Australian Open 2015 Draw Breakdown

Happy new tennis year to you all! Nine German WTA players feature in the AO15 main draw, including several of the kids in without having to go through qualifying – it’s a good time to be a WTA Germans fan. Here is my traditional occasionally-regular breakdown of the draws and my thoughts on their chances.

Angelique Kerber [9]

Best AO result: R4
2015 W-L: 5-2
Draw: R1 Begu, R2 Vesnina, R3 Suarez Navarro, R4 Bouchard, QF Sharapova, SF Halep, F Serena
Thoughts: Angie has had a typically dramatic start to 2015, in keeping with the trend of her general existence. She played some good stuff in Sydney and beat a slew of talented youngsters, but the most impressive part was the way she fought through the matches when she was struggling. Angie is always at her best when she’s fighting with her whole heart. That bodes well for the early rounds of her draw at AO, which shouldn’t trouble her too much. Drawing Bouchard as early as the 4th round is really rough – they played twice in the Slams last year and both were really disappointing performances from Angie. Hoping for a closer fought match this time around. (Side note: AO is the only Slam left that Angie hasn’t made at least the QF once.)
Prediction: R4

Andrea Petkovic [13]

Best AO result: QF
2015 W-L: 0-2
Draw: R1 Brengle, R2 Kanepi, R3 Stosur, R4 Kvitova, QF Radwanska, SF Serena, F Sharapova
Thoughts: A really disappointing start to the year from Petko, especially after such a strong season in 2014. The draw hasn’t been kind either (#BadLuckPetko), considering one of those first round losses this year was to Kanepi. That said, I’d back Petko to get herself going properly this week: the Kanepi loss was a very close match and we all know what Stosur’s like in Australia. Kvitova might be tired from playing all the way to the title in Sydney this week, but she’s looked in excellent form. R4 would be a respectable run for Petko.
Prediction: R4

Sabine Lisicki [28]

Best AO result: R4
2015 W-L: 0-2
Draw: R1 Mladenovic, R2 Mattek Sands, R3 Halep, R4 Errani, QF Ivanovic, SF Sharapova, F Serena
Thoughts: Someone in Australia really does not like Sabine, huh? This is just a really rough draw. Halep in the third round is obviously the stand-out ‘ouch’, but Mladenovic is a dangerous one too. Two close 3-set losses (one to #66 Shvedova) don’t fill me with confidence in terms of Bine’s form; she really could have used a few early ‘easy’ matches here to settle herself. Then again, you never really know with Sabine, do you? I’ll err on the side of optimism.
Prediction: R3

Mona Barthel

Best AO result: R3
2015 W-L: 0-2
Draw: R1 Vekic, R2 Kvitova, R3 Dellacqua, R4 Petko, QF Radwanska, SF Serena, F Sharapova
Thoughts: Has anyone except Angie actually won any matches yet this year?! Jeez. Mona’s opened her season with two first round losses to players ranked 84 and 99 respectively, so there’s that. Kvitova second round is just plain bad luck, and Vekic is exactly the kind of talented youngster Mona so routinely loses to (see: Konjuh in Auckland two weeks ago). I tend to be overly pessimistic about Mona sometimes, but in this case I think it’s warranted.
Prediction: R1 (sorry Mona)

Annika Beck

Best AO result: R2
2015 W-L: 1-2
Draw: R1 Soler Espinosa, R2 Errani, R3 Pavlyuchenkova, R4 Halep, QF Ivanovic, SF Sharapova F Serena
Thoughts: Well at least she’s actually won a match this year, unlike most people! And those two losses came to Vinci and Halep, so let’s not be too harsh on the kid. This is actually not a bad draw for Annika. She’s ranked higher than Soler Espinosa, Errani’s had a terrible start to the year, and Pavlyuchenkova’s only played one match in 2015 – a loss to Peng. I usually allow myself one overly-optimistic out-there prediction per Slam. This AO, I’m going with bb Annika.
Prediction: R4

