The city probably sucks and the players want out of there as soon as possible

 

:lol:

 

maybe WS cursed the whole tourny would become shit without their appearance

 

which upsets are you exactly talkin about?

The only big upset so far is Azarenka's loss.

Kleybanova is in good form,Clijsters a part time player..seed 23 beats seed 14..big deal...

 

 

Indian Wells, until you do right.....everything you think about is going to fail.

 

:haha: OMG, that's amazing..I might use this...

 

I keep telling people, Kim and Justine are not back to get to #1.
Judge them at majors
The real contenders all along are still in this.
Azarenka is a loss and Sveta. But Sveta was seeded 1 and Vika has a huge defense coming in Miami, that aint happening. She is already thinking about it

 

I keep telling people, Kim and Justine are not back to get to #1.
Judge them at majors
The real contenders all along are still in this.
Azarenka is a loss and Sveta. But Sveta was seeded 1 and Vika has a huge defense coming in Miami, that aint happening. She is already thinking about it

well both lost, with Kim losing badly :shrug: anything else?

 

The wind.

 

the WTA is many upsets :shrug:

look at AO ... 2 unseeded players in SF and one player seeded 16 in SF

 

Great point. I don't think this has been an unusually high number of upsets at all.

 

Let's see... Henin, Clijsters, Kuznetsova, Sharapova, Azarenka.

I guess it's probably the long break between AO and IW.

Sharapova won Memphis in between so there's no good reason for her.

Other players like Ivanovic and Hantuchova have not been playing well anyway - so not considered upsets.

 

What VALID reason could be given for all the upsets at IW?

How about this one? There is a lot of depth in women's tennis these days, a lot of girls capable on their day of playing great tennis and mixing it with and actually beating the top players. It really is that simple.

 

Thing is - how is this markedly different to last year or even the year before that where most of the seeds couldn't be trusted to live up to their seeding or the top players to live up their ranking? This is the same old song that people have been singing for an age now to the point where it's hollow, repetitive lyrics. Same old, same old.

Truth is, nothing's really changed. (And no, Brisbane did not convince me in the slightest that we were suddenly seeing something different.) We've had the same people winning titles that were winning before. Heck, we've had some of the same people winning the same titles. (i.e the WS - and let's keep in mind that Vera for the time being is still in the running to defend her title even if it's par for the course to behave as if she doesn't exist. We also have the same culprits losing early (Ana and Maria). Cornet continues to plummet. Chak still reliably loses, as does Szavay. Nicole is apparently making her retirement official and admitting to what we already know.

Serena's been out for a long time and (surprise) won't emerge till Miami. She's still number 1, still won a slam, (thus debunking the whole "WS will go slamless' prediction from the word go); she's still playing her own unique schedule and is still the one to beat. Venus performs decently outside the slams early on in the year, just as she did last year and treats them as if they're more important than slams. Sveta has gone back to being a headcase again, which is exactly what she was this time last year.

Vera seems to be healthy again, has already defended one title already and is on course to defend another. Li Na is still up and down as ever. Zheng is fairly consistent as is Dementieva, Bartoli, Azarenka, and Caro all of whom aren't doing anything remarkably different from what you'd expect from them thus far. Aga oscillates between good and poor play. Wickmayer continues to forge ahead and annoy the hell out of her detractors. Who really knows with Kirilenko if the AO was for real and if she can keep it up? Dulko still can't back up a big win to save her life. Hantuchova isn't any better or worse than usual. That said, JJ's finally made a fourth round, and the form of the Australians Stosur and Molik seem to be improving which is something I suppose.

Like it or not, Safina's absence does matter. And we've had a couple of young players - Pav and Kleybs breakthrough and win a title each - and again this may actually prove to be significant and a source of any real change or difference. But aside from these two events what in any of this is 'new' or different to what was happening before?

Problem is, too many people are treating Kim and Justine as if their return is the effect of some planet altering asteroid causing deep impact - behaving as though two players alone could *be* the entire tour. There's been a deep investment in pretending that everything has dramatically altered now that the Belgians have returned along with the ridiculous 'Saviours of the WTA' meme floating around in the media. People got carried away by their initial, early success even though they were warned by more cautious voices time and again not to make premature assumptions, to keep in mind that they were on the comeback trail and were benefiting from being fresh while everyone else had played the Roadmap. It was even suggested that they'd eventually be subject to the same Roadmap and the same wear-and-tear and grind as everyone else.

Well - we're there now.

