[Tomma17]

I know some people live on here and need things to talk about, but this stuff is not praise worthy and does nothing good for tennis' image or reputation!

-Simona Halep takes YE No.1 on a three match losing streak, and having a total of 1 title win...yet is excused because " she made a lot of Finals"
-Caroline Wozniacki wins a major and takes over no.1, then proceeds to lose straight sets in the QF of her next event- yet is excused because she " tanked/is tired"....but she is a player that is known for playing 3-4 weeks in a row and had played one match in the 6 days prior
-Elina Sviolina is a GS title contender - yet has never made it past the QF any of major
-Sloane Stephens wins a major but then proceeds to go on a 7 match losing steak( albeit she wasn't/isn't seen as a top player)
- Kristina Mladenovic cracks the top 10 on a wave of 15 straight losses
-Part time players are justified in "tanking" tour events, just to save themselves for the majors...yet don't even win said majors


Where are the days of CONSISTENT week in, week out play; days of your top players regularly contesting for the biggest events; the days where plays treated every match respectfully and professionally despite it's tier or status. These are supposed to be some of the best athletes in the world- and the sport has evolved to it's "highest level" that the game has seen.

I'm aware that times have changed but this current stuff is not worth boasting about people. And before people come in with the "depth" excuse, just a handful of seasons ago we had Serena, Sharapova and Azarenka regularly dividing up every big event and most of the same players now , were playing then.

 

[reallyNow]

One player being unable to consistently dominate is not necessarily indicative of a lower overall standard.
You have to consider the depth. [Yes, you answered your own question. It's not an "excuse"]
What happened in recent times is that the "heads" were SUDDENLY chopped off the tour.
These are the few players who have the capacity to dominate by being very good consistently.

Of course, Serena falls into that category and she was out on maternity.
It's the same for Azarenka with her pregnancy and custody complications.
Sharapova was out serving her meldonium drug suspension.
Kerber had her slump in 2017 after an amazing 2016. (This is the least justifiable)
Kvitova was actually on a bit of a streak before she was butchered by an a**hole.
If I counted right these women had won 12/16 slams from 2013-2016 and they ALL went missing at once.

So we ended up with a slighly more even field where results are less predicatable.
This allowed some of the younger players to break through with major wins as there were fewer former champs to stop them.
After the AO final in 2017 the only major final between grand slam winners was Wimbledon (Venus/Muguruza).
Every other one was contested by two players who'd never won a slam.

That they took advantage of their opportunities doesn't mean there would be sudden absolute dominance.
It's possible to win a slam without facing your worst matchups due to earlier upsets or helpful draws.
So I don't view the volatility as evidence of plummeting overall standards but of a highly competitive, evenly matched tour due to the loss of dominant players.
It will be interesting to see what 2018 brings as Serena and Azarenka return while Kerber and Kvitova could be returning to form.

 

[Sui]

Any player, any week, can win. Is that not exciting?

 

[New-Era]

I agree, I miss the consistency.

 

[Sam L]

Any player, any week, can win. Is that not exciting?

Yes it's like the lottery. How exciting.

 

[Sui]

:lol: I'm trying to figure out what makes people happy. When there is consistency, it's bad and new blood is yearned for. When it's a toss up, it's bad. Eh, whatevs.

 

[goldenlox]

Wozniacki and Halep are consistency. The 2 best players of the last 12 months met in the AO final
If they met in every final, people would complain that there is no depth on the WTA tour
Wozniacki came into this week making 9 finals in her last 18 WTA events and won the last major, and several of those she had to play twice in one day.
These 2 are a goldmine for the WTA and a big reason that Perform and China is spending billions of the WTA product
(Perform not spending, they make money by selling the WTA content to tv networks and digital platforms)

 

[Riskiick]

Any player, any week, can win. Is that not exciting?

Yes, that is not exciting.

In theory it could be exciting if a different player was goating over a strong field every week. But what it has actually been is top players in bad form making way for a different player playing decent tennis every week. It's a shame.

 

[goldenlox]

Yes, that is not exciting.

In theory it could be exciting if a different player was goating over a strong field every week. But what it has actually been is top players in bad form making way for a different player playing decent tennis every week. It's a shame.

This is only the 3rd premier of the year.
Svitolina and Kerber won the first 2, Wozniacki won the major
I'm not sure what people want. Kasatkina is an important player in St Petersburg, Mladenovic played well this time last year. Kvitova and Goerges are very legit players to make a premier run

Do you want Wozniacki, Halep, Svitolina and Pliskova all in every semi? Like the big 4 in 2010 ATP?
They are going to do okay, but there are some other good players

 

[miffedmax]

I'll worry about the standard of play in the WTA when my fave starts winning titles.

