Tennis!

[-A-]

She's in the same position (in terms of her playstyle) as Andy Murray - she lacks a big weapon. Playing high percentage tennis can be extremely effective, but when it comes to the biggest possible moments - set points, break points down, key moments in GS finals - the best players are the ones who have a massive forehand or serve and the ability to execute under pressure.

When they play against opponents who aren't as consistent but have the potential to crunch winners, unless they can establish clear dominance they're reliant on their opponent to fail on the big points.

[Lineker]

Murray was fucking awesome against Llodra this morning.

Now watching Raonic vs. Hewitt!

[Baddar]

mikevandam - eat a bag of dicks. Wozniacki is beautiful.

[Quom]

Raonic looks piggy. Hewitt is still a knob. I'd like to kick the ever loving shit out of him.

[Lineker]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=13oF6klLmq4

[Quom]

They have been really bad. I can't remember which match it was but one of the players kept moving them with their racquet. Birds keep shitting on the court as well.

Also Raonic could be Justin Bieber's unfortunate looking brother. They have similar features, but the best and worst of those features. Oink oink.

[Lineker]

Federer just beat Tomic.

My condolences, Quom.

[Quom]

Fuck Federer. I hate him! Not just because of this, he just annoys me. Same as Sampras and Tiger Woods. It's just so clinical and boring.

[Adam]

An eventful few days at the Australian Open then. Murray remains well on course for the semi-final showdown with Djokovic, he gets some extra rest in after Kukushkin retired at 1-6, 1-6, 0-1 down to Murray. Now he faces Nishikori who has stunned Tsonga in 5 sets. That's a really big upset.

But perhaps not as big an upset as Makarova, world #62, dumping out Serena Williams in straights sets . I really can't see anyone but Kvitova winning this, she should absolutely steamroll through now, not that I didn't think she would anyway.

[gunnar hendershow]

Of course Wozniaki goes and loses again. She'll never win a major.

[mikevandam]

mikevandam - eat a bag of dicks. Wozniacki is beautiful.

She might be. Each to their own i guess

[Baddar]

Well she's gone now, and I didn't even get to watch one of her matches. Oh well, maybe in the French...

[naiwf]

Wozniacki is no longer # 1, so the Australian Open has been a success. She'll drop to either # 3 or 4 next week depending on how Shriekapova finishes, but I doubt this will allow Caroline to play less since she seems more concerned about being # 1 again than she does about finally winning a major. I'll never understand why she's following the same formula that Jankovic and Safina showed doesn't work. Playing 24-28 tourneys every year, and especially every week leading into the Slams means you're never playing your best for those 2 weeks where the elite players focus their energies on. I'm not a fan of Serena's blatant disrespect for the WTA tour schedule, but she doesn't care about playing all out at warm up events and it seems like Wozniacki is more concerned with winning some minor title than a Grand Slam.

[Baddar]

I don't know how the points system works, but winning one Slam should surely count for at least 5/10 of these minor events. It's silly how someone can do well in the small ones and get to #1 without winning a Slam.

[-A-]

I don't know how the points system works, but winning one Slam should surely count for at least 5/10 of these minor events. It's silly how someone can do well in the small ones and get to #1 without winning a Slam.

That's really a product of who actually is winning the grand slam events. Stosur, Kvitova and Li Na are reigning champions and haven't done enough to justify being world number one, either. Kvitova is getting back to form but she had an incredible slump after Wimbledon that set her back. Clijsters and Serena are both top players, but on such limited schedules that they're not really in contention for best player in the world. It's not like they're rocking up and winning every major event, either - Serena hasn't won one since Wimbledon in 2010 and Clijsters has only last year's Aussie Open contributing to ranking points. If she doesn't win it again she'll lose ground.

The ranking system is pretty good at the top end. If we don't have a deserved number one that's because there isn't one - the contenders are either part-timers, inconsistent or both. You can't justify being the best in the world from two weeks work.

Edited January 24, 2012 by -A-

[Adam]

I don't know how the points system works, but winning one Slam should surely count for at least 5/10 of these minor events. It's silly how someone can do well in the small ones and get to #1 without winning a Slam.

Why? To be considered the best player in the world you should be able to prove that you are consistently winning (or at least doing very well) in tournaments, all year round. The season lasts 10-11 months, it isn't all about 4 tournaments that last two weeks each. So, if Wozniacki wins 5 Tournaments, she doesn't deserve as many point as, say, Serena Williams just because Williams wins the U.S. Open? That's totally unfair.

There are three women who can still end this tournament as #1, and in my opinion whichever one makes it deserves it, undoubtedly and not least because two of them (Azarenka + Sharapova) would have to win the Australian Open to get there. But to suggest that winning this tournament should be worth 5 or even 10 tournaments wins on lesser events is nonsense as far as I'm concerned.

