[massive]

As of today, her best year was 2006. Slaying Clijsters, Mauresmo and Henin Titles at IW, San Diego, USO and that glorious indoor streak which Henin had to end (Maria ended an even more impressive streak 2 years later, bagel included, so no biggie ). Too bad she was clearly burned out by the time she got to the YEC otherwise she would've given Henin a match in those semis. She should've also made it to the AO finals in that weird semi against Henin. There is no way Maria would've lost to Mauresmo there. She'd win her 3rd slam there and be proclaimed Queen of the Hardcourts, but oh well.

[Stonerpova]

2010 and it's not even close. Didn't reach a slam QF, her two titles were Memphis and Strasbourg ( ), she blew match points in a final, she lost to Date Krumm and Vesnina in back to back tourneys, fell out of the top 20. The only real positive was the sneak peak of the Claypova to come we got at RG

2007 she at least got to a slam final and played one of the great matches in WTA history against Henin at the Championships. 2008 was bad because of injuries but it was also the year in which she peaked tennis-wise.

[MM_1257]

Originally Posted by Griffin.

2010 and it's not even close. Didn't reach a slam QF, her two titles were Memphis and Strasbourg ( ), she blew match points in a final, she lost to Date Krumm and Vesnina in back to back tourneys, fell out of the top 20. The only real positive was the sneak peak of the Claypova to come we got at RG

2007 she at least got to a slam final and played one of the great matches in WTA history against Henin at the Championships. 2008 was bad because of injuries but it was also the year in which she peaked tennis-wise.

2007 was bad due to injuries too... 2008 was good, except for the shoulder surgery... () but she won AO..

[gc-spurs]

Memphis and Strasbourg. R1 losses. Best performance was the 4th round. The Cincy final. Bone Bruise. No YEC.

[Stonerpova]

Originally Posted by massive

As of today, her best year was 2006. Slaying Clijsters, Mauresmo and Henin Titles at IW, San Diego, USO and that glorious indoor streak which Henin had to end (Maria ended an even more impressive streak 2 years later, bagel included, so no biggie ). Too bad she was clearly burned out by the time she got to the YEC otherwise she would've given Henin a match in those semis. She should've also made it to the AO finals in that weird semi against Henin. There is no way Maria would've lost to Mauresmo there. She'd win her 3rd slam there and be proclaimed Queen of the Hardcourts, but oh well.

Maria had been injured for the better part of six months and she almost didn't play that Aussie Open. Semis was a good enough result, and besides, those losses to Henin gave Maria the impetus to switch things up like she did at the US Open final

What's so great to see is that 2012 could very well be the best season of Maria's career if she has great results at the Open and/or the YEC. This is already the only season when she's reached multiple slam finals.

[dsanders06]

It's strange looking back at her 2010 results in retrospect, because I don't know about anyone else, but at the time it really didn't feel like Maria was doing that badly....I mean she managed to go toe-to-toe with Henin on clay, Serena on grass and Clijsters on hardcourts. I remember, I was barely following tennis towards the end of that year, and I remember being really STUNNED when looked at the rankings and saw she'd dropped out of the top 20, because it felt to me like she was having a lower-top10 standard year.

I definitely think her actual level of tennis between May-August 2010 shits all over anything she produced in 2009, but the crucial difference was that 2010 was the most headcasey year of her career (although she gave it a run for her money with her constant brainfarting in IW/Miami this year, admittedly) whereas in 2009, at tournaments like RG, even though she was playing horrible tennis, she was clutch as hell.

[dsanders06]

Originally Posted by Griffin.

Maria had been injured for the better part of six months and she almost didn't play that Aussie Open. Semis was a good enough result, and besides, those losses to Henin gave Maria the impetus to switch things up like she did at the US Open final

What's so great to see is that 2012 could very well be the best season of Maria's career if she has great results at the Open and/or the YEC. This is already the only season when she's reached multiple slam finals.

