[18majors]

Hope Maria improve her hands and win more points with angles and touches.

[Stonerpova]

Honestly she can go 1-9 in finals next year for all I care, as long as the "1" is a slam final.

[TrollPova]

Originally Posted by 18majors

My biggest hope is that Maria improves her rally abilities and win more points with at least 7-8 strokes.

I agree with this completely. Maria needs to summon the patience she displays on clay courts and use it on hard courts as well, especially on the slower surfaces like at the AO and YEC. If she just commits to rallies and doesn't try finishing a point after 2-3 shots, she will have better chances against Vika who will eventually be overwhelmed by Maria's consistent heavy shots.

[Maria Croft]

Stay healthy and motivated.
Improve her game even further, serve, return, groundgame etc.
Improve her H2H against certain players.
Win a HC title.
Win a Slam... duh.

[Mexicola]

I agree with the "motivation" part. Now that Maria has reached the top again with the French and getting to number one briefly, it'll be interesting to see how much hunger and desire Maria has off the court. Will she be willing to put her body through all the necessary strain and effort in practice in order to have the game capable of winning and contending consistently once again in 2013. And will she be open-minded enough to learn new tactics and add a few wrinkles to her game.

It was easy for the 2009-2011 Maria to remain determined because their was a clear goal to reach for. Proving to herself and all the doubters that she could still win a Slam and get to number one. Now that she did that and with all the other off-court responsibilities she continues to juggle, it's natural to wonder if the fire to crush her opponents will be as bright as ever.

And that's the one thing I admire about Serena more than anything. No matter how much she's won, no matter how giant the gulf is between her and the rest, she still wants to destroy and humiliate everyone in her path. And win everything.

Maria has to WANT it. Badly.

[effedcamel]

Originally Posted by mreiter

I agree with this completely. Maria needs to summon the patience she displays on clay courts and use it on hard courts as well, especially on the slower surfaces like at the AO and YEC. If she just commits to rallies and doesn't try finishing a point after 2-3 shots, she will have better chances against Vika who will eventually be overwhelmed by Maria's consistent heavy shots.

She was doing this inadvertently at Wimbly this year and we all know what happened there - rolling the ball on faster courts isn't going to do her any favors, she has to have depth AND pace. If anything, I'd like to see her taking the ball earlier again, which was something she did immaculately in her 04-08 era.

[TrollPova]

Originally Posted by effedcamel

She was doing this inadvertently at Wimbly this year and we all know what happened there - rolling the ball on faster courts isn't going to do her any favors, she has to have depth AND pace. If anything, I'd like to see her taking the ball earlier again, which was something she did immaculately in her 04-08 era.

Yeah I think it was hard for her to switch from her claycourt gameplan so quickly for Wimbledon, and I agree that she needs to take some more risks on her groundstrokes. Her match against Kerber in Beijing I think is a perfect example of the way Maria should play on hardcourts. Patience when necessary, but still going for angles and taking advantage of opportunities

[heelsrule1988]

As long as she plays like she did last year, there are only two things I really want from her: beat Serena, and win a Slam.

[Stonerpova]

Originally Posted by Griffin.

Honestly she can go 1-9 in finals next year for all I care, as long as the "1" is a slam final.

I don't know what I was smoking when I wrote this (I have an idea ) but I take it back

[denny5576]

AO & RG titles, Wimbledon & USO finals

[Cosmic Voices]

Originally Posted by denny5576

AO & RG titles, Wimbledon & USO finals

this is the most realistic - in terms of ultimate 2013 goals considering her play style

[JoPova]

We're all wanting Maria to achieve so much, but mostly a slam. Does anyone else feel though that Serena may really end up winning the 4 slams? I think she definitely has a chance. She'll be especially furious at RG after her 1st round loss in 2012.

[madmax]

win at least 2 slams (realistically AO and RG are her best shots, being played on slow surfaces), stop being a mental midget in other big tour finals and finally put Vuvurenka in her rightful place (preferably in a slam final or 2 please)

[JoPova]

Originally Posted by madmax

win at least 2 slams (realistically AO and RG are her best shots, being played on slow surfaces), stop being a mental midget in other big tour finals and finally put Vuvurenka in her rightful place (preferably in a slam final or 2 please)

OMG. This! She absolutely needs to beat Vika in a Slam tournament. She was close at the USO and she was playing great tennis in the first set, but lacked the enrgies to win that third set

[adamserenavenus]

Serena is my favourite player so its hard for me to root for Maria but she stated that she wants to win a 2nd Wimbledon title.