Oldie but a goodie© Michael Cecilio
May 16, 2000
Move over Anna. Move over Venus and Serena. The "oldies" are here to stay and they are charging back up the rankings like a couple of rookie teenagers. In two consecutive weeks we have seen tour veterans, Nathalie Tauziat and Conchita Martinez, reach the world #3 ranking, and it is quite likely that even more veterans are going to push their way towards the upper echelons of the rankings.
Deserving of this honour on the surface or not, the computer can't tell lies. They got their rankings fair and square. Much had been made of the fact that Nathalie Tauziat, the oldest player in the Top 10 (maybe even the oldest player on tour), had reached the world #3 ranking on May 8, 2000. Some may even call it controversy. In tennis circles, many believed that Tauziat was not the world's third best tennis player, given her record this year. On indoor surfaces and grasscourts, Tauziat can most definitely be qualified as at least the third best player in the world. However, most of the tournaments this season have been played on hardcourts and claycourts - surfaces which have proven to be ineffective towards Tauziat's game - and she has advanced to the top, despite a 3-4 win-loss record on these surfaces. How on earth, you say, can someone who has lost in the first round seven times in the past 52 weeks and who continually loses to players ranked so much lower, still be ranked #3 in the world? The answer is simple. With a good schedule and strong showings on surfaces more conducive to her game, Tauziat has managed to reach the lofty heights of the game, even if it is classified as a bit of a quirk of the system. As she proved towards the end of last year and at Paris this year, there isn't much you can do about Tauziat on an indoor surface. She picked up scalps over Kournikova, Huber, Testud, Coetzer, Capriati, Henin and also Serena Williams in the Paris final during her indoor onslaughts. With a depleted field, she managed a Tier I crown at Moscow last year, and with a bit of help from the draw, she reached the semis at the Chase Championships. Always a danger on grass where her serve-volley game is always a pleasure to watch, she reached two finals and the Wimbledon quarter finals last year. All in all, Tauziat holds three WTA titles on her rolling ranking - more than Mary Pierce and Monica Seles and equal with Serena Williams. It may have come with a little bit of luck, and the fact that many of the top players are battling inconsistency and injuries, but on the flip side, you've got to be one heck of a player to become #3.
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