[naiwf]

I don't think that minor tournaments shouldn't count, but you shouldn't be the "#1" player in the world because you make your living beating up on lesser fields at Tier II events or lower. Just for comparison's sake I'll use Serena and Wozniacki. Serena's first full season was '98, Wozniacki's was '06. Serena has played in 151 total tournaments, Woz has already played in 129.

Serena has 39 career titles and 27 of them are either Grand Slams, YEC or Tier I's. The other 12 are all Tier II's and she has ZERO titles lower than that level.

Wozniacki has 18 career titles, 5 of them are Tier I's. 7 are Tier II's and she has 6 titles lower than that level. In short, Wozniacki has already won more lesser titles in her short career than Serena has and she's already within 2 years of having played as many, if not more events than Serena.

Wozniacki is more committed to playing and racks up a lot of wins and points playing events that Serena would never bother to show up for. It's kind of a joke that Wozniacki got to # 1 before she made a GS Final and held the ranking for more than a year without ever getting back to one. It's not a coincidence that Wozniacki finished the year # 1 two times and wasn't named player of the year either time.

[-A-]

But Serena hasn't done enough in the last 12 months to prove she's playing better than Wozniaki. If the minor events aren't considered all that important, then forget them entirely and their records still aren't dis-similar. Serena missed the French, went out in the 4th round this tournament and at Wimbledon and lost to Stosur in the US Open final. Wozniaki made QF here, SF at the US, 4th round at Wimbledon and 3rd round at the French.

Li Na and Stosur aren't better players than Wozniaki. Williams and Clijsters not only aren't playing in the small tournaments, they're missing (or losing in) the Slams, too. Yeah, it sucks that there was a perma-number one with no Slams, but this isn't a small tournaments vs. weak tournaments issue. It's because the women's game is in a dreadful state with no clear best player.

Someone needs to put together a 12 month stretch of good performances and there are a few who are capable of it. Azarenka's just made her second ever SF at one of the Slams, so she'll be able to make a case for being the best over the next year. Sharapova's still young and seems to be back to some level of consistency. Kvitova also has the potential to win multiple titles. Wozniaki has her own battles to try and perform better in the big matches, but she's an excellent pacemaker for the rest. If they can't put together a season that surpasses her hugely consistent benchmark then they don't deserve to be called the best player either.

[naiwf]

But Serena hasn't done enough in the last 12 months to prove she's playing better than Wozniaki. If the minor events aren't considered all that important, then forget them entirely and their records still aren't dis-similar. Serena missed the French, went out in the 4th round this tournament and at Wimbledon and lost to Stosur in the US Open final. Wozniaki made QF here, SF at the US, 4th round at Wimbledon and 3rd round at the French.

Li Na and Stosur aren't better players than Wozniaki. Williams and Clijsters not only aren't playing in the small tournaments, they're missing (or losing in) the Slams, too. Yeah, it sucks that there was a perma-number one with no Slams, but this isn't a small tournaments vs. weak tournaments issue. It's because the women's game is in a dreadful state with no clear best player.

Someone needs to put together a 12 month stretch of good performances and there are a few who are capable of it. Azarenka's just made her second ever SF at one of the Slams, so she'll be able to make a case for being the best over the next year. Sharapova's still young and seems to be back to some level of consistency. Kvitova also has the potential to win multiple titles. Wozniaki has her own battles to try and perform better in the big matches, but she's an excellent pacemaker for the rest. If they can't put together a season that surpasses her hugely consistent benchmark then they don't deserve to be called the best player either.

I agree with everything you're saying. Wozniacki deserved to be the top ranked player, but no one ever considered her the BEST player and she has never once been the favorite to win a GS. That's pretty shameful considering she was one week short of going the entire year as # 1. Kvitova seems like she could be the player to get it done even with her brief walkabout after winning Wimbledon. The state of the women's game has just been terrible ever since Henin walked away as # 1. Clijsters has won more Slams since she came back from giving birth than she did before hand. Serena continues to win Slams without any prep events. Ivanovic, Safina and Jankovic flamed out. Sharapova hasn't won a Slam in 4 years. And it seems like Wozniacki and Azarenka are the only other "top" players who simply can't win Slams regardless of the draw.

[-A-]

Yeah, if we can hopefully get a good group of Azarenka, Sharapova, Williams and Kvitova winning Slams then the game will be much better. Wozniaki might have it in her, too.

Stosur, Li Na and Zvonareva are pretty much at the peak of their powers. There have been too many disappointments in the last 5 years. No-one's come through and solidified themselves as number one since Henin in 2003. Even Sharapova has never made two GS finals in the same year. So many prospects were overhyped like Ivanovic, Safina and Jankovic as you mentioned. Kuznetsova and Dementieva, even Mauresmo all looked like they could maybe have squeezed a bit more out of their abilities. Top players have been injured or otherwise missed large chunks of time in a way that hasn't happened in the men's game.