Julia Görges

Best AO result: R4
2015 W-L: 2-1
Draw: R1 Bencic, R2 Koukalova, R3 Ivanovic, R4 Makarova, QF Halep, SF Sharapova, F Serena
Thoughts: Julia actually had a decent week in Auckland, her only tournament so far this year. She put together two no-nonsense straightforward wins over players ranked below her (not a common occurrence these days), before losing 4&4 to Wozniacki, who looks to be in excellent form. Unfortunately the draw has not been kind to her. Bencic is obviously absurdly talented – although she did lose 3&0 to Gavrilova in her only match of 2015. We could easily be looking at a first round loss here, but I’m going to put a bit of faith in Julia for once and back her to make it through a few rounds before falling to the in-form Ivanovic.
Prediction: R3

Anna-Lena Friedsam

Best AO result: Q1
2015 W-L: 0-1
Draw: R1 Bouchard, R2 Bertens, R3 Kuznetsova, R4 Angie, QF Sharapova, SF Halep, F Serena
Thoughts: Anna-Lena lost in the first round of qualifying here last year, so the fact that she’s a direct entrant to the main draw a year later is already a pretty impressive achievement. Progress! This is the most frustrating draw of all the Germans for me, because I’m really excited about what Anna-Lena could do this year, and then she goes and gets Bouchard first round. Such grim luck. That said, playing one of the top players on a night match on MCA will be a fantastic experience for the kid and hopefully give her some idea of what she needs to work on for the rest of the year.
Prediction: R1

Carina Witthöft

Best AO result: R1
2015 W-L: 0-1
Draw: R1 Suarez Navarro, R2 McHale, R3 Angie, R4 Bouchard, QF Sharapova, SF Halep, F Serena
Thoughts: Much like Anna-Lena, I’m excited to see what kind of progress bb Carina can make this year. Obviously we expected a draw like this considering she’s still ranked outside the Top 100, and CSN should have too much experience for Carina.
Prediction: R1

Tatjana Maria

Best AO result: R2
2015 W-L: 0-1
Draw: R1 Peng, R2 Konjuh, R3 Safarova, R4 Sharapova, QF Bouchard, SF Halep, F Serena
Thoughts: Tatjana was the only WTA German to come through qualifying, beating higher ranked players along the way, so she’s already had a great AO15. Peng is the 21st seed here and will likely to be too strong for Tatjana, though.
Prediction: R1

Looking back over these predictions, it seems my naive irrepressible optimism has surfaced one again (well, apart from in Mona’s case). So I shall leave you with this apt quote: “It’s not the despair. I can take the despair. It’s the hope I can’t stand.“

Roland Garros 2014 Draw Breakdown

Grand Slam time is finally upon us once again! Clay season for the WTA Germans has been rather disappointing, but Stuttgart reminded us all that Germany sure knows how to run a tennis tournament and the season started with Angie, Petko, Julia & Anna-Lena sacrificing their clay preparation to take Germany to the Fed Cup final in Australia, so we can hardly complain. Here are the full draw breakdowns for each of the Germans, along with my thoughts and predictions.</P

Angelique Kerber [8]

Best RG result: QF
2014 Clay Season W-L: 2-4
Draw: R1 Piter – R2 Cetkovska – R3 Hantuchova – R4 Bouchard/Pennetta – QF Radwanska – SF Serena – F Li Na
Thoughts: Angie has had a truly terrible clay season, but not necessarily as a result of her playing badly. Stuttgart was arguably a consequence of flying back from Australia a couple of days before, while Madrid and Rome were surely down to a lingering back injury. Only the Nürnberg loss was really a bad performance. Even though, she is down on confidence, no momentum and possibly still carrying injury concerns – and clay is her worst surface. The draw at least has been relatively kind for the first week, but I don’t expect much.
Prediction: R4

Sabine Lisicki [16]

