Early 2014 Commitments

[Correspondent Kiu]

Week 1:
Brisbane (Premier)
Serena Williams
Victoria Azarenka
Maria Sharapova
Jelena Jankovic
Angelique Kerber
Caroline Wozniacki
Sabine Lisicki
Carla Suarez Navarro

Shenzhen ($500k International)
Na Li
Sara Errani
Vera Zvonareva

Auckland (International)
Roberta Vinci
Ana Ivanovic
Kirsten Flipkens
Venus Williams

Hopman Cup (Exhibition)
Agnieszka Radwanska
Petra Kvitova
Sloane Stephens
Samantha Stosur
Alize Cornet
Flavia Pennetta
Eugenie Bouchard
Anabel Medina Garrigues

Week 2:
Sydney (Premier)
Agnieszka Radwanska
Petra Kvitova
Sara Errani
Jelena Jankovic
Angelique Kerber
Caroline Wozniacki
Simona Halep
Sloane Stephens

Hobart (International)
Samantha Stosur
Venus Williams

Week 5:
Paris (Premier)
Maria Sharapova
Sara Errani
Angelique Kerber

:celeb:

I am going to expand this subject by adding how many points each player in the top 10 has to defend in January. I will make bold the lowest and the highest.

#1 Serena Williams has 970 points to defend, 470 in Brisbane and 500 in AO
#2 Vika Azarenka has 2200 points to defend, 200 in Brisbane and 2000 in AO
#3 Li Na has 1880 points to defend, 280 in Shenzhen, 200 in Sydney and 1400 in AO
#4 Maria Sharapova has 900 points to defend all from AO
#5 Aga Radwanska has 1250 to defend, 280 from Auckland 470 from Sydney and 500 from AO
#6 Petra Kvitova has 161 points to defend, 60 in Brisbane, 1 in Sydney and 100 in AO
#7 Sara Errani has 185 points to defend, 60 in, 120 in Sydney and 5 in AO
#8 Jelena Jankovic has 220 points to defend, 60 in Sydney and 160 in AO
#9 Angie Kerber has 600 points to defend, 120 in Brisbane, 200 in Sydney and 280 in AO
#10 Caro Wozniacki has 341 points to defend, 1 in Brisbane, 60 in Sydney and 280 in AO

I did not include Paris as that event actually ended in February.
I hope someone makes a tally of February points to defend and post them here.
Ozza?
This is your thread after-all

 

[ozza]

In February:
Serena Williams: 620 in Doha. (620)
Victoria Azarenka: 900 in Doha. (900)
Na Li: Zero. (0)
Maria Sharapova: 395 in Doha. (395)
Agnieszka Radwanska: 395 in Doha, 120 in Dubai. (395)
Petra Kvitova: 120 in Paris, 225 in Doha, 470 in Dubai. (695)
Sara Errani: 320 in Paris, 225 in Doha, 320 in Dubai, 280 in Acapulco. (1145)
Jelena Jankovic: 1 in Doha, 280 in Bogota. (280)
Angelique Kerber: 1 in Doha, 1 in Dubai. (0)
Caroline Wozniacki: 225 in Doha, 200 in Dubai, 1 in Kuala Lumpur. (425)

Italics are points that don't actually count towards their current rankings. Brackets is total points they are defending that does count towards their ranking as of right now.

 

[britbox]

Good info Kiu and Ozza. Looks like the pressure will be on Vika to maintain ranking in the opening months. I guess a lot depends on Masha's comeback on who ranks #2 coming out of it.

 

[Correspondent Kiu]

Petra has a lot of points to gain, she is defending very little, same situation applies to JJ, she defends 500 points in a span of 2 months.

Among the top 5 everyone is defending 1000+ points for January and February. I guess that's why they are top 5

 

[ozza]

Good info Kiu and Ozza. Looks like the pressure will be on Vika to maintain ranking in the opening months. I guess a lot depends on Masha's comeback on who ranks #2 coming out of it.

Kind of, but not really.

Eg. I done rankings from French Open onwards recently and Vika is still #2.

At the very beginning of the season maybe, but Li also defends a ton of points at start of the season. Sharapova isn't playing in the middle-east next year, so has a lot of points to defend. From Indian Wells onwards, Sharapova made final or better at every tournament until the French Open. Radwanska defends quite a large number of points too. Those are the three directly below her.

After the initial burst Vika doesn't actually defend a lot. She got injured in Indian Wells, didn't play Miami.

 

[Si Si Simona]

Apologies but I could not help myself of adding Halep the ranked no.11 to this thread
5 (five) points to defend until second half of March 14 (Indian Wells) !
Only 185 points from Caroline ranked in 10.

 

[ozza]

Venus Williams has entered Auckland and Hobart.

 

[Correspondent Kiu]

.....
On Sharapova specifically she is confirmed skipping the middle-east swing. So I believe after Paris she won't play again until Indian Wells.

Right again, almost a week before the official news came out!
http://www.wtatennis.com/news/article/3535624/title/sharapova-to-join-nbc-olympics-in-sochi

No wonder she is not playing in February...

Sharapova will join NBC , which stands for National Broadcasting Company(one of the three major Television Broadcasting Networks in USA), as an correspondent!

I believe this is a first for her.

