[Seles2002]

Here are the rankings of the players with their points taken off before the French Open.

1. Davenport: 3350pts<br />2. V.Williams: 2690pts<br />3. Clijsters: 2658pts<br />4. Capriati: 2586pts<br />5. S.Williams: 2208pts<br />6. Dokic: 2048pts<br />7. Henin: 1934pts<br />8. Seles: 1708pts<br />9. Testud: 1247pts<br />10. Hingis: 1160pts<br />11. Shaughnessy: 885pts<br />12. Dementieva: 872pts<br />13. Maleeva: 736pts<br />14. Sanchez-Vicario: 656pts<br />15. Mauresmo: 609pts<br />16. Schett: 593pts<br />17. Coetzer: 423pts<br />*Missing Farina-Elia

- Hingis will tumble out of the top 10 if her injury hasn't healed<br />- Both S.Williams and Clijsters have a chance of making it into the Top 3<br />- Mauresmo will need to start performing or she will drop out of the top 10<br />- Dokic, Seles, or Henin may replace Capriati in the top 5

Any others??

[ December 19, 2001: Message edited by: Seles2002 ]</p>

 

[AjdeNate!]

Thanks! I love to crunch numbers. It will be interesting to see how the first part of the year unfolds.

 

[Seles2002]

Considering Monica...

Dokic will be below Monica after the Aussie Open since she is missing it. If Monica can have a big performance in Australia she could grab the No.2 or No.3 position by the end of the FO. Both Capriati and Clijsters will fall serverly if they don't defend their FO points which will leave Monica ahead of them since she can only gain points at the FO. Plus Monica has entered a nice amount of events so far for next year. Plus she can really rack up the points when the claycourt season comes.

On another note, look how Hingis will go if she can't defend her points.

Any thoughts?

 

[Williams Rulez]

It is going to be really easy for any of the top 5 on that list to become number 1. This is simply because most of the tournaments like the slams, Indian Wells and Ericsson Open are worth more points than before. So winning the right tournaments could put you at the number 1 spot easily.

 

[Seles2002]

If Monica can pick up a Grand Slam she is in the running for No.1!!

 

[QUEENLINDSAY]

The Best Shot for number One would still be between Lindsay & Venus.

 

[Kart]

I can't see Martina not defending the majority of her points before the French open - barring injury she is still a deadly player at the start of the season.

I really hope Monica stays healthy and stacks up the points this year.

 

[Candy946]

Hopefully Monica will be atleast in the top 5 by next year and that she will enter more tournaments! <img src="graemlins/wavey.gif" border="0" alt="[Wavey]" />

 

[Robbie.]

anyone who think s martina won't stay in the top top 10, is deluding themselves, she may slip at the start of the year out of the top 5 but after the french she has nothing to defend (Less than even Testud or Shaughnessy <img src="redface.gif" border="0"> ) She'll be picking up a lot of points while players like Lindsay,Kim and Jelena are losing them. I think given she is back to full fitess she will be atleast in the top 5 come French Open time, probably winning a few claycourt tournies (where she did miserably last year by her standards). If she goes into Wimbledon in the top 5 she will give the No.1 ranking a shake as her key rivals are defending three times as many points from there onwards.

 

[Volcana]

Actually, most of the things that have been predicted are probably likely.

Martina fall out of the top ten. Sure that could happen. Briefly. Serena did in 2001. She was fine by the end of the year. Martina rolled her ankle. How bad is it? I don't know. I don't know what her training schedule was. I don't know how it was effected, if at all. But if it WAS a fairly severe injury, if she HASN'T been able to train, if she IS out of shape, she could fall fast through January and February, since she's defending a lot. But even in that worst case scenario, she;'d play her self into shape by Hamburg and rack up points during clay court saeson. Worst case #7 by Roalnd Garros.

Monica top five. Well. Do I believe there are five BETTER players in the world than Monica? No. Soooo ....

Venus #1. She's defending this.

SF GS 01/15 - 01/28 HARD Australian Open <br />SF T2 02/12 - 02/18 CARP Nice<br />SF T1 03/08 - 03/17 HARD Indian Wells <br />CH T1 03/21 - 04/01 HARD Miami

CH T2 04/30 - 05/06 CLAY Hamburg <br />16 T1 05/07 - 05/13 CLAY Berlin <br />1r GS 05/28 - 06/10 CLAY Roland Garros

CH GS 06/25 - 07/08 GRAS Wimbledon

QF T2 07/23 - 07/29 HARD Stanford<br />CH T2 07/30 - 08/05 HARD San Diego<br />CH T2 08/19 - 08/25 HARD New Haven<br />CH GS 08/27 - 09/09 HARD U.S. Open USA

Never out more than two weeks. Hmmm ...

