I’ve enjoyed a break from tennis for the past two weeks but i’m looking forward to Stuttgart next week! Before the main draw preview drops at the weekend, this is a Set Points catch-up on what i’ve missed out on. Of course, there was some big news yesterday when it was confirmed that Serena Williams is pregnant with her first child and will miss the remainder of the 2017 season…. congrats to Serena!
More good news… I was thrilled to read such a positive post from Petra Kvitova on Instagram where she confirmed that she will be on the entry list for the French Open with a small chance that she may be fit for the second Slam of the year, starting on the 29th of May.
I agree with René’s tweet below – it doesn’t matter to me when Petra comes back and to be honest, I will still be stunned if it’s at Roland Garros. Still, this news is really encouraging as I didn’t expect a comeback at all this year.
Look at that smile!
Last week’s tournaments in Biel and Bogota both produced memorable winners. In Biel, the 17-year-old qualifier, Marketa Vondrousova won her first WTA title in just her second (!) WTA tournament. Vondrousova has won 29 of 33 matches in 2017 and will be on Fed Cup duty this weekend for the Czech Republic.
Francesca Schiavone had been in the news after being snubbed for her home tournament in Rome in not receiving a main draw wildcard. The Italian hadn’t won a main draw match on the WTA tour all year but won five last week to win Bogota. Schiavone defeated Lara Arruabarrena in Saturday’s final, 6-4 7-5. By virtue of the win, Schiavone has sealed a spot in the main draw of the French Open… yay!
At the ITF tournament in Indian Harbour Beach, it was wonderful to see Victoria Duval back in action. The 21-year-old reached the semi-finals with wins over Ajla Tomljanovic and Eugenie Bouchard, the latter a 6-0 6-3 thumping. Despite two wins to reach the quarter-finals, it was not a particularly promising week for Bouchard. Olga Govortsova won the overall tournament.
A few wrap-ups from a fab week in Charleston – Daria Kasatkina with a funny moment from her champions press conference!
For the third year in a row, there’s another hilarious video featuring Andrea Petkovic and Jelena Jankovic. I was howling at Petkovic’s story of when Jankovic cheered her up in Miami following a tough loss 🤣🤣🤣.
Stuttgart’s entry list has been further boosted with Johanna Konta. This ensures that barring any withdrawals, all eight seeds will be top ten players. The draw will be held on Saturday.
A TBT for one of my posts from last year with a look back at memorable matches from Stuttgart. I wonder what match-ups we will be adding to the list from the 2017 edition of the tournament…
The entry lists for the grass court season are coming soon (yay!) and the first player announcements have been released for Birmingham.
And finally, i’ve been moaning about the issues of WTA streaming all year. I thought it was time to put all my thoughts down in one dedicated post about the issue to explain how it is affecting me and the coverage on the blog this year.
Moo's Tennis Blog 
A little off topic but Novak Djokovic matches are becoming increasingly uncomfortable to watch! That’s two matches in a row where he’s looked solid and then completely fallen to pieces. One of his biggest strengths has always been his ability to play the right shot. Today against Busta he often made really questionable decisions and he lost the second set with a particularly cavalier attempt when he had a whole court to volley into.
I can’t decide if he doesn’t care or he cares too much.
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I think he doesn’t care too much anymore – i’m sure he has said tennis is no longer his main priority in life. I don’t think he will have a chance of winning RG. His motivation will only come back if he has no slams on his ranking points (as he will feel irrelavant personally) or never!
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Don’t want to be negative on the Moo blog, but hey that’s me—–Is Bouchard building up a losing resume in the WTA and ITF tournaments as her slip and fall liability law case approaches this summer ? If successful the jury award could be $100+Million for losses in tournaments, sponsors,ads, etc,etc. as the US courts multiply the alleged damages by about 4 times. Recently a US jury awarded car cash victims( caused by a drunk driver) $4 Billion from General Motors.
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Can you do a poll for Maria’s 1st opponent prediction?
I predict Strycova! It will be branded as a match between two players that have served doping suspensions, plus Strycova has expressed her discontent with the special treatment Sharapova is getting (adding more spice to the match).
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It’s bound to be somebody who bad mouthed her. Maybe Cibulkova or Halep? I’d say Kerber, but I doubt it with them both being Porsche sponsored girls.
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I don’t think Simona badmouthed Maria, in fact in the interview I saw Simona was careful not to say anything negative about Maria despite what looked like goading by the reporters concerned;
Domi has had a go at her though, as has Kiki Mladenovic.
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Can’t be any of those 3 you mentioned as they top 4 seeds get byes 😜
From previous comebacks, it can be seen they never get really high profile player on first match back. Clijsters got no.14 Bartoli in 2009 & Henin got no.20 Petroca in 2010.
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I forgot they did Byes in Stuttgart…
I’d love to see a Mladenovic Sharapova match for sure.
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Konta crying again… Is she angling for a Kleenex sponsorship?!
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Did you see what happened before that Andrew? I’ve just been reading Tennis Forum and (as you might expect) opinions are divided, with some posters saying Jo was sorely abused (by Nastase) and others basically saying it was a storm in a teacup. In the absence of any better information I’m going to go with Jo being abused to the point of breaking down·
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This fact about Jo (which I didn’t know) sheds some light on why she might be feeling more than usually vulnerable this weekend. Apparently the inquest into her former mental coach’s death concluded two days ago that he had taken his own life;
https://www.theguardian.com/sport/blog/2017/apr/22/ilie-nastase-fed-cup-behaviour
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Yes I read that too. It was a bizarre moment today. I remember Andrew mentioning before about Konta crying. It doesn’t personally bother me but my, she was really upset. I see Cirstea has come out with some comments. Another rough Fed Cup tie.
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I didn’t see what happened, it’s merely an observation that I’ve shared several times now that Konta seems to cry quite a lot.
Can’t stand Nastase and what he said was uncalled for. But if you aren’t able to mentally cope with being called a bitch without falling to pieces during a freaking tennis match then god help you…
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As James has hinted above, it’s not the first time something like this has happened in Fed Cup. I remember that a couple of years ago the Polish Fed Cup team called a short and not very sweet press conference (in which Aga Radwanska played a prominent role) after their team had apparently been abused by the Israeli audience.
Aga clearly didn’t (and presumably still doesn’t) feel she should have to put up with abuse when she’s playing the game, and who’s to say she’s wrong? I think Jo should have the same right to decide, especially if as I said she’s feeling a bit vulnerable at the moment due to circumstances beyond her control.
Anyway, IMO someone in Nastase’s (former?) position should set an example. If Romanians see their captain getting away with abuse (and Nastase’s comments were inexcusable IMO), they will think it’s OK for them to do it too and that’s why there has to be zero tolerance of misbehaviour from someone who like him is in a position of authority.
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I had to turn the sound off watching the Fed Cup matches due to the noise from the horns and drums.
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I never watch them for the same reason…
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Strange—In the Istanbul qualies there are 6 Russian girls with last names starting with “K”.
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