Tag: women’s tennis

See Cameron Brink’s epic New Balance ad with Shohei Ohtani and Coco Gauff

Shohei Ohtani. CoCo Gauff. Cameron Brink. YES.

Los Angeles Sparks rookie Cameron Brink is in a new ad for New Balance with six other sports stars, including Shohei Ohtani and Coco Gauff, and it’s fantastic.

Cameron Brink, who the Sparks drafted at No. 2 overall on Monday, is having one heck of a week. Brink, who’s had a NIL deal — now likely turned endorsement — with New Balance since 2023, is in an epic ad with several sports giants.

As part of New Balance’s “We Got Now” campaign, the company recently released another commercial with Brink in it. I have to say, the list of athletes she’s with is super impressive. This is my kind of carrying-on.

Florida women’s tennis defended its home court against Ole Miss

The No. 14-ranked Gators needed all it could get to overcome their visitors on Sunday.

The Florida women’s tennis program closed out its seventh straight win on Sunday with a narrow 4-3 win over the visiting Ole Miss Rebels at the Alfred A. Ring Tennis Complex in Gainesville.

The No. 14-ranked Gators needed all it could get to overcome their visitors.  The opening win came from doubles pair Rachel Gailis and Bente Spee, who defeated Kelsey Mize and Lucie Devier in a 6-1 effort.

But the Rebs were quick to respond, with Anaelle Leclercq and Ludmila Kareisova posting a 6-3 win over Carly Briggs and Qavia Lopez to knot things up. Malwina Rowinska and Alicia Dudeney clinched the doubles point for the Gators after an epic battle with Ava Hrastar and Briana Crowley that came down to a tiebreaker with the Orange and Blue coming out on top with a 7-6.

With Florida up 1-0 heading into singles action, Ole Miss did not let up.

No. 15 Rachel Gailis secured the first point to extend the Gators’ lead 2-0 with a win over Kareisova but Crowley defeated Florida’s No. 109-ranked Lopez, making it a 2-1 affair. The Rebels then tied the match at 2-2 with Rachel Krzyzak defeating Sophie Williams in straight sets.

No. 84-ranked Briggs gave UF the edge with her three-set win over Ava Hrastar but Ole Miss caught up with Florida once again with Emma Kette defeating Rowinska in a three-set battle, setting a 3-3 score going into crunch time.

Dudeney secured the victory after a back-and-forth battle with Leclercq,  dropping the first set, 7-5, but storming back to post a 7-5 win to force a third set. Dudeney left no room for doubt as she shut out Leclercq 6-0 to snag the fourth and final point.

“I honestly thought we played subpar today but we competed well, and obviously Liss was clinical at the end,” head coach Roland Thornqvist offered after the match. “The quality of our play probably wasn’t great and part of that was Ole Miss made it difficult for us with some playing styles that they had that we didn’t adjust to. I told them in the locker room that this is a match we would have lost in February, but we are now finding ways to win instead.”

The Gators will travel to face the No. 27 Vanderbilt Commodores on Friday at the Brownlee O. Currey Jr. Tennis Center. The ‘Dores moved to a 6-3 conference record after posting a 4-0 win on Sunday against Missouri.

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Coco Gauff’s new tennis coach revealed the 1 thing that could be kryptonite for her budding career

“You only gotta be better than the lady on the other side of the net. That’s it.”

Coco Gauff is one of the most prominent young stars in tennis, and it’s fantastic to see her growth. However, one thing could keep her from reaching superstardom — Coco is a closet perfectionist.

Tennis takes Coco Gauff to the highest of highs (beating Aryana Sabalenka) and lowest of lows (losing to Aryana Sabalenka four months later). Still, through it all, one thing remains constant. It isn’t Coco’s game. It’s not even the type of tennis racket she uses. It’s her kryptonite — perfectionism.

Per Abby Aguirre of Vogue Magazine, Coco has been working to subdue her need to be perfect, even when she wins, saying, “I’ve always known I was a perfectionist…It’s not like I’m saying, ‘Good job, Coco.’ It’s like, ‘Okay, why didn’t you do that sooner?'”

Candi Gauff, Coco’s mom, shared with Vogue that Coco’s perfectionism started young, and not even spelling competitions were safe. If CoCo missed one word, she wouldn’t let it go. That drive — that will be absolutely perfect — has pushed Coco into tennis royalty conversations, much like her idols Venus and Serena Williams.

Still, her new coach, ESPN commentator Brad Gilbert, who famously coached another perfectionist, Andre Agassi, wants her to remember one thing:

“I told her, ‘The pursuit of perfection doesn’t exist. It makes you miserable, chasing it. And you’re never satisfied with being good.’ She’s just always gotta be better. Andre was the same. And it’s like, ‘You only gotta be better than the lady on the other side of the net.’ That’s it. This whole being-better-than-you-need-to-be costs you a lot of matches.”

Gators women’s tennis adds international standout to roster

The Lady Gators will get a boost from a top European tennis player this coming season.

The Florida women’s tennis team added [autotag]Malwina Rowinska[/autotag], a native of Warsaw, Poland, to its roster for the upcoming season, according to an announcement made by head coach Roland Thornqvist on Saturday.

