2016 Serena Williams tennis season
| Name | Serena Jameka Williams |
|---|---|
| Country |
 United States |
| Calendar prize money | $1,846,275 |
| Singles | |
| Season record | 13–3 (81.25%) |
| Current ranking | No. 1 |
| Ranking change from previous year |
 No change |
| Grand Slam results | |
| Australian Open | F |
| Doubles | |
| Season record | 0–0 |
| Last updated on: 24 Mars 2016. | |
The 2016 Serena Williams tennis season officially began on 5 January with the start of the 2016 Hopman Cup. Williams entered the season as the number one ranked player and the defending champion at five tournaments, including the Australian Open, French Open and Wimbledon.
On the week of February 15, 2016, Williams surpassed Martina Navratilova for second longest consecutive weeks as World No. 1 at 157 weeks.
Year in detail
Australian Open Series
Hopman Cup
For the second consecutive year and for the fourth time in her career Williams started her season at the Hopman Cup.[1] Williams partnered Jack Sock for the event and was originally set to start her campaign against Ukraine's Elina Svitolina but withdrew before the match citing knee inflammation.[2] The world No.1 took to the court for the first time against Australia Gold's Jarmila Wolfe and, after dropping the first set, retired from the match due to the recurring inflammation in her knee.[3] Despite retiring from her first match Williams remained optimistic that the swelling would go down before the first major of the year.[4] The following day she announced she was pulling out of the tie against the Czech Republic. Williams was replaced by Vicky Duval.[5]
Australian Open
Williams returned to competitive action for the first time in four months at the season's first major. As the defending champion the world No. 1 sought to add a seventh Australian Open title to her haul. In the opening round Williams faced off against the highest ranked unseeded player Camila Giorgi. Williams needed just a single break in each set to secure a straight sets victory and advance to the second round.[6] Her opponent in the second round was former doubles world No.1 Hsieh Su-wei. Williams lost just three games and wrapped up her victory in an hour to set up a third round against Russia's Daria Kasatkina.[7] The world No. 1 overwhelmed her young Russian opponent, for the loss of two games, in 44 minutes to reach the second week of the tournament.[8] Serena would continue her dominant form by dispatching Margarita Gasparyan in a rematch of their 2015 first round Wimbledon encounter. Just as in their previous match, Serena served first and was broken but she responded by reeling in the next four games before breaking for a third time in the eighth game to take the first set. She then won the second set with the drop of one game. In the quarterfinals, Serena faced her long-time rival Maria Sharapova in a rematch of the 2015 Australian Open Final. It was their twenty-first encounter, properly beginning with a very tight first set that began with Serena's slow start. Serena quickly regrouped and managed to break Sharapova in the ninth game, needing 5 break points to do so. She served out the first set and then won the first five games of the second set. She then closed out the match after Maria avoided the bagel with her last service game. Serena faced Agnieszka Radwańska in the semifinals. Serena bagelled her in the first set in 21 minutes with only four unforced errors. The second set was tighter with Serena being broken when serving at 3-2. Serena managed to break back in the ninth game and serve out the match. Serena faced Angelique Kerber in her 26th Grand Slam final as the overwhelming favorite in her efforts to match the Open Era record in Grand Slams, but Serena was defeated in three close sets, her first defeat in the finals of the Australian Open, her first defeat in a three-set Grand Slam Final, and her first defeat in a Grand Slam final since the 2011 U.S. Open. Bearing the weight of history on her shoulders, Serena failed to display the dominant form that helped her reach the final without dropping a set. The match featured Serena committing 46 unforced errors when she has averaged as 20 unforced errors before the final. Throughout the tournament, Serena displayed confident net skills that she lacked in 2015, but they proved to be part of her downfall as she won less than 50% of her points at the net.
