Brooksby breakthrough highlights top stories of 2021

Jenson Brooksby waits to return serve during practice at the BNP Paribas Open
in Indian Wells in October. Photo by Paul Bauman

   Amid the ongoing pandemic, it was a banner year in Northern California tennis.

   Two players won prestigious ATP awards, and a former Sacramento Capital in World TeamTennis reached the French Open final.

   A coach with strong NorCal ties helped a WTA player soar into the top 10 and reach the title match in the WTA Finals, and two doubles stars qualified for the season-ending tournament for the first time.

   A Sacramento native helped his team win the NCAA team championship, then snagged the singles title.

   And more.

   Here are my picks for the top 10 stories of 2020 with 10 honorable mentions:

   1. Brooksby voted ATP Newcomer of Year — Jenson Brooksby, a lifelong Sacramento-area resident who turned 21 in October, skyrocketed from No. 307 to No. 56 in 10 months. He reached his maiden ATP Tour final in Newport, R.I., in his first tournament ever on grass, losing to two-time Grand Slam runner-up Kevin Anderson, and the round of 16 in the U.S. Open, steamrolling Novak Djokovic 6-1 in the first set before falling in four sets.

   Fifteen days after the Newport final, Brooksby beat the 6-foot-8 (2.03-meter) Anderson en route to the semifinals in Washington, D.C. Brooksby also advanced to the Antwerp semis in October as a qualifier.

Mackenzie McDonald lines up a forehand during his first-
round victory over James Duckworth in the BNP Paribas
Open. Photo by Paul Bauman

   2. McDonald voted ATP Comeback Player of Year — Mackenzie McDonald, a 26-year-old product of Piedmont in the San Francisco Bay Area, underwent right hamstring surgery in June 2019 and fell as low as No. 272 in March 2020.

   This year, McDonald reached the round of 16 in the Australian Open, advanced to his first ATP final in Washington, D.C., and climbed to a career-high No. 54 on Nov. 1.

   3. Ex-Capital reaches French Open final — Unseeded Barbora Krejcikova of the Czech Republic outlasted No. 31 seed Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova of Russia 6-1, 3-6, 6-4 in the first Grand Slam final for both players.

   Pavlyuchenkova, who played for the Sacramento Capitals of World TeamTennis as the world's top junior at 15 in 2006, hurt her left leg late in the second set.

   4. Kontaveit cracks top 10, reaches WTA Finals title match under Tursunov — After hiring coach Dmitry Tursunov in August, Anett Kontaveit of Estonia won four titles, jumped from No. 30 to No. 7 and advanced to the WTA Finals for the first time.  

   Garbiñe Muguruza, seeded sixth, defeated Kontaveit, seeded eighth, 6-3, 7-5 in the final of the season-ending tournament in Guadalajara, Mexico. Tursunov, a 39-year-old Moscow native, trained in Northern California as a junior and professional. 

   5. Shibahara, Olmos qualify for WTA Finals — Doubles specialists Ena Shibahara, who was born in the Bay Area, and Giuliana Olmos, who grew up there, qualified for the season-ending tournament for the first time separately. Second-seeded Shuko Aoyama and Shibahara advanced to the semifinals, while eighth-seeded Sharon Fichman and Olmos were eliminated in round-robin play. 

   Aoyama and Shibahara won a tour-leading five titles, including the Miami Open, in 2021. They also reached the Wimbledon semifinals and Australian Open quarterfinals. Fichman and Olmos won the Italian Open, gained the Australian Open quarterfinals and advanced to the round of 16 at Wimbledon.

Sam Riffice, far left, poses 10 years ago at age 12 with Roger
Federer at the La Quinta Resort in the Palm Springs area. Also
shown are Riffice's coach, Amine Khaldi (second from left), and
Khaldi's friend Steve Mohibi. Photo courtesy of Amine Khaldi

   6. Riffice helps Florida win NCAA title, adds singles crown — Sam Riffice, who was born in Sacramento and grew up in suburban Roseville, won at No. 2 singles and doubles as the top-seeded Gators beat second-seeded Baylor 4-1 in Orlando, Fla., for the NCAA championship. 

   The sixth-seeded Riffice then topped second-seeded Daniel Rodrigues of South Carolina 3-6, 6-1, 6-4 for the singles title.

   7. Wimbledon champ commits to Stanford — Samir Banerjee, who won the Wimbledon boys singles title in July, verbally committed to Stanford.

   Banerjee, from Basking Ridge, N.J., defeated Victor Lilov of Raleigh, N.C., 7-5, 6-3 in the Wimbledon final. Both players were unseeded.

   8. Cal men's coach retires after 29 years — Peter Wright, a Berkeley native who turned 58 on Dec. 8, amassed a 383-256 record at Cal. He guided the Bears to the NCAA Championships 25 times, including a semifinal berth in 2016, and four appearances in the top 10.

   USC associate head coach Kris Kwinta, a 41-year-old Poland native, was chosen as Wright's replacement.

Fiery Danielle Collins exults after winning a point during the final of the
Mubadala Silicon Valley Classic in San Jose, Calif. Photo by Mal Taam

   9. Collins claims crown in San Jose — No. 7 seed Danielle Collins of St. Petersburg, Fla., defeated No. 4 seed Daria Kasatkina of Russia 6-3, 6-7 (10), 6-1 to win the Mubadala Silicon Valley Classic in San Jose, Calif.

   Collins, who turned 28 on Dec. 13, won her second consecutive title and the second of her career. She had surgery for endometriosis, a painful disorder in which tissue inside the uterus grows outside of it, in early April. Doctors removed a cyst the size of a tennis ball from her ovary.

Emon van Loben Sels poses with his trophy
at the USTA Level 1 Spring Individual Cham-
pionships in Mobile, Ala. Photo courtesy of
Emon van Loben Sels

   10. van Loben Sels ranked No. 1 nationally in 16s — The pandemic gave Emon van Loben Sels of Sacramento a needed break last year. He won a USTA Level 2 tournament in Newport Beach, Calif., in February and the Level 1 Spring Individual Championships in March in Mobile, Ala.

   Van Loben Sels' biggest asset is his passion for tennis, according to Kiryl Harbatsiuk, one of his coaches. The high school junior has verbally committed to UCLA.

   Honorable mention — Cameron Norrie, who won back-to-back Northern California Challengers in Tiburon and Stockton in 2017, won the prestigious BNP Paribas Open as the No. 21 seed.

   —Qualifier Mariia Kozyreva, a fifth-year senior at Saint Mary's College in Moraga in the Bay Area, shocked top-seeded Zheng Saisai, ranked No. 75, in the first round of the $60,000 Berkeley (Calif.) Challenger.

   —Katie Volynets, a resident of Walnut Creek in the Bay Area who turned 20 today, won her first professional title to crack the top 200.

   —Former Stanford star Nicole Gibbs retired at 27. The three-time NCAA champion (twice in singles and once in doubles) reached a career-high No. 68 in the world in 2016.

   —Johanna Konta, who won the 2016 Bank of the West Classic at Stanford, retired at 30.

   —Unseeded Usue Arconada won the Berkeley Challenger.

   —The Stanford women ended their longest losing streak in 40 years, three matches, with a 6-1 victory over USC in Los Angeles. 

   —Ethan Quinn of Fresno, Calif., reached the doubles final in the USTA Boys 18 National Championships in Kalamazoo, Mich., with Sebastian Gorzny and in the Orange Bowl in Plantation, Fla., with Nicholas Godsick.

   —Van Loben Sels advanced to the singles quarterfinals and doubles semifinals (with Dylan Tsoi of El Dorado Hills in the Sacramento area) in the USTA Boys 16 National Championships in Kalamazoo.

