At only 5’4″ myself, I always find myself rooting for the shorter professional athletes. I remember watching Justin Henin become one of the most dominating and feared tennis players of her time, even at her 5’5″ stature. She helped pave the way for other shorter players such as Simona Halep, Dominika Cibulkova, and Lauren Davis. Two out of three of these players played their first round US Open today and prevailed in stunning fashion!
Dominika Cibulkova Defeats Ana Ivanovic 6-3 3-6 6-3
Cibulkova takes out #7 Ivanovic in the first 2015 US Open upset. While she stands only at 5’3″, Cibulkova’s shorter stature did not get in the way. The match had its fair share of ups and downs from both players, but Cibulkova kept to her game plan no matter what. She stepped inside the court as much as possible, and kept the ball away from Ivanovic’s powerful forehand. Instead, she picked on the Serbian’s weak backhand and found herself taking advantage of short ball after short ball. After being out of the game for the past year due to an achilles tendon injury, Cibulkova comes back strong both physically and mentally.
Lauren Davis Defeats Heather Watson 7-6 7-6
Both of these players went into this first round match hoping to come out of it with their first US Open win. The 5’2″ American Lauren Davis succeeded. The two constantly broke each other to keep the score tight the entire time. Davis used her court coverage, endurance, and solid backhand to keep Watson on her toes the entire match, and there was amazing tennis throughout. There was even an amazing point full of rolled balls, an aggressive approach shot and a beautiful put away volley which helped Davis take the second set tiebreaker 7-0 and ultimately the match.