Indian Wells
Rebounding from her loss in the Australian Open, Serena opened her Indian Wells campaign by handily defeating Laura Siegemund of Germany with the loss of only three games to advance to the third round, having received a bye in the first. Serena proceeded to fave Yulia Putinseva for the second time in her career. Serena was broken twice at the end of the first set and broke back both times to force a tie-break, which she won. Serena committed nearly 30 errors in the first set and cut down her mistakes to but five errors in the second to win 7-6, 6-0. Serena faced Kateryna Bondarenko in the fourth round and defeated her 6-2, 6-2. She then faced defending champion Simona Halep in the match they should have had the previous year. Despite failing to serve out the first set at 5-3. Serena broke back and won in straight sets. Serena then faced Agnieszka Radwańska in a rematch of their Australian Open semifinal. Radwanka began the match aggressively, breaking Serena early and setting up a double break point, but Serena saved it and won seven straight games from 2-4 down in the first set to win the set and lead 3-0 in the second. Errors returned to Serena's racket and Radwanka battled to break Serena twice in an effort to serve out the set 6-5, but Serena broke back to force a tie-break during which she won the seven straight points after losing the first. Serena Williams faced a resurgent Victoria Azarenka in their twenty-first career meeting. Nervous, Serena committed two double faults and to errors to be broken at love. Though she constructed several break back points, Azarenka saved them all and won the first set 6-4. Serena then went down 5-1 quickly in the second set to before finding her game to real in the next three games and establish a 15-40 on Azarenka's serve. As in the Australian Open final, Serena failed to take her chanced to level the set at five all and she lost the next four points, thus losing to Azarenka 6-4, 6-4 for the first time since 2013 as well ending her 15-match winning streak at the tournament. Azarenka also became the first woman to defeat Serena four times in a final.
All matches
Singles matches
| Tournament | Match | Round | Opponent | Rank | Result | Score | |
| Australian Open Melbourne, Australia Grand Slam Hard, outdoor 18–31 January 2016 |
861 | 1R |  Camila Giorgi |
#36 | Win | 6–4, 7–5 | |
| 862 | 2R |  Hsieh Su-wei |
#90 | Win | 6–1, 6–2 | ||
| 863 | 3R |  Daria Kasatkina |
#69 | Win | 6–1, 6–1 | ||
| 864 | 4R | Margarita Gasparyan |
#58 | Win | 6–2, 6–1 | ||
| 865 | QF | Maria Sharapova |
#5 | Win | 6–4, 6–1 | ||
| 866 | SF |  Agnieszka Radwańska |
#4 | Win | 6–0, 6–4 | ||
| 867 | F |  Angelique Kerber |
#6 | Loss(1) | 4–6, 6–3, 4–6 | ||
| Indian Wells Masters Indian Wells, United States WTA Premier Mandatory Hard, outdoor 7–20 March 2016 |
– | 1R | Bye | ||||
| 868 | 2R | Laura Siegemund |
#79 | Win | 6–2, 6–1 | ||
| 869 | 3R |  Yulia Putintseva |
#56 | Win | 7–6(7–2), 6–0 | ||
| 870 | 4R |  Kateryna Bondarenko |
#70 | Win | 6–2, 6–2 | ||
| 871 | QF |  Simona Halep |
#5 | Win | 6–4, 6–3 | ||
| 872 | SF | Agnieszka Radwańska |
#3 | Win | 6–4, 7–6(7–1) | ||
| 873 | F |  Victoria Azarenka |
#15 | Loss(2) | 4–6, 4–6 | ||
| Miami Open Miami, United States WTA Premier Mandatory Hard, outdoor 21 March – 3 April 2016 |
– | 1R | Bye | ||||
| 874 | 2R | Christina McHale |
#56 | Win | 6–3, 5–7, 6–2 | ||
| 875 | 3R | Zarina Diyas |
#97 | Win | 7–5, 6–3 | ||
