[Becool]

Originally Posted by sweetadri06

really? She always has shot at slams regardless of ranking.

This.

[Slutiana]

Originally Posted by darrinbaker00

Not only are those people delusional, they are insulting Serena's professionalism. Tanking matches is the worst thing you can accuse a tennis player of doing.

Yup. And they don't seem to understand all the work that every player has to do when playing tournaments - constantly flying (which is so grueling in itself), early training, gym work, fitness, media etc. etc. It's pure idiocy to think she'd go through all of that preparation just to purposely lose her match. She would just stay at home.

Originally Posted by In The Zone

This. Once she gets back to #1, she'll go back to her normal schedule of only one legit warmup to her slams. If she goes undefeated at the YEC and at least defends her USO F (hopefully WINS it!), she should end the year as #1.

I doubt it's even this. I'm sure she wants to get back to #1, but if she was really motivated about her ranking she would've played the Asian season last year. She won't get anywhere close to #1 until then.

Originally Posted by dsanders06

I'm sorry, I really don't see what others here are seeing, I really don't think she IS taking the non-Slams anymore seriously Let's remember, at each of the last 4 Slams, she ended up giving a walkover at her final warmup before 3 of them, and didn't play a warmup at all for the other one. I still don't believe she gives a shit about regular tournaments or the #1 ranking, to me she's still all about the Slams and she only uses the regular tournaments as preparation for the Slams and is happy to end her involvement in the warmups as soon as she feels she has enough preparation (and in fact, that approach backfired at the USO and RG, she hadn't prepared ENOUGH).

You're a troll and there's no way you can be this dense, but I'll reason with you anyway.

Firstly, everyone saw the injury timeouts and inane amount of tape on her toe at the US Open last year after she withdrew from Cincy with her toe injury. And secondly, everyone also saw her clearly sprain her ankle in Brisbane and then struggle with her movement until Miami. The Rome withdrawal is the only injury that we saw no proof of her injury problems, but all it tells us is that - at 30 years old - she is rightfully extra cautious and probably even overly cautious about her body and possible injuries. Third, she just played 13 matches in twelve days then immediately flew to the US to defend her Stanfort titles, playing while completely jetlagged.

Bottom line is that she has won 5 non-slam events in the past 52 weeks, more than she has done for a decade. Even when she's just a tiny bit unmotivated it usually leads to complete disaster. Use your brain.

Originally Posted by Roookie

Because she needs a top 5 ranking to have a shot @ slams. She can't no longer just bullshit her way through like before and she's defending a HUGE amount of points this summer.

This isn't much smarter than dsanders. She fared perfectly well when she had to play Azarenka early on at the US Open and she hasn't lost to a top 5 player since her (completely understandable) out of sorts comeback tournament in Eastbourne. Please tell me you don't really think her motivation is "omg, better get my ranking up in case I have to play Sharapova in the fourth round!!11"

[In The Zone]

^^^ She wants year-end #1. Playing Asia last year wouldn't have mattered. In the beginning of the year, she kept saying her goal for ranking "at the end of the year."

[Alarmed]

Originally Posted by Roookie

Because she needs a top 5 ranking to have a shot @ slams. She can't no longer just bullshit her way through like before and she's defending a HUGE amount of points this summer.

She was ranked #6 when she won Wimbledon. You know, the most recent Slam.

[In The Zone]

Originally Posted by Roookie

Because she needs a top 5 ranking to have a shot @ slams. She can't no longer just bullshit her way through like before and she's defending a HUGE amount of points this summer.

This doesn't even make sense. We've seen time and time again Serena's ranking is meaningless and ...... there is no difference between being #5 and #8. Idiot.

[Chrissie-fan]

I see no big mystery here. She just wants to add to her total of tournaments won. 43 is better than 42 and 44 will be better than 43. And perhaps she wants the number one ranking back also. Maybe not to hold on to it for as long as possible (but why not?), but just to prove that she can still do that. She's playing for the history books now, so all these things are important.

[dsanders06]

Originally Posted by Slutiana

Firstly, everyone saw the injury timeouts and inane amount of tape on her toe at the US Open last year after she withdrew from Cincy with her toe injury. And secondly, everyone also saw her clearly sprain her ankle in Brisbane and then struggle with her movement until Miami. The Rome withdrawal is the only injury that we saw no proof of her injury problems, but all it tells us is that - at 30 years old - she is rightfully extra cautious and probably even overly cautious about her body and possible injuries. Third, she just played 13 matches in twelve days then immediately flew to the US to defend her Stanfort titles, playing while completely jetlagged.

