WTA Backspin by Todd Spiker

BACKSPIN SPECIAL: The Best of Amelie

2009-12-03T18:21:00.002-05:00

Hail, Amelie. Full of grace.

Two-time slam champion and former world #1 Amelie Mauresmo announced her retirement today. In a decade dominated by power-hitting and sometimes absent-minded tennis, the Frenchwoman was one of the rare exceptions. Her elegant game, filled with enough slice, touch, fluid athleticism and, especially, innate intelligence, to fill a book of poetry, was at once a joy to watch, as well as lament over the last couple of seasons as she noticably neared her career's end and it became apparent that we weren't likely to see many (if any) players with her particular sort of verve ever again.

For many years, it was easy to overlook the almost casually-looking brilliance of Mauresmo's game because of her inability to put it on full display at one of the four biggest events of any given season. Trust me, I know... because I often did choose to harp on what she hadn't accomplished rather than how beautifully she played the sport. I feel bad about that now.

That she was the first woman to ever reach the top of the women's rankings without having won a slam, rather than be the anchor around her career's neck that it appeared to be at the time, now reads like a prelude to the career she ultimately put together when all was said and done. Once she found a way to come out on top (twice, in fact) in a grand slam event in 2006, all the negative chatter was better left in the past. At that point, as she'd finally taken her proper place in the history of the game, it was time to fully appreciate her. I'd like to think that I've done that in recent seasons, including when I gave her what I sort of figured might be her career's last rites during the Decade's Best series, even if I was a bit "late" to the proceedings.

Diane Dees over at "Women Who Serve" wasn't, though. A career-long fan of Mauresmo, her elegy to Amelie's career is a sweet look back at a player whose flair was but a small part of the big picture. I suggest giving it a look-see.

Whether Mauresmo retired a year too late, or maybe a year too early, preventing a proper season-long send-off, will remain a question. But the joy of watching her at the top of her game will never be. Thank goodness for video... and memories.

As far as this space goes, here's a Backspin history of Amelie, first with a sampling of how I saw her in 2001-02 (since those old links have long since been lost to the internet gremlins), then with all the major appearances by Mauresmo in this space from 2003-09, in link form:

=December 21, 2001: 2002 Intriguing Question: Will Amelie Mauresmo finally have a grand slam to be proud of?=

9.Will Amelie Mauresmo finally have a grand slam to be proud of?
...Since bursting onto the scene with a RU performance at the 1999 Australian, Mauresmo has failed to put up a single great performance at another slam. Before 2001's QF at the US Open, she'd never advanced past another 4r at a major. Mauresmo's power game is certainly built to contend in the newly-powerful world of women's tennis, but it's her nerves that are usually her undoing on the big stage. Her hard court results have been disappointing, but Mauresmo's had great success on the clay (winning 4 events on the surface this past Spring). Thus, RG would seem to be her best chance to win a slam, but she's never been able to live up to the pressure of the expectant home French crowd... and generally goes down in flames quite early. She's never advanced past the 4r there, and bowed out in the 1r in '01 after such a great pre-RG run. With a chance to get things into gear in the season-closing Championships in Munich, she again was defeated in her first match (by fellow Frenchwoman Sandrine Testud, no less).
VERDICT: Mauresmo will always be preceived as a threat going into most slams, but that talk always comes equipped with a qualifying rider that goes something like "if she can ever get it together and win a big match." The choker label will continue to trail behind her like a homesick puppy, and she won't be able to shake it in 2002.

=August 19, 2002: Getting Ready=

WTA REPORT - WEEK 33
*CHAMPIONS*
MONTREAL, QUEBEC (Tier I - Hardcourt)
S: Amelie Mauresmo d. Jennifer Capriati
D: Ruano-Pascual/Suarez d. Fujiwara/Sugiyama

*AWARDS*
PLAYER OF THE WEEK: Amelie Mauresmo
....No surprise here. Apparently, Wimbledon was Mauresmo's re-introduction to the big-time stage of women's tennis. If her head is now something other than a generally useless appendage to her game, she could make much noise down the stretch of 2002.

=December 23, 2002: Intriguing Question Recap=

IQ #9 - WILL AMELIE MAURESMO FINALLY HAVE A GRAND SLAM TO BE PROUD OF?
WHAT I SAID THEN: "Mauresmo will always be perceived as a threat going into most slams, but that talk always comes equipped with a qualifying rider that goes something like, 'if she can ever get it together and win a big match.' The choker label will continue to trail behind her like a homesick puppy, and she won't be able to shake it in 2002."
VERDICT: Miss
...Mauresmo, with a new coach who brought out the best in her, advanced to both the Wimbledon & US Open SF and won the Tier I in Montreal for her biggest title to date.

=2002=
December: 2003 Intriguing Question: Was Amelie Mauresmo's '02 big event success just another teasing flash in the pan?

=2003=
February 10: Round and Round, Round by Round
May 5: Amelie Day
November 24: The Russians Played Routlette, and Mauresmo was the Bullet

=2004=
May 17: Mademoiselle Opportunity?
August 9: Hail Maria, Still Full of Grace?
December 24: 2005 Intriguing Question: Will Amelie Mauresmo's "Grand Slam Gambit" Be a Success"

=2005=
February 21: Random Spins
October 20: 2005 Intriguing Answers: A Funny Thing Happened on the Way...
November 8: How Smart We Were/How Dumb We Were (+ SEC '05)

=2006=
January 22: Australian Open Day 7: Amelie & Nicole - For Which One Will It Be Apples?
January 28: Australian Oopen Day 13: Amelie Clicks Her Heels
January 29: 2006 Dorothy Tour Awards - On Ya, Mates
February 13: Amelie & the Belgian Offensive
February 20: Woman of a Thousand Faces
May 31: Roland Garros Day 4: No Pigeons, But a Healthy Helping of French Dressing
July 8: Wimbledon Day 12: She is Risen
July 10: 2006 Grass Court Awards
November 7: 2006 Intriguing Answers: A Tale of Two Champions
November 18: Ms.Backspin '06
November 25: 2006 WTA Yearbook

=2007=
January 10: Intriguing Questions '07: Will It Be Amelie vs. Justine, Part Deux?
February 20: now for All. (Antwerp)
July 3: Wimbledon Day 8: Here We Go Again

=2008=
May 27: Roland Garros Day 3: Amelie's Last Stand?

=2009=
February 16: The French Way
November 8: Decade's Best: Players #6-10

She will be missed. Unfortunately, all for now.

ITF Backspin (Wk.47)- Another Date with History, eh

2009-11-30T20:30:00.003-05:00

The regularly-scheduled WTA season is over, but the comebacks keep chugging along.

ITF PLAYER OF THE WEEK: Kimiko Date-Krumm/JPN
...tennis' favorite almost-fortysomething was at it again over the weekend, winning a $75K challenger in Tokyo with victories over Marina Erakovic, Ksenia Lyskina, Tamarine Tanasugarn and Bojana Jovanovski in the final. It's Date-Krumm's second ITF singles title this season, to go along with her WTA crown in Seoul. She's one of five players to pick up titles on both circuits this year.
=============================
RISER: Olivia Rogowska/AUS
...a week ago, 18-year old Rogowska defeated Alicia Molik in the finals of a challenger in Esperance, Australia. This weekend, she reached another ITF singles final in Kalgoorlie (love the Aussie city names) and found Molik there once again. The teen didn't get the best of her elder this time, losing in straight sets in their fourth meeting in their last four tournaments, but she's certainly working up some fine late-year momentum to carry into 2010.
=============================
SURPRISE: Marina Erakovic/NZL
...last season, Erakovic put on a spirited push to raise her ranking while fighting to earn a spot on the New Zealand Olympic team. She got an early season win over Melanie Oudin in Memphis this February, but then her season hit the skids as hip and ankle injuries put her off the tour from April until early October (causing her season-ending rank to drop from #60 to #232 between 2008 and '09). In Tokyo, the 21-year old lost in the 1st Round to Date-Krumm, but she rebounded to win the doubles title (in her first doubles action since March) with Tamarine Tanasugarn. She even got a small measure of revenge against the Japanese vet, as Erakovic and Tanasugarn knocked off Date-Krumm and her fellow "didn't-you-used-to-be?" comeback star Yayuk Basuki (by the way, today is her 39th birthday) of Indonesia in the SF.
=============================
VETERAN: Alicia Molik/AUS
...Molik has reached the singles finals of five of the six events (with a SF in the other) so far in her Down Under comeback, winning two. Her Kalgoorlie $25K win came courtesy of a 7-6/6-3 victory over Rogowska, which was made possible by previous wins over two more young Shielas -- Jessica Moore and Sally Peers, the latter of which Molik defeated in the final of her first post-retirement singles tournament.
=============================
FRESH FACES: Naomi Broady/GBR & Amanda Carreras/GBR
...the British are coming! The British are coming! Or at least, recently, it seems that way. The Lass Brigade isn't confined to Laura Robson and Heather Watson, either. This weekend, 19-year old Naomi Broady won the $25K in Puebla, Mexico with a win in the final over Ajla Tomljanovic; while Carreras, also 19, reached the $10K singles final in Vallduxo, Spain (losing to Pastry Laura Tharpe) and won the doubles title with Lara Arruabarrena-Vecino.
=============================
DOWN: Serena Williams/USA
...I mean, you know, theoretically. The Holmsian investigation into the "mystery" of what happened at the U.S. Open in September finally yielded a punishment -- an $82,500 fine and a two-year behavior probation at the slams (if she has another major infraction in 2010-11 she'll be suspended from the next U.S. Open and have her fine doubled). Much like the Dubai "fine" earlier this year, this set a WTA monetary record when it comes to punishment. But it should be noted that Williams earned $350,000 at the Open for her singles SF result alone and just set a tour record for single season prize money. So, of course, that $82K fine is REALLY gonna hurt. Ouch.
=============================
JUNIOR STAR: Lauren Davis/USA
...the 16-year old American won the G1 Yucatan World Cup, defeating Canada's Gabriela Dabrowski in the final, 6-7/7-5/6-1. Davis was one of the surprise unseeded Girls singles quarterfinalists at the U.S. Open this summer.
=============================

1. $25K Puebla Final - Broady d. Tomljanovic
...7-6/6-3. This was the first ITF final for the 16-year old Croat, currently the #10-ranked junior in the world.
=============================
2. $75K Tokyo 1st Rd. - Date-Krumm d. Erakovic
...6-4/6-2. With Sacha Jones' recent accomplishments, New Zealand suddenly has TWO young players to watch now that Erakovic has finally gotten off I.R..
=============================
3. $25K Kalgoorlie Final - Molik d. Rogowska
...7-6/6-3. Molik is 3-1 against Rogowska in her round of challenger appearances the last couple of months.
=============================
HM- $10K Lima Final - Carla Lucero d. Veronica Cepede Royg
...5-7/6-3/7-5. In Peru, the 19-year old Argentine took out the 17-year old from Paraguay. It was a virtual cornucopia of tennis, South American style.
=============================

**WTA & ITF SINGLES TITLES IN 2009**
KIMIKO DATE-KRUMM, JPN - 1 WTA/2 ITF
Alexandra Dulgheru, ROU - 1 WTA/3 ITF
Andrea Petkovic, GER - 1 WTA/1 ITF
Yanina Wickmayer, BEL - 2 WTA/1 ITF

**PLAYERS WITH WTA & ITF TITLES IN SAME SEASON**
2003 - 2
2004 - 5
2005 - 2
2006 - 2
2007 - 5
2008 - 3
2009 - 4

**RECORDS vs. ALICIA MOLIK IN 2009 SINGLES FINALS**
2-0...Sacha Jones
1-1...Olivia Rogowska
0-1...Sally Peers

All for now.

NEXT: What If Parody: In Search of "Citizen Anna"

2009 WTA Year in Review

2009-11-29T19:45:00.008-05:00

The time has come. (As always, thoughts and words brought to you free of charge.)

2009: THE RISE AND FALL AND RISE of Miss Serena Williams

"You should never be surprised by anything that I do." - Serena Williams, in January

The Student Council election campaign got ugly at times this year, with the individual who was considered to be the odds-on favorite to win the office of Class President often lagging behind in early poll results, and then making a concerted effort to "call out" the leader and denigrate her multiple (though comparably minor) accomplishments. As it turned out, this individual DID manage to top the exit polls on Election Day. But a unique combination ticket put together by the clever Italian contingent at Backspin Academy was able to cobble together enough combined support to overthrow the spirit of the single-candidate system and place themselves into the multi-seat of power.

Naturally, the "popular vote" winner is now demanding that changes be made in the voting system. Hmmm, maybe in 2010. After all, a former President has decided to once again throw her hat into the ring, and we can't be having these sorts of discussions EVERY year.

=STUDENT COUNCIL=
CLASS PRESIDENTS: Flavia Pennetta, Francesca Schiavone, Sara Errani & Roberta Vinci

CURRENTLY TRYING TO GET A HEARING IN THE COURT OF THE TENNIS GODS: Serena Williams
VICE PRESIDENT: Dinara Safina
PRESIDENT PRO TEMPORE: Svetlana Kuznetsova
VALEDICTORIAN: Caroline Wozniacki
SALUTATORIAN: Kim Clijsters (STILL the second-highest rated Belgian, even without you-know-who around... yet)
CLASS TREASURER: Maria Sharapova (though her unique money-counting skills were questioned this year)
SCHOOL SPIRIT COORDINATOR: Liezel Huber
ASSISTANT SCHOOL SPIRIT COORDINATOR (BY DEMAND OF Mrs. Huber): Cara Black
STUDENT/FACULTY LIAISON: Larisa Savchenko
IN ONE-YEAR DETENTION (though she's appealing her punishment, and hoping that Judge Shriver doesn't get the case): Yanina Wickmayer

"I love my job. I love hitting balls, running and jumping, chasing after the ball. I love what I do, so I think that's what keeps me motivated." - Venus Williams

Backspin Academy's humble and hardworking staff occasionally undergoes some upheavel, but the student body (which sometimes includes a few of our instructors, who pull double duty in order to show how much they care) is generally pleased with those entrusted with molding their impressionable minds like the blocks of clay that they are (or so says our lovable Ms. Jankovic... though, to be honest, she might have just been talking about FEELING like a square block of clay back in January, but we've long since agreed to simply let her speak her mind even if we sometimes don't understand some of the things she says -- it seems to work out better for all of us).

=FACULTY, STAFF, DEPARTMENT HEADS & APPOINTEES=
Co-DEANS OF STUDENTS (and part-time students): Nuria Llagostera-Vives & Maria Jose Martinez-Sanchez (though Serena vehemently protested MJMS's appointment)
GUIDANCE COUNSELOR: Piotr Wozniacki
FIRST-YEAR PROFESSOR WHO IS EVERYONE'S FAVORITE EDUCATOR... this year, at least: Mary Joe Fernandez (Serena insists that her multiple absences from MJF's class were NOT unexcused)
ATHLETIC TRAINERS: position vacant (apparently, these former staff members did a severe disservice to our lovely Miss Jankovic, so we have omitted their names out of fear of a libel suit... though it should be noted that they claim they THOUGHT they were "doing the right thing at the time")
SCHOOL NURSE: Student Vera Zvonareva (her advice to all the young girls on campus: when in Charleston, always wear protection)
INTRODUCING...: Stacey Allaster (a new hire, I hear her first class will be called "Cleaning up the Public Relations Disasters of Others 101")
ACADEMY HISTORIAN: Bud Collins (always and forever)
(GARBLED) COMMUNICATION DIRECTORS: Schlomo Tzoref & Samantha Stevenson (their young charges, Julia Glushko & Alexandra Stevenson, should listen... and learn what NOT to say and do)
ON ADMINISTRATIVE SUSPENSION FOR CONDUCT DETRIMENTAL TO THE ACADEMY: Pam Shriver (we are SO sorry... so please stop dumping out all the chocolate and waffles outside the front gate)
SUBSTITUTE TEACHER OF THE YEAR: Student Carly Gullickson (says Carly: "I was just in the right place at the right time.")
SCHOOL OF BUSINESS & MARKETING (all classes currently held off-campus): Anna Kournikova (forever in absentia)
SO LONG, FAREWELL... and pleae keep in touch: Long-time students/teachers Nathalie Dechy, Jamea Jackson, Tzipora Obziler, Virginia Ruano Pascual, Ai Sugiyama (and tell Ms. Mauresmo that she missed the party, so she needs to return in order to receive a proper send-off next semester)
R.I.P.: Leo Clijsters

*RECENTLY-APPOINTED LANGUAGE ARTS DEPT. HEADS*
UNORTHODOX RUSSIAN: Vitalia Diatchenko (we don't know how she learned to do things the ways she does, but we're intrigued)
CHINESE DEMOCRACY: Li Na, Peng Shuai, Yan Zi & Zheng Jie (currently collecting 92% of their salaries, but they're able to finally set their own schedules)
FRENCH-101: Aravane Rezai
GERMAN-101 and 102: Sarah Gronert
INTRODUCTION TO SPEED READING: Kim Clijsters (be sure to catch her lecture entitled "Planned Parenthood on the WTA Tour," with guest lecturer Lindsay Davenport, who assists Kim via e-mail)
MODERN ANCIENT JAPANESE: Kimiko Date-Krumm
CONVERSATIONAL (but not confrontational) ENGLISH: Serena Williams

CHARM SCHOOL DIRECTOR: Caroline Wozniacki

ADVANCED BULGARIAN-to-KAZAKHSTANI MATHEMATICS: Sesil Karatantcheva (for the next three years)
ANGER MANAGEMENT: Victoria Azarenka (a court-ordered appointment... apparently, she needs to learn to "walk" before she can "run">
"HOW TO MARRY INTO A NICE COUNTRY": Jarmila Groth (née Gajdosova)
PRINCIPLES OF GEOGRAPHY: Yanina Wickmayer (some of the students snidely call her class "Where in the World is Yanina WICK-mayer"... or was that Professor Shriver?)
THE THEORY OF TIME TRAVEL: we haven't hired a professor yet, but we'er interviewing prospective "educators" from NBC (although, we did talk to former NBC employee Dick Enberg... but we were too afraid that he might say something that would embarrass the Academy)
COMING THIS JANUARY!!!: Christina McHale delivers an address in our ongoing Lectue of the Month series: "The Benefits of Hydration"

"The desire is back." - Kim Clijsters, in April

"The fire within burns again." - Justine Henin, in September

Our student body is a talented crop, and always on the look-out for rewarding extracurricular activities to take up their valuable time.

=CLUB HEADS=
DRAMA CLUB: Jelena Jankovic, star of "Jelena's World (Jelenin Svet)," namesake of a far-off star and a "smile ambassador"
NUDE FIGURE MODELING: Serena Williams

TENNIS DRESS MODELING: Caroline Wozniacki (attire courtesy of Stella McCartney)
CHOIR: Vania King
FASHION/DESIGN: Venus Williams
PSYCHOLOGY CLUB: Dinara Safina & Ana Ivanovic
DEBATE CLUB/IMPROMPTU SPEECHMAKING: Laura Robson (she somewhat shirked her duties last school year, but we like the cut of her jib)
SHAKESPEARE CLUB: Elena Vesnina
SWIMSUIT MODELING III (bikinis required): Maria Kirilenko, Daniela Hantuchova & Tatiana Golovin

*"THE MANY FACES OF CAROLINE"*
[an award-winning exhibition from Miss Wozniacki]
FUN C-WOZ: in Eastbourne, with Aleksandra Wozniak
TITLE-WINNING CAROLINE: in Ponte Vedra Beach, keeping her head while Elena Vesnina was losing her's
HURTING C-WOZ: cramping at the SEC in Doha
HEART OF A LIONESS C-WOZ: triumphant at the SEC in Doha
HAPPY C-WOZ: at Flushing Meadows... Charming in the City
(Too) NICE C-WOZ: in Luxembourg, with Anne Kremer
SWEET CAROLINE: vs. Melanie Oudin at the U.S. Open, acknowledging a pro-American crowd but playing hard and hoping for people to cheer her next time out
ANGRY, HEAD-OVER-TEAKETTLED, BUT COMPOSED C-WOZ: vs. Elena Dementieva in Charleston
HUNGRY FOR EVEN MORE: in 2010?

"Everybody says the third time is the charm, but for me it's the fifth." - Victoria Azarenka, after winning her first WTA singles title in her fifth appearance in a final

=RUSSIAN CHESS CLUB=
CHAIRWOMAN: Svetlana Kuznetsova (to the victor goes the spoils)

ASSISTANT TO THE CHAIRWOMAN: Elena Dementieva (a year ago she looked great in Gold, but this year she came up a little short in grass-green)
(Still) THE NEXT BIG THING: Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova
STAR-CROSSED: Vera Zvonareva
RESURRECTED FROM LENIN'S TOMB?: Maria Sharapova
FULL OF LIFE: Dinara Safina (just not in slams)
STILL FIGHTING THE GOOD FIGHT: Nadia Petrova
TEAM LEADER: Alisa Kleybanova (according to everyone she plays doubles with)
NextGEN HORDETTES: Evgeniya Rodina, Ksenia Pervak, Ksenia Lyskina, Yana Buchina, Daria Gavrilova & Olga Putintseva

"It's my brain." - Dinara Safina

"If I keep playing like this, I can get as high as anything." - Melanie Oudin, at the U.S. Open

=JUNIOR/SENIOR PROM COMMITTEE=
PROM QUEEN: Melanie Oudin
LADY-IN-WAITING (still): Victoria Azarenka
JUNIOR QUEEN: Kristina Mladenovic
QUEEN'S COURT: Sabine Lisicki, Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, Alexa Glatch, Magdalena Rybarikova, Sorana Cirstea, Laura Robson, Alexandra Dulgheru, Urszula Radwanska, Michelle Larcher de Brito
JUNIOR QUEEN'S COURT: Noppawan Lertcheewakarn, Heather Watson, Sloane Stephens, Christina McHale, Olivia Rogowska, Richel Hogenkamp
PARTY-CRASHERS, circa 2026: mini-Clijsters Jada and mini-Davenport Lauren

EARLY-BIRD (gets the ace?): Madison Keys, averaging over 100 mph per serve before her 15th birthday
SUDDEN WALLFLOWER: Alize Cornet
SCHEDULED PROM ADVISOR: Shahar Peer (too bad she couldn't make it through the security at the door)

"So the ball hit her body, and therefore she should have lost the point... instead of cheating." - Serena Williams, on Maria Jose Martinez-Sanchez

=CLASS FAVORITES=
MOST WELL-LIKED: Flavia Pennetta
(Still) MOST LIKELY TO SUCCEED: Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova
POWER COUPLE-NO-MORE: Chris Evert and Greg Norman
MOST COOLED-OFF RUSSIANS: The Hordette Fed Cup team
PERSONALITY PLUS: Jelena Jankovic, naturally
MOST CHARMING SMILE: Caroline Wozniacki
MOST ENDEARING HEART: Caroline Wozniacki (quite a back-to-back combination, I'd say)
QUIETEST '09 SLAM SINGLES SEMIFINALIST: Dominika Cibulkova
QUIETEST '09 SINGLES CHAMPION:Andrea Petkovic
QUIETEST (Down Under) COMEBACK:Alicia Molik
QUIETEST BACK-TO-BACK TITLES:Venus Williams (Dubai's non-debacle & Acapulco)
PERPETUAL HEARTBREAKER NO LONGER: Samantha Stosur
MOST LIKELY TO BE A FUTURE DIPLOMAT: Vera Zvonareva
MOST LIKELY TO IMPERSONATE A ROCKER: Mashona Washington, a Bronze Medalist in the Backspin Games' tearing up a hotel room competition
MOST ADMIRED: Liezel Huber
LATE BLOOMER: Melinda Czink
MAYBE NOT SO LOST A CAUSE, AFTER ALL: Agnes Szavay (fingers crossed)
HOPING TO PROVE MARRIAGE NEED NOT LEAD TO TENNIS DEATH: Bethanie Mattek-Sands
NEW/OLD KID: Jelena Dokic
SMARTEST: Samantha Stosur (singles is not selfish on the Road to Osaka)
MOST MISSED (due to injury): Tatiana Golovin, Good and Bad
MOST MISSED (by Backspin): Kim Clijsters' "clean slate" (hmmm, yeah... um, not really)
MOST MISSED (no more... soon): Justine Henin
ENDANGERED: ~~any Wimbledon official who leaks the we-already-know-it's-true-but-you-still-shouldn't-admit-it tournament policy of giving bigger courts to the tour's most beautiful players.~~ On second thought, he's probably the safest employee at the Club. So, make it "EXTINCT"... and rainy days at Centre Court.

FRIENDS ON THE MOVE: Caroline & Sorana
NOT FRIENDS ANYTIME SOON: Serena Williams and Dinara Safina, and Maria Jose Martinez-Sanchez, and that linesperson and...
MOST TALKED-ABOUT FASHION STATEMENT: footwear with a message

BEST SYMMETRY: Serena Williams mocks Dinara Safina's tournament titles while everyone agrees that SHE, not the Russian, is the "true #1" player on tour
WORST SYMMETRY: Serena Williams mocks Dinara Safina's "inconsequential" tournament title in Rome, while not thinking about the fact that the Russian defeated sister Venus there in the semifinals before winning that particular event
MOST TELLING SYMMETRY: Comeback Kim Clijsters wins U.S. Open... Justine Henin announces comeback soon afterward. Coincidence? Ah, lova ya, La Petit Taureau!

*HUH...?*
STARTING POINT: in February, Yanina Wickmayer is defaulted from a challenger event in Clearwater, Florida after smacking a ball that hit a linesperson. Having advanced to the singles and doubles finals, she must forfeit ranking points and prize money. She isn't suspended.
AND WE MOVE ALONG: Serena Williams talks about how a "dead person" could be fined by the WTA for skipping a tournament
WE GET THIS: Richard Gasquet is suspended for testing positive for cocaine, but has the penalty lifted when he says he simply kissed a cocaine-using girl at a Miami nightclub the night before the test. Apparently, Martina Hingis' two-year ban for a positive cocaine test came after the Swiss Miss was detected to have even less of the drug in HER system than the Frenchman did.
AND THIS: Tamira Paszek isn't suspended for undergoing a "blood enrichment procedure"
AND WHO COULD FORGET THIS?: Serena Williams makes threatening gestures toward a linesperson, resulting in a verbal abuse point penalty on match point. She is fined, but with the incident still "under investigation," she has not been handed a suspension as of the end of the '09 season.
AND, YES, EVEN THIS: An injured Caroline Wozniacki's retirement one game away from defeating Anne Kremer, right before the start of the SEC, is flagged for investigation after possible online betting irregularities... never mind the ridiculous notion that to suspect player wrongdoing would be to assume the Dane was the stupidest/most naive person on the face of the earth to think she could slide "under the radar" while retiring up a set and 5-0.
WE GET THIS: Yanina Wickmayer is suspended for a year by the World Anti-Doping Association after failing to report her whereabouts so she that she could be located in the event that she was called upon to take a drug test. No test was failed, and an appeal is underway. Yet, damage to the Belgian's reputation is a foregone conclusion.
Hmmm, WHAT AM A MISSING? Oh, yeah...: "New Starting Point": press releases, right before Wickmayer's suspension, for Andre Agassi's autobiography recount how he tested postive for crystal meth, but told a tall tale to ATP drug "investigators" and got off scott-free.
OH, NOW I UNDERSTAND... my neighbor's sins are my downfall: Though I'm not sure what it all means, or whether this little chronological rundown was necessary to make whatever the point may be.

"You're be playing Yanina WICK-mayer. (pause, after being booed by the crowd, then with faux confusion) What'd I say?" - a snide Pam Shriver, interviewing Caroline Wozniacki after her quarterfinal victory at the U.S. Open

"I'm back. I want to bring excitement back to tennis." - Jelena Jankovic, in Cincinnati

Not everything is subjective, though. G.P.A.'s and S.A.T. scores are important, too.

=HONOR SOCIETY ROLL CALL=
HARD COURT PLAYER OF THE YEAR: Elena Dementieva (by way of her pre-Oz & pre-U.S. Open results)
CLAY COURT PLAYER OF THE YEAR: Svetlana Kuznetsova
GRASS COURT PLAYER OF THE YEAR: Serena Williams
INDOOR PLAYER OF THE YEAR: Amelie Mauresmo (finally, she'll always have Paris)
FED CUP PLAYER OF THE YEAR: Flavia Pennetta

"It's really emotional to win today. What I had to go through. It's really great to have this win. I don't think a lot of people know what it means to me. It's great to be here at a slam." - a tearful Jelena Dokic, at the Australian Open, after ending her six-year long drought of grand slam main draw wins, courtesy of a whole heap o' frustration and heartbreak

"If I could I'd shove this tennis ball down your throat and kill you." - Serena Williams, at the U.S. Open

*"TELEVISION PROGRAMS & THEIR STARS"*
[courtesy of Backspin Academy's "Future Casting Directors" program]
"CSI:New York": Serena Williams
"HEROES": Shahar Peer & Andy Roddick
"the forgotten (no longer)": Justine Henin
"The Price is Right": Larry Scott
"Lost": Nicole Vaidisova
"The Young and the Restless": Ana Ivanovic
"General Hospital": Sabine Lisicki
"The View (from the frontline)": Shahar Peer
"All My Children": Lindsay Davenport
"Glee": Caroline Wozniacki
"Make Me A Supermodel": Daniela Hantuchova, Maria Kirilenko & Tatiana Golovin
"Law & Order": Mashona Washington
"10 Things I Hate About You": Kim Clijsters (all right, that's a little HARSH, guys)
"Wipeout": Dinara Safina
"So You Think You Can Dance": Martina Hingis & Monica Seles
"Cougar Town": Kimiko Date-Krumm
"Life on Mars": Jelena Jankovic
"Dr. Oz": Jelena Dokic
"Judge Judy": Yanina Wickmayer
"Accidentally On Purpose": The American Fed Cup Team
"America's Got Talent": Vania King
"Survivor": Venus Williams

Thanks for your contribution, ladies. You're almost and long-winded as our Academy President.

"I just thought, 'My eyes! My innocent eyes!'." - Serena Williams, talking about her match which was interrupted by a streaker

=BACKSPIN ALL-STAR TEAMS=
*ALL-BEAUTIFUL*
Venus at the All-England Club, even as runner-up
=============================
"Believe" on Little MO's shoes
=============================
The U.S. Open on ESPN, as it turned out
=============================
Caroline in the Desert... through pain comes wisdom, and maybe one day even legend

=============================
Monica Seles in the Hall of Fame
=============================
Maria Sharapova's serve in Tokyo (Supernovic Hope springs eternal)
=============================
The unapologetic boldness of Serena Williams
=============================
The presence of the WTA, the most successful and far-reaching women's sports organization in the world, in the Middle East
=============================
Flavia Pennetta in the spotlight
=============================
Jelena Dokic embracing Australia after all these years, and having the feelings reciprocated
=============================
Jelena Jankovic's idea for "air-conditioned shoes"... though I suspect they might hinder her movement, and we surely don't need to go through that sort of trial yet again
=============================
A roof on Centre Court, and Laver Arena
=============================
U.S. Open Series TV ads featuring personal moments and player backstories
=============================
Day 7 on Laver Arena
=============================
Victoria Azarenka's desire
=============================
Liezel Huber's joy
=============================
Britain's surprising "Lass Brigade" (official motto: "The Cheekier the Better"
=============================
Venus Williams' overall leadership performance on the Players Council
=============================
Serena Williams' "Are you staring at my titles?" t-shirt. The Spirit of Sania lives!
=============================

"Eating too much chocolate out of depression from not being allowed to play for India." - Shikha Uberoi, an American citizen playing under the Indian flag, saying what she'd been doing after the India tennis federation ruled that she could not represent the nation in Fed Cup play

*ALL-UGLY*
The Dubai Debacle
=============================
Tennis on NBC
=============================
The decision to train in Mexico during the offseason
=============================
Maria Sharapova's serve before Tokyo
=============================
AnaIvo's "year after-plus"
=============================
Serena Williams' unfortunate thoughtlessness when she's angry
=============================
Venus Williams toeing the party line in Dubai
=============================
Victoria Azarenka's temper
=============================
The growing number of Not-Ready-for-Prime-Time players populating prime time in the women's game
=============================
No roof on Ashe Stadium
=============================
Sad to say, Monica Seles' dancing abilities on "Dancing with the Stars"
=============================
Anne Keothavong's relationship with the Lawn Tennis Association
=============================
Vera Zvonareva essentially ruining an on-the-verge-of-great season with one wrong step in South Carolina
=============================

"(She's) had a 'great' year. (pause) She won Rome and Madrid. (loud cackle)" - Serena Williams, sarcastically pointing out then-#1 Dinara Safina's "qualifications" for sitting atop the rankings

=ALL BACKSPIN WANTS BETWEEN NOW AND CHRISTMAS 2010=
For Comcast to buy NBC, the powers-that-be to re-think the network's spending, and then decide to drop its grand slam tennis coverage.
=============================
~~FINALLY... that long-awaited Sharapova vs. Vaidisova match.~~

Sorry, it's become something of a tradition to include that one here. But times change, so I'll now settle for more Sharapova vs. Azarenka clashes. The two we saw in 2009 were enough to make anyone wish for more.
=============================
For things to happen during the 2010 season that'll allow me to finally use up some of those Sarah Palin jokes I've been banking the last few months. Some things just shouldn't be forced upon an unsuspecting public without warning and/or reason, you know. Ah, that felt good. Well, at least I can cross that minor crack off the list.

And, no, "Mrs.-I'm-a-Governor-Wait-No-I'm-Not, but you-betcha-I'll-think-I-should-be-President in 2012," I wasn't saying that any of the minors in your household are on crack. Just because your husband's name is Todd, doesn't mean I'm ready to go "snowmachine" riding with the Palin clan. Thank the Tennis Gods. (Yes, Sarah, I KNOW you think that was blasphemous.)

Okay, that's two... or is it three?
=============================
More Kichenok twins!
=============================
An NCAA singles championship for Georgia Bulldog Chelsey Gullickson
=============================
~~A comeback from Justine Henin.~~

Thanks, Santa. Would it be greedy to ask for at least one grand slam title for La Petit Taureau, too?
=============================
To see Yanina Wickmayer on the court. Playing. Even if unsuspecting linespeople and Pam Shriver might have to watch their backs in moments of Belgian disgust.
=============================
For Melanie Oudin to keep the smile (and look of determination) on her face.
=============================
For Sabine Lisicki to stay healthy.
=============================
For the WTA to not be given a belated "mulligan" in Dubai due to the current debt crisis in the U.A.E. Too easy.
=============================
For injuries to any of the former-or-current world singles #1's to derail what very well could be the most competitive and fascinating WTA season... well, ever.
=============================
A season without incessant handwringing about the decibal level of certain players' grunts/squawks/squeals/squeaks/screams or whatever new noise some young lady will invariably come up with by this time next year.
=============================
A little more Amelie, just for old time's sake.
=============================
For Queen Chaos to fully get her groove back.
=============================

"The more you know, the worse you sleep." - Dinara Safina

Amen, sister.

Whew! If you made it this far, congratulations. Hopefully, there was something here for everyone. If not, well, it wasn't for a lack of trying.

To be continued in 2010... hmmm, how are we saying that, by the way? "Twenty Ten," "Two-Thousand Ten," or, in shorthand, "Oh-Ten?" I guess we'll find out next year. Anyway, as I was saying, to be continued in 2010...

Res Ipsa Loquitur. All for now.

PAST YEARBOOKS: 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008

2009 SEASON REVIEW EDITIONS OF WTA BACKSPIN:
...Revolving Doors - 2010 WTA Guide Preview
...Regional Honors & '10 All-Intriguing Team and Market Tips
...Backspin Awards
...Ms.Backspin: A T-E-A-M Effort
...WTA Yearbook

ITF Backspin (Wk.46)- A Hordette, a Maiden and No Kindness From a Stranger

2009-11-24T15:24:00.003-05:00

ITF Backspin. A day late. Not a dollar short (not very long, either). But the first production since I finally got that "Decade's Best" taste out of my mouth.

