At the Net: Promising Puig

Philadelphia, PA (SportsNetwork.com) – Puerto Rico’s Monica Puig was not one of this week’s eight combatants at the prestigious WTA Finals, but that didn’t keep her from coming away from Singapore as one of the big winners at the season-ending extravaganza.

The 61st-ranked 21-year-old, who reached a career-high No. 41 back in May, was never in contention for the Finals, obviously, but the promising Puerto Rican did manage to earn herself a trip to Singapore by virtue of her popularity and an innovative event that the WTA hopes will bring attention to the game’s next generation of starlets.

For the first time ever, the WTA ran a consolation at its season-ending tournament, called the “Rising Stars,” at the same venue as the elite-only Finals.

Only four women were selected for the event (decided by fan voting), two from Asia-Pacific and two from the rest of the planet.

The year-long process to get picked was intense, but Puig campaigned hard and succeeded in garnering enough votes to book a spot, where she then made the most of her opportunity.

MP beat all of her opponents in Singapore — China’s Zheng Saisai, American Shelby Rogers and Kazakhstan’s Zarina Diyas — in the round-robin phase, and then handled Zheng again in straight sets in the final.

“When I found out that I was going to come here, I was just overwhelmed and so overjoyed that I have another chance to bring out my best tennis and compete as hard as I can,” said Puig, who earned $20,000 with her success.

Puig may not have been a part of the big show in Singapore, but she said capturing the Rising Stars competition and seeing the big stars, like Serena Williams and Maria Sharapova, up close has given her the confidence that she could join them one day. Puig gave Sharapova a real good match (6-3, 7-5 loss) on clay in Rome in May.

“You know, I feel like I’m almost there,” the San Juan native/Miami resident added.

“This year has been a year of transition. I changed coaches twice, and now I feel like I’m finally in the situation where I need to be.

“I’m feeling more stable and was just trying to continue that consistency until the end of the year.”

Puig may live in Miami, but is very proud of her Puerto Rican heritage.

“In my mind, soul, heart, body, everything, I am really proud representing them, representing the country,” she said. “To anybody who asks, I am 100 percent Puerto Rican.”

Puig’s best Grand Slam showing came last year when she reached the fourth round at Wimbledon. She’s 16-11 in Fed Cup play and captured her first-ever WTA title in Strasbourg, France, in May to become the first-ever Puerto Rican to win a WTA tournament.

“This year hasn’t been as consistent as far as results go, but I’m really proud of myself winning my first WTA title because I put that as a goal.”

The talented Puig, who’s currently coached by Antonio van Grichen, the former mentor of former world No. 1 star Victoria Azarenka and current world No. 5 Eugenie Bouchard, also has managed six titles on the ITF circuit.

Introduced to tennis by her mother after the family relocated from Puerto Rico to Miami for her father’s job as a mechanical engineer when Monica was a baby, Puig said tennis was a natural choice.

“I was always a very active girl, but I never really knew what sport I wanted to play,” she said. “When my mom gave me a tennis racket, I just started to play.”

It was last year when the tennis world really took notice of Puig after she marked her Grand Slam debut by defeating 11th-seeded Nadia Petrova on her way to an eventual third-round finish at the French Open. She would later upset No. 5 seed Sara Errani to reach the fourth round at Wimbledon.

“I have to give myself a break sometimes and realize it’s not going to be all highs, and if you make up for the lows occasionally, that’s good. Obviously, I’m very young and I have a lot of tennis ahead of me and it’s all a learning process.

“Obviously, my main goal is to be No. 1 and win Grand Slams, but right now I’m going little by little, trying to be the best I can be. I’m a very hard worker and devoted to my sport 100 percent. As long as I’m healthy and I love to play, it’s going to be smooth sailing as soon as everything clicks.”

Puig certainly has Top-20 potential. Does she have the desire to get there?

Stay tuned.

Categorized in: Tennis