   —Wayne Thiebaud, a world-renowned artist from Sacramento who played tennis until just after his 100th birthday, died on Christmas at 101.

Pandemic — what else? — heads top stories of 2020

Sofia Kenin earned her first Grand Slam crown in the
Australian Open and reached the final of the delayed
French Open. 2018 photo by Paul Bauman

   This was a terrible year for Northern California tennis, as with everything else. Not all the news, however, was bad.

   Here are my picks for the top 10 stories of 2020 with 10 honorable mentions:

   1. Most of season lost — The COVID-19 pandemic shut down competition at all levels in NorCal for the last 9 1/2 months of the year. No WTA tournament in San Jose. No men's or women's Challengers. No NCAA Championships. No college or junior matches after mid-March.

   2. Kenin named WTA Player of the Year — Sofia Kenin was born in Moscow and has lived in Florida since she was a young child. But she won NorCal Challenger singles titles in 2016 at 17, 2017 and 2018. 

   Kenin, who turned 22 last month, earned her first Grand Slam crown in the Australian Open and reached the final of the delayed French Open.

   3. Bryan brothers retire — Former Stanford stars Bob and Mike Bryan, 42, ended their careers after 22 years and a record 16 Grand Slam men's doubles titles.

   The Bryans won six Australian Open, five U.S. Open, three Wimbledon and two French Open championships. They captured an Open Era-record 119 tour titles (including four in the ATP Finals), earned a gold medal in the 2012 London Olympics and helped the United States win its last Davis Cup championship in 2007.

Bob Bryan, left, and Mike Bryan retired after 22 years
and a record 16 Grand Slam men's doubles titles. 2016
photo by Paul Bauman

   4. Cal coach loses doubles heartbreaker in ATP Finals — Seventh-seeded Jurgen Melzer and Edouard Roger-Vasselin saved a match point in their 6-7 (4), 6-3 [11-9] victory over second-seeded Rajeev Ram, a volunteer assistant coach at the University of California, Berkeley, and Joe Salisbury in the semifinals of the Nitto ATP Finals in London.

   Ram, 36, of Carmel, Ind., and Salisbury, a 28-year-old London native and resident, led 7-1 in the match tiebreaker before Melzer, a 39-year-old left-hander from Austria, and Roger-Vasselin, a Frenchman who was 36 at the time, reeled off seven consecutive points.

   5. Stevie Gould says coach sexually abused him — Stevie Gould of Corte Madera in the San Francisco Bay Area told The New York Times that a prominent Bay Area coach sexually abused him.

   Gould, a sophomore at the University of San Francisco, said Normandie Burgos repeatedly abused him for two years, including at hotels during tournaments in other states. Burgos is serving a 255-year prison sentence after being convicted of 60 counts of child molestation. 

   6. Brooksby turns pro after bizarre college career — Jenson Brooksby, a 20-year-old Sacramento-area resident, left Baylor University in Waco, Texas, as a redshirt freshman. He enrolled in January, never played a match for the Bears because of injuries and was on campus for only two months because of the pandemic.

Jenson Brooksby turned pro despite never having played
a match at Baylor University. 2018 photo by Paul Bauman

  Brooksby won the 2018 USTA Boys 18 National Championship and reached the second round of the 2019 U.S. Open as a qualifier, stunning 2010 Wimbledon runner-up Tomas Berdych.

   7. Stanford women sign nation's top two recruits — Connie Ma and Alexandra Yepifanova — ranked No. 1 and No. 2, respectively, by tennisrecruiting.net among high school seniors — signed letters to join the two-time defending NCAA champion Cardinal in 2021-22.

   The tiny Ma, from Dublin in the Bay Area, reached the singles final of a $15,000 tournament in Evansville, Ind., at 15 in 2018 and won the doubles title with Gianna Pielet. Yepifanova, from Lake Worth, Fla., advanced to the girls singles final in last year's U.S. Open, becoming the first qualifier to reach that stage of a junior Grand Slam.

   8. Stanford men's recruiting class ranked first in nation — Coach Paul Goldstein compiled the nation's top recruiting class for 2020, according to tennisrecruiting.net.

   Joining Stanford in the fall were Great Britain's Arthur Fery, the 12th-ranked junior in the world; blue chippers Alex Lee of Oak Brook, Ill., and Aryan Chaudhary of Santa Clara in the Bay Area; and Tristan Boyer of Altadena, Calif., in the Los Angeles region. Boyer was the runner-up to Brooksby in the 2018 Easter Bowl at Indian Wells, Calif.

Connie Ma, the nation's top recruit, signed a letter of intent to stay
in the San Francisco Bay Area and join two-time defending cham-
pion Stanford in 2021-22. 2018 photo by Paul Bauman

   9. Stanford women's conference win streak ends at 38 — The No. 9 Cardinal suffered its first loss in a Pacific-12 Conference match in almost exactly four years, falling to No. 3 UCLA 4-1 at Taube Family Tennis Stadium. 

   Stanford hadn't lost to a Pac-12 opponent in the regular season since a 4-3 decision at Arizona State on March 5, 2016.

   10. NorCal's Quinn claims Orange Bowl 16s doubles title — Fourth-seeded Ethan Quinn of Fresno, Calif., and Nicholas Godsick of Chagrin Falls, Ohio, beat third-seeded Lucas Brown of Plano, Texas, and John Kim of Sunnyvale in the Bay Area 7-6 (0), 6-4 on clay in Plantation, Fla.

   Quinn won the 16s singles title in the USTA Winter Nationals on clay in Orlando, Fla., at the beginnning of the year.

   Honorable mention — CiCi Bellis, who sat out for 19 months in 2018-19 while undergoing four operations, won the $80,000 Mercer Tennis Classic in Macon, Ga., for her first title in four years.

   — Ben McLachlan (Cal, 2011-14), who was born and raised in New Zealand, won his second consecutive Auckland doubles title, this time with Luke Bambridge of Great Britain.

   — Andre Goransson (Cal, 2014-17) of Sweden won his maiden ATP doubles title in Pune, India, with Christopher Rungkat of Indonesia to crack the top 100 for the first time.

   — Giuliana Olmos, who grew up in the Bay Area suburb of Fremont, won her second career WTA doubles title, teaming with Desirae Krawczyk in Acapulco.

   — Katie Volynets, a resident of Walnut Creek in the Bay Area who turned 19 today, shocked 91st-ranked Monica Puig, the reigning Olympic gold medalist in women's singles, 4-6, 7-6 (4), 6-3 in the first round of qualifying for the Western & Southern Open in Flushing Meadows, N.Y., for her first victory over a top-100 player.

   — In her first match since 2012, International Tennis Hall of Famer Kim Clijsters, who won four singles titles in the Bank of the West Classic at Stanford (2001, 2003, 2005 and 2006), lost to Garbine Muguruza 6-2, 7-6 (6) in the first round of the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships.

   — Dennis Ralston, an International Tennis Hall of Famer, died of cancer at 78 less than 15 months after speaking at the Sutter Lawn Tennis Club's 100th-anniversary gala in Sacramento.

   — Ashley Kratzer, the runner-up to Kenin in the 2017 Stockton (Calif.) Challenger and a semifinalist in the 2018 Berkeley Challenger, was suspended for four years after testing positive for a performance-enhancing drug.

   — The ATP issued Sam Querrey, a 33-year-old San Francisco native, a suspended fine of $20,000 for violating the COVID-19 protocol at the St. Petersburg Open by fleeing Russia after he, his wife and his 8-month-old son tested positive for the coronavirus.