ITF PLAYER OF THE WEEK: Evgeniya Rodina/RUS
...the 20-year old Russian won the $50K Bratislava challenger in the Slovak Republic, getting wins over Michaella Krajicek, Sofia Arvidsson and Renata Voracova 6-4/6-2 in the final.
=============================
RISER: Sandra Zahlavova/CZE
...Czech Maiden Zahlavova opened the 2009 season with a 1-9 slide that lasted into April. She's since rebounded, though, advancing to six ITF singles finals over the course of the season. Her victory in the $25K in Opole, Poland was her second title of the year. After knocking off Simona Halep, Zahlavova defeated Serbia's Ana Jovanovic 6-0/6-2 in the final.
=============================
SURPRISES: Camila Giorgi/ITA & Mashona Washington/USA
...Italy's Giorgi, 17, claimed her second ITF title of the season with a win in the $50K in Toronto. Before taking out Aniko Kapros 4-6/6-4/6-0 in the final, she got wins over the likes of Ashley Weinhold, Valerie Tetreault, Alexandra Stevenson and #1-seed Stephanie Dubois. Meanwhile, in the same event, veteran Washington got wins over Lauren Albanese and Sophie Ferguson before taking Dubois to three sets in the QF. She and Sharon Fichman also reached the doubles final, which they couldn't play because of an injury to Fichman.
=============================
VETERANS: Rika Fujiwara/JPN & Anne Kremer/LUX
...Fujiwara, 28, won the Pune, India $50K with a 5-7/6-4/6-3 victory over Bojana Jovanovski in the final. In Bratislava, Kremer, 34, qualified and notched wins over Ekaterina Bychkova (who retired from the match at 5-0 in the 2nd set, but not while leading Luxembourg's Own, ala Caroline Wozniacki -- Kremer was up 7-5/5-0) and Vesna Manasieva before falling in three sets in the SF to Renata Voracova.
=============================
FRESH FACE: Olivia Rogowska/AUS
...the 18-year old Rogowska is already preparing for the Oz circuit, winning a $25K in Esperance, Australia. Her victim in the final? Well, none other than Alicia Molik, who sure has been fitting in a great deal of tennis into her Down Under comeback the last couple months. Rogowska won 6-1/3-6/6-2, and also won the doubles title with fellow Shiela Shannon Golds.
=============================
DOWN: Tamarine Tanasugarn/THA
...the #1 seed in the $50K Pune event, vet Tanasugarn, who actually defended a grass court WTA tour title in the Netherlands over the summer despite seeing her year-end ranking take a tumble over the past year, was taken out in the challenger's QF round by Nina Bratchikova by a 6-3/6-2 score.
=============================
JUNIOR STAR: Marianne Jodoin/CAN
...in Toronto, the 16-year old Canadian grabbed the $50K doubles title along with 38-year old countrywoman Maureen Drake. Unseeded, the pair reached the final, then were awarded the win over Fichman/Washington when fellow Canadian Fichman was too injured to play.
=============================

1. $50K Bratislava SF - Renata Voracova def. Anne Kremer
...5-7/6-2/6-3. The kindness of a stranger act wasn't passed down from Wozniacki to Voracova, apparently.
=============================
2. $50K Toronto 1st Rd. - Alexandra Stevenson def. Heather Watson
...6-2/6-4. Hmmm, I wonder if Brit Watson knew before this match that Stevenson was a former Wimbledon Ladies singles semifinalist? I wonder how many people who actually witnessed that result back in '99 remember it all these years later, or maybe think it's some sort of reverse "FlashForward" vision thing?
=============================
3. $50K Toronto 1st Rd. - Christina McHale def. Julia Glushko
...6-7/6-3/6-3. I guess McHale didn't topple over due to the heat here. Of course, this WAS Toronto... in November... indoors... without a broken air conditioning system. The Oz Open is but two months away, though. (Fingers crossed)
=============================

*OF NOTE*

Lyudmyla Kichenok gets her moment in the ITF website spotlight

...is Nadiya next?

Zoo Tennis' Colette Lewis reviews Andre Agassi's autobiography

...I'm still not sure whether or not I really want to read his book or not.

Year in Review by Women Who Serve's Diane Dees

...yeah, this is from a week and a half ago, but since the "WTA Yearbook" is coming up this weekend...

**MOST ITF TITLES - RUSSIANS**
3...Galina Fokina
2...Yulia Kalabina
2...Daria Kuchmina
2...Regina Kulikova
2...Ksenia Pervak
2...EVGENIYA RODINA
2...Arina Rodionova

All for now.

NEXT: 2009 WTA Yearbook

The Decade's Best: Players #1 & #2- "Two for the Ages"

2009-11-22T23:59:00.005-05:00

Well, it took ten years worth of tennis action, condensed and spread out over nearly a year's worth of "Decade's Best" special editions of Backspin, to get to this. The best two players of the decade.

Funny thing is, I probably could have just started by talking about these two women back in December and skipped all the other late night posts between then and now and no one would have been any the wiser.

Oh, well. Hindsight, right?

There are a great deal of easy arguments to begin and end when it comes to the other women on this list and where they might rank, but not these two. 100% of 100% of the lists seeking to determine the best players on the WTA tour from 2000-09 would -- or at least should -- begin with them. The only possible question might be which one should be ranked #1.

But is it really?

In the end, while one gets credit for fashioning a remakable career filled with moments of clenched fists and heart-stopping drama, the other, well, is quite possibly the most awesome player the sport has produced. Ever.

So, let's get to it:

#2 - Justine Henin, BEL

"I dedicated this to my mother because when I came here with her eleven years ago I said, 'One day I'll be on that court and maybe I'll win.' And today, I did. - Henin, while addressing the crowd after winning her first Roland Garros crown in 2003, talking about her '92 presence in the stands along with her mother when Monica Seles won her third straight title in Paris. Henin's mother died in 1995. In 2007, Henin won her third straight RG championship.

No one would have ever dared to cast Justine Henin in the role of a dominant figure in the sport during a decade when "Big Babe" tennis came to the forefront. She initially arrived on tour as a slight teenager from the small nation of Belgium, with a varied game highlighted by a thing-of-beauty backhand. A baseliner by trade, she punctuated her style with a natural aggression (and surprising pop off the ground) that served to make up for her physical disadvantages against her sometimes-towering, harder-hitting opponents.

Even though it was plain from the start that she was going to be a player to be reckoned with down the line, no one could have guessed that there lurked inside her a little bull of a competitor that would make her one of the sport's all-time greats and an inspiration to many (Melanie Oudin will likely be only one of many who'll eventually list themselves as an admirer). Of course, when a player has such a larger-than-life heart, and a desire to succeed fueled by a childhood goal and the lingering pain of tragedy, physical stature hardly matters, does it?

No player held the #1 ranking for more weeks than Henin did during the 2000's (117, sixth-most all-time), nor ended as many seasons in the top spot (three times, 2003 and 2006-07, tied with Lindsay Davenport). She won more singles titles (40 of her 41 career championships) than any other woman this decade, as well. Her seven career slam singles wins were surpassed only by Serena Williams' ten over the past ten-year span, and in Henin's final full season on tour she defeated Williams in three straight slams during the '07 season. In early 2004, she was the reigning champion at three of the four slams after winning the Australian Open in January '04. A year-end Top 10er every year from 2001-07, she became the first woman to ever retire from the sport while ranked #1 when she walked away (temporarily, as it's turned out) from the game in the spring of '08.

Over the course of the decade, Henin's evolution came full circle. We saw Henin rise as a player with great promise, but suffer through early (and now largely forgotten) battles with her nerves while trying to create her own breakthrough moment. Her love 3rd set loss to Venus Williams in her first slam final at Wimbledon in 2001 proved to be a learning experience for the then-19 year old. The confidence that she was worthy just wasn't quite there. But grow confident she did.

When we were last blessed with her presence on tour, it'd become fashionable in these parts to say that the only thing that had ever been able to stop Henin was the cytomegalovirus (and she put up a grand fight against that, perhaps pulling off her career-best performance just before the viral illness forced her off the court in late '04) and her own heart, which had not coincidentally lost some of its single-minded desire to pursue her tennis dreams after she reconnected with her previously estranged family during the year before her retirement. With her off-court life having lost some of it's need to prove herself, her champion's "edge" was dulled. The confidence seemed to ebb, just enough to matter. Somewhere along the line during her final months on tour, she began to lose the tight matches she'd once dominated. Not long afterward, she was gone.

Where things changed for the good for Henin on the court, though, is a little easier to pinpoint.

In the '03 Australian Open 4th Round against Lindsay Davenport, Henin experienced one of those epiphanies that often accompany the transition of a young player from a player-to-watch to an actual champion. Suffering through horrendous cramps in the Melbourne heat, Henin found herself flat on her back and in pain on the court. When she managed to rise up and win the match, she could no longer question her ability to compete at the very top levels of the sport. In that instant, she realized that her heart was indeed big enough to keep that promise to her mother, and that confidence boost is the moment that Henin has often pointed to as the moment when everything changed. She lost in the semifinals in that tournament, but she left Australia armed with everything she'd need for the remainder of her career.

By the end of the 2003 season, she'd won her first Roland Garros title and pulled off the most remakable weekend performance in many a year at the U.S. Open, winning a cramp-and-exhaustion inducing marathon with Jennifer Capriati in the semifinals, supposedly being questionable to even play in the final the following day, then coming out the next night and seeming to be the fresher player while taking out countrywoman Kim Clijsters in straight sets. La Petit Taureau was born.

A month later, Henin moved into the #1 ranking for the very first time.

A junior champ there in 1997, Henin's special relationship with Roland Garros never relented throughout her career. Her three consecutive Roland Garros championships from 2005-07 have only been matched in the Open era by Seles' three-peat from 1990-92. In fact, from 2003-07, Henin's only loss during her four-titles-in-five-years stretch in Paris came against Tathiana Garbin in 2004 when the Belgian was suffering through the weakness associated with her illness. After the loss in May, she didn't play again until late in the summer at the Athens Olympics.

There, Henin amazingly gathered whatever energy she had left to put on a gutsy performance that, in retrospect, turned out to be the most remarkable in her career. After erasing a 5-1 3rd set deficit in the semifinals against Anastasia Myskina, she defeated Amelie Mauresmo in the Gold Medal match. After a 4th Round loss at the U.S. Open, she pulled out of all her scheduled tournaments for the rest of the season. A subsequent knee injury delayed the start of her '05 season until the following March. When she returned after a seven-month absence, she ripped through the clay season, going on a 24-match tear, winning four titles, overcoming a match point against Svetlana Kuznetsova in the 4th Round at Roland Garros before winning yet another title in Paris.

Henin's 2006 season was simply historic, and 2007 was even more impressive. In '06, she became the first woman since Steffi Graf in 1993 to reach the finals of all four slams (winning another RG) and the Season-Ending Championships (which she won after having wrapped up the year-end #1 ranking). A year later, she put away another title in Paris, as well as her second U.S. Open (becoming the first player to defeat both Williams sisters in a single slam, then win the title -- a feat matched in NYC by Clijsters in '09), winning ten of the fourteen tournaments she entered, compiling a 63-4 record (the best single-season win percentage since Graf in '89) and ending her second consecutive #1 season on a 25-match winning streak.

It was her last full season this decade. Her retirement came just two weeks before the start of her beloved Roland Garros tournament in '08, as if she couldn't bear going there without the confidence that she could put forth her best effort.

With her return to the tour now set for January 2010, Henin will set about trying to collect the one slam crown that has so far eluded her. Wimbledon. A runner-up there in a pair of three-set finals, in '01 and '06, her last visit to the All-England Club was not a good one. After leading Marion Bartoli in the semifinals by a 6-1/5-3 score, windy conditions put her off her game and she never recovered, losing to the Frenchwoman to end what had been a string of five consecutive appearances in the finals of slams in which she'd participated. With the resurgent Williams sisters now presiding over the lawns of SW19 like they haven't since the early seasons of the decade, Henin's quest won't be an easy one to pull off.

But, of course, when have long odds stopped her in the past?

While Henin's story began with such heartfelt emotion, she often found herself at the center of controversy over the years. Many times seen as being unrelatable and TOO single-minded, especially in comparison to her always-ready-to-please countrywoman Clijsters, who she'd once teamed with to claim Belgium's only Fed Cup championship in '01, Henin was often cast in the black-hatted villain role during her career (even as she ironically always sported a white cap on court, and was one of the most charitable players off it). While Clijsters courted approval, Henin rarely spent much time worrying about how she was perceived, shrugging off the criticism from many corners (including here) when she refused to admit waving off a serve in a match against Serena Williams, and being the focus of many mini-rants about her "unsportsmanlike gamesmanship" that was sometimes "disrepectful to the game" (that one came from Clijsters herself, as Henin has traditionally been one of the few who've been able to bring the Belgian to the edge of being something other than "Nice Kim"). Again, even in announcing her comeback, Henin's timing might have been considered "questionable" by some, seeing that it came just days after Clijsters' comeback victory at this year's U.S. Open, cluttering the headlines of the new champ's success with whispers and rumors, and then actual facts, about her own return to the game next season.

Gotcha, Kim.

Of course, the biggest controversy in Henin's career came at the Australian Open in 2006, when she retired due to illness from a match she was losing to Mauresmo in the final, "robbing," in some critic's words, the Frenchwoman of a proper celebratory moment. Some even went so far overboard as to say the moment would "tarnish her career forever" (hmmm, what is it with Pam Shriver and Belgians, anyway?). The charges were that Henin was a sore loser, and that when she realized she was going to lose she effectively "picked up her racket and went home." As I said then, one moment in a career filled with handfuls of others when Henin gave every living ounce of energy she had to win a match, was hardly enough to besmirch anything (just as with Serena's tirade at this year's U.S. Open). And, as predicted, once Henin retired two years later, the moment was but a footnote in her biography. In fact, as soon as the Belgian was no longer around, all that criticism turned to longing for what the game lost when she retired. From all corners of the globe, the "power vacuum" on a Henin-less tour was the pet phrase rolling off everyone's tongue.

I guess people didn't know what they had until it was gone.

One day, they'll write stories about Justine Henin. I guess we should have known from the start, considering she won the very first WTA event she entered as a 16-year old in Antwerp in 1999. But, really, who am I kidding? They've already been writing stories about Henin for centuries.

Tales of an underdog making good, with anything from a slingshot to a tennis racket as a weapon of choice. Inspired by tragedy. Accomplishing goals against all odds and, while maybe not winning the hearts of ALL in the end, winning the respect that was sought from the start.

Where Henin is different is that she not only walked away on top and triumphant, but that she's now set to return to the circle of competition in an attempt to construct a just-as-successful second act to her story.

Ah, but that's a story for "The Decade's Best: 2010-19," isn't it?

*BACKSPIN LINKS OF NOTE*
Time Capsule: U.S. Open '03/'05 (Henin/Clijsters)
The Best of Henin (2008)
Bring It On (Comeback Announcement)

#1 - Serena Williams, USA

If there is such a thing as a tennis superhero, Serena Williams is it. She wasn't born with a cape, but someone should probably check with Oracene, just to be sure.

Quite simply, Serena is, in full, the most talented, feared, sometimes-controversial, always exciting, enigmatic, fierce, pulse pounding, jump-out-your-seat, shake-your-head-in-astonishment, kick-butt-and-take-names, and leave-'em-wanting-more champion of her time. Oh, and she's the most accomplished player of her generation, too. But, still, even after all we've seen, that some might proclaim that she STILL hasn't fully taken advantage of her gifts over the years, well, that just speaks to how great she truly is. Ever since she first seared her brand into the hide of this sport more than a decade ago, she's been tennis' "Soul Survivor" and the last woman any other tennis player wants to go up against head-to-head when she's wearing that look of determination on her face on the other side of the net.

Yeah, you know the look. It's that unmistakable, "you go ahead and celebrate your win today, but just know, one day, in the not too distant future, I'll be standing over you with my foot placed squarely on your chest while you beg for mercy" expression Serena sometimes gets when she's denied something she wants very much. It's such a powerful predictor that you can occasionally forecast its aftereffects months in advance. And when it's hidden from sight? Haha. Well, THAT'S when she's most dangerous. I mean, just ask all those poor souls she's dumped out of the Australian Open in stomach-turning (for the vanquished) circumstances over the years. Hint: when Serena lets loose with one of those primal howls she's become so fond of in big moments, the end is near.

Oddly enough, when you remember back to the beginning, Serena wasn't supposed to be in the starring role of the story of the Williams sisters. She seemed to be something akin to a nominal DVD extra -- a nice little throw-in for those inclined to delve deeper into the production, but hardly the reason for making a special purchase. Only father Richard knew she was actually the feature attraction, and even while he told us all what he saw in his crystal ball, we didn't really believe him. But then Serena proved him right.

Before this decade began, Serena ended the slam history of the 1990's by providing a preview of what was to come. Truthfully, though, everything was ALREADY there. The amazing court coverage, penetrating and big moment-loving serve (more reliable, and sometimes even as hard, as her sister's... with a second serve that's probably the best the women's game has EVER entertained) and the don't-think-it's-over-because-it-never-is ability to make a sudden u-turn right before a match goes over the cliff to oblivion. At the 1999 U.S. Open, the #7-seeded 18-year old proceeded to steal big sister Venus' thunder, claiming the family's first slam title by defeating a group of players who eventually collected twenty slam singles crowns -- the then-#1 (Martina Hingis), #2 (Lindsay Davenport) and #4 (Monica Seles) players in the world, plus Kim Clijsters (coming back from a 5-3 3rd set deficit in the 3rd Round) and Conchita Martinez. As the first African-American slam singles titlist since Althea Gibson in 1958, from that moment, Williams began her pursuit of the mythical "Greatest of All-Time" (G.O.A.T.) moniker... a "title" she's more than capable of winning even if her final career numbers don't match up to some of the other past champions in the conversation.

After slowly biding her time for a couple of seasons after her early breakthrough, Serena grew into the perfect embodiment of the eventual G.O.A.T. in 2002. Early in the season in Miami, she telegraphed her course, becoming just the second woman to ever defeat the top three-ranked players (Jennifer Capriati, Venus & Hingis) in a single event. At Roland Garros, she met Venus in the final and became the first younger sister to ever defeat her older sibling in a grand slam match. In the Wimbledon final, she did it again. She first rose to the #1 ranking that July, and there she would stay for the next fifty-seven weeks. At the U.S. Open, while defeating Venus in yet another slam final, she grabbed her second title at Flushing Meadows, doing so without dropping a set, just as she had at SW19 (joining Martina Navratilova in '83 as the only other woman to sweep both slams so seamlessly). With three straight slams in her pocket, she headed to Melbourne and, waiting for her in the final yet again, was her sister. One more time, she sent Venus home with second place to win her fourth straight slam title.

The "Serena Slam," dubbed so after coming not long after Tiger Woods' four straight, non-calendar year "Tiger Slam" wins at golf majors, thus entered the sports lexicon.

Williams' streak of grand slam match wins would end at thirty-three at the '03 Roland Garros, but she won a fifth slam in six attempts at Wimbledon later that summer. After that, injuries (specifically a series of knee ailments that led to surgery) and a so-called "lack of focus" (as her off-the-court interests allowed her mind to "wander") allowed her body to slip from its "Serena Slam" peak. After her '03 Wimbledon win, she won only one slam between then and the end of the 2006 season, and missed three slams due to injury. Her knee put her out eight months from the end of the '03 season though the early months of '04, then another six months in '06. In that '06 season, Williams played only four events, saw her ranking dip as low as #140, outside the Top 100 for the first time since 1997, and she ended the year at #95.

But as she has so often done throughout her career, Serena made a slam her immediate salvation. In Melbourne in '07, she entered the Australian Open ranked #81 and unseeded, but exited it with her eighth career slam singles win. After losing three straight times in slams to Henin the remainder of the season, Williams slowly began to rebuild her legacy as the best player in the game. Sure, it helped that the now-dominating presence of Henin disappeared with the Belgian's retirement in mid-'08, but it was Williams' best stretch of good health since her "Serena Slam" days that really restored her previous aura over the last two seasons of the 2000's.

The scramble for #1 on the Henin-less tour led to Serena reclaiming the #1 ranking for the first time since 2003 in September '08. The five-year gap between her top-ranked stints is the longest in WTA history. She stayed atop the rankings for just a month, finishing the year at #2 after winning the U.S. Open (defeating eventual year-end #1 Jelena Jankovic in the final), her first title in NYC since '02. Not surprisingly, it came just a few months after I'd noticed "the look" on Serena's face after she failed to take down Venus in the Wimbledon final in July. But with her honor restored, she was just getting (re)started. Her '09 season turned out to be her best, at least at the year's biggest tournaments, since her "Serena Slam" run.

After winning her fourth straight "odd-year" Australian Open crown ('03/'05/'07/'09), she went on to win her first Wimbledon title since '03 (defeating Venus in the final, just like old times), her eleventh slam overall. At that point, she was the reigning champion at three of the four slams, her best standing since her four-straight run in 2002-03. She went on to claim her second Season-Ending Championships title (her first since '01) and finish with her first year-end #1 ranking in seven seasons. By the end of this year, she'll have occupied the spot for eighty-three weeks in her career, good for eighth-best all-time. The only real demerits in her season were her unfortunate mocking of then-#1 Dinara Safina's top ranking in spite of her grand slam collapses (even if Serena's points were accurate, she probably wasn't the one who should have been making them), and her now-infamous blow-up at a U.S. Open linesperson after a foot-fault call during a semifinal match with Kim Clijsters (a second "game misconduct" from Williams in the match, for verbal abuse, was penalized with a lost point, and since it came on match point due to the foot-fault on a second serve, the Belgian advanced to the final without playing another point).

Of course, lost in all the uproar about her behavior on that inglorious night, little was said about how Serena actually managed to cheat herself, for she more than any other player might have been able to serve her way out of her seemingly unwinnable position against Clijsters (she was down 6-4/6-5) by reeling off a string of aces. She might not have, but if she had no one would have been shocked. Such is the awe of Serena on a roll... especially the sort that no one sees coming until it's too late. And Williams surely has a slew of them in her history.

Here are just a few of her "escapes" before eventually claiming one of her eleven slam titles:

2003 Australian Open: Clijsters led 5-1 in the 3rd set in the SF, and held two match points
2005 Australian Open: Maria Sharapova had three match points in the SF
2007 Australian Open: Nadia Petrova (3rd Rd.) and Shahar Peer (QF) served for the match
2009 Australian Open: Svetlana Kuznetsova served for the match in the QF
2009 Wimbledon: Elena Dementieva had a match point in the SF

In all, Serena won thirty singles titles in the 2000's (of her 35 career crowns), ten of them slams. Her eleven career major titles are eighth on the all-time list. One of nine women who've won all four slams, she has multiple titles at three (four Australian Open, one Roland Garros, three Wimbledon, three U.S. Open). The only players who have ever defeated Serena in a slam final are her sister Venus and Sharapova, and only Venus ('08 Wimbledon) has done so since Serena was shocked in the '04 SW19 final by the Russian. Williams finished in the Top 10 eight times this decade, and has held a Top 20 rank every season but '06 since she was a 17-year old in 1998.

All that, and Serena is part of maybe the most lethal doubles team ever, as well. Thus far, she and Venus have combined to win ten slam titles (eight this decade), half-way to a tour record, and two Olympic Golds. Serena also won two Mixed Doubles slams with Max Mirnyi in 1998, bringing her career slam titles total to twenty-three, tied with Steffi Graf for the highest number behind Martina Navratilova's tour-best run-up to fifty-nine since Billie Jean King's final slam Doubles title in 1980. Serena is currently one of six women with career slams in both singles and doubles (Navratilova, King, Margaret Smith-Court, Doris Hart & Shirley Fry), and is just Mixed titles at the Australian Open and Roland Garros from becoming the fifth to achieve career slams in all three tennis disciplines.

A lightning rod over the years, Serena has likely been the subject of more conversations than any other tennis player since her arrival on the scene. Whether it be about her tennis, her on-court attire (from the early flying hair beads to the catsuit to the superhero boots... hmmm, maybe the notion of the cape WASN'T so far-fetched), her being "called out" by no less than Chris Evert a few years ago for not upholding her "responsibility" to the sport to be the (maybe all-time) best that she could be, or her recent naked cover shot for ESPN the Magazine. Even her passion has often been used against Serena at times, making one wonder if her's is sometimes TOO strong a force of personality -- female personality, especially -- in some corners of Madison Avenue and the like. This year's U.S. Open incident falls into this category, too, as it's easy to question whether the same hullabaloo would have occurred had a male player "threatened" a linesperson, with the moment possibly quickly forgotten and passed off as simply a case of a champion "blowing off steam" on a bad night.

As usual, though, Serena will prevail in the end. She'll rise above it all, both on the court and off. And she seems to be no where near finished winning major titles, either.

She recently announced her goal of winning an Olympic singles Gold, the only major championship she's never claimed. Thus far, only Graf has won all four slams, the SEC and Olympic singles Gold. Additionally, Serena is just one more RG singles title from joining Smith-Court, Evert, Navratilova and Graf as the only women with multiple championships at all four slams. Who knows what Williams' numbers will be by the end of her career, but no matter how close to the all-time records they are they'll be close enough for her to legitimately be declared the "best of the best" by many.

The only sticking point might be that Serena's talent level is SO high that no number will be looked upon as "enough" for some. Those middle years of the past decade in which her slam totals slipped just a tad might be forever used against her in the G.O.A.T. debate. They shouldn't be, though, for anyone who attempts to look down on Williams' career in any way is asking for too much. Serena has played out her career and lived her life up to this point as she's seen fit, even if it's sometimes meant nearly relegating her tennis to a part-time avocation. Truthfully, when an athlete is as superior as Serena, with so many important titles and starring roles on big stages, our's is not to wonder why she hasn't won even more major titles, it's to marvel at how many she's actually won. I mean, do people harp on Michael Jordan leaving basketball for a time to pursue the dream of a baseball career? No, because he earned the right to make that decision by winning everything there was to win. Serena's in the same category.

Much like Jordan, Serena's occasional flights of fancy in acting and reality television, though maybe best left alone in a perfect world, can be seen as Williams doing whatever she can to keep her mind fresh. If she hadn't allowed herself to go off on such tangents, she might not still have the seeming reservoir of desire for many more years in tennis that she now does. Graf played on and on with a single-minded purpose, eventually wearing herself out and leaving the game two months after turning 30. Such an exit, barring a severe recurrence of her knee injury, isn't likely in the cards for Serena.

Thank goodness.

Years ago, it was easy to wish for a little something different in the game besides the Williams vs. Williams dominance that developed at the start of this decade. But after those glory years for the family temporarily dried up in the mid-2000's, it was just as easy to welcome back the sisters' resurgence in the last two years with open arms. We didn't know what we'd been missing until we got it back. Now, hopefully, we'll be able to witness the remarkable ride of both at least until the mid-way point of the 2010's. After all, there'll never be another story like their's, and it'll have been a true privilege to see the entire tale play out.

With apologies to Navratilova's now-unfortunately-anachronistic serve-and-volley game, Graf's overwhelming force, Seles' all-too-brief angles-loving attack and Henin's underdog-turned-pit bull rise to power, Serena is the one who has it ALL. While others might have won more titles, dominated unfailingly for longer periods of time, run over opponents with merciless abandon or managed to steal away moments of the dominance from under the noses of fellow all-time greats, Williams is the most awesome tennis force that I'VE ever seen. And not just in the 2000's, either.

From here, Serena isn't in the running for that "Greatest of All-Time" crown. She's ALREADY CLAIMED IT.

And, with that, I'd say that that's as good a spot to wraps things up as any.

*BACKSPIN LINKS OF NOTE*
Serena Slam: Coming Soon to a Court Near You (U.S. Open '02)
Serena Slam-Slam-Slamming Away (Australian Open '03)
Grasscourt Awards 2003
Melbourne's Soul Survivor (Australian Open '05)
The Demolition Heard 'round the World (Australian Open '07)
Destiny's Child (U.S. Open '08)
The Theory of Serenativity (Australian Open '09)
The Power of One (Wimbledon '09)

Aha, hold on a moment! There's one final list of honors left to toss out there. Let's hope it finds a nice place to land.

*TOP PERFORMANCE*
Serena Williams' "Serena Slam" (2002-03)

[Tournament]
Justine Henin-Hardenne, 2004 Athens Olympics
[Weekend]
Justine Henin, 2003 U.S. Open (SF-def. Capriati, Final-def. Clijsters)
[Team]
Russia wins four Fed Cup titles (2004-05, 2007-08)
[Misc.]
Russians sweep Beijing '08 Olympics Medal stand (Dementieva-Safina-Zvonareva)

*TOP DOUBLES TEAMS*
1. Serena Williams/Venus Williams, USA
2. Virginia Ruano Pascual/Paola Suarez, ESP/ARG
3. Cara Black/Liezel Huber, ZIM/RSA-USA
HM- Lisa Raymond/Rennae Stubbs, USA/AUS

*TOP*
[Junior]
Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, RUS
[Breakout]
Maria Sharapova wins Wimbledon (2004)
[Comeback]
Jennifer Capriati (2001)
[Adopted Technology]
Instant Replay review

*MATCHES OF THE DECADE*
2001 Roland Garros Final - Capriati def. Clijsters
...1-6/6-4/12-10. So what if it was the only three-set RG final this decade. It was the most dramatic, historic match. Period.
=============================
2003 U.S. Open SF - Henin def. Capriati
...4-6/7-5/7-6. The legend of La Petit Taureau is born.
=============================

*BEST*
[Story]
The Williams Sisters
[Unlikely Tennis Power]
Belgium
[Revolution]
Russian

*Ms. Backspin of the 2000's*
THE Serena Williams

And, now... time to take a breath.

1. Serena Williams, USA
2. Justine Henin, BEL
3. Maria Sharapova, RUS
4. Venus Williams, USA
5. Kim Clijsters, BEL
6. Jennifer Capriati, USA
7. Lindsay Davenport, USA
8. Amelie Mauresmo, FRA
9. Svetlana Kuznetsova, RUS
10. Cara Black, ZIM
11. Lisa Raymond, USA
12t. Virginia Ruano Pascual, ESP
12t. Paola Suarez, ARG
14. Rennae Stubbs, AUS
15. Elena Dementieva, RUS
16. Martina Hingis, SUI
17. Liezel Huber, RSA/USA
18. Mary Pierce, FRA
19. Dinara Safina, RUS
20. Daniela Hantuchova, SVK
21. Ana Ivanovic, SRB
22. Jelena Jankovic, SRB
23. Ai Sugiyama, JPN
24. Anastasia Myskina, RUS
25. Patty Schnyder, SUI
HONORABLE MENTION- Martina Navratilova, USA

*BACKSPIN'S 2000-09 HONOR ROLL, #27-116*
Nicole Arendt
Shinobu Asagoe
Victoria Azarenka
Sybille Bammer
Marion Bartoli
Daja Bedanova
Alona Bondarenko
Kateryna Bondarenko
Kristie Boogert
Elena Bovina
Severine Bremond-Beltrame
Els Callens
Anna Chakvetadze
Chan Yung-Jan
Chuang Chia-Jung
Dominika Cibulkova
Sorana Cirstea
Amanda Coetzer
Eleni Daniilidou
Nathalie Dechy
Casey Dellacqua
Mariaan de Swardt
Jelena Dokic
Silvia Farina Elia
Clarisa Fernandez
Tatiana Golovin
Anna-Lena Groenefeld
Carly Gullickson
Julie Halard-Decugis
Hsieh Su-Wei
Anke Huber
Janette Husarova
Kaia Kanepi
Sesil Karatantcheva
Vania King
Anna Kournikova
Michaella Krajicek
Lina Krasnoroutskaya
Li Na
Li Ting
Elena Likhovtseva
Sabine Lisicki
Nuria Llagostera-Vives
Petra Mandula
Marta Marrero
Conchita Martinez
Maria Jose Martinez-Sanchez
Anabel Medina-Garrigues
Sania Mirza
Alicia Molik
Corina Morariu
Miriam Oremans
Melanie Oudin
Shahar Peer
Flavia Pennetta
Tatiana Perebiynis
Kveta Peschke
Nadia Petrova
Kimberly Po-Messerli
Agnieszka Radwanska
Anastasia Rodionova
Chanda Rubin
Lucie Safarova
Arantxa Sanchez-Vicario
Mara Santangelo
Barbara Schett
Francesca Schiavone
Monica Seles
Magui Serna
Antonella Serra-Zanetti
Meghann Shaughnessy
Anna Smashnova
Karolina Sprem
Katarina Srebnotnik
Samantha Stosur
Carla Suarez-Navarro
Sun Tiantian
Agnes Szavay
Tamarine Tanasugarn
Patricia Tarabini
Nathalie Tauziat
Nicole Vaidisova
Dominique van Roost
Elena Vesnina
Yanina Wickmayer
Caroline Wozniacki
Yan Zi
Zheng Jie
Fabiola Zuluaga
Vera Zvonareva

All for now.

"DECADE'S BEST" SERIES:
...Players of the 2000's: Nomination List, Australian Open 2000-09, Roland Garros 2000-09, Wimbledon 2000-09, U.S. Open 2000-09, Players #21-25, Players #16-20, Players #11-15, Players #6-10, Decade's Best: Player #5- "Splitting Hairs", Decade's Best: Player #4- "LeaVes of Grass", Decade's Best: Player #3- "Supernovic Aspirations"

The Decade's Best: Player #3- "Supernovic Aspirations"

2009-11-21T23:58:00.002-05:00

Backspin's "Decade's Best" countdown of the final five of the Top 25 players of the 2000's continues today with #3, a player whose career both represents (and maybe surpasses) the most far-reaching development on tour over the past ten years -- the Russian Revolution.

Even while considering the unexpected rise of the two-headed Belgian force of Justine Henin and Kim Clijsters, and the game-altering mechanics of the story of Venus and Serena Williams, the full-force infiltration of the tour by the Russians changed the landscape of the sport more than anything this decade. While Justine Henin was the top Waffle, and Serena the leading Sister, it's pretty clear that Player #3 had led the charge for the Hordettes. She's the best Russian player ever, and that's saying something after the decade of accomplishment we've just seen. Her symbolic importance, template-changing qualities, arguable role as the most famous face in the women's game, and hardly-to-be-overlooked career accomplishments served her well enough to be placed on this list ahead of her likely more versatile and long-standing opponents Venus and Clijsters. It wasn't an easy choice.

Could a case be made for any of the three to rank just outside the "Big Two" for the 2000's? Sure. It'd be crazy to say that their 3-4-5 ranking here is written in anything resembling stone. It isn't. It's just a matter of what, in the end, is judged more important in the eyes of history... according to your friendly neighborhood Backspinner, that is. Take it for what you will.

Thus, #3:

#3 - Maria Sharapova, RUS

su*per*no*va* (soo'puhr-NOH-vuh) n. A rare celestial phenomenon in which a star explodes, resulting in an extremely bright, short-lived object.

Maria Sharapova changed the game, at once expanding its fan base as well as broadening the scope of what was possible for a female tennis player. While her fellow Russian Anna Kournikova created the WTA tour role of the internet age "It Girl" who could theoretically lift all boats with an off-court focus that served to make her's a household name, even in non-tennis households, it was Sharapova who put the appropriate athletic spin on the formula and opened doors to respectability that had been long closed to her predecessor.

While Kournikova was talented, and a former doubles #1, she was never built to become a "true champion" in the sport, nor did she have the commitment to do all it took to escape the sportsworld-wide condescencion directed her way for having "never won anything." She just didn't have the on-court intestinal fortitude for it, and instead chose the path of least resistence when all was said and done. Heart-fueled champions aren't built, they're born, after all. When Sharapova was first gaining notice as the latest hard-hitting teenager to emerge from the Nick Bollettieri Academy at the start of this decade, there was the more-than-lingering thought that she, too, might turn out to be more hype than heroine.

But Sharapova changed all that in one fell swoop in 2004.

When Sharapova "went supernova" by winning Wimbledon as a 17-year old that year, she created an entirely new template for the sport. One of a tour-endorsed potential cover model/superstar/champion all rolled up in one package (Serena Williams came to fit the bill, as well, but she's usually had to create her own press rather than have the higher-ups do the early groundwork work for her, likely because the people that make these decisions somehow probably thought she presented "too strong" a physical presence... a notion just as ridiculous as the one that prevented Martina Navratilova from starring in a major American television commercial for over twenty years because she was gay). A player who could be the subject of a photoshoot one day, in a business meeting with high-paying sponsors the next, and then go out and win a major title the following weekend. It's a presence worth it's weight in gold for the WTA tour, and the powers-that-be are always trying to hype the next "one," sometimes to both the detriment of the player and, at times, even the tour's own reputation as an ATHLETIC organization. But, with Sharapova, the line never seemed to be crossed into exploitation... and that's because the "Supernova" in her never allowed it to be the case. With her, image wasn't the only thing, it was simply one of many. She stated emphatically at the start that she didn't want to be a "tennis babe," but had her sights set on being a winner. And unlike many who've come before and after her, she recognized the pitfalls and was ready for them all from Day One. It's a trait not to be undersold.

But everything discussed here so far has just been surface niceties. It's Sharapova's actual tennis career that has given all the off-the-court extracurriculars -- from ever-present commercials to glamour shots to media-friendly promotional appearances -- added cultural weight, serving to give her a personal "importance" within-and-outside the sport that allows her standing to arguably rise above players with perhaps a few additional major titles and longer careers to date. And as far as that career goes, it didn't take long to learn everything we needed to know about the seriousness of her desire to be more than a multimedia star.

In 2003, in her first full season on tour, Sharapova finished in the Top 50 and won the first two titles of her career as a 16-year old. By the middle of the following season, she arrived at Wimbledon with her name flagged in the draw as one to watch. She'd just won a small grass event in Birmingham, and the buzz about her was starting to hit the mainstream. Few expected her to explode on to the scene at the All-England Club that summer, though. I was lucky enough to actually pick the #15 seed to reach the final before the tournament began, but I surely didn't think my "wild card" selection might actually SURPASS my surprise prediction. But that's just what she did.

Down 6-2/3-1 in the semifinals against Lindsay Davenport, Sharapova first showed the fire that has since become commonplace in her career. She won to advance to the final to face the two-time defending champ in the form of Serena Williams, who came in having won five of the previous seven slams she played. But while most expected an easy Williams victory, the Russian displayed no fear of the moment. Going at Serena with penetrating groundstrokes that pinned the champ at the baseline, Sharapova beat the flummoxed Williams at her own aggressive game and never allowed her to get a foothold in the match. She won 6-1/6-4, becoming the fourth youngest slam champ in the Open era (behind Tracy Austin, Monica Seles and Martina Hingis). Then, quickly seeking to prove her SW19 arrival was no fluke, she backed up her result by once again defeating Serena in the final of the Season-Ending Championships, coming back from a 0-4 deficit in the 3rd set against an injured-but-desperate Williams who was putting everything she had into nearly every shot in an attempt to drag herself over the finish line with a flourish before she could physically go no further. She almost did it, too. But Sharapova gathered herself, didn't succumb to the pressure of the moment and an injured-but-still-lethal opponent and claimed the final six games of the match.

