Despite being marred by the absence of the banned Maria Sharapova, the 2016 WTA season managed to spring in enough surprises to keep tennis fans hooked. For the first time since February 2013, someone managed to replace Serena Williams from the top of the WTA rankings.
A relatively unknown player from Puerto Rico won the Olympic Singles Gold Medal from literally out of nowhere. Let us take a look at the performances of these players in detail, and also of a few others who managed to make big breakthroughs this season -
1) Angelique Kerber
The 28-year old from Germany has been plying her trade on the WTA Tour since 2003. Angelique Kerber is a prime example of where hard work, determination, and focus can take you. The southpaw has no major weapon in her game, apart from being able to run down balls all day long, counter-punching, and hoping that her opponent would miss.
The fact she's been able to achieve what she has stands proof to her supreme levels of fitness, both physical and mental.
Kerber started her year on a good note, reaching the final of the Brisbane International. Matches under her belt helped her to come back from being a match point down in the first round of the Australian Open, to beating Serena Williams in the final.
It was truly a fairytale run for Kerber, which made her the first German to win a Grand Slam since Steffi Graff in 1999. People wrote her off as a "one-hit wonder" when she was knocked out in the first round of the French Open, but Kerber went on to prove them wrong.
Tennis is a very much a mental game, and Kerber had struggled in that aspect for a long time. But the numerous conversations she had with Graf began to bear fruit for her during this part of the season.
Kerber came back with a bang at Wimbledon, losing in the final to Serena Williams.
At the Rio Olympics, Kerber further asserted her increasing stature, bringing home a silver medal for Germany. After reaching the finals of the US Open, Kerber assured herself of being no. 1 the following week. Instead of being distracted by the news, Kerber kept her composure to see off the challenge of Karolina Pliskova in the final, leading herself to a second Grand Slam title.
Kerber's performances have helped tennis become one of the most popular sports in Germany again. Close to one million viewers watched the match between Kerber and Cibulkova at the WTA Finals in Singapore. These numbers were unheard of, since the time Boris Becker and Steffi Graff dominated the sports in the late 90's. One can expect more of that from Kerber in the 2017 season, for her tiny shoulders are resilient enough to carry the expectations of an entire nation on them.
2) Monica Puig
Monica Puig comes from Puerto Rico, a country with a population of just 3.5 million. She was born in September 1993, to a Cuban American father and a Puerto Rican mother.
Puig is an aggressive baseliner, with a more than a decent serve. She made her debut on the WTA Tour in 2010, breaking the top 100 barrier for the first time in 2013. A year later, she won her first WTA title in Strasbourg. Since then, she's been hovering between 50 and 100 in the rankings, never really able to make that big breakthrough.
Even at the start of 2016, Puig was ranked only just inside the top 100, making her participation at the Rio Olympics looking increasingly impossible.
But what happened thereafter, makes for one of the most amazing stories in the history of the Olympics. Impressive performances at the start of the season confirmed her participation at the Olympics.
Puig came into the Rio 2016 Games unseeded, ranked 34rd in the world, with nobody giving her a chance to win more than a couple of rounds, let alone winning a medal. But the young player found the magic touch, one that only athletes can describe.
Improving with every match she played, she beat reigning Roland Garros champion Garbine Muguruza 6-1 6-1 in one of her matches.
She beat two-time Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova in the semi-finals before knocking off the Kerber in the final. Post her gold medal victory, she became an instant hero back in her country, for she was the first gold medalist, male or female, in the history of the nation. She also became the first female Puerto Rican athlete to win an Olympic medal of any color.
"The Golden Girl", as she's known since her Olympics triumph, went into a self-admitted slump post her Olympics victory, with the added weight of expectations and media attention, losing 5 matches and winning just 4.
But with much needed time off from the game to rejuvenate her mind and body, one could well expect Puig to do some serious damage in 2017. And the fact that she went from being ranked 92nd at the start of the season to being ranked 32nd at the end, despite the Olympics not offering any ranking points, shows that she has the ability to do so consistently.
3) Naomi Osaka
All of 19, Osaka has already been labeled as the next big star in women's tennis.
She first made news when she won the WTA Rising Stars Invitational in 2015, a tournament organized alongside the WTA Finals in Singapore. Her father hails from Haiti, while her mother is Japanese.
While she was born in Japan, she grew up mostly in the US. Osaka trains in Florida, but represents Japan and is supported by the Japanese Tennis Association.
Standing at 5ft 11in, the tall Osaka possesses a huge serve, and has big groundstrokes on both flanks, with the forehand being her weapon. Osaka is a must-follow on Snapchat and Instagram too, posting quirky stuff regularly.
She already has a huge fan following in Japan, recently signing a huge deal with the popular Japanese food brand Nissin.
