individual plots each contest takes all have their own tales of the tape.There are so many moments in the annals of sport where one point, one moment, could've altered the historical ledger to a significant degree - these are the things I inevitably recall in addition to the victories and defeats themselves. As a result, in deciding to make my own modest contribution to the ocean of "end of decade" synopses, I didn't want to make this yet another "top 10 players/matches" list or the like. Instead, I decided to select some of the moments from each tour over this past decade that made me chew on a question that is one of my favorites in sports:
What if?
THE WTA
5. What if...Elena Dementieva hadn't gotten injured during the 2010 Roland Garros tournament?
I'll admit that this is likely to be something that isn't at the forefront of many people's minds - Elena retired at the conclusion of the 2010 season, and so much has happened in the intervening nine years that it's understandable for this to be one of the many events that may have gotten lost in the shuffle. I will cop to this being a personal shoutout to one of my dearest friends in the world, who gravitated toward Elena most when he first began to be introduced to the sport by yours truly. This one is for you, my friend!
Personal connection aside, I do think this is something that is worth remembering, especially considering what I already mentioned and what no one knew at the time of this match - Elena had decided before the 2010 season that it would be her last on tour. This certainly explains her emotional reaction once she knew she had to quit her semifinal match - not only would she not be able to get a chance to compete for Slam glory, but she knew that she would never be coming back to Paris. :(
Personal connection aside, I do think this is something that is worth remembering, especially considering what I already mentioned and what no one knew at the time of this match - Elena had decided before the 2010 season that it would be her last on tour. This certainly explains her emotional reaction once she knew she had to quit her semifinal match - not only would she not be able to get a chance to compete for Slam glory, but she knew that she would never be coming back to Paris. :(
So what of this missed opportunity, then? Elena had been one of the stalwart players of the previous decade, spending most of it in the top 10 and reaching two Grand Slam finals, both in 2004 (Roland Garros and the U.S. Open) - the first Russian woman to make it to more than one, in fact. She also won a gold medal during the 2008 Beijing Olympics, and managed to carve out quite a niche for herself despite her well-documented struggles with serving. Even then, this aspect of her game improved enough to where she went as far as holding a match point against Serena Williams at Wimbledon in a classic 2009 semifinal. Clearly, the talent and potential were always there; it was just a matter of having a chance to break through, and this tournament seemed like a golden opportunity.
On the other side of the draw, Samantha Stosur awaited in the final, having already taken down three former number ones and prohibitive favorites for the title - Justine Henin (more on her in a bit), Serena, and Jelena Jankovic, and appeared on paper to be in prime form to take the trophy home. She played a somewhat nervous, tentative final, though, so it seems like a huge opportunity missed for Elena, who injured herself early in the tournament and decided that she just couldn't go on after losing the first set of her semi. It does makes me wonder if she would have followed through with her retirement plans had she capitalized on this chance, too - breaking through at a major might have inspired her to keep going. Then again, we saw Flavia Pennetta essentially do something similar just a few years later after she finally took home a major, so who knows? When you're done, you're done.
I also can't help but recall the fact that Elena taking home this title would have deprived us of one of the feel-good stories of the decade - that being Francesca Schiavone's eventual victory, of course. I suppose I'll call this one a wash. But I wanted to mention this story, not only for my dear friend, as I said, but in honor of a player worth remembering, regardless of whether or not she was able to taste Grand Slam glory. It's yet another one of those things that serves as an excellent reminder of checking my sporting fan privilege - my favorites on either tour have 23 and 19 Grand Slams, respectively. Not everyone's rooting interests are as lucky, and some weren't able to make that elusive breakthrough at all.
4. What if...Justine Henin hadn't gotten injured during her comeback?
3. What if...Victoria Azarenka hadn't gotten a raw deal?
Once more, this is something that happened at the very beginning of the decade and might not be an item that springs to mind for a lot of people. I'll say that this is one of the first things *I* happened to think of, however, not just in the interest of generating discussion, of course, but also because we've seen any number of comeback stories and attempts on both tours in the last decade that this one in particular seemed worth revisiting, given how well it was going prior to her injury.