In August 2005, she became the first Russian woman to grab the #1 ranking, and the fifth-youngest (18 years, 4 months) to do so in WTA history. A year later, she stepped into the spotlight seemingly made for her at the U.S. Open. Sporting what many dubbed her "little black dress" tennis outfit, she was "Exquisite in the City" in a way that only the Supernova could be, ruling the nighttime in round after round as la belle dame sans merci. After defeating world #1 Amelie Mauresmo in the SF (her first victory over the Frenchwoman), she ended a personal four-match losing streak against Justine Henin in the final, winning in straight sets 6-4/6-4.

Sharapova narrowly missed claiming the year-end #1 ranking for '06, coming in second (behind Henin, ahead of two-time slam winner Mauresmo) in a three-way battle for the spot at the SEC that November. Nevertheless, she again rose into the #1 position the following January. Then, one year later, she climbed yet another career mountain.

In Melbourne in '08, Sharapova won her first Australian Open championship in dominating fashion, not dropping a set and handily knocking off Ana Ivanovic in the final. In winning her third different slam of the 2000's, she joined only Serena and Henin in accomplishing the feat during the decade (actually, from the starting point of Sharapova's Wimbledon title in '04, only she and Williams claimed three different slam titles in the five-and-a-half year span from then until the end of '09). Additionally, her 3-1 career mark (a .750 pct.) is behind only Serena (.786) amongst active players with multiple slam finals as the decade comes to a close. With her game looking better than ever, the "Sharapova Scenario" that I once theorized about seemed a potential reality. She began the year on a 27-2 tear, and when Henin made her surprise retirement announcement in the spring it was Sharapova who inherited her #1 ranking. The Russian seemed a natural fit to fill what would later be called the "power vacuum" at the top of the Henin-less game. 2008 might have been the year of Sharapova's dreams.

But her shoulder betrayed her (or, maybe, I should say that the doctors who misdiagnosed her rotator cuff tear for months on end did), and Sharapova's story has been one of an attempted reclamation ever since. Out of the game for nearly ten months after having shoulder surgery, Sharapova returned with a new service motion that protected her body but messed with her head. Double-faults often came in double-digit bunches, but she miraculously still managed to show a great deal of the old Supernovic spirit even though she was but a shadow of her old Supernova self. Her Roland Garros QF run, just one round off her career best ('07 SF), showed that the heart and know-how were still there. Her season-ending title in Tokyo, which extended her tour-leading string of consecutive seasons with a title to seven as the decade's play ended, seemed to signal something of a rebirth, as her service troubles seemed mostly conquered, allowing her big match attributes to shine through. The win propelled her back into the Top 20, and that the title came in the same city in which she'd won her maiden tour crown in 2003, too, surely would seem to spookily hint at a potential return to the pre-shoulder surgery Sharapova in the upcoming season.

Through her partial decade of action, Sharapova maintained a year-end Top 5 ranking for four consecutive seasons from 2004-07, tying her with Mauresmo ('03-'06) for the tour's longest such streak during the 2000's. She's spent seventeen weeks at #1, and her twenty career titles are the most by any Russian woman, as are her three slam singles championships in a decade which has seen the Hordettes maintain the deepest, most impressive field of contenders on tour.

Oddly enough, though, Sharapova has had to battle to maintain a position within the clubby group of her countrywomen, many of whom grew up training together in Russia while Sharapova was in Florida from the age of 9. In recent years, being of Siberian birth, she's been busy trying to make commitments to her family heritage, trying to better "fit in" with her fellow Russians by becoming a member of the Russian Fed Cup team and such (though her shoulder injury prevented her from participating in the '08 Olympics, where the Hordettes swept the Medal stand). Of course, while her split Russian/American upbringing (I noted that she was something of an "AmerRussian" years ago) might have caused some tension within Russian circles at times, it's also her biggest advantage when it's come to all the off-the-court "extras." Through all the WTA and television's efforts to create a "universal" star, Sharapova is the one European-born tennis female who's managed to be a world wide crossover phenom, from Europe to North America to Asia. In the U.S., she's the only foreign WTA player that the television networks treat with coverage usually befitting only an American-born player. When she's on court, she's not "Russian"... she's Maria Sharapova. It should ALWAYS be that way with a top player, but the American television networks that cover tennis have a hard time breaking down and admitting that U.S. tennis fans might actually recognize a player from a different country. The force of Sharapova's presence and personality, though, has made it easy in her case. When it comes to her, there is no "invisible barrier" that has to be overcome. As much as I've rooted for the likes of Justine Henin to succeed in recent seasons, the best thing for the game on American television, when it comes to the attention sometimes grudgingly given the women's game, is to have the Williams sisters and Sharapova involved in as many huge matches as possible. Partially because of the situation of TV's own making, they're really the only women's players that EVERYONE is expected to recognize.

Which brings us back to where we started.

While Kournikova's stardom inspired a whole slew of young girls, especially in Russia, to play tennis, Sharapova can make them aspire to be a star AND a champion... and she can do it in Russia, the U.S., Canada, Britain, Japan, Australia, etc. "Anna's Army" has provided an opportunity for a future full of "Sharapova's Supersoldiers," and that's a legacy that we'll only see play out by the end of the next decade. Thus far, the "Supernova template" has been a difficult one to copy, though. Many have come in the wake of Maria's success, trying to balance a champion's heart with a star's sensibilities. Nicole Vaidisova, thus far, has failed miserably after a promising start. Olga Puchkova was but a dream in her own mind's eye. Ana Ivanovic nearly pulled it off, but the fragility she showed in the spotlight once she stepped into it was a trait that never seemed to exist in Sharapova's make-up.

When some think of Sharapova, the grunts and camera ads with that fabulous dog might initially come to mind. But any player with good genes and a healthy set of lungs can pull off that two-fer. It takes a different brand of athlete to be able to be all things to all people, backing up the multitude of attention with accomplishments that almost make the off-the-court activities seem silly. Being a star is one thing, but simultaneously maintaining the foundation of a champion is another.

So far, Sharapova has played the game as well as anyone ever has.

I dubbed Sharapova the "Supernova" back in '04 because of the brilliance of her introduction. But despite the actual meaning of the world, which also notes the short-lived nature of such a phenomenon, there is no need for THIS Supernova to burn out as quickly as she arrived. The shoulder injury was a worry, but assuming the best there, she's still just 22 and the fifth youngest player in the Top 20, even though 2009 was her sixth straight season with such a ranking. There is a great deal left to accomplish, and much time to do it.

Sharapova's career has already been about re-writing tennis templates, so she's likely to amend her Backspin nickname's celestial origins, as well. If so, the "second coming" should be a sight to behold.

*BACKSPIN LINKS OF NOTE*
How Far Will Maria's World Expand? ('04 Intriguing Questions)
The Passion of the Supernova (Wimbledon 2004)
Oh, to be 17 (Ms. Backspin '04)
Can Maria Sharapova Survive What the Supernova Has Wrought? ('05 Intriguing Questions)
Exquisite in the City (U.S. Open 2006)
Day of the Supernova (Australian Open 2008)

NEXT: Two for the Ages

1.
2.
3. Maria Sharapova, RUS
4. Venus Williams, USA
5. Kim Clijsters, BEL
6. Jennifer Capriati, USA
7. Lindsay Davenport, USA
8. Amelie Mauresmo, FRA
9. Svetlana Kuznetsova, RUS
10. Cara Black, ZIM
11. Lisa Raymond, USA
12t. Virginia Ruano Pascual, ESP
12t. Paola Suarez, ARG
14. Rennae Stubbs, AUS
15. Elena Dementieva, RUS
16. Martina Hingis, SUI
17. Liezel Huber, RSA/USA
18. Mary Pierce, FRA
19. Dinara Safina, RUS
20. Daniela Hantuchova, SVK
21. Ana Ivanovic, SRB
22. Jelena Jankovic, SRB
23. Ai Sugiyama, JPN
24. Anastasia Myskina, RUS
25. Patty Schnyder, SUI
HONORABLE MENTION- Martina Navratilova, USA

Here are the remaining 2 players on the countdown list:

Justine Henin
Serena Williams

*BACKSPIN'S 2000-09 HONOR ROLL, #27-116*
Nicole Arendt
Shinobu Asagoe
Victoria Azarenka
Sybille Bammer
Marion Bartoli
Daja Bedanova
Alona Bondarenko
Kateryna Bondarenko
Kristie Boogert
Elena Bovina
Severine Bremond-Beltrame
Els Callens
Anna Chakvetadze
Chan Yung-Jan
Chuang Chia-Jung
Dominika Cibulkova
Sorana Cirstea
Amanda Coetzer
Eleni Daniilidou
Nathalie Dechy
Casey Dellacqua
Mariaan de Swardt
Jelena Dokic
Silvia Farina Elia
Clarisa Fernandez
Tatiana Golovin
Anna-Lena Groenefeld
Carly Gullickson
Julie Halard-Decugis
Hsieh Su-Wei
Anke Huber
Janette Husarova
Kaia Kanepi
Sesil Karatantcheva
Vania King
Anna Kournikova
Michaella Krajicek
Lina Krasnoroutskaya
Li Na
Li Ting
Elena Likhovtseva
Sabine Lisicki
Nuria Llagostera-Vives
Petra Mandula
Marta Marrero
Conchita Martinez
Maria Jose Martinez-Sanchez
Anabel Medina-Garrigues
Sania Mirza
Alicia Molik
Corina Morariu
Miriam Oremans
Melanie Oudin
Shahar Peer
Flavia Pennetta
Tatiana Perebiynis
Kveta Peschke
Nadia Petrova
Kimberly Po-Messerli
Agnieszka Radwanska
Anastasia Rodionova
Chanda Rubin
Lucie Safarova
Arantxa Sanchez-Vicario
Mara Santangelo
Barbara Schett
Francesca Schiavone
Monica Seles
Magui Serna
Antonella Serra-Zanetti
Meghann Shaughnessy
Anna Smashnova
Karolina Sprem
Katarina Srebnotnik
Samantha Stosur
Carla Suarez-Navarro
Sun Tiantian
Agnes Szavay
Tamarine Tanasugarn
Patricia Tarabini
Nathalie Tauziat
Nicole Vaidisova
Dominique van Roost
Elena Vesnina
Yanina Wickmayer
Caroline Wozniacki
Yan Zi
Zheng Jie
Fabiola Zuluaga
Vera Zvonareva

All for now.

"DECADE'S BEST" SERIES:
...Players of the 2000's: Nomination List, Australian Open 2000-09, Roland Garros 2000-09, Wimbledon 2000-09, U.S. Open 2000-09, Players #21-25, Players #16-20, Players #11-15, Players #6-10, Decade's Best: Player #5- "Splitting Hairs", Decade's Best: Player #4- "LeaVes of Grass"

The Decade's Best: Player #4- "LeaVes of Grass"

2009-11-20T23:59:00.001-05:00

It's at this point that Backspin's "Decade's Best" countdown of the final five of the Top 25 players of the 2000's gets sticky... at least as far as the odd placing of the #3 and #4 players is concerned.

For all intents and purposes, Player #4 should probably be ranked #3. She won more titles than #3 did during the decade. She claimed more than twice as many slam titles, in fact. If not for a single player standing in her way, #4 would likely have totaled double-digit slam singles crowns by now. But while this player is forever favorably entwined with that particular player/obstacle, she also can't help but manage to somewhat pale in comparison to her when it comes to career accomplishments. Two heads are better than one, but one head is usually just a little bit bigger. Thus, taken down an "illusionary" peg by said player, #4's accomplishments are suddenly seen in a different light. With the playing field artificially "leveled," #3's multi-slam accomplishments caused her to be the "winner" in my final flip-flopping of their positions on this list. So, unfortunately for her, #4 gets her "Decade's Best" individual spotlight a day early.

Now, let's stop with all this "#4" business and get down to it:

#4 - Venus Williams, USA

Those long legs. Chasing down a ball on the edges of the green court, eating up large swatches of turf with every large step. It's one of the most awesome sights in sport.

Venus and Serena Williams will be forever tied together in tennis lore. But while Serena's career accomplishments could be viewed and admired in a spotlight all their own, Venus' still must be examined in a somewhat dimmer light... within the very long shadow that her younger sibling has come to cast.

Of course, no one would have believed such a thing would have been possible back when the audacious story of the Williams sisters began. Way back when, the lead paragraph in every story on the family was about Venus. And she was more than enough.

In her first Wimbledon in 1997, she played into the second week without ever even having completed her 1st Round match thanks to a record amount of rainfall, as if the ghosts of the All-England Club were sending a message that this wiry American kid was going to receive "most favored player" status over the course of her career there (at least, in retrospect, it seems that way). When she made her debut at the U.S. Open later that summer, the 17-year old advanced all the way to the final. She lost to Martina Hingis, but it was apparent that all the early hype about the African-American girl from the public courts of Compton, California was genuine... and might have even been UNDERsold, if it was possible.

While father Richard liked to talk about younger sister Serena, and we'd always see her practicing side-by-side with Venus in all the home videos and news footage shot by visiting reporters, no one could bring themselves to believe that BOTH would become tennis legends. Just believing that Venus could rise from circumstance to do so without having "followed the rules" of junior tennis and the sport's overall establishment was difficult enough to fathom. But, little did we know then that Richard was pretty much always right when it came to the talent of Venus and Serena, and when he said that Serena was going to be the TRUE one who'd take over the sport he wasn't just playing the proud papa wearing rose-colored glasses. He KNEW, and he was just sitting back waiting to see how long it'd take before everyone else did, too. Oddly enough, in that group might have been Venus herself.

Surely, she was as taken aback as everyone else (excluding Richard) when Serena popped up and stole her thunder two years later when, as a 17-year old, she beat Venus to the punch by winning the family's first grand slam singles title at the U.S. Open. While the accomplishment was stunning, the most interesting thing about that final was watching Venus watch it from the stands. Eight slams after she'd reached the Open final herself, she'd yet to reach another slam final. The image of her, happy for her sister yet oddly subdued throughout the day while wrapped in a head-concealing hoodie that somehow seemed to hide her own personal disappointment in not having yet experienced the same glory, is both a peek at the champion that Venus would eventually become, as well as the enigma she sometimes couldn't help but be when it came to competing against her little sister.

Immediately after that moment, Venus resumed her role as "lead" sister, running her her career record against Serena to 5-1 over the period from 1998-2001. In 2000, she put together the tour's longest winning streak of the decade, a 35-match run. In 2000-01, she rode the wave of back-to-back "Summer of Venus" moments, sweeping both the Wimbledon and U.S. Open titles each year, defeating Serena in the '01 final in New York in the first-ever nighttime final (a phenonenom created largely to capitalize on the sisters' ever-expanding media visibility and popularity). Early in 2002, Venus rose to the #1 ranking for the first time, holding the spot for a total of eleven weeks during three stints atop the rankings.

It was at about that time that everything changed. Serena defeated Venus in the '02 Roland Garros final, taking the lead in the "imaginary" race between their careers. She's never relinquished it. She defeated Venus in the Wimbledon final, as well, effectively putting her foot on the gas pedal in a stretch from 2002-03 where Serena won six consecutive matchups between the two. After having become the sport's dominate player in the opening years of the decade, Venus spent the rest of it as the acknoweldged #2 in her own family. As was the case with so many women, from Lindsay Davenport on down, Venus' career was forever altered by the presence of Serena. Just when Venus was hitting the prime slam-winning period of her career, Serena became THE star in the sport.

The sisters would meet in five consecutive slams in which both played, and six of seven starting with that '02 RG meeting. As Serena wrote her own unique chapter in tennis history, a "Serena Slam" in which she won four straight slam titles over two seasons, Venus was on the losing end in the final of all four victories. Her "supporting" role was apparent.

Against everyone else, though, Venus more than held her own. She won thirty-two of her forty-one career singles titles during the decade, claiming an Olympic Gold in singles in '00 (and doubles with Serena in '00 & '08). She won seven slams (five Wimbledon, two U.S. Open) in fourteen career appearances in finals (besides Serena, only Hingis has ever defeated Venus in a slam final -- in her first in '97), claimed ten slam Doubles titles (all with Serena) and two Mixed titles with Justin Gimelstob in '98. Ten times she's finished seasons in the Top 10, including eight in the 2000's.

Still, though, she never regained the #1 ranking after her brief time there in '02, and has never been a year-end #1. As Serena's career soared, Venus' changed. Since her cannon fodder-like role during "Serena Slam," Venus has yet to win a third U.S. Open title, and has never claimed the Australian Open or Roland Garros. Her last Oz final came in '03, and it's been even longer since she played the final match in Paris or NYC (both in '02).

Approaching the net behind a huge, whipping forehand. Planting herself at the net and daring her scrambling opponent to pass her, then gobbling up a well-intentioned shot and putting away a lethal volley with a "how dare you, in my house?" attitude, closing in on yet another SW19 crown. "Venus at Wimbledon"... no single phrase in the sport carries with it so much inherent meaning.

While Venus can't stake a claim to having been able to dominate the sport as Serena has at times, there has been one locale where she's been able to stand prouder than any other women during the decade. The All-England Club. Throughout the 2000's, Wimbledon has been her personal playground. The best grass courter in the world, Venus has invariably always been able to come to London and raise her game to a championship level, no matter what her form or mindset might have been just before the start of the fortnight. And it should have been the case from the start. After all, Venus seems perfectly suited to the lawns. Her wingspan at the net, footspeed and large strides have always made the courts at SW19 somehow seem "smaller" for her than for any other player in the field. Still, though, it's always been the atmosphere that's worked most in her favor. There, her volleys have more punch. Her forehand is more consistent. Her serve, while always hard, also more reliable. There, and in her heart, her confidence is boundless.

Venus has won Wimbledon from all angles of the draw, claiming titles as a #2, #5 and #7 seed, but also as a #14 and #23 over the years. Whenever she's needed a boost, SW19 has often provided her a lifeline. And in the years when it hasn't, especially during the back half of the decade, her season just hasn't seemed to have been "worthwhile," not just in the eyes of those on the outside, but also on the face of Venus herself. Unlike anywhere else, it visibly HURTS her to lose a match at the All-England Club. If only every player could feel such closeness to and passion for a place of honor as Venus does with Wimbledon, the WTA tour would be an entirely different entity to behold.

Wimbledon is her muse. Like a great poet, she's still trying to perfect her prose on the grass after all these years. And it's because of this that Martina Navratilova's record of nine singles titles is not entirely safe, even though Venus still stands four championships behind at age 29. Remember, Martina reached her last SW19 Ladies' final at age 37.

Venus wasn't able to grab a single slam crown from 2002 to mid-'05 (Serena won six), as injuries, the '03 murder of sister Yetunde and what most declared a "lack of total commitment" to the sport served to produce a downturn in her fortunes. Naturally, it was Wimbledon that was her oasis. In 2005, she came back from a match point down in the final against Davenport to win a 9-7 3rd set in the longest women's final in the tournament's history. So elated with her return to the forefront, and having done it at her favorite event, Venus seemed to jump up and down from the end of the match until the end of the trophy presentation, so much so that it bordered on being disrespectful to her emotionally crestfallen opponent. But, in retrospect, it's hard to judge such joy too harshly in the memory's light.

2006 again brought Venus back down to earth. A series of injuries lowered her season-ending ranking to #48. But, again, it was Wimbledon to the rescue... leading to the recent resurgence in Williams' slam viability. Back-to-back titles in 2007-08 gave her five Ladies' singles titles for the decade, but her loss to Serena (of course) in the '09 finale prevented her from tying Navratilova for the most productive single decade in the Championships' history. Making inroads onto Venus' turf even there, it was the third time ('02-'03) Serena bested her in a Wimbledon final. Still, on the whole, Venus compiled a decade's worth of stats that are a feast for the eyes: the five titles in eight singles finals, a 52-5 match record, and four Doubles titles with Serena.

After a brief recapturing of control in her series with her sister, when Venus went 4-2 from 2005-08, this past season saw Serena surge once again. She won four of five matches in the '09 season, including defeating Venus in the Wimbledon and Season-Ending Championship finals. Still, their recent matches have been in stark contrast to their earlier meetings. Showing no relish to defeat each other, they rarely played their best against each other in the early days. The winner of the opening set usually walked away with an easy straight sets victory. Now, though, with both possibly realizing their remaining years on tour are swiftly dwindling, they've played a series of great, competitive contests. Twice in the last two seasons, Serena has come back from being match point down to defeat Venus, and they've participated in three matches decided by 3rd set tie-breaks.

While Serena has returned to #1, Venus has managed to put together back-to-back season-ending rankings of #6, win her first-ever SEC title ('08) and push her career victory total over 550, making her the winningest active female on tour. And with so many players retiring and/or taking "sabbaticals" of late, neither sister seems anywhere near retiring. Venus has stated a desire to play into her late 30's, participate in the '12 Olympics (in London, with the tennis event held you-know-where), and maybe even in '16; while Serena recently said she wants to add an Olympic singles Gold to her collection (it's the only major title she's never won).

Over the years, both sisters have often been criticized for their off-court interests and long periods of inactivity and/or lackluster results away from the slams (hmmmm, sometimes it even "costs" one of them a "Player of the Year" award, I hear). While Serena has usually found ways to bask in the spotlight during such moments (acting, writing a book, posing sans clothes for ESPN Magazine), Venus has generally occupied her time with artistic and business ventures (and has successfuly combined them with her EleVen fashion line). The truth is, though, their life diversity, as long as they avoid a major injury, is likely the reason they seem to be in the process of adding quite a few super-productive years to the ends of their careers. They haven't burned themselves out on the sport, and are here now because they want to be, not because they feel like they have no other choice because it's the only way of life they know. With an admirable encyclopedia of experience, they understand their desire for major titles, and know how to pace themselves in a way that makes such success still possible as they approach their thirtieth birthdays. Maybe without the mutual support of these two still-best friends, we would have seen the last of them ages ago. Along the winding road of a tennis career, such unfailing support has a way of making both parties better over the course of it all.

Venus, especially, has quietly matured into a leadership role on the tour, becoming a member of the Players Council and serving as an unofficial spokeswoman for the sport. Even if her actions during this past season's Dubai Debacle were wanting, it's difficult to not give her credit for stepping up to a role of responsibility when so few others seem to have much desire for such commitment.

Venus. Lifting the golden (and appropriately named) Venus Rosewater dish, with grass underfoot. With apologies to Justine on la terre battau, there is no more ethereally pleasing a sight in tennis. The vision of her as the champion of Wimbledon is THE most indelible image of this past decade.

If not for Serena's rise, so much more pressure would have been heaped upon Venus over the years. The way things played out, "the serene sister" has been able to mostly maintain an even emotional keel throughout her career. While her sister may have single-handedly prevented HER career from being a lusterous as it might have otherwise been, Venus is Venus because of all the "good" and "bad" notes that make up the story of a pair of sisters who grew up to change the face of this sport forever. Without Serena, Venus would be different... and maybe not the Venus we now know.

So, in the end, I admit that maybe it's "unfair" to judge Venus' so-called worth over a ten-year span with an eye toward what her sister did causing her to be judged "less successful" than she might otherwise be seen. But numbers in sports, when you think about it, are just that... numbers. They really only serve to provide tangible evidence of greatness for future generations, and something for everyone now to bandy about while trying to back up their own opinions.

Our eyes haven't been playing tricks on us. We know how great a player Venus Williams has been. It's been a privilege to watch her... and hopefully that'll continue to be the case for quite a while longer.

*BACKSPIN LINKS OF NOTE*
If Only (Wimbledon 2005)
Home is Where the Heart Is (Wimbledon '07)
The Mark of Venus (Wimbledon '08)
What If...? (Wimbledon 2015)

TOMORROW: Player #3

1.
2.
3.
4. Venus Williams, USA
5. Kim Clijsters, BEL
6. Jennifer Capriati, USA
7. Lindsay Davenport, USA
8. Amelie Mauresmo, FRA
9. Svetlana Kuznetsova, RUS
10. Cara Black, ZIM
11. Lisa Raymond, USA
12t. Virginia Ruano Pascual, ESP
12t. Paola Suarez, ARG
14. Rennae Stubbs, AUS
15. Elena Dementieva, RUS
16. Martina Hingis, SUI
17. Liezel Huber, RSA/USA
18. Mary Pierce, FRA
19. Dinara Safina, RUS
20. Daniela Hantuchova, SVK
21. Ana Ivanovic, SRB
22. Jelena Jankovic, SRB
23. Ai Sugiyama, JPN
24. Anastasia Myskina, RUS
25. Patty Schnyder, SUI
HONORABLE MENTION- Martina Navratilova, USA

Here are the remaining 3 players on the countdown list:

Justine Henin
Maria Sharapova
Serena Williams

*BACKSPIN'S 2000-09 HONOR ROLL, #27-116*
Nicole Arendt
Shinobu Asagoe
Victoria Azarenka
Sybille Bammer
Marion Bartoli
Daja Bedanova
Alona Bondarenko
Kateryna Bondarenko
Kristie Boogert
Elena Bovina
Severine Bremond-Beltrame
Els Callens
Anna Chakvetadze
Chan Yung-Jan
Chuang Chia-Jung
Dominika Cibulkova
Sorana Cirstea
Amanda Coetzer
Eleni Daniilidou
Nathalie Dechy
Casey Dellacqua
Mariaan de Swardt
Jelena Dokic
Silvia Farina Elia
Clarisa Fernandez
Tatiana Golovin
Anna-Lena Groenefeld
Carly Gullickson
Julie Halard-Decugis
Hsieh Su-Wei
Anke Huber
Janette Husarova
Kaia Kanepi
Sesil Karatantcheva
Vania King
Anna Kournikova
Michaella Krajicek
Lina Krasnoroutskaya
Li Na
Li Ting
Elena Likhovtseva
Sabine Lisicki
Nuria Llagostera-Vives
Petra Mandula
Marta Marrero
Conchita Martinez
Maria Jose Martinez-Sanchez
Anabel Medina-Garrigues
Sania Mirza
Alicia Molik
Corina Morariu
Miriam Oremans
Melanie Oudin
Shahar Peer
Flavia Pennetta
Tatiana Perebiynis
Kveta Peschke
Nadia Petrova
Kimberly Po-Messerli
Agnieszka Radwanska
Anastasia Rodionova
Chanda Rubin
Lucie Safarova
Arantxa Sanchez-Vicario
Mara Santangelo
Barbara Schett
Francesca Schiavone
Monica Seles
Magui Serna
Antonella Serra-Zanetti
Meghann Shaughnessy
Anna Smashnova
Karolina Sprem
Katarina Srebnotnik
Samantha Stosur
Carla Suarez-Navarro
Sun Tiantian
Agnes Szavay
Tamarine Tanasugarn
Patricia Tarabini
Nathalie Tauziat
Nicole Vaidisova
Dominique van Roost
Elena Vesnina
Yanina Wickmayer
Caroline Wozniacki
Yan Zi
Zheng Jie
Fabiola Zuluaga
Vera Zvonareva

All for now.

"DECADE'S BEST" SERIES:
...Players of the 2000's: Nomination List, Australian Open 2000-09, Roland Garros 2000-09, Wimbledon 2000-09, U.S. Open 2000-09, Players #21-25, Players #16-20, Players #11-15, Players #6-10, Player #5-"Splitting Hairs"

The Decade's Best: Player #5- "Splitting Hairs"

2009-11-19T22:45:00.002-05:00

Backspin's "Decade's Best" countdown of the final five of the Top 25 players of the 2000's begins today, with an additional edition arriving every day until the end of this year-long series on Sunday.

Unlike the past five-player portions of this list, all five of the remaining women are still active on the WTA tour, or at least they all WILL be come 2010, when they'll be simultaneously in action for the first season since 2007. Thus, each and every one of these all-time greats (they've combined for a total of thirty slam singles crowns in their careers, and filled twenty-nine of the forty slam champion slots this decade) still have intriguing chapters to write in their own personal histories.

In fact, the #5 player of the decade just penned a rather unexpectedly impressive one for herself just a few months ago:

#5 - Kim Clijsters, BEL

A debate about Kim Clijsters' career could fill a month of Backspins (and probably has, all told, come to think of it), but one thing that has never been in question in this space is the vastness and versatility of the Belgian's talent.

Personally, I've often had a testy opinion of the "trying-too-hard-to-be-liked" side of Clijsters' squeegeeing-courts-one-minute, gifting-bottles-of-champagne-the-next personality, which I've thought far too often took precedence over what should have been her athletic desire, as well as often providing a Teflon-like coating that shielded her from what should have been well-deserved criticism. Unlike when the likes of Mauresmo, Jankovic and Safina did it later, hardly a word in protest was uttered when Kim became the first to rise to the #1 ranking without ever having won a slam. Still, while I felt all that in my Backspinner bones, it was largely based, at least at the beginning, on her underperformance in slams, which I perceived as something of a waste of a huge loads of talent that should have produced far more moments in the spotlight. Her career was being sold short... by Clijsters herself. For the most part, if Justine Henin is acknowledged to have gotten every ounce of accomplishment out of her body, then Clijsters has achieved far less. The fact is, there was a pre-Backspin time when I debated whether or not I would shift my "most favored player" allegience to either Jelena Dokic or Clijsters in the wake of Jana Novotna's retirement a decade ago... needless to say, Dokic won out in the end.

From the start, it was obvious that Clijsters had it all, more than enough than was necessary to compete to become the top player of her generation. Powerful groundstrokes. Tremendous defensive abilities. Preternatural hustle. The latter of which was ultimately symbolized by the familiar image of her doing the splits while stretching to reach a shot that most players would have given up on. Her potential showed itself early, too. She reached the Round of 16 at Wimbledon in her first appearance in a slam main draw in '99. Unfortunately, that "other" side of Clijsters showed up that year, too. At the U.S. Open later that summer, the 16-year old Belgian led a 17-year old Serena Williams 5-3 in the 3rd set of their 3rd Round match. Clijsters lost, while Williams went on to win her first slam crown. The career-long die was pretty much cast for both there.

Even if it took far longer than it should have for Clijsters to finally become a grand slam champion, she was never too far off. No one had more SF-or-better Australian Open results than her four during the 2000's, but she only reached one final and never won the title (Serena, tied with four SF, won four Oz titles)... even as she was adopted as "Aussie Kim" by the Melbourne fans when she was engaged to Lleyton Hewitt. She reached two Roland Garros finals, losing in a classic to Jennifer Capriati in '01, then barely showing up against Justine Henin in the first-ever all-Belgian slam final in '03. At the U.S. Open in that same 2003 season, she was presented with a final opponent in Henin who'd barely advanced past the SF, fighting cramps and exhaustion that kept her up until nearly 3am... but somehow seemed less fresh than her countrywoman in the final the next night, losing 6-0/6-3. In all, she lost her first four slam singles finals from 2001-04.

To me, it all centered around that 2001 RG final against Capriati.

Her defeat at the hands of the American in a 12-10 3rd set served as the unfortunate launching point for the majority of a career whose trajectory was never as high as she should have desired it to be. She could have, and probably should have, won that first slam title in Paris a day after her eighteenth birthday. But when she lost, she realized it wasn't the "end of her world." She still wanted to win a slam, but understood that it didn't define her, and wasn't a be-all-to-end-all in her life. Who knows what might have happened had she won, of course (though I DID try to surmise the course of events in a "What If" special edition). As I've often said, Clijsters would be a great friend with such admirable qualities as those, but for an elite athlete with "all-timer" possibilities it's a wanting profile, and almost a template for a career underachiever in a sport where heart and desire are sometimes as or more important than natural talent (especially in clutch moments in big matches at the biggest tournaments in the world, precisely the places where Clijsters often came up short).

Comparing Clijsters to Henin, Kim usually came up on the wrong end of the equation, as well. Both debuted on the WTA tour at Antwerp in '99, with Clijsters losing in qualifying, then reaching the QF as a lucky loser. Henin won the title. Again, a die was cast. Clijsters, with Henin set to return to the tour in '10, trails her countrywoman 4-7 in head-to-head meetings in finals, is 0-3 in slam finals and 2-5 in slam matchups. In the final years before their twin retirements in the latter half of the decade, Clijsters dropped four of five matches against Henin from 2004-06. And while both were active during the 2000's, Clijsters claimed just a single slam title versus Henin's seven.

While such a rundown of Clijsters' "lack of achievement" is simply a prerequisite for me here, as I feel the FULL truth must be declared about her career, I don't want to denigrate or totally undersell her accomplishments, either. She's ranked in the Top 5 on this "Players of the Decade" list, after all, and it's not without reason.

In the eight seasons during which she had season-ending rankings during the 2000's, Clijsters finished in the Top 10 five times, and in the Top 20 two additional years. She first rose to #1 in August '03, and is one of only five players to simultaneously hold the top spot in both singles and doubles, which she did for three weeks that season. In fact, while she went slam-less in '03, she had a remarkable year. She won 90 singles matches and nine titles (including the defense of her '02 Season-Ending Championships title), and won a pair of slam crowns in Doubles with Ai Sugiyama at Roland Garros and Wimbledon. Thirty-four of her thirty-five career singles titles came during the decade, as did ten of her eleven doubles titles. In 2001, she teamed with Henin to claim Belgium's only Fed Cup championship.

Throughout her career, injuries have been a constant issue for Clijsters. In 2004, wrist surgery took her out for twenty weeks. By March '05, her ranking had dropped to #134. But, as was often the case, her time away allowed her to become healthy of mind and body, and she came back better than she'd left. In fact, it was her extended comeback from her wrist surgery that led into the North American summer that essentially saved her career from being a "whiff" during Clijsters I. For that brief multi-month period, the player many said was "too nice" to be a great champion found her killer instinct. She went on a 23-1 run on the hard courts, winning the U.S. Open Series, and then headed to Flushing Meadows and became the only woman to ever follow it up by winning the U.S. Open, as well. Her $2.2 million prize was record-breaking, but it was her 6-3/6-1 destruction of Mary Pierce in the final that was her most important accomplishment. In one fell swoop, she filled the gaping hole in her resume, backed up her otherwise-Hall of Fame worthy stats and made it impossible to continue to call her the best female player to have never won a grand slam title. By January of '06 she'd reclaimed the #1 ranking (extending her career time in the spot to nineteen weeks), becoming the first player to rise to #1 after being ranked outside the Top 100 twelve months earlier.

At the time, it was thought that this moment in New York would stoke her desire to rack up more of the slam crowns that had previously eluded her. But that isn't what happened. Having finally cleared the grand slam hurdle, she seemed satisfied. She didn't fall off the tennis map, but she didn't appear hungrier after her NYC experience and injuries continued to be an issue, as she didn't advance past the SF at a slam in any of the four events she entered in the sixteen months that followed her Open victory. In 2006, she couldn't attempt to defend her '05 crown after injuring her wrist in Montreal (right before the start of the Open, she'd recklessly -- insanely, really -- played on after injuring herself, only to fall again and hurt herself even worse). In mid-'07, she announced her retirement, walking away from the game at age 23 while ranked #4 (only #3 Steffi Graf had been ranked higher when she ended her career, until #1 Henin made a similar exit one season later).

I never thought she'd be back. I simply didn't think she'd want it enough, nor desire to step back into the day-to-day grind of the tour. In the two years that followed her retirement, the oft-tennis bridesmaid became a real-life bride, then a mother to daughter Jada, before burying her famous soccer-playing father. Then, something surprising happened. While preparing to play in a Wimbledon exhibition in early '09, she found the "bug" to compete once again, and soon made the commitment to return to action during the North American swing that summer.

Her success was swift and stunning.

In her KC II debut in Cincinnati, after two years away from the court, she won twelve of her first fifteen points in her opening match against Marion Bartoli and notched three Top 20 wins en route to the QF. She was just getting started. As a wild card with no official ranking, in just her third tournament back (and her first Open since winning in '05), she survived a few tense moments, defeating both Serena and Venus Williams along the way, and then smoothly worked her way into the final, where she took out Danish teenager Caroline Wozniacki in straight sets to get that long-overdue second slam crown and become the first mother to take a major title since Evonne Goolagong in 1980. After having missed the U.S. Open in '04, '05 and '07-'08 due to injuries and retirement, the 2009 title run ran her consecutive match streak at Flushing Meadows to fourteen, and 20-1 in the last twenty-one. Her last loss there this decade actually came in that '03 final against Henin.

The win pushed her ranking into the Top 20, and she finished the season at #18 despite playing just four tournaments.

Clijsters' U.S. Open win in 2005 certainly turned her previous major letdowns into something akin to semi-footnotes in her career, but it surely didn't erase them. Her '09 comeback victory, even in a tournament without Henin or with Maria Sharapova as a full-fledged force, clears away a little more of the residue from her inglorious past. But it's whatever happens during the remainder of Clijsters II that will still determine how her career as a whole is seen. If, ala Andre Agassi (well, almost, considering recent revelations), she collects at least two more majors during the "extra time" of her tennis lifespan, all the early hiccups will be smoothed out and forgotten by history... and, gulp, even a certain friendly neighborhood Backspinner.

Sure, a large part of me suspects that Clijsters might just be satiated once again, and her comeback has already experienced its zenith. But I guess that's just the Clijsters contrarian in me. In the end, she was one of the very best players of the 2000's, and her end-of-decade reminder of that little fact in New York will forever serve her well, allowing all those rough edges of memory that remain to be gradually softened over time.

Say one thing about her... she has good timing.

