[Protoss]

Why does Serena continue with her nothing to lose comments? Considering that almost everybody regards as the best player in the game and that she dominates the head to head with Vika (10-1 excluding Vika's Oz Open 2nd set retirement after winning the 1st set) and has won their last 9 matches losing only two sets, it seems rather ridiculous.

[Chrissie-fan]

Originally Posted by Protoss

Why does Serena continue with her nothing to lose comments? Considering that almost everybody regards as the best player in the game and that she dominates the head to head with Vika (10-1 excluding Vika's Oz Open 2nd set retirement after winning the 1st set) and has won their last 9 matches losing only two sets, it seems rather ridiculous.

"I'm playing the best player in the world tomorrow" sounds a bit tongue in cheek coming from Serena. But on the other hand, if she had said the opposite of that people would say that she sounds a bit too cocky. There's always something.

[terjw]

Originally Posted by Protoss

Why does Serena continue with her nothing to lose comments? Considering that almost everybody regards as the best player in the game and that she dominates the head to head with Vika (10-1 excluding Vika's Oz Open 2nd set retirement after winning the 1st set) and has won their last 9 matches losing only two sets, it seems rather ridiculous.

Originally Posted by Chrissie-fan

"I'm playing the best player in the world tomorrow" sounds a bit tongue in cheek coming from Serena. But on the other hand, if she had said the opposite of that people would say that she sounds a bit too cocky. There's always something.

Seems a pretty sensible thing to say to me. Just because she's odds-on to win and it would be a shock to everyone if she didn't, it doesn't mean it's impossible for her to lose. Nothing is 100%. And she doesn't want anyone throwing quotes back at her if she should lose. And her saying that hasn't caused her to have doubts and lose before so why change what works.

Also - she's been taken out of context and her intentions twisted around before - notably with that what she said about Dinara with Rome and Madrid. She can do without any of that.

Another thing. I think she wants to be seen as one of the girls but also a statesperson for them. And acting like an Eric Bristow or Muhammed Ali or a young Martina Hingis doesn't help her in that regard at all.

[angliru]

The sad state of Danish women's tennis

A few of you have asked me about Danish tennis, and since this is the time to look at the past year, I'll give my review of the state of Danish women's tennis (sorry for the excessive length!).

2012 was a terrible year for Danish women's tennis. The Fed Cup Team was relegated for the 2nd year in a row and is now ranked alongside nations like Rwanda, Lesotho and Liechtenstein. Denmark didn't have Caro on the team in 2012, of course, but it was still pretty bad.

Currently there are only two Danish players with a WTA ranking: Wozniacki at #10 and Karen Barbat at #617. Sweden, on the other hand, has 14 players with a WTA ranking. Sure, Sweden has always been among the bigger tennis nation - especially on the men's side. But I still think we should expect a somewhat smaller gap between Denmark and Sweden. Barbat has had approximately the same ranking for 5 years now, so unfortunately there are no real signs that she could get into top 200 or something like that (although she beat Johanna Larsson in 2012).

2012 wasn't very good for the junior girls either: No junior slam appearances by any of the juniors and no junior ITF titles. In fact, only one girl reached an ITF final in 2012 (Julie Noe), while 4 different Danish girls were in a final in 2011 (Cecilie Melsted, Julie Noe, Martine Ditlev, and Emilie Francati). This was particularly disappointing as the same girls were playing in 2012, except they had all become a year older and more experienced. Cecilie Melsted, very promising a few years ago, turns 18 next month but is now actually ranked lower at ITF than when she was 15. For some odd reason, all the Danish juniors seems to be regressing. I must stress, however, that I'm not critisizing the junior girls. They're workig hard and doing an incredible job (for instance winning the annual Nordic Team Championships for Denmark in 2012 for the first time in 17 years). But they lack Federational support.

The Tennis Federation seems to have realized the sad state and will try a few new things in 2013: The team tournaments (or club matches) will no longer have mixed gender teams. Instead they will have separate men's and women's matches. This also applies to junior matches. Hopefully this will put a bit more pressure on the women and girls and make their matches more important. This will also force the clubs to use more female players, which again, hopefully, will produce a "broader" field of elite players.