   — Allura and Maribella Zamarripa, 18-year-old identical twins from St. Helena in the Napa Valley, saved two championship points to win the $80,000 Bellatorum Resources Pro Classic in Tyler, Texas, as the fifth alternates for their biggest title by far.

Serena's losses in major finals highlight top stories of '19

Serena Williams, playing at Indian Wells in March, lost two more Grand Slam
finals in straight sets to remain one major title short of Margaret Court's record
of 24. Photo by Harjanto Sumali

   The wait continues for Serena Williams.
   The part-time Silicon Valley resident, who turned 38 in September, went 0-2 in Grand Slam singles finals in 2019 to remain one major singles title short of Margaret Court's record of 24.
   Williams, who won eight consecutive Grand Slam finals from 2012 to 2015, is 0-4 in them since capturing the Australian Open title in January 2017. Each loss has been in straight sets.
   Williams had her first child on Sept. 1, 2017, and suffered life-threatening complications. Since then, injuries – and nerves – have slowed Williams.
   Here are the top 10 stories in Northern California tennis in 2019 and 10 honorable mentions:
   1. Andreescu upsets Serena for U.S. Open title – One year after 20-year-old Naomi Osaka stunned Williams in a tumultuous final in Flushing Meadows, N.Y., 19-year-old Bianca Andreescu triumphed 6-3, 7-5 in front of a staunchly pro-Williams crowd at 23,771-seat Arthur Ashe Stadium.
   The hart-hitting Andreescu, seeded 15th, showed no sign of nerves in her first major final until trying to close out the match. The daughter of Romanian immigrants, she became the first Canadian, male or female, to win a Grand Slam singles title.
   2. Halep routs Serena for first Wimbledon crown – Playing the match of her life, Simona Halep routed a nervous Williams 6-2, 6-2 in 56 minutes for her second major singles title and first at Wimbledon.
   Halep, playing great defense, committed only three unforced errors to Williams' 26 and won 83 percent of the points on her first serve (29 of 35) to Williams' 59 percent (19 of 32).
   3. Serena voted AP Female Athlete of Decade – Williams, who won a dozen Grand Slam singles titles in the 2010s, was voted The Associated Press Female Athlete of the Decade. No other woman won more than three Slams during that time.
   Williams was ranked No. 1 for 3 1/2 years in a row, equaling Steffi Graf's record for most consecutive weeks atop the rankings.

As an 18-year-old wild card in qualifying, Jenson Brooksby
shocked Tomas Berdych, the Wimbledon runner-up in 2010,
in the first round of the U.S. Open. 2018 photo by Paul Bauman

   4. Brooksby stuns Berdych in U.S. Open – Jenson Brooksby, an 18-year-old qualifier from the Sacramento suburb of Carmichael, shocked 33-year-old Tomas Berdych, the Wimbledon runner-up in 2010, 6-1, 2-6, 6-4, 6-4 in the first round of the U.S. Open.
   Brooksby became only the second qualifying wild card to win a men's main-draw match in the U.S. Open, joining Stanford graduate Bradley Klahn.
   5. Bellis returns from 19-month layoff – Qualifier CiCi Bellis reached the third round of the $162,480 Houston Challenger in her first tournament in 19 months.
   The 20-year-old San Francisco Bay Area product rebounded from three operations on her right wrist and one on her right elbow. She was named the WTA Newcomer of the Year in 2017 after climbing as high as No. 35.
   6. Gibbs reaches final in return from cancer surgery – Nicole Gibbs (Stanford, 2011-13) advanced to the final of the $60,000 Honolulu Challenger only two months after having surgery for a rare cancer in the roof of her mouth.
   Gibbs lost to fellow American Usue Arconada 6-0, 6-2 one day after topping Caroline Dolehide 6-4, 6-7 (6), 6-4 in 2 hours, 41 minutes.
   7. Bryans to retire after 2020 U.S. Open – Former Stanford stars Bob Bryan and Mike Bryan, generally considered the greatest doubles team in history, announced that they will retire after the 2020 U.S. Open.
   The 41-year-old identical twins have won a record 16 Grand Slam men's doubles titles, an Open Era-record 118 trophies (including four in the ATP Finals) and an Olympic gold medal (2012 London). They also helped the United States win its last Davis Cup championship, in 2007.
   8. Ma leads U.S. to Junior Fed Cup title – Connie Ma, 16, of Dublin in the Bay Area led the United States to a 2-1 victory over the Czech Republic in the Junior Fed Cup final in Orlando, Fla.
   It was the third consecutive Junior Fed Cup title for the Americans and second straight for Ma. She played on last year's team, but not in the final against Ukraine.
   9. Stanford women rout Georgia for 20th NCAA crown – The No. 3 Cardinal routed No. 1 Georgia 4-0 in Orlando for its second consecutive NCAA crown, third in four years and 20th overall.
   Stanford coach Lele Forood matched her predecessor, Frank Brennan, with 10 NCAA titles. No other school approaches the Cardinal's total. Florida ranks second with seven titles, and Georgia is tied for third with three other schools at two.

Katie Volynets poses after winning the girls 18 singles
title in the USTA National Championships in San Diego.
Photo courtesy of JFS Communications

   10. Volynets wins USTA Girls 18 Nationals – Second-seeded Katie Volynets of Walnut Creek in the Bay Area beat third-seeded Emma Navarro of Charleston, S.C., 6-2, 6-4 to win the girls 18 singles title in the USTA Billie Jean King Girls National Championships in San Diego.
   Volynets became the third Northern Californian to win a USTA 18 hardcourt national singles title in six years, joining Collin Altamirano (2013) of Sacramento and Brooksby (2018). All train under Joseph Gilbert at the Arden Hills Athletic & Social Club in Sacramento.
   Honorable mention – Kristie Ahn, a 27-year-old Stanford graduate, defeated 2017 French Open champion Jelena Ostapenko 6-3, 7-5 to reach the round of 16 in the U.S. Open. Ahn had never won a main-draw match in a Grand Slam tournament before that week.
   –Unseeded Zheng Saisai of China knocked off four consecutive seeds in the Mubadala Silicon Valley Classic in San Jose, Calif., and won her first WTA singles title. In the final, she toppled Belarus' Aryna Sabalenka, ranked 10th and seeded second, 6-3, 7-6 (3).
   –After trailing 6-1, 5-2, seventh seed and 2018 runner-up Maria Sakkari of Greece saved four match points in a 1-6, 7-6 (3), 6-3 victory over top-seeded Elina Svitolina in the quarterfinals of the Silicon Valley Classic.
   –Saving seven championship points, second-seeded Luke Casper of Santa Cruz, Calif., outlasted top-seeded Samir Banerjee of Basking Ridge, N.J., 3-6, 7-6 (1), 7-6 (6) to win the USTA Boys 16 National Clay Court Championships in Delray Beach, Fla.

Pam Shriver speaks at the Sutter Lawn Tennis
Club's 100th-anniversary celebration in Sacra-
mento, Calif. Photo by Paul Bauman

   –In the doubles semifinals of the $108,320 Tiburon (Calif.) Challenger, Alex Lawson was defaulted for swatting a ball into the seats during a match tiebreaker. The ball struck a middle-aged man in the back, but he was not hurt.

   –Ahn, seeded sixth, flung her racket high into crowd during her 6-1, 6-3 loss to top-seeded Madison Brengle in the semifinals of the $60,000 Berkeley (Calif.) Tennis Club Women's Challenge. No one was injured, but Ahn later was fined an undisclosed amount of up to $500.
   –Bob Bryan returned from hip surgery in the Brisbane International at the beginning of the year, losing in the first round with Mike Bryan to Robert Lindstedt of Sweden and Milos Raonic of Canada 3-6, 6-4 (10-7).
   –Pam Shriver, an International Tennis Hall of Famer and ESPN commentator, emceed the Sutter Lawn Tennis Club's 100th-anniversary celebration in Sacramento, Calif.
   –Volynets, who will celebrate her 18th birthday on Tuesday, turned pro.
   –Top-seeded Vivian Ovrootsky of San Jose and Sarah Hamner of Fort Collins, Colo., won the girls 16 doubles title in the Eddie Herr International in Bradenton, Fla.