*BACKSPIN LINKS OF NOTE*
What If... Kim Clijsters Had Won Roland Garros '01?
The Best of Clijsters (2007)
Time Capsule: U.S. Open '03/'05 (Henin/Clijsters)
Killer Kim, Vol.II (U.S. Open '09)

TOMORROW: Player #4

1.
2.
3.
4.
5. Kim Clijsters, BEL
6. Jennifer Capriati, USA
7. Lindsay Davenport, USA
8. Amelie Mauresmo, FRA
9. Svetlana Kuznetsova, RUS
10. Cara Black, ZIM
11. Lisa Raymond, USA
12t. Virginia Ruano Pascual, ESP
12t. Paola Suarez, ARG
14. Rennae Stubbs, AUS
15. Elena Dementieva, RUS
16. Martina Hingis, SUI
17. Liezel Huber, RSA/USA
18. Mary Pierce, FRA
19. Dinara Safina, RUS
20. Daniela Hantuchova, SVK
21. Ana Ivanovic, SRB
22. Jelena Jankovic, SRB
23. Ai Sugiyama, JPN
24. Anastasia Myskina, RUS
25. Patty Schnyder, SUI
HONORABLE MENTION- Martina Navratilova, USA

Here are the remaining 4 players on the countdown list:

Justine Henin
Maria Sharapova
Serena Williams
Venus Williams

...the final three women who met the qualifications for the "Honor Roll" did so by way of their doubles accomplishments. The additions of Hsieh Su-Wei (year-end Top 10), Nuria Llagostera-Vives & Maria Jose Martinez-Sanchez (year-end Top 10 and SEC title) bring the final number of honored women to 116.

*BACKSPIN'S 2000-09 HONOR ROLL, #27-116*
Nicole Arendt
Shinobu Asagoe
Victoria Azarenka
Sybille Bammer
Marion Bartoli
Daja Bedanova
Alona Bondarenko
Kateryna Bondarenko
Kristie Boogert
Elena Bovina
Severine Bremond-Beltrame
Els Callens
Anna Chakvetadze
Chan Yung-Jan
Chuang Chia-Jung
Dominika Cibulkova
Sorana Cirstea
Amanda Coetzer
Eleni Daniilidou
Nathalie Dechy
Casey Dellacqua
Mariaan de Swardt
Jelena Dokic
Silvia Farina Elia
Clarisa Fernandez
Tatiana Golovin
Anna-Lena Groenefeld
Carly Gullickson
Julie Halard-Decugis
Hsieh Su-Wei
Anke Huber
Janette Husarova
Kaia Kanepi
Sesil Karatantcheva
Vania King
Anna Kournikova
Michaella Krajicek
Lina Krasnoroutskaya
Li Na
Li Ting
Elena Likhovtseva
Sabine Lisicki
Nuria Llagostera-Vives
Petra Mandula
Marta Marrero
Conchita Martinez
Maria Jose Martinez-Sanchez
Anabel Medina-Garrigues
Sania Mirza
Alicia Molik
Corina Morariu
Miriam Oremans
Melanie Oudin
Shahar Peer
Flavia Pennetta
Tatiana Perebiynis
Kveta Peschke
Nadia Petrova
Kimberly Po-Messerli
Agnieszka Radwanska
Anastasia Rodionova
Chanda Rubin
Lucie Safarova
Arantxa Sanchez-Vicario
Mara Santangelo
Barbara Schett
Francesca Schiavone
Monica Seles
Magui Serna
Antonella Serra-Zanetti
Meghann Shaughnessy
Anna Smashnova
Karolina Sprem
Katarina Srebnotnik
Samantha Stosur
Carla Suarez-Navarro
Sun Tiantian
Agnes Szavay
Tamarine Tanasugarn
Patricia Tarabini
Nathalie Tauziat
Nicole Vaidisova
Dominique van Roost
Elena Vesnina
Yanina Wickmayer
Caroline Wozniacki
Yan Zi
Zheng Jie
Fabiola Zuluaga
Vera Zvonareva

All for now.

"DECADE'S BEST" SERIES:
...Players of the 2000's: Nomination List, Australian Open 2000-09, Roland Garros 2000-09, Wimbledon 2000-09, U.S. Open 2000-09, Players #21-25, Players #16-20, Players #11-15, Players #6-10

ITF Backspin (Wk.45)- Bagels, a Kiwi and Ukrainian Twins

2009-11-16T18:02:00.005-05:00

The "Season-Ending" Championships are long since over. The Tournament of "Champions" is a thing of the past. The Italians might even be all washed up from their Fed Cup hangover.

But, until everyone packs up and heads Down Under this January, there's enough ITF action every week to fill a weekly update... and allow me to continue to talk about those on-the-move twin sisters from Ukraine.

ITF PLAYER OF THE WEEK: Varvara Lepchenko/USA
...American (by way of Russia) Lepchenko, 23, didn't just win the $50K challenger in Phoenix, Arizona (I say the state because I noticed that the scheduled event in that other Phoenix -- in Mauritius, who knew? -- was cancelled), she took it to recent ITF star Sacha Jones in the final, winning 6-0/6-0. In fact, she actually won the final eighteen games she played in the event after getting a 3rd set bagel in the SF against Rossana de los Rios, as well. Her other victim of note during the week was '08 U.S. Open junior champ Coco Vandeweghe.
=============================
RISER: Anna Lapushchenkova/RUS
...I've always hoped that the 23-year old Lapushchenkova would make a splash on the regular tour, just so people would have to learn to spell her name (or that she'd at least become part of a Lapushchenkova/Pavlyuchenkova doubles team that would test scoreboard lettering capacities all over the world). So far, no such luck. She did win a $50K event in Minsk this weekend, though, getting wins over the likes of youngsters Ksenia Pervak, Kristina Kucova, Vitalia Diatchenko and Lyudmyla Kichenok in the final (oops, there's one of those Ukrainian twins -- more on her and her sister in a moment).
=============================
SURPRISE: Lee Ye-Ra/KOR
...the 22-year old Korean swept both the singles and doubles titles at the $10K in Manila.
=============================
VETERANS: Rossana del los Rios/PAR & Mashona Washington/USA
...in Phoenix, DLR, as noted earlier, reached the SF after getting victories over Anastasia Pivovarova, Lauren Albanese and Olga Puchkova. Washington, apparently no longer tearing up hotel rooms, won the same event's doubles title with parter Sharon Fichman of Canada, defeating the team of Pelletier/Tatishvili in a 10-8 3rd set tie-breaker.
=============================
FRESH FACES: Lyudmyla & Nadiya Kichenok/UKR
...Alona & Kateryna no longer have the market cornered when it comes to Ukrainian tennis playing sisters. The 17-year old twins have been showing up more and more often in the latter stages of ITF events, and last week was no exception. Lyudmyla qualified and reached the Minsk singles final, losing in three sets to Lapushchenkova after notching wins over Melanie South, Vesna Manasieva, Tathiana Poutchek and Simona Halep. Nadiya fell in the second round of qualifying, but the duo teamed to win the doubles title, getting a 1st Round win over #1-seeded Poutcheck/Rodionova and then taking out Manasieva/Rodina in the final. I'm not sure which of the twins is the "one" and which one is the "two," but at the moment it looks like Lyudmila is the more advanced player.
=============================
DOWN: Alexandra Stevenson/USA
...yep, a decade after her shocking Wimbledon semifinal result and her subsequent dropping off the tennis map, Stevenson is still plugging away on the challenger circuit. For a bit, it looked like her run in Phoenix was going to be fruitful, as wins over Edina Gallovits and Rebecca Marino put her in the QF. But once there, she retired after playing just four games against Anna Tatishvili.
=============================
JUNIOR STAR: Kyle McPhillips/USA
...the 15-year old American won the ITF junior event held at the Evert Academy in Boca Raton. She claimed the singles title without dropping a set, defeating Caitlyn Williams 6-2/6-0 in the final, and also won the doubles with Chanelle Van Nguyen.
=============================

1. $50K Phoenix Final - Lepchenko d. S.Jones
...6-0/6-0. Kiwi Jones' trip to the USA suddenly got ugly. Where's the hospitality, V?
=============================
2. $50K Minsk QF - Diatchenko d. Robson
...6-3/6-2. Russia's Diatchenko then went on to retire after just one game in the SF against Lapushchenkova. I'm sure Robson must have had something cheeky to say about that.
=============================
3. $50K Minsk Doubles Final - Kichenok/Kichenok d. Manasieva/Rodina
...6-3/7-6. Anyone else waiting for the first Kichenok/Kichenok vs. Bondarenko/Bondarenko match?
=============================

**2009 ITF TITLES - AMERICANS**
2...Irina Falconi
2...Laura Granville
2...Melanie Oudin
2...Shenay Perry
2...Abigail Spears
1...Jacqueline Cako
1...Beatrice Capra
1...Alexa Glatch
1...Kristie Haerim Ahn
1...Jamie Hampton
1...Macall Harkins
1...Lindsay Lee-Waters
1...VARVARA LEPCHENKO
1...Elizabeth Lumpkin
1...Alexandra Mueller
1...Alison Riske

All for now.

NEXT: The "Top 25 Players of the Decade - #1-5" and 2009 WTA Yearbook

2009: A T-E-A-M Effort

2009-11-15T19:30:00.004-05:00

Forty-four weeks of tennis action and it's come to this... trying to determine the "top" performer(s) in a year in which the player who spent the most time at #1 was most renowned for her no-shows and collapses in slams, while the actual year-end #1 player, who won two slams and the Season-Ending Championships, was, at best, largely on cruise control for the bulk of her all-or-nothing season, and whose '09 campaign will likely be more remembered for an on-court verbal assault borne of frustration, but one that's threatening under(and over)tones will live on for years thanks to moving-picture-magic.

In the end, neither the aforementioned Dinara Safina nor Serena Williams were able to close the door to a potential "wild card" candidate for this year's "Ms. Backspin" honors.

Largely, 2009 was the second consecutive season that was formed around the retirement of former #1 Justine Henin last year. In 2008, no player could rise to the forefront and declare without argument that she was the best player in the La Petit Taureau-less sport. This year, Serena WAS able to do that, but while she often unwisely chose to deride Safina's week in and week out (well, until the last month or so) commitment and success at all sorts of stops along the WTA road map, it is precisely that sort of consistent tour presence displayed by the Russian through which the overall success of the WTA and its players is SUPPOSED to be built upon. While many chose to overlook Henin's many positive contributions to the sport when she was atop it (but, oddly enough, recognized them once she was temporarily gone... go figure), no one ever questioned her commitment to the weekly grind of the game, nor her ability to always bring her best to the court whenever she stepped onto it. No matter how grand the tournament might have been.

Surely, Serena wants to be, and is, the best right now. But, sometimes, the BEST player still isn't the "Player of the Year."

A season ago, with no dominant single figure to be found, the dominating force that was the doubles team of Cara Black and Liezel Huber became the first "co-Ms. Backspin" winners in the history of this annual little important-in-only-one's-mind's-eye honor. This year, with Williams' '09 nagging negatives bumping uncomfortably up against her still-nearly-overwhelming positives, I've decided to go a different route for this award once again. Over the past season, comebacks have seemed to be contagious.

Well, apparently, so is honoring a team. Thus, the final "Ms. Backspin" rankings for 2009:

1. Italian Fed Cup Team

In a season in which the Dubai Debacle highlighted all the cracks in the framework of the WTA, as well as the lack of true support within the community of players for a fellow competitor wronged, it seems to me that the importance of teamwork should be honored with the awarding of this year's "Ms. Backspin." And what better show of teamwork was there in all of 2009 than that of the Fed Cup-winning Team Italia?

Led by the year-in, year-out dependability of veterans Flavia Pennetta and Francescia Schiavone, the Italians mowed through French and Russian teams, winners of five of the last six FC titles, to reach a third final in four years. There, they easily put down the Americans on red clay in front of a stadium-full of Italian fans to win a second crown in the last four years (with '06), rising above the fray to prove over the course of '09 that the excellence of a TEAM is quite often greater than the "quality" of its individual parts. While Pennetta has been a fine player over the years, she often lacked consistency. Now, though, she seems to be playing the best tennis of her life at almost age 28. Schiavone, 29, has always been a bigger star while playing under the Italian flag than when going it alone. In fact, only recently (including once late this season) has her long-time team leadership/success been joined by singles titles on the WTA tour. Together, though, along with their teammates, Pennetta and Schiavone have been golden.

This season, no single player was more deserving of being dubbed "Ms. Backspin" than the collective team of Italians who triumphed over all on the court in 2009.

Viva Italia!

2. Serena Williams, USA
3. Svetlana Kuznetsova, RUS
4. Serena Williams/Venus Williams, USA

Rarely has a player had as many superior results as Serena and NOT been a unanimous Player of the Year. Two singles slams, three doubles slams, an SEC title, the year-end #1 ranking. Quite impressive. But we almost EXPECT such things from Williams, and such is the burden of the most talented player of her generation. She almost has to top her own past exploits to be given her FULL due (at least this year), and that's quite a mountain to climb. The seeming re-invigoration of Kuznetsova might end up proving to be the most important development of the '09 season. Her Roland Garros title finally provided the proper follow-up to her '04 U.S. Open title. If she could play all of 2010 with the same confidence she showed in Europe during the spring, she might end up next season as the "surpising" last woman standing in what will be a crowded, ultra-competitive field. Serena and Venus might be the best women's doubles team ever, but since they're rarely healthy enough to play all that often their career numbers will never equal those of the likes of Navratilova/Shriver. Still, winning three slams in a single season, as they did this year, is sure to provide more than enough evidence of their prowess for future tennis generations.

5. Nuria Llagostera-Vives/Maria Jose Martinez-Sanchez, ESP
6. Dinara Safina, RUS

After slowly building their rankings points and showing increased surface versatility all season long, the Spanish pair of NLV/MJMS ended their season on a high note, knocking off both Williams/Williams and Black/Huber to claim the SEC doubles title in Doha. Safina was ranked #1 for more weeks in '09 than any other player, won three titles and was the most consistent player on tour... except when it came to her final matches in slams. In the 4Q, after going down in flames once again at the U.S. Open, Safina finally seemed to collapse under the accumulated slings and arrows of the season, closing out her "career year" by retiring with a back injury after two games of action at the SEC.

7. Caroline Wozniacki, DEN
8. Kim Clijsters, BEL
9. U.S. Fed Cup Team
10. Elena Dementieva, RUS
11. Flavia Pennetta, ITA

Wozniacki was the top mover-and-shaker in the Top 10, and I'm not just talking about how her body was twitching when she collapsed on her back with cramps during the SEC, either. Charming, sometimes to a fault (in Luxembourg, at least), and with guts to spare, she participated in some of the most memorable matches all season, winning titles on three different surfaces, reaching the U.S. Open final, the SEC semifinals and finishing the season at #4. Clijsters' season essentially consisted of only three events played during the North American hard court season, but seeing that one included her second career U.S. Open title, she makes the list in a season in which no single player won more than three singles crowns. The Americans may not have won the Fed Cup title, but the Cinderella final run of Mary Joe Fernandez's "B"-team Bannerettes - from Oudin to Glatch to Huber) -- was one of the most unlikely stories in tennis this season. Dementieva began '09 as the hottest player on tour, but she suffered through several cold spells both before and after her U.S. Open Series win later in the season. Her slam results were mostly wanting, with the one notable exception being her SF result at Wimbledon, where she held a match point against eventual champ Serena. Pennetta's leading role on the FC-winning Italian Fed Cup team was one thing, but her individual singles results were pretty special, too, with her biggest highlight being when she became the first Italian woman to ever reach the Top 10.

12. Yanina Wickmayer, BEL
13. Cara Black/Liezel Huber, ZIM/USA
14. Victoria Azarenka, BLR
15. Venus Williams, USA
HM- Melanie Oudin, USA

Wickmayer won two titles and was a surprising U.S. Open semifinalist, but rather than celebrating her first-ever Top 20 finish in the rankings, she's deciding her next move in fighting a one year suspension for violating the "whereabouts" clause of the drug testing rules. Black & Huber ended '09 as the co-top ranked doubles players in the world, but their season's title total was cut in half from a season ago (from ten to five), and they failed to win either a slam or SEC crown. Azarekna opened 2009 by winning her first career title in Week 1, and soon reached the Top 10. Her three singles titles tied for the tour lead, but she was trumped in the long run by fellow Top 10er Wozniacki's big event results and the Dane's ability to maintain her cool while someone named Victoria around her was constantly losing her's. Venus has a good year, winning back-to-back titles on hard and clay courts and maintaining her #6 ranking despite failing to defend either her Wimbledon or SEC crowns. But, still, no SW19 singles plate means it was an "disappointing" year for her. Oudin burst onto the scene as an early Fed Cup star, then cut her teeth with a Wimbledon run that included an upset of Jankovic, leading into her star-of-the-tournament explosion at the U.S. Open thay made her a slam quarterfinalist/media darling/fan favorite at 17. Next year, though, she'll feel the weight of the pressure of expectation... will she still "believe?"

Of course, with Henin back in the fold in 2010, who knows what'll happen with this award a year from now. With some semblence of "normalcy" possibly returning to the tour, Serena might end up being 2010's "Ms. Backspin" even while garnering just a single slam title. La Petit Taureau could reclaim her throne. A healthy Maria Sharapova might go supernova for a second time. Heck, maybe even Clijsters will see the return of her countrywoman as a real challenge and finally become the one-is-never-enough, hungry champion that her talent has always silently urged her to be. Yeah, I'm not sure I believe that last one is even totally possible... but it should be a fun ride finding out and, gulp, maybe even being proven wrong.

Well, then again, let's not get TOO crazy.

=OTHER NOMINEES=
Marion Bartoli, FRA
Kimiko Date-Krumm, JPN
Jelena Dokic, AUS
Hsieh Su-Wei/Peng Shuai, TPE/CHN
Jelena Jankovic, SRB
Petra Kvitova, CZE
Sabine Lisicki, GER
Maria Jose Martinez-Sanchez, ESP
Amelie Mauresmo, FRA
Shahar Peer, ISR
Aravane Rezai, FRA
Francesca Schiavone, ITA
Samantha Stosur, AUS
Vera Zvonareva, RUS

*"Ms. BACKSPIN" WINNERS*
2001 Jennifer Capriati / USA
2002 Serena Williams / USA
2003 Justine Henin-Hardenne / BEL
2004 Maria Sharapova / RUS
2005 Kim Clijsters / BEL
2006 Amelie Mauresmo / FRA
2007 Justine Henin / BEL
2008 Cara Black & Liezel Huber / ZIM-USA
2009 Italian Fed Cup Team

2009 Grand Slam Final Backspins:
Australian Open: The Theory of Serenativity
Roland Garros: Treating Those Two Impostors Just the Same
Wimbledon: The Power of One
U.S. Open: Killer Kim, Vol.II

*PERFORMANCES OF THE YEAR*
[Individuals]
1. Serena Williams wins Wimbledon, her eleventh career slam singles title, and third in the last four. It's her best slam run since "Serena Slam" in 2002-03. Overcoming a match point in the SF against Elena Dementieva, Serena proceeds to turn back the clock to SW19's early-2000's beginnings and defeat sister Venus in the final. Then, the sisters team to take the doubles crown.
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2. 17-year old American, world-#70 Melanie Oudin, arrives in New York sporting shoes with "Believe" on their sides, and then makes believers of the U.S. Open fans as she defeats a string of Russians -- including Maria Sharapova, Elena Dementieva and Nadia Petrova -- in three-set, come-from-behind fashion en route to a surprise QF result that makes her an instant star.
=============================
3. Without a main draw slam victory in six years, Australia's own (once again) Jelena Dokic pulls a stunning QF run out of her tennis bag, winning a series of three-set night matches in front of the Aussie fans and becoming the feel-good comeback story of the tournament.
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4. Svetlana Kuznetsova and Dinara Safina rule the red clay. In Europe, the Russians meet three times in finals, the last time coming in the Roland Garros title match. Kuznetsova defeats Safina in Stuttgart, while Safina (who also reached a third consecutive pre-Paris final, winning in Madrid) gets the better of her countrywoman in Rome. At RG, Kuznetsova defeats world #2 Serena Williams, then knocks off #1 Safina in the final to complete the pair's red clay trilogy, claiming her first slam singles title since the 2004 U.S. Open.
=============================
5. Kim Clijsters, after two years away from the sport which included marriage, the birth of a daughter and the death of her father, charges through the draw at Flushing Meadows to claim her second U.S. Open title in just her third post-retirement tournament.
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6. At the Season-Ending Championships, Caroline Wozniacki suffers through multiple attacks of cramps during Round Robin action in the Doha heat. Surviving a match point, she charges back to defeat Victoria Azarenka, then overcomes her own near-collapse against Vera Zvonareva in a match that she nearly won in straight sets. Two points from the victory, Wozniacki experiences a flat-on-her-back, flopping-like-a-carp moment when a full-body attack of cramps causes her to suddenly crumple to the court. She manages to get to here feet, serve out the match, then openly sob as she wobbles all the way to the net to shake the Russian's hand. A career-defining moment? Yeah, maybe.
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7. Serena Williams wins the Australian Open, overcoming Svetlana Kuznetsova in a tight QF (the Russian served for the match) and then crushing Dinara Safina in the final. She and Venus also win the doubles.
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8. Elena Dementieva opens her season with back-to-back titles in Auckland and Sydney, winning the latter with triumphs over the top two ranked players in the world, Serena Williams and Dinara Safina.
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9. Serena Williams wins the Season-Ending Championships, defeating Venus twice (saving a match point against her in a Round Robin match) and wrapping up her second career year-end #1 ranking.
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10. Melanie and Alexa save the world. In the Fed Cup 1st Round, Melanie Oudin is called upon to win a crucial singles match against Argentina's Betina Jozami in her her FC debut tie. She does, allowing the Americans, who'd been down 2-1, to win the deciding doubles match and advance. In the Fed Cup SF, in which Team USA fell behind the Czech Republic 2-1, Alexa Glatch goes 2-0 in singles to carry the U.S. team to the deciding doubles contest, where Liezel Huber and Bethanie Mattek-Sands overcome a match point to send the Americans to their first FC final since 2003.
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11. Amelie Mauresmo finally wins a championship in Paris, at the annual indoor tournament held there. She notches three wins over Top 10 players to claim her first tour title since 2007.
=============================
12. Vera Zvonareva wins Indian Wells without dropping a set, and also claims the doubles title. Unfortunately, an ankle injury and its lingering effects would soon wreak havoc with the rest of her season.
=============================
13. Marion Bartoli overcomes a match point against Jelena Jankovic in the QF, then defeats Venus Williams in the final to take the Stanford title.
=============================
14. After having been forced to retire with heat exhaustion from her match against Serena Williams at the Australian Open, Victoria Azarenka wins the rematch in the Miami final. Her defeat of #1-ranked Williams came just a week after she'd defeated #2 Safina.
=============================
15. One day before her thirty-ninth birthday, Kimiko Date-Krumm wins Seoul for her first WTA singles title since 1996, defeating the tournament's #1 seed, as well as its defending champion, and overcoming a match point in a 2nd Round contest.
=============================
HM- The oft-injured, hard-serving Sabine Lisicki wins Charleston on the strength of victories over Venus Williams and Caroline Wozniacki, either painfully teasing everyone with her untapped talent or giving a sneak preview of things to come.
=============================
HM- Elena Dementieva wins Toronto, defeating Maria Sharapova and Serena Williams, and takes the U.S. Open Series title.
=============================

[TEAMS]
1. Italy wins the Fed Cup title, sweeping through France, Russia and the United States by a combined 13-1 score
2. Nuria Llagostera-Vives & Maria Jose Martinez-Sanchez win the SEC title, defeating both Williams/Williams and Black/Huber
3. Carly Gullickson teams with Travis Parrott to win a surprise U.S. Open Mixed Doubles title, deciding to play together at the last minute (after Parrott's partner Abigail Spears was injured). After surviving a match point in the 1st Round, the Americans end up defeating the #1, #2, #3 and #6 seeded teams en route to the title.

[JUNIORS]
1. Thailand's Noppawan Lertcheewakarn sweeps the Girls singles and doubles titles at Wimbledon
2. Barely a year after Laura Robson won the Wimbledon Girls title, fellow Brit Heather Watson wins the U.S. Open Girls championship

*MATCHES OF THE YEAR*
1. Wimbledon SF - S.Williams def. Dementieva
...6-7/7-5/8-6. Dementieva outhit Serena, but couldn't win the biggest points of the match. Trying to break Williams at 4-3 and get a shot to serve for the match in the 2nd set, the Russian failed to convert two break points. Serena held, then broke Dementieva for a 6-5 lead before serving out the set. Dementieva led 3-1 in the 3rd, and held a match point at 5-4. But when the Russian failed to do enough with a Williams second serve, Serena rushed the net and put away a day-saving volley before letting out a primal scream. Williams held for 5-5, then passed Dementieva at the net to hold for 6-6. After breaking to go up 7-6, Serena served out the match at 8-6 to win the longest SW19 SF in the Open era, then went on to defeat Venus in the final to claim her third Wimbledon singles championship.
=============================
2. SEC Round Robin - Wozniacki def. Zvonareva
...6-0/6-7/6-4. It was hard to beat the drama of this one. If it had taken place in a slam rather than the SEC, Wozniacki's fighting-through-cramps act of holding onto the match for dear life in the latter stages of the 3rd set would be re-played pretty much every year during a down moment in the tournament. As it was, the Dane turned what could have been a crushing blow, losing a 6-0/5-2 lead and failing to convert two match points at 6-5, into a career highlight display of guts and perseverence. Her on-court collapse under an attack of cramps while serving at 5-4, 30/30 in the final set was as awkward looking as it was painful to watch, but the strength of will the teenager showed in staring down the moment and prevailing should serve as an epiphany on which she could build her career into something special (think Justine Henin's overcoming of cramps that put her, too, flat on her back on the court in the Australian Open, a confidence-building moment she often referred back to as she climbed to the top of the sport a few years ago).
=============================
3. Charleston SF - Wozniacki def. Dementieva
...6-4/5-7/7-5. It wasn't a masterpierce by any means, but it WAS exciting, even if it was sometimes for all the wrong reasons. C-Woz grabbed a two-break up, 6-4/3-0 lead in the 2nd, taking advantage of the Russian's off-kilter start. She led 4-1, but after falling head-over-tea-kettle while trying to reach a ball in the short court, the teenager lost her compusure, and very nearly the match. Wozniacki failed to serve out the match at 5-2, was unable to convert three match points up 5-3, 40/love on Dementieva's serve, then couldn't serve things out again at 5-4. It didn't end there. She didn't put away a break point at 5-5, double-faulted on Dementeiva's set point at 5-6, then slammed her racket in a fit of anger she'd mostly left behind in her junior days. Between sets, Wozniacki weathered a tense visit from her father during the changeover, took a deep breath, then went back out and found a way to win the match. Dementieva's string of consecutive games won ended at six, and C-Woz finally put away the match on her fifth match point with a forehand down the line. Whew!
=============================
4. Rome SF - Safina def. V.Williams
...6-7/6-3/6-4. Here, we got a "Best & Worst" display from Safina. Safina fell behind a set and break against Williams in this match, but still managed to fight back to win the opening set and put herself in position to win in the 3rd. Up 5-4, 30/15 she threw in back-to-back double-faults, another DF after getting back to deuce, and missed a net cord setter down the line at another deuce. In between, Safina put together a brilliant series of points that kept her alive in the game. After saving four match points in the service game, she finally put Venus away when Williams' forehand sailed long. Ah, just another "run of the mill," 3:00 comeback victory by the most wonderful, horrible potential head case in the game.
=============================
5. SEC Round Robin - S.Williams def. V.Williams
...6-7/6-4/7-6. In the longest match of their head-to-head series, this nearly 3:00 contest included fourteen breaks of serve, a Venus comeback from two breaks down in the 3rd, a match point overcome by Serena at 6-5 and a slim one-point difference in total points for the match when all was said and done. It was the second time (Serena in Bangalore '08) in the series that one of the sisters had overcome match point against the other and gone on to win the match.
=============================
6. U.S. Open 3rd Rd. - Oudin def. Sharapova
...3-6/6-4/7-5. Sure, there were some ugly stats (cough, cough... 21 DF's by Sharapova) in this one, but the inherent drama of a 17-year old American battling against a former Open champ, who had incidentally made HER big career breakthrough by defeating a former champion at Wimbledon as a 17-year old in 2004, was as good as it gets. With no one knowing whether or not to truly "Believe" in Little MO, the Georgian made it okay for everyone to dream of bigger and better things. We like her. We really like her.
=============================
7. Australian Open 4th Rd. - Dokic def. Kleybanova
...7-5/5-7/8-6. Down a break at 3-1 in the 3rd, and love/30 on her own serve, Dokic pulled off one final miracle in Melbourne even while she was on the edge of exhaustion after having to go three sets each and every time she stepped onto the Laver Arena court. It wasn't easy for Dokic to get from where she used to be to somewhere closer to it than she's been in a long time, but she and everyone -- especially those of use who've been watching closely since her wild-and-rocky ride began a decade ago -- who reveled along with her in her long-overdue moment in the Australian sun wouldn't trade those two weeks in January for the world. Well, unless it would be for an even MORE successful run in Oz a few months from now.
=============================
8. Dubai SF - V.Williams def. S.Williams
...6-1/2-6/7-6. With the stench of the Dubai Debacle still wafting through the WTA air, and with Tennis Channel deciding not to broadcast matches from the tournament, this was probably the most ignored, little reported, least important "big" match between the Sisters in... well, ever. Even those one-on-one contests in Compton probably drew an interested and excited crowd way back when.
=============================
9. Australian Open Doubles QF - Hantuchova/Sugiyama def. Black/Huber
...7-6/6-3/12-10. The 3:00 match, in which the winners saved seven match points, provided a nice highlight for what would be Sugiyama's final season and an example of why Black & Huber, even while being ranked #1, didn't have nearly the same dominating aura in '09 as they had in '08.
=============================
10. Australian Open 1st Rd. - Jessica Moore def. Christina McHale
...1-6/6-3/9-7. One of the lost "classic" moments of 2009 was a match between a pair of slam wild cards. In the intense heat of Melbourne, 16-year American McHale, making her AO debut, seemed as if she was about to have a career day. She went up a set and break against the Aussie teenager, but then was suddenly attacked by a severe cramp in her left calf that left her unable to walk without assistance. Whether the cramp arrived as a result of the heat, her nerves, or a failure to properly hydrate (or some combination of all three), it was a moment that will serve as a lesson for the rest of her career. After having to be helped to her seat by tournament officials, she played on, and almost pulled off something remarkable. With the cramping both spreading and coming-and-going, McHale gutted things out, while Moore nearly became unhinged. The Aussie started overhitting and was distracted (as well as probably annoyed) by the American's plight that was turning their match into a tear-filled drama starring her opponent. She nearly gave away the match. Moore won the 2nd set, but McHale raced to a 3rd set lead and soon served for the match. But with McHale's cramping limiting her mobility, Moore finally began to take advantage of her sudden deficiencies and took it to her fellow teenager without a hint of mercy. Not effected by the heat, Moore eventually put away the match, but it's McHale's guts-but-no-tangible-glory moment that everyone will remember.
=============================
11. Roland Garros 3rd Rd. - Azarenka def. Suarez-Navarro
...5-7/7-5/6-2. Azarenka's game was a mess as she fell behind CSN 7-5/4-1, and her squawking with herself and in-your-face gestures in the direction of the disapproving fans in the stands threatened to turn the proceedings into something akin to those Japanese legislature scuffles we sometimes see and shake our heads at. But Azarenka hit herself out of her funk, rescuing the 2nd set and extending the match to a second day because of impending darkness. The next day, she easily put away the Spaniard. Azarenka was so "out of her mind" at times in this one, she briefly turned me against her and her immature rumblings. The desire to win in her eyes eventually pulled me back to her side, but comparing her rough-edged wildness with Wozniacki's gutsy charm has now become my new pet project (count that as an early hint about one of my 2010 preview columns).
=============================
12. Roland Garros 3rd Rd. - S.Williams def. Martinez-Sanchez
...4-6/6-3/6-4. Ball hits MJMS's arm. MJMS refuses to admit it. Serena is PO'ed. Serena wins. Serena snidely calls MJMS a "cheater," as only she could or would dare. Tune in next time for another episode of "As the WTA World Turns."
=============================
13. Wimbledon 1st Rd. - Ivanovic def. Hradecka
...5-7/6-2/8-6. It wasn't a great year for AnaIvo, but she did fight her way out of this one. Sure, to do it she had to first fail to serve out the match at 5-2 and 5-4 in the 3rd, survive two Hradecka match points, and only get a chance at her own match point after a net cord (one year after her "Kiss of Life" win over Dechy at SW19) bounced her way. But, hey, beggars can't be choosers, right?
=============================
14. Eastbourne SF - Wozniacki def. Wozniak
...3-6/6-4/6-4. This season, C-Woz and A-Woz met up for a series of competitive, fun contests between two players who seemed genuinely tickled about how similar their last names are. This one stands out simply because of Wozniacki's sprawling-from-the-seat-of-her-pants shot from behind the baseline on a Wozniak smash that had seemed as if it would quickly end the point, and the great smiles all around about how much fun tennis can be. "Princess Charming" might have been born right here.
=============================
15. Queen Chaos... missing it by THAT much
Roland Garros 4th Rd. - Cirstea def. Jankovic - 3-6/6-0/9-7
Stanford QF - Bartoli def. Jankovic - 3-6/7-6/6-3
Toronto QF - Kleybanova def. Jankovic - 6-7/7-6/6-2
U.S. Open 2nd Rd. - Shvedova def. Jankovic - 6-3/6-7/7-6
...JJ had a few moments in the spotlight in '09, but not nearly as many as she did in '08. Thus, I've gone through a full "Match of the Year" list with nary a single mention of Ms. Jankovic. So, here are a handful of moments to remember from Queen Chaos' season, though none of them are likely to be recalled fondly by her or her fans since her inability to win matches like these are precisely why she fell from #1 to #8 over the past year. Against Cirstea, Jankovic served at 5-4, 30/love in the 3rd and lost. In the Bartoli match, she served at 6-3/6-5 and held two match points before going down in defeat. In the Kleybanova meeting, JJ couldn't convert a MP in a 3:16 marathon. In the nearly 3:00 encounter with Shvedova, QC didn't pull out a victory despite having two match points. Hopefully, come the end of 2010, "Jankovician" will once again come to mean winning wild matches by unconventional circumstances while smiling all the way home.

**TEN RANKINGS NOTES OF NOTE**
Kim Clijsters finished at #18 after playing just four events. The next-highest ranked player with so few events was Alicia Molik, at #309 with four (all ITF challengers).
=============================
After zero South Americans finished in the Top 50 in 2008, Argentine Gisela Dulko finished at #37 in 2009.
=============================
Nicole Vaidisova and Tamira Paszek both fell out of the Top 100, while Jelena Dokic, Kimiko Date-Krumm and Karolina Sprem all returned there.
=============================
#49 Melanie Oudin, 18, is the youngest player in the Top 100. For the second straight year, 16-year old Michelle Larcher de Brito (#116) is the youngest player in the Top 200; while 39-year old Kimiko Date-Krumm (#82) is once again the oldest.

