Finally, justice is served

Articles in this Topic Discussions in this Topic

Apr 4, 2000

Last season, you would have been hard-pressed to guess who would end up in the finals of a major championship. It seemed that anyone in the Top 10 was ready for the fight of a major title, and what made the WTA tour so appealing to fans was the fact that there were a group of seven odd marketable and talented players who were consistently challenging for the big titles.

There are still a whole group of eager and willing challengers this season. But so far this season, it has all been about #1 and #2. Lindsay Davenport and Martina Hingis have proven that they are, according to Lindsay, "head and shoulders above the rest". It is hard not to agree with her statement. Both lead the tour with two titles this season and also co-lead the tour with appearances in five finals. In fact, four of their five finals have been contested against each other. Predictable? Maybe it is a little predictable, but rest assured, they are promising a fantastic rivalry - a rivalry which only looks to get better as the year goes on.

Yes, the WTA tour was in a flurry of thrills and spills as a number of worthy opponents came to the fore last year. Martina Hingis and Lindsay Davenport were still #1 and #2. But their dominance on the tour was not as clear-cut as it is at this very moment. 1999 saw a variety of names and personalities come into the forefront with Martina Hingis winning the Australian Open over the then-unknown French sensation Amelie Mauresmo, Steffi Graf winning her final Grand Slam crown in thrilling fashion at the French Open over Hingis, Lindsay Davenport beating Graf in the Wimbledon final a few weeks later and Serena Williams absolutely blitzing the field with her power and athleticism at the US Open. Throw into the mix Venus Williams who finished the year as a worthy challenger for the #1 ranking, winning six titles including the prestigious Miami event, and Mary Pierce and Monica Seles who put in consistent performances throughout the year to finish at #5 and #6 respectively. Don't forget the much-improved performances of players like Nathalie Tauziat, Barbara Schett and Jennifer Capriati who had excellent 1999 seasons, and Top 20 stalwarts such as Amanda Coetzer, Sandrine Testud, Arantxa Sanchez-Vicario and Conchita Martinez.

There aren't as many challengers this year, or at least for now, there doesn't appear to be anyone ready to step into the limelight. Venus Williams has not played a single match in season 2000 and has in fact been reported to be contemplating retirement. Sister Serena has not produced her best form since her heroic efforts at the US Open and this year has been beaten by players she used to pummel last year. Mary Pierce, as ever, is an incredibly streaky player who can beat anyone one day and fold to the #100 player the day after. Monica Seles is still trying to figure out how to get back to the form which took her to the #1 ranking in the early 1990's and in the meantime gets a severe beating against the top players (refer to Miami semi finals against Martina Hingis). Anna Kournikova has definitely improved her game but needs the consistency to beat the best. Sanchez-Vicario, Martinez and Tauziat are all veteran players who deserve their current rankings but for how much longer can they put up with the grind of the tour while getting beaten by the young upstarts of the WTA tour?

Go To Page: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8

The copyright of the article Finally, justice is served in Women's Tennis is owned by Michael Cecilio. Permission to republish Finally, justice is served in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.