[CamilleVidann]

It's obvious that Kimiko had a better career than Ai has had so far. But it seems Ai's been closing the gap significantly this year.
Where do you think Ai's accomplishments in comparison with Date's?
Is there any chance that Ai will eventually have as great a career as Date did?
What does Ai need to accomplish to catch up with Kimiko?
I'm very hopeful that Ai will enter the top 10 for the first time in her career by some good performance in the U.S. open and the rest of the season where she won't have too many points to defend.
I don't think it's fair to Kimiko to take into consideration Ai's accomplishments in doubles cuz in measuring a player's greatness, singles stats should be the only data we should look at imho.

 

[Monsters]

why dont we just wait till Ai hits TOP 10 to
talk about this

 

[CamilleVidann]

I don't think reaching the top 10 is nearly enough for Ai to tie with Kimiko in greatness.
Kimiko reached the semifinals at three different GSs after all. What's Ai's best result at a GS? I believe that's her quarterfinal appearance at the 2000 AO where she was soundly beaten by Capriati. I really thought she had more than a decent chance to make it to the semis.

 

[switz]

kimiko IMO is in another league. ai has capitalised on her opportunites lately, but we all know that despite thhe fact that she has a complete game, she is no threat to the top players when they are on there game. kimiko was, plus she achieved her results over a much longer period of time and retired young. ai has achieved a lot, but has been very up and down, even this year she still loses matches she shouldn't.

they have both had great careers, but kimiko i believe was a much more dangerous/better player

 

[tommyk75]

Kimiko easily had the better career, but I think Ai has surpassed Naoko Sawamatsu at this point.

 

[GoGoMaggie]

as switz put, Kimkio was just in a different league. She was way more talented then Ai. The only way Ai could match or surpass Kimiko in greatness is reach a GS final or get a higher ranking which is obviously not too easy. I just think Kimiko was a one-out-of-half-a-century talent. So it's not fair to Ai to compare her career with that of someone so great.

 

[Fantastic]

Ai has won Grand Slam titles. Albeit, in womens' and mixed doubles but they should be worth something.

If we're strictly talking singles, then Ai still has a long way to go to close the huge gap with Kimiko.

 

[doloresc]

How does Ai Sugiyama fair against Kimiko Date in greatness?

even if sugiyama reaches the top 10, she'll never come close to achieving date's success. the difference is not only in their results but in their over all games. all credit to sugiyama for blossoming late in her career into a good player but she doesn't do anything better than date. date's game was sound all across the board. she beat every big name in her heyday with the exception of seles, who she nearly beat (blew several match points). sugiyama is not really a threat to the top players whereas date was. i wish sugiyama and the other asian players had date's aggression because that's how she got to the top 5. even coetzer, another diminutive player, wouldn't have to work so hard had she had date's court savvy.

 

[Darran]

I agree totally with Doloresc, Kimiko was someone who the top players probably wouldn't want to play, and she had chances albeit outside ones to win or get to the finals of slams. With all due respect Ai might come up with the odd freak result but she seems destined to be a 4th round of a slam type player until she faces someone better and then goes out. Even with her on the skirts of the top 10 you'd find it hard to find people who couldnt name at least 15-20 players more likely at the moment to win the US open than her.

 

[CamilleVidann]

I really hope Ai will do well at the Open. Her part of the draw isn't particularly kind to her but with a few great wins she can get into the top 10 for the first time in her career. I don't see her match Kimiko in greatness no matter what, though. Kimiko is just.......a legend.