*YOUNGEST PLAYER - end of '09*
[Top 100]
18...Melanie Oudin, USA (born Sept.23, 1991)
18...Polona Hercog, SLO (born Jan.20, 1991)
18...Petra Martic, CRO (born Jan.19, 1991)
18...Chang Kai-Chen, TPE (born Jan.13, 1991)
19...Urszula Radwanska, POL (born Dec.7, 1990)
[#101-200]
16...Michelle Larcher de Brito, POR (born Jan.29, 1993)
18...Bojana Jovanovski, SRB (born Dec.31, 1991)
18...Kurumi Nara, JPN (born Dec.3, 1991)
18...Olivia Rogowska, AUS (born Jun.7, 1991)
18...Ksenia Pervak, RUS (born May 27, 1991)

*OLDEST PLAYER - end of '09*
[Top 100]
39...Kimiko Date-Krumm, JPN (born Sept.28, 1970)
35...Jill Craybas, USA (born Jul.4, 1974)
32...Tathiana Garbin, ITA (born Jun.3, 1977)
31...Patty Schnyder, SUI (born Dec.14, 1978)
30...Amelie Mauresmo, FRA (born Jul.5, 1979)
[#101-200]
36...Virginia Ruano Pascual, ESP (born Sept.21, 1973)
34...Rossana de los Rios, PAR (born Sept.16, 1975)
32...Tamarine Tanasugarn, THA (born May 24, 1977)
32...Lindsay Lee-Waters, USA (born Jun.28, 1977)
31...Lilia Osterloh, USA (born Jul.4, 1978)

=============================
Eight of 2008's Top 10 finished there again in 2009. Only Maria Sharapova (#14) and Ana Ivanovic (#22) fell out. Of the current Top 10ers, Caroline Wozniacki (#12 to #4) and Victoria Azarenka (#15 to #7) were the two season-ending newcomers, both jumping eights spots over the past year.
=============================
The Czech Republic is tied for second behind Russia with the most players in the Top 100 with seven. But the highest-ranked Maiden is just #39, meaning eighteen of the countries that have fewer Top 100 players than the Czech Republic have a player ranked higher than top-ranked Czech Iveta Benesova.
=============================
Agnes Szavay seemed to have a better, though inconsistent, 2009 season than the one she suffered through in 2008. She even won a singles title for the first time since 2007. Still, her year-end ranking fell from #28 to #40.
=============================
The Rich Stay Rich. In 2007, there were fifteen Russians in the Top 100. At the end of 2008, there were fifteen. At the end of 2009, there are... yep, you guessed it, STILL fifteen. And, unlike from 2007 to 2008, this year's fifteen Hordettes are the EXACT same fifteen players who finished in the Top 100 a season ago.
=============================
Caroline Wozniacki and Francesca Schiavone's twenty-seven events are the most by any players ranked in the Top 20. Sara Errani's twenty-eight leads the Top 50. Patricia Mayr's thirty-two is the most in the Top 100.
=============================
Only three of the players in the season-ending 2009 Top 50 ended 2008 ranked outside the Top 100 (previously-retired Kim Clijsters, Melinda Czink & Melanie Oudin). A year ago, twelve of the Top 50 players had risen from outside the Top 100.
=============================

[based on November 9 end-of-season WTA rankings]

*TOP 20 BY AGE*
[at of end of 2009]
29...Venus Williams
29...Francesca Schiavone
28...Serena Williams
28...Elena Dementieva
27...Flavia Pennetta
27...Li Na
27...Nadia Petrova
26...Virginie Razzano
26...Kim Clijsters
25...Samantha Stosur
25...Vera Zvonareva
25...Marion Bartoli
24...Jelena Jankovic
24...Svetlana Kuznetsova
23...Dinara Safina
22...Maria Sharapova
20...Agnieszka Radwanska
20...Victoria Azarenka
20...Yanina Wickmayer
19...Caroline Wozniacki

*TOP 20 BY NATION*
6...Russia (Safina, Dementieva, Zvonareva, Kuznetsova, Sharapova, Petrova)
2...Belgium (Clijsters, Wickmayer)
2...France (Bartoli, Razzano)
2...Italy (Pennetta, Schiavone)
2...United States (Williams, Williams)
1...Australia (Stosur)
1...Belarus (Azarenka)
1...China (Li)
1...Denmark (Wozniacki)
1...Poland (A.Radwanska)
1...Serbia (Jankovic)

*TOP 20 BY CAREER TITLES*
41...Venus Williams
35...Serena Williams
35...Kim Clijsters
20...Maria Sharapova
14...Elena Dementieva
12...Dinara Safina
12...Svetlana Kuznetsova
11...Jelena Jankovic
9...Vera Zvonareva
9...Nadia Petrova
8...Flavia Pennetta
6...Caroline Wozniacki
5...Marion Bartoli
4...Agnieszka Radwanska
3...Victoria Azarenka
2...Li Na
2...Yanina Wickmayer
2...Francesca Schiavone
2...Virginie Razzano
1...Samantha Stosur

*TOP 100 FACTS*
HIGHEST-RANKED PLAYER WITHOUT A CAREER WTA SINGLES TITLE: #24 Elena Vesnina
-----------------------------
*TOP 50 PLAYERS WITHOUT TITLES*
#29 Alisa Kleybanova
#30 Dominika Cibulkova
#34 Carla Suarez-Navarro
#41 Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova
#47 Peng Shuai
#49 Melanie Oudin
-----------------------------
NEW PLAYERS IN THE TOP 100 (since end of '08 season): 28
2008 newbies: 34
2007 newbies: 33
-----------------------------
HIGHEST-RANKED TOP 100 NEWBIES ('08 rank):
#18 Kim Clijsters (NR)
#38 Melinda Czink (#103)
#49 Melanie Oudin (#177)
#51 Alexandra Dulgheru (#385)
#56 Andrea Petkovic (#315)
#57 Jelena Dokic (#178)
-----------------------------
*SMALLEST 2008-to-2009 RANKING CHANGES IN TOP 100*
0...Venus Williams (6/6)
0...Agnieszka Radwanska (10/10)
0...Anastasia Rodionova (97/97)
1...Serena Williams (2/1)
1...Dinara Safina (3/2)
1...Elena Dementieva (4/5)
1...Flavia Pennetta (13/12)
1...Alona Bondarenko (32/33)
1...Aleksandra Wozniak (34/35)
1...Timea Bacsinszky (53/54)
1...Tsvetana Pironkova (98/99)
-----------------------------
*COMEBACK RANKINGS OF NOTE*
#18 Kim Clijsters, BEL
#57 Jelena Dokic, AUS
#58 Sania Mirza, IND
#82 Kimiko Date-Krumm, JPN
#91 Arantxa Parra-Santonja, ESP
#96 Karolina Sprem, CRO
#115 Shenay Perry, USA
#132 Sharon Fichman, CAN
#134 Sesil Karatantcheva, KAZ
#156 Julia Vakulenko, UKR
#161 Angela Haynes, USA
#225 Elena Bovina, RUS
#288 Mirjana Lucic, CRO
#309 Alicia Molik, AUS
-----------------------------
*NextGen RANKINGS OF NOTE*
#41 Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, RUS
#45 Magdalena Rybarikova, SVK
#46 Sorana Cirstea, ROU
#49 Melanie Oudin, USA
#51 Alexandra Dulgheru, ROU
#66 Urszula Radwanska, POL
#76 Stefanie Voegele, SUI
#92 Chang Kai-Chen, TPE
#116 Michelle Larcher de Brito, POR
#138 Ksenia Pervak, RUS
#154 Olivia Rogowska, AUS
#155 Madison Brengle, USA
#163 Lenka Wienerova, SVK
#178 Lauren Albanese, USA
#179 Ksenia Lykina, RUS
#210 Simona Halep, SLO
#213 Sacha Jones, NZL
#218 Christine McHale, USA
#244 Jessica Moore, AUS
#269 Sarah Gronert, GER
#297 Gabriela Paz, VEN
#336 Bianca Botto, PER
#353 Ajla Tomljanovic, SRB
#354 Coco Vandeweghe, USA
#376 Asia Muhammad, USA
#384 Noppawan Lertcheewakarn, THA
#413 Mallory Cecil, USA
#419 Laura Robson, GBR
#466 Elena Bogdan, ROU
#503 Ana Bogdan, ROU
#669 Veronica Cepede Royg, PAR
#700 Timea Babos, HUN
-----------------------------
*SISTERS*
#1 Serena Williams, #6 Venus Williams
#10 Agnieszka Radwanska, #66 Urszula Radwanska
#32 Kateryna Bondarenko, #33 Alona Bondarenko
#40 Agnes Szavay, #NR Blanka Szavay
#97 Anastasia Rodionova, #204 Arina Rodionova
#105 Kristina Kucova, #143 Zuzana Kucova
#169 Carly Gullickson, #NR Chelsey Gullickson
#548 Lyudmyla Kichenok, #597 Nadija Kichenok
#971 Jennifer Ren, #NR Jessica Ren
-----------------------------

*TOP 100 BY NATION*
(w/ # in 2008)
15...Russia (15)
6...Czech Republic (7)
6...France (11)
6...Germany (3)
6...Italy (6)
5...United States (5)
4...Romania (3)
4...Spain (5)
3...Belarus (2)
3...Belgium (1)
3...China (3)
3...Great Britain (1)
3...Slovak Republic (4)
3...Switzerland (2)
3...Ukraine (4)
2...Australia (2)
2...Austria (3)
2...Croatia (0)
2...Hungary (1)
2...Japan (1)
2...Poland (2)
2...Serbia (2)
2...Taiwan (Chinese Taipei) (2)
1...Argentina (1)
1...Bulgaria (1)
1...Canada (1)
1...Denmark (1)
1...Estonia (1)
1...India (1)
1...Israel (1)
1...Kazakhstan (2)
1...Latvia (0)
1...Slovenia (1)
1...Uzbekistan (1)
--
2008 TOP 100, NONE in 2009: New Zealand, Paraguay, Sweden, Thailand

*REGIONAL RANKINGS*
==RUSSIA==
#2 Dinara Safina
#3 Svetlana Kuznetsova
#5 Elena Dementieva
#9 Vera Zvonareva
#14 Maria Sharapova
#20 Nadia Petrova
#24 Elena Vesnina
#29 Alisa Kleybanova
#41 Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova
#44 Vera Dushevina
==NON-RUSSIAN EUROPE==
#4 Caroline Wozniacki, DEN
#7 Victoria Azarenka, BLR
#8 Jelena Jankovic, SRB
#10 Agnieszka Radwanska, POL
#11 Marion Bartoli, FRA
#12 Flavia Pennetta, ITA
#16 Yanina Wickmayer, BEL
#17 Francesca Schiavone, ITA
#18 Kim Clijsters, BEL
#19 Virginie Razzano, FRA
==ASIA/PACIFIC==
#13 Samantha Stosur, AUS
#15 Li Na, CHN
#36 Zheng Jie, CHN
#53 Yaroslava Shvedova, KAZ
#57 Jelena Dokic, AUS
#58 Sania Mirza, IND
#72 Ayumi Morita, JPN
#82 Kimiko Date-Krumm, JPN
#85 Akgul Amanmuradova, UZB
#92 Chang Kai-Chen, TPE
==SOUTH AMERICA==
#37 Gisela Dulko, ARG
#103 Rossana de los Rios, PAR
#191 Mariana Duque-Marino, COL
#198 Maria Fernanda Alvarez-Teran, BOL
#219 Catalina Castano, COL
#227 Jorgelina Cravero, ARG
#226 Maria Irigoyen, ARG
#242 Betina Jozami, ARG
#273 Maria Fernanda-Alves, BRA
#296 Marina Giral Lores, VEN
#297 Gabriela Paz, VEN
==NORTH AMERICA==
#1 Serena Williams, USA
#6 Venus Williams, USA
#35 Aleksandra Wozniak, CAN
#49 Melanie Oudin, USA
#77 Jill Craybas, USA
#79 Vania King, USA
#108 Stephanie Dubois, CAN
#114 Varvara Lepchenko, USA
#115 Shenay Perry, USA
#132 Sharon Fichman, CAN
[Mexico #1 - #630 Alejandra Granillo]
==AFRICA/MIDDLE EAST==
#31 Shahar Peer, ISR
#130 Chanelle Scheepers, RSA
#271 Marinne Giraud, MRI
#286 Selima Sfar, TUN
#313 Julia Glushko, ISR
#383 Natalie Grandin, RSA
#386 Keren Shlomo, ISR
#644 Chen Astrogo, ISR
#660 Christi Potgieter, RSA
#730 Chanel Simmonds, RSA

*REVOLUTION CHECKS*
==CHINA==
#15 Li Na
#36 Zheng Jie
#47 Peng Shuai
#153 Zhang Shuai
#184 Han Xinyun
#201 Lu Jingjing
#260 Yuan Meng
#266 Zhou Yi-Miao
#312 Yan Zi
#324 Sun Shengnan
==ROMANIA==
#46 Sorana Cirstea
#51 Alexandra Dulgheru
#73 Ioana-Raluca Olaru
#93 Edina Gallovits
#101 Monica Niculescu
#210 Simona Halep
#230 Irina Begu
#248 Agnes Szatmari
#306 Elora Dabija
#375 Laura Ioana Andrei
==GREAT BRITAIN==
#46 Sorana Cirstea
#88 Katie O'Brien
#89 Elena Baltacha
#100 Anne Keothavong
#159 Melanie South
#203 Naomi Cavaday
#252 Georgie Stoop
#332 Emily Webley-Smith
#341 Jade Curtis
#419 Laura Robson
#421 Amanda Carreras
==BELARUS==
#7 Victoria Azarenka
#52 Olga Govortsova
#98 Anastasiya Yakimova
#121 Darya Kustova
#168 Ekaterina Dzehalevich
#239 Iryna Kuryanovich
#263 Tatiana Poutchek
#328 Ksenia Milevskaya
#570 Ima Bohush
#596 Anna Orlik
==KAZAKHSTAN==
#53 Yaroslava Shvedova
#102 Galina Voskoboeva
#134 Sesil Karatantcheva
#206 Zarina Diyas

*RUSSIAN RESULTS ON THE WTA TOUR*
2001....0 titles, 3 RU, 6 SF
2002....6 titles, 8 RU, 11 SF
2003...11 titles, 4 RU, 20 SF
2004...15 titles, 18 RU, 30 SF
2005....9 titles, 8 RU, 36 SF
2006...19 titles, 15 RU, 30 SF
2007...12 titles, 15 RU, 26 SF
2008...18 titles, 20 RU, 21 SF
2009...13 titles, 13 RU, 19 SF

*BIGGEST RISES IN THE RANKINGS*
=end of '08 to end of '09=
[in 2009 Top 25]
UNRANKED: Kim Clijsters (NR to #18)
+54...Elena Vesnina (#78 to #24)
+53...Yanina Wickmayer (#69 to #16)
+40...Virginie Razzano (#59 to #19)
+39...Samantha Stosur (#52 to #13)
+31...Sabine Lisicki (#54 to #23)
+13...Francesca Schiavone (#30 to #17)
[2009 Top 26-50]
+128...Melanie Oudin (#177 to #49)
+65...Maria Jose Martinez-Sanchez (#92 to #27)
+65...Melinda Czink (#103 to #38)
+48...Aravane Rezai (#74 to #26)
+44...Vera Dushevina (#88 to #44)
+31...Kateryna Bondarenko (#63 to #32)
+23...Lucie Safarova (#65 to #42)
[2009 Top 51-100]
+334...Alexandra Dulgheru (#385 to #51)
+268...Arantxa Parra-Santonja (#359 to #91)
+259...Andrea Petkovic (#315 to #56)
+204...Tatjana Malek (#272 to #68)
+172...Polona Hercog (#243 to #71)
+140...Chang Kai-Chen (#232 to #92)
+130...Petra Martic (#214 to #84)
+121...Jelena Dokic (#178 to #57)
+116...Kimiko Date-Krumm (#198 to #82)
+111...Anastasija Sevastova (#194 to #83)

*BIGGEST FALLS IN THE RANKINGS*
=end of '08 to end of '09=
[2008 Top 25]
-404...Katarina Srebotnik (#20 to #424)
-52...Anna Chakvetadze (#18 to #70)
-34...Alize Cornet (#16 to #50)
-29...Patty Schnyder (#14 to #43)
-17...Ana Ivanovic (#5 to #22)
[2008 Top 26-50]
RETIRED: Ai Sugiyama (#31)
DID NOT PLAY: Lindsay Davenport (#36)
-144...Nicole Vaidisova (#44 to #188)
-113...Bethanie Mattek-Sands (#39 to #152)
-76...Tamarine Tanasugarn (#35 to #111)
-54...Monica Niculescu (#47 to #101)
-34...Kaia Kanepi (#27 to #61)
-34...Maria Kirilenko (#29 to #63)
-29...Sybille Bammer (#26 to #55)
[2008 Top 51-100]
RETIRED: Nathalie Dechy (#72)
UNRANKED: Tatiana Perebiynis (#89)
-949...Casey Dellacqua (#55 to #1004)
-239...Hsieh Su-Wei (#79 to #318)
-172...Marina Erakovic (#60 to #232)
-125...Karin Knapp (#80 to #205)
-113...Tamira Paszek (#73 to #186)
-84...Marta Domachowska (#56 to #140)
-77...Nuria Llagostera-Vives (#70 to #147)

*SINGLES & DOUBLES*
(singles/doubles ranks)
=TOP 25 IN BOTH (8)=
Victoria Azarenka (#7/#15)
Daniela Hantuchova (#25/#13)
Nadia Petrova (#20/#16)
Francesca Schiavone (#17/#19)
Samantha Stosur (#13/#7)
Elena Vesnina (#24/#22)
Serena Williams (#1/#3)
Venus Williams (#6/#3)
=TOP 50 IN BOTH (+14)=
Iveta Benesova (#39/#34)
Alona Bondarenko (#33/#39)
Kateryna Bondarenko (#32/#41)
Sorana Cirstea (#46/#50)
Gisela Dulko (#37/#27)
Vera Dushevina (#44/#45)
Alisa Kleybanova (#29/#14)
Maria Jose Martinez-Sanchez (#27/#6)
Anabel Medina-Garrigues (#28/#11)
Peng Shuai (#47/#12)
Flavia Pennetta (#12/#29)
Agnieszka Radwanska (#10/#46)
Patty Schnyder (#43/#31)
Zheng Jie (#36/#24)

*NATIONS WITH TOP 100 DOUBLES PLAYER, BUT NOT SINGLES*
GREECE: #98 Eleni Daniilidou
NETHERLANDS: #97 Michaella Krajicek
SOUTH AFRICA: #78 Natalie Grandin
TURKEY: #55 Ipek Senoglu
ZIMBABWE: #1 Cara Black

And, hopefully, I didn't flub up any numbers or figures after all that transcribing.

(crosses fingers)

NEXT WEEK: WTA Yearbook

All for now.

2009 SEASON REVIEW EDITIONS OF WTA BACKSPIN:
...Revolving Doors - 2010 WTA Guide Preview
...Regional Honors & '10 All-Intriguing Team and Market Tips
...Backspin Awards
...Ms. Backspin & Rankings Lists
...WTA Yearbook (next week)

2009 WTA BSA's

2009-11-13T15:33:00.005-05:00

Lists have always been a stock and trade component of WTA Backspin, and that's never more the case than with the annual Backspin Awards.

The final "Ms. Backspin" standings won't show up in this space for a day or two, but don't expect me to suspend myself for a year for such an instance of "unknown whereabouts." I know just where they are! As for what those pesky Belgians might do to me? Well, hopefully, they'll take into account my history with Justine rather than my off-and-on antagonism toward Kim when it comes to passing judgment... and, please, no one mention that I predicted Yanina to reach a slam SF a few months before she actually did it.

Anyway, here are 2009's "secondary" player and match lists (hopefully it'll tide the anti-doping zealouts over for a few days):

*RISERS*
1. Caroline Wozniacki, DEN
2. Flavia Pennetta, ITA
3. Vera Zvonareva, RUS
4. Samantha Stosur, AUS
5. Aravane Rezai, FRA
6. Marion Bartoli, FRA
7. Shahar Peer, ISR
8. Hsieh Su-Wei/Peng Shuai, TPE/CHN
9. Elena Vesnina, RUS
10. Li Na, CHN
11. Aleksandra Wozniak, CAN
12. Carla Suarez-Navarro, ESP
13. Vera Dushevina, RUS
14. Zheng Jie, CHN
15. Alisa Kleybanova, RUS
16. Kateryna Bondarenko, UKR
17. Yaroslava Shvedova, KAZ
18. Virginie Razzano, FRA
19. Gisela Dulko, ARG
20. Agnieszka Radwanska, POL
21. Timea Bacsinszky, SUI
22. Barbora Zahlavova-Strycova, CZE
23. Alla Kudryavtseva, RUS
24. Agnes Szavay, HUN
25. Lucie Safarova, CZE
HM- Jarmila Groth, AUS & Ioana-Raluca Olaru, ROU

*FRESH FACES*
1. Victoria Azarenka, BLR
2. Melanie Oudin, USA
3. Yanina Wickmayer, BEL
4. Sabine Lisicki, GER
5. Magdalena Rybarikova, SVK
6. Petra Kvitova, CZE
7. Alexandra Dulgheru, ROU
8. Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, RUS
9. Sorana Cirstea, ROU
10. Ekaterina Makarova, RUS
11. Urszula Radwanska, POL
12. Alexa Glatch, USA
13. Chang Kai-Chen, TPE
14. Stefanie Voegele, SUI
15. Petra Martic, CRO
16. Julia Goerges, GER
17. Viktoriya Kutuzova, UKR
18. Evgeniya Rodina, RUS
19. Tatjana Malek, GER
20. Ayumi Morita, JPN
21. Laura Robson, GBR
22. Polona Hercog, SLO
23. Arantxa Rus, NED
24. Michelle Larcher de Brito, POR
25. Mallory Cecil, USA
HM- Mathilde Johansson, FRA & Vitalia Diatchenko, RUS

*UP-AND-COMERS*
1. Kristina Mladenovic, FRA
2. Noppawan Lertcheewakern, THA
3. Sloane Stephens, USA
4. Heather Watson, GBR
5. Madison Keys, USA
6. Richel Hogenkamp, NED
7. Ksenia Lykina, RUS
8. Daria Gavrilova, RUS
9. Zarina Diyas, KAZ
10. Gabriela Paz, VEN
11. Camila Silva, CHI
12. Yulia Putintseva, RUS
13. Irina Falconi, USA
14. Chelsey Gullickson, USA
15. Beatrice Capra, USA
16. Miyabi Inoue, JPN
17. Jessica Moore, AUS
18. Olivia Rogowska, AUS
19. Yana Buchina, RUS
20. Ajla Tomljanovic, CRO
21. Silvia Njiric, CRO
22. Zsofia Susanyi, HUN
23. Christina McHale, USA
24. Ester Goldfeld, USA
25. Maryna Zavenska, UKR
HM- Kurumi Nara, JPN & Anna Orlik, BLR

*SURPRISES*
1. American Fed Cup Team
2. Maria Jose Martinez-Sanchez, ESP
3. Vania King, USA
4. Olga Govortsova, BLR
5. Andrea Petkovic, GER
6. Melinda Czink, HUN
7. Lucie Hradecka, CZE
8. Carly Gullickson, USA
9. Raquel Kops-Jones/Abigail Spears, USA
10. Zhang Shuai, CHN
11. Klaudia Jans/Alicja Rosolska, POL
12. Mariya Koryttseva, UKR
13. Lenka Wienerova, SVK
14. Anastasija Sevastova, LAT
15. Galina Voskoboeva, KAZ
16. Kirsten Flipkens, BEL
17. Alberta Brianti, ITA
18. Anastasiya Yakimova, BLR
19. Vesna Manasieva, RUS
20. Liga Dekmeijere, LAT
HM- Patricia Mayr, AUT & Ekaterina Dzehalevich, BLR

*VETERANS*
1. Serena Williams, USA
2. Nuria Llagostera-Vives/Maria Jose Martinez-Sanchez, ESP
3. Kim Clijsters, BEL
4. Elena Dementieva, RUS
5. Flavia Pennetta, ITA
6. Venus Williams, USA
7. Cara Black/Liezel Huber, ZIM/USA
8. Maria Jose Martinez-Sanchez, ESP
9. Francesca Schiavone, ITA
10. Nadia Petrova, RUS
11. Virginie Razzano, FRA
12. Amelie Mauresmo, FRA
13. Anabel Medina-Garrigues, ESP
14. Kimiko Date-Krumm, JPN
15. Jelena Dokic, AUS
16. Rennae Stubbs, AUS
17. Virginia Ruano Pascual/Anabel Medina-Garrigues, ESP
18. Bethanie Mattek-Sands/Nadia Petrova, USA/RUS
19. Roberta Vinci, ITA
20. Ai Sugiyama, JPN
21. Sybille Bammer, AUT
22. Lisa Raymond, USA
23. Tamarine Tanasugarn, THA
24. Iveta Benesova, CZE
25. Julie Ditty, USA
HM- Akgul Amanmuradova, UZB & Klara Zakopalova, CZE

*COMEBACK PLAYERS*
1. Kim Clijsters, BEL
2. Kimiko Date-Krumm, JPN
3. Jelena Dokic, AUS
4t. Maria Sharapova, RUS & Svetlana Kuznetsova, RUS
5. Shahar Peer, ISR
6. Sania Mirza, IND
7. Alicia Molik, AUS
8. Agnes Szavay, HUN
9. Yan Zi/Zheng Jie, CHN
10t. Angela Haynes, USA & Shenay Perry, USA
HM- Sharon Fichman, CAN & Zuzana Ondraskova, CZE

*DOUBLES TEAMS*
1. Serena Williams/Venus Williams, USA/USA
2. Nuria Llagostera-Vives/Maria Jose Martinez-Sanchez, ESP/ESP
3. Cara Black/Liezel Huber, ZIM/USA
4. Hsieh Su-Wei/Peng Shuai, TPE/CHN
5. Virginia Ruano Pascual/Anabel Medina-Garrigues, ESP/ESP
6. Bethanie Mattek-Sands/Nadia Petrova, USA/RUS
7. Rennae Stubbs/Samantha Stosur, AUS/AUS
8. Nathalie Dechy/Mara Santangelo, FRA/ITA
9. Alisa Kleybanova & whoever she partners with, RUS/???
10. Svetlana Kuznetsova/Amelie Mauresmo, RUS/FRA
HM- Olga Govortsova/Tathiana Poutchek, UKR/BLR

*DOWN*
1. Ana Ivanovic, SRB
2. Anna Chakvetadze, RUS
3. Nicole Vaidisova, CZE
4. Russian Fed Cup Team
5. French Fed Cup Team
6. Dinara Safina, RUS (in slams)
7. Jelena Jankovic, SRB
8. Bethanie Mattek-Sands, USA
9. Katarina Srebotnik, SLO
10. Kveta Peschke, CZE
11. Alona Bondarenko/Kateryna Bondarenko, UKR
12. Patty Schnyder, SUI
13. Alize Cornet, FRA
14. Dominika Cibulkova, SVK (and that's even after reaching the Roland Garros SF!)
15. Tamira Paszek, AUT
16. Chinese Fed Cup Team
17. Alona Bondarenko, UKR
18. Casey Dellacqua, AUS
19. Marina Erakovic, NZL
20. Kaia Kanepi, EST (in slams)
HM- Maria Kirilenko, RUS & Anne Keothavong, GBR
EXTRA HM- the M.I.A. Tatiana Golovin, FRA

*FED CUP (WG) MVP's*
1. Flavia Pennetta, ITA
2. Francesca Schiavone, ITA
3. Melanie Oudin, USA
4. Alexa Glatch, USA
5. Liezel Huber, USA

=ITF STARS=

*CIRCUIT PLAYERS OF THE YEAR*
1. Barbora Zahlavova-Strycova, CZE
2. Lucie Hradecka, CZE
3. Sacha Jones, NZL
4. Jelena Dokic, AUS
5. Polona Hercog, SLO
6. Lucie Kriegmannova, CZE
7. Chan Yung-Jan, TPE
8. Maria Irigoyen, ARG
9. Alexandra Dulgheru, ROU
10. Valerie Tetreault, CAN
11. Mailen Auroux, ARG
12. Maria Elena Camerin, ITA
13. Karolina Sprem, CROM
14. Chanelle Scheepers, RSA
15. Regina Kulikova, RUS
HM- Julie Coin, FRA & Rossana de los Rios, PAR

*ITF MOVERS*
1. Petra Martic, CRO
2. Andrea Petkovic, GER
3. Tatjana Malek, GER
4t. Kristina Kucova, SVK & Zuzana Kucova, SVK
5. Sofia Arvidsson, SWE
6. Sarah Gronert, GER
7. Elena Baltacha, GBR
8. Evgeniya Rodina, RUS
9. Sophie Ferguson, AUS
10. Oksana Kalashnikova, GEO
HM- Yvonne Meusburger, AUT & Michaella Krajicek, NED

*ITF PLAYERS-TO-WATCH*
1. Ksenia Pervak, RUS
2. Timea Babos, HUN
3. Richel Hogenkamp, NED
4. Elena Bogdan, ROU
5. Gabriela Paz, VEN
6. Veronica Cepede Royg, PAR
7. Cristina Dinu, ROU
8. Chanel Simmonds, RSA
9. Sharon Fichman, CAN
10. Kristie Haerim Ahn, USA
HM- Zhou Yi-Miao, CHN & Daria Kuchmina, RUS

*ITF UP & COMERS*
1t. Lyudmyla Kichenok, UKR & Nadiya Kichenok, UKR
2. Bianca Botto, PER
3. Jacqueline Cako, USA
4. Elora Dabija, ROU
5. Ani Mijacika, CRO
HM- Caitlyn Williams, USA

*ITF SURPRISES*
1. Galina Fokina, RUS
2. Darya Kustova, BLR
3. Katie O'Brien, GBR
4. Estelle Guisard, FRA
5. Abigail Spears, USA
6. Eva Fernandez-Brugues, ESP
7. Violette Huck, FRA
8. Amanda Carreras, GBR
9. Sandra Zahlavova, CZE
10. Heidi El Tabakh, CAN
HM- Irini Georgatou, GRE

*ITF COMEBACKS*
1. Alicia Molik, AUS
2. Julia Vakulenko, UKR
3. Arantxa Parra-Santonja, ESP
4. Elena Bovina, RUS
5. Sesil Karatantcheva, KAZ
HM- Laura Granville, USA & Lilia Osterloh, USA

*ITF SEMI-DISAPPOINTMENT*
Julia Vakulenko, UKR... her season's total of ITF singles titles (3) equaled her number of in-match retirements this season. Of course, considering Vakulenko's medical history, that's a pretty good victory-to-injury ratio. Still, it was just under two years ago that she was at a career-high rank of #31. Now, largely because of her inability to stay on the court on a week-to-week basis, she's ranked #156.

*CHOKES OF THE YEAR*
1. The Dubai Debacle
...Shahar Peer was set to become the first Israeli woman to play in the WTA event in Dubai, until the government's eleventh hour decision to deny her a visa into the Muslim nation. Caught with its pants down and the door unlocked, the WTA and Peer's fellow players set new marks for the number of wrong turns taken over the course of a week. Rather than immediately pull the plug on the tournament (or at least threaten to do so) and assert at least a slight tinge of righteous indignation after being lied to by the Dubai government and touranment organizers about opening the borders, the tour instead chose to kowtow to the U.A.E. and the event's sponsors, rather than looking out for the personal and religious liberties of one of its own players. Citing how expensive it would be to pull up stakes at such a late date (as if those who denied the visa didn't have the same thought), a company line of "reason" parroted by no less than Venus Williams, the WTA went on with the tournament with, in the WTA's words, Peer's "blessing," as if she should have been the one walking to the front of the protest line ahead of the supposed "supporting body" that is the tour and its leadership. What about the players, you ask? Oh, as if they cared. It didn't individually effect them, so they did nothing. Hey, with one less top player, they had a better chance to win, right? No boycott, which would have been justifiably supported and applauded in all corners, was seriously considered. No outright expressions of even mild protest, overt or implied, took place during or after the event. Worse yet, after winning the title, Williams spoke with a straight face of how all the players "were with Peer," and Venus was later commended by certain tennis commentators for her "leadership" during the whole sorry situation. Around the sport, the likes of "upstanding" players such as Federer and Nadal remained mum, and Israeli player Dudi Sela actually seemed to blame Peer for the entire incident. For their part, both Tennis Channel (which decided to cancel plans to broadcast matches) and Andy Roddick (who withdrew from the upcoming ATP Dubai event in support of Peer) emerged with the ability to hold their heads up. Ultimately, the WTA fined the Dubai event, and the ka-jillionaires who run it, a "whopping" $300,000 and allocated prize money and ranking points to both Peer and her doubles partner, Anna-Lena Groenefeld. A day late, a dollar short and totally missing the point, not to mention the opportunity. The Dubai tournament is still on the 2010 schedule, once again with the "promise" that all players entered will be allowed to compete, and the one-time chief of the tour during the debacle, Larry Scott, has since resigned and taken over similar duties for the Pac-10 athletic conference. Perhaps, things will go smoothly when the WTA returns to Dubai next year, and Peer will make history one year later than planned. But none of that will alter the memory of how things went down in the heat of the moment, when support and the hint of a backbone, at the very least, were necessary... but disappointingly absent.
=============================
2. The F-Bombs Heard 'round the World
... Serving down 6-4/6-5 against Kim Clijsters in the U.S. Open semifinal, Serena Williams was charged with a foot fault on a second serve, giving the Belgian two match points. Serena then proceeded to verbally explode at the line judge who'd made the call, being caught on audio cursing her and threatening to shove a tennis ball down her throat. Once the line judge reported the comments to the chair umpire, Williams was charged with a game misconduct for abusive language. Having received a game misconduct earlier in the match after breaking a racket, the latest penalthy resulted, by rule, in a lost point. Being that it was on match point, Clijsters was declared the winner. Clijsters, who was bewildered about the situation as Williams shook her hand at the net, went on to win the title. Williams was fined for the incident, but, as of today, the "investigation" into whether or not a suspension is warrented is still "ongoing." Since the Open, Williams has gone on to win the Season-Ending Championships title and wrap up the year-end #1 ranking.
=============================
3. Fed Cup SF - Huber/Mattek-Sands (USA) def. Benesova/Peschke (CZE)
...2-6/7-6/6-1. In the final match in the tie, the Czechs led 6-2/5-2 and held a match point to become the first team from the Czech Republic to reach the FC final since then-unified Czechoslovakia reached the '88 final. On that MP, Kveta Peschke framed a wild shot. From there, the Czech team completely collapsed.
=============================
4. U.S. Open 4th Rd. - Pennetta def. Zvonareva
...3-6/7-6/6-0. Under the lights, the Italian overcame six match points as the Russian suffered another of her painful-to-watch meltdowns.
=============================
5. Then-#1 in Name Only?
... Formerly top-ranked Dinara Safina's late-round grand slam no-shows and collapses have grown to legendary status, but she'll be hard-pressed to "top" her loss in this year's semifinal to Venus Williams at Wimbledon. She was downed 6-1/6-0, then proceeded to seemingly lose much of the in-your-eye sentiments toward her critics the rest of the season. By the time the season had ended, she'd broken a WTA record as the #1 losing to the lowest-ranked player (#226) ever and finished the season at #2, with an injured back that threatens to delay the start of her 2010 campaign.
=============================
6. Beijing 2nd Rd. - Zhang def. Safina
...7-5/7-6. This was the loss to the #226-ranked player, China's Zhang Shuai. It came after Safina had lost to Taiwanese teenager Chang Kai-Chen, ranked #132, one week earlier.
=============================
7. Australian Open 4th Rd. - Safina def. Cornet
...6-2/2-6/7-6. Oh, there were better times for Safina, though. Here, Cornet held a 5-2 3rd set lead, twice served for the match and held two match points before the Russian pulled off one of her patented early-in-a-slam comebacks to grab the victory. Of course, this loss pretty much set the tone for Cornet's forgettable '09 season.
=============================
8. "V" is Not for "Vaidisova: Champion"
... It's difficult to believe that Nicole Vaidisova was one swing of a racket away from having a match point to reach the Roland Garros final three seasons ago. This year, her downward spiral continued unabated, and she currently finds herself fighting just to stay in the Top 200 at #188. The former world #7's nadir, so far, is probably this year's loss to wild card Stacey Tan in the opening round of qualifying in Stanford. Of course, the way things are going for the disinterested Vaidisova, she may not be anywhere near rock bottom yet.
=============================
9. Fed Cup SF - Italy def. Russia
...4-1. Tour domination does not always a Fed Cup champion make. Not in 2009, at least.
=============================
10. Sydney 1st Rd. - S.Williams def. Stosur
...6-3/6-7/7-5. Stosur, still fighting against her inability to close out matches, opened her season with more of the same. She served for the match at 5-4, 40/love, but two double-fault-at-match point moments later, the Aussie was well on her way to another defeat.
=============================
HM- U.S. Open 1st Rd. - K.Bondarenko def. Ivanovic
...2-6/6-3/7-6. AnaIvo led 6-2/3-1 and had a match point in the 3rd set tie-break, which she ultimately lost 9-7. One year after going out of the Open as the #1 seed in the 2nd Round, the Serb followed up with an even earlier defeat. Since winning Roland Garros in '08, she hasn't advanced past the Round of 16 in any slam, and she only played one more match after this one in the '09 season.
=============================

