Nearly 12 full months after the biggest win of her career—a 6-2, 1-6, 7-6(5) US Open victory over then-world No. 1 Ashleigh Barty in which she trailed 5-2 in the third set—American Shelby Rogers is still making headlines on home soil.
On Thursday at the Mubadala Silicon Valley Classic, the 29-year-old Charleston, S.C. native thumped No. 1 seed, and world No. 3, Maria Sakkari of Greece in Round 2 of the US Open Series event for her seventh career Top 10 win.
Rogers beat Sakkari for the third time in three career meetings, and made her biggest statement yet: She lost just four games.
Though she'll celebrate her 30th birthady in October and has two career Grand Slam quarterfinal berths to her name, Rogers is still eager to improve: She teamed up with Polish coach Piotr Sierzputowski, the former coach of current world No. 1 Iga Swiatek in February for a test run before they made it official shortly after.
Speaking to usopen.org on Sunday ahead of her second career visit to San Jose, Rogers called the 2020 WTA Coach of the Year an "amazing guy," and said that his strengths complement her personality well.
"I think he's just a really passionate guy. He loves what he does for sure," she said. "He brings really positive energy every week, which is very helpful because it is a long season, a long year. He's very knowledgeable and constantly trying to learn more, which I really appreciate. Together, we're kind of figuring out the best way to do this, so it's a real team effort, [but] the positivity, the energy is just huge."
Sierzputowski's praise for Rogers has also been effusive. Speaking to the official website of the BNP Paribas Open in March, he said that Rogers' best tennis far eclipses her career-high ranking of No. 36.
"I would say that I’m super impressed by how clean she hits the ball ... Shelby can hit exactly in the middle of the sweet spot, consistently, one after the other—it’s a pure joy to watch," he said in Indian Wells, also lauding her professionalism off the court.
“I feel like Shelby is dreaming big and this is really important for me, because I truly believe that if we have a good relationship and we work well, then we can find what can really help her succeed."
If you ask Rogers, her success will come on U.S. hard courts. She took nearly a month off after a first-round loss at Wimbledon, and says she's raring to go for another summer surge.
Her goals for the rest of the season include surpassing that carer-high perch of No. 36, and winning that elusive first WTA singles title. At No. 45 in the world, Rogers is one of three players in the current Top 50 to have not won a title. (No. 35 Aliaksandra Sasnovich is the highest-ranked player without one.)
"I think everybody tries to reset a little bit after Wimbledon and take a little time off and get your body right," she said. "Going from the clay to grass sort of beats it up a little bit. It feels like a fresh start and just a good chance to come into a tournament without necessarily too many expectations, and just enjoy it to see where you're at. I think that's where I'm at right now ... just coming in and giving myself a little freedom to be on the court.
"Going into the US Open is always really special and you try to get your body and your game to the best place possible before going there. Every year, that seems to not work out how you want it. You just do the best you can try to treat each week equally. All the tournaments are super important to me and I just want to get as many matches as I can, and feel healthy going into it. That's always been huge for me, having dealt with some injuries in the past; it's how can I keep my body in a place where I can perform the best that I can and to enjoy myself?
"Just being an American on, I say 'home soil' but any of the states, is just really special. The fans are great. They'll come up and say, 'Oh, I watched you last year against Barty at the US Open,' or whatever it is. It's just really nice to have that support for sure."