For context: Justine, of course, was one of the best players of the previous decade, having captured three out of the four majors at least once each but especially having notable success at Roland Garros, which she won four times and was riding a streak of three consecutive titles at the time of her surprise retirement. Shockingly, just weeks before the 2008 edition of RG, less than a month before her 26th birthday, and being ranked #1, to boot, she did just that - she surprised everyone by calling it quits, citing burnout and a desire to think about the future. She had been in a bit of a slump at that point, granted, but I don't think anyone expected this to be the end result.
That would have been that, or so it would have seemed...until Justine announced a return to the tour at the beginning of the 2010 season. She felt inspired by the successes of her fellow Belgian Kim Clijsters' successful return after her own retirement and journey into motherhood, and Roger Federer finally getting the Roland Garros monkey off his back (similarly, Justine's resume only lacked a Wimbledon title). Here's where it gets interesting: she experienced almost immediate success, finishing runner-up to Kim in a warmup tournament ahead of the Australian Open, losing in a tough final set tiebreaker, and navigated a potentially tricky draw to make it all the way to the finals of the Aussie, only to fall in three sets against none other than Serena Williams. This match marks the first and only time that this storied rivalry was ever contested in a Grand Slam final, as fate would have it, so it's interesting that it happened to occur post-return on Justine's part.
Ultimately, her reentry into the sport initially seemed as if it was worth pursuing - she was successful enough that she won two titles in the early part of the season, and quickly shot back up to the top 20-30 range of the world rankings, very impressive for half a year's work. Then, disaster struck: early on in a fourth-round tussle against Kim during the fourth round at Wimbledon, Justine slipped and hurt her elbow. She went on to win the first set but eventually fell in three, and received treatment for what was believed to be a hyper-extended elbow. This was later revealed to be a ligament fracture, and she didn't play for the rest of the year. She attempted to give it another go at the start of 2011, but re-aggravated the injury in the Australian Open, which proved to be the final straw of her short-lived comeback.
Considering how well she was playing up to that point - her final ranking in 2010 was #12, which is obviously pretty damn good for being unranked at the start of the year and only having results up through the first week of July - I think it's safe to wonder what she might've gone on to accomplish had she remained healthy. She still hadn't even reached 30 years of age at the time of her second retirement, quite a fact when you realize how much she'd accomplished by then. Fate had other ideas in mind, however, and while I know that Justine is definitely something of a polarizing player and personality (to say the least), her status in the game's history is undeniable. Food for thought!
Considering how well she was playing up to that point - her final ranking in 2010 was #12, which is obviously pretty damn good for being unranked at the start of the year and only having results up through the first week of July - I think it's safe to wonder what she might've gone on to accomplish had she remained healthy. She still hadn't even reached 30 years of age at the time of her second retirement, quite a fact when you realize how much she'd accomplished by then. Fate had other ideas in mind, however, and while I know that Justine is definitely something of a polarizing player and personality (to say the least), her status in the game's history is undeniable. Food for thought!
3. What if...Victoria Azarenka hadn't gotten a raw deal?
Something of more recent vintage, and an undeniably strange saga - the fate that has befallen Victoria Azarenka. A former world #1, two-time Australian Open champion, and long considered one of Serena Williams' primary challengers - for a head to head that's 18-4 in Serena's favor, there have been some memorably close encounters - Vika struggled through injury problems in 2014-2015, finishing just outside the world's top 20 in both years and breaking a six-year streak in that department. She seemed to catch fire at the start of 2016, though: following a quarterfinal appearance in the Australian Open, she went on to complete the Indian Wells/Miami sweep in March, something only Steffi Graf and Kim Clijsters have ever done on the women's side. These results propelled her to a place in the world's top 5, and she seemed to be on the verge of reclaiming her spot among the game's elite.
