2015 Serena Williams tennis season

2015 Serena Williams tennis season

Williams at the Australian Open
Name	Serena Jameka Williams
Country	United States
Calendar prize money	$3,777,399
Singles
Season record	20–0 (100%)
Current ranking	No. 1
Ranking change from previous year	No change
Grand Slam results
Australian Open	W
Doubles
Season record	0–1 (0%)
Current ranking	No. 125
Ranking change from previous year	8
Last updated on: 4 April 2015.

The 2015 Serena Williams tennis season officially begins on 19 January with the start of the 2015 Australian Open, ranked number one in the world.

Year in detail

Australian Open Series

Hopman Cup

Williams began preparation for the first grand slam of the year at the Hopman Cup, where she partnered compatriot John Isner to represent team USA. The pair played their first tie against Italy. Williams got off to a slow start in her singles match against Flavia Pennetta, unable to win a game in the first set. However, a mid-match coffee helped the American turn things around and win the match in three sets.^[1] She then teamed up with Isner to win the mixed doubles in a super tiebreak, winning it 11 points to 9. In the second tie of the exhibition, Williams faced off against Canadian youngster Eugenie Bouchard. The American suffered her first loss in her Hopman Cup history, having previously gone undefeated in her last two campaigns, managing to win only three games. Later Williams teamed up with Isner to win their mixed doubles match in straight sets.^[2] In the final round-robin tie of the tournament, Williams came up against Czech lefty Lucie Šafářová in an encounter that lasted over two and a half hours, with the American narrowly clinching victory in a third set tiebreak, 8 points to 6.^[3] Team USA also won their mixed doubles match, putting Serena in the Hopman Cup final for the third time in as many attempts. In the final Williams met Poland's Agnieszka Radwańska, to whom she had never lost before. The world No. 5 was in inspired form and took the match in three sets. Williams' teammate Isner managed to salvage and send the tie in to a live mixed doubles rubber after winning his singles match against Janowicz, however, the Poles proved too strong for the Americans and took the Hopman Cup with a 7–5, 6–3 victory.^[4]

Australian Open

Serena Williams serving at the Australian Open

At the first major of 2015 Williams opened her campaign for a 6th Australian Open title against Alison Van Uytvanck of Belgium. The world No. 1 was dominant in taking the first set without dropping a game in 21 minutes. A tighter second set followed, Williams eventually taking it 6–4, giving the American her 15th first round win at the tournament in as many tries.^[5] In the second round Williams came up against former world no. 2 Vera Zvonareva, a rematch of the 2010 Wimbledon final. The Russian took a 5–3 lead, showing glimpses of the form that took her to two major finals, but Williams responded by rattling off ten consecutive games to win 7–5, 6–0 and advance to the final 32.^[6] Serena was also scheduled to play doubles with her sister Venus, drawing Anabel Medina Garrigues and Yaroslava Shvedova in the first round, however the pair pulled out without giving an official reason before the doubles tournament began and were replaced by an alternate team.^[7] In the third round Williams came up against Ukrainian counter-puncher Elina Svitolina and after overcoming a slow start, which saw her drop the first set, she fought back to take the match in three sets, hitting 45 winners to her opponent's 27.^[8] The trend of sluggish starts continued in the fourth round where Williams came up against her conqueror from the previous year's French Open, Garbiñe Muguruza. As in their previous meeting the young Spaniard took the opening set 6–2 from a flat-footed Williams. The pair exchanged breaks early in the second set but the world No.1 raised her level to earn the decisive break in the eighth game and take it 6–3. After a difficult opening service game in the third set, in which Williams saved six break points, the American blasted a total of 15 winners to take the third set and the match.^[9]

