Tuesday, May 10, 2011

Succes 2011: Shahar Pe'er, World No. 11 in women's tennis, highest ranking for an Israeli singles player

Shahar Pe'er is an Israeli professional tennis player. Her career-high singles ranking is World No. 11, which she achieved on January 31, 2011 (Highest ranking for an Israeli singles Tennis player, male or female).

Her best Grand Slam singles result has been reaching the quarter-finals at the 2007 Australian Open and the 2007 US Open. She has also reached the Women's doubles final at the 2008 Australian Open with Victoria Azarenka. Pe'er has won five WTA Singles titles and three WTA Doubles titles. As of January 31, 2011, Pe'er is ranked World No. 11 in singles and No. 22 in doubles.


In February 2009, Pe'er was prevented from playing at the Dubai Tennis Championships after she was denied a visa by the United Arab Emirates, which does not have diplomatic relations with Israel. A number of players, among them Venus Williams, condemned the visa rejection, and WTA chief Larry Scott said that he had considered cancelling the tournament but chose not to after consulting Pe'er. Tournament director Salah Tahlak said that Pe'er was refused on the grounds that her appearance could incite anger in the Arab country after she had already faced protests at the ASB Classic over the 2008–2009 Israel–Gaza conflict. The WTA said that it would review future tournaments in Dubai. Due to the action Tennis Channel decided not to televise the event and The Wall Street Journal dropped its sponsorship. The 2008 winner of the men's singles Andy Roddick chose not to defend his title with prize money of over $2 million to protest against the UAE's refusal to grant Pe'er a visa. "I really didn't agree with what went on over there", Roddick said.

Following strong protest over UAE's decision to refuse her visa in 2009, Pe'er was granted a visa in 2010 but was placed under very strict restrictions. She was not allowed to mix with other players off court, had to exercise in a separate gym, and was under strict guard on her way from the hotel to the court. To add to the pressure, the tournament was taking place at the time when Dubai authorities were investigating the Assassination of Hamas operative Mahmoud al-Mabhouh, which they blamed on Israeli agents posing as European nationals. Pe'er was widely praised by her fellow competitors for her composure under pressure during the tournament. In particular, Venus Williams remarked: "I can’t imagine playing so well with these kinds of circumstances. I just have to give her congratulations and props. She's courageous. I don’t think anyone else on the WTA Tour could do what she's doing".
Pe'er plays a "counterpuncher" style. Her forehand uses a semi-western grip, which makes her good in facing big top-spin opponents. Her backhand is two-handed and is one of the best on the women's tour. It is consistent and finds various angles throughout the court. She loves to take lots of points with the inside out shot on her backhand. She had a kick serve that lacked the drive needed to penetrate deep, but she changed it to more of a slice serve, which works great for her now and even generates aces. She has a good volley and doesn't have a problem going to the net. During matches, she often turns her back to her opponent between points, faces the back of the court, closes her eyes and tries to wipe the mental slate clean.


In 2011, Pe'er started the year by playing in Brisbane, where she defeated Sophie Ferguson, 6–4, 6–2, but lost to Lucie Safarova in the second round, 3–6, 6–1, 7–5. She played in Sydney next, winning against Sybille Bammer, 6–3, 5–7, 6–1, but losing the second round to Victoria Azarenka, 7–5, 6–3.

In the 2011 Australian Open, which she started as the No. 10 seed, Pe'er won her first round match against Mathilde Johansson, 6–1, 6–1. In the second round she defeated Sorana Cirstea in straight sets, 6–3, 6–2. However, she lost in the third round to Flavia Pennetta, 3–6, 7–6(3), 6–4. After the tournament, Pe'er's ranking rose to No. 11, her highest in the career so far, due to Elena Dementieva and Justine Henin being taken out of the WTA rankings.

In March, she reached BNP Paribas Open quarterfinal after beating Bethanie Mattek-Sands, Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova and Francesca Schiavone.In the quarters she lost to Yanina Wickmayer .

In April she had a chance to become a top 10 player by defeting Julia Goerges (world no. 35) in Charleston round of 32, but she lost to the German.

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