From here, however, is where the ride got bumpy: back and knee injuries curtailed much of her clay-court season, the latter of which forced her to quit Roland Garros in her first round match and ultimately caused her to withdraw from Wimbledon as well. In July, though, the biggest surprise of all was revealed: she was pregnant! Naturally, this caused her to miss the rest of the season, and she delivered a happy bundle of joy that December. She seemed set to resume her career the following summer, but after playing in the 2017 Wimbledon tournament, she was mired in an ugly custody battle with her former partner that prevented her from leaving the state of California. A resolution to these legal proceedings wasn't reached until the following January; by that point, she'd missed two majors and wasn't able to return to the tour in full until Indian Wells in March. Sadly, it just hasn't been the same for Vika since all of this went down - perhaps it was one stoppage in play too many, but she hasn't come close to the form she'd previously displayed, with no titles to speak of since her IW/Miami sweep in 2016, and no appearances in the second week of any majors.
There are a lot of layers to chew on with this one: the injuries, the pregnancy, the custody battle, all of the accumulated time away from the game. Quite the clusterfuck, eh? It may be too early to close the door on Vika - she IS still only 30, an age which seemed to mark a death knell in years' past but less so nowadays. The happenings I've listed off can't help but make me wonder how things would have been if all of this had shaken out even the tiniest bit differently, though, particularly the custody battle thing - I can't imagine how frustrating it must've been for her to be healthy and ready to go, only to have her hands tied by legal proceedings. The final chapter of this story has yet to be written, so who knows - maybe happier days are still in store for Vika. Here's hoping - after initially not warming to her, for reasons I can't even articulate (sometimes it really is just a gut thing), I've really grown to respect her quite a bit over the years, and this kooky set of circumstances couldn't help but earn her my sympathy to an even larger degree than ever before.
From here, however, is where the ride got bumpy: back and knee injuries curtailed much of her clay-court season, the latter of which forced her to quit Roland Garros in her first round match and ultimately caused her to withdraw from Wimbledon as well. In July, though, the biggest surprise of all was revealed: she was pregnant! Naturally, this caused her to miss the rest of the season, and she delivered a happy bundle of joy that December. She seemed set to resume her career the following summer, but after playing in the 2017 Wimbledon tournament, she was mired in an ugly custody battle with her former partner that prevented her from leaving the state of California. A resolution to these legal proceedings wasn't reached until the following January; by that point, she'd missed two majors and wasn't able to return to the tour in full until Indian Wells in March. Sadly, it just hasn't been the same for Vika since all of this went down - perhaps it was one stoppage in play too many, but she hasn't come close to the form she'd previously displayed, with no titles to speak of since her IW/Miami sweep in 2016, and no appearances in the second week of any majors.
There are a lot of layers to chew on with this one: the injuries, the pregnancy, the custody battle, all of the accumulated time away from the game. Quite the clusterfuck, eh? It may be too early to close the door on Vika - she IS still only 30, an age which seemed to mark a death knell in years' past but less so nowadays. The happenings I've listed off can't help but make me wonder how things would have been if all of this had shaken out even the tiniest bit differently, though, particularly the custody battle thing - I can't imagine how frustrating it must've been for her to be healthy and ready to go, only to have her hands tied by legal proceedings. The final chapter of this story has yet to be written, so who knows - maybe happier days are still in store for Vika. Here's hoping - after initially not warming to her, for reasons I can't even articulate (sometimes it really is just a gut thing), I've really grown to respect her quite a bit over the years, and this kooky set of circumstances couldn't help but earn her my sympathy to an even larger degree than ever before.
