Nicole Gibbs
 

Time for Nicole Gibbs to get her own thread!!! She completed her sophomore year at Stanford by winning the NCAA singles title and doubles title with teammate Mallory Burdette.

She kicked off the summer by qualifying for and winning a 50k in Denver, Colorao and finishing runner-up in doubles with Florida's Lauren Embree. She got a WC into the Bank of the West Classic at Stanford, where she will play Noppawan Lertcheewakarn for a 2nd round meeting with Serena Williams.

Re: Nicole Gibbs
 

Thanks for getting this thread going!

Some links for Nicole: Twitter (Gibbsyyyy),Stanford, ITF, WTA activity, College results, and Zimbio photo stream.

This Stanford Daily interview gives some insight into Nicole. Many GM posters seem to be asking why she's in college at all if she's so good. In her words,
The first time I ever saw Gibbs play was at the Florida@Stanford 2011 NCAA team final. My friends & I sat front row at Court 3 because the 1&2 were packed, and little did we know what we were in for. We just loved her spirit & enthusiasm. That picture in the first post pretty much sums her up. I came back to watch her again for her 2011 NCAA singles semifinal run & BOTW qualifying last year. I wasn't surprised to see her make the 2011 US Open girls semis and then emerge as NCAA's best player this past season.

I'm looking forward to her main draw match in a half hour. I don't much about the Thai player, other than that she was a very successful junior, with a weak serve and good return game. Should be fun.

Re: Nicole Gibbs
 

Nicole beat Lertcheewakarn 64 64 :cheer:

Now against Serena :eek:

Re: Nicole Gibbs
 

First WTA main draw win, so psyched for her! Now she hosts Serena on her No. 1 court. What a year she's had.

Re: Nicole Gibbs
 

By my count, Gibbs has a 26-match win streak in singles: 17 from college, 8 from ITF Colorado, and today. Serena has only a 7-match win streak from some place called Wimbledon. Serena lost the first match of her previous tournament, some place called Roland Garros. So advantage Gibbs! ;)

We also know the player Serena struggled the most ag ainst at Wimbledon was 5'5 Jie Zheng, the same height as Gibbs within an inch!

At the very least, Gibbs can't do worse than Serena's first opponent here last year, Rodionova, who got double bageled. Sharapova, Lisicki, and Bartoli weren't much better either. (Only Kirilenko, another clever but not overpowering player, could take Serena to 3 sets.)

Re: Nicole Gibbs
 

Some local press for Gibbs today (no boilerplate wire reports):
Serena Williams next opponent for Nicole Gibbs (Palo Alto Online)
Stanford tennis star has Serena Williams right where she wants her (San Jose Mercury News)
Tale Of The Tape: Nicole Gibbs vs. Serena Williams (Stanford Athletics)

Re: Nicole Gibbs
 

A couple more:

Serena's a Reasonable Jump (Half Moon Bay)



Fox gave the following AP photo the caption "Congrats, Nicole Gibbs. Your reward? Serena Williams."

Re: Nicole Gibbs
 

:cheer:
Go Nicole!
She is really pretty too :hearts:

Re: Nicole Gibbs
 

Bank of the West posted her postgame press conference from the first round.

Re: Nicole Gibbs
 

Thanks for all the lincs :cool:

Re: Nicole Gibbs
 

Wow, that's a stellar win streak :eek::worship: I look forward to seeing her play Rena :bounce:

Re: Nicole Gibbs
 

6-2, 6-1 Serena.

Serena on Gibbs, via @StanfordWTennis: "She hits the ball well, she's a good player and doesn't quit. Actually has a good first serve....It's good to see promising young American players coming up. She's a fighter, and that's important."

Re: Nicole Gibbs
 

Up next for Gibbs: San Diego wild card.

Gibbs Earns Experience Points in Defeat (Palo Alto)



Here also a great local news feature:

Re: Nicole Gibbs
 

Great try Nici :)
Serena is just too good.

Re: Nicole Gibbs
 

I don't think we saw close to the best of Gibbs this tournament. She played a lot of tennis last week, 8 matches to win Colorado from qualifying & then made it to finals of the doubles draw too. Then she flew in Sunday night, and then she was probably the only one in the tourney who had to play singles back-to-back days the first two rounds (Tue & Wed). She still competed well of course, but her serve & net play weren't really there in singles or doubles yesterday. Looking forward to see how she builds on these "experience points" in San Diego while benefiting from just a little more time off.

(photo: philosoph on fickr)