I'm not saying that Kim and Justine won't dust themselves off, or will have a bad year. They might end up having a great year. But the level of hype about their return went straight through the stratosphere. And now that they've shown themselves to be human, to be merely tennis players who are a part of the 'crappy' WTA that has been bashed without mercy. So suddenly there is all this wailing and hyperbolic gnashing of teeth. Some perspective please. The tour is still a work in progress and it never rested on Kim and Justine.

 

Honestly, and i've always thought this. The depth of women's tennis is SO deep and the fact that so many players (even ranked outside the top 20) have so much potential that upsets often times happen. I'm sure someone else here could explain it better than myself.

 

Honestly, and i've always thought this. The depth of women's tennis is SO deep and the fact that so many players (even ranked outside the top 20) have so much potential that upsets often times happen. I'm sure someone else here could explain it better than myself.

This

Well, it shouldn't be TOO big of a shock. Sure there are certain names I didn't expect out so soon (like Henin in her second match and to a player who was crushed 6:1 6:0 in the next match) but it's not that big of a deal to me. It makes it more interesting. The men tennis might be more "predicted" cuz most seeded players reach the end (how many times did the top 2 meet each other in the final there?) but: (1) that's what makes the women tennis more interesting, cuz you never know what will happen, and (2) there alot more talented players who can rise and "surprise" the top ones.

I don't think it's a bad thing at all, nor that it should come as a big shock.

This

What VALID reason could be given for all the upsets at IW?

How about this one? There is a lot of depth in women's tennis these days, a lot of girls capable on their day of playing great tennis and mixing it with and actually beating the top players. It really is that simple.

And this.

 

Sveta and Maria losses aren't really surprising and I suppose that Justin and Kim just wanted to prove Stefficagreles wrong...one more time.

 

Jankovic casted a spell on the top players.

 

The 'underdogs' just play/played better than their higher ranked players under some difficult circumstances.:shrug:

 

Well, it shouldn't be TOO big of a shock. Sure there are certain names I didn't expect out so soon (like Henin in her second match and to a player who was crushed 6:1 6:0 in the next match) but it's not that big of a deal to me. It makes it more interesting. The men tennis might be more "predicted" cuz most seeded players reach the end (how many times did the top 2 meet each other in the final there?) but: (1) that's what makes the women tennis more interesting, cuz you never know what will happen, and (2) there alot more talented players who can rise and "surprise" the top ones.

I don't think it's a bad thing at all, nor that it should come as a big shock.

 

vera's gonna retain her title

 

a) ARE they upsets?

b) The players ranked #15 to #50 are a lot better than they were fifteen years ago. I was totally against going to 32 seeds, but the results bear out the justification. #32 is a LOT closer to #5 than she used to be. And a lot of the players considered favorites were considered that on reputation, not how they were playing.

c) The seeds are actually holding up okay. Look at the top eight, your theoretical QFs

1 [03] Kuznetsova - hasn't beaten a top 20 player all year.
2 [04] Wozniacki
3 [06] Azarenka
4 [07] Dementieva
5 [08] Radwanska
6 [09] Jankovic
7 [10] Li
8 [11] Stosur
​

That's not terrible. Now look at seeds 9-16

_9 [12] Pennetta
10 [13] Sharapova
11 [16] Bartoli
12 [14] Zvonareva
13 [15] Wickmayer
14 [17] Clijsters
15 [18] Schiavone
16 [19] Petrova
​

Okay, half of them are gone, but look who's in their place

17 Peer
18 Zheng
19 Rezai
​

Is it really that surprising to see for of seeds 9 - 16 not make the round of sixteen, and seed 17 - 19 do? Add in Kleybanova beating Clijsters to be kind of predictable, and things really aren't that odd.

 

Okay, half of them are gone, but look who's in their place
17 Peer
18 Zheng
19 Rezai
20 Peer

:speakles:

she's multiplied

 

^^Volcana - I think you need to cross Li out, don't you?

ETA: Okay - I see you've changed it

 

^^Volcana - I think you need to cross Li out, don't you?

I messed up the closing tag '[/s]'

And sorry, too, about doubling up Peer. I'm gone the last three nights without sleep, bailing out a flooded basement. I love where I live, mostly, but the power's dodgy, and the basement floods once a year.

 

Wind.

That tournament is always a demolition derby.

 

My care factor for IW has just gone down the drain I was so excited about this tournament but now with Sveta, Justine, Maria, Kim and Vika gone there is no point watching. Bring on Miami. I just wish the top players would show up week in week out like they used to 5 to 10 years ago.

 

Competition. There are no guarantees.