It's been a month since the U.S. Open ended... do you know who your women's #1 is?

It's only been a month since the women's tennis hierarchy was "righted" for the first time in five years.

Since then, Maria Sharapova (#1 during the spring) has officially ended her '08 season, Ana Ivanovic (#1 during the summer) has fallen to #5, Serena Williams (#1 after the U.S. Open) has injured her ankle and dropped out of the top spot while Jelena Jankovic (#1 for one week prior to the Open) has won back-to-back titles and climbed the ranking mountain to become the world's highest-ranked woman once again.

In other words, "the usual"... for the 2008 season, at least.

**Post-U.S. Open Monthly Awards - Wk.37-40*
**TOP PLAYERS**
1. Jelena Jankovic, SRB
..."New York Jelena" lives!
2. Russian Fed Cup Team
...the Hordettes' domination of the Fed Cup is likely only in its early stages.
3. Dinara Safina, RUS
...even her spectacular second half of the season might not be enough to get her higher than #3 in the rankings.
4. Vera Zvonareva, RUS
...she's finally settled down rather comfortably in the Top 10.
5. Patty Schnyder, SUI
...she may sneakily hide in the shadows for months on end, but Patty never goes away.
HM- Caroline Wozniacki, DEN & Maria Kirilenko, RUS
...Kirilenko has begun to total up minor event titles, while C-Woz appears on the verge of contending for a few higher-level events next season.

**RISERS**
1. Dinara Safina, RUS
2. Vera Zvonareva, RUS
3. Maria Kirilenko, RUS
4. Li Na, CHN
5. Zheng Jie, CHN
6. Kaia Kanepi, EST
7. Peng Shuai, CHN
8. Katarina Srebotnik, SLO
9. Samantha Stosur, AUS
10. Anabel Medina-Garrigues, ESP
HM- Klara Zakopalova, CZE

**FRESH FACES**
1. Caroline Wozniacki, DEN
2. Dominika Cibulkova, SVK
3. Sorana Cirstea, ROU
4. Sabine Lisicki, GER
5. Ekaterina Makarova, RUS
6. Tamira Paszek, AUT
7. Jarmila Gajdosova, SVK
8. Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, RUS
9. Michelle Larcher de Brito, POR
10. Ayumi Morita, JPN
HM- Arantxa Rus, NED

**SURPRISES**
1. Kaia Kanepi, EST
2. Jarmila Gajdosova, SVK
3. Magdalena Rybarikova, SVK
4. Camille Pin, FRA
5. Olga Savchuk, UKR
HM- Appollonia Melzani, BEL

**VETERANS**
1. Patty Schnyder, SUI
2. Nadia Petrova, RUS
3. Jill Craybas, USA
4. Lisa Raymond, USA
5. Nuria Llagostra-Vives, ESP
HM- Francesca Schiavone, ITA

**COMEBACKS**
1. Nadia Petrova, RUS
2. Samantha Stosur, AUS
3. Lisa Raymond, USA
4. Tamarine Tanasugarn, THA
5. Marta Domachowska, POL

**DOWN**
1. Ana Ivanovic, SRB
2. Nicole Vaidisova, CZE
3. Serena Williams, USA
4. Agnes Szavay, HUN
5. Daniela Hantuchova, SVK
HM- Agnieszka Radwanska, POL

**ITF PLAYERS**
1. Masa Zec-Peskiric, SLO
2. Roberta Vinci, ITA
3. Irina-Carmelia Begu, ROU
4. Elena Kulikova, RUS
5. Kristina Barrois, GER
6. Lourdes Dominguez-Lino, ESP
7. Hsieh Su-Wei, TPE
8. Bojana Jovanovski, SRB
9. Julie Ditty, USA
10. Ksenia Lykina, RUS
HM- Varvara Lepchenko, USA

**TOP PERFORMANCES**
[indivdual]
Jelena Jankovic wins Beijing and Stuttgart, putting some teeth in her new #1 ranking.
[team]
Russia wins fourth Fed Cup title in the last five years.

*BEST MATCH*
Stuttgart SF - Jankovic d. V.Williams
...6-7/7-5/6-2. A missing mom, a stop watch, a split, a near-bump, a craving for a red car to match red shoes and further proof that a certain Divine Miss J's best is yet to come.

*BIGGEST UPSET*
Stuttgart 2nd - Li d. S.Williams
...0-6/6-1/6-4. Or is it? Is another Serena Downturn in order for '09?

*BIGGEST COMEBACKS*
Tokyo 1st/Beijing 1st - Cibulkova d. Mauresmo
...in back-to-back weeks, the teenage Slovak successfully battled her way out of a corner against the veteran Pastry. In Tokyo, Cibulkova saved four match points and won in a 3rd set tie-break. The following week, she overcame 6-3/4-3 and 3-1 in the 3rd deficits to give Mauresmo another Excedrin headache.

*BIGGEST CHOKE*
It's a good thing Svetlana Kuznetsove was given the honor of leading the Russian Fed Cup team to the title. Otherwise, she'd have a real afraid-of-success mental block to contend with. Then again, maybe she does anyway. After losing to Jankovic in the Beijing final, she fell to 0-5 in 2008 singles deciders, and 1-10 in her last eleven going back two years.

*BIGGEST NON-SURPRISE*
Beijing QF - Zheng d. Ivanovic
...7-6/2-6/6-4. At Wimbledon, it was a minor shocker when Zheng upset the then-#1 AnaIvo. A few months later, even if it did take nearly 3:00, it barely causes an eyebrow to be raised. That says something about the increasingly-healthy (in body and game) Zheng, but maybe more about Serbia's second-best female player's troubles since winning in Paris.

==RANKING THE LATE SUMMER/EARLY FALL VERSIONS OF JANKOVIC (M.I.A.: Tokyo Jelena)==
5. Beijing Jelena I
4. Beijing Jelena II
3. Stuttgart Jelena
2. New York Jelena
1. #1 Jelena


All for now.