| 876 | 4R | Svetlana Kuznetsova |
#19 | Loss(3) | 7–6(7–3), 1–6, 2–6 | ||
Tournament schedule
Singles schedule
Williams' 2016 singles tournament schedule is as follows:
| Date | Championship | Location | Category | Surface | Points | Outcome |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 18 January – 31 January | Australian Open |  Melbourne | Grand Slam | Hard | 1300 | Final lost to Angelique Kerber, 4–6, 6–3, 4–6 |
| 7 March – 20 March | Indian Wells Masters | Indian Wells | WTA Premier Mandatory | Hard | 650 | Final lost to Victoria Azarenka, 4–6, 4–6 |
| 21 March – 3 April | Miami Masters | Miami | WTA Premier Mandatory | Hard | 120 | Fourth round lost to Svetlana Kuznetsova, 7–6(7–3), 1–6, 2–6 |
| 29 April – 8 May | Madrid Open |  Madrid | WTA Premier Mandatory | Clay | ||
| 9 May – 15 May | Italian Open | Rome | WTA Premier 5 | Clay | ||
| 22 May – 5 June | French Open |  Paris | Grand Slam | Clay | ||
| 27 June – 10 July | Wimbledon |  London | Grand Slam | Grass | ||
| 25 July – 31 July | Canadian Open |  Montreal | WTA Premier 5 | Hard | ||
| 8 August – 14 August | Summer Olympics |  Rio de Janeiro | Olympic Games | Hard | ||
| 29 August – 11 September | US Open | New York | Grand Slam | Hard | ||
| 26 September – 2 October | Wuhan Open |  Wuhan | WTA Premier 5 | Hard | ||
| 2 October – 9 October | China Open | Beijing | WTA Premier Mandatory | Hard | ||
| 24 October – 30 October | WTA Finals |  Singapore | Year-End Championships | Hard (i) | ||
| Total year-end points | 2070 | |||||
Team events
Hopman Cup
| Tournament | Round | Partner | Match | Opponents | Result | Score |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hopman Cup Perth, Western Australia, Australia Mixed round-robin Hard, outdoor 3–9 January 2016 |
RR | Jack Sock |
Singles | Jarmila Wolfe |
Loss | 5–7, 1–2 ret. |
Yearly records
Head-to-head matchups
Ordered by percentage of wins
|
|
|
Finals
Singles: 2 (0–2)
|
|
|
| Outcome | No. | Date | Championship | Surface | Opponent in the final | Score in the final |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Runner-up | 18. | January 30, 2016 | Australian Open, Melbourne, Australia | Hard | Angelique Kerber |
4–6, 6–3, 4–6 |
| Runner-up | 19. | March 20, 2016 | BNP Paribas Open, Indian Wells, USA | Hard | Victoria Azarenka |
4–6, 4–6 |
Earnings
| # | Event | Prize money | Year-to-date |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Australian Open | $1,276,870 | $1,276,870 |
| 2 | Indian Wells Masters | $501,815 | $1,778,685 |
| 3 | Miami Open | $67,590 | $1,846,275 |
| $1,846,275 | |||
See also
References
- ↑ "Serena Williams, Andy Murray confirmed for Hopman Cup". USA Today. 21 October 2015.
- ↑ "Buzz: Serena's health a major concern as 2016 kicks off". ESPN. 4 January 2016.
- ↑ "Australian Open: Champion Serena has injury doubts". BBC. 5 January 2016.
- ↑ "Serena Williams insists she will make Aussie Open". Yahoo! Sports. 5 January 2016.
- ↑ "Serena Williams withdraws from Hopman Cup with knee injury". The Guardian. 6 January 2016.
- ↑ "Serena Williams withstands Camila Giorgi to win Melbourne opener". ESPN. 18 January 2016.
- ↑ "Serena Williams slams Hsieh Su-wei to move into third round". Stuff. 20 January 2016.
- ↑ "Serena Williams dismantles Daria Kasatkina in 44 minutes at Australian Open just two weeks after Russian beat sister Venus". Daily Mail. 22 January 2016.
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