Best RG result: R3
2014 Clay Season W-L: 2-3
Draw: R1 Ferro – R2 Barthel – R3 Vinci – R4 Serena – QF Sharapova – SF Radwanska – F Li Na
Thoughts: That’s just a brutal draw whichever way you look at it, really. Sabine hasn’t had a good clay season but her losses came against Ivanovic, Stosur & Halep so you can’t be too harsh on her for that. Ultimately though, unless the big names in her draw suffer earlier upsets, it’s not looking great. On the plus side, Mona-Sabine would be pretty fun (and also a giant frustrating mess).
Prediction: R3

Andrea Petkovic [28]

Best RG result: QF
2014 Clay Season W-L: 3-4
Draw: R1 Doi – R2 Friedsam – R3 Li Na – R4 Wozniacki – QF Jankovic/Errani – SF Halep – F Serena
Thoughts: Like Sabine, Petko’s record this clay season is not great, but take a look at her losses and you’ll see why: Pennetta, Errani, Serena (& Puig, but let’s not go there). #BadLuckPetko and her fight against the Draw Gods continues. Petko loves the clay and with a good draw, I’d have had her down as Germany’s best hope, but Li Na third round? Rough.
Prediction: R3

Annika Beck

Best RG result: R2
2014 Clay Season W-L: 1-4
Draw: R1 Pironkova – R2 Sharapova – R3 Kanepi – R4 Cibulkova – QF Serena – SF Radwanska – F Li Na
Thoughts: Perhaps I’m being too harsh on baby Annika, because I had such high hopes when she first appeared on the scene, but I keep finding myself disappointed by her progress. I really think she has a lot of talent, but it’s not really translated into wins yet. Her clay season was more of the same. And really, what is with her drawing top players so early in the slams?
Prediction: R2

Mona Barthel

Best RG result: R2
2014 Clay Season W-L: 2-3
Draw: R1 Knapp – R2 Sabine – R3 Vinci – R4 Serena – QF Sharapova – SF Radwanska – F Li Na
Thoughts: Mona’s actually played a lot of matches this clay season, but mostly in qualies (which I haven’t included in the W-L). It’s really quite hard to know what to expect from Mona, as always. She played beautifully in her win over Annika in Nürnberg, but the nonsensical losses just keep coming. Her draw isn’t going to help either, and her record at the slams is generally pretty rubbish. Who knows?
Prediction: R2

Dinah Pfizenmaier

Best RG result: R3
2014 Clay Season W-L: 1-3
Draw: R1 Cabeza Candela – R2 Errani – R3 Flipkens – R4 Jankovic – QF Li Na – SF Halep – F Serena
Thoughts: Pfizi’s mostly been playing ITF and WTA-qualies this clay season, which is actually a little disappointing. She had a great run to the third round last year so we know she can play on the RG clay. Errani second round though is a very tough draw, and she hasn’t shown much good form this year.
Prediction: R2

Julia Görges

Best RG result: R3
2014 Clay Season W-L: 3-4
Draw: R1 Larcher De Brito – R2 Bouchard – R3 Pennetta – R4 Angie – QF Radwanska – SF Serena – F Li Na
Thoughts: This will probably end badly for my poor heart, but I’m cautiously hopeful for Julia here. She’s looked more like her old self recently. She got a few good wins which should lift her confidence a bit, but most importantly, she’s been playing some lovely tennis. Strasbourg came to a disappoining end when Jule didn’t deal well with the rain delay, but overall the week was encouraging. Bouchard of course is in great form but might be a little tired after winning the title this weekend in Nürnberg. I’ll probably regret it, but I’m tipping Julia for a good tournament. (I’m allowed one crazy optimistic prediction, right???)
Prediction: QF

Anna-Lena Friedsam

Best RG result: N/A
2014 Clay Season W-L: 2-3
Draw: R1 Vögele – R2 Petko – R3 Li Na – R4 Wozniacki – QF Jankovic – SF Halep – F Serena
Thoughts: Anna-Lena is such a promising young talent, in my opinion. She’s been making steady progress with some great performances in 2014, although she still plays a lot of ITF and qualies. She was SO impressive vs Angie in Nürnberg and Angie was full of praise after the match. One for the future, for sure. As for this RG, her first in the main draw, her draw is expectedly tough. Hopefully she can get through her first round match, because watching her vs Petko would be great fun.
Prediction: R2

So those are my thoughts and predictions for this Roland Garros; not overly optimistic (Julia delusions aside!). Let me know what you think in the comments!

