Women’s Tennis: What’s been learned from 2010 so far?

Photo: Manuela Davies / doubleXposure.com

The conclusion of the Miami Open brings an end to the first quarter of this WTA season. Guy McCrea discusses some of the top stories in women’s tennis from the first three months of 2010.

Venus Rising

At the start of 2010, many questioned not just whether Venus Williams would be able to win WTA titles this season, but even if she would stick around until the end of the year. Venus’ recent injury record, plus her mediocre performances at Grand Slam singles level since winning Wimbledon 2008 made it difficult to disagree. But if the first three months of this season are anything to go by, Venus — who will turn 30 in June — might still have some play left in her (relative) veteran’s legs. Before her heavy defeat to Kim Clijsters in the Miami final, Venus had won 15 consecutive WTA Tour matches and snared two titles — Dubai and Acapulco in February.

Venus looked a touch weary during her mauling by Clijsters, yet the American still owns an imposing 19-2 record for the season despite that defeat. She is unlikely to be a major contender at the French Open but she will be intent on maintaining her form ahead of a tilt at what could be a sixth Wimbledon crown this summer.

Falling Star

From the sublime to the ridiculous. Ana Ivanovic’s decline is increasingly astonishing. It’s hard to believe that a little less than two years ago, she celebrated her maiden Grand Slam triumph at Roland Garros. Not long after, Ivanovic also seized the coveted world number one ranking — but since then her tale has been one of disappointment.

Things haven’t got much better so far this season either. It speaks volumes that Ivanovic was ecstatic to just register a victory in her opening round in Miami. But that delight was short-lived as she exited to Agnieszka Radwanska in her next match. Currently, her win-loss record for the season stands at 5-6. To make matters even worse, the Serb has slipped out of the world’s top 50 for the first time since 2004.

Ivanovic has called on the services of Steffi Graf’s former coach Heinz Gunthardt to try to arrest her alarming slump. But the retirement this month of former Australian and French Open semi-finalist Nicole Vaidisova at just 20 years of age illustrates that a return to winning ways is not guaranteed. Vaidisova, who reached seven in the world in May 2007, quit after she became fed up at sliding down to 216 in the rankings. Her story shows that professional tennis is largely a confidence game — something that Ivanovic also has in short supply at the moment.

Eastern Promise

We’ve been waiting for China to make a serious impact on women’s tennis for a while now. But January’s Australian Open was still a major surprise. Both Zheng Jie and Li Na reached the semi-finals in Melbourne — the first time two Chinese women had ever reached that stage of a Grand Slam singles event. For Zheng, it was the second time she had got to the last four of a major. She also reached the semi finals of Wimbledon in 2008. In addition, Li Na became the first player from her country to break the world’s top 10 courtesy of her victory over Venus in the quarter-finals. All in all, China now has two top 20 female players, with a third (Peng Shuai) ranked just outside the top 50.

There seems little doubt that Li and Zheng’s improvements are due to the unprecedented freedom they were given a year ago to manage their own careers by the powers-that-be in Chinese tennis. They both now select their own playing schedules, coaches and hitting partners and can spend more time freely on the WTA Tour building top level match experience. Tellingly, this opportunity has not yet been granted to any of China’s male players. Zeng Shaoxuan, at a lowly 328 in the ATP list, is his country’s top ranked man.

Russian Retreat?

The Australian Open. Indian Wells. Miami. What do the three biggest events of the year so far have in common? Answer: no Russian women made it to the semi-finals of any of them. The WTA Race to Doha list doesn’t make much happier reading either for a country so used to dominating women’s tennis. Only Elena Dementieva currently sits in the top 10 of this season’s Race, and Russia’s two other biggest names are well adrift. Svetlana Kuznetsova lies at 38, while Maria Sharapova is outside the top 40.

Admittedly, Russia still possesses mighty strength in depth in the overall rankings. Dinara Safina is out injured; the likes of Vera Zvonareva, Nadia Petrova and Maria Kirilenko are all inside the top 50, while Alisa Kleybanova and Anastasia Pavyluchenkova have both scored some excellent results in their fledgling careers. But even so, this is definitely not the dominant start to 2010 that we have been used to seeing from such a superpower of women’s tennis.

Reproduced with permission from betting.betfair.com. © The Sporting Exchange Limited