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3Q BSA's: Serena in the City
"I haven’t thought of a number or an age when I want to stop. I can tell you this: I don’t see myself retiring anytime soon."-- Serena Williams*3Q Awards - Week 28-36***TOP PLAYERS**1. Serena Williams,...
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Wk.37- Yes, WTA, There is Life After the Open... right?
Maybe it's the impending changing of the seasons, or the time difference as most of the remaining WTA schedule takes on a decidedly Asian feel in the closing months of the year. Whatever it is, the...
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Wk.38- Aga Is as Aga Does
Just a little weekly WTA recap, yearning to breathe free... but Aga demands a little extra attention.Thirty-six weeks ago, Agnieszka Radwanska began her 2013 season on a tear, winning back-to-back...
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Wk.39- MVP's... and a Tokyo MVP (Most Valuable Petra)
The 2013 season is nearly over. So, it's time to define what "most valuable" means around here.Yes, the moment has arrived when I piece together this space's second annual listing of the people,...
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Wk.40- A Month of Sundays... four, to be exact
Has it really already been a month since Serena and Vika faced off on Ashe?Well, as far as Williams goes... it feels like only yesterday. When it comes to Azarenka... umm, well, not so much.**PLAYERS...
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2013 BSA's: Regional Honors
The presentation of the 2013 Backspin Awards began with the annual "MVP List." Up next, positioning a magnifying glass on the world... region by region.==NORTH AMERICAN/ATLANTIC REGION==PLAYER OF THE...
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Wk.41- The Road (Back) To Osaka (and Linz)
October is often the month on the WTA calendar when youngsters take advantage of the relative lull in the action to knock down a few "career-first" doors and trumpet their future arrival on the tour's...
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Wk.42- Caro Turns on the Light Before the WTA Season Goes Dark
As the season reaches its final turn, available singles titles are getting scarce. And, though it seems like it's been the case over the last five months, it's really NOT because Serena Williams and...
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Istanbul Day 1- A Sketchy Vika, a Fairly Focused Petra and the Usual Serena...
With WTA Championships Day 1 play having begun in Istanbul for the final year (the event shifts to Singapore in '14), thus begins Backspin's daily recap of the scheduled matches.On Tuesday, the top two...
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To Be or Not to Be... Enshrined
Players don't commit to a life in tennis with the express goal of being inducted into the Hall of Fame. It's an honor -- a gift, really -- bestowed upon them years later, after their careers have been...
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Istanbul Day 2- 1, 2, 3, 4... who in Istanbul wants a whole lot more? (And...
On Day 2 in Istanbul, the veterans came out to play, and (mostly) dominate.With the four top seeded players in action on Wednesday at the WTA Championships, one of the themes of recent seasons -- that...
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Istanbul Day 3- All Roads Point to Another "Serenativity Now" Moment
In the land of the Turks, Serena is the Queen. Still... and for as far and long as the eye can see.As she puts the finishing touches on what might just be the best season of her career (75+ wins, two...
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Istanbul Day 4- Vets, a Czech & a Zombie! Oh, My! Vets, a Czech & a Zombie!...
On the final day of round robin play in Istanbul, it was all about how much the players wanted something. A birth in the semifinals. A single match win. Or, in a specifically Belarusian case, to...
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Istanbul Day 5- Serena is Infected by the Radwanska Virus
Hmmm, was the I-just-can't-get-myself-up-for-this "virus" that Agnieszka Radwanska brought with her to Istanbul contagious? First, Vika Azarenka began to suffer from the same malady. Then, today,...
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Wk.43- A Crooked Path to an Expected Ending
We saw a few different versions of Serena Williams this past week in Istanbul. But all that really mattered was the one that showed up at the end.While both Williams and Li Na, combining for a rare...
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2013 BSA's: Player Lists
Lists have always been a stock and trade component of Backspin, and that's never more the case than with the annual Backspin Awards.The final "Ms. Backspin" standings (w/ the performance/match/rankings...
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Wk.44- A Fed Cup Celebration, After a Sigh of Relief
In the end, the final results of the last "official" week of the 2013 WTA season weren't surprising on any level. But, sometimes, the path there turns out to be far more surprising than one could have...
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2013 BSA's: The Truth is Not Fiction
Forty-four weeks of tennis action and it's come to this... giving a brief thumbnail sketch of a season which began with one definitive truth amongst a handful of potentially exciting questions. By the...
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2013 BSA's: Rankings Round-Up
Rankings, rankings, rise and fall.No one player (not even you-know-who) can win them all.Wish they may, wish they might.Have the ranking they deserve tonight.Or something like that. Either way, here's...
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Backtalk I - November 11
The first of my "between-seasons" updates, as matches continue to be played, and preparations for 2014 are already underway...Love/Love... the star of the first post-WTA season week was a Waffle....
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