 

[MargaretMcAleer]

Just read on TW.Com that Sloane Stephens has hired Paul Annacone on a trial basis
The two will work together until Sloane leaves in late December to compete at the Hopman Cup.
According to other reports that I had heard recently Sloane was to hire Michael Joyce.

 

[ozza]

The full lists are out for week 1. I've only edited the top 20 into the first post to save space though.

 

[JesuslookslikeBorg]

laura robson has got a new coach and trainer..so its been claimed,

I cannot recall who, but its defo not jimmy Connors.

 

[MargaretMcAleer]

According to what I read at TW.Com
Laura has hired American Jesse Witten as her traveling coach and hitting partner and has also employed Nick Saviano as a coaching consultant.
Laura tried to hire Mark Woodforde,but the two could not come to terms financially,as he apparently asked for too much money.

 

[Rex]

Re Auckland, at this point a very nice entry list:

14 Roberta Vinci (Italy)
16 Ana Ivanovic (Serbia)
20 Kirsten Flipkins (Belgium)
22 Sorana Cirstea (Romania)
25 Elena Vesnina (Russia)
28 Jamie Hampton (USA)
29 Lucie Safarova (Czech Republic)
34 Mona Barthel (Germany)
41 Karin Knapp (Italy)
45 Laura Robson (Great Britain)
47 Marina Erakovic (New Zealand)
48 Venus Williams (USA)
50 Yvonne Meusburger (Austria)
51 Yanina Wickmayer (Belgium)
55 Monica Puig (Puerto Rico)
57 Alison M Riske (USA)
60 Ayumi Morita (Japan)
62 Alexandra Cadantu (Romania)
63 Paula Ormaechea (Argentina)
64 Garbine Muguruza (Spain)
67 Karolina Pliskova (Czech Republic)
67 SR Iveta Benesova (Czech Republic)
68 Christina M McHale (USA)
71 Lourdes Dominguez Lino (Spain)

Of interest for me are my girls....Venus, Mona, Garbine Muguruza, Monica Puig, Wicks', Lucie S., and Jamie Hampton.

 

[Correspondent Kiu]

Re Auckland, at this point a very nice entry list:

14 Roberta Vinci (Italy)
16 Ana Ivanovic (Serbia)
20 Kirsten Flipkins (Belgium)
22 Sorana Cirstea (Romania)
25 Elena Vesnina (Russia)
28 Jamie Hampton (USA)
29 Lucie Safarova (Czech Republic)
34 Mona Barthel (Germany)
41 Karin Knapp (Italy)
45 Laura Robson (Great Britain)
47 Marina Erakovic (New Zealand)
48 Venus Williams (USA)
50 Yvonne Meusburger (Austria)
51 Yanina Wickmayer (Belgium)
55 Monica Puig (Puerto Rico)
57 Alison M Riske (USA)
60 Ayumi Morita (Japan)
62 Alexandra Cadantu (Romania)
63 Paula Ormaechea (Argentina)
64 Garbine Muguruza (Spain)
67 Karolina Pliskova (Czech Republic)
67 SR Iveta Benesova (Czech Republic)
68 Christina M McHale (USA)
71 Lourdes Dominguez Lino (Spain)

Of interest for me are my girls....Venus, Mona, Garbine Muguruza, Monica Puig, Wicks', Lucie S., and Jamie Hampton.

Mine would be Ana, Sorana, Elena, Venus and Karolina.:heart:

But then there is Mona, Jamie, Christina and Yanina.

Very nice line-up indeed.

 

[Correspondent Kiu]

Apologies but I could not help myself of adding Halep the ranked no.11 to this thread
5 (five) points to defend until second half of March 14 (Indian Wells) !
Only 185 points from Caroline ranked in 10.

Well done!

I will add Sabine Lisicki, one of the most dangerous players in the game, she can beat any top player in Wimby!

Sabine defends 465 points all the way to Miami, she defends 5 points there!

Watch out!

 

[Front242]

Here's hoping Vera Zvonareva comes back strong. She's been missing a long time and was ranked number 2 in the past.

 

[sk310]

Really bad decision on Sloane's part to play Hopman and then Sydney. Im guessing she let the paycheck for Hopman lure here there. I still think anyone who is even a long shot contender should not be playing the week before a slam. I wish they would schedule Sydney a week earlier as it always suffers for this very reason.

I think Vika just really couldn't find her motivation to finish the season. Im guessing she will have a nice reset now that she will be back in Australia, she always has good motivation there.

Serena, I don't really feel there is anything to say. She's worked out very well what her body can handle schedule wise. As her age continues to progress her main goal is to keep herself healthy and she can continue to win or contend ANYWHERE.

Maria is a curious case. I don't think she comes back from layoffs well. I don't expect stellar results in Australia.

Petra has a nice opportunity but we all know she doesn't often make a lot of nice opportunities.

Li Na I expect to do well. Even before her big breakthrough at the French Open she has always done well in Australia.

I hope for one more late career push from Vera. I've got a soft spot for that nut job.

 

[ozza]

Updated Sydney and Hobart. The entry deadline has now passed for these events.

 

[rugged]

I will believe it when I see Maria playing in Brisbane

I agree. She won't play. She will avoid Vika and Serena for as long as she can.

 

[MargaretMcAleer]

Daniela Hantuchova has hired Ricardo Sanchez as her new coach.