Australian Open Grades

So the first Slam of the year is over (congrats, Li Na), here are my thoughts on the performances and results of the two weeks in Australia…

A

No one. Honestly, this was a pretty disappointing Slam for the Germans.

B

Angie: She fulfilled her seeding by making the 4th round and played some good tennis along the way (bagel from Gadjosova aside), so why does it feel so disappointing? Angie had an incredible chance to make her first Slam quarterfinal since Wimbledon 2012 when she came up against Flavia Pennetta instead of Petra Kvitova. Pennetta played extremely well for parts of the match, but it was still a very winnable one for Angie. The QF wait goes on.

Mona: She gets a good grade from me mostly for outdoing all expectations. Her performances were not exactly convincing, and she got lucky by not having to play Kvitova in the second round, but she gritted out two solid wins (something she hasn’t done for a while) and lost to eventual-quarterfinalist Pennetta. Marks for improvement.

C

Annika: Incredible result in the first round, landing a double bagel on Martic, before a bit of a beatdown from Ivanovic. With the benefit of hindsight, we now know Ivanovic would go on to beat Serena, so we can’t be too hard on Baby Annika. Good performance, tough draw. Must hope for a kind draw next time around.

Julia: a similar story to Annika’s; fantastic first round result, followed by a very disappointing second round. The highlights from the Errani match are a joy to watch, seeing that forehand cranking out winners from all over the court. It was arguably Julia’s best performance in about a year and a half. But it seemed like two steps forward, one step back when she lost a very winnable match versus Lauren Davis in the second round with more error-strewn play. Let’s hope she takes confidence from the first round and doesn’t dwell on the second.

Witthoeft: Yes, she was well beaten by Minella in the first round, but she did well to qualify for a Grand Slam main draw for only the second time in her career. And she is only 18.

D

Sabine: This was the most truly disappointing result of the AO for me. Sabine gets marked down mostly for not fulfilling her seed and for, frankly, playing terribly against Niculescu. It was a match Sabine should have won, but she was easily frustrated by Niculescu’s weird game and hit errors all over the place. Is it grass season yet?

Pfizi: I didn’t see Pfizi’s first rounder versus Wickmayer so I can’t speak to her performance, but a first round loss is a first round loss. Wickmayer wasn’t a seed and hasn’t had a good result in a while; these are the kind of matches Dinah needs to win if she wants to break through.

Petko: It hurts me to be so harsh on Petko, but what can you say about a routine straight-sets loss in the first round? Her bad luck with draws continues. Fingers crossed for next time.

Australian Open Draw Breakdown

So the Australian Open draw was done this morning and it threw up some interesting matches. Here’s the predicted draws of the Germans and some thoughts on their chances.

Angelique Kerber [9]:
1R: Gajdosova / 2R: Garcia / 3R: Vesnina / 4R: Kvitova / QF: Li / SF: Serena
Angie should be fine through the first few rounds, although having just watched her loss in the Sydney final and imagining the confidence hit she’ll take from that, I wouldn’t be too surprised at an upset… If she gets there, it’ll be a good match vs Petra. Last time they played was of course that great match in Istanbul. Petra being Petra, you always have a chance against her, but she’ll be the heavy favourite.
Prediction: 4th round.