Serena column tops 10 most memorable articles in 2018

   Here are the 10 most memorable articles in Northern California tennis in 2018 and 10 honorable mentions:

Top 10

   1. Opinion: Serena, crowd embarrassed themselves, USA
   2. Good as Gould: Stanford legend set to retire at 80
   3. Mmoh, 20, wins 2nd straight Challenger, cracks top 100
   4. Buzarnescu blitzes Sakkari for San Jose title
   5. Hoop dreams gone, Eubanks ousts No. 2 seed in Aptos
   6. Top seed Brengle plays through pain amid lawsuit
   7. After five operations, Aussie survives Tiburon thriller
   8. After mulling retirement, Fratangelo fabulous in Fairfield
   9. With switch, Brooksby continues on Altamirano's path
   10. Tursunov, who reached No. 20, unofficially retires

Honorable mention

   After three surgeries, Bellis eyes return at Indian Wells
   Gibbs doing 'awesome' in battle vs. depression
   Mmoh tops Paul in dramatic clash of U.S. prospects
   NorCal's Altamirano wins by 'learning how to lose'
   Kokkinakis continues comeback after beating Federer
   Harris thrives, Brengle survives in windy Stockton finals
   Aussie Bolt edges NorCal's Altamirano in thriller
   Stockton finals to feature childhood friends, little Lao
   Kenin, 19, conquers Gibbs for $60K Berkeley title
   Chaudhary channels Nadal for Sectional boys 18 title

Serena – who else? – dominates top stories of 2018

Serena Williams, playing in San Jose near one of her homes, lost to Naomi Osaka
in a controversial U.S. Open final. Williams also reached the Wimbledon final after
giving birth and suffering life-threatening complications to earn the AP Female Ath-
lete of the Year award for the fifth time. Photo by Mal Taam 

   Serena Williams, a part-time Silicon Valley resident, took the No. 1 and 2 spots in the top 10 stories of the year in Northern California tennis.
   And don't be surprised if Williams tops the 2019 list. She needs one more Grand Slam singles title to tie Margaret Court's record of 24.

   When Williams isn't traveling, she spends most of her time at the South Florida residence that she shares with her husband, Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian, and their 1-year-old daughter, Olympia. 

   The family also has residences in Silicon Valley and Southern California. Williams grew up in the Los Angeles suburb of Compton. Unlike California, Florida has no state income tax.

   Williams was the world's highest-paid female athlete in 2018, according to Forbes magazine, with earnings of $18.1 million from June 1, 2017, to June 1, 2018. Her endorsement income of $18 million was almost double that of any other female athlete. She received only $62,000 in prize money during that time because of maternity leave.
   Here are what I consider the top 10 stories of 2018 with 10 honorable mentions:

   1. Serena loses controversial final — Williams accused chair umpire Carlos Ramos of sexism after being docked a game for her third code violation during her 6-2, 6-4 loss to 20-year-old Naomi Osaka of Japan in the U.S. Open final.
   Williams was warned for receiving coaching, assessed a point penalty for smashing her racket and handicapped a game for telling Ramos, "You stole a point from me. You're a thief, too."

   2. Serena voted AP Female Athlete of Year — Despite not winning a major title, Williams received the honor for the fifth time. She reached the Wimbledon and U.S. Open finals after giving birth on Sept. 1, 2007, developing life-threatening blood clots and undergoing five operations.
   Williams also was named the WTA Comeback Player of the Year.

   3. Mike Bryan breaks records — The former Stanford star won the U.S. Open with Jack Sock for his 18th Grand Slam men's doubles title, breaking John Newcombe's record.
   Bryan, 40, also teamed with Sock to win Wimbledon and become the oldest champion in ATP Finals history. Bryan's twin and regular partner, Bob Bryan, underwent hip surgery on Aug. 2.

Roger Federer makes his Northern California debut in a
San Jose exhibition in March. Photo by Mal Taam

   4. Federer makes NorCal debut — Roger Federer defeated Sock 7-6 (9), 6-4 in a lighthearted exhibition before a sellout crowd of 17,496 at SAP Arena in San Jose.
   The Match for Africa 5 raised $2.5 million for Federer's foundation, which provides access to education for children in southern African countries. Federer's mother, Lynette, is South African.

   5. Quan has phenomenal year — Rudy Quan of Roseville in the Sacramento area won the boys 12 title in the Junior Orange Bowl in Coral Gables, Fla., to cap one of the greatest years in junior tennis history.
   Quan lost only once in 2018, sweeping the 12s in the USTA Winter Nationals, Easter Bowl, Clay courts and Hard Courts.

   6. Stephens reaches French Open final — No. 10 seed Sloane Stephens, who grew up in Fresno and still has relatives there, lost to top-ranked Simona Halep 3-6, 6-4, 6-1 at Roland Garros.
   Stephens, seeking her second Grand Slam singles title, led by a service break in the second set. She won the 2017 U.S. Open in only her fifth tournament after having foot surgery.

   7. Stephens plays for title in WTA Finals — Stephens, seeded fifth, fell to Ukraine's Elina Svitolina, seeded sixth, 3-6, 6-2, 6-2 in Singapore.
   Stephens, 25, played in the tournament, featuring the top eight singles players of 2018, for the first time this year.

   8. Surgeries derail Bellis' career — CiCi Bellis, the WTA Newcomer of the Year in 2017 after attaining a career-high ranking of No. 35, had two operations on her right wrist and one on her right elbow.
   Bellis, a 19-year-old product of Atherton in the San Francisco Bay Area, hopes to return to action next March in Indian Wells after a one-year absence. 

Jenson Brooksby, practicing in Sacramento, won the
USTA Boys 18 National Championships in Kalamazoo,
Mich., to earn a wild card in the U.S. Open. Brooksby
will play for renowned coach Brian Boland at Baylor.
Photo by Paul Bauman

   9. Brooksby follows Altamirano's path — Like fellow Sacramento native Collin Altamirano five years ago, Jenson Brooksby won the USTA Boys 18 National Championships in Kalamazoo, Mich., to earn a wild card in the U.S. Open and signed to play in college for Brian Boland.
   Both Altamirano and Brooksby grew up playing at Sacramento's JMG Tennis Academy and still train there. Altamirano helped Virginia win the NCAA team title in all three of his years there, and Brooksby will enroll at Baylor, which hired Boland in May after his one-year stint with the USTA.

   10. Stanford women win NCAA title — Melissa Lord, a junior All-American from Bloomfield, Conn., lifted the 15th-seeded Cardinal to a 4-3 victory over top-seeded Vanderbilt in the final of the NCAA Championships in Winston-Salem, N.C.
   Stanford won its second NCAA title in three years and record 19th overall. Florida ranks second with seven.
   The Cardinal was ranked 46th, its lowest position ever, at 4-3 without the injured Lord in early March but finished the season with 20 straight victories and matched its 2016 record as the lowest-seeded team to win the NCAA championship.

