Going into 2016, little was expected of Monica Puig, but little did the tennis world know that a small town island girl from Puerto Rico would soon rewrite history for not only herself but the hopes of a nation she so courageously carried on her shoulders. While she experienced her fair share of ups and downs throughout the season, the Puerto Rican put together her best season to date, with her eyes set on even bigger championships in 2017.
Win-Loss
In a year that saw her record more than 50 wins in a single season, Puig managed to end the season with a total of 51 wins and less than half as many losses (25), with 41 of those coming in main draw action. Ending the year in prime position for a seeding at the first major of 2017 at number 32 in the world, Puig made it to the semifinals or better at five of the 26 events she played, managing to get to the showpiece of two of those events: the Apia International Sydney and of course, the Rio 2016 Olympic Games. After losing out to Svetlana Kuznetsova for the title in Sydney, the Puerto Rican would make no such mistake against future world number one Angelique Kerber in the match of her life, defeating the German to claim her home nation their first Olympic gold medal.
High Points
After failing to qualify for her first event of the season, the ASB Classic in Auckland, Puig managed to make a stunning turnaround in Sydney where, as a qualifier, she was able to win seven matches in eight days before falling to Kuznetsova in the showpiece. From there, she traveled straight to Melbourne for the Australian Open where she continued to ride the same wave of momentum, getting to the third round of a Grand Slam for the first time in 11 previous attempts.
After a rough stretch where she struggled to win back-to-back matches for more than two months, the Puerto Rican managed to have slightly better luck on the clay. Recording a 12-6 record overall, Puig’s resurgence during the clay court season was highlighted by a quarterfinal showing in Prague as well as round of 32 showings in Rome and at Roland Garros.
But it was on the grass where Puig really began to come alive, making the semifinals of the Aegon Open Nottingham and the Aegon International in Eastbourne (where she was forced to qualify for the main draw). There, she recorded victories over the likes of Caroline Wozniacki and Kristina Mladenovic and kicked off what would be a very memorable summer of tennis.
A cold streak followed, but it wasn’t until she traveled down to Brazil where Puig began to come alive with clear intentions again. After making the semifinals of a tune-up event, if you will, in Florianopolis the week prior to the Olympics, an inspired Puig tore through the women’s singles draw at the 31st Olympiad.
With the considerably slower Rio hard courts playing into her favour, the Puerto Rican ousted a trio of Grand Slam champions in Garbiñe Muguruza, Petra Kvitova, and Kerber on her way to Olympic glory, becoming her nation’s first gold medallist.
Low Points
Between all of her successes, consistency from tournament to tournament proved to be the biggest Achilles heel for Puig. It started after her success in Australia where, as aforementioned, she failed to win back-to-back matches until Charleston, a drought that lasted more than two months.
After her magical run to the last four in Eastbourne, Puig lost three of her next four matches before her trip to Brazil and after leaving Rio, she won just four of her next nine matches before deciding to end her season in Tianjin.
Best Results
The highlight of Puig’s season was obviously her Cinderella run to Olympic glory where she became just the ninth Puerto Rican to take home a medal, but the first—man or woman—to hear the island’s national anthem atop the podium.
A semifinalist in Nottingham, Eastbourne, and Florianopolis, Puig’s unexpected run to the final of Sydney was her first major breakthrough since winning her maiden WTA title in Strasbourg in 2014 and proved to be the catalyst for many great things to come, in what would become the best season of her career to date.
Worst Results
Over the course of the season, Puig had her fair share of lowlights; five round one exits, struggles to win back-to-back matches and a failure to qualify for her first event of the season were just a few downsides to an otherwise career-best season.
Grade: B+
While Puig had her fair share of good and bad matches, her heroics at Rio lifted and unified a nation over the success of their greatest athlete of all time in a time of political conflict. In fact, Puig, herself, even noted that the day of her victory was one of the first days in a long time that Puerto Rico saw the lowest crime rate, with everyone certainly glued to their TV screens.
Her renewed attitude towards the game paired with a number of technical and physical improvements that she made during the 2016 preseason proved she will not just be a star of the future, but a star of today. With her eyes set on even bigger things in 2017, who knows what the 23-year-old Puerto Rican powerhouse could do in the new season?
