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2015 WTA Yearend and Predictions for 2016 The grand slam... the ultimate achievement in tennis... was so close this year.  Serena Williams was within two wins of the monumental feat, before Roberta Vinci derailed her in the US Open semis.  Serena did not play after that loss, but she had still amassed a 53-3 match win record for the year:  her losses coming to Petra Kvitova, Belinda Bencic, and Vinci.  Surprisingly, this amounted to only two titles outside of the three slams she won.  But she also retired from three tournaments.  Her total of 5 titles for the year seems low for such a dominant #1.  But her total of 21 slam singles titles is third on the all time list. Slam Singles Titles 24 – Margaret Court 22 – Steffi Graf 21 – Serena Williams 20 – Helen Wills* 18 – Chris Evert 18 – Martina Navratilova *includes 1924 Olympics which replaced Fre Chps that year The sense of deflation after Serena’s US Open loss was huge. ...

US Open 2015 Preview – Men Novak Djokovic is the runaway #1 this year.   But Andy Murray just beat him in the Montreal final and Roger Federer triumphed over Novak in Cincinnati.  So who is the favourite for the US Open?  And what about last year’s finalists Marin Cilic and Kei Nishikori?  Or Djokovic’s conqueror in Paris, Stan Wawrinka?  And what of Rafael Nadal? Djokovic has won two of three slams and four Masters 1000 titles this year.  He has 50% more ranking points in the yearly Race than #2 Andy Murray.  Hard courts are traditionally his favourite surface.  So why isn’t he the obvious favourite for the US Open?  Well, for starters he’s just lost twice on North American hard courts, to Murray and Federer.  And then there is his dismal record in US Open finals:  1 W – 4 L.  Considering his sterling Australian Open resume contains 5 titles, his failure at the USO is especially puzzling.  Steve Tigno...

US Open 2015 Preview – Women There are a lot of records on the line here and they all have to do with Serena.  Can anyone stop her? Serena Williams has won the last 4 slam events – the Serena Slam.  She needs one more to win the calendar Grand Slam – a feat accomplished 3 times by women:  1953 Maureen Connolly, 1970 Margaret Court, 1988 Steffi Graf.  A US Open victory would give Serena four consecutive US Open titles, matching Chris Evert’s open era record (1975-1978), as well as the all-time record:  Molla Mallory (1915-1918), Helen Jacobs (1932-1935).  It would be Serena’s 7 th USO crown, one more than Evert’s open era record of 6, but one behind the all-time tally of Mallory.  It would also be Serena’s 22 nd slam title, matching the open era record of Steffi Graf (1987-1999), but still two behind the all-time count of Margaret Court (1960-1973). Serena has lost only twice all year:  in Madrid to Petra Kvitova and in Canada to B...