Secondly, the Federation will gradually introduce a new ranking system over the next couple of years. As it is now, there seems to be some "tournament whoring" going on. Apparently some players are very focused on their rankings and will playe every week if possible to gain points. The Federation's future ranking system, however, will limit the number of allowed tournaments in order to encourage players to play to develop their game and tactics instead of just playing for points. I approve of these changes, but I'm not sure wheter it will work. A change of the entire Danish "tennis culture" is needed.

Unfortunately, there are no signs yet of what would really improve Danish tennis more than anything else: Danish ITF Pro tournaments. It's really a shame that there are no $10,000 (or 15K or 25K) tournaments in Denmark. Danish players really struggle to make the transition from juniors to pro players. They have to play pro tournaments in Germany or Sweden in order to play, but they can't get in, as they don't get wild cards. It's really difficult to break through (and expensive with all the travelling), so the majority of the junior girls actually stop at elite level once their junior career is over. I know the Tennis Federation is very interested in geting ITF Futures/Challengers to Denmark but I don't know when it'll happen. Certainly not before 2014 by the looks of things, and more likely in 2015, if ever...

[backhandsmash]

We don't even have 10k's? I would love to attend even a 10k, if it wasn't too far away.

And there used to be a 100k a few years ago, right?

[angliru]

Yes, there was the $100,000 Odense in 2008 (won by Caro). Sadly there haven't been any ITF pro tournaments in Denmark since then - neither for men or women. There was the WTA, of course, but perhaps it's a sign of the current state that it had to die too.

Turkey, by comparison, had a Women's 10K every week in 2012! Sure, Turkey has a climate better suited for tennis. They also have cheap hotels and a well-organised tourist industry which makes Turkey an attractive place to go to for tennis players. But it seems unreasonable that Turkey should host more than 50 women's pro tournaments (including the higher tiers, Istanbuls etc.), and Denmark none! That's certainly something I hope the Danish Tennis Federation will work on the next couple of years. It's really needed.

[backhandsmash]

Originally Posted by angliru

The sad state of Danish women's tennis

Oh, and damn nice write-up, Sir!

[Chrissie-fan]

Li Na has won Shenzhen!

[C. W. Fields]

Cibulkova runs over Kvitova 6-1, 6-1!

[C. W. Fields]

Interesting, Goerges will be playing Kuznetsova tomorrow! Sveta is 2-1 H2H but Julia won their last match, a tight 3-setter. So Caro's next opponent will either be one whom she has lost the last 3 matches against or one she has beaten the last 4 times!

[Chrissie-fan]

Originally Posted by C. W. Fields

Cibulkova runs over Kvitova 6-1, 6-1!

Shocking. Seems like Petra is in as big of a slump as Caroline.

[marineblue]

I am not that shocked,the hype around Kvitova started to disappear last year when she's not lived up to the expectations. She'll need to raise her level at AO otherwise she'll lose a ton of points.

[Chrissie-fan]

Originally Posted by marineblue

I am not that shocked,the hype around Kvitova started to disappear last year when she's not lived up to the expectations. She'll need to raise her level at AO otherwise she'll lose a ton of points.

Yes, but 6-1/6-1?

[DownInAHole]

Originally Posted by Chrissie-fan

Yes, but 6-1/6-1?

Exactly. The fact that she lost is not shocking but the score certainly is.

Not being a fan it is easy to say this but I still believe that Petra will be back in the top five and a threat at the slams. She is streaky but when she is "on" her game is very formidable. Petra has all of the pieces but they have just become a bit jumbled up. Once she puts them all back together I think she will be fine. It is a common criticism but we haven't even seen what a fit Petra is capable of. If she gets herself in better shape she could be even better than she was when she nearly rose to number one.

[Chrissie-fan]

Originally Posted by DownInAHole

Exactly. The fact that she lost is not shocking but the score certainly is.

Not being a fan it is easy to say this but I still believe that Petra will be back in the top five and a threat at the slams. She is streaky but when she is "on" her game is very formidable. Petra has all of the pieces but they have just become a bit jumbled up. Once she puts them all back together I think she will be fine. It is a common criticism but we haven't even seen what a fit Petra is capable of. If she gets herself in better shape she could be even better than she was when she nearly rose to number one.

Well, perhaps Petra will be this generation's Davenport. She was also an incredible talent who only reached her full potential after she bothered to get fit. I guess as our resident Kvitty fan Bruce is better placed to comment on this, but it's also possible that a lack of motivation prevents her from actually getting in better shape.