Sabine Lisicki [15]:
1R: Lucic-Baroni / 2R: Niculescu / 3R: Makarova / 4R: Li / QF: Kvitova / SF: Serena
Very similar to Angie’s draw. We know Sabine is prone to random losses at any point, but the first 3 rounds shouldn’t be a problem. But same as Angie, she comes up against a tough opponent in the 4th round. Can’t personally see her beating Li but it could be a good match. Most interesting point: if Sabine & Angie could win their fourth round matches, they’d play each other in the quarter-final in a replay of the best match of all time. Prayer circles at the ready.
Prediction: 4th round.

Andrea Petkovic:
1R: Rybarikova / 2R: Peng / 3R: Jankovic / 4R: Halep / QF: Sharapova / SF: Azarenka
I’ll be honest, considering Petko’s terrible luck with draws lately, this is a million times better than expected. I was certain she’d get Serena first round. Rybarikova is the 32nd seed but we all know Petko is better than her current ranking, and she’s on the upswing, so I’m backing her to beat Rybarikova and Peng. Jankovic has looked in top form lately, but whatever happens, that will be a fun match. Second half of the matches is about as tough as it gets.
Prediction: 3rd round.

Mona Barthel:
1R: Zhang / 2R: Kvitova / 3R: Pennetta / 4R: Kerber / QF: Li / SF: Serena
Terrible. Even if Mona gets past Zhang (which I would not put money on), I can’t see her besting Petra. Which is a shame, because that Mona/Angie 4th rounder sure would be fun.
Prediction: 2nd round (optimistic, I know)

Annika Beck:
1R: Martic / 2R: Ivanovic / 3R: Stosur/Pironkova / 4R: Serena / QF: Errani / SF: Kvitova
The more I look at this draw, the more annoyed I get. I was hoping for Annika to have a decent little run here through a few rounds, but not with this draw. Ivanovic has looked good early this year and I don’t see Annika beating her. Tough luck, kid.
Prediction: 2nd round

Julia Goerges:
1R: Errani / 2R: Davis / 3R: Bouchard / 4R: Vinci / QF: Serena / SF: Kvitova
Oh Julia. Most of Julia’s (few) ranking points are from her run to the 4th round at the AO last year. She needed to win at least a few matches here this year to stop her ranking from plummeting completely. So the 7th seed in round one is less than ideal… My hopes are not high.
Prediction: 1st round (sorry Jule)

Dinah Pfizenmaier:
1R: Wickmayer / 2R: Vesnina / 3R: Kerber / 4R: Kvitova / QF: Li / SF: Serena
Quite a tough draw, actually. Wickmayer is a decent player, and Vesnina the 23rd seed. Maybe it’s blind optimism, but I think Pfizi can win at least the first. Hopefully two because I would love to see that match against Angie.
Prediction: 2nd round

Basically, I’m expecting Angie & Sabine to fulfil their seeding but rob me of a rematch, while the youngsters can win a couple and more despair for Mona & Julia. Disagree?

Happy New Year!

Tennis is back at last! Let’s take stock of how things went for the first week of the new season…

Win of the Week: Check you out, Anna-Lena Friedsam!! The #122 ranked baby German beat #36 Jovanovski 6-1 7-5 in the first round of Shenzhen. We’re officially paying attention, Anna.

Most Suspicious Withdrawal: Sabine pulling out of Brisbane on New Year’s Day with “gastrointestinal illness”, one of the more creative covers for a massive hangover I’ve heard.

Most Predictable Loss: Meusberger d. Mona Barthel 6-4 6-3. Oh Mona. You’ve now been useless for so long I’m out of jokes to make at your expense.

Worst Case of Dashed Optimism: JULIA WON A MATCH!!! Julia beat a higher ranked player!! Julia won a third set tiebreak without her brain leaking out of her ears!!! Julia’s back, the crisis is over!!! ……….. Julia loses to #204 Sachie Ishizu the next day. Oh, those beautiful 24 hours of hope!

