Role Reversal: Consistency with the Men, Chaos with the Women
For years, the top women in professional tennis, e.g. Chris Evert, Martina Navratilova, Steffi Graf, dominated the sport appearing in most major tournament finals. At the same time, the leading men captured many titles, but there were more often lesser known players reaching major finals. That has all changed in the past year or so. In 2008, Novak Djokovic defeated Jo-Wilfried Tsonga to win the 2008 Australian Open. However, at the French
Open and Wimbledon, Rafael Nadal beat Roger Federer while Federer defeated fourth ranked Andy Murray to win the 2008 U.S. Open. On the women’s side, Maria Sharapova won the 2008 Australian Open title over Ana Ivanovic who went on to win the French Open over Dinara Safina. At Wimbledon, Venus Williams defeated sister, Serena for the title. At the U.S. Open, Serena defeated Jelena Jankovic. In 2009, the pattern has continued with consistency on the men’s side and surprises on the women’s side. Serena Williams did win the 2009 Australian Open over Dinara Safina, but since then Vera Zvonareva captured the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells, California and Victoria Azarenka won the Sony Ericsson Open in Key Biscayne, Florida. Meanwhile, Rafael Nadal won the 2009 Australian Open over Roger Federer and the BNP Paribas Open over Andy Murray who lost in the final of the Sony Ericsson Open to Novak Djokovic. In the first major clay court event, Rafael Nadal defeated Novak Djokovic at the Monte Carlo Masters while German teenager, Sabine Lisicki, beat Danish teen, Caroline Wozniacki (both talented, but not exactly well-known players yet) to win the Family Circle Cup tournament. The reality is that the Nadal versus Federer rivalry may also be in for some competition in the next couple years. However, barring major injuries, Nadal, Murray, Djokovic and Federer (if he can find his bottle of confidence pills) should be competing for most of the Grand Slam titles this year. On the women’s side, although there are many talented players near the top of the game, e.g. Maria Sharapova, Serena and Venus Williams, Jelena Jankovic, Ana Ivanovic, Dinara Safina and former Grand Slam champions in the wings hoping for one more Grand Slam moment, e.g. Amelie Mauresmo and Kim Clijsters, it’s unclear who the dominant player could be right now on all surfaces besides Serena Williams. Unfortunately, Serena doesn’t play a lot of tournaments and seems to frequently battle injuries. Fortunately for tennis fans, the result is a lot of potentially exciting final round matches this year at the French Open, Wimbledon and U.S. Open and intrigue as the Grand Slams unfold this spring and summer.
|| Comments (1)
Comments
I am very interested in this. Thank you
Posted by: PamelaKita | May 23, 2009 11:17 AM