At the quarterfinal stage Williams earned her most comfortable victory of the tournament against the previous year's surprise finalist Dominika Cibulková. The top seed hit 15 aces and dropped just four games en route to setting up a final four meeting with her sister's conqueror Madison Keys.^[11] Williams had never failed to win the title in Melbourne once making it to the semifinal stage, however, she was broken in the first game and struggled to get in to her Fed Cup teammate's service games. Williams eventually broke back in sixth game and the first set went to a tiebreak. Williams clinched the tiebreak 7 points to 5 and broke her younger opponent's serve to begin the second set. Williams broke again in the fifth game and held serve for 5–1. Keys then saved seven match points on her own serve in a game that lasted over 11 minutes and, despite more resistance in Williams' following service game, the world No.1 closed out the match on her ninth match point.^[12] With passage in to her 23rd Grand Slam final Williams secured she would maintain the number 1 ranking.^[13] In the final she came up against her long-time rival and world No. 2 Maria Sharapova to whom she had not lost to in 15 consecutive meetings. Williams began the match aggressively and broke Sharapova's serve immediately. The match continued with serve until the pair traded breaks in the seventh and eighth games, then the world No. 1 broke to love to take the first set 6–3 from the 2008 champion. The second set was more tightly contested with both women creating break point opportunities but ultimately going with serve to a tiebreaker. Sharapova saved two championship points on her own serve, the first in the tenth game and the second in the tiebreaker. Williams' third championship point came on her own serve at 6–5 in the tiebreaker and after having a let called on an ace served out wide, which called for the point to be replayed, the world No. 1 served another ace in the same direction to win her 19th Grand Slam title.^[14] Williams ended the match with 38 winners, including 18 aces and only 25 unforced errors to Sharapova's 21 winners, including 5 aces and 15 unforced errors.^[15] With this win Williams broke her tie with Chris Evert and Martina Navratilova for second most Grand Slam singles titles in the Open Era and put herself only three major wins behind Steffi Graf's 22.^[16]

Fed Cup World Group II

Fresh off her victory in Melbourne, Williams flew to Buenos Aires to represent the USA in their tie against Argentina in the Fed Cup World Group II. Serena was nominated to play her first rubber against Argentine No. 2 Maria Irigoyen. Williams initially struggled to adapt to the clay as the pair went with serve until 5–5. Williams then won the final eight games of the match to win 7–5, 6–0.^[17] Williams was nominated to play her second singles rubber against Argentine No.1 Paula Ormaechea, however she was replaced by Coco Vandeweghe due to illness.^[18] USA won the tie 4–1 and advanced to the Fed Cup World Group Play-offs.^[19]

Indian Wells and Miami

BNP Paribas Open

Shortly after winning the first Grand Slam of the season, Williams, in an exclusive column for TIME magazine, announced her intention to end her 13-year boycott of Indian Wells and return to the tournament for the first since winning the title in 2001.^[20] Her highly anticipated opening match was set for 13 March 2015 when Monica Niculescu booked her spot in the second round.^[21] She made it to the Semi-Final but had to pull out before the match due to a right knee injury

Miami Open

Williams in the final

Williams returned to Miami the following week with aims to defend her title and to further extend her record and become the only the player to have won the event eight times. After receiving a bye in to the second round as the top seed, Williams was pitted against Monica Niculescu in her opening match for the second straight tournament. The world No. 1 made light work of the Romanian this time, dropping just four games and showing no signs of the knee injury that forced her to withdraw from Indian Wells.^[22] In the third round Williams needed only 41 minutes to overwhelm the incumbent ITF junior world No.1 Catherine Bellis, dropping just 14 points in her 6–1, 6–1 victory over the teenager.^[23] Serena then took on old rival and 2006 Miami champion Svetlana Kuznetsova in the fourth round. Williams went untroubled on serve, saving all four break points against her and broke the Russian's serve three times en route to a comfortable 6–2, 6–3 victory, the most lopsided win for Serena since 2004.^[24] In the quarterfinals the world No. 1 faced off against her conqueror at 2013 Wimbledon Championships, Sabine Lisicki. The in-form German tested the world No. 1 with her big return game but despite leading Williams by a break twice in the first set she was broken back immediately on both occasions. Williams eventually took the first set in a tiebreak and broke Lisicki's serve to begin the second set, however Williams began to struggle with the sun while serving and went on to commit 17 unforced errors to drop the set 6–1. Frustrated with her play, Williams refocused and cleaned up her errors to gain a decisive break in the second game and take the set and match 6–3 in the third.^[25] This victory marked Williams' 700th career win, the most among active players and ninth on the all-time list.^[26] In the semfinals she faced third seed and the last player to beat her, Simona Halep, in a match that was originally set to take place two weeks earlier. Williams came out firing, ruthleslly blasting 13 winners to Halep's 6 to take the opening set 6–2. The second set went with serve until errors started to flow from Williams' racket which the Romanian was the beneficiary of in the ninth game. Halep served out the set to take it 6–4. The world no.1 ended the set with 20 unforced errors to Simona's 10. Williams struck back immediately breaking Halep at the first opportunity in the third set. She failed to serve out the match at 5–3 but went on to break her opponent while serving to stay in the match and take the match 7–5 in the third.^[27][28] In the final Williams faced her sister's conqueror Carla Suárez Navarro. The Spaniard had lost all eight sets contested in four previous meetings with Williams, four of which were lost 6–0. The pair went with serve until 3–2 in the first set, then Williams won nine straight games, including five breaks of Suárez Navarro's serve and 23 of the last 25 points of the match to win 6–2, 6–0 in 56 minutes. Williams struck 27 winners, including 7 aces, to 16 unforced errors to successfully defend her title and win Miami for a record eighth time. This was also the second time Williams had won three consecutive Miami titles after originally winning the event three consecutive times between 2002 and 2004.^[29]