*COMEBACKS OF THE YEAR*
1. Comeback Kim Clijsters
...rarely has a player's comeback been so successful so quickly. After two years away from the sport, Clijsters returned in Cincinnati. In her first match, against Marion Bartoli, she won twelve of the first fifteen points and took the match in straight sets, with a 28-5 advantage in winners. By the end of the summer, at the conclusion of just her third tournament, Clijsters was holding up the U.S. Open singles championship trophy for the second time in her career.
=============================
2. Wimbledon SF - S.Williams def. Dementieva
...6-7/7-5/8-6. Dementieva took a 3-1 lead in the 3rd, and held a match point at 5-4. After failing to convert it, she spent the weekend watching Williams go on to win the SW19 title that could have been her's.
=============================
3. The Story of the Tournament
... Jelena Dokic, former Wimbledon semifinalist and world #4, came into 2009 having not won a maid draw slam match since 2003. After getting into the Australian Open draw by winning the wild card tournament held by the Tennis Australia, just being able to play in her once-again-adopted home country seemed to be enough. Who could have guessed that she'd put on an under-the-lights, feel-good run in front of the Aussie fans that made her comeback the highlight of the tournament? Winning a series of three-setters, including one against eventual U.S. Open finalist Caroline Wozniacki, Dokic reached the QF before losing to Safina in three sets. Injury and fatigue sidelined her and/or effected her results for much of the season after that, but by early November she'd reached the finals of three straight ITF challengers (winning two, giving her three circuit titles on the year) and finished the season at #57.
=============================
4. Roland Garros 3rd Rd. - Azarenka def. Suarez-Navarro
...5-7/7-5/6-2. The Belarusian trailed CSN 7-5/4-1 as darkness approached. Then, rallying her previously-wayward game by smacking every ball as hard as she could and battling the crowd as she demonstrably celebrated or bemoaned every good or bad shot she made, Azarenka tied the match at a set a piece and sent the contest to a second day. There, she quickly wrapped up the match. But her battle with her ability to control her temper, and the negative effect it has on her game, continues to this day.
=============================
5. Fed Cup 1st Rd. - USA def. ARG 3-2; Oudin (USA) def. Jozami (ARG)
...2-6/6-1/6-2. Needing to get a win to force the tie into a decisive doubles match, the 17-year old game back from a set down, and 0-2 in the 3rd, in a gutsy display that foreshadowed her heroics at the U.S. Open later in the season.
=============================
6. Australian Open QF - S.Williams def. Kuznetsova
...5-7/7-5/6-1. An angry Kuznetsova maintained afterward that the heat-related closing of the Laver Arena roof between the 1st and 2nd sets adversely affected her ability to win this match. Of course, it had nothing to do with her inablity to close out the match while serving at 7-5/5-4. Serena went on to win the title.
=============================
7. The Story of the Rising Kimiko
... After twelve years of retirement, Japanese veteran Kimiko Date-Krumm returned to tennis in 2008 at age 37. At first, she limited herself to ITF events in Japan, in which she proved to be very succesful. This season, she left the borders of her home nation and began showing up in the draws of WTA tournaments. All she did was win her first non-Japan title since 1996 with a $75K championship, then go on to claim her first WTA tournament in thirteen years when she won in Seoul one day before her thirty-ninth birthday. In that event, she overcame a 6-4/5-2 deficit and a match point in the 2nd Round against Alisa Kleybanova. Date-Krumm ended the season at #82.
=============================
8. The Princess of Charming Comebacks
....Caroline Wozniacki's stick-to-it-ness has resulted in quite a few three-set dramas over the last two seasons, enough to turn her into a Top 5 player and grand slam finalist. Maybe her two most memorable '09 comeback victories came against Elena Vesnina in Ponte Vedra Beach, then Victoria Azarenka at the Season-Ending Championships. In the heat of PVB, C-Woz roared back from a 2-4 3rd set hole, with Vesnina serving at 5-3 and holding a match in a five-deuce game, then holding two more on Wozniacki's serve (one of which the Dane won courtesy of a friendly net cord bounce). Wozniacki converted her own third match point, as the emotional Russian's own Shakespearean drama turned tragic on the other side of the net. In the SEC, a cramping C-Woz trailed 5-4 in the 3rd and was a match point down in the 2:38 match. As Azarenka was getting frustrated, breaking rackets and sailing a ball into the stands, Wozniacki was keeping her head. She won the match, and then another cramp-filled drama in the desert in her next outing against Vera Zvonareva en route to her first appereance in the SEC SF.
=============================
9. The Tragic Heroine
... A one-time Top 100 player, Angela Haynes had pretty much dropped off the face of major tennis after her brother's death in a motorcycle accident in 2005. In Indian Wells, she re-introduced herself by taking advantage of a wild card into qualifying and reaching the main draw 3rd Round.
=============================
10. $25K Darwin Final - Molik def. Peers
...6-3/6-4. After retiring a year earlier, Molik made a successful singles comeback on the ITF circuit in the latter portion of the season. In her first tournament back in Darwin, Australia, she evolved into a champion once again.
=============================
11. Roland Garros 2nd Rd. - Sharapova def. Petrova
...6-2/1-6/8-6. Petrova led 4-2 and had a point for a 5-2 lead, but Sharapova used consistent serving and big point prowess to win here. In just her second tournament back after ten months off the tour with shoulder surgery, she reached the RG QF. The road was at times rocky for the Russian in the months that followed, but by the end of the season she appeared well on her way to becoming a top tier force on the tour once again in 2010.
=============================
12. One Final Victory?
... When Amelie Mauresmo won the Paris Indoors title back in February, it seemed a great comeback moment. Finally claiming a title in the city where her Roland Garros fortunes had always been poor, she notched three wins over Top 10 players for her first title since 2007. At the time, it pushed her ranking back into the Top 20. Flashforward to the end of the season and that Paris title was the Frenchwoman's only singles title of the year, one which she ended early as she opening discussed the possibility of retirement. Ranked #21 to close out '09, this title might turn out to be Mauresmo's last.
=============================
13. Roland Garros 1st Round - Diatchenko def. Johansson
...2-6/6-2/10-8. It's not often a young player saves seven match points in a grand slam contest and wins, but that's just what the young Hordette did in her RG debut this year.
=============================
14. Fed Cup Asia/Oceania Round Robin - Stosur d. Tanasugarn
...4-6/7-5/6-0. Stosur opened her season with blown matches against Serena in Sydney, then Dementieva at the Australian Open. Somewhere along the way in '09, though, Stosur learned how to win. And this might be where it happened. She found herself down 6-4/5-2 here to Tanasugarn, but one break of the veteran's serve and Slingin' Sammy was on her way. She won the final eleven games of the match, then pulled a victory from the clutches of defeat against Tatjana Malek at Wimbledon (a year after blowing a big lead against Vaidisova there). By the end of the year, she'd finally won her first career tour singles title in Osaka and had the Top 10 in her sights. Coincidence? I don't think so. After all, rising confidence lifts all tennis boats.
=============================
15. No Matter What Serena Says, Rome is a Big Tournament
...and Safina's win there this year, after coming back from a 2-5 deficit against Zheng Jie in the 3rd Round, then from a set and a break down against Venus in the SF, was more than impressive.
=============================

*UPSETS OF THE YEAR*
1. Of Mary Joe and Women
...Mary Joe Fernandez's plans in her first season as the sole American Fed Cup coach rarely went awry. Playing with "B" rosters (in other words, without a Williams or a pregnant Lindsay Davenport) all year along, every move seemed to work. In the 1st Round, she picked FC newbie Melanie Oudin for the roster, then replaced an injured Bethanie Mattek-Sands with veteran/FC newbie Julie Ditty. Oudin won a huge tie-saving match after Team USA fell behind 1-2, then Ditty teamed with Liezel Huber to defeat the Argentines in doubles to win 3-2. Down 1-2 again against the Czechs in the SF, MJF's pick of Alexa Glatch for the roster proved to be the saving grace, as the Cali Girl went 2-0 in singles to push the tie to a decisive doubles match, where Huber & Mattek-Sands overcame match point to send the U.S. team to its first FC final since 2003. Her moves didn't result in a championship win over the Italians, but that was expected. The Cinderella run to the final surely wasn't, though.
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2. Safina's Autumn Fall
...Tokyo 2nd Rd. - #132 Chang d. #1 Safina 7-6/4-6/7-5; Beijing 2nd Rd. - #226 Zhang d. #1 Safina 7-5/7-6. The numbers say it all, really.
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3. U.S. Open 3rd Rd. - Oudin d. Sharapova
...3-6/6-4/7-5. Sure, Sharapova threw in 21 double-faults in this one. But this win, more than any other, erased the notion that the girl with "Believe" on her shoes was anything resembling a fluke at Flushing Meadows.
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4. Sometimes the Last Decision is the Best Decision
...Travis Parrott was supposed to play U.S. Open Mixed Doubles with Abigail Spears via a wild card entry into the draw. But when Spears had to pull out of the draw with a late injury, she suggested Parrott play with Carly Gullickson. The two had only played together for one set in WTT action several years before, but both were game to give it a try. After surviving a match point in the 1st Round, all the American pair did was defeat teams seeded #1, #2, #3 and #6 and win the first slam title in either's career.
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5. Australian Open 2nd Rd. - Suarez-Navarro def. V.Williams
...2-6/6-3/7-5. CSN has a history of upsetting name players at slams, and Venus was her victim in Melbourne. Williams led 4-1 in the 3rd, served at 5-3 and held a match point at 5-4, but the little Spanish "Annie," in her first AO main draw, broke the American in back-to-back games and then served out the match for her biggest win yet. It ended the Williams Sisters' 25-0 singles run versus the field in slams.
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6. Ponte Vedra Beach 1st Rd. - Keys def. Kleybanova
...7-5/6-4. American Madison Keys, an Evert Academy full-time resident, made her WTA debut at age 14 with a wild card into the main draw of PVB a memorable one by upsetting the Russian and averaging over 100-mph on her serve for the match.
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7. U.S. Open 2nd Rd. - Oudin def. Dementieva
...5-7/6-4/6-3. Dementieva came in as the U.S. Open Series champion.
=============================
8. Wimbledon 3rd Rd. - Oudin def. Jankovic
...6-7/7-5/6-2. A qualifier at SW19, Oudin was just getting her slam batteries revved up at the All-England Club.
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9. A Future Wimbledon Final?
...Tokyo 2nd Rd. - Pavlyuchenkova def. V.Williams 7-6/7-5; Beijing 2nd Rd. - Pavlyuchenkova def. V.Williams 3-6/6-1/6-4. In back-to-back weeks, the Russian teenager made that potential "What If?" future meeting at SW19 not look all that bad, if I do say so myself.
=============================
10. Luxembourg 2nd Rd. - Kremer def. Wozniacki
...5-7/0-5 ret. When Melanie Oudin was too ill to play, Kremer entered the draw of her home nation's event as a lucky loser. When Wozniacki realized she was too injured to be willing to risk playing her next match, less than a week before the SEC, she decided to gift the Luxembourg vet with a "free pass" to the next round. Naturally, after she'd talked about retiring with her father during a changeover, the action at such a point in the match set off alarm bells all over the anti-gambling establishement. Of course, suspecting that something "untoward" had taken place here would mean assuming that C-Woz was as stupid as a pocket-full of vibration suppressors, thinking that no one would notice anything odd taking place. It didn't. She's not. Now, back to that "investigation" into Serena's outburst in New York.
=============================
HM- Luxembourg 2nd Rd. - Schnyder def. Clijsters
...6-4/3-6/7-6. Lost in all the Kremer/Wozniacki talk in the Luxembourg tournament was this match, in which Clijsters played her first event since the U.S. Open and promptly went out without much fanfare to a player having a less-than-mediocre season who she'd actually already beaten earlier in her '09 comeback outings before winning the Open. Don't think that this little result won't become a constant go-to for me in this space if KC's fortune's are anything less than slammin' in 2010.
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NEXT: Ms. Backspin (with "Performance of the Year" and "Match of the Year" winners, plus 2009 season-ending ranking lists)

All for now.

2009 SEASON REVIEW EDITIONS OF WTA BACKSPIN:
...Revolving Doors - 2010 WTA Guide Preview
...2009 Regional Honors & '10 All-Intriguing Team and Market Tips
...Backspin Awards
...Ms. Backspin (next)
...WTA Yearbook (next week)

Wk.44- What Goes Around Comes Around

2009-11-09T17:00:00.002-05:00

Going into this weekend, one might have said that it was a fait accompli that Italy was going to rule over the Americans in the Fed Cup final. And if you DID say it, then you'd have been 100% correct.

Oh, sure, there was that hint of a question before the action began on the red clay in Reggio Calabria. But just a hint, and that was only because the previous 2009 FC heroics performed by the likes of Melanie Oudin, Alexa Glatch and Liezel Huber just to get the "B" American team to the final left you resistent to TOTALLY writing off the U.S. team. But, really? Red clay. An Italian crowd. Flavia Pennetta and Francesca Schiavone, two of the most dependable FC participants around. There was very little wriggle room for the Americans, and it didn't take very long for that wriggle to be wrung out.

Pennetta opened things with an easy 6-3/6-1 win over Glatch. Then, Oudin grabbed a 4-2 lead on Schiavone in Saturday's second match... but then the rains came pouring down. MAYBE Oudin could have sparked some continuation of Team USA's Cinderella story if the weather had held, but maybe not. As it was, Schiavone came back and assumed control of the match, winning 7-6/6-2 and pretty much sealing the deal for Italy's second Fed Cup championship. On Sunday, Pennetta put down a still-game Oudin, though she only briefly showed any of the same spirit that made her such a star earlier earlier this year in FC and U.S. Open action, by a 7-5/6-2 score and everything was over except for the final victory laps. After skipping the fourth singles match, the four players yet to play in the tie got some action, with Italy's Sara Errani and Roberta Vinci downing Huber and Vania King 4-6/6-3/11-9 to wrap up a 4-0 win for Team Italia.

Hey, what goes around, comes around. Before this, Italy sported a 0-9 Fed Cup mark against the Americans.

And to the victors go the spoils... which include not only the Fed Cup title, but also a certain "honor" that'll be presented in this space later this week.

*WEEK 44 CHAMPIONS*

TOURNAMENT OF CHAMPIONS (Bali,INA/hard indoor)
S: Aravane Rezai def. Marion Bartoli 7-5, ret.

FED CUP FINAL (Reggio Calabria,ITA/red clay)
S: Italy def. United States 4-0

PLAYER OF THE WEEK: Flavia Pennetta/ITA
...in a season in which she became the first-ever Italian woman to reach the Top 10, earned a new array of fans with her North American success and gutsy win over Vera Zvonareva under the lights at the U.S. Open, it just wouldn't have been right had Pennetta not ended 2009 by leading the Italian team to its second-ever Fed Cup title. And speaking of "going around coming around," while Pennetta was a leading member of Italy's previous FC championship team in '06, she didn't exactly contribute as much as she'd have liked in that tie. That 3-2 win over Belgium came despite Pennetta's 0-1 singles mark, as she lost to Justine Henin. So, this time around, the victory lap must have been that much sweeter.
=============================
RISER: Aravane Rezai/FRA
...sure, the TOC didn't necessarily NEED to happen, but Rezai is surely glad that it did. With her '09 title in Strasbourg serving to punch her ticket to Bali, she proceeded to add a second career tour crown with an undefeated week in Indonesia, getting round robin wins over Sabine Lisicki and Melinda Czink, a SF victory against Maria Jose Martinez-Sanchez, and a retirement from fellow Pastry Marion Bartoli after one set in the final.
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SURPRISES: Jennifer & Jessica Ren/GBR
...the Sunderland $10K challenger has presented us with yet another pair of doubles-playing siblings, as Sheffield, Yorkshire, England's Ren sisters -- 15-year old Jessica and 16-year old Jennifer -- won the doubles (Timea Babos took the singles). Hmmm, on the heels of the Tournament of Champions, maybe the WTA should set up some type of Doubles Challenge event where all the other tennis sisters can battle each other in a round robin format for the right to face Venus & Serena in a winner-take-all championship match. A flight of fancy, yes... but no less needless an addition to the calendar than the "season-ending" TOC, I'd posit.
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VETERANS: Kimiko Date-Krumm/JPN & Maria Jose Martinez-Sanchez/ESP
...when 2009 began, a then 38-year old Date-Krumm was something of an ITF curiosity, toiling away in a lower-level comeback that no one really expected much to come from. Fast forward to now, and the 39-year old has a WTA singles tournament in her pocket and was in Bali last week for the TOC after having been granted a wild card into the twelve-player round robin event. She immediately assumed the #12 seed. After losing to Yanina Wickmayer and getting a win over Anabel Medina-Garrigues in the RR, her season seemed to be over. But then Wickmayer (undefeated in the same Group as the Japanese vet) pulled out of the event after one match in the face of her one-year suspension by the Belgian anti-doping council (more on that in a moment). When the dust had settled, Date-Krumm was advanced into the SF. Her week ended there with a loss to Bartoli, but it was enough to put a beautiful shine on a campaign (her season-ending rank is now #82, jumping all the way up from her #101 spot from last week) that no one would have anticipated during her more than a decade away from the court. Meanwhile, MJMS arrived in Bali for the TOC as one of only two players (with Samantha Stosur) who also participated in the Season-Ending Championships in Doha. Fresh off her Doubles crown with Nuria Llagostera-Vives, she got wins over Stosur and Agnes Szavay and reached the SF to put a capper on one of the most surprising seasons on tour this year.
=============================
FRESH FACE: Sacha Jones/NZL
...Jones has been on something of an ITF tear in the final quarter of '09. The 18-year old's $25K win in Rock Hill, South Carolina gives her a share of the circuit lead with five challenger titles this season. Rather than beat up on a series of Australians, this time she took out a slew of North Americans, from Grace Min to Sharon Fichman to Lauren Albanese, before defeating Croatia's Ani Mijacika 6-0/6-4 in the final.
=============================
DOWN: Yanina Wickmayer/BEL
...first off, I'm going to blame Pam Shriver for all of this. Seriously, though, I'm of the mind that this sort of situation shouldn't be taking place in public view, which I'll explain in a moment. Now, that said, the blame for the one-year suspension levied on U.S. Open semifinalist Wickmayer by the Belgian anti-doping council has to at least somewhat be placed on the Belgian herself. She was under consideration for a suspension because of her whereabouts being "unknown" multiple times when she was required to check-in so that she could be subject to any possible drug tests. Wickmayer has maintained that she's had "password problems" and was unable to sign in to report her whereabouts during these flagged times under investigation. Fine, but considering that a suspension was known to be a possible punishment if you didn't make your location known, obviously, unless there's a greater story underneath all this (and after the Agassi book, who knows... and don't think that those revelations didn't play into the minds of the people who handed down this judgment, either), more effort should have been put forth by Wickmayer and/or her representatives to clear up the situation before it got to this point. Now, of course, maybe this is all a "cover story" and there was a "reason" Wickmayer didn't want to be found... but there's no actual evidence of that. Of course, any possibly hinky/secretive behavior by an athlete subject to testing is a red flag (just follow international cycling for a while to learn why sometimes smoke DOES mean there's fire nearby), and that's why this rule was instituted. But I've always had an issue, in principle, with suspending an athlete for any real length of time (and a year certainly constitutes that) whenever no actual drug test was failed, and extenuating circumstances would seem to make a violation of the rules on a "technicality" a minor one at best. Other athletes have been suspended for shorter periods of time after having actually failed tests, and some, such as Richard Gasquet, have been let "off the hook" by flimsier stories than Wickmayer's. Certainly, either way, with no actual test to hold up (not that that is a full-proof thing, either, considering this same anti-doping group's senseless dragging of Svetlana Kuznetsova's name through the mud a few years ago), I don't think such investigations should be made public or suspensions handed down until all appeals by the athlete are exhausted. Wickmayer intends to appeal, but the "immediate" nature of her suspension, followed by her quick withdrawal from a TOC she very easily could have won served no one any good (well, except for maybe Kimiko). If she wins her appeal and does indeed get to follow up her breakthrough '09 season on the WTA tour next year, you can be sure there won't be any apologies or Peer-esque reimbursement for any overstepping actions by the powers that be. This whole process makes everyone look "bad," on some level. International anti-doping efforts are a sticky thing, whether it be in dealing with an avowed innocent or the people hiding in the shadows devising new scientific ways to avoid detection of drugs in an athlete's system, even as the other side is brainstorming new ways to overturn every potential rock before whatever lurks beneath it can scurry away to safety. Nothing in this game is easy, but there has to be a better way to do things than this. Right?
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ITF PLAYER: Chan Yung-Jan/TPE
...Chan swept the singles and doubles titles at the $100K Taipei challenger, getting wins over Tamarine Tanasugarn, Kristina Mladenovic and Ayumi Morita in a 6-4/2-6/6-2 final. In doubles, she teamed with former regular partner Chuang Chia-Jung. Could a full-time reunion be in the cards for 2010?
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JUNIOR STAR: Ester Goldfeld/USA
...the 16-year old New Yorker won the Grade 2 event in Lexington, South Carolina over the weekend. After getting the short end of things against hard-serving Madison Keys early-on in the final, she went on to claim the title by a 0-6/6-2/7-5 score.
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1. FC Final #2 - Schiavone d. Oudin
...7-6/6-2. It just wasn't meant to be. Maybe if Oudin had been able to put this match away, some pressure might have been applied to the Italians, awakening both Oudin and Alexa Glatch's previous FC heroics from earlier this season. But after a rain delay with the American leading at 4-2 in the 1st set, things pretty much went the veteran-laden Team Italia's way from there on out. Oudin had managed to weather a similar rain delay earlier this year in FC action, when battling Argentina's Betina Jozami in a 2-6/4-0 match. Then, the American emerged from the delay to win eight of the final eleven games. This time, the veteran experience of Schiavone won out.
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2. FC Final #3 - Pennetta d. Oudin
...7-5/6-2. In what would be the clinching point in the FC final, Pennetta held a 4-2 lead and served at 5-4 30/love in the 1st set, only to see Oudin get a break and force her to work a little harder. It was the closest "Little MO" got to recapturing her U.S. Open mojo, but there was never really much expectation that she was going to lead the Americans to any sort of victory here.
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3. $50K Ismaning Final - Zahlavova-Strycova d. Barrois
...6-4/4-6/7-6. This was the Czech's second challenger title in as many weeks, following up her win in the $100K Ortesei event.
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4. TOC Group C RR - Date-Krumm d. Medina-Garrigues
...6-4/6-3. This is the second time in a row that Date-Krumm has knocked off AMG, as both victories followed a close three-set defeat at the hands of the Spaniard that proved that KDK was indeed capable of expanding her comeback beyond the challenger level.
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5. ITA Indoor Championships Final - Jana Jurikova (California) d. Irina Falconi (Georgia Tech)
...6-4/7-6. The Cal sophomore from the Slovak Republic knocked off Falconi, who was bidding to successfully follow up her title run at the All-American Championships, the NCAA's first slam event of the season (she defeated Chelsey Gullickson). More at Zoo Tennis.
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HM- TOC Final - Rezai d. Bartoli
...7-5 ret. Somehow, it seems fitting that the final WTA-sponsored match of the 2009 season would end in a retirement, doesn't it?
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**FED CUP FINALS - 2000-09**
2000 United States def. Spain
2001 Belgium def. Russia
2002 Slovak Republic def. Spain
2003 France def. United States
2004 Russia def. France
2005 Russia def. France
2006 Italy def. Belgium
2007 Russia def. Italy
2008 Russia def. Spain
2009 Italy def. United States

**2009 WEEKS IN TOP 10**
[of 45]
45 - Serena Williams, USA
45 - Dinara Safina, RUS
45 - Svetlana Kuznetsova, RUS
45 - Elena Dementieva, RUS
45 - Venus Williams, USA
45 - Jelena Jankovic, SRB
45 - Vera Zvonareva, RUS
34 - Victoria Azarenka, BLR
26 - Caroline Wozniacki, DEN
25 - Nadia Petrova, RUS
22 - Ana Ivanovic, SRB
18 - Agnieszka Radwanska, POL
5 - Flavi Pennetta, ITA
4 - Maria Sharapova, RUS

**2009 ALL-NATION WTA FINALS**
6...Russia
2...United States
1...Czech Republic
1...France
1...Italy

**MOST 2009 FINALS - BY NATION**
[x]- titles
26...Russia [13]
10...Italy [4]
9...France [5]
9...United States [5]
8...Denmark [3]

**BEST '09 WIN PCT. IN MULTIPLE FINALS**
1.000 - Victoria Azarenka (3-0)
1.000 - Shahar Peer (2-0)
1.000 - Maria Jose Martinez-Sanchez (2-0)
1.000 - ARAVANE REZAI (2-0)
1.000 - Vera Zvonareva (2-0)
.750 - Serena Williams (3-1)
.750 - Svetlana Kuznetsova (3-1)
.750 - Elena Dementieva (3-1)

**MOST 2009 ITF TITLES**
5...Mailen Auroux, ARG
5...Maria Irigoyen, ARG
5...SACHA JONES, NZL
4...Julia Babilon, GER
4...Ayu-Fani Damayanti, THA
4...Sarah Gronert, GER
4...Polona Hercog, SLO

All for now.

THIS WEEK: Top 25 Players of the Decade - #1-5, & the 2009 Backspin Awards (with Ms.Backspin rankings)
NEXT WEEK: 2009 WTA Yearbook and the return of "ITF Backspin"

The Decade's Best: Players #6-10

2009-11-08T20:00:00.006-05:00

Backspin's "Decade's Best" countdown of the top players of the 2000's continues today with the five players ranked #6-10. No discussion about the past decade would be complete without these women, but each of them has one lingering "minus" that prevents them from legitimately challenging for the #1 position.

In the case of these players, future Hall-of-Famers from top-to-bottom, the "deal-breakers" range from a lack of overall singles results (due to a focus on doubles), an injury that prevented the extension of a brilliant second Act to a career from extending an important extra few seasons, early career troubles with breaking through on the big stage, mid-career struggles living up to early success, and late career difficulty maintaining a previous level of grand slam success against increased competition. Sometimes, the difference between a "Hall-of-Famer" and an "All-Time Great" is like a trench... narrow, but deep.

Thus, Players #6-10:

#10 - Cara Black, ZIM

One year from now, Black might be gently nudging aside Martina Navratilova to claim one of the most impressive doubles marks in WTA history, and it's mostly for that reason that she edged out #11 "Decade's Best" finisher Lisa Raymond, whose career numbers are remarkably similar to those of the veteran from Zimbabwe.

Way back at that start of her career, Black was one of the most successful dual-threat juniors of recent vintage. She was the #1-ranked junior in both singles and doubles in 1997, and won Girls titles at both Wimbledon and the U.S. Open that season. For Black, tennis was a family affair. Her late father Don, who had played at Wimbledon himself, was her coach, and her brothers Byron and Wayne played on the ATP Tour. Growing up with four grass courts in her back yard, it should come as no surprise that Black's relationship with The Championships has been a special one over the years, with maybe her most unique accomplishment being that she's won four different Wimbledon titles -- Girls Singles, Girls Doubles, Women's Doubles and Mixed Doubles -- in her career.

On the WTA tour, Black's junior singles success didn't totally translate. As a pro, her best slam result was a 4th Round at Roland Garros in '01, and she only advanced to the Wimbledon 3rd Round three times ('98, '03 & '05). Black did reach a high rank of #31 (in '99), won one title ('02 Waikoloa), reached another final ('00 Auckland) and finished in the Top 100 from 1998-03, but her name would most assuredly be made in doubles, as she's pretty much been exclusively a doubles player for most of the last half of the decade (though she did play some singles in '08 in order to qualify for the Olympic draw in Beijing). In the 2000's, Black won all 51 of her career doubles titles (second only to Raymond's 53 during the decade), including five Women's Doubles slams (three at Wimbledon, and one each at the Australian and U.S. Opens), as well as three Mixed slam titles (including the '02 Roland Garros & '04 Wimbledon with brother Wayne). In the Season-Ending Championships, Black won two titles (2007-08 with Liezel Huber) and appeared in the final six other times over the last ten seasons. Entering 2010, Black needs only a Roland Garros Women's Doubles and Australian Open Mixed championship to accomplish a career Slam in both doubles disciplines. Playing almost exclusively with Huber since 2005, Black has won four of her five slams (the other came with Rennae Stubbs) with the South African-turned-American, ranked #17 on the "Decade's Best" list. The pair's best season came in '07, when they went 69-14 and won Australian Open, Wimbledon and SEC titles. In 2008, I named them co-winners of the "Ms.Backspin" tour Player-of-the-Year award for that season. In 2009, Black failed to add a Doubles or Mixed title to her career totals, but she was never far away. She and Huber were runners-up at the U.S. Open and the SEC, and semifinalists at Roland Garros and Wimbledon. Black also reached the Mixed finals at Wimbledon and the U.S. Open.

Ultimately, though, it's Black's current lock on the #1 ranking that truly sets her apart, maybe from even Navratilova when all is said and done. A Top 10er from 2001-04, she first rose to the #1 ranking in 2005, and has yet to relinquish the spot since she last assumed it in July '07. At the end of 2009, Black will have been ranked #1 for thirty-one straight months (the last twenty-seven as co-#1 with Huber), second only to Navratilova's record of forty-one months. If she can maintain the ranking through the end of the '10 season, she'll break's Martina's 1986-90 record, which by then will have stood for nearly twenty-one years.

Interestingly, when Black made her ITF singles debut in 1992 in a challenger event in Harare, Zimbabwe she faced what would eventually become a familiar opponent in the 1st Round... Liezel Horn, who would marry in '00 and change her name to Huber. Black lost, but more than a decade later both realized that they could be more successful together than alone or with others. Ah, if they only knew then what we know now, they'd have had a good laugh when they shook each other's hand at the net.

#9 - Svetlana Kuznetsova, RUS

Maybe if Kuznetsova hadn't surprised everyone so much with her early slam win at the U.S. Open in 2004, the five years between that triumph and her eventual return to the slam winner's circle at Roland Garros in '09 wouldn't have seemed so disappointing. But after flashing her skills at age 19 in New York, proving what she WAS capable of accomplishing, little leeway was given the Russian as she failed time and time again to live up to her '04 success, from struggling to win regular tour finals to often missing golden grand slam opportunites to defeat players who would go on to win the tournament. Maybe more than any other player this decade, Kuznetsova walked the fine line between being a "great talent" and a "great player," often times falling on the "lesser" side of the equation.

A junior #1 in 2001, Kuznetsova quickly achieved Top 50 WTA seasons in 2002-03. But when she became the third Russian (after Anastasia Myskina & Maria Sharapova) during the spring/summer of '04 to win a slam championship, defeating fellow Hordette Elena Dementieva in the final, for a brief moment she looked as if she might be the most promising of all the surging Russian players. After climbing to #3 in '04, she nearly fell out of the Top 20 in '05 (she was year-end #18) and won no titles. She made slam final runs at Roland Garros in '06 and the U.S. Open in '07, and reached another slam SF and six QF over the next few years, but as the '09 season was in full swing it was easy to believe that the 2004 Open was going to simply be an aberration in a career which more often than not had seen Kuznetsova be consistently unable to put away a top opponent on a big stage. The evidence was certainly there.

In 2004, she held a match point against Myskina in the 4th Round of Roland Garros. She failed to convert it, and Myskina went on to win the title. A year later in Paris, she couldn't win a match point against Justine Henin in the 4th Round, then saw the Belgian become the champion three rounds later. At the 2009 Australian Open, Kuznetsova served for the match against Serena Williams in the QF. She lost the game, then the match. Williams won the title. Early in the '09 season, Kuznetsova found herself in a 1-10 rut in tour singles finals from 2007-08. While her Russian countrywomen were sweeping the Beijing Olympic Medal stand in '08, Kuznetsova was losing in the 1st Round. It just went on and on.

Still, after her '05 dip in results, she'd managed to once again finish seasons in the Top 10 from 2006-08, star on two Fed Cup-winning Russian teams, and was the only women to defeat Henin twice (in '04 & '07) when she was ranked #1. A winner of fourteen doubles titles in the decade, including five with Martina Navratilova in '03 and the Australian Open with Alicia Molik in '05, she never showed any physical or game-related reasons why she shouldn't be winning big tour titles.

A renowned free spirit, Kuznetsova moved back to Russia from her longtime training ground in Spain at the start of the '09 season, then enlisted Larisa Savchenko as her new coach. The changes seemed to work wonders, as for the first time as a pro she seemed settled and finally began to pick up where she'd left off five years earlier. And as far as this list goes, her "eleventh hour" return to form probably bridged the gap between this #9 ranking and one that would have probably been around #15.

After not winning a singles title outright since '06 (her '07 New Haven crown came when Agnes Szavay retired while leading the final), Kuznetsova won three in four final appearances in her final season in the 2000's, including her long-awaited second slam at Roland Garros (where she had much unfinished business) and in Beijing (where she'd missed out on the Russian party a year earlier), running her career total to twelve. After reaching the #3 ranking in '04, she returned there five years after the fact and got a fifth career win over a reigning #1 (with a defeat of then top-ranked Dinara Safina). She even notched a win at the Season-Ending championships, although though she once again failed to advance out of the Round Robin portion of the event for the fifth time in five appearances.

So, at age 24, Kuznetsova still has ground to cover in 2010 and beyond. Hopefully, it won't take her yet another five years to utilize her talent to its fullest. There is more than enough time for her to fully move from "great talent" to "great champion."

#8 - Amelie Mauresmo, FRA

As far as Mauresmo is concerned, it's all about 2006. For if she hadn't have had the grand '06 campaign in which she won both the Australian Open and Wimbledon titles, she would have undoubtably gone down in the history books as an elegant chapter with an ending that left the reader hanging for forever and a day.

In the end, while Mauresmo might not have won as many major titles as her fans and France would have hoped (and one day many years ago maybe even expected), that single six-month timespan in '06 forever transformed her career biography for the good. Blessed with a game that heavily featured a sweeping one-handed backhand, picture-perfect volleys and an athletic fluidity that more than bordered on graceful, Mauresmo often found herself undone by her fragile nerves. In fact, for a while, the situation made her appear to be an epic head case, no matter how eloquent and thoughtful she might have been both before and after matches.

Ironically, when Mauresmo burst onto the WTA scene in 1999 with a run to the Australian Open final at age 19, the classically beautiful nature of her brand of tennis wasn't even in the conversation. Instead, she found herself at the center of a media firestorm when her sexuality was made public just as she was simultaneously the subject of nasty and/or blithely-ignorant-to-the-connotations (depending on how you saw it at the time) comments from players such as Martina Hingis (and even Lindsay Davenport) about the "shocking" nature of Mauresmo's muscular, "manly" shoulders and hard shots. Mauresmo ultimately lost the final in straight sets to Hingis, and finished the season in the Top 10, but for years was never able to duplicate her early slam success, as it took her six years to make an appearance in another major final. No one will ever really know how that early unsettling experience in the spotlight might have effected her over those years, but she'd been the junior #1 in 1996 and won Girls titles at Roland Garros and Wimbledon and should have been used to some level of pressure to succeed. With her ability apparent, though, her four slam SF and nine QF from 2000-05 were met with more disappointment than admiration, and any time she found herself in a position to seize a moment in one of the season's four biggest tournaments, her eventual wince-inducing collapses were always but a few points point away.

Still, Mauresmo remained remarkably consistent, to a point. From 2001-05, she reached at least the 4th Round in twelve straight slam appearances (and nineteen of twenty into early '07), but by the middle of the decade there was a prevailing sense that her chances of winning an elusive slam title were quickly slipping away. Then, just in the nick of time, Mauresmo found her footing. She won the Season-Ending Championships to end her '05 season, providing her with a nice dose of confidence heading into the offseason. In Melbourne the following January, it paid off. Against an ill Justine Henin in the Australian Open final, Mauresmo claimed her first career slam title when the Belgian retired after completing two games in the 2nd set. The win came in the 26-year old Frenchwoman's 32nd career slam, the second-longest wait for any slam singles champion in WTA history behind Jana Novotna's win in her 45th slam. Still, some felt that Mauresmo's moment in the sun was ruined by Henin's retirement. No matter, she would go on to defeat Henin again in a three-set final later that season at Wimbledon, whose fabled lawns were a perfect compliment to Mauresmo's refined groundstrokes. Oddly enough, Mauresmo finished '06 ranked just #3 on the WTA computer, behind #1-ranked Henin, who'd won just one slam but reached the finals of all four that season (and wrapped up the top ranking at the SEC, where she defeated Mauresmo in the final).

Still, her ranking extended her streak of Top 10 seasons to six (2001-06). By the end of the 2009 season, she'd won over 500 matches and maintained a Top 30 ranking for twelve straight years (since '98). Aside from her two slam wins, Mauresmo has won twenty-three other singles titles (twenty-two in the 2000's), and was a Silver Medalist at the '04 Athens Olympics (Henin won Gold). In September 2004, she became the first Frenchwoman to become #1, a spot which she held for five weeks prior to her Australian Open win (making her the second, after Kim Clijsters, of the now four women who've claimed the top spot without winning a slam) before returning to the position for thirty-five more weeks in 2006.

While her slam wins filled the gaping hole in her resume, Mauresmo never did overcome the pressure of winning on the clay of Roland Garros in front of the French fans. Her best RG has been a pair of QF in 2003-04, which seems a bit paltry even with clay being the surface that probably is the least forgiving to Mauresmo's style of play. After her grand '06 season, she decided to forego any talk of retirement and played on, but has never come close to winning another slam. With various injuries and an appendectomy slowing her down and often taking her out of the game for months at a time, she hasn't advanced past a slam QF over the past three seasons. Of course, that doesn't mean she hasn't had some post-'06 success. In 2007, she won her third straight title in Antwerp and was awarded the tournament's famed diamond-studded racket, and earlier this year she won a single title in Paris... at the yearly indoor tournament held there, not Roland Garros.

Mauresmo ended her 2009 season early, openly talking of possibly retiring at age 30, but not allowing herself to commit to such a decision until she'd had more time to mull it over. Whether or not she returns to the tour in 2010, though, her legacy is secure. Whenever she DOES hang up her rackets she won't have to exit the sport as the unappreciated-by-the-masses, never-was-a-champ, couldn't-win-the-big-one character she might have gone down as if not for 2006.

Thankfully, that's an unfortunate alternate reality no one will have to live with, especially Amelie. Whew! It was soooo close.

#7 - Lindsay Davenport, USA

Davenport will be remembered as one of the best and most respected players in the women's game, both on and off court, but after winning three slam crowns over a sixteen-month period from September '98 to January '00, she spent much of the past decade being an "alternate choice" at most of the other twenty-four slams she played from 2000-08. If Andy Roddick's career was forever altered by the birth of a certain fellow in Switzerland, the same can be said about Davenport and a pair of siblings who grew up on Compton, California.

After having early success playing the type of big serve and heavy groundstroke game that was hardly the dominant style in the sport in the mid-to-late 1990's, it took the emerging challenge of equally powerful players for Davenport to finally get into the tip-top shape necessary to eliminate her on-court movement limitations as a major liability in maintaining her position as a contender in the big-hitting era of tennis that she helped usher in. Problem was, by the time she did, it was too late. She'd been surpassed, and she could never fully catch up. While the game was stoked by the arrival of such players as the Williamses, Davenport's unique power position in it was usurped as the sisters dominated the grand slam finals during the opening years of the decade. While she finished seasons at #1 three times during the decade (tying Henin for the most in the 2000's), Davenport never won another slam after beginning '00 by winning the Australian Open at just age 23.

Not that Davenport didn't come close. Sometimes achingly so. While she was still a dangerous top player after 2000, there always seemed to be at least one player who was positioned above Davenport on the ladder. And she was never able to end up a slam on the top rung.