Serena #1. Can she beat big sister? She's already beaten everyone else. If she plays this season the way she ended last season ....<br />But she has to play 17 events. And have someone else figure out to beat her sister.

Lindsay just stays #1. Well, let's say she wins OZ. She won it in 2000, that isn't at all an unreasonable supposition. Even if Jenn made the final, when the dust cleared Lindsay would be 1000 points ahead. Anybody else would be further back. And remember, Lindsay did miss all of clay season last year. Not her best surface, but certainly good for 500 poins or so. If she otherwise keeps making semis, she arrives at the RG with most of that 1000 point lead chiseled away. Probably by Venus. Venus defends 2 points at RG. Lindsay defends zero. And then we're into the part of the tour where VEnus has to defend points.

Kim Clijsters - Simply isn't defending much. She a lot better player now.

 

[Monica_Rules]

5 better players than Monica i can name 3

Serena<br />Venus<br />Lindsay

Who are the other 2?

Capriati?Beaten last 2 times by Monica

Clijsters/Henin never beaten Monica!

 

[arn]

But Kim and Monica didn't play each other during 2001 (except Hopman-cup in january)

I'm sure Kim has improved a lot since last january

I think Kim would win if they play know, but we will know for sure when they meet at the Hopman-cup!

 

[Volcana]

You see, there aren't many players right now I'd say were BETTER than Monica. Just as good? Those kinds of grey areas lead to trouble. Venus, Serena or Lindsay I would expect to beat Monica now. Anyone else, would probably get more than they knew how to handle.

Since returning from the injury that cost her clay court season, Monica played Hingis twice, Capriati, Dokic twice and Henin. And went 6-0.

CH T2 09/10-09/16 HARD Bahia (def Jelena DOKIC 6-3 6-3) <br />QF T1 08/13-08/19 HARD Toronto (def Justine HENIN (BEL) 1-6 6-2 6-2)<br />16 T1 08/13-08/19 HARD Toronto (def Jelena DOKIC (YUG) 6-3 7-6(3))<br />SF T2 08/06-08/12 HARD Los Angeles (def Martina HINGIS (SUI) 6-3 1-6 6-4) <br />QF T2 07/30-08/05 HARD San Diego (def Jennifer CAPRIATI (USA) 6-3 6-3)<br />SF T2 07/30-08/05 HARD San Diego (def Martina HINGIS (SUI) 6-3 6-4

True she didn't play Clijsters. It doesn't matter though. Even if I conceded Clijsters, that leaves a spot, Amelie disappeared after RG, Monica has beaten all the other contenders the last time they played.

[ December 21, 2001: Message edited by: Volcana ]</p>

 

[turt]

And Justine and Monica played each other in january too: Juju was leading 6-4, and then 4-2 in both 2nd and 3rd set, losing 4-6 6-4 6-4... at Australian Open, probably the tournament where Monica has her best stats! <br />She was not even top 20 at this time.<br />I believe she is a muuuch better player than she was 1 year ago!

[ December 21, 2001: Message edited by: turt ]</p>

 

[Seles2002]

Turt, don't you remember the 1-6 6-2 6-2 thrashing Monica handed out to Justine at the Canadian Open this year where Justine WAS in the top 10.

Saying that Monica's win over Kim doesn't count because Kim is playing better now is ridiculous. Remember Monica is also playing alot better then she did at the Hopman Cup earlier this year.

 

[Kart]

I feel sorry for Justine because she should really have won both matches from the way she was playing and leading - Toronto was the only one I watched and I switched off after the first set because it was not even competitive <img src="frown.gif" border="0"> .

I was stunned when I found out that Monica won, not that I'm complaining <img src="smile.gif" border="0"> - I do think though that Justine is going to have mental difficulty playing Monica in the future on the basis of their matches this year.

 

[2ace2]

I really think Kim has a chance of making the top 3! I don't think Jennifer and Martina will get as far as they did last year, so they'll lose points. Kim only made 4th round last year and I'm sure she'll do better this year, so she'll probably win points and that gives her a good chance at top 3!<br />GO KIM!!!

 

[arn]

In the first part of the year it will be between Capriati, Kim and Serena who will fight for the third place.

For the second part of the year... everything is possible!