The 5-foot-4-inch amateur currently sits at No. 81 in the World Junior Rankings, having recorded 818.5 points over 42 career tournaments; Rowinska’s highest ranking was No. 51. She was also ranked seventh in U16 and tenth in U14 before gaining two singles titles in the U18 category.

The 18-year-old most recently stood out at the European Junior Championships, where she and her partner Zuzanna Pawlikowska made it to the doubles finals. Rowinska currently holds 11 doubles titles in the U18 category as well as four national championships in singles, doubles and team play.

She also earned a 2022 US Open doubles quarterfinal appearance, and competed at the Australian Open Juniors and Wimbledon. The Polish standout will fit in well with the others in Florida’s women’s tennis program this coming season.

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Women’s tennis coach Brian Kalbas receives contract extension

UNC women’s tennis coach Brian Kalbas receives a contract extension until 2027.

The women’s tennis program has extended head coach Brian Kalbas through the 2027 season. 

The announcement came Thursday afternoon that Kalbas signed a four-year contract extension to remain the coach of the women’s tennis team. This comes on the heels of the program’s first NCAA championship. 

Through the school’s press release, UNC Director of Athletics Bubba Cunningham explained the decision-making to give Kalbas the four-year extension. 

“Over the course of 20 years, Coach Brian Kalbas has built and fostered a culture of integrity and success on and off the court,” said Cunningham. “It was truly special to watch him lead his team to the NCAA title, and we look forward to seeing him continue to produce standout players and exceptional people as a Carolina coach.” 

Kalbas holds the program record for most wins (532). He was named the Wilson/ITA National Coach of the Year this past season.

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Coco Gauff gave a tearful, classy speech after losing to Iga Świątek in the French Open final

Gauff’s stellar run in Paris came to an end on Saturday.

It was an incredible run in Paris at the French Open this week for Coco Gauff.

The 18-year-old phenom from Atlanta entered the tournament as the No. 18 seed, but Gauff — the youngest player in the top 100 of the Women’s Tennis Association world rankings — announced herself as one of the biggest up-and-coming names in the sport with a run all the way to the finals.

Unfortunately for Gauff, her run came to an end against Polish star Iga Świątek, the top seed in the field and No. 1 ranked player in the world. She had won her previous 34 matchups, and she extended that streak to 35 with a two-set (6-1, 6-3) victory.

It’s the second grand slam title for Świątek, who also won the French Open in 2020, and the win marked her sixth straight title in what has been a dominant year.

For her part, Gauff took the disappointing loss with grace, offering a heartfelt and emotional speech.

“First, I want to congratulate Iga,” Gauff said. “What you’ve done on tour the past couple months have truly been amazing and you totally deserve it. Hopefully we can play each other in more finals and maybe I can get a win on you one of these days.

“I’d like to thank my team, I’m sorry I wasn’t able to get this one today. But thank you guys for always supporting me, and hopefully, this is the first final of many… and most importantly, thank you (to the fans), you guys supported me even when I was down.”

Gauff’s run in Paris isn’t quite over just yet. She has also reached the final for the women’s doubles, and alongside teammate Jessica Pegula, she will take on the French team of Caroline Garcia and Kristina Mladenovic on Sunday. Gauff reached the doubles final of the U.S. Open last year, and she’ll look to capture her first grand slam title this time around.

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Gators News: A mostly winning weekend for seven Florida sports

Take a look at how the Gator Nation fared these past few days.

Yet another uninspiring performance by the football team this weekend deflated what would otherwise be a rather triumphant few days for Florida sports. Despite the gridiron guys nearly losing to a significantly inferior opponent, five of the other six programs in action found some level of success since last Friday.

The women’s tennis team captured some wins before closing shop for the winter, the cross country teams fared well in their competitions, the softball team pounded its opponent in its final fall exhibition, the volleyball team swept the weekend series and the men’s basketball team beat FSU for the first time in eight years. However, the women’s basketball team lost its two games but has a chance to redeem itself tonight.

Here is the weekend wrapup from around the Swamp.

Gators News: Six teams play on Friday, eight total active this weekend

A whole smorgasbord of Gators sports is on tap this weekend.

There was a bit of a lull there during the week but Gators sports return on Friday in full force as eight athletic teams gear up for competition this weekend. Women’s tennis, both cross country teams, softball, women’s basketball, and volleyball all compete today — the latter two also spill into the rest of the weekend — while the football team hits the gridiron on Saturday and the men’s basketball team takes to the parquet on Sunday.

There is plenty to preview, so strap in and get ready for a weekend chock-full-o the Orange and Blue.

Gators News: Football falls, remaining sports lift Florida up

The football team may have flailed, but some other sports picked up the slack this weekend.

Well Gator fans, this past weekend was a bit of a rough one as the football team traveled to South Carolina only to lay an egg against the Gamecocks, sending its season into a downward spiral that has already seen two coaches dismissed from the program. The good news — besides the fact that the much-maligned defensive coordinator Todd Grantham is finally gone — is that the women’s and men’s tennis teams, as well as the women’s basketball team, gave the Gator Nation a reason to continue being proud. Here is the wrap-up from this past weekend.