RECAP: Tennis Country 2010 New Year's Predictions
Between them, the Belgians, i.e. Kim Clijsters and Justine Henin will reach at least one Grand Slam Final
o They reached two! Justine Henin lost to Serena Williams in the 2010 Australian Open final and Kim Clijsters won her third U.S. Open title in September!
There will be two first-time Grand Slam Champions
o Italian, Francesca Schiavone, won her first Grand Slam title at the 2010 French Open, but all the other Slams were won by only four players, i.e. Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, Serena Williams and Kim Clijsters.
There will be one French player in the top ten and three Russians
o Jo-Wilfried Tsonga was in the top ten, but his ranking fell because of knee surgery in the spring which sidelined him for most of the rest of the season. Gael Monfils almost cracked the top ten, ending the year at twelfth! There were three Russians in the year-end top ten, i.e. Mikhail Youzhny, Elena Dementieva and Vera Zvonareva.
The current top four men, i.e. Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray will collect three Grand Slam titles
o Nadal and Federer collected all four trophies this year although both Djokovic and Murray did reach a Grand Slam final in 2010.
One Russian woman will win a Grand Slam title
o Vera Zvonareva reached both the Wimbledon and U.S. Open finals, but she lost to Serena Williams in London and Kim Clijsters in New York.
Neither Serena Williams nor Venus Williams will win a Grand Slam title
o Serena Williams claimed two more Grand Slam singles titles in 2010 at the Australian Open and Wimbledon before foot surgery ended her season in July.
Three men and three women will be ranked Number One
o Off by one… two men, Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal, and two women, Serena Williams and Caroline Wozniacki, held the Number One ranking in 2010!
All the Grand Slam Champions will be Europeans except for one…
o Serena Williams was the lone, non-European Grand Slam champion in 2010 as Spaniard, Rafael Nadal, Swiss, Roger Federer, Italian, Francesca Schiavone and Belgian, Kim Clijsters, won all the others!
A former Number One ranked player will ascend to the top of the rankings again
o Rafael Nadal reclaimed the Number One ranking from Roger Federer with his stellar spring and summer play, winning three straight Grand Slam titles at the French Open, Wimbledon and U.S. Open!
The U.S. Open will announce plans for a retractable stadium roof…
o Well… the USTA did announce plans to overhaul the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center, but it doesn’t appear that there will be a retractable roof over Arthur Ashe stadium anytime soon, despite having a third straight U.S. Open men’s final delayed by rain…
An average performance on our end… we can and will “play” better in 2011!
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