It's so cute how you're willing to believe anything she says Firstly, I don't know about this relatively minor toe injury, but one thing I can assure you that everyone really did see was Serena attending Kim Kardashian's wedding a couple of days after she pulled out of Cincinnati. Did you honestly believe she pulled out of it because of an injury? I'll give her that she has a good excuse for Brisbane, but Rome was a repeat of Cincinnati - she knew that if she was going to have any chance of beating Li on clay, she was going to have to put in a 100% effort, she couldn't be arsed to do that because she was cocky enough to believe she was already playing well enough and had enough match practice to contend for the RG title (and then poetic justice was served a couple of weeks later ).

[Slutiana]

Originally Posted by dsanders06

It's so cute how you're willing to believe anything she says Firstly, I don't know about this relatively minor toe injury, but one thing I can assure you that everyone really did see was Serena attending Kim Kardashian's wedding a couple of days after she pulled out of Cincinnati. Did you honestly believe she pulled out of it because of an injury? I'll give her that she has a good excuse for Brisbane, but Rome was a repeat of Cincinnati - she knew that if she was going to have any chance of beating Li on clay, she was going to have to put in a 100% effort, she couldn't be arsed to do that because she was cocky enough to believe she was already playing well enough and had enough match practice to contend for the RG title (and then poetic justice was served a couple of weeks later ).

Erm... After she messed up her foot in 2010 one of the two surgeries she had was surgery on her toe. It was visibly causing her discomfort when she barely escaped choking from like 6-2 5-1 up against Hlavackova in Cincy and she had at least two MTOs at the USO on her toe where she took her sock off to reveal heavy, heavy tape on it. My observations have nothing to do with "anything she said" and everything to do with pure facts. Most of the pundits and journos who criticized her for the whole Kardashian wedding thing had the sense to acknowledge the legitimacy of her injury when it was clear that she was having ongoing issues with her toe during Flushing. But sense, of course, isn't your strong point.

Meanwhile, you're the one acting as if you're telepathic and somehow know exactly what she's thinking when she makes her decisions. Once again, I'm only talking facts here. The facts are that she's 30 years old, every single player from her generation is either retired with injuries or has huge health/injury issues and thus she can be forgiven for being over-cautious with her injuries. Also, she didn't need to play well against Li. Li has been largely atrocious all year and in terms of quality the Rome final was one of the worst ever WTA tier I finals.

Oh, and she may have lost in RG, but hey, she bounced back to win Wimbledon singles and doubles followed by Stanford the very next week. All's well that ends well.

[The Dawntreader]

Originally Posted by dsanders06

It's so cute how you're willing to believe anything she says Firstly, I don't know about this relatively minor toe injury, but one thing I can assure you that everyone really did see was Serena attending Kim Kardashian's wedding a couple of days after she pulled out of Cincinnati. Did you honestly believe she pulled out of it because of an injury? I'll give her that she has a good excuse for Brisbane, but Rome was a repeat of Cincinnati - she knew that if she was going to have any chance of beating Li on clay, she was going to have to put in a 100% effort, she couldn't be arsed to do that because she was cocky enough to believe she was already playing well enough and had enough match practice to contend for the RG title (and then poetic justice was served a couple of weeks later ).

I didn't see it, so bang goes your theory.

[dsanders06]

Originally Posted by Slutiana

Most of the pundits and journos who criticized her for the whole Kardashian wedding thing had the sense to acknowledge the legitimacy of her injury when it was clear that she was having ongoing issues with her toe during Flushing. But sense, of course, isn't your strong point.

Your selective memory knows no bounds, it seems. When Kim Kardashian split up from her husband (in December or whenever it was), it was a running joke among the tennis journos on Twitter and among GM posters that Serena would be pissed off she pulled out of a tournament just to go to a sham wedding. Absolutely NO-ONE, except the most naive Willytards like yourself, believes she pulled out of Cincinnati because she genuinely cared about this toe injury (and no, needing an injury timeout in just one of her matches at the USO - not two - in a match where she was moving as well as she ever does, is not proof that it was a serious injury)

[dencod16]

She wants to be number number one, she has said to the likes of Vika, Maria and Aggie, that they have been consistent and she has said that she is trying to get there which means she wants to be the world no. 1.

[dencod16]

Originally Posted by Roookie

Because she needs a top 5 ranking to have a shot @ slams. She can't no longer just bullshit her way through like before and she's defending a HUGE amount of points this summer.

LOL, she was ranked six and face the world no. 4, no. 2, and no. 3 thats way easier than any draw.

[cowsonice]

There was an interview where she alluded to having a goal of being YE #1 or something. Defending her Stanford points while most of the top-10 aren't participating in the CA HC swing gives her an easy edge. I'm sure there's nice money involved, too. Same with Charleston.

It's not as much as Serena caring, it's more of Serena playing well like she always does and knowing her limits.

But the ridiculous thing is, EVERYBODY (okay, a lot) knows that Serena tends to tank (hence 20%-Rena and those nicknames). If you're defending her here, why aren't you defending her in every other thread?