 

[Ballbasher]

Wozniacki, Halep, Pliskova and Svitolina have been more or less very consistent for large parts in 2017 and all of them reached the AO QFs at least in 2018. :shrug: Pliskova just can't seem to find the next gear currently, while Svitolina just doesn't have the mental fortitude of a champion (yet). Venus will always have some dire days sadly. Muguruza is the only really streaky player in the highest echelons of the game currently and she always seems to carry some sort of injury. :shrug: Ostapenko will never be consistent and has to adapt to being a top player first same with Garcia. Pretty sure Mladenovic won't fall as hard and it remains to be seen whether Konta can pick it up again.

 

[Kasey]

Any player, any week, can win. Is that not exciting?

No, it's not.

 

[GrumpyCat]

No, it's not.

I genuinely do not get that. It's like watching a movie with a well known ending... over and over again :zzz:

 

[GoofyDuck]

Long time passing.

 

[Matmagix]

Woz and Halep are actually decent standard bearers in that they do tend to go deep consistently. The only negative is that they don't often rack the titles as comfortably as Serena, Maria or Vika might have hence it looks like there is a hole. USO was probably the biggest case since both of them went out early. But for Halep to make Madrid, Rome and RG finals is still a pretty good deal, only Serena and Maria have performed better in that department in recent times. I don't think Vika was strong across all surfaces either, her clay and grass level was not as sound as her HC game.

 

[pov]

:lol: I'm trying to figure out what makes people happy. When there is consistency, it's bad and new blood is yearned for. When it's a toss up, it's bad. Eh, whatevs.

:lol: Yeah but humans aren't Borg. Some people like to have dominance at the top, others prefer a revloving door. :shrug:

I think it's just an unusual situation now because SW, Sharapova, Azarenka, Kvitova were all out.

 

[SilverSaturday]

Variety is the spice of life. I don't want to see one or two players dominating and winning everything like say in Formula I racing where only two teams have a hope of winning and the rest have to hope that something goes wrong with the dominating two. Right now more players have a chance of winning titles than just one or two dominating, so for me it makes it more interesting, and I'm certainly not seeing a drop in standards of play.

 

[cogent53]

I find it quite exciting at the moment and 2018 could be a great year. I’d love to see Serena finally overtake that bigot Margaret Court for the justified best-ever title. I’d love to see Vika get back with her aggressive game. I’m thrilled fighting Kerber is back after her 2017 hangover. I really REALLY want to see Petra Kvitova win another slam as the most naturally talented player of her generation IMO. I’d be more than happy to see Halep break her slam duck at RG after her January. I’m interested to see if Madison Keys and Sloane Stephens can be a consist threat as two super talented players. I am happy for Caroline Wozniacki to ha e won her slam title after making changes to her game and being mor aggressive, showing there is always room for improvement even after you’ve been World number 1. As a Brit, I’m interested to see if Jo Konta can be less robotic and slightly nuts!

I think the openness of the tour means everyone feels they can win if they raise their game and have some good fortune. I think many of us are waiting to see what shape and form Serena returns in, she has had such an air of confidence and invincibility for years. With her, anything is possible. She could win everything or flame out and disappear.

For me, it’s all very exciting right now.

 

[goldenlox]

I think the confusion is because arguably, the 4 best players on tour: Wozniacki, Halep, Svitolina and Kerber are defensive geniuses
Tennis broadcasters have this fake narrative that you win majors being aggressive, so you get the kind of bullshit that Tracey Austin spews, that
whenever Wozniacki wins, she played aggressively, and when she plays defensively she loses

But if you watched the AO, Wozniacki won it well behind the baseline playing defense. Especially in the most pressurized moments, she took very few chances and stayed well within her skillset. So fans are confused because broadcasters are stupid.

Nothing unusual is going on, 1 & 2 just met in a slam final.

 

[Gentleman]

I miss the consistency as well.

Not invested in WTA as much as during Ana's career, but I secretly want Wozniacki, Halep, Muguruza to do well regardless of other players (and even though not a fan of Halep's and Caro's style) just because I want WTA's image to survive and get a recognizable shape again. Top players winning top tournaments, less surprises. I also hope Serena, Sharapova and Azarenka will get it together at the same time and give us 2 more seasons with the three of them being in the top 5. Hopefully that buys enough time for younger players to become more consistent.