The ‘Not Quite Sure What to Make of This’ Award: Angie in Brisbane. On the one hand: Played very well for about five and a half sets to start the week, looked focused and in good form. On the other: A not-very-reassuring 2013-style total collapse in the middle of the second set of a winnable match with Jankovic. Jury’s out, Angie.

Most Reassuring Start to 2014: Despite continuing her Worst Luck Ever with draws, Petko confirmed my cautious optimism for her 2014 with a great straight sets win over Mattek-Sands in Brisbane before falling to Serena in a very encouraging performance. No world number ones next week please, Draw Gods.

Player of the Week: Baby Annika. Not exactly a wealth of choices for this one, but a great week from Annika anyway. Very solid run to the semifinals in Shenzhen, with good wins over players she should be beating. Living up to her seeding. Making runs at the smaller tournaments. Exactly what’s needed from her this year. A+ kid.

Questions for Next Week: Can Annika make another good run at a smaller tournament (Hobart)? How many of her Hobart final points can Mona defend? (Spoiler: none of them) How dumb is it of Angie to play the week before AO? Just how depressing will Julia’s attempt to qualify for Sydney be? (Spoiler: very)

2014 Season Preview

These are my thoughts about the ladies’ prospects for the new season. Let me know in the comments if you agree or disagree!

Will we see more of 2013!Angie or the return of 2012!Angie?

I have a really good feeling about this next year, I must be honest. I am quietly confident of big things. The final few weeks of last year were special and now that Angie’s clearly over The Great Existential Crisis of 2013, I see no reason why she can’t do as well as she did in 2012 or even better. I think she’ll stay top 10, qualify for YEC, get back close to top 5 and – bold prediction coming up – make a Slam final.

(Disclaimer: high possibility that all the above is the naive optimism of a fangirl. Proceed with caution.)

Wimbledon finalist… what now?

I don’t expect much from Sabine for 90% of the season, but this Wimbledon will be very interesting. Sabine is used to being the darling underdog, the dark horse, the upset-er. Clearly it will be different as a defending finalist. Everyone will be wary of her, everyone will want to beat her. Unlike previous years, the pressure will be on Sabine this year. Either her run to the final will fill her with confidence and she’ll back it up with another final (or, dare I say it, the title), or the role reversal will be her undoing and she’ll lose early. It’s hard to call, (though I’m leaning towards the former – she just loves that tournament too much) but it will certainly be interesting to watch.

Just what exactly is wrong with Mona? 

Mona has to be very, very careful in the first few weeks of the season. Pretty much her entire ranking is built on the Aussie swing. If she doesn’t get a good start and defend a good bulk of those points, her ranking is going to plummet and she could find herself playing qualies later in the year. On the flip side, she has almost nothing to defend the rest of the year. It’s hard to know what to expect from Mona when her bad form didn’t seem to have a cause (unlike Angie or Julia), but she showed nothing towards the end of 2013 to suggest it might get better…. Outlook not promising, for me.

The Petko Comeback, for good this time?

Another player I’m quietly confident about this year. Now that she’s healthy and with a proper off-season training period behind her, hopefully Petko will be back to her pre-injury self. It’s easy to forget, with how horrible the last year has been, that Petko was actually top 10 not too long ago. I think the competition for top 10 spots is a bit tougher now, but I certainly expect her to get back up in the top 20 – if she can stay healthy. I always saw Petko as a very consistent, reliable player who always gave her best, week in week out. Hopefully that’s what we get in 2014.

bb Annika grows up, maybe?

I think this is a really crucial year for Annika. She needs to get a bit of a breakthrough and start being a bit more solid and consistent, and turning good performances into good wins. I think she’ll break top 30 this year and though the slams will be tough with the kind of draws she’s likely to get, I’ll be expecting her to put together some good runs at the smaller tournaments. That said, a breakthrough run at a slam beating some top players would be nice, wouldn’t it? She has the talent.

It can’t possibly get any worse for Julia… can it?