   Honorable mention — The $25,000 Ascension Project Women's Open in Redding was canceled because of the Carr Fire, which killed eight people and destroyed more than 1,000 homes.
   It was the second consecutive year that a wildfire affected a Northern California professional tournament. During the $100,000 NorthBay Healthcare Men's Pro Championship in Fairfield, two players were evacuated from their hosts' homes, and Wednesday afternoon matches were canceled because of smoke.
   --Still robust at 80, Stanford legend Dick Gould retired after 57 years as a student, the men's coach and the director of tennis at the famed university.
   --Mackenzie McDonald, a 23-year-old product of Piedmont in the Bay Area, reached the round of 16 at Wimbledon.
   --Unseeded Ben McLachlan, a former Cal All-American, and Jan-Lennard Struff advanced to the Australian Open doubles semifinals, ousting top-seeded Lukasz Kubot and Marcelo Melo.

Dick Gould retired after 57 years as a student, the men's coach
and the director of tennis at Stanford. Photo courtesy of Stanford
Sports Information

   --Modesto product Maria Sanchez won her second doubles title on the WTA tour (the major leagues of women's tennis), teaming with Asia Muhammad in Quebec City. Sanchez has since turned 29.
   --Katie Volynets, an amateur from Walnut Creek in the Bay Area who turned 17 today, stunned reigning NCAA singles champion Arianne Hartono in the final round of qualifying en route to the semifinals of the $25,000 McLeod for Health Florence (S.C.) Open on hardcourts.
   --Connie Ma, a tiny 15-year-old amateur from the Bay Area suburb of Dublin, helped the United States win the Junior Fed Cup in Budapest, Hungary. Ma, only 5-foot-3 (1.60 meters) and 95 pounds (43.1 kilograms), also advanced to the singles final and won the doubles title in a $15,000 tournament in Evansville, Ind.
   --Unseeded India Houghton of Belvedere Tiburon in the Bay Area reached the girls 16 singles final in the Orange Bowl on clay in Plantation, Fla.
   --Brooksby and Volynets won three-setters to give Northern California a sweep of the Easter Bowl 18 singles titles in Indian Wells.
   --Allura Zamarripa of Saint Helena in the Napa region won the girls 16 singles title in the USTA National Clay Court Championships in Memphis, Tenn., and teamed with her twin sister, Maribella, to sweep the 16s doubles crowns in the Easter Bowl and USTA International Spring Championships in Carson in consecutive weeks. 

Stephens' U.S. Open title heads top stories of 2017

Sloane Stephens, playing at Indian Wells last year, won the U.S. Open less
than two months after returning from foot surgery. Photo by Mal Taam

   Everyone who predicted that Jelena Ostapenko and Sloane Stephens would win Grand Slam singles titles this year, please raise your hand.
   Serena Williams' absence for the last three majors while expecting and delivering her first child didn't hurt. That opened the way for Ostapenko, a 20-year-old Latvian, and Stephens, a 24-year-old Fresno product, to break through.
   Here are the top 10 stories of the year, plus 10 honorable mentions:
   1. Stephens wins U.S. Open -- Only two months after returning from foot surgery, Stephens routed her close friend Madison Keys 6-3, 6-0 in 61 minutes to win the U.S. Open.
   It was the first Grand Slam final for both players, the first all-American women's final in the U.S. Open since Serena Williams defeated Venus Williams in 2002 and the most lopsided women's final at Flushing Meadows since Kim Clijsters trounced Vera Zvonareva 6-2, 6-1 in 2010.
   Stephens became only the second unseeded woman to win the U.S. championships in the Open Era (since 1968) and the first American woman not named Williams to capture the title since Lindsay Davenport in 1968.
   2. Bellis named WTA Newcomer of the Year -- CiCi Bellis, an 18-year-old product of Atherton in the San Francisco Bay Area, jumped from No. 90 at the beginning of the year to a career-high No. 35  in August.
   Bellis defeated four top-20 players during the season: No. 6 Agnieszka Radwanska in Dubai, No. 8 Svetlana Kuznetsova in Toronto, No. 14 Petra Kvitova at Stanford and No. 18 Kiki Bertens in the French Open.
   Bellis ended the year at No. 60 after withdrawing from the Hawaii Open, for an undisclosed reason, in November as the defending champion.
   3. Querrey upsets Nadal for title -- San Francisco native Sam Querrey completed a dream week with a 6-3, 7-6 (3) victory over Rafael Nadal for the Mexican Open title in Acapulco in March. Querrey, unseeded at No. 40 in the world at the time, beat a top-20 player for the fourth time in four days. Two of them, Nadal and defending champion Dominic Thiem, were ranked in the top 10.
   Querrey, who turned 30 in October, ended the year with a career-high ranking of No. 13.
   4. Querrey reaches Wimbledon semifinals -- Coming off three consecutive five-set victories, Querrey lost to 2014 U.S. Open champion Marin Cilic 6-7 (6), 6-4, 7-6 (3), 7-5 in a semifinal matchup of 6-foot-6 (1.98-meter) players at Wimbledon.
   Querrey, the first player to win three straight five-set matches at Wimbledon since Janko Tipsarevic of Serbia 10 years ago, became the only active U.S. man to advance to a Grand Slam semifinal.
   5. Stanford's Geller tops world junior rankings -- Stanford freshman Axel Geller of Argentina rose to No. 1 in the ITF world junior boys rankings in November. It's uncertain if another college player has achieved that distinction.
   Geller reached the Wimbledon and U.S. Open junior finals this year, losing to Alejandro Davidovich Fokina of Spain and Wu Yibing of China, respectively. Geller won the Wimbledon doubles title with Hsu Yu Hsiou of Taiwan.
   6. Altamirano helps Virginia win third straight NCAA title -- Collin Altamirano, a junior from Sacramento, helped the Virginia men win their third consecutive NCAA title, and fourth in five years, with a 4-2 victory over Atlantic Coast Conference rival North Carolina in Athens, Ga.
   Virginia became the first team from outside the Pacific-12 Conference to win three straight NCAA titles or more. Altamirano turned pro after the departure of longtime coach Brian Boland, forgoing a chance to join Stanford's Paul Goldstein (1995-98) and USC's Steve Johnson (2009-12) as the only men to win four NCAA team titles. Virginia senior Henrik Wiersholm also could add his name to the list.

Australian qualifier Chris O'Connell and his coach, David Moore, headed
straight into a wildfire near Sonoma before quickly turning around.
Photo courtesy of Chris O'Connell

   7. Aussie reaches semis after harrowing evacuation -- Chris O'Connell called it the "scariest moment of my life."
   The 23-year-old Australian, who was trying to qualify for the $100,000 Fairfield Challenger, had been evacuated with his coach and their host family as wildfires raged in nearby Napa. But as O'Connell and coach David Moore of Australia headed to Greenbrae in the San Francisco Bay Area, they encountered a wall of flames 200 yards ahead. O'Connell and Moore quickly turned around and took another route to safety.
   O'Connell not only qualified but reached the semifinals, losing to Bay Area native and eventual champion Mackenzie McDonald.
   8. Norrie wins back-to-back Challengers -- Eighth-seeded Cameron Norrie, a 22-year-old left-hander from Great Britain, routed sixth-seeded Darian King of Barbados 6-1, 6-3 in 68 minutes in the wind in Stockton for his second consecutive NorCal Challenger title.
   The previous week, Norrie rolled to a 6-2, 6-3 victory over Tennys Sandgren of Gallatin, Tenn., for the Tiburon crown.
   9. Phenom Anisimova wins first pro title -- Fifteen-year-old Amanda Anisimova, a potential superstar from Aventura, Fla., won her first professional title when Croatia's Ajla Tomljanovic (pronounced Eye-la Tom-lee-on-o-vich) withdrew from the final of the $60,000 Sacramento Challenger with a right shoulder injury.
   Missy Malool said the walkover is only the second she has experienced in a final in her 21 years as a USTA on-site supervisor. Dominika Cibulkova of Slovakia pulled out against former Stanford star Laura Granville in a $50,000 clay-court tournament in Charlottesville, Va., in 2006 with a leg injury.
   10. Ovrootsky, Keenan Mayo win Eddie Herr titles -- Second-seeded Vivian Ovrootsky, from San Jose, beat fourth-seeded Linda Fruhvirtova of the Czech Republic 7-6 (4), 6-4 for the girls 14 title in the prestigious Eddie Herr International Championships in Bradenton, Fla., in November.
   Unseeded Adrian Andreev of Bulgaria and Keenan Mayo, from the Sacramento suburb of Roseville, topped eighth-seeded Alan Fernando Rubio Fierros of Mexico and Dostanbek Tashbulatov of Kazakhstan 3-6, 6-4 [10-4] for the boys 18 doubles crown.