Osaka has made a humongous jump in the rankings this year, jumping 156 spots from 203, to being ranked 47. She is the youngest player in the top 50, and was named the WTA newcomer of the year on the back of her brilliant performances this season.
Qualifying into the first Grand Slam of her career at the Australian Open, Osaka made a serious first impression, reaching the third round, before losing to former world no. 1 Victoria Azarenka.
She made the third round at the French Open as well, losing to former No. 2 Simona Halep in three sets.
While a right knee injury forced her to skip Wimbledon, Osaka continued from where she had left off at the French Open, reaching the third round of the US Open, losing a nail-biter to home favourite Madison Keys at the Arthur Ashe Stadium.
Post the US Open, Osaka made the final of her home tournament in Tokyo, much to the delight of her home crowd.
Three third-round appearances in their first three Grand Slams is a serious achievement for any tennis player, let alone a 19-year relative rookie.
While her game has a lot of raw potential, there are a flaws that could do with a bit of work. First is definitely her movement on court, and the other being controlling the number of unforced errors on the free flowing backhand side. Once she's taken care of all that, she can do big-time damage, specially with a game that's as explosive as hers.
4) Johanna Konta
Johanna Konta is known for being the first British woman to crack the top 10 of the WTA rankings in the last 30 years.
Konta was born to Hungarian parents in Sydney, Australia, before moving to the UK when she was 14. She used to represent Australia until 2012, but switched to representing Great Britain after becoming a British citizen in May 2012. Konta's grandfather used to play international football for Hungary in the 1950s.
2016 was undoubtedly the best year in Konta's career, having started the year ranked 47, and finishing in the top 10, peaking at number 9.
Konta made a dream main draw at the Australian Open, reaching the semi-finals. This was her first semi-final at the Grand Slam level. Her run included a 1st round win over the legendary Venus Williams at the Rod Laver Arena, losing to eventual champion Angelique Kerber in the semis.
This made her the first female British tennis player to reach a Grand Slam singles semifinal in 32 years. This year also saw her win the first WTA title of her career at Stanford. Konta also reached the quarter-finals at the Rio Olympics, losing to eventual silver medalist, Angelique Kerber. She was voted the WTA's Most Improved Player of the Year, with over 80% votes.
The off-season brought about tragic news for Konta, with the sudden news of the passing away of her sports psychologist, Juan Coto, whom she often credited with helping her ascent to the top.
She also had an unexpected split with her coach, Esteban Carrill. But picking herself up from the double hit, she has gone ahead with a three-week training block she had planned at the Mouratoglou Tennis Academy in France, getting ready for the 2017 season.
She has also signed a new trial coach, Wim Fissette, and is looking to put the personal setbacks behind her before she takes to competing in the new season.
5) Karolina Pliskova
The 6ft 1in Pliskova's game is naturally based around her serve.
The Czech, has shown glimpses of her prowess from right through her junior years. She won the Australian Open Juniors title in 2010, defeating the talented Laura Robson in the final. Karolina has an extremely aggressive style of play, hitting big on both the forehand and the backhand side.
Her movement is sluggish, but she manages to move really well for a player of her height. She won her first WTA title in 2013, breaking the top 10 barrier for the first time in 2015. Pliskova is also a very proficient doubles player, being ranked 11 in the world.
Pliskova did not get off to an ideal start . She struggled right until the end of the clay season. But she was up and kicking as soon as the grass season started, winning the Aegon Open in Nottingham. Riding on the back of her powerful serve, she won her first Premier 5 WTA title, winning the Cincinnati Open defeating Angelique Kerber in the final.
Just a couple of weeks later, she made it to the second week of a Grand Slam for the first time in her career, extending her run to the finals. She beat both the Williams sisters at the same tournament, a feat that only players of the class of Steffi Graff and Martina Hingis have been able to manage.
To do it in New York, at the home of the iconic Serena and Venus Williams, is all the more special. Pliskova's run was halted in the final by Angelique Kerber, in a tight three-setter that had the New York crowd wanting for more.
Pliskova's propelled her to a top 5 spot for the first time in her career. By the time the season ended, Pliskova had managed to rack up impressive serving stats. She served 530 aces in the season, which made her the leader on tour by a huge margin. Serena Williams stood second – with 324 aces.
With her having had the taste of big-time tennis, that is to say, the second week of slams, Pliskova and her fans will expect her to do it on a more regular basis in 2017.
For that, she'll have to work on her movement, which will help her improve her performance on clay and the slower hard courts. She also might have to stop playing doubles, if she's to rest her adequately for the later stages of tournaments.
After the great end to 2016, it'll be interesting to see how she shapes up as a player in 2017.