In slams during the past decade, Davenport lost to Venus Williams five times (four times at Wimbledon), Henin four times (three coming at the Australian) and Serena Williams three tiems (twice at the U.S. Open). Ten times this decade she lost to the eventual slam champ (three Australian, four Wimbledon and three U.S. Opens). In the '05 Australian Open final, she led Serena 6-2/3-3, then dropped the final nine games of the match. Later that year, she held a match point against Venus in the Wimbledon final, then went on to lose a 9-7 3rd set in the longest women's championship match at the All-England Club. In the sixteen slams she entered after that loss, she never reached another SF. After winning in Melbourne in '00, Davenport put up very good results in the slams -- four finals, six SF, seven QF -- but was never able to carve out one final, late-career slam moment in the sun.

Injuries were always a struggle for Davenport, but she still had over 700 wins (6th all-time, and nearly 200 more than any current active player) in 947 matches (7th) and finished three years at #1 in the decade ('01, '04 & '05, following her initial #1 year in '98) even while never winning a slam in any of them. Her 55 career titles (29 this decade) are tied for 7th in WTA history, and she added 37 additional doubles titles (eight in the 2000's) to her totals, as well. Rising to the top ranking eight different times in her career, she held the spot for a total of 98 weeks (70 this decade), the last coming in January '06. Her four #1 seasons rank behind only Steffi Graf, Martina Navratilova and Chris Evert's career numbers, and are the most year-end top rankings by any woman since Graf's final #1 campaign (her eighth) back in 1996. Additionally, Davenport is one of only five players (Navratilova, Arantxa Sanchez Vicario, Martina Hingis & Kim Clijsters) to simultaneously hold the #1 spot in both singles and doubles, which she did for three weeks in 2000.

After having her first child in June '07, Davenport made a successful return to the sport later that year after an eleven-month absence, winning four titles in 2007-08 at age 31/32. At the end of '08, she announced her second pregnancy and left the tour again. She's yet to return to action, and probably won't.

Even without another Act to her career, Davenport is a sure-fire Hall-of-Famer, but one about whom it's impossible not to ponder a series of "What If?" scenarios. Without the emergence of the Williams Sisters, she might have doubled (at least) her career slam total and be considered the best player of her generation. As it is, she's not even in the Top 2 Americans. When she played her last match, no woman in WTA history had won more prize money than Davenport. One year later, she's been surpassed by both Serena AND Venus. Talk about emblematic. Rather than one of the "all-time" greats, Davenport will be viewed as the first name on the list of the "second tier" of top champions from her era.

So near, but oh so far.

#6 - Jennifer Capriati, USA

Capriati's career can almost be viewed as an archetype for the sport... times two.

She burst onto the scene with unprecedented hoopla, garnering a Sports Illustrated cover after her debut week on tour in March 1990 as a 13-year old with an exuberant personality and popping groundstrokes that were said to make her the can't-miss "Next Big Thing" in the sport. And, oh, she did burn white hot for a while. She reached the final of that debut tournament in Boca Raton (she lost to Gabriela Sabatini, but the tournament was jokingly dubbed "The Boca Raton of Capriati") to become the youngest-ever tour finalist, and would soon debut in the rankings at #25. Her title in Puerto Rico that season made her the fourth-youngest WTA champion ever, and that October she reached the Top 10 at 14 years, 7 months of age. In 1991, she defeated nine-time champ Martina Navratilova at Wimbledon and reached the SF at 15. In 1992, she won the Olympic singles Gold in Barcelona. From 1990-93, she reached three SF, six QF and three 4th Rounds at slams, finishing in the Top 10 all four seasons.

But by the mid-1990's, the bottom had fallen out of the Capriati fairy tale. Burned out and rebelling against anything she could find, she was out of the game entirely, save for one single match, in 1994-95 and was arrested for drug possession (having her America's-Sweetheart-Turned-America's-Most-Wanted mug shot plastered worldwide). From 1996-99, she had only a part-time presence on tour. It might have been the sorry, though hardly unique, end to what had been the story of an American child star. But Capriati didn't allow that to happen, for before the likes of Hingis, Clijsters and Henin made WTA comebacks, Jennifer laid down her own comeback path out of the darkness, adding "resilience" to her list of career characteristics.

As it was, her return was one of the most successful comebacks in all of sports history.

In 1999, she started slowly, winning two titles, her first in six years. In 2000, at age 23, having matured emotionally on court, as well as physically (she presented as solid an athletic specimen as any woman in the game), she rode her still-powerful groundstrokes all the way back. She reached the Australian Open SF in '00, her first such slam result in nine years, and led the USA to a Fed Cup title. In 2001, she returned to Melbourne and won the Australian title, defeating the game's top two ranked players (Davenport and Hingis) in straight sets to become the first woman to do so at a slam since 1979. With her confidence reaching new heights, she won Roland Garros, too. Eleven years after her debut there, Capriati returned to the Top 10 (her seven-year absence was a WTA record) and climbed into the #1 spot in October. And she wasn't finished, either. She went back to Melbourne the following January and defended her Oz title, saving four match points against Hingis in a rematch of the '01 final.

Aside from possibly the Williams Sisters, but arguably even more than them, Capriati might have been involved in more important moments during the decade than any other woman. Playing a role in quite possibly the three most significant matches of the 2000's, Capriati is forever linked to maybe the span's most historic, most dramatic, as well as most sport-changing matches.

In the 2001 Roland Garros final against Kim Clijsters, Capriati won a 12-10 final set in the longest deciding RG set in Open era history, a match in which she was two points from defeat four times. Before Federer/Nadal in the '08 Wimbledon final, there was Capriati/Clijsters. Then, in the 2003 U.S. Open SF against Justine Henin, Capriati found herself within two points of victory on eleven different occasions against the cramping Belgian in the 3:00 match. Henin won, then pulled maybe the most remarkable back-to-back two-fer of the decade when she returned the next night and defeated Clijsters in the final. A year later, the poor officiating in Capriati's U.S. Open QF match with Serena Williams is "unofficially" credited with being the straw that broke the camel's back and finally forced the sport to institute an instant replay challenge system. Add to that, the sport's installment of a so-dubbed "Capriati Rule," designed to protect young players and prevent a fall from grace similar to her's, that limits the number of tour events that young players can participate in during a given season, and one can legitimately say that Capriati's career continues and will continue to effect the sport for generations.

Capriati's time at #1 lasted seventeen weeks in 2001-02, and she was a year-end Top 10 player from 2001-04 (finishing a year-end best #2 in '01). After having such incredible early success in slams, from 2000-04 she added three slam wins, seven SF, four QF and three 4th Rounds in nineteen events. Alas, there would be no Third Act to her WTA career. Shoulder problems ultimately did her in. Despite multiple surgeries designed to help her return to action, she was never able to do so. Her final tour title came in New Haven in 2003, and she last played in 2004. In all, she won fourteen singles titles (six in the 2000's).

At this point, Capriati has been gone so long that it seems as if her comeback took place a lifetime ago. If only she'd been able to extend her glorious return into the mid-2000's, her legacy would feel more "current" and longstanding, and she'd have been in the Top 5 on this list. Still, her's is and will continue to be one of the most enduring redemption stories of this or any other decade.

NEXT: #1-5 & Decade's Honors

1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6. Jennifer Capriati, USA
7. Lindsay Davenport, USA
8. Amelie Mauresmo, FRA
9. Svetlana Kuznetsova, RUS
10. Cara Black, ZIM
11. Lisa Raymond, USA
12t. Virginia Ruano Pascual, ESP
12t. Paola Suarez, ARG
14. Rennae Stubbs, AUS
15. Elena Dementieva, RUS
16. Martina Hingis, SUI
17. Liezel Huber, RSA/USA
18. Mary Pierce, FRA
19. Dinara Safina, RUS
20. Daniela Hantuchova, SVK
21. Ana Ivanovic, SRB
22. Jelena Jankovic, SRB
23. Ai Sugiyama, JPN
24. Anastasia Myskina, RUS
25. Patty Schnyder, SUI
HONORABLE MENTION- Martina Navratilova, USA

Here are the remaining 5 players on the countdown list:

Kim Clijsters
Justine Henin
Maria Sharapova
Serena Williams
Venus Williams

*BACKSPIN'S 2000-09 HONOR ROLL, #27-113*
Nicole Arendt
Shinobu Asagoe
Victoria Azarenka
Sybille Bammer
Marion Bartoli
Daja Bedanova
Alona Bondarenko
Kateryna Bondarenko
Kristie Boogert
Elena Bovina
Severine Bremond
Els Callens
Anna Chakvetadze
Chan Yung-Jan
Chuang Chia-Jung
Dominika Cibulkova
Sorana Cirstea
Amanda Coetzer
Eleni Daniilidou
Nathalie Dechy
Casey Dellacqua
Mariaan de Swardt
Jelena Dokic
Silvia Farina Elia
Clarisa Fernandez
Tatiana Golovin
Anna-Lena Groenefeld
Carly Gullickson
Julie Halard-Decugis
Anke Huber
Janette Husarova
Kaia Kanepi
Sesil Karatantcheva
Vania King
Anna Kournikova
Michaella Krajicek
Lina Krasnoroutskaya
Li Na
Li Ting
Elena Likhovtseva
Sabine Lisicki
Petra Mandula
Marta Marrero
Conchita Martinez
Anabel Medina-Garrigues
Sania Mirza
Alicia Molik
Corina Morariu
Miriam Oremans
Melanie Oudin
Shahar Peer
Flavia Pennetta
Tatiana Perebiynis
Kveta Peschke
Nadia Petrova
Kimberly Po-Messerli
Agnieszka Radwanska
Anastasia Rodionova
Chanda Rubin
Lucie Safarova
Arantxa Sanchez-Vicario
Mara Santangelo
Barbara Schett
Francesca Schiavone
Monica Seles
Magui Serna
Antonella Serra-Zanetti
Meghann Shaughnessy
Anna Smashnova
Karolina Sprem
Katarina Srebnotnik
Samantha Stosur
Carla Suarez-Navarro
Sun Tiantian
Agnes Szavay
Tamarine Tanasugarn
Patricia Tarabini
Nathalie Tauziat
Nicole Vaidisova
Dominique van Roost
Elena Vesnina
Yanina Wickmayer
Caroline Wozniacki
Yan Zi
Zheng Jie
Fabiola Zuluaga
Vera Zvonareva

All for now.

"DECADE'S BEST" SERIES:
...Players of the 2000's: Nomination List, Australian Open 2000-09, Roland Garros 2000-09, Wimbledon 2000-09, U.S. Open 2000-09, Players #21-25, Players #16-20, Players #11-15

Wk.43- Simply Another Pleat in Her Cape

2009-11-02T15:44:00.003-05:00

Serena Williams has a way of making major accomplishments seem minor (and, no, I'm not talking about what she thinks about Dinara Safina's titles in Rome and Madrid).

For any other player, winning a Season-Ending Championship title would be a bejeweled tiara surely featured as a showpiece in a career collection. But for Serena, her Doha victory (after a 5-0 week that saw her defeat her sister Venus twice, once coming back from match point to do it) is more like a sparkly bauble picked up on a spur-of-the-moment shopping spree, admired at the moment of purchase but soon tucked into a rarely-explored corner of a packed-to-the-gills jewelry box.

Isn't it pretty? Now, when's the next fancy-catching moment set to arrive?

Ultimately, the most important thing about Williams' title run in Doha is that it included yet another crash landing by former #1 Dinara Safina, one that propelled Serena into the year-end #1 ranking (for the just the second time in her career, and the first since three-quarters of the way into "Serena Slam" in 2002) and shut down any possibility for lingering discussions about what's "wrong" with the WTA tour as the #1 player really isn't perceived as being the #1 player. It all worked out in the end.

Now, the runway is clear to talk about the 2010 season possibly featuring the most crowded, competitive upper-echelon women's tennis since, well, maybe ever. If everyone can stay healthy, and as the long line out the trainer's office door in Doha showed, that's a BIG "if," next season might be one for the history books when it comes to a perfect storm of all-time greats, longstanding legacies, attempts to reclaim past glory and breakthroughs from intriguing new faces all coming together at just the right time to make the chatter about any perceived "lack of quality" a distant memory.

All in all, I suppose this was the appropriate end to the 2000's for Williams. After all, after a decade in which she gave birth to a "Serena Slam" (far more impressive than, say, giving birth and THEN winning a slam, for instance), she couldn't rightly go out with a loss, now could she?

I mean, if she'd done that, she might have wanted to stuff a tennis ball down... well, you know.

*WEEK 43 CHAMPIONS*

SEASON-ENDING CHAMPIONSHIPS (Doha,QAT/hard outdoor)
S: Serena Williams d. Venus Williams 6-2/7-6
D: Llagostera-Vives/Martinez-Sanchez d. Black/Huber 7-6/5-7/10-7

PLAYER OF THE WEEK: Serena Williams/USA
...hmmm, two grand slam singles titles. Three grand slam doubles titles. A SEC crown. The year-end #1 ranking. Is THAT enough to become a two-time "Ms. Backspin" winner? Ummm, well, if your name is Serena Williams, I don't think so. Being Serena, expectations are a b-i-t-c-you know what. With anyone else, including her sister, a 2009 season like that would be a lock-it-up Player of the Year situation. It usually would be in this space, too. But if some people (though I wasn't one of them) didn't see fit to award Amelie Mauresmo as POY when she won two slams in 2006 (many tapped Justine Henin, who'd won one and reached the finals of all four), then how can Serena be a sure thing? A title or two at any of the "lesser" stops on the tour, just to balance out the season of the tour's most talented player, would have set things in cement, but the lack of such a thing left open the door just enough that either the Italian or American Fed Cup team will smash it down with one collective shoulder this weekend. Oh, well. With Justine and Maria and Co. all back at full strength in 2010, Serena might actually be able to earn her Ms.B props with just ONE slam title next time around. Sometimes, it's funny how things work out.
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RISER: Caroline Wozniacki/DEN

AP/Kirsty Wigglesworth
...just call her Princess Charming with the heart of a lion. Wozniacki didn't win the SEC this weekend, but she was the most impressive player there all week long. Coming in with a hamstring injury at the end of a very long (and hopefully the last of it's kind when it comes to her future schedules) season, having to answer pointless questions about that Luxembourg retirement, and being forced to play in the excessive desert heat that managed to wilt several other competitors, C-Woz gave it her all, and then some. Of course, the image that'll be ingrained in everyone's mind will be the sight of a severely cramping Wozniacki crumpling to the court in the final game, up 5-4 30/30, of her Round Robin match against Vera Zvonareva. There she was, flopping around like a carp at the bottom of a boat as she cried and wondered if she was going to have to be carried off the court. Out of injury timeouts, she managed to climb to her feet and win the final few points of the game to take the match, walking to the net while sobbing and fighting off yet another full-body attack of cramps. If this was a grand slam, it would have been an indelible moment etched forever in tennis history. But being that it was the SEC, a big event that still is traditionally mostly ignored by the masses, it'll have to serve a a prelude to whatever comes next for C-Woz. Thing is, that moment was just one of many for Wozniacki in Doha that speaks volumes about what she's capable of achieving if she can just guard against wearing herself out and develop her second serve into something less cotton-candified than its current state. In her first RR match, she overcame a match point to defeat Victoria Azarenka in a 2:58 match. Against Zvonareva, she wasn't derailed by blowing a 6-0/5-2 lead with two match points (one of which she won, only to see it overturned via replay), then won the final three games while violently cramping despite having fallen behind 4-3 in that 3rd set. C-Woz pretty much ran out of gas after that, losing in straight sets to Jelena Jankovic and retiring in the 2nd set of the SF against Serena. But after reaching her second major SF, and currently finding herself at #4 in the rankings, the Princess of Charm showed in Doha that she has a bit of "Princess of Harm" in her, too. And that's something from which a real champion can be born.
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SURPRISE: Agnieszka Radwanska/POL
...A-Rad wasn't even supposed to play in the SEC. As the second-alternate, she seemed to have simply received an end-of-season trip to the desert. But when both Dinara Safina and her replacement, Vera Zvonareva, fell away with injuries, Radwanska was called upon to play the final Round Robin match of the tournament against Victoria Azarenka. The Belarusian needed a victory to advance to the SF ahead of Wozniacki, and led the match 6-4/5-2. But when Azarenka was struck in her season's last appearance in a major event with heat-related difficulties, just as she had been in her first in Melbourne in January, everything turned around. After winning the 2nd set 7-5, then racing to a 4-1 3rd set lead, A-Rad saw Azarenka retire due to cramping, sending C-Woz to the semis and stuffing an extra $100,000 into the Pole's pocket, as well. The same thing happened to Radwanska a year ago, when Ana Ivanovic's virus-related exit allowed alternate A-Rad to play a single SEC match. She won it, too, defeating Svetlana Kuznetsova.
=============================
VETERANS: Nuria Llagostera-Vives/Maria Jose Martinez-Sanchez, ESP & Rossana de los Rios/PAR
...even though they've had a fine season, it's probably safe to say that Llagostera-Vives/Martinez-Sanchez was the least talked-about/well-known of the four teams that qualified for the SEC Doubles championship semifinals. The #3-seeded Spanish vets never got a shot at #4 Sam Stosur/Rennae Stubbs, but they DID knock out the top two pairs en route to the title. Wins over both the #2-seeded Williams Sisters in the SF and #1-seeded Black/Huber in the final came via the super tie-breaker format in the 3rd set, in 10-8 and 10-7 victories, respectively. The all-Spanish team's seven '09 titles are the most on tour this season. In the $25K Bayamon challenger, Paraguay's de los Rios won her thirteenth career ITF singles title (and second of '09) with a straight sets victory over Mirjana Lucic in the final. In order to get into the deciding match, 34-year old DLR notched wins over four teenagers: Madison Keys (14), Ajla Tomljanovic (16), Julia Glushko (19) and Alison Riske (19). So, DLR must feel good today... even if she might feel something akin to having taken candy from a successive string of babies.
=============================
FRESH FACES: Lyudmyla Kichenok/UKR & Chanel Simmonds/RSA
...last time out, Lyudmyla Kichenok was defeating her twin sister Nadiya in the final of a challenger back home in Ukraine. This weekend in a $10K in Stockholm, the 17-year old was avenging her sister's loss to Emma Laine (the Fin defeated Nadiya in the QF) in the SF, then winning her second of back-to-back titles with a victory over 18-year old Hordette Marta Sirotkina in the final. Of course, being a good sister, Lyudmyla didn't let Nadiya leave Stockholm empty-handed, as they also paired to claim the doubles title. Meanwhile, South Africa's Chanel Simmonds, 17, won her first career pro title with a 6-1/6-0 victory over Davinia Lobbinger in the final of the $10K Pretoria event. Simmonds, a Girls quarterfinalist at Roland Garros earlier this season, had been 0-3 in her previous ITF challenger finals.
=============================
DOWN: Dinara Safina/RUS & Victoria Azarenka/BLR
...Safina's horrendous final quarter came to a merciful, crashing halt in Doha when she retired with a back injury in the third game of her opening SEC match against Jelena Jankovic. Safina said she's been having difficulties with the injury for months, which might explain some of her most recent eye-popping upsets at the hands of triple-digit ranked players. After a season that saw her spend the majority of time ranked #1, yet be forced to bear the brunt of a torrent of criticism about her "unearned" spot atop the game and her inability to show in the latter stages of slams, this was somehow a sad-but-fitting end to what probably should have been her career-best year but will instead go down as a disappointment that she may never fully distance herself from now that the WTA's slam-seeking ranks are about to be re-infused with a few additional big-time title-grabbers starting in a few months. After at first questioning whether her back would even allow her to play in Melbourne next year, Safina has since said she'll be playing in Brisbane in Week 1. Of course, Serena said she was going to be playing in Fed Cup, too... so take it with a grain of salt. Elsewhere in Doha, Azarenka's shortcomings were maybe put on grand display like no other's during the past week. The talent and drive are there, for sure, but something essential is missing that will prevent her from joining the "elite" of the tour unless she corrects the problem. Just comparing her to Wozniacki in Doha is fairly enlightening. They played each other in the fourth match, and Azarenka held a match point, but the cramping Dane managed to push through her injury and win the match while Azarenka's hopes dissolved into another racket-smashing tantrum when things got tough. Thing is, you can see these outbursts coming, yet she seems incapable of stopping them from blossoming into reality. Sure, the prep time is as short as a tsunami warning, but Azarenka needs to learn how to get to high ground before it's too late. Against C-Woz, Azarenka served for the match at 5-3 in the 3rd, and held a match point at 5-4. She didn't convert. At 5-5, with her recent failure still fresh in her mind, a couple of poor groundstrokes and a missed overhead sounded the alarm. Viewing the match, I said, "Watch out, here it comes." One point later, Azarenka angrily shot a ball into the stands. Then she smashed her racket, producing a second code violation of the match (and, thanks to Serena, we know what that means), giving Wozniacki a point. Since it was on break point, the Dane went up 6-5 and soon served out the match at 7-5. In their next matches, a wildly cramping Wozniacki lost a 6-0/5-2 lead against Zvonareva, but managed to pull out the match. Azarenka, needing a win to reach the SF over Wozniacki, led Radwanska 6-4/5-2, but ended up blowing the lead and retiring with cramps down 4-1 in the 3rd. Azarenka might have the bigger game of the two, but Wozniacki has the steady heart and courage that give her the intangible edge right now. Unless Azarenka closes that gap, C-Woz will continue to be a rung ahead of her on the rankings ladder.
=============================
ITF PLAYER: Jelena Dokic/AUS
...a week ago, Dokic reached the $50K final in Joue-Les-Tours, only to lose to Sofia Arvidsson. This weekend, she got a measure of instant revenge... X two. In the $100K Poitiers challenger, Dokic lost one set en route to yet another final (taking out the likes of Stephanie Foretz, Anastasia Rodionova, Lucie Hradecka and Alla Kudryavtseva), then defeated familiar foe Arvidsson 6-4/6-4 in the final. This is Dokic's second $100K challenger title of the season, and her ranking is up to #57. Come January, she'll arrive in Melbourne not needing a wild card to get into the Australian Open draw, and maybe with a nice dose of confidence and momentum. Even with all the other "welcome back" moments sure to spice up play at 2010's first slam, from Justine to Kim to Maria and so on, Dokic's return one year after her crowd-pleasing '09 story-of-the-tournament QF run might be the most intriguing. After seeing a drop-off in her post-Oz results, then an injury/illness-related absence, Dokic has rebounded rather well in the last third of this season. It could be the foundation upon which a truly resurgent '10 campaign is about to be built.
=============================
JUNIOR STAR: Tang Haochen/CHN
...the 15-year old Chinese girl claimed both the singles and doubles titles at the LTAT Junior Championships, a Grade 2 event in Thailand, defeating 16-year old Brit Lucy Brown 4-6/7-6/6-0 in the final. "Lucy Brown"... hmmm, I wonder if Mack the Knife had a hand in her murderous 3rd set loss? Brown, for her part, might be another name to watch in the growing pool of young talent from Great Britain, as she defeated Japan's Miyabi Inoue earlier in the tournament. As for Tang, this victory gives her a perfect 36-0 singles record this year (she's won all seven tournaments she's played in Asia and Australia), as well as a 23-2 mark in doubles (4 titles, 2 runners-up).
=============================

1. SEC RR #7 - Wozniacki d. Zvonareva

Reuters/Fadi Al-Assaad
...6-0/6-7/6-4. A classic, and the sort of match that can define a player in a mind's eye forever. C-Woz led 6-0/5-2 and had two match points, then saw her day nearly go down the drain as full-body cramps left her flat on her back, a sobbing Danish mess just outside the service box. Still, she pulled herself together and staggered into the winner's circle. Of course, this situation might say as much about Zvonareva as it does Wozniacki. The Russian turned out to be the one who pulled out of the event after this match, citing her early-season knee injury... but one has to wonder if the trouble might have been complicated by an affliction a little higher up the body, as well.
=============================
2. SEC RR #6 - S.Williams d. V.Williams
...5-7/6-4/7-6. Serena was up two breaks in the 3rd, but Venus turned the match around and even held a match point at 6-5. Serena saved it, then managed to win the fourteen-break match (it's only the second time in their 23-match series that one has come back from MP to win, the other being Serena doing it again in Bangalore last season). In the end, they were only one point apart on the stat sheet. Serena, of course, held the advantage.
=============================
3. SEC Final - S.Williams d. V.Williams
...6-2/7-6. Venus, who advanced to the SF despite a 1-2 RR record, should be commended for even getting the chance to defend her '08 title. Going in, that didn't seem a very good bet.
=============================
4. SEC RR #4 - Wozniacki d. Azarenka
...1-6/6-4/7-5. Talk about foreshadowing. Wozniacki cramps up, but wins. Azarenka holds match point, breaks a racket and loses. One exits 2009 after having seen the light, while the other is battling to stay one step ahead of her dark side. The yin/yang contrast between these two at this event made all that "good girl"/"bad girl" talk about them in this space earlier this season well worth it.
=============================
5. SEC RR #12 - A.Radwanska d. Azarenka
...4-6/7-5/4-1 ret. Up a set and 5-2, then cramping and losing her second "in-the-bag" match of the Round Robin, Azarenka has some work to do this offseason in order to be better prepared for 2010. Just don't go to Mexico to train, Victoria!
=============================
6. SEC RR #5 - Jankovic d. Safina
...1-1 ret. This result both assured Serena's ultimate return to #1 and played a large part in getting Jankovic into the SF. If Azarenka had defeated A-Rad, the Belarusian and JJ would have advanced to the semis from the White Group over Wozniacki, who'd come back from match point down and cramping to win two matches, but would have been left behind because Safina COULDN'T continue. That would have been a truly Jankovician development if there ever was one.
=============================
7. SEC RR #1 - Azarenka d. Jankovic
...6-2/6-3. Things started out so well for Azarenka. Then again, she did win a title in Week 1 of this season, too. So, she has a track record.
=============================
8. SEC RR #2 - Dementieva d. V.Williams
...3-6/7-6/6-2. Elena's participation in the SEC pretty much ended after this. She was outdistanced 24-11 in games in her final two matches.
=============================
9. SEC Doubles Final - Llagostera-Vives/Martinez-Sanchez d. Black/Huber
...7-6/5-7/10-7. Watching this one, I couldn't determine whether MJMS is extremely tall, or NLV is actually just very short. Either way, height-wise, they're quite the odd-looking coupling.
=============================
10. $10K Pretoria Final - Chanel Simmonds d. Davinia Lobbinger
...6-1/6-0. The 17-year old South African wins her first career pro title, after having gone 0-3 in three previous finals.
=============================
HM- $100K Poitiers 2nd Rd - Kudryavtseva d. Cibulkova
...6-2/6-0. Lost amidst all the comeback stories of '09 has been the truly disappointing season of Cibulkova (the #1 seed here). A Top 20 player to end 2008, she seemed set for bigger things. It just hasn't happened. She's been injured, for sure, but even when healthy she hasn't lived up to the promise she showed a season ago. As it is, she's still searching for her first career tour title, and is currently the third highest-ranked player (#27) without one (#23 Elena Vesnina and #26 Alla Kudryavtseva are the "battlefield generalettes" in that particular conflict, having displaced Victoria Azarenka in the unwanted role the Belarusian held at the conclusion of the previous two seasons).
=============================

**2000's WTA YEAR-END #1's**
2000 Martina Hingis, SUI
2001 Lindsay Davenport, USA
2002 Serena Williams, USA
2003 Justine Henin-Hardenne, BEL
2004 Lindsay Davenport, USA
2005 Lindsay Davenport, USA
2006 Justine Henin-Hardenne, BEL
2007 Justine Henin, BEL
2008 Jelena Jankovic, SRB
2009 Serena Williams, USA

**MOST SEC TITLES - ACTIVE**
2...Kim Clijsters
2...Justine Henin
2...SERENA WILLIAMS
1...Amelie Mauresmo
1...Maria Sharapova
1...Venus Williams

**2009 - WEEKS AT #1 (as of Nov.2)**
26...Dinara Safina, RUS
14...SERENA WILLIAMS, USA
4...Jelena Jankovic, SRB

**2009 MOST WTA SINGLES TITLES**
3...SERENA WILLIAMS, USA
3...Dinara Safina, RUS
3...Svetlana Kuznetsova, RUS
3...Caroline Wozniacki, DEN
3...Elena Dementieva, RUS
3...Victoria Azarenka, BLR

**2009 MOST WTA DOUBLES TITLES - TEAMS**
7...LLAGOSTERA-VIVES/MARTINEZ-SANCHEZ, ESP
5...Black/Huber, ZIM/USA
4...Williams/Williams, USA/USA

**CAREER WTA TITLES - ACTIVE**
41...Justine Henin
41...Venus Williams
35...SERENA WILLIAMS
35...Kim Clijsters
25...Amelie Mauresmo
20...Maria Sharapova

**SERENA vs. VENUS**
[2009]
Dubai SF - Venus 6-1/2-6/7-6
Miami SF - Serena 6-4/3-6/6-4
Wimbledon Final - Serena 7-6/6-2
SEC Round Robin - Serena 6-7/6-4/7-6
SEC Final - Serena 6-2/7-6
[3rd-Set Tie-Breaks]
2008 Bangalore SF - Serena wins 7-4
2009 Dubai SF - Venus wins 7-3
2009 SEC Round Round - Serena wins 7-4
[Match Point Overcome]
2008 Bangalore SF (Serena wins)
2009 SEC Round Robin (Serena wins)

FED CUP FINAL (Calabria, Italy - red clay)
08 Final: Russia d. Spain
=============================
Italy def. United States 4-1

...Italy has never beaten the U.S. in Fed Cup, currently riding a 0-9 losing streak. Still, if the Americans (Huber, Oudin, Glatch & King) can defeat the veteran-laden Italian team (Pennetta, Schiavone, Errani & Vinci) in Italy, on clay... well, let's just call this potential Cinderella title run possibly the most improbable in tennis history. Of course, it probably won't happen, especially without a Williams in the mix. Then again, after Mary Joe Fernandez's "B"-teamers got Team USA this far, it's actually better that their fate will be determined by THEM, not by some "ringer" added to the roster at the last moment even though they had absolutely nothing to do with getting the team this far. Win or lose, this is the way it should be. And let the winning team hereby be dubbed 2009's "Ms. Backspin."

TOURNAMENT OF CHAMPIONS (Bali, Indonesia - hard indoor)
08 Final: (new event)
=============================
=Round Robin=
*GROUP A*
(7)Peer 2-0
(1)Bartoli 1-1
(11)Rybarikova 0-2
*GROUP B*
(2)Stosur 2-0
(6)Martinez-Sanchez 1-1
(9)Szavay 0-2
*GROUP C*
(3)Wickmayer 2-0
(12)Date-Krumm 1-1
(5)Medina-Garrigues 0-2
*GROUP D*
(4)Lisicki 2-0
(8)Czink 1-1
(10)Rezai 0-2

=SF/FINAL=
Peer(A), Stosur(B), Wickmayer(C) & Lisicki(D)

...I'm not sure how the semifinals will be drawn up (Group A vs. B, Group A vs. C, etc.), so I'll just pick the Group winners and rank their chances of winning the inaugural Tournament of Champions title as thus:

1. Stosur
2. Wickmayer
3. Peer
4. Lisicki

All for now.

THIS WEEK: "Top 25 Players of the Decade - #6-10 & #1-5"
NEXT WEEK: 2009 Backspin Awards & Ms. Backspin

2009 Regional Honors

2009-10-31T17:20:00.002-04:00

The 2009 Backspin Awards are still a week away, so consider this something of a mini-preview... region by region.

==NORTH AMERICA==
PLAYER OF THE YEAR: Serena Williams, USA
POY (RUNNER-UP): Venus Williams, USA
RISER: Aleksandra Wozniak, CAN
SURPRISE: Vania King, USA
VETERAN: Liezel Huber, USA
FRESH FACE: Melanie Oudin, USA
COMEBACK: Alexa Glatch, USA
DOWN: Mashona Washington, USA
ITF PLAYER: Valerie Tetreault, CAN
UNDERRATED: Carly Gullickson, USA
DOUBLES: Serena Williams/Venus Williams, USA
JUNIOR: Sloane Stephens, USA

==SOUTH AMERICA==
PLAYER OF THE YEAR: Gisela Dulko, ARG
POY (RUNNER-UP): Mailen Auroux, ARG
RISER: Gabriela Paz, VEN
SURPRISE: Bianca Botto, PER
VETERAN: Rossana de los Rios, PER
FRESH FACE: Veronica Cepede Royg, PAR
COMEBACK: Catalina Castano, COL
DOWN: Mariana Duque Marino, COL
ITF PLAYER: Meilen Auroux, ARG
UNDERRATED: Maria Irigoyen, ARG
DOUBLES: Gisela Dulko, ARG
JUNIOR: Camila Silva, CHI

==ASIA/PACIFIC==
PLAYER OF THE YEAR: Samantha Stosur, AUS
POY (RUNNER-UP): Li Na, CHN
RISER: Hsieh Su-Wei/Peng Shuai, TPE/CHN
SURPRISE: Zhang Shuai, CHN
VETERAN: Kimiko Date-Krumm, JPN
FRESH FACE: Chang Kai-Chen, TPE
COMEBACK: Jelena Dokic, AUS
DOWN: Chan Yung-Jan/Chuang Chia-Jung, TPE
ITF PLAYER: Sacha Jones, NZL
UNDERRATED: Yaroslava Shvedova, KAZ
DOUBLES: Samantha Stosur/Rennae Stubbs, AUS
JUNIOR: Noppawan Lertcheewakarn, THA

==AFRICA/MIDDLE EAST==
PLAYER OF THE YEAR: Shahar Peer, ISR
POY (RUNNER-UP): Cara Black, ZIM
RISER: Pemra Ozgen, TUR
SURPRISE: Cagla Buyukakcay, TUR
VETERAN: Cara Black, ZIM
FRESH FACE: Ons Jabeur, TUN
COMEBACK: Shahar Peer, ISR
DOWN: Natalie Grandin, RSA
ITF PLAYER: Chanelle Scheepers, RSA
UNDERRATED: Chanelle Scheepers, RSA
DOUBLES: Cara Black, ZIM
JUNIOR: Chanel Simmonds, RSA

==RUSSIA==
PLAYER OF THE YEAR: Svetlana Kuznetsova
POY (RUNNER-UP): Dinara Safina
RISER: Vera Zvonareva
SURPRISE: Elena Vesnina
VETERAN: Elena Dementieva
FRESH FACE: Ekaterina Makarova
COMEBACK: Maria Sharapova
DOWN: Anna Chakvetadze
ITF PLAYER: Regina Kulikova
UNDERRATED: Vera Dushevina
DOUBLES: Alisa Kleybanova
JUNIOR: Ksenia Pervak

==REST OF EUROPE==
PLAYER OF THE YEAR: Caroline Wozniacki, DEN
POY (RUNNER-UP): Flavia Pennetta, ITA
RISER: Yanina Wickmayer, BEL
SURPRISE: Melinda Czink, HUN
VETERAN: Francesca Schiavone, ITA
FRESH FACE: Victoria Azarenka, BLR
COMEBACK: Kim Clijsters, BEL
DOWN: Ana Ivanovic, SRB
ITF PLAYER: Alexandra Dulgheru, ROU
UNDERRATED: Petra Kvitova, CZE
DOUBLES: Nuria Llagostera-Vives/Maria Jose Martinez-Sanchez, ESP
JUNIOR: Kristina Mladenovic, FRA

Hey, it's never too early to look ahead to next year. Two months from the kickoff of the 2010 season, the upcoming campaigns of which players would seem to be the most intriguing? Well, here are a few to watch...

Justine Henin & Kim Clijsters, BEL: Make no mistake, their '10 results will not only be judged against the field and their respective pasts, but also in comparison to one another. If Henin opens with a huge trip Down Under in January, will Clijsters' will wane? If Clijsters carries over her Open success to Melbourne, surely no one will wonder if Henin might lose HER comeback desire. Ah, a year of Backspin "back to the future" fun awaits.
=============================
Sabine Lisicki, GER: if she can stay on the court, might a Top 10 run be in her near future?
=============================
Melanie Oudin, USA: So far, the U.S. Open letdown has been in full effect. Next year, the pressure to improve even more will be still greater. Can she be continue to be as tough as she was this summer?
=============================
Victoria Azarenka, BLR: In 2009, the A-Train both arrived on schedule and derailed at times throughout the season. Early in the season, she won her first title but literally couldn't take the heat in Melbourne. At the end of the season, she secured her Top 10 ranking but went out in the Doha heat with cramps. In between, at times, she looked like the next big WTA star, then imploded in a crash of anger and broken rackets at others. Which will she be in 2010?
=============================
Yanina Wickmayer, BEL: Is the WTA big enough for THREE Belgians in the Top 15? How about the Top 10?
=============================
Maria Sharapova, RUS: Back for a full season, with her serve on her side... maybe. If so, 2010 is going to be a great, wild ride for all.
=============================
Urszula Radwanska, POL: By the end of next season, could Agnieszka be feeling Urszula's breath on the back of her neck when it comes to determining who's the best player in the family?
=============================
Laura Robson & Heather Watson, GBR: There's safety in numbers, and England now has TWO young stars to root for. But which is going to have the brightest future?
=============================
Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, RUS: Back-to-back late-season wins over Venus could mark the end of Pavlyuchenkova's apprenticeship and the beginning of the title-winning phase of her pro career.
=============================
Sarah Gronert, GER: If she starts playing in and advancing through tour qualifiying rounds, might the whole controversy about Gronert's participation be sparked yet again?
=============================
Klaudia Jans & Alicja Rosolska, POL: In their mid-twenties and one of the most regular, day-in-and-day-out teams on the tour, their results keep getting better.
=============================
Chelsey Gullickson, USA: Will the Georgia Bulldog sophomore star carry over her in-season success and win the NCAA women's singles championship in 2010?
=============================

Looking to "buy stock" in a few players for 2010? Getting cold feet and thinking you should "sell" your holdings in one of those past investments? Here are a few WTA "market tips"... take them to heart at your own peril.