Madison Keys sits on CoCo Vandeweghe's
lap after beating her close friend for the title
in the Bank of the West Classic at Stanford.
Photo by Mal Taam 

   Honorable mention -- The Bank of the West Classic, a WTA tournament held at Stanford since 1997, will move to an undisclosed site in or out of the Bay Area.
   --Bellis earned her first victory over a top-10 player, ousting No. 6 Radwanska 6-4, 2-6, 6-2 to reach the quarterfinals of the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships in February.
   --Bellis crushed Kvitova, a two-time Wimbledon champion, 6-2, 6-0 in 62 minutes in the quarterfinals of the Bank of the West Classic.
   --Maria Sharapova defeated Jennifer Brady 6-1, 4-6, 6-0 in the first round of the Bank of the West Classic in the former world No. 1's first tournament match in North America in more than two years. Sharapova, 30, returned from a 15-month doping suspension in April.
   --After beating fellow American CoCo Vandeweghe 7-6 (4), 6-4 for the title in the Bank of the West Classic, Madison Keys walked to Vandeweghe's chair, hopped on her close friend's lap and hugged her.
   --McDonald, a 22-year-old Piedmont product, defeated former Stanford star Bradley Klahn 6-4, 6-2 in Fairfield for his first Challenger singles title after going 0-7 in semifinals at that level.
   --Qualifier Zhang Ze subdued seventh-seeded Vasek Pospisil of Canada 7-5, 3-6, 6-2 in San Francisco to become the second Chinese man to win a Challenger singles title. Wu Di took the Maui crown in January 2016.
   --San Francisco Bay Area residents Katie Volynets and Ryder Jackson won titles in the USTA Junior Clay Court Championships. Volynets triumphed in girls 18 singles in Memphis, Tenn., and Jackson prevailed with Robert Cash of New Albany, Ohio, in boys 16 doubles in Delray Beach, Fla.
   --Ovrootsky swept the girls 12 singles and doubles crowns in the USTA National Winter Championships in January in Tucson, Ariz.
   --Priya Nelson of Sacramento dominated Eleana Yu of Mason, Ohio, 6-1, 6-3 in a matchup of unseeded players in the Easter Bowl girls 12s final at Indian Wells, Calif.

Querrey stunner highlights top 10 stories of 2016

Sam Querrey, shown in 2014, ended Novak Djokovic's 30-match
Grand Slam winning streak. Photo by Paul Bauman

   From beginning to end, 2016 was an exceptional year in Northern California tennis.
   Three NorCal juniors won gold balls in the USTA National Winter Championships in Arizona in early January.
  In July, San Francisco native Sam Querrey pulled off one of the biggest upsets of the year in men's professional tennis at Wimbledon.
   And 14-year-old Katie Volynets of Walnut Creek in the San Francisco Bay Area achieved an unprecedented sweep in December.
   Here are the top 10 stories of the year, plus 10 honorable mentions:
   1. Querrey stuns Djokovic at Wimbledon -- Querrey, seeded 28th, ended top-seeded Novak Djokovic's 30-match Grand Slam winning streak with a 7-6 (6), 6-1, 3-6, 7-6 (5) victory over two days in the third round at Wimbledon on Centre Court.
   "It's definitely the biggest win I've ever had," the 6-foot-6 (1.98-meter) Querrey, who rallied in the fourth-set tiebreaker after missing his first serve at 1-3, crowed to reporters.
   Querrey, who turned 29 in October, went on to reach his first Grand Slam quarterfinal before losing to sixth-seeded Milos Raonic.
   2. Bellis, 17, wins three straight pro titles -- Newly minted pro CiCi Bellis of Atherton in the Bay Area outclassed top-seeded Zhang Shuai, a Chinese veteran who reached the Australian Open quarterfinals in January, 6-4, 6-2 in the inaugural $125,000 Hawaii Open in Honolulu in late November for her third consecutive title.
   Bellis, who was coming off championships in a pair of $50,000 indoor tournaments in Canada (Saguenay and Toronto), rose to No. 75 in the world with her first WTA crown.
   3. Volynets wins back-to-back junior international titles -- Volynets, only 5-foot-4 1/2 (1.64 meters) and 105 pounds (47.6 kilograms), became the first player to win the girls 16 title in the Eddie Herr International Championships and Orange Bowl in the same year.
   The Eddie Herr is played on hardcourts in Bradenton, Fla., and the Orange Bowl is contested the following week on clay in Plantation, Fla. Volynets rarely plays on clay.
   4. Stanford women, Virginia men win NCAA team titles -- The No. 15 Stanford women became the lowest-seeded team to win an NCAA title, knocking off No. 12 Oklahoma State 4-3 in Tulsa. Four of the Cardinal's six dual matches came down to the last encounter. Stanford trailed 3-1 in the final.
   Collin Altamirano, a sophomore from Sacramento, won his second NCAA team title as No. 1 seed Virginia defeated No. 11 Oklahoma 4-1 in Tulsa. Altamirano's match at No. 2 singles was abandoned, and he won at No. 3 doubles.
   5. McDonald sweeps NCAA men's titles -- Mackenzie McDonald of Piedmont in the Bay Area became the first man in 15 years to sweep the NCAA titles.
   The UCLA junior, seeded sixth, downed top-seeded Mikael Torpegaard of Ohio State 6-3, 6-3 in Tulsa, Okla. McDonald and Martin Redlicki, seeded second, then beat unseeded Arthur Rinderknech and Jackson Withrow of Texas A&M 6-4, 6-1. McDonald turned pro less than three weeks later.

CiCi Bellis, shown in July, climbed to No. 75 in the world at age 17.
Photo by Paul Bauman

   6. Bellis reaches third round of U.S. Open, turns pro -- Bellis, a qualifier, reached the third round of a Grand Slam tournament for the first time by upsetting fellow American Shelby Rogers, a French Open quarterfinalist in June, 2-6, 6-2, 6-2 in the U.S. Open.
   After losing 6-1, 6-1 to second seed and eventual champion Angelique Kerber of Germany in Arthur Ashe Stadium in the third round, Bellis turned pro. That allowed her to keep her singles prize money of $140,000.  

