Best Tennis Moments Of 2016 – essentiallysports.com

Best Tennis Moments,Each year the sport of tennis witnesses various milestones reached and feats achieved. Be it personal highs achieved by our favorite stars or the glory they bring to their countries they come from. With its fair share of ups and downs, both the ATP and the WTA tours have produced stunning results throughout the year. Here’s a list of the top 10 moments of the year 2016:

10) Fed Cup

The Czech Republic won the Fed Cup for the third time, over France in Strasbourg.

France’s world number 23 Caroline Garcia beat world number six Karolina Pliskova 6-3 3-6 6-3. Barbora Strycova levelled by beating Alize Cornet 6-2 7-6 (7-4), setting up a decisive doubles match.

Pliskova and Strycova beat Garcia and Kiki Mladenovic 7-5 7-5 to wrap up the Czechs’ fifth title in six years. Pliskova beat Mladenovic 6-3 4-6 16-14 in a near-four-hour match, before Garcia saw off Petra Kvitova 7-6 (8-6) 6-3.

They have now won the Fed Cup 10 times, five of which were as Czechoslovakia.

9) 1000 Reasons to celebrate

Mike and Bob Bryan achieved what may prove to be an unbreakable milestone at Vienna at the Erste Bank Open. The 38-year-old twins defeated Viktor Troicki and Pablo Cuevas, 6-4, 4-6, 10-7, for their 1,000th career victory.

“We’re happy to get 1,000 in Vienna,” said Mike Bryan according to ATPWorldTour.com. “This is going to be very memorable forever for us.”

The Bryan Brothers have achieved a measure of success that nobody in the sport thought imaginable. The closest best team to them in terms of victories is the legendary Woodies-Mark Woodforde and Todd Woodbridge. But they only notched 508 wins as a team over the course of their brilliant career.

The Bryans are the most ferocious competitors. They have won 112 career titles together, including 16 majors and two Olympic Golds. They’ve been the most decorated doubles tandem in Davis Cup history, going 24-5 and winning the Cup in 2007.

8) Davis Cup

Argentina lifted their first Davis Cup title after Juan Martin Del Potro and Federico Delbonis won Sunday’s reverse singles to complete the South American nation’s spectacular comeback in a 3-2 victory over hosts Croatia in the final.

Del Potro fought back from two sets down to beat Marin Cilic 6-7(4) 2-6 7-5 6-4 6-3 before Delbonis swept aside Ivo Karlovic 6-3 6-4 6-2 in the decisive rubber, sparking wild celebrations among several thousand away fans in the Zagreb Arena.

Argentina joined the list of Davis Cup winners after losing all four finals they had previously contested and their dismal record in the title showdown appeared set to continue when Cilic came within a set of clinching Croatia’s second title.

Here is the final winning moment of the last match.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6mlN2rq0w-Q

7) Garbine Muguruza wins French Open

Spain’s Garbine Muguruza beat world number one Serena Williams in straight sets to win her first Grand Slam title at the French Open. Fourth seed Muguruza won 7-5 6-4 in a rematch of last year’s Wimbledon final against Williams.

The 22-year-old is Spain’s first female champion at Roland Garros since Arantxa Sanchez-Vicario in 1998. Williams, 34, had hoped to win a 22nd Grand Slam singles title and tie Steffi Graf’s Open-era record.

“It’s the perfect final,” Muguruza said. “I’m so happy. I had to be very ready and concentrated on all the points and just to fight as much as I can. All the matches I’ve played against her helped me. It’s our favourite tournament in Spain and I want to thank all my Spanish supporters.”

6) Rise of Milos Raonic 

Milos Raonic was named Tennis Canada’s male player of the year for the sixth straight time in 2016.

After rising from 14th to a career-high third in the world, he made productive progress this year by debuting at Wimbledon final as well as performing consistently throughout the tour. Raonic completed his best season on the ATP World Tour.

