What started in retro fashion with an all-Williams Australian Open final will not quite go down as a vintage year for the women’s game. But if there was no emphatic seizing of Serena Williams’ vacant throne, then comebacks were plentiful and the Grand Slam winners’ circle welcomed two new young names.
Having won a 23rd career singles title at Melbourne Park while eight weeks pregnant with daughter Alexis Olympia, the absence thereafter of the younger Williams contributed to the procession of No.1s that included the wobbling Angelique Kerber (for another 14 weeks in two stints), Karolina Pliskova (eight) and Garbine Muguruza (four), before Simona Halep found herself occupying the big chair when the music stopped.
By the time the ultra-consistent Caroline Wozniacki won the biggest title of her career at the WTA Finals, Wimbledon champion Muguruza had been officially crowned player of the year. However modest - relatively - the Spaniard’s claims on the 2017 honour, they were still legitimate, given the lack of a rival able to make a more compelling case.
The biggest story, though? Few could rival that of Maria Sharapova’s polarising straight-to-the-front-of-the-queue return from suspension at Stuttgart in April, the Russian successful in her first three matches after serving a 15-month ban for testing positive to the newly-prohibited substance meldonium.
Yet many were, well, wildly unimpressed by the fact a path was cleared straight back into main draws in such circumstances, no matter how high Sharapova’s profile, her champion’s record, or how irresistible her commercial appeal. It took a slightly unexpected stand from the French federation to snatch away the welcome mat, before injury intervened during the grass court swing. Her first major would be the US Open, where Sharapova promptly toppled Halep in the first round, en route to the fourth.
Predictably, Petra Kvitova’s reappearance was far more warmly received, the Czech having resumed at Roland Garros from that dreadful pre-Christmas knife attack and claimed the Birmingham title just weeks later. Sloane Stephens, too, succeeded far sooner than predicted after an 11-month hiatus with a foot injury, the big prize hers at Flushing Meadows against good friend Madison Keys in a one-sided final between the two of four American women to reach the semis of their home slam.
If that was a result few had seen coming, then it was scarcely the only one in 2017. Halep, indeed, had denied she deserved French Open favouritism when she arrived in Paris, nominating “about 15 players” instead. There, the bolter turned out to be Jelena Ostapenko, amid a hail of winners, just days after the Latvian's 20th birthday.
And so, in this year of opportunity, unseeded duo Ostapenko and Stephens both took theirs. “There are a lot of new ones, a lot of new potential,’’ said veteran Mirjana Lucic-Baroni, once a prodigy, now a wise owl, whose year started with a feelgood semi-final story of her own at Melbourne Park. “At the moment, not one is dominating, but I don’t see that as a bad thing.”
ORANGES
- The Kvitova return: Ahead of schedule, successful, emotional, admirable. How fondly the locker-room, and the sport, welcomed her back.
- Vintage year for Venus: No major title, but three finals for the 37-year-old, and the most prize money of any woman in the game in 2017.
- Tissues, please: What Andy Roddick called “an exhibition of class and humanity” followed the US Open final between pals Stephens and Keys. Hugs, chat, grace. Bravo, ladies.
- Hail Halep: despite that crushing disappointment at Roland Garros, the Romanian showed both great resilience and consistency to finish as year-end No.1.
LEMONS
- The Sharapova wildcard circus: Stuttgart laid out the red carpet, Roland Garros (laudably) did not. Everyone had an opinion on an issue that lingered for months.
- Taking a tumble: Angie Kerber, from No.1 to 21, after failing to defend either of her two majors. Agnieszka Radwanska, from No.3 to 28. Dominika Cibulkova, from 6th to 26th.
- Nasty Nastase: Swearing at members of the opposing team at a Fed Cup tie and making derogatory remarks about Williams’ unborn child is not good form. Not ever.
- Family ties: Victoria Azarenka would have been a US Open contender, except that child custody issues intervened. Soon may they be sorted.