=BUY=
NORTH AMERICA: Madison Keys, USA
...she's got a thunderous serve as a weapon, and she's still only 14.

SOUTH AMERICA: Roxane Vaisemberg/BRA & Veronica Cepede Royg, PAR
...there aren't many young South Americans winning ITF titles these days, but Vaisemberg (20) and Cepede Royg (17) did in '09.

ASIA/PACIFIC: Chang Kai-Chen, TPE
...her late-season win over Safina was just one of the name-dropping moments that's pushed the 18-year old to the cusp of the Top 100.

AFRICA/MIDDLE EAST: Shahar Peer, ISR
...with Dubai and the slump behind her, Peer should be ready to rock-n-roll again next season.

RUSSIA: Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova
...next stop: Top 20.

REST OF EUROPE: Sabine Lisicki, GER
...please stay healthy, please stay healthy, please stay healthy.

=SELL=
NORTH AMERICA: Lisa Raymond, USA
...time catches up with everyone eventually.

SOUTH AMERICA: Rossana de los Rios, PAR
...well, I had to pick someone, and DLR pulled the short straw.

ASIA/PACIFIC: Rennae Stubbs, AUS
...TV is calling, though she might be able to balance the two for a little while longer (of course, that's exactly what I said a year ago, and while she DID go title-less for the first time since 1991, Stubbs was still a Top 5 doubles player in '09).

AFRICA/MIDDLE EAST: Tzipora Obziler, ISR
...yeah, I know she's already retired. So, unless she's got a little Kimiko in her, your nest egg might be in danger if you held on to your Obziler stock for too long.

RUSSIA: Dinara Safina
...2009 was probably the best chance she's ever going to have to win a slam (ditto for Jelena Jankovic).

REST OF EUROPE: Kim Clijsters, BEL
...after she won the Open in '05, she didn't seem to really care if she won another slam. After winning her first in KC II, might the same happen? I know I won't be investing any money in the possibility that that WON'T be the case again.

=HAVE A LITTLE FAITH IN THE INVESTMENT=
NORTH AMERICA: Bethanie Mattek-Sands, USA
...2009 was a year of change for newlywed Bethanie. Maybe after getting her bearings, she can finally go about trying to win that first WTA singles title in 2010.

SOUTH AMERICA: Betina Jozami, ARG
...she'll forget about blowing that Fed Cup match against Oudin. Some day.

ASIA/PACIFIC: Marina Erakovic/NZL & Casey Dellacqua/AUS
...after their promising careers were interrupted by injuries this season, it'll be a case of going back to the grind in '10.

AFRICA/MIDDLE EAST: Julia Glushko, ISR
...she looked promising in '08, but her coach made more news complaining about Gronert than his charge did on the court in '09.

RUSSIA: Nadia Petrova
...there are still some big moments left in those aching bones yet. Hopefully.

REST OF EUROPE: Agnes Szavay, HUN
...a series of bad days and bad draws forestalled the Valkyrie's seemingly-accomplished '09 return to form. In 2010, maybe Szavay will be able to maintain her momentum all season long.

All for now.

2009 SEASON REVIEW/OFFSEASON EDITIONS OF WTA BACKSPIN:
...Revolving Doors - 2010 WTA Guide Preview
...2009 Regional Honors & '10 All-Intriguing Team and Market Tips
...The Decade's Best: Top 25 Players & Final Awards
...Backspin Awards (coming soon)
...Ms. Backspin (coming soon)
...WTA Yearbook (coming soon)
...BACKSPIN "WHAT IF?" SPECIAL (featuring "Anna Kournikova") (this offseason)
...ITF Backspin (every Monday throughout November & December)
...2010 Preview Series (in December)

Wk.42- And 2009's "Ms.Backspin"-to-Be is...?

2009-10-26T20:57:00.003-04:00

Umm, sorry about the bait-and-switch, but the official "Ms.Backspin" unveiling is still a couple of weeks away. Of course, that doesn't mean the nominations aren't in.

With just three major events -- the Season-Ending Championships this week in Doha, the ironically-named "Touraments of Champions" next week in Bali, as well as the Fed Cup final -- left in the 2009 WTA season, determining this season's "Ms.Backspin" partially comes down to, as it often does, how much weight is given to a player's performance in the slams and the "regular" tour schedule. Last year, without a dominant player in the wake of Justine Henin's then-retirement, I went with the most dominant 2008 force in the women's game -- the doubles team of Cara Black and Liezel Huber -- and ultimately loved the choice.

The duo aren't in the running this year. In fact, with the season's most powerful doubles team, Serena and Venus Williams, only playing in the slams (they won three, though) in '09, no doubles team can even sniff a Ms. Backspin nomination this year. In the end, when throwing in ALL the season's singles slam champions just for the purpose of discussion, there are STILL only five nominees in the mix.

Here they are:

=Ms. Backspin '09 NOMINEES=
Dinara Safina/RUS
...the current #1 (again), but maybe not for long, Safina's regular-tour domination gives her a good argument for Ms.B honors. But her slam flameouts are a HUGE demerit, and even her season-long consistency has taken a tremendous hit since the U.S. Open, as she was part of a record a #1 never wants to touch --- that of being the victim in the biggest ranking upset of a top-ranked woman in WTA history when she lost to #226 Zhang Shuai a few weeks ago. Truthfully, she'd need a dominant SEC championship to even be considered. And even that probably wouldn't be enough.

Serena Williams/USA
...she won two singles slams titles and three doubles slams in 2009, but her virtual no-show in the latter stages of events the rest of the season (her RU in Miami was only other final) puts her candidacy in question. "All-or-nothing" should not be in Ms.Backspin's vocabulary. She could very well end the year at #1, and a SEC title (or two) would be a huge feather in her Ms.Backspin cap. She probably SHOULD win this, but I'm still not sure she's got the award by the throat. Umm, was that a poor choice of words? (Whether it was or not, though, that "little incident" at the U.S. Open has no tangible bearing one way or the other on this year's honor.)

Fed Cup champions
...a year after having co-Ms.Backpin winners for the first time, this would be a case of doubling the previous pleasure. And, to be honest, I'm liking the idea of that. Either the Italian or American teams would be worthy honorees. The Italians, led by the likes of Flavia Pennetta and Francesca Schiavone, have burned a path through past FC champions en route to next week's final, taking out both France (5-0) and Russia (4-1) -- the only FC champions other than the Italians since 2003 -- with ease to earn a chance at a second Cup in four years (in the team's third final during the span). Meanwhile, first-year coach Mary Joe Fernandez's American team has been a true Cinderella all season long, advancing against long odds with seeming "B" team lineups and FC neophytes being called upon to win huge do-or-die matches. A win in the final, even if the Williams Sisters take part, would be a monumentally unexpected outcome. Plus, honoring an American FC championship team would allow for the likes of players with names like Oudin, Glatch and Huber (who'd actually "defend" half of the Ms.B crown) to share the crowded spotlight. Yep, no matter who wins, I'm liking the idea of this more and more with every second.

Svetlana Kuznetsova/RUS
...she had a nice "comeback" season with her title at Roland Garros, but it'll have to end there.

Kim Clijsters/BEL
...puh-leeze. Kudos on the Open, but one win does not a Ms.Backpin make.

(CLANG...CRASH!!!)

What was that, you ask? Why, that was the sound of the fabled Clijsters/Backspin "slate" flying out the window of the offices at Backspin HQ and smashing into a hundred pieces on the sidewalk below. I HAVE to toss it out now before things gets worse. You see, since Clijsters won the U.S. Open I haven't gotten a SINGLE Backspin pick correct this 4th Quarter.

Coincidence? I don't think so.

Then, Clijsters returns to the tour last week in Luxembourg for the first time since her win in New York. In a show of support for the slate (and supposed logic), of course, I picked her to win. What does she do? She loses in the 2nd Round to Patty Schnyder... the same Patty she handled in straight sets in her second match back this summer in Cincinnati following her two-year retirement. Thus, I'm through with paying that maid's service bill that's been plopped on my desk the last few months, as I've tried ever-so-hard to keep the slate clean. Without a buffer, there's no pulling of virtual punches from here on out.

[BACKSPIN'S WTA RULE OF LIFE #1: Never trust a Clijsters.]

Words to live by, I'd say. On a related note, we now have a port of arrival for La Petit Taureau II... Week 1 in Brisbane next January. Bring it on, indeed.

Now, where was I? Oh, yeah... "Ms.Backspin" is coming soon, too.

*WEEK 42 CHAMPIONS*

MOSCOW, RUSSIA (Premier $1m/hard indoor)
S: Francesca Schiavone def. Olga Govortsova 6-3/6-0
D: Kirilenko/Petrova d. Kondratieva/Zakopalova

LUXEMBOURG, LUXEMBOURG (Int'l $220K/hard indoor)
S: Timea Bacsinszky def. Sabine Lisicki 6-2/7-5
D: Benesova/Zahlavova Strycova d. Uhlirova/Voracova

PLAYER OF THE WEEK: Francesca Schiavone/ITA
...the thirteenth time was a charm for Schiavone, as she left that unruly camel back in Osaka and won her second career tour title in Moscow, improving her overall record in finals to 2-11 and raising a singles trophy for the first time since taking Bad Gastein in 2007. Along the way, she got wins over Nuria Llagostera-Vives, Monica Niculescu, Maria Kirilenko, Alona Bondarenko and Olga Govortsova in the final.
=============================
RISERS: Sabine Lisicki/GER & Maria Kirilenko/RUS
...it seems like forever since Lisicki was actually healthy, but she finally was last week in Luxembourg. Reaching her first final since winning in Charleston, the just-turned-20 year old German knocked off Iveta Benesova, Polona Hercog, Patty Schnyder and Shahar Peer en route. Meanwhile, Moscow native Kirilenko had a pretty productive week in her home town. In singles, she got wins over Agnieszka Radwanska (assuring A-Rad would miss the SEC) and Aleksandra Wozniak. Later, she won the doubles title with Nadia Petrova.
=============================
SURPRISES: Olga Govortsova/BLR & Tsvetana Pironkova/BUL
...Victoria Azarenka was the Belarusian who opened the season with great results (winning her first WTA title in Week 1), but it's her countrywoman Govortsova who managed to close out the WTA's regular schedule with her second career appearance in a tour final. (Sure, Azarenka plays this week in Doha, but her recent results don't make one feel very confident predicting anything resembling a similar end to HER '09.) '08 Memphis runner-up Govortsova, 21, reached the Moscow final after wins over Ksenia Pervak, Maria Jose Martinez-Sanchez, Vera Dushevina and Alisa Kleybanova. Also in Moscow, Pironkova showed once again why she's one of the most perplexing players on tour. Just as capable of losing in the 1st Round as she is of upsetting a Top 10er in any given round, the Bulgarian was a virtual Russian-Killer-not-named-Oudin as she qualified (she got a win over Alla Kudryavtseva) and took down both Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova and #1-seed Vera Zvonareva (love-and two, even though she was playing for a spot in the SEC) in the main draw. It's a great result for Pironkova, but it ultimately raises more questions about her than it answers.
=============================
VETERAN: Patty Schnyder/SUI
...maybe we shouldn't write off Sneaky Patty just yet. Who knows whether or not she's been thinking of retirement lately, but if she has been maybe her week in Luxembourg will edge her in a particular direction. After the lackluster season Schnyder's had, it's certainly hard to not be at least a little encouraged by wins over Petra Kvitova and Kim Clijsters.
=============================
FRESH FACES: Timea Bacsinszky/SUI & Yulia Putintseva/RUS
...20-year old Bacsinszky got wins over a bevy of veterans in the early going in Luxembourg, taking out Julie Coin, Roberta Vinci and Katarina Srebotnik. Then, in the latter rounds, she upset younger counterparts Yanina Wickmayer (reaching her first tour final) and Sabine Lisicki (to claim her maiden title) and end her tour season on a glorious note. Hingis isn't coming back, while Schnyder is a question mark... but Switzerland's time on the WTA stage isn't over. Meanwhile, 14-year old Hordette Putintseva, who was ripping through the junior circuit a few months ago, put on something of a mini-show in the qualifying rounds in Luxembourg. She got wins over Stefanie Voegele (another Swiss Miss) and Claudine Schaul before losing to Kirsten Flipkens.
=============================
DOWN: Caroline Wozniacki/DEN & Kim Clijsters/BEL
...the whole Wozniacki/Kremer issue seems so much a tempest in a tea pot. Yes, it DOES look odd when Wozniacki retires from a match while leading 7-5/5-0, but to have the tennis "integrity police" investigating the match for any possible "hinkyness" and betting irregularities seems to almost be an insult to Wozniacki's intelligence, as well as that of any tennis fan who has followed her over the past few years. Essentially, believing there to be any wrongdoing here (C-Woz injured her hamstring, and didn't want to risk her SEC role this week by playing in the next match, so she said she retired to allow crowd favorite Anne Kremer to advance) is assuming one or both of two things: that either C-Woz is as dumb as a box of Slazenger's ("throwing" a match by retiring at 7-5/5-0 would be like Caroline running naked through an Odense church service and not expecting anyone to notice), or that she's the perpetrator of the most brilliant sports con on record, expertly putting forth a charming persona so she could get away with a most blatant sports "fix" while she laughs with evil glee in the shadows of the lockerroom about how she fooled everyone. Wozniacki has said that she likes to learn off the court -- even hinting that she might attend Yale -- because it makes her feel smarter, but I don't think she's an evil, pinky-to-the-mouth genius. No, it was really more a case of her being too nice and honest for her own good, not only stepping aside for Kremer's benefit, but admitting it afterward. Not the way to go, Caroline.

[BACKSPIN'S RULE OF WTA LIFE #2: In tennis, never let your better angels win out when they're in competition with good judgment. Perception isn't reality... but try convincing SOME PEOPLE that.]

Maybe Caroline should have sought out friend Sorana Cirstea and simply kissed the girl. After all, the "I Kissed a Girl" defense worked out pretty well for Richard Gasquet.

Then, there's Clijsters. She defeated Schnyder 6-2/7-5 in Cincinnati, but after proving her worth in NYC, she lost to her in Luxembourg. So, is THIS a return to form of the OLD Kim? You know, the player who made a habit of crumbling under the pressure of expectation. Clijsters wasn't expected to win the Open, but she did. For the first time in her comeback, she was SUPPOSED to win Luxembourg. She lost in the 2nd Round. In 2005, after winning at Flushing Meadows, Clijsters seemed sated and never came close to winning another slam before she retired. Has she already reached that point in KC 2? We'll see. But it's possible we've already seen the best that Clijsters has to give.
=============================
ITF PLAYER: Pauline Parmentier/FRA
...Parmentier, maybe the most anonymous player to win two WTA titles in the two seasons prior to this one, has slipped out of the Top 100 over the course of 2009. But she DID manage to show some fight back potential last week, taking the $50K Saint Raphael title in France, defeating Sandra Zahlavova 7-6/6-2 in the final.
=============================
JUNIOR STAR: Kristina Mladenovic/FRA
...#2-ranked world junior Mladenovic, this year's Girls Roland Garros champ, won the Osaka Mayor's Cup World Super Junior event, taking out world #4 Timea Babos 7-6/6-3 in the final.
=============================

1. Lux 1st Rd - Kremer d. Wozniacki
...5-7/0-5 ret. Kremer got by due to the kindness of strangers... twice. First, when she entered the draw as a lucky loser when Melanie Oudin pulled out with an illness, then when an injured C-Woz retired one game away from victory to avoid having to so out with a walkover in the next round, preserving her health for Doha and giving Luxembourg's Own Kremer a free pass to the 2nd Round. If any bets were made because of possible changeover talk of a Wozniacki retirement between the Dane and her father, as has been speculated, well, then, what better reason than that to finally turn off those intrusive-and-unnecessary microphones during said tour-instituted meetings? From here, it would seem like the idea of C-Woz "throwing" a match would be akin to thinking Clijsters is the antichrist.

(pause)

Ummm, well, maybe that's not the BEST analogy.

(He said, keeping open ALL possibilites for 2010.)
=============================
2. Lux 2nd Rd - Schnyder d. Clijsters
...6-4/3-6/7-6. Patty ends on a high note. Kim... well, we've got all of next season (probably, but I guess that's up to KC) to see if this means anything.
=============================
3. Lux 1st Rd - Srebotnik d. Groenefeld
...7-5/6-3. These two won a doubles titles together last week. Showing she didn't need ALG to succeed, Srebotnik beat her here and reached the Luxembourg doubles SF with Meghann Shaughnessy in Luxembourg. The Slovenian reached the singles QF, too, notching her best result since her comeback from injury, setting her up for a resurgent '10 (remember, Srebotnik won a classic match against Henin just weeks before the Belgian's '08 retirement, and defeated Serena earlier that season).
=============================
4. Mos 1st Rd - Jankovic d. Shvedova
...6-4/5-7/6-1. Shvedova upset Jankovic at the U.S. Open. Jelena got some measure of revenge, then got one more victory, enough to edge-out Vera Zvonareva by 5 points for the #8 slot in the Season-Ending Championships.
=============================
5. Lux 1st Rd - Niculescu d. Cirstea
...3-0 ret. The past few months haven't been very good for Sorana. Maybe she should call Katy Perry?
=============================
6. $10K Antalya-Belek Final - Cristina Dinu d. Anna Orlik
...6-4/6-3. The 16-year old Romanian adds her name to the increasing number of Swarmettes-to-watch.
=============================
7. Mos 1st Rd - Szavay d. Pennetta
...4-6/0-3 ret. Hmmm, maybe the "integrity police" should investigate this one. See, Caroline, you CAN be a bit smarter about these things. [BACKSPIN'S WTA RULE OF LIFE #3: If you can, retire two games earlier.]
=============================
8. Lux 2nd Rd - Srebotnik d. Kremer
...2-6/6-4/6-0. Why not check out this one, too? I mean, that love 3rd set seems "mighty suspicious" to me, you know. [BACKSPIN'S WTA RULE OF LIFE #4: If you live by the kindness of strangers, be prepared to die by the lack of it in the next round.]
=============================
9. Lux QF - Wickmayer d. Flipkens
...7-6/4-6/6-1. An all-Belgian match WITHOUT you-know-who? Why is that not surprising?
=============================
10. Lux Doub QF - Benesova/Zahlavova-Strycova d. Clijsters/Flipkens
...3-6/6-3/10-5. I plead the Fifth Amendment.
=============================
HM- Moscow F - Schiavone d. Govortsova 6-3/6-0
Lux F - Bacsinszky d. Lisicki 6-2/7-5
... Oh, yeah. They played finals in Moscow and Luxembourg, too.
=============================

**2009 FIRST-TIME CHAMPS - BY NATION**
2...Germany (Lisicki/Petkovic)
1...Australia (Stosur)
1...Belarus (Azarenka)
1...Belgium (Wickmayer)
1...Czech Republic (Kvitova)
1...France (Rezai)
1...Hungary (Czink)
1...Romania (Dulgheru)
1...Russia (Dushevina)
1...Slovak Republic (Rybarikova)
1...Spain (Martinez-Sanchez)
1...SWITZERLAND (BACSINSZKY)

**2009 FIRST-TIME FINALISTS - BY NATION**
2...Romania (Dulgheru/Olaru)
2...Russia (Makarova/Vesnina)
1...Germany (Petkovic)
1...Italy (Brianti)
1...Slovak Republic (Rybarikova)
1...Spain (Suarez-Navarro)
1...SWITZERLAND (BACSISZKY)

**MOST 2009 WTA SF**
10...Dinara Safina (8-2)
10...Elena Dementieva (3-6 +W)
9...Caroline Wozniacki (8-1)
8...Serena Williams (3-4 +L)
8...Flavia Pennetta (3-5)
6...Venus Williams (4-2)
6...Marion Bartoli (3-3)
5...Svetlana Kuznetsova (4-1)
5...Victoria Azarenka (3-2)
5...FRANCESCA SCHIAVONE (3-2)
5...YANINA WICKMAYER (3-2)
5...SHAHAR PEER (2-3)

**CONSECUTIVE WTA FINALS**
4...Dinara Safina (May, 2-2)
2...Elena Dementieva (January, 2-0)
2...Venus Williams (February, 2-0)
2...Flavia Pennetta (July/August, 2-0)
2...Shahar Peer (September, 2-0)
2...Caroline Wozniacki (April, 1-1)
2...Svetlana Kuznetsova (May, 1-1)
2...Caroline Wozniacki (August/September, 1-1)
2...FRANCESCA SCHIAVONE (OCTOBER, 1-1)
2...Dinara Safina (January/February, 0-2)
2...Ekaterina Makarova (May, 0-2)

**OLDEST 2009 CHAMPIONS**
38y,11m,30d - Kimiko Date-Krumm, JPN (Seoul)
32y,1m - Tamarine Tanasugarn, THA ('s-Hertogenbosch)
29y,2m,3w - Sybille Bammer, AUT (Prague)
29y,7m,1w - Amelie Mauresmo, FRA (Paris)
29y,4m - FRANCESCA SCHIAVONE, ITA (MOSCOW)
28y,8m,2w - Venus Williams, USA (Acapulco)
28y,8m,1w - Venus Williams, USA (Dubai)

**MOST DIFFERENT 2009 CHAMPIONS - NATIONS**
6 - RUS (Dementieva/Dushevina/Kuznetsova/Safina/Sharapova/Zvonareva)
3 - FRA (Bartoli/Mauresmo/Rezai)
3 - ITA (PENNETTA/SCHIAVONE/VINCI)

SEASON-ENDING CHAMPIONSHIPS (Doha, Qatar - hard outdoor)
08 Singles Final: V.Williams d. Zvonareva
08 Doubles Final: Black/Huber d. Peschke/Stubbs
=============================
=Round Robin=
*WHITE GROUP*
(1)Safina (2-1)
(4)Wozniacki (1-2)
(6)Azarenka (1-2)
(8)Jelena Jankovic (2-1)
*MAROON GROUP*
(2)S.Williams (2-1)
(3)Kuznetsova (1-2)
(5)Dementieva (2-1)
(7)V.Williams (1-2)

=SF=
Dementieva d. Jankovic
S.Williams d. Safina
=FINAL=
Dementieva d. S.Williams

=DOUBLES FINAL=
Williams/Williams d. Black/Huber

...#1 gets decided (on the computer, but not necessarily in the "Ms. Backspin" race).

All for now.

NEXT: 2009 Regional Honors (w/ '10 All-Intriguing Line-up & Market Tips) and "Top 25 Players of the Decade - #6-10"

The Decade's Best: Players #11-15

2009-10-24T23:59:00.001-04:00

Backspin's "Decade's Best" countdown of the top players of the 2000's continues today, with a look at the five players who just missed out on being in the final Top 10. Hence, for the most part, numbers 11-through-15 include women who accomplished many great things during the past decade, but simply don't have enough "oomph" behind them to be in the mix when the discussion comes around to the "best" individual player (i.e. predominantly-singles champion) from 2000-09.

Save for one, who is likely the most accomplished active singles player to have never won a grand slam, these five women are mostly known for their doubles play. Still, though, a few have more significant singles pasts than many might realize, as time and faulty memories long-ago pushed aside such "forgotten" realities in favor of the "more tangible" championship-level doubles results they consistently put up throughout the last ten seasons (and, in most cases, nearly ten more in the 1990's).

In the end, all of these players will likely be underrated in the eyes of history once their careers have long since been concluded. Over time, they'll be well-known, as their names litter the WTA's history books, but they're fall short of anything approaching the "legendary" status of many of the players in the final Top 10. Of course, that doesn't mean they shouldn't be honored and given their rightful place in the heirarchy of the sport:

So, in an attempt to do so, here are Players #11-15:

#15 - Elena Dementieva, RUS

Though she ranks on the bottom rung of this particular five-player ladder, Dementieva is the one woman who isn't somewhat "anonymous" to semi-casual followers of the sport. And that says a great deal about what she HAS managed to accomplish in her career, even while playing most of it with a serve that at times seemed to be something MORE than a simple liability. Still, that ugly serve, which she's only in recent seasons found a way to improve and turn into a sometimes-weapon, is probably THE reason why she's arguably the best women's player in the world to so far still be missing a grand slam singles championship. Nonethless, the two-time slam finalist ('04 Roland Garros & U.S. Open) and Olympic Gold ('08) and Silver ('04) Medalist with the crisp groundstrokes that have traditionally been the envy of most of the women on tour is without question one of the top players of the decade.

It took Dementieva until age 21 (in 2003) to finally win her first career tour singles title, as I had come to refer to her in this space as "Punch-Drunk" because of her propensity to take the 1st set against lesser-ranked opponents only to stumble around and ultimately squander the match, but she's since become a regular WTA titlist. Morphing into "Punch-Sober," she's now won fourteen titles (second on the all-time Russian list behind Maria Sharapova) and is ending the decade with four consecutive multiple-title seasons, the longest current streak on tour. A Top 20 player since 2000, she's been a year-end Top 10er every year except one ('07) since 2003. After having reached a career-high #4 ranking on the back on her two slam runner-up results in '04, she returned to the spot in '08 before bettering it in '09 (#3). Still in pursuit of that elusive slam championship, her RU's have been joined by an additional four slam SF, three QF and ten 4th Round results over the years. In 2009, she narrowly missed a third slam final appearance when she failed to convert match point in the Wimbledon semis against eventual champion Serena Williams in one of the classic matches of the 2000's.

While not a regular doubles participant, Dementieva has had her share of success outside of singles, as well. She's won six tour titles, including a Season-Ending Championships title in '02 (with Janette Husarova), and slam Doubles RU results at the '02 and '05 U.S. Open. In 2003, she reached a career-high doubles rank of #5.

When Dementieva faced Anastasia Myskina in the Roland Garros final in '04, it was the first time two Russians faced off for a slam crown (Dementieva faced another countrywoman, Svetlana Kuznetsova, in the U.S. Open final that summer, too). It was fitting that Dementieva participated in both historic matches, considering she's appeared in more all-Russian tour finals (11) than any other Hordette. Her six wins in those matches also tops the list. So, that she's missing a slam singles title on her resume will remain a sore point, even if Dementieva forever holds to her initial belief that her Olympic Gold in Beijing last year was as good or better than winning an actual slam title. I'm sure she was sincere when she said it... but, if given the opportunity in the future, it's more than likely that she might reconsider, too.

Unlike the rest of the players ranked #11-15, whose careers are either over or in their twilight, Punch-Sober still has some unfinished business. And with her ground strokes still amongst the best in the game, and her serve no longer the worst, she might just get that opportunity yet. Having surpassed 500 career match wins in '09, reached the Australian Open and Wimbledon semifinals, and won the U.S. Open Series, Dementieva's game is still more than slam-worthy. At times, she's played the best tennis of her life over the past year-plus, and even though the closing of her "viable" championship window is within sight at age 28, she still has time to put a grand slam topper on her just-one-win-away-from Hall of Fame-worthy career. It won't be easy... but such challenges haven't prevented Dementieva from great achievements in the past, so why should such a thing stop her now?

#14 - Rennae Stubbs, AUS

Over the course of her now twenty three-year career (she played doubles in her first pro event in 1986), Stubbs has managed to copy a player archetype rarely seen on the women's tour these days. While super-successful doubles-only players have been common on the ATP circuit for ages, in the current day and age, the Aussie's nearly decade-long status as such makes her a rare bird on the WTA tour. A doubles-exclusive player since 2001, Stubbs has put together one of the most consistently successful doubles careers in WTA history.

A Top 10er since 1998, Stubbs briefly held the #1 ranking along with longtime partner Lisa Raymond for three weeks in 2000. She never returned to the top spot, but she never stopped winning, either. In all, she's claimed 59 career doubles titles (12th all-time), 39 coming in the 2000's. A six-time slam champ (four Doubles titles from 2000-04, and two Mixed crowns in 2000-01), she became the first woman in the Open era to win both the Australian Open Doubles and Mixed titles in the same same year when she did so in Melbourne in '00. In 2001, she added a Season-Ending Championship win, and has been a part of the Doubles runner-up team four other times over the five-year stretch from 2004-08. Teaming with some of the other best doubles players of her era (Raymond, Cara Black, Kveta Peschke & Samantha Stosur), Stubbs has been -- and still is -- in the mix for titles nearly every time she's taken the court for more than a decade.

Stubbs DID dabble in singles early in her career. She won two ITF singles titles and reached the WTA-level Quebec City SF in 1995. But her 5-19 slam singles record made it apparent that she was never going to become a great individual star in the sport. She knew where her talent lied, and she intelligently played to it. Her last slam main draw match was in 1998, and it's hard to describe her chosen career path as anything but a brilliant decision. Right now, even without a tour title thus far in '09 (for the first time since 1991), Stubbs is still a Top 5-ranked doubles player at age 38, with a runner-up result at Wimbledon and U.S. Open SF (both with Stosur) under her belt this season, as well as a World Team Tennis title as a member of the Washington Kastles.

No matter how much longer she sticks on tour, the Aussie is poised to be around the sport in one capacity for quite a bit longer. Not one to be without an opinion over the years, Stubbs is already moonlighting as a television tennis commentator and it looks as if she's once again making a picture-perfect career decision.

#12 (tie) - Virginia Ruano Pascual, ESP & Paola Suarez, ARG

Make no mistake, if not for Ruano Pascual and Suarez's doubles results with each other, neither would be making an appearance on this list. But as the most accomplished, "regular" doubles team (in other words, not named Williams) of the decade, they more than earned their way here.

Together, the pair won eight slam titles (all from 2001-05), fourth on the all-time Open era list for a duo, behind the pairings of Navratilova/Shriver, G.Fernandez/Zverera and Williams/Williams. VRP/Suarez won four Roland Garros titles over a five-year stretch, three straight U.S. Open titles (2002-04) and one Australian Open ('04). In 2004, they won all three. They never claimed a Wimbledon crown, but they finished as runners-up on three occasions. In 2003, they won the Season-Ending Championship, and were named Doubles Team of the Year by the WTA tour from 2002-04. In all, they teamed for 32 titles. Suarez won 44 in her career, 34 in the 2000's; while Ruano Pascual has so far won 42, with 38 coming this decade.

Argentine Suarez held the #1 doubles ranking for a total of nineteen months from 2002-04, sharing the spot with VRP for three weeks. Spain's Ruano Pascual ended up holding the top spot for sixteen consecutive months from 2004-05, the fifth-longest streak since the WTA first began computing doubles rankings in 1984. While Suarez never won a slam with another partner, VRP has done so three times. She won the '01 Roland Garros Mixed with Tomas Carbonell, and has claimed the last two Roland Garros Doubles championships with Anabel Medina-Garrigues.

In singles, Suarez was the better player. Reaching a career-high of #9 in 2004, she finished in the year-end Top 20 twice during the decade (2003-04). Three of her four career singles titles came during the 2000's, as did a Roland Garros SF result in '04 and three other slam QF from 2002-04. Ruano Pascual's career high singles rank has been #28 (in 1999), but she managed to maintain a Top 100 ranking for all but one season from 1995-07. She won one tour singles title in Tashkent in '03 (she had two other RU results in the 1990's), and had a slam QF at the Australian Open in '03 (she was also a RG quarterfinalist in '95).

Both Suarez and Ruano Pascual are Olympic Medalists. Suarez won the 2004 Doubles Bronze with Patricia Tarabini, while VRP is a two-time Silver Medalist, having finished on the medal stand with both Conchita Martinez ('04) and Medina-Garrigues ('08).

Suarez underwent hip surgery in 2005, then returned a season later. She won five Doubles titles the next two seasons before retiring in '07. None of the title were won with Ruano Pascual. Meanwhile, VRP is still around. At age 36, she's a Top 10 doubles player and added Wimbledon Doubles and Mixed SF results this season to go along with the title at Roland Garros that awarded her with her eleventh career slam championship.

#11 - Lisa Raymond, USA

Raymond, in my humble opinion, is the most underrated women's player of the past fifteen years.

While her serve-and-volley style making her a legitimate singles threat earlier in her career, history will note the American for her doubles success. A Top 20 doubles player since 1994, she was a year-end Top 10er from 1998-08. Her 68 career tour doubles titles (53 of which came during the 2000's) put her in a tie for eighth place on the all-time list. Raymond's longtime partnerships with Rennae Stubbs and Samantha Stosur produced six slam titles, three Season-Ending Championship crowns and seven other slam runner-up results from 2000-08. She's won four additional Mixed Doubles slam titles, two coming this decade ('02 U.S. Open & '03 RG). First reaching the doubles #1 ranking in 2000, Raymond grabbed the spot four times in her career and held the position for a total of 117 weeks, the third-longest time at the top in WTA history.

Before she turned pro, Raymond was a singles star in college at the University of Florida. As a Gator, she became the first woman to win three collegiate grand slams in a single season in 1991-92, and was the NCAA women's champion in 1992 and 1993. During her WTA career, she won four singles titles (three in the 2000's, along with three more RU) and reached a career-high of #15 in 1997. Her two slam QF results came at Wimbledon ('00) and the Australian Open (in 2004, when she upset Venus Williams), and she reached six additional 4th Rounds in her career. Not surprisingly, her serve-and-volley style worked best on the grass of the All-England Club, as she sported a 24-14 career mark, though may be best remembered for her failure to complete another slam upset of Venus despite leading their '06 2nd Round match 7-6/5-2. Raymond ended her singles career following the 2007 season.

Just this month, Raymond teamed with Chuang Chia-Jung for a WTA title in Osaka, making the Taiwanese player the ninth different woman with which she's claimed a tour championship. It was the first title of the season for the 36-year old American, making her the oldest doubles champ of '09 and running her consecutive seasons with a title streak to seventeen. The win moved her back into the Top 20, as well, making it possible that she could end the season there for a sixteenth straight year.

NEXT: #6-10

1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11. Lisa Raymond, USA
12t. Virginia Ruano Pascual, ESP
12t. Paola Suarez, ARG
14. Rennae Stubbs, AUS
15. Elena Dementieva, RUS
16. Martina Hingis, SUI
17. Liezel Huber, RSA/USA
18. Mary Pierce, FRA
19. Dinara Safina, RUS
20. Daniela Hantuchova, SVK
21. Ana Ivanovic, SRB
22. Jelena Jankovic, SRB
23. Ai Sugiyama, JPN
24. Anastasia Myskina, RUS
25. Patty Schnyder, SUI
HONORABLE MENTION- Martina Navratilova, USA

Here are the remaining 10 players on the countdown list:

Cara Black
Jennifer Capriati
Kim Clijsters
Lindsay Davenport
Justine Henin
Svetlana Kuznetsova
Amelie Mauresmo
Maria Sharapova
Serena Williams
Venus Williams

*BACKSPIN'S 2000-09 HONOR ROLL, #27-113*
Nicole Arendt
Shinobu Asagoe
Victoria Azarenka
Sybille Bammer
Marion Bartoli
Daja Bedanova
Alona Bondarenko
Kateryna Bondarenko
Kristie Boogert
Elena Bovina
Severine Bremond
Els Callens
Anna Chakvetadze
Chan Yung-Jan
Chuang Chia-Jung
Dominika Cibulkova
Sorana Cirstea
Amanda Coetzer
Eleni Daniilidou
Nathalie Dechy
Casey Dellacqua
Mariaan de Swardt
Jelena Dokic
Silvia Farina Elia
Clarisa Fernandez
Tatiana Golovin
Anna-Lena Groenefeld
Carly Gullickson
Julie Halard-Decugis
Anke Huber
Janette Husarova
Kaia Kanepi
Sesil Karatantcheva
Vania King
Anna Kournikova
Michaella Krajicek
Lina Krasnoroutskaya
Li Na
Li Ting
Elena Likhovtseva
Sabine Lisicki
Petra Mandula
Marta Marrero
Conchita Martinez
Anabel Medina-Garrigues
Sania Mirza
Alicia Molik
Corina Morariu
Miriam Oremans
Melanie Oudin
Shahar Peer
Flavia Pennetta
Tatiana Perebiynis
Kveta Peschke
Nadia Petrova
Kimberly Po-Messerli
Agnieszka Radwanska
Anastasia Rodionova
Chanda Rubin
Lucie Safarova
Arantxa Sanchez-Vicario
Mara Santangelo
Barbara Schett
Francesca Schiavone
Monica Seles
Magui Serna
Antonella Serra-Zanetti
Meghann Shaughnessy
Anna Smashnova
Karolina Sprem
Katarina Srebnotnik
Samantha Stosur
Carla Suarez-Navarro
Sun Tiantian
Agnes Szavay
Tamarine Tanasugarn
Patricia Tarabini
Nathalie Tauziat
Nicole Vaidisova
Dominique van Roost
Elena Vesnina
Yanina Wickmayer
Caroline Wozniacki
Yan Zi
Zheng Jie
Fabiola Zuluaga
Vera Zvonareva

All for now.

"DECADE'S BEST" SERIES:
...Players of the 2000's: Nomination List, Australian Open 2000-09, Roland Garros 2000-09, Wimbledon 2000-09, U.S. Open 2000-09, Players #21-25, Players #16-20