The 2020 tennis year of… Karolina Pliskova
The 2020 season got off to a good start for Karolina Pliskova. In the end, however, there is another tennis year without winning one of the majors.
by tennisnet.com
last edit:
Dec 19, 2020, 06:58 pm
On September 21, 2020 something as unpleasant as something new happened to Karolina Pliskova: For the first time, the Czech had to give up a match ahead of time. After a few minutes of play, Pliskova shook hands with her opponent in the final, Simona Halep - which was all the more disappointing since Pliskova had won the tournament against the Foro Italico the year before. And also knew how to convince in the 2020 edition.
In the balance sheet, however, only one success was noted: Right at the start of the season at the strong tournament in Brisbane, where Pliskova beat Madison Keys in the final. So the best prerequisites for the Australian Open, but also in the past season Pliskova was denied the long-awaited first victory in a major: In Melbourne she lost to Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova in the third round, at the US Open she was eliminated in the second match Caroline Garcia, in Roland Garros at the same tournament stage against Jelena Ostapenko.
Pliskova with the best chance against Kerber
The good news for Karolina Pliskova: She is only 28 years old and, due to her age, can still achieve her big goal, which she came closest to in the 2016 final against Angelique Kerber in New York City. The not-so-good news: In contrast to the men, where the old guard with Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal still basically dominates the majors, some women from the generation after Pliskova already have their debut victory at one of the four biggest events celebrated: Bianca Andreescu, for example, or Sofia Kenin and Iga Swiatek . Naomi Osaka is now three titles, the aforementioned Jelena Ostapenko is still drawing on the fame of the Paris triumph of 2017.
Keyword Osaka: The Japanese celebrated her first two Grand Slam successes with Sascha Bajin in the box, the German has now turned over to Karolina Pliskova after a year with Dayana Yastremska. And winning a major in the tennisnet interview was clearly given as the top priority.
What you can still build on at Karolina Pliskova is her premium. She won almost 80 percent of her service games in the 2020 season. And 123 aces are not quite the top of the WTA statistics, but they are a solid foundation on which to build.