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INDIAN WELLS

Note: Answers now available in ‘Favourite pictures 2019’ blog.

Welcome to the 7th annual Genius/Joker Quiz – there are no prizes or bonus points this year, just 20 questions to pique your interest and test your tennis IQ.

1. Four players in the 2019 Top 10 won 50 or more matches on the WTA tour – Ashleigh Barty (57), Kiki Bertens (55), Karolina Pliskova (52) and Belinda Bencic (50). In terms of best win/loss percentage for the season, only one of those was among the Top 4. Who were the No. 1 and 2 in win/loss percentage?

a. Bianca Andreescu and Ashleigh Barty
b. Bianca Andreescu and Serena Williams
c. Ashleigh Barty and Serena Williams
d. Serena Williams and Naomi Osaka

2. Which two of these WTA / ATP romances did NOT survive the 2019 year?

a. Elina Svitolina – Gael Monfils
b. Donna Vekic – Stan Wawrinka
c. Ajla Tomljanovic – Matteo Berrettini
d. Kristina Mladenovic – Dominic Thiem

3. In 1868, the rules of tennis were changed so that the distance between the service line and the net was reduced from 26 to 22 feet. Two years later, in 1870, it was moved up to 21 feet from the net. Which of the following is true?

a. The service line was moved up further to 20 feet in 1887
b. It was moved back to 22 feet in 1895
c. It was changed back to 20 feet from the net in 1904
d. It still remains at 21 feet today

4. Who has the most Twitter followers?

a. Stefanos Tsitsipas
b. Bianca Andreescu
c. Nick Kyrgios
d. Naomi Osaka

5. In this picture taken at the 2019 Australian Open, there are four people with Bianca Andreescu’s coach Sylvain Bruneau (in black cap and sweatshirt). They are (clockwise from top) WTA board member Vanessa Webb, Fed Cup captain Heidi El Tabakh, physical trainer Virginie Tremblay and agent Jonathan Dasnières de Veigy. Which one of them is NOT a Canadian?

a. Webb
b. El Tabakh
c. Tremblay
d. Dasnières de Veigy

6. Which one of these players does NOT hold an 0-for record (in other words is not winless) in 10 or more matches against Roger Federer?

a. Mikhail Youzhny
b. Tommy Robredo
c. David Ferrer
d. Feliciano Lopez

7. Is anything wrong in this version of the French Open poster by the late Spanish artist Eduardo Arroyo – probably the most popular in the first 40 years of the tournament’s signature artwork?

a. Wrong colours on the headband
b. Wrong spelling on poster
c. Wrong year on poster
d. Nothing is wrong

8. Milos Raonic, Vasek Pospisil, Denis Shapovalov and Félix Auger-Aliassime have been Canada’s best male players over the past few years. How many times (total) have there been matches between these four – and who has the best winning percentage in all those matches?

a. 11 matches – Raonic
b. 12 matches – Pospisil
c. 14 matches – Shapovalov
d. 13 matches – Auger-Aliassime

9. Who far and away had the dubious honour of hitting the most double faults on the WTA tour in 2019 –with a grand total of 436 for an average of 8.07 per match?

a. Jelena Ostapenko
b. Aryna Sabalenka
c. Kiki Bertens
d. Belinda Bencic

10. From February until November of this year, Genie Bouchard lost 13 matches in a row. What has been the longest winning streak of her career?

a. 8 matches in 2015
b. 12 matches in 2014
c. 10 matches in 2014
d. 13 matches in 2014

11. From our 2019 Australian Open video quiz with Canadian players, which of the following is INCORRECT “Down Under”?

a. Traffic cones are known as witches’ hats
b. A stoush is a battle or brawl
c. A marsupial is a bird similar to but larger than a crow
d. The ‘Aussie salute’ is swiping a hand across the face at aggressive flies

12. Dominika Cibulkova of Slovakia has just retired at age 30. During her career she …

a. Was the shortest – 5-foot-3 – Grand Slam finalist of the 21st century
b. Was able to – in a blind smell test – identify the different balls used at the four Grand Slam tournaments
c. Reached as high as no. 4 in the WTA rankings in March 2017
d. All of the above

13. Who are the two tennis players visible in this dated photo taken at the former Court 2 at Roland Garros?

a. Elena Vesnina and David Ferrer
b. Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova and Gilles Simon
c. Elena Vesnina and Gilles Simon
d. Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova and Tommy Robredo

14. Who invented the term ‘moonball’?

a. Tennis commentator and former player Brad Gilbert
b. Tennis commentator and former player Mary Carillo
c. Boston Globe reporter and tennis broadcaster Bud Collins
d. Tennis broadcaster Dick Enberg

15. There are three current and/or retired professional players in this dated picture from Wimbledon, one is partially obstructed. Who are they?

a. Bethanie Mattek-Sands, Michael Joyce and Jessica Pegula
b. Mandy Minella, Wim Fissette and Timea Bacsinszky
c. Genie Bouchard, Darren Cahill and Simona Halep
d. Maria Sharapova, Thomas Hogstedt and Mirjana Lucic-Baroni

16. Thanks to stats/graphics man Enrico Maria Riva for this one. Fernando Verdasco totalled the most doubles faults, 2262, in the decade from 2010 – 2019 on the pro tour. Fabio Fognini was second with 2145 and Benoit Paire third with 2111. Remembering that Roger Federer played way more matches than any of those guys – where did the Swiss rank in double faults during the decade?

a. 17th with 1812
b. 23rd with 1776
c. 42nd with 1032
d. 63rd with 911

17. Who is the most recent university graduate to have won a Grand Slam singles title?

a. Marion Bartoli
b. Stan Smith
c. Arthur Ashe
d. Virginia Wade

18. I have been ranked in the ATP Tour Top 50 for 16 years in a row (including two finishes at no. 49). Who am I?

a. Fernando Verdasco
b. Stan Wawrinka
c. Marin Cilic
d. Feliciano Lopez

19. Who is this reaching up to touch a bit of creeper (ivy) on a side wall of Centre Court at Wimbledon?

a. Tim Smyczek
b. Peter Polansky
c. Rafael Nadal
d. Dominic Thiem

20. What’s something that really bugs Bianca Andreescu?

a. People spelling her dog’s name ‘Koko’
b. People forgetting what her middle name is
c. People pronouncing her surname ‘An-dray-es-cu’ instead of ‘An-dress-cu’
d. People asking about the hair tie she sometimes wears on her arm

NOTE: Answers at the end of next week’s Tebbutt Tuesday.

ROGER SIGNS OFF

(Feature Photo: Mauricio Paiz)

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