Has Women's Tennis Found A Successful Trio?

The WTA Tour Championship isn’t as glamorous or widely followed as the Grand Slams, but out of the WTA tours of the year this tournament ranks just below the grand slams, both in terms of level of competition & the quality of players participating. The last week at Istanbul has offered a slice of what the best in women’s tennis can offer. Unlike the previous year, which had 8 different finalists for the 4 grand slams & the WTA championship, 2012 has had only 5 different names for this bracket of tournaments, and two out of those 5 will vie for the final hurrah of this season later today.

A 4^th round Australian Open exit and a round-1 shock defeat at the French Open had critics/onlookers suggest Serena Williams about retirement, and not being competitive enough on the circuit. Since the Paris tour things have turned upside down, literally - Wimbledon glory, Olympics gold, US Open win and in the process becoming the only player in the history (male or female) to complete a Career Golden Grand Slam in both the singles and doubles! With 15 grand slam titles she is an undoubted legend of women’s tennis and this year has been extra special for her.

Drop Singles & Focus On Doubles Only!

1 WTA & 14 ITF after 8.5 years of turning pro aren’t numbers you would associate with great players, but coming from a country like India (which isn’t reputed for tennis talent) that is a decent achievement. Though Sania Mirza may not stand anyway near the likes of Serena, Venus, she can proudly carry the tag of being India’s only player in those disciplines at the highest level. Plagued by injuries to parts of the body which are key to performance - wrist, back & knee, she is contemplating on giving up playing singles altogether. At the same time there is a big news doing rounds from her camp that she might partner Bob Bryan (no. 1 ranked doubles player) during the Australian Open of 2013!

Certain media reports suggest that Bob has confirmed the news of his pairing with Sania. A career illuminating with 12 doubles Grand Slams and 7 mixed doubles Grand Slams has a strange void - hasn’t won the Australian Open with a female partner! At 34, he isn’t getting younger and the number of chances to redeem glory at Melbourne aren’t increasing. On face value it might appear that Bob is risking a gamble partnering Sania for a tournament he wants to desperately win, for 2012 has been a forgettable year for Sania. A closer look at Sania’s doubles recent history would suggest otherwise.

Has Sharapova Under-Achieved?

Barring the grunt there is probably nothing you dislike about the tennis superstar Maria Sharapova. Oozing with glamour, backed with a career slam and standing tall as a role-model there aren’t too many things she would like to tinker with looking back. There is one thing though which a Sharapova fan, if not herself, would like change - her tennis career stats!

It could intrigue the reader that such a statement comes on the back of a French Open win and an Olympics silver medal; and rightly so. Let me try and back that with a point of view. Serena Williams has been the best player on the circuit, overall, in the last 5-6 years or so. In her 17 year old career (since turning pro) she has had 15 slams to her name across the board; has participated in 161 tournaments making it 59 finals and winning 45 out of them! She has been at the top of the rankings for 123 weeks, which is almost a third of the best (Steffi Graf with 377 weeks), yet that is almost twice the next best amongst current players.