   7. Bellis gains first WTA Premier quarterfinal in home tournament -- As a wild card playing five minutes from home, Bellis defeated fellow American Sachia Vickery 4-6, 6-4, 6-3 in the Bank of the West Classic at Stanford to reach her first WTA Premier Level quarterfinal.
   Bellis then lost to top seed and two-time champion Venus Williams 6-4, 6-1.
   8. Konta tops Venus for Bank of the West title -- Great Britain's Johanna Konta, seeded third, won her first WTA tour title with a 7-5, 5-7, 6-2 victory over Williams, who was seeking her 50th tour-level title in the tournament where she began her career 22 years ago.
   No. 2 seeds Raquel Atawo (formerly Kops-Jones) of nearby San Jose and Abigail Spears of Colorado Springs, Colo., captured their second Bank of the West title.
   9. NorCal juniors win gold balls in Winter Nationals -- Earning earned gold balls in the USTA National Winter Championships in Scottsdale, Ariz., were Austen Huang of Elk Grove in the Sacramento area, Sara Choy of Palo Alto in the Bay Area and Andrew Ton of Milpitas in the Bay Area.
   Huang triumphed in boys 18 singles, Choy prevailed in girls 16 singles, and Ton reigned in boys 16 doubles.
   10. NorCal sweeps boys No. 1 rankings, earns five overall -- Five NorCal juniors earned No. 1 national singles rankings in February.
   Climbing to the top were Sam Riffice of Roseville in the Sacramento region, Huang in the boys 16s, Stefan Leustian of Mather in the Sacramento area in the boys 14s, Hugo Hashimoto of San Jose in the boys 12s, and Volynets in the girls 14s.
   Honorable mention -- Querrey won his first ATP Tour title in four years, in Delray Beach, Fla.
   --Qualifier Nicole Gibbs, a former Stanford star, reached the fourth round of the BNP Paribas Open at Indian Wells.
   --Ex-Stanford standouts Bob and Mike Bryan, who have won a record 16 Grand Slam men's doubles titles, failed to win one for the second consecutive year.
   --Frances Tiafoe, 18, cracked the top 100 in the world for the first time by winning the $100,000 Stockton Challenger.
   --Bradley Klahn, another former Stanford star, reached the quarterfinals of the $50,000 Champaign (Ill.) Challenger after missing almost two years because of injuries.
   --Freshman Olivia Hauger lifted the Cal women to their first national team title, the ITA Team Indoors in Madison, Wis.
   --Jenson Brooksby of Carmichael in the Sacramento region reached the boys 16 singles final in the USTA National Hard Court and Clay Court Championships.
   --Riffice advanced to the boys 18 singles final in the USTA International Spring Championships in Carson, Calif.
   --In an all-NorCal final, Jessi Muljat of Sacramento defeated Volynets to win the USTA International Spring Championships girls 16s.
   --Leustian captured the prestigious Les Petits As title in Tarbes, France.

Fritz's rise, Bryans' fall highlight top stories of 2015

Taylor Fritz of the United States won back-
to-back Challengers in Northern California
 at 17 years old. 2015 photo by Paul Bauman

   This year hinted at the dawn of a new era in U.S. men's tennis.
   It's too soon to write off doubles stars Bob and Mike Bryan, even at age 37. If Daniel Nestor can play at 43 and Leander Paes at 42, so can the Bryans if they so desire. But the former Stanford All-Americans endured their worst season in more than a decade in 2015.
   Meanwhile, Taylor Fritz led a surge of promising American teenagers with back-to-back Challenger titles in Northern California.
   Following are the top 10 stories, plus 12 honorable mentions, in NorCal tennis in 2015:

Top 10

   1. Fritz, 17, coasts to second straight Challenger title
   2. Bryans' long reign at No. 1 ends
   3. Stanford product to head USTA player development
   4. Date-Krumm, 44, rallies to shock Lisicki at Stanford
   5. Ex-Sacramento champ banned for 15 years
   6. Aussie Millman makes Aptos history with title
   7. Altamirano adds NCAA team title to resume
   8. World TeamTennis returns to Sacramento
   9. Roseville's Riffice, 16, sweeps USTA Clay Court titles
   10. Juniors Volynets, Lee win USTA national titles

Honorable mention

   -- Sanchez wins third pro doubles title in three weeks
   -- Tursunov wins Moscow doubles title after long layoff
   -- Bellis falls in Stanford debut
   -- Smyczek gets the breaks in Tiburon thriller
   -- Kalinina overcomes big deficit for Challenger title
   -- Embree pulls off incredible comeback in Redding
   -- Kops-Jones, Sanchez, Bellis, Muljat highlight big day
   -- Bellis, 15, crushes Sanchez for Rancho Santa Fe title
   -- Stanford, Cal women fall in NCAA individual finals
   -- Cal's Manasse rises to No. 1 in nation
   -- Lee wins boys 12 doubles title in Winter Nationals
   -- Roseville's Riffice loses in Easter Bowl final

Young and restless highlight top stories of 2014

CiCi Bellis, 15, meets the press after stunning Australian Open runner-up Dominika
Cibulkova in the first round of the U.S. Open in August. Photo courtesy of USTA

   It will be remembered as the year of youth in Northern California.
   Everywhere you looked -- in the professional, college and junior ranks -- teenagers either from NorCal or playing in the region starred in 2014. And no one shone brighter than 15-year-old CiCi Bellis of Atherton.
   Bellis became an overnight sensation in the U.S. Open, overshadowing the rest of her phenomenal year.
   Naomi Osaka, 16, of Japan pulled off a major upset in the Bank of the West Classic on the elite WTA tour at Stanford.
   Stefan Kozlov, Jared Donaldson and Michaela Gordon broke through in NorCal Challengers. Kozlov, 16, and Donaldson, who turned 18 on Oct. 9, are pros from Florida and Rhode Island, respectively. Gordon is a 15-year-old amateur from Saratoga, near San Jose.
   Unseeded Lynn Chi reached the NCAA women's singles final in May as a 19-year-old Cal sophomore.
   Sacramento's Collin Altamirano gained the final of the USTA Boys 18 National Championships for the second straight year.
   Sam Riffice, 15, of Roseville achieved a rare double. His neighbor, 14-year-old Keenan Mayo, and Katie Volynets, 12, of Walnut Creek won USTA national titles.
   Marring an otherwise glorious year were the depravity of Deepal Wannakuwatte, the demise of the Sacramento Capitals in World TeamTennis and the loss of the legends tournament in Sacramento.
   Here are the czar's top 10 stories of the year, followed by honorable mentions, in NorCal tennis: 
   1. Bellis stuns Cibulkova in U.S. Open -- Bellis shocked 12th-seeded Dominika Cibulkova of Slovakia 6-1, 4-6, 6-4 in the first round at Flushing Meadows.
   Bellis, then the second-ranked junior in the world, overcame a 3-1 deficit in the third set to become the youngest player to win a main-draw match in the U.S. Open since Anna Kournikova, also 15, in 1996.
   Cibulkova, only 5-foot-3 (1.61 meters), was the runner-up to Li Na in the Australian Open in January and won last year's Bank of the West Classic at Stanford.
   Bellis' hometown of Atherton is adjacent to Stanford, and she grew up attending the tournament.

