[Volcana]

Half the players in the top ten have less than the minimum number of tournaments, as of this week. Venus (13), Lindsay (14), Serena (9), Amelie (16), Monica (14).

01 4825 17 Jennifer Capriati (USA)
02 4200 13 Venus Williams (USA)
03 3862 14 Lindsay Davenport (USA)
04 3698 22 Kim Clijsters (BEL)
05 3678 18 Martina Hingis (SUI)
06 2875 09 Serena Williams (USA)
07 2816 21 Justine Henin (BEL)
08 2780 16 Amelie Mauresmo (FRA)
08 2780 26 Jelena Dokic (YUG)
10 2541 14 Monica Seles (USA)

No player ranked over #11 has less than 20 tournaments.

11 1944 25 Meghann Shaughnessy (USA)
12 1942 28 Sandrine Testud (FRA)
13 1754 22 Nathalie Tauziat (FRA)
14 1661 30 Silvia Farina Elia (ITA)
15 1608 23 Elena Dementieva (RUS)
16 1552 25 Magdalena Maleeva (BUL)
17 1548 26 Arantxa Sanchez-Vicario (ESP)
18 1495 20 Anke Huber (GER)
19 1418 22 Amanda Coetzer (RSA)
20 1224 26 Iroda Tulyaganova (UZB)
21 1079 25 Barbara Schett (AUT)
22 1074 21 Lisa Raymond (USA)
23 1030 25 Angeles Montolio (ESP)
24 1027 23 Henrieta Nagyova (SVK)
25 1005 29 Magui Serna (ESP)

* Kim is projected ahead of Martina but that's a statistical fluke. Martina is playing this week, and Kim isn't, so unless Martina loses in the first round, she'll return to #4.

* Lindsay only has one tournament more than Venus, and less than everyone ranked behind her but Serena.

* Kim, Justine and Jelena play more than everyone else in the top ten. Which may mean nothing.

* Amelie and Jelena have exactly the same number of ranking points. Amelie has played TEN fewer tournaments.

 

[veronica]

Interesting.

If Miss Venus shows and wins at both Paris and Dubai (Venus stands to pick up about 550 points) - Jennifer doesn't pick up tournies before Scottsdale and Hingis doesn't play Doha/Dubai this is going to get real tight between Scottsdale and Miami. By Roland Garros we will have a real fight on our hands. I luv it!


Jennifer 4825 - 141 (Oklahoma)= 4684
Venus 4200 - 113 (Nice) = 4087
Martina 3678 - 498 (Doha/Dubai) = 3180 + tokyo points

 

[mishar]

Unfortunately, Venus is gonna lose more points at Indian Wells, and has a lot to defend in Miami, so she couldn't make her move to #1 until the clay season.
I hope she plays one of the American green clay events.

btw, Volcana, Monica only has 13 tournaments.

 

[mn73]

Won't be much of a fight at the French Open really with Jennifer defending 900 points or so, Hingis defending SF points and Venus Williams defending, let me see... TWO POINTS!?!

I think we have a winner already!?!

However, it is hard for her to add any points after that because she won everything!?!

 

[Volcana]

Mark Newman - I don't know about you, but I expected Venus to win OZ and be #1 NOW. So I'm not assuming she'll be within hailing frequencies of #1 by June. (I've had my heart broken enough.) Martina has lost at Wimbledon in the first round twice in the last three years. And she's WON Wimbledon. Venus has never made a lot of noise at RG. So if she can lose in the first round once, she can do it again. (I am, incidently, going to bet actual money that Venus will win RG, if she's healthy.)

My guess is we're going to arrive at RG with 3, maybe players who can get to #1 by winning, if someone else screws up.

 

[tenn_ace]

Anna will be behind the horizon. If she doesn't win 2 rounds (Elena D. in the second).

 

[RAA]

I agree that venus really needed to win at the Australian this year to make a solid run at #1 (at least, she had at least defend her semifinal points). She's skipping indian wells, and doesn't generally do that well during the clay court season, am i right? so, she needs to make a good push at the French, but I think that will be Venus' hardest slam to win.
Then she's got all those points to defend during the summer. not that she can't do it again, but it will be hard. PLUS, she probably won't play much after the US Open...so can't pick up any points at the end of the year either.
But, as I have said in the past, I would rather she win slams than be #1. I really thought she would win the Australian (all credit to Seles) so i'm going to have to get my enthusiasm back up for the French.
Ruth in Philly PA USA

 

[Jordan.]

Go Martina!

 

[Volcana]

Infiniti2001 - You did choose to answer the 'pointless exercise'.

Anyway, 'Projected' just means I dropped off the Toray points. It's just a way to see where everyone's starting from this week. It's not the Holy Grail.

 

[Williams Rulez]

Sigh... Venus not playing Indian Wells sealed her fate. She'd have to wait till the clay season to even have a chance of being number 1.

 

[joao]

Venus needs to be #1 before Wimbledon.......otherwise she has no chance in the 2d half of the year of getting there! It's simple......she won almost everything betwen June and September! Too many points to defend! Her alternative would be to play after USO...but chances are that she will do as usual.......pack after USO and unpack for the championships (maybe!). Actually her best shot at #1 is in january-March. With some good wins in that period (AO included) and all the points she usually accumulates between Wimby and USO, she would just blow everyone else!

A win at RG would do just fine though!!!!!