At the Wimbledon final he lost to Andy Murray. He beat Swiss star Roger Federer to win the Brisbane title. Also reaching six other semifinals, including the Australian Open, and ATP World Tour Finals, Raonic ended 2016 with a win-loss record of 52-17.

5) Angelique Kerber’s career best performance

At Australian Open, Kerber reached the quarterfinals where she beat 2-time champion Victoria Azarenka in straight sets, her first win against the Belarusian, to advance to her third Grand Slam semifinal. In the semifinals, Kerber beat Johanna Konta in straight sets to reach her maiden Grand Slam final where she defeated defending champion and then-world No. 1 Serena Williams, earning her first Grand Slam title and becoming the first German to do so since 1999. She also achieved her highest ranking to date as world No. 2 with her win.

At the Olympic Games in Rio, Kerber defeated Mariana Duque, Eugenie Bouchard, Samantha Stosur, Johanna Konta and Madison Keys for a place in the gold medal match, where she lost to Monica Puig. This earned Kerber her first Olympic silver medal.

At the 2016 US Open, Kerber advanced to the finals after defeating Polona Hercog, Mirjana Lucic-Baroni, Catherine Bellis, Petra Kvitová, 2015 finalist Roberta Vinci and an unseeded 2-time finalist Caroline Wozniacki en route. Her advance to the finals combined with Serena Williams’ loss in the semifinals to 10th seeded Karolína Plíšková meant that she gathered enough points to successfully unseat Serena Williams as world No. 1, with this ranking reflected in the week starting 12 September 2016. She defeated Plíšková in three sets in the final to claim her second Grand Slam title.

4) Olympic Gold 2016

Andy Murray became the first player ever to successfully defend his Singles Olympic gold by defeating Argentine Juan Martin del Potro in a four hour long epic finale. Murray is also now the first male player to win two Olympic gold medals in singles, something that even the likes of Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic are yet to achieve.
Having beaten Novak Djokovic and Rafa Nadal on his way to the final, the Argentine just couldn’t match up to the physical endurance of the Scot. “I fought to my last fingernail,” he said.

The feat that Andy Murray has achieved seems like a distant dream to repeat. Only the younger lot from the circuit can attempt to match this feat.

3) Opwn Era Grand Slam Record of Serena Williams

In 2016, Serena Williams equalled Roger Federer’s record of the most Grand Slam wins at 307. This came after she clinched the Wimbledon and completed her 22 Grand Slam titles.  She also went on to break the same record for the most singles matches won at the Grand Slams with 309 matches (through the 2016 US Open).

This undoubtedly makes Williams the most successful player the tennis world has ever witnessed. The week of September 5 marked Serena’s 186th consecutive week ranked world No. 1, equalling Steffi Graf’s record for longest run in WTA history. However, in the semifinals of the U.S. Open, Serena lost to Karolina Pliskova. Having won the US Open Angelique Kerber became the World No.1, ending Williams’ No.1 streak.

2) French Open for Novak Djokovic

In what was a near perfect picture of Djokovic’s success, only one sore thorn that pinched Djokovic for years was the absence of the French Open title. The desperation ended this year. He clinched the Roland Garros trophy by defeating Andy Murray convincingly. Concluding one of the most coveted achievements of his career: A Career Grand Slam.

With title contenders such as Federer withdrew before the tournament and Nadal during the tournament. Djokovic made full use of the draw and gave it his all to topple Murray. Now belongs to an exclusive list of just 8 players to have achieved the career grand slam.

1) World No1 Andy Murray

With a difference of nearly 8000 points, Andy Murray closed in the gap between him and the Serbian Novak Djokovic to dethrone him and claim the numero uno spot. As Djokovic ebbed due to poor performance post French Open, Murray made full use of the opportunity and motored through the second half of the year.

With back to back wins at Queen’s, Wimbledon, China, Shanghai, Vienna, BNP Paribas Open and ATP World Tour Finals, Murray did the unthinkable and overtook Djokovic despite the massive gap between them.

This marks the most dramatic finish to an ATP World Tour season. It brought out the unexpected, ending Djokovic’s record for continuous weeks at the top.