Mike, left, and Bob Bryan of the visiting Texas Wild and their
father, Sacramento Capitals coach Wayne Bryan, watch
players warm up before a World TeamTennis match in 2013.
Photo by Paul Bauman

   2. Bryans win U.S. Open for 100th career title -- Appropriately, top-seeded Bob and Mike Bryan outclassed 11th-seeded Marcel Granollers and Marc Lopez of Spain 6-3, 6-4 at Flushing Meadows for their 100th men's doubles title.
   The Bryans, 36-year-old identical twins and ex-Stanford stars from Southern California, extended their record to 16 Grand Slam men's doubles crowns. Five have come in the U.S. Open, tying Richard Sears and James Dwight in the 1880s. The Bryans surpassed Bob Lutz and Stan Smith for the record in the Open era, which began in 1968.
   3. Wannakuwatte sentenced -- Wannakuwatte, the Capitals' owner, was sentenced in November to 20 years in prison for orchestrating a massive Ponzi scheme. Wannakuwatte, a 64-year-old native of Sri Lanka, will be eligible for parole in 17 years.
   Wannakuwatte was arrested on Feb. 20 in Sacramento on charges of defrauding banks and individual investors in his medical supply business of more than $100 million.
   4. Bellis ends year as world's top junior -- Bellis clinched the year-end No. 1 ranking by reaching the quarterfinals of the prestigious Orange Bowl in Plantation, Fla., this month after previously top-ranked Shilin Xu of China lost in the first round.
   The second-seeded Bellis fell to 13th seed and eventual champion Sofia Kenin, 16, of Pembroke Pines, Fla., in the Orange Bowl semifinals.
   Bellis, however, won the doubles title with Marketa Vondrousova of the Czech Republic.
   5. Bellis wins USTA 18 title -- Bellis, seeded second, drubbed fifth-seeded Tornado Alicia Black, 16, of Boca Raton, Fla., 6-3, 6-1 in San Diego to become the youngest winner of the USTA Girls 18 National Championships since Lindsay Davenport, also 15, in 1991.
   Bellis, who won 12 of the last 13 games after trailing 3-0 in the first set, earned an automatic wild card in the women's main draw of the U.S. Open.

Sabine Lisicki uncorks a record 131-mph (210.8-kph)
serve in the Bank of the West Classic at Stanford.
Photo courtesy of Bank of the West Classic.

   6. Lisicki blasts world's fastest women's serve -- Sabine Lisicki of Germany unleashed a 131-mph (210.8-kph) rocket in a 7-6 (2), 6-1 loss to fifth-seeded Ana Ivanovic in a first-round day match in the Bank of the West Classic.
   Venus Williams, who held the previous mark of 129 mph (207.6 kph), overpowered qualifier Paula Kania of Poland 6-3, 6-2 in the featured night match at Stanford.
   7. Serena wins BOW again -- Top-seeded Serena Williams captured her third Bank of the West title, beating third-seeded Angelique Kerber of Germany 7-6 (1), 6-3.
   Williams, who overcame a 5-1 deficit in the first set and two set points at 5-2, also won the tournament in 2011 and 2012. She did not return last year.
   8. Kozlov reaches Challenger final -- Kozlov, a wild card, stunned No. 2 seed Tim Smyczek of Tampa, Fla., 3-6, 6-3, 7-6 (1) in the semifinals of the $100,000 Sacramento Pro Circuit Challenger at the Natomas Racquet Club.
   Kozlov recorded his first victory over a top-100 player -- Smyczek (pronounced SMEE-check) was No. 99 -- and reached his first Challenger final in only his third attempt.
   Top-seeded Sam Querrey ended Kozlov's amazing run in the final, 6-3, 6-4, but predicted his young countryman eventually would crack the top 10 in the world.

Serena Williams won her third Bank of the West title, beating
Angelique Kerber. Tri Nguyen/TriNguyenPhotography.com

   9. Riffice wins back-to-back major junior titles -- Riffice joined Grigor Dimitrov as the only players to sweep the boys 16 singles titles in the Eddie Herr International Championships and the Orange Bowl. The tournaments were held back-to-back this month in Bradenton, Fla., and Plantation, Fla., respectively.
   Dimitrov, a 23-year-old Bulgarian and the boyfriend of Maria Sharapova, is ranked 11th in the world after ascending to a career-high No. 8 in August.
   10. Capitals move after 28 years, then fold -- The Capitals, the longest-running and most successful WTT franchise, announced in February that they were moving to Las Vegas. However, the team disbanded five weeks later after Wannakuwatte was charged.
   The Capitals won a record six WTT titles during their 28 years in Sacramento. Kolleen McNamee, the team's general manager, cited the lack of a permanent tennis facility as the reason for the move.
   Honorable mention -- Davenport, a former Capital, was inducted in the International Tennis Hall of Fame.
   -- Northern California was omitted from the 2015 PowerShares Series schedule after a stop in Sacramento last February. Recently retired James Blake won the four-man Champions Shootout over Hall of Famers John McEnroe, Pete Sampras and Jim Courier.

Stefan Kozlov, 16, falls onto his back to celebrate his victory
over No. 2 seed Tim Smyczek in the semifinals of the
$100,000 Sacramento Challenger. Photo by Paul Bauman

   -- Raquel Kops-Jones, a San Jose resident and former NCAA doubles champion from Cal, reached the doubles semifinals in the Australian Open with regular partner Abigail Spears of San Diego.
   -- Osaka, a qualifier playing in her first WTA main-draw match, shocked unseeded Samantha Stosur, the 2011 U.S. Open champion, 4-6, 7-6 (7), 7-5 in the first round of the Bank of the West Classic. Stosur held a match point at 7-6 in the tiebreaker and led 5-3 in the third set.
   -- Maria Sanchez, who was born and raised in Modesto, won her first WTA title. Unseeded Sharon Fichman of Canada and Sanchez edged third-seeded Lucie Hradecka of the Czech Republic and Michaella Krajicek of the Netherlands 2-6, 6-0 [10-4] in the doubles final of the $250,000 ASB Classic in Auckland, New Zealand.
   -- Querrey swept the singles titles of the Napa, Sacramento and Tiburon Challengers in consecutive weeks in late September and early October.
   -- Bellis won back-to-back $25,000 Challenger singles crowns in Rock Hill, S.D., and Florence, S.C., reached the girls doubles final in the French Open (with Vondrousova), helped the United States win the Junior Fed Cup in San Luis Potosi, Mexico, and captured the girls 18 singles title in the prestigious Easter Bowl in Indian Wells.
   -- Donaldson reached the semifinals of the $50,000 Napa Challenger and quarterfinals of the Sacramento Challenger at 17.

Lindsay Davenport, a former Sacramento
Capital, was inducted in the International Tennis
Hall of Fame. 2012 photo by Paul Bauman

   -- Gordon advanced to the quarterfinals of the $25,000 Redding Challenger before losing to Alexandra Stevenson, a 1999 Wimbledon semifinalist and the daughter of basketball legend Julius Erving, in a third-set tiebreaker.
   -- Chi fell to Danielle Collins of Virginia 6-2, 7-5 in a matchup of unseeded sophomores in the NCAA women's singles final in Athens, Ga.
   -- Paul Goldstein, a Stanford alumnus and former pro who climbed to No. 58 in the world in singles and No. 40 in doubles, was named the Cardinal's third men's coach since 1967. Goldstein, who turned 38 in August, replaced John Whitlinger, who announced his retirement at age 60 after Stanford's second consecutive first-round exit from the NCAA Tournament. The Cardinal has won 17 NCAA men's team titles, second to USC's 21, but none since 2000.
   -- The injury-plagued Sacramento State women suffered their first Big Sky Conference losses in 13 years.   
   -- Jessica Willett, a junior at San Jose State, saved 11 match points in a 6-2, 0-6, 7-5 victory over Suzy Tan at No. 5 singles to clinch the Spartans' 4-2 victory over Dartmouth in San Jose.
   -- Altamirano, the fifth seed and defending champion, lost to third-seeded Noah Rubin of Rockville Centre, N.Y., 6-4, 6-4, 6-3 in the final of the USTA Boys 18 National Championships in Kalamazoo, Mich. Rubin had won the Wimbledon boys singles title the previous month.
   -- Riffice, Mayo and Milpitas' Andrew Ton won boys titles in the USTA National Clay Court Championships. Riffice captured the 16 doubles in Delray Beach, Fla., Mayo the 14 singles in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., and Ton the 14 doubles in Fort Lauderdale.
   -- The top-seeded Volynets won the USTA Girls 12 National Championships, dominating sixth-seeded Sedona Gallagher of Henderson, Nev., 6-0, 6-3 in Alpharetta, Ga.