State of affairs - WTA

Its a rarity to find tennis fans or people in general, say anything positive about women’s tennis right now. This is because over the past few years the tour has seen several “unknown” players reach the last stages or better still win, major events. Contrast this to the men’s side and the constant battles between the top four – Roger, Rafa, Novak and Murray, and it is not hard to imagine why the WTA tour is losing its sheen. I distinctly remember the era of the Williams Sisters during the early 2000s and the Belgians – Kim and Henin. They possessed a quality that very few players seem to demonstrate now – consistency. Just to consolidate this claim:

• Ana Ivanovic won the 2008 French Open, became the World No.1 and after that lost in the third round of Wimbledon and second round of the USO. She is currently ranked No.12 in the world.
• The year 2011 saw four different slam champions – Clijsters, Li Na, Petra Kvitova and Sam Stosur. Of this, Clijsters is the only multiple slam winner. Li Na, after winning at Rolland Garros went on to lose in the second round of Wimbledon and first round of USO respectively. Stosur had somewhat similar results.
• In 2009, after not having played professional tennis for almost two years, and having given birth to a baby only an year ago, Kim Clijsters was able to make a triumphant comeback to the tour and managed to defeat both the William sisters en route to her second Grand Slam. Without taking any credit away from her achievement, the fact that she was able to put in such a good show is also reflective of the lack of depth or quality or maturity on the women’s tour.
• An oft given example is that of Caroline Wozniacki, who was World No.1 for a significant period, but has not won a Grand Slam so far. She will also no longer feature in the top 10 courtesy her poor run of form and injuries.

Most optimists, although they are a minority, argue that this is not such a bad thing. In fact, contrary to my claim, they believe that there is tremendous amount of depth on the tour and it is extremely competitive. Hence, on a given day, any player can defeat the other. I concur to an extent. It is good to see several young players fighting hard against the more established ones and taking them the distance. The problem is, these are one-off instances. The same player does not show a similar resolve throughout the year. Most end up being one match wonders and fade into obscurity. Having said that, I think this year’s USO was a great showcase for women’s tennis. The quality was high and most top players, who are expected to perform well, did perform well. The women were no longer a sideshow to the men’s event. The current top 5 – Azarenka, Sharapova, Serena, Kvitova and Radwanska, are all fine players and players with significant results under their belt. Four of them are Slam champions – with Serena being one of the all time greats and Sharapova, one of the most determined players around.

It is very easy to look past what is happening in the WTA because it is the Golden Era of men’s tennis. Comparisons between the two are galore too. The reason why the early to mid 2000s were so good for women’s tennis is the fact that there were remarkable rivalries during that period.

• Serena vs Venus – Met in 8 Grand Slam finals. A great story because their rivalry is very positive. Both sisters played aggressively and gave their best against each other, but were also the most complimenting towards the other after the match got over.

• Henin vs Clijsters – Met in 3 Grand Slam finals and the overall standing is 13-12 in Clijsters’ favor. This shows the highly competitive nature of their meetings. Add to that, they were from the same country, Belgium, and had contrasting styles of play.

• Serena vs Henin – A personal favorite because all their matches were nail-biting and highly competitive. Serena leads the overall record 8-6, but the match ups were always a David vs Goliath kind of battle. Serena was the one with great power in her ground strokes and an excellent serve, whereas the petite Henin had a fantastic backhand, great touch and skill. People always assumed that Serena would overpower Henin, but that was not the case. Perhaps one of the few opponents against whom Serena could really be frustrated.

• Serena vs Sharapova – This one is funny because they have not played many matches against each other and even fewer in Grand Slams. Yet, by virtue of being two of the biggest stars on the tour, there is tremendous amount of anticipation around their meetings. It is almost as if people want to build this into a rivalry, because there are none around.

I think and hope that the current crop of top players have the mental acumen to play consistently at the top level. Women’s tennis would benefit tremendously with a lot more familiar names making in through to the latter stages of major tournaments. The rankings are a reflection of a player’s consistency and ability. It is important to keep their relevance intact.