January •
John Isner and
Bethanie Mattek-Sands of the United States teamed up to defeat Belgium's
Ruben Bemelmans and
Justine Henin in the
Hopman Cup final. •
Venus Williams retired for the first time in 251
Grand Slam matches in her third round match against
Andrea Petković at the
Australian Open due to a pelvic injury she sustained in the previous round. •
Francesca Schiavone defeated
Svetlana Kuznetsova 6–4, 1–6, 16–14 in four hours and forty-four minutes in the fourth round of the
Australian Open, making it the longest played
Grand Slam women's singles tennis match in the
Open Era. •
Rafael Nadal's bid to become the first man to hold all four
Grand Slams since
Rod Laver in 1969 was denied by
David Ferrer in the quarterfinals of the
Australian Open. •
Roger Federer followed up his win in
Qatar by reaching the semifinals of the
Australian Open, accumulating an
Open Era record of 59 matches won at the year's first major. •
Justine Henin announced her second retirement from the sport in three years due to a lingering elbow injury sustained at the
2010 Wimbledon Championships. •
Kim Clijsters won her third
Grand Slam title since coming out of retirement in 2009 by defeating
Li Na in the
Australian Open final. Na was the first Chinese woman to reach a Grand Slam final. •
Novak Djokovic defeated
Andy Murray in straight sets to win his second
Australian Open title. Murray became the first man to lose seven consecutive sets in
Grand Slam final appearances, accumulating nine in total. • On January 31, for the first time in the history of the
WTA, ten different nations were represented in the association's list of top ten players. •
Robin Söderling,
Stanislas Wawrinka,
Petra Kvitová,
Gréta Arn,
Gilles Simon,
David Ferrer,
Li Na, and
Jarmila Groth also won titles.
February •
Kevin Anderson,
Ivan Dodig, and
Milos Raonic all won their maiden
ATP Tour singles title in
Johannesburg,
Zagreb, and
San Jose, respectively. • By successfully defending his title in
Rotterdam and winning the
Open 13,
Robin Söderling opened 2011 with an impressive 17–1 record. •
Andy Roddick reached his fiftieth
ATP tour final, and won his thirtieth tour title at the
Regions Morgan Keegan Championships. • After playing only three tournaments in
2010, and reaching back-to-back semis in his previous two tournaments,
Juan Martín del Potro reached his first final since winning the
2009 US Open at the
Delray Beach International Tennis Championships. He defeated
Janko Tipsarević in the final. •
Tommy Robredo,
Nicolás Almagro (2),
Petra Kvitová,
Daniela Hantuchová,
Magdaléna Rybáriková,
Lourdes Domínguez Lino,
David Ferrer,
Vera Zvonareva, and
Gisela Dulko also won titles.
March •
Ivo Karlović set the record for the
fastest serve, hitting a 156 mph serve in
Davis Cup play against Germany. •
Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova and
Jelena Dokić each won titles heading into
Indian Wells and
Miami. It was Dokić's first title in nine years, while Pavlyuchenkova successfully defended her title to build a 10–0 record in
Monterrey.
April • By winning
Marbella,
Victoria Azarenka extended her winning streak to a career-best 11 consecutive match wins. The win also bumped Azarenka up to a career-best world number five ranking. •
Rafael Nadal won his unprecedented, seventh consecutive
Monte-Carlo Rolex Masters title, increasing his winning streak at the event to 37 matches. The following week, Nadal became the first player to win two tournaments six or more times in the
Open Era by winning his sixth
Barcelona title. • The
German,
Serbian,
Spanish, and
Ukrainian Fed Cup teams won spots in the 2012 World Group. It is the first time in Fed Cup history that neither the
United States or
France will be represented in the World Group. •
Anabel Medina Garrigues won her ninth clay court title of her career at the
Estoril Open, tying her with
Venus Williams for the most clay court titles among active players. •
Ryan Sweeting,
Pablo Andújar,
Caroline Wozniacki,
Julia Görges,
Alberta Brianti,
Nikolay Davydenko,
Novak Djokovic,
Juan Martín del Potro, and
Roberta Vinci also won titles.
May • On May 9, for the first time since each list was adopted, there were no Americans in either top ten of the
ATP Tour or
WTA Tour. •
Andy Murray became the first British player to reach the semifinals at the
Rome Masters since 1932, ultimately falling to Novak Djokovic. •
Nicolás Almagro,
Caroline Wozniacki, and
Andrea Petković also won titles.
June • Five-time
French Open champion,
Rafael Nadal, played his first 5-set match at the tournament since his winning debut in 2005. He defeated
John Isner 6–4, 6–7(2), 6–7(2), 6–2, 6–4 in just over four hours. (Occurred in May) •
Roger Federer advanced to a record 28th consecutive
Grand Slam quarterfinal, surpassing
Jimmy Connors mark of 27. Federer went on to stun
Novak Djokovic in the semifinals, breaking the Serb's perfect record from the start of the season and also preventing him from becoming the
World Number One. •
Kim Clijsters and
Caroline Wozniacki lost in the second and third rounds, respectively, of the
French Open. It is the first time in the
Open Era that both of the top two seeded women at a
Grand Slam failed to reach the round of sixteen.
Vera Zvonareva's departure in the fourth round meant that for just the third time in the Open Era, none of the top three seeds advanced to the quarterfinals of a Grand Slam. •
Li Na became the first Chinese player to win a Grand Slam singles title at the
French Open. •
Rafael Nadal won his record-tying sixth
French Open title, which allowed him to be the second man to qualify for the
ATP World Tour Finals. •
Philipp Kohlschreiber,
Andy Murray,
Sabine Lisicki,
Caroline Wozniacki,
Dmitry Tursunov,
Andreas Seppi,
Marion Bartoli, and
Roberta Vinci also won titles.
July • For the first time in the
Open Era, eight different European nations were represented in the women's quarterfinals of a
Grand Slam at
The Wimbledon Championships. • By reaching the final of
The Wimbledon Championships,
Novak Djokovic became the first man other than
Roger Federer or
Rafael Nadal to hold the
World Number One ranking since 2004. He went on to defeat Nadal in the final to win his first Wimbledon title. •
Maria Sharapova reached her second
Wimbledon final after seven years, the longest span between final appearances at The Championships. She was defeated by first time
Grand Slam finalist
Petra Kvitová. •
John Isner,
Roberta Vinci,
Polona Hercog,
Juan Carlos Ferrero,
Robin Söderling,
Anabel Medina Garrigues,
María José Martínez Sánchez,
Gilles Simon,
Vera Zvonareva,
Marcel Granollers,
Alexandr Dolgopolov, and
Nadia Petrova also won titles.
August •
Novak Djokovic lost only his second match of the year when he was forced to retire in the second set of the championship match in
Cincinnati against
Andy Murray. •
Robin Haase won his maiden ATP Tour singles title in
Kitzbühel September •
Florian Mayer,
Jo-Wilfried Tsonga,
Janko Tipsarević and
Andy Murray won ATP tour titles. •
Barbora Záhlavová-Strýcová,
Ksenia Pervak,
Chanelle Scheepers,
María José Martínez Sánchez and
Agnieszka Radwańska won WTA tour titles.
October November December ==
International Tennis Hall of Fame==