In all seriousness, I am cautiously hopeful for Julia this year. Now that her injury is fully healed and she’s been training hard (and went to Oz early), she should be getting back to her normal standard. The problem is going to be confidence, I think. I can’t imagine how demoralising last year must have been for a player of her talent. But with a good team around her and a couple good wins under her belt early in the season, I think she’ll be shooting back up the rankings in no time. (Possibly another case of the wishful thinking of a fangirl…)

Just how good is Pfizi going to be?

Much like Annika, this is a big year for Dinah if she wants to establish herself. Her Roland Garros run last year showed her promise, but she hasn’t really backed that up on a week to week basis. Breaking into the top 100 should help with draws. I expect her ranking to go up considerably this year, but I think Annika is the better prospect for a real top breakthrough.

One to watch: Anna-Lena Friedsam. I’ve got a feeling.

2013 WTA Germans Awards – Vote now!

The last part of our little 2013 retrospective at aufgehtstennis! Polls will be open for about a week over Christmas and I will announce the ‘winners’ on twitter. Vote away!

Best Photos of 2013

A look back at some of the best photos of the year. Share your faves in the comments!

Best. Cheerleaders. Ever.

FINALEEEEEE!!!!

Serena who?

How old does she have to get before I can stop calling her ‘bb annika’?

Our kid under the bright lights at the US Open.

Oh Julia…

Still not over that outfit.

All class.

The Dream Team

ISTANBUL, BABYYYY!

There are no words.

How nice is it to see her smiling again?

One word: shoulders.

Worst Doubles Team Ever

What a weekend!

(All photos taken from Zimbio, except for the Petko/Angie doubles pic, taken from the great Christoper Levy’s flickr stream.)

2013 Season Review

I’ve been reflecting on this for a few weeks now and I’ve come to the following one-word conclusion about the WTA Germans in 2013: weird. Seriously, what was this year?! Let’s break down the general wtf-ness of the year together…

Angelique Kerber, year end ranking #9

Angie most clearly sums up the weirdness of 2013. She played terribly all year but finished in the top 10 and qualified for Istanbul. Eh? This was always going to be a tough year for Angie, following her incredible rise in 2012. She’s spoken multiple times this year about struggling with the new feeling of defending points and trying to feel like she belonged at the top of the game. It was clear to see that she was struggling mentally and emotionally. The #duncurrber mentality was there in 2012 too, but in 2012 she found the way to win through. The first nine months of the year, that just wasn’t happening.

The lowest point was a second round loss to Kanepi at Wimbledon (as a defending semi-finalist) and a few other first round losses to players she has no place losing to. And then the Asian Swing happened. After a bit of time off (and a change of coach), Angie came out firing. Final in Tokyo. Quarter final in Beijing. Title in Linz. Wins over Radwanska, Wozniacki, Ivanovic (twice). Suddenly she’d qualified for Istanbul, secured her place in the top 10, and most importantly of all, she was back to her old self and playing some fantastic tennis.

Istanbul was more than any of us hoped. Her first YEC win (over Radwanska). A brilliant performance against Kvitova which put her one set away from the semi-finals. It was tough to be an Angie fan this year, but I am full of optimism for 2014 – and I think she is too.

Sabine Lisicki, #15

Actually, Sabine was the only non-weird part of 2013. She did exactly what she does every year: spent most of the year losing terrible matches against nobodies, except for those two glorious weeks in the middle when she’s suddenly the best tennis player in the world.

Sabine’s run to Wimbledon final was the most astonishing achievement. She played out of her skin. For six incredible matches, her talent was truly fulfilled. None of us fans will ever, ever forget her coming back in the third set to take out the legend that is Serena Williams. Or winning a third set 9-7 in a Grand Slam semi-final on Wimbledon Centre Court, to make your first ever Slam final, at your most beloved tournament… Doesn’t get much better, does it?