2. What if...Venus Williams had won her 2017 U.S. Open semifinal match against Sloane Stephens?
Likely a bitter pill for Venus, coming as it did on the heels of an extremely successful season for her in which she reentered the world's top 5 in rankings and made two Grand Slam finals earlier in the season, at Australia (losing to her sister, whom we now know was with child in hindsight) and Wimbledon, losing to Garbiñe Muguruza. Sloane, meanwhile, was returning from foot surgery that took place in January and was appearing in just her fifth tournament since her comeback. Coincidentally enough, both players made it to the semifinal stage after surviving final set tiebreaks in their previous rounds (Venus against Petra Kvitova; Sloane against Anastasija Sevastova). A topsy turvy encounter saw each competitor exchanging blowout sets (Sloane winning the first, Venus the second) before settling into a classic finale, with many breaks exchanged and advantages gained and lost. Venus was merely two points away from winning at 5-4, 30-all, but Sloane dug deep and held on, using her speed to create several highlight reel winners. In the end, youth prevailed, with Sloane winning it 7-5 and going on to triumph in the final with an easy victory over Madison Keys.
Sloane has gone on to back this win up, more or less - she went on to hit the top 3 and reach another major final, at Roland Garros, the following year. While she had a rough 2019 by comparison, age and time are obviously on her side. It's a much different story for the almost 40-year-old, Venus, however, who has struggled a fair bit since 2017. She hasn't reached these heights again, and while I outright disdain the practice of calling for an athlete to retire before they personally decide to hang it up - this woman has earned the right to play for however long she feels able to, and that's that - some two years removed from this fabulous season, it is beginning to feel like something of a last hurrah, though history has taught us time and time again never to count her out, of course. This defeat stung a little more for me than the two final losses from this year, personally; credit to Sloane for hanging tough and pulling it out, of course, but in hindsight, this still seems like a huge lost opportunity for Venus, especially considering how one-sided the final ended up being (albeit against an injured opponent). A lot of near-misses and "what could have beens" for Venus since the start of the 2010s; for my money, this is at the top of the list in what could have possibly been had she squeaked by here.
Sloane has gone on to back this win up, more or less - she went on to hit the top 3 and reach another major final, at Roland Garros, the following year. While she had a rough 2019 by comparison, age and time are obviously on her side. It's a much different story for the almost 40-year-old, Venus, however, who has struggled a fair bit since 2017. She hasn't reached these heights again, and while I outright disdain the practice of calling for an athlete to retire before they personally decide to hang it up - this woman has earned the right to play for however long she feels able to, and that's that - some two years removed from this fabulous season, it is beginning to feel like something of a last hurrah, though history has taught us time and time again never to count her out, of course. This defeat stung a little more for me than the two final losses from this year, personally; credit to Sloane for hanging tough and pulling it out, of course, but in hindsight, this still seems like a huge lost opportunity for Venus, especially considering how one-sided the final ended up being (albeit against an injured opponent). A lot of near-misses and "what could have beens" for Venus since the start of the 2010s; for my money, this is at the top of the list in what could have possibly been had she squeaked by here.
1. What if Serena hadn't lost THAT match?
I know, I know, I know. Mentioning this match is the equivalent of ripping off the proverbial bandaid, pouring salt into the wound, twisting the knife, etc. If you're a fan of Serena's, it's hard to top this as far as painful losses go - the shattering of perceived expectations vs. the crushing disappointment of reality. As you all surely know by now, though, I do a whopping grand total of jack shit for shock value or controversy's sake - I am far more focused on giving you my honest opinions on things rather than stirring up drama. The fact of the matter is, it's impossible to tell the story of tennis in the 2010s without mentioning this match; it's one of the ultimate "where were you when...?" moments in the sport's history. (I was at work, and heard about it secondhand - I'm not sure if this is better or worse.)