Yup, imo all she needs is like a semi at the US Open and maybe a title in either Tokyo or Beijing, and 2012 is the best of her career I think.

[Stonerpova]

Originally Posted by dsanders06

It's strange looking back at her 2010 results in retrospect, because I don't know about anyone else, but at the time it really didn't feel like Maria was doing that badly....I mean she managed to go toe-to-toe with Henin on clay, Serena on grass and Clijsters on hardcourts. I remember, I was barely following tennis towards the end of that year, and I remember being really STUNNED when looked at the rankings and saw she'd dropped out of the top 20, because it felt to me like she was having a lower-top10 standard year.

I definitely think her actual level of tennis between May-August 2010 shits all over anything she produced in 2009, but the crucial difference was that 2010 was the most headcasey year of her career (although she gave it a run for her money with her constant brainfarting in IW/Miami this year, admittedly) whereas in 2009, at tournaments like RG, even though she was playing horrible tennis, she was clutch as hell.

Nah, her drubbings of Pironkova at the US Open and Stosur at Tokyo were vintage pre-surgery Pova. Agreed with the rest of the post though.

[domon17th]

Originally Posted by Maja12

If Joyce really himself suggested her to end the coach-pupil relationship and advised her to move on and find another coach, I really really really put my hats off to him. It is a big big big action... And yes, she did need the change, she is aware of that, too.

Yep. I think we don't give Maria's coaching team enough credit, past or present. I mean she's really lucky to have such a dedicated, professional and close-knit team with her.

Originally Posted by dsanders06

It's strange looking back at her 2010 results in retrospect, because I don't know about anyone else, but at the time it really didn't feel like Maria was doing that badly....I mean she managed to go toe-to-toe with Henin on clay, Serena on grass and Clijsters on hardcourts. I remember, I was barely following tennis towards the end of that year, and I remember being really STUNNED when looked at the rankings and saw she'd dropped out of the top 20, because it felt to me like she was having a lower-top10 standard year.

I definitely think her actual level of tennis between May-August 2010 shits all over anything she produced in 2009, but the crucial difference was that 2010 was the most headcasey year of her career (although she gave it a run for her money with her constant brainfarting in IW/Miami this year, admittedly) whereas in 2009, at tournaments like RG, even though she was playing horrible tennis, she was clutch as hell.

Agree fully to this dsanders. Actually I consider 2011 pretty dire, it's really a case of weak competition that gave her the results.
2009 - clutchpova
2010 - bambipova
2011 - Poova

[madmax]

2010 was most definitely her worst year for me...I mean how much does it have to blow when your two best matches of the year were still losses to subpar Henin and Williams? On top of that, she was choking left and right those days. Her loss to Moonballniacki later that year had left me scratching my head and questioning her on court intelligence for real. Thanks god Hoggy arrived and fixed a huge mess that her game was rapidly spiralling into. She still chokes and freezes nowadays, but at least the days of hitting herself off the court are over for good now

[JoPova]

2010.. It's the year with the most disappointing Slam results for her. She was unlucky to draw Justine and Serena, but Wozniacki and Kirilenko could've been beaten!

[SharaGaGa]

2010 in terms of results.

2008 in terms of the shoulder injury and its effect/s on her career/confidence.

She may be having her best year now in terms of results, but her serve. She never really got it back. She's trying to compensate by improving the other aspects of her game (including movement) but those untimely DFs.

[Mr.Sharapova]

Completely agree. Even though she had a fantastic clay season she got too many beatdowns this year form her main rivals.

[Cosmic Voices]

i still find it hilarious that masha is only GOAT on clay who would've thought
but the good thing is shes consistently made finals this year, i know its hard guys with these losses but we can only accept that vika is either a) a better player b) has the mental edge vs masha. i hope 2013 will reap more rewards, but if i see her losing in the RR stage of the YEC i'll be really disappointed

[Joelina]

she was so mediocre in 2010