Serena Williams and Novak Djokovic both stepped up last week in Miami, showing they can be a class above everyone else when they want to be.
Williams was far from her best but she kicked into gear when it mattered and overcame a slow start to beat Li Na in straight sets while Djokovic outplayed Rafael Nadal in the men’s final.
The question is: can the pair deliver the same kind of mentality in the upcoming majors?
Djokovic has won just one of the last eight grand slams, while Williams has had a couple of surprise defeats in Australia last season and last month, as well as at Wimbledon last year.
We can’t expect Williams to win everything and she is entitled to a mental lapse from time to time but it seems Djokovic is in a tougher spot, since he’s been dominant outside the majors and just a tad vulnerable while playing them.
The biggest mental victory Djokovic could ever pull off would be beating a fit Nadal at Roland Garros this June. He ended the Spaniard’s streak in Monte Carlo last year but couldn’t follow it up in Paris.
Can the Serb now translate his hard court authority into supremacy on clay?
One to look out for
Elina Svitolina
Of all the young teenagers trying to make a statement, it was Elina Svitolina who had a standout week in Miami.
The Ukrainian 19-year-old, who spent her off-season training in Abu Dhabi with PSS, took out Bethanie Mattek-Sands and Eugenie Bouchard before stretching world No3 Agnieszka Radwanska to three sets in the fourth round.
She’s now up to No35 in the world.
Surprise of the Week
Playing just their second tournament together, semi-retired Swiss legend Martina Hingis and the player she is currently coaching, Sabine Lisicki, won the doubles title in Miami, taking out two top-five seeds in the process. It was Hingis’ first title since 2007.
Stat of the Week
Serena Williams is the top seed and two-time defending champion this week at Charleston. It was at that venue two years ago that she began her winning spree. Since then, Williams has won 141 of 149 matches and 20 of 29 tournaments.
Talking point
It baffles me how we couldn’t watch any WTA matches from Miami live on TV here in the Gulf region. With all the efforts the WTA are putting into marketing their players, selling the TV rights of their Premier events has got to be a priority.
If beIN Sports is airing European volleyball and the EHF Handball Champions League then surely they would be willing to shell out some money for a Sharapova-Kvitova clash in Miami.
Rankings watch
After hovering in the top-20 for years and recording impressive victories over top-10 players, Slovakia’s Dominika Cibulkova has finally made her top-10 debut. Meanwhile, Roger Federer is back in the top-four while David Ferrer has fallen out of the top-five for the first time since June 2012.