I’m not going to talk about the final (for personal trauma reasons), but it was a stunning and unforgettable two weeks. Which only makes the rest of the season that much more frustrating. I don’t even remember any other notable matches or tournament runs (genuinely, I had to look it up). A couple of losses in finals in Pattaya City and Memphis (???) and a semi-final in Luxembourg. That’s it. There was a brief hope that the Wimbledon run and a chance of making the top 10 would push her on in the last part of the season. That didn’t happen.

Sabine is never going to be a consistent all-year kind of player. But she probably will win Wimbledon one day. I’ll take it.

Mona Barthel, #34

I think Mona might be the most baffling person on the planet. One minute she’s terrible. The next, incredible. (And not in a grass season vs. not-grass-season way like Sabine, just completely randomly.) It seems like she barely won a match all year, yet she’s ranked 34. I am just thoroughly confused by her existence.

Mona started the season well (first round loss at the Australian Open aside). She reached the semi-final in Auckland, the final in Hobart, won the title in Paris (beating Vinci, Bartoli, Mladenovic and Errani in succession). Wins over Angie in Doha and Ivanovic in Indian Wells. All going swimmingly, thank you very much. And then, suddenly, for no conceivable reason, she can’t play tennis. At all. After Indian Wells, she lost in first round ten times. She only got past the second round ONCE for the rest of the year. It was an appalling run of form which made zero sense. I got nothing.

The one highlight is her performance in Fed Cup versus Serbia. It was the playoffs, at home in Stuttgart. Angie had lost to Ivanovic, so Mona had to beat Jovanovski to keep Germany in the tie. Jovanovski is a decent player and the pressure on Mona was intense. I was in the Porsche Arena that day, and the atmosphere was… something else. There was a sense of hopelessness in the crowd after Angie lost. And Mona was brilliant. She was calm and composed and won it in 3. Mona’s a quiet and reserved girl, and I don’t think she’s used to the kind of support she got that day. I was happy for the team to win that weekend, but part of me was most happy that Mona got to be the hero, for once.

Andrea Petkovic, #43

Petko’s year in one word: “unlucky”. What a long and hard road of a comeback it was this year. Multiple, recurring injuries, just as things started to look up. When she was fit, terrible draws. Nothing was going her way. There was really nothing notable in her results until Nuremberg, where she beat Julia, Annika and Jankovic on her way to the final. Best part of that week? Seeing Petko smiling again. (And this photo.) After that, a final in Washington and a win over Azarenka in Beijing stand out.

This was a tough, tough year for Petko but she finished it much happier and healthier than she started it.

Annika Beck, #58 

It wasn’t quite the ‘breakout year’ I had hoped for our bb Annika, but it was a very solid and promising one. She moved steadily up the rankings and put in a lot of very good performances. Annika always plays very well against the top players, even if she doesn’t get the wins (Kvitova in Stuttgart and Azarenka in Roland Garros come to mind). Highlight of the year was clearly the run to the Luxembourg final. I still think this kid has a ton of potential and I expect great things of her in the future.

Julia Goerges, #72

I don’t even want to talk about it.

Dinah Pfizenmaier, #95 

The big achievement for Pfizi this year was obviously breaking into the top 100. She mostly played ITF and qualies, except for a truly brilliant run in Roland Garros, where she got all the way to the third round from qualification rounds and wins over Minella and Ula Radwanska. Very promising indeed. (Although she did get double bageled by Azarenka in the first round of the US Open, so.) One to watch, no doubt.

Anna-Lena Groenefeld, #15 (doubles)

I feel like everyone sort of ignores Anna-Lena which is a real shame, especially because she actually had a pretty great year. She played mostly with Peschke and put together a really great set of results and tournament runs. Title in Brussels, finals in Brisbane (including a win over Errani/Vinci), Nuremberg, Toronto and Cincinnati, semi in Doha, a Grand Slam semi-final in Wimbledon, and of course the deciding point in the Fed Cup play-off vs Serbia with Sabine. Although, she did manage to lose to Actual Worst Doubles Team in the World of Petko/Angie…