It's always worth remembering that failing to accomplish the calendar-year Slam did not stop winning Serena from winning four in a row during this period; this loss happened after she'd already accomplished her second "Serena Slam" of having won four straight in non-calendar fashion. That doesn't quite ease the blow of her loss here, I know, but it is worth noting, since four consecutive majors so rarely happens whether or not it all occurs in one season. That being said...who the hell could have anticipated this? Against an opponent whom she was previously undefeated in four prior matches, and the opportunity of not then-world #2, Simona Halep, as many expected, but another Italian opponent who had also gone winless in seven attempts (Flavia Pennetta), awaiting in the final, Serena couldn't cross the finish line.This match was actually meant to be played on the second Thursday of this tournament, but rain prevented that from happening - I know some folks have speculated on that being a factor, with Serena having an extra day to mull over everything she was on the verge of accomplishing. Whatever the case may be - nerves, a tricky opponent, the weight of expectations - that rarest of accomplishments, a true calendar year sweep, wasn't meant to be.
So what if Serena had won this match? It's interesting to think about this in hindsight, because so much has happened since she didn't pull this feat off. She eventually tied and surpassed Steffi Graf on the majors ladder, gave birth to a child (punctuated by a difficult delivery), and, at the close of the decade, is still in the conversation of the sport's best participants - she's reached four major finals over the course of the last two seasons, and while Margaret Court's name continues to get bandied about as the apparent benchmark (uh huh), clearly Serena has accomplished enough that she will have absolutely zero to answer for by the time she's finished playing.
If...however...if Serena had won this match...
If she had won this match, there's no guarantee that she would have won the final. She still had one more match to go, and we won't know if something similar might have happened during the last round. The odds would have certainly appeared to be on her side, however.
If she had won this match, and the final, and every other result from then til now hadn't changed, she'd be on 24 total majors, and would have at least quieted a large part of this ridiculous Court debate, if (likely) not having silenced it altogether yet. Then again, who's to say that this loss didn't shake her confidence in closing scenarios even before her pregnancy-related hiatus? She was 21-4 in major finals before this loss, and has gone just 2-6 since.
If Serena had won this match, it would have marked the first, and to date, only time she would have made all four major finals in a single season - of the many other records and accomplishments she's achieved, this is something she has yet to do, believe it or not (she missed the Australian Open entirely at the start of the first "Serena Slam").
If Serena had won this match, it would have marked the first, and to date, only time she would have made all four major finals in a single season - of the many other records and accomplishments she's achieved, this is something she has yet to do, believe it or not (she missed the Australian Open entirely at the start of the first "Serena Slam").
If Serena would have won this match, and the final, she would have at least shut up all the idiots who thought a goddamn horse (not even the jockey at least, mind you, the horse) should've been SI's Sportsperson of the Year in 2015
For me, the key moment will always be the game point at 2-0, 40-30 in the third. Remember, Serena was up an early break at this point. If she closes this game out, maybe it helps her to keep settling her nerves. Instead, she doesn't do nearly enough with a forehand approach shot, letting Vinci easily pass her and go on to break back.
If Serena had won this match...
For me, the key moment will always be the game point at 2-0, 40-30 in the third. Remember, Serena was up an early break at this point. If she closes this game out, maybe it helps her to keep settling her nerves. Instead, she doesn't do nearly enough with a forehand approach shot, letting Vinci easily pass her and go on to break back.
If Serena had won this match...
But she didn't. C'est la vie. And as my beloved Rafa said recently, "if, if, if, doesn't exist."
Ultimately, though, it hit me as I was writing this entry out why it is I like to reminisce about these things. I don't think I'd really given it much thought before I decided to do this, but y'know, in many ways, it kinda feels like this is my method of coping with these tough losses, these difficult memories. We'll never be able to change the course of human events, of course...but damn if it isn't fun to imagine what you would do if you had to power to change even one of those moments, especially for us sports geeks. I'm already a big daydreamer as is, so it's easy for me to sculpt my memories into imagining what might have happened if things had gone a little differently. These are just a few of the ones I happened to think of as I reflected upon everything that's happened over the last ten years - there is so much that has happened, and always will happen, that the possibilities are virtually endless. What are some of your "what if?" moments from the last decade in the WTA?
Stay tuned for the gentleman's half of this project as soon as I find the time to keep hacking away at it! :)
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