These are her results from 2016 up to Wimbledon. She is defending little to no points.
Dubai: 1R
Indian Wells: SF
Miami: 1R
Stuttgart: QF
Madrid: 2R
Rome: 1R
French Open: 1R
Birmingham: 1R
Wimbledon: 2R
She is 2140 points behind Serena and 1475 points behind Angie. Serena has Wimbledon, Rome wins and FO, IW finals to defend and Angie has Wimbledon final, Miami Charleston SFs & Stuttgart win to defend. I know Karo isn't as strong on clay and grass but she is defending very little here. She has Dubai, Indian Wells and Miami coming up where she enjoys the hard courts. I think this is a real possibility :surprise:
Seriously: I think she can do it this year. She's basically the only player in 2017 with a great form week in, week out so far. The question is how long she can keep it up. I think she has improved that much that she can play like this on a consistent base but you never know with the WTA :lol:
But she has little to defend and I think she can also have good results on clay and grass now that she has overcome her final and GS problems.
Karo defends a lot in the grass court season :shrug: and her clay court prowess is questionable :lol: Number one is sooo far away still! Lets see what happens in Dubai first!
Given the fact Serena intends to play a part-time/light schedule, it's certainly a possibility. Not easy, since her level on clay is still suspect, but not out of question either - especially now that she overcame her GS and Premier finals block. Both at RG and Wimbledon she can gain TONS of points on Serena.
No-one has performed more consistently than her since last summer, and it wouldn't be the first time consistency is rewarded by the ranking, even without Slam titles.
Right now she is the most likely new #1. A lot depends on how the 2 in front of her play. Kerber seems off form, and if she stays that way, it will be pretty normal to have a drop off from her 2016
Serena is capable of winning IW/Miami, so her health and form is a variable
But Karo is playing like she is going to make this a 3 woman race
A bit early to be assuming anything about Pliskova's consistency. It's only been three tournaments, one of which ended with a loss to the world #79. After the USO last year she went R2, R3, R3, YEC RR to finish off her year.
I mean, if everyone continues the year how they started it - not just Pliskova being consistent but everyone else flopping and Serena playing a light schedule - yeah, she'll be #1. But since when have you been able to extrapolate six months from a couple of tournaments?
And number 1 without a slam? Some of you bashed for years Woz, JJ or Safina for having been number 1 without slams and in Pliskie's case this won't be a problem?
she's probably the next new number 1 IMO but I don't know when she'll take it
I can't wait for her to meet Serena again and see how it goes
if she beats her twice in a row, she's the real deal
even if she doesn't , I still think she has what it takes to claim #1
but once she's there, will she have what it takes to deal with the pressure etc ?.. not so sure so it might not last that long
I'm not sure at which point it will happen, but she has a good shot to get to #1 in 2017. There's a lot of scope at Slams, PM's and P5's to get points. Of the vast majority she has 2R or 3R points only, so her current form suggests that some finals or title wins will escalate her to #1.
If serena wins miami,fo and Wimbledon then nope. She might even win iw. Pillow has to beat Queen again for me to take her serious. Maybe she can get it in 2018.