All matches

Singles matches

Tournament	Match	Round	Opponent	Rank	Result	Score
Australian Open Melbourne, Australia Grand Slam Hard, outdoor 19 January – 1 February 2015	805	1R	Alison Van Uytvanck	#106	Win	6–0, 6–4
	806	2R	Vera Zvonareva	#203	Win	7–5, 6–0
	807	3R	Elina Svitolina	#26	Win	4–6, 6–2, 6–0
	808	4R	Garbiñe Muguruza	#24	Win	2–6, 6–3, 6–2
	809	QF	Dominika Cibulková	#10	Win	6–2, 6–2
	810	SF	Madison Keys	#35	Win	7–6(7–5), 6–2
	811	F	Maria Sharapova	#2	Win (1)	6–3, 7–6(7–5)
Fed Cup WG II: USA vs. Argentina Buenos Aires, Argentina Fed Cup Clay, outdoor 7–8 February 2015	812	–	Maria Irigoyen	#197	Win	7–5, 6–0
BNP Paribas Open Indian Wells, United States WTA Premier Mandatory Hard, outdoor 9–22 March 2015	-	1R	Bye
	813	2R	Monica Niculescu	#68	Win	7–5, 7–5
	814	3R	Zarina Diyas	#32	Win	6–2, 6–0
	815	4R	Sloane Stephens	#42	Win	6–7(3–7), 6–2, 6–2
	816	QF	Timea Bacsinszky	#26	Win	7–5, 6–3
	-	SF	Simona Halep	#3	Withdrew	Walkover
Miami Open Miami, United States WTA Premier Mandatory Hard, outdoor 24 March – 4 April 2015	-	1R	Bye
	817	2R	Monica Niculescu	#70	Win	6–3, 6–1
	818	3R	Catherine Bellis	#211	Win	6–1, 6–1
	819	4R	Svetlana Kuznetsova	#29	Win	6–2, 6–3
	820	QF	Sabine Lisicki	#21	Win	7–6(7–4), 1–6, 6–3
	821	SF	Simona Halep	#3	Win	6–2, 4–6, 7–5
	822	F	Carla Suárez Navarro	#12	Win (2)	6–2, 6–0
Fed Cup WG Play-offs: USA vs. Italy Brindisi, Italy Fed Cup Clay, outdoor 18–19 April 2015	823	–	Camila Giorgi	#36	Win	7–6(7–5), 6–2
	824	–	Sara Errani	#15	Win	4–6, 7–6(7–3), 6–3
Mutua Madrid Open Madrid, Spain WTA Premier Mandatory Clay, outdoor 1–10 May 2015	825	1R	Madison Brengle	#36

Doubles matches

Tournament	Match	Round	Partner	Opponents	Rank	Result	Score
Australian Open Melbourne, Australia Grand Slam Hard, outdoor 19 January – 1 February 2015	-	1R	Venus Williams	Anabel Medina Garrigues Yaroslava Shvedova	#22 #25	Withdrew	–
Fed Cup WG Play-offs: USA vs. Italy Brindisi, Italy Fed Cup Clay, outdoor 18–19 April 2015	205	–	Alison Riske	Sara Errani Flavia Pennetta	#2 #15	Loss	0–6, 3–6

Tournament schedule

Singles schedule

Williams' 2015 singles tournament schedule is as follows:

Date	Championship	Location	Category	Surface	Points	Outcome
19 January – 1 February	Australian Open	Melbourne	Grand Slam	Hard	2000	Winner defeated M Sharapova, 6–3, 7–6(7–5)
7 February – 8 February	Fed Cup WG II: USA vs. Argentina	Buenos Aires	Fed Cup	Clay	–	United States def.  Argentina, 4–1 USA advanced to WG Play-offs vs. Italy
16 February – 22 February	Dubai Tennis Championships	Dubai	WTA Premier 5	Hard	0	Withdrew before tournament began due to illness
9 March – 22 March	Indian Wells Masters	Indian Wells	WTA Premier Mandatory	Hard	390	Semifinals gave walkover to S Halep
23 March – 5 April	Miami Masters	Miami	WTA Premier Mandatory	Hard	1000	Winner defeated C Suárez Navarro, 6–2, 6–0
18 April – 19 April	Fed Cup WG Play-offs: USA vs. Italy	Brindisi	Fed Cup	Clay	–	Italy def.  United States, 3–2 USA relegated to World Group II
4 May – 10 May	Madrid Open	Madrid	WTA Premier Mandatory	Clay
11 May – 17 May	Italian Open	Rome	WTA Premier 5	Clay
25 May – 6 June	French Open	Paris	Grand Slam	Clay
29 June – 12 July	Wimbledon	London	Grand Slam	Grass
13 July – 19 July	Swedish Open	Båstad	WTA International	Clay
10 August – 16 August	Canadian Open	Toronto	WTA Premier 5	Hard
17 August – 23 August	Cincinnati Masters	Cincinnati	WTA Premier 5	Hard
31 August – 12 September	US Open	New York	Grand Slam	Hard
5 October – 11 October	China Open	Beijing	WTA Premier Mandatory	Hard
Total year-end points					3390

Doubles schedule

Williams' 2015 doubles tournament schedule is as follows:

Date	Championship	Location	Category	Surface	Points	Outcome
19 January – 1 February	Australian Open	Melbourne	Grand Slam	Hard	0	Withdrew before match against A Medina Garrigues/ Y Shvedova
18 April – 19 April	Fed Cup WG Play-offs: USA vs. Italy	Brindisi	Fed Cup	Clay	–	Italy def.  United States, 3–2 USA relegated to World Group II
Total year-end points					0

Exhibitions

Hopman Cup

Tournament	Round	Partner	Match	Opponents	Result	Score
Hopman Cup Perth, Western Australia, Australia Mixed Exhibition Hard, outdoor 4–11 January 2015
	RR	John Isner	Singles	Flavia Pennetta	Win	0–6, 6–3, 6–0
			Doubles	Flavia Pennetta Fabio Fognini	Win	6–2, 2–6, [11–9]
	RR	John Isner	Singles	Eugenie Bouchard	Loss	2–6, 1–6
			Doubles	Eugenie Bouchard Vasek Pospisil	Win	6–3, 7–5
	RR	John Isner	Singles	Lucie Šafářová	Win	6–3, 6–7(1–7), 7–6(8–6)
			Doubles	Lucie Šafářová Adam Pavlásek	Win	6–3, 6–3
	F	John Isner	Singles	Agnieszka Radwańska	Loss	4–6, 7–6(7–3), 1–6
			Doubles	Agnieszka Radwańska Jerzy Janowicz	Loss	5–7, 3–6

Yearly records

Head-to-head matchups

Ordered by percentage of wins

Finals

Singles: 2 (2–0)

Outcome	No.	Date	Championship	Surface	Opponent in the final	Score in the final
Winner	65.	January 31, 2015	Australian Open, Australia (6)	Hard	Maria Sharapova	6–3, 7–6(7–5)
Winner	66.	April 4, 2015	Miami Open, United States (8)	Hard	Carla Suárez Navarro	6–2, 6–0

Earnings

Figures in United States dollars (USD) unless noted.

See also

• 2015 WTA Tour
• Serena Williams career statistics
• 2015 Maria Sharapova tennis season

References

External links

Serena Williams Entourage Oracene Price (mother/coach) Richard Williams (father/coach) Venus Williams (sister/doubles partner) Patrick Mouratoglou (coach) Aleksandar Bajin (hitting partner) Esther Lee (physical therapist) Mackie Shilstone (fitness coach) Jill Smoller (agent) Career Achievements Statistics World No. 1 ranking United States Fed Cup team Rivalries Rivalry with Justine Henin Rivalry with Martina Hingis Rivalry with Venus Williams Seasons Early career 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 Australian Open titles Singles 2003 2005 2007 2009 2010 2015 Doubles 2001 2003 2009 2010 Mixed Doubles None French Open titles Singles 2002 2013 Doubles 1999 2010 Mixed Doubles None Wimbledon Championships titles Singles 2002 2003 2009 2010 2012 Doubles 2000 2002 2008 2009 2012 Mixed Doubles 1998 US Open titles Singles 1999 2002 2008 2012 2013 2014 Doubles 1999 2009 Mixed Doubles 1998 Olympics Gold Singles 2012 Doubles 2000 2008 2012 Mixed Doubles None Fed Cup titles 1999 Official Website * WTA Profile