Race to Singapore

[sk310]

I think its a pretty good chance Caro will make it as Li Na isn't playing and Kerber is 400 pts behind.

 

[Sundaymorningguy]

Caro just has to keep ahead of Kerber which she did in Tokyo.

 

[Si Si Simona]

Caro just has to keep ahead of Kerber which she did in Tokyo.

I like both. For me its just another event. I dont follow the wow factor that Singapore has. I follow tennis all year, not just 2 weeks.
Ultimate world fights give me heart attack..

 

[Sundaymorningguy]

I like the YEC. It means a lot to most of the players to play it. Also with out it, I think you would see a genuine dip by the players in interest to continue the season after the US Open. If they were ever to get rid of it, I hope they would spread the calendar out a bit more and create more of a grass season. Like push the US Open back to early-mid October, so the other hard court tournaments could be pushed back a month, so we could add a month to create some more grass court tournaments play Wimbledon in early August. Just end the season with the US Open. I bet the players would like that, lol.

 

[Si Si Simona]

^ I dont mind, I just dont think that the hype is deserved. The China open is mandatory and is good enough too.
The idea of a "year summary" event is false imo. They play whole year, not just 2 weeks of a test.

 

[MargaretMcAleer]

I am in favour of the end of year championships,I don't think it is a over rated event at all.
To me it is a added bonus for all players to do well in all tournaments in the year and to qualify.For any player to be in the elite 8 at the end of the year is a testament to how well they have played all year,that also applies to the top 8 doubles players as well.

 

[GameSetAndMath]

YEC is an important event and deserves all the hype it gets. First of all, only 8 players
are invited and not anybody who wants to play in it can get in.

Second, all the matches in it are exciting as all are pitting one top player against
another top player (unlike in a GS where the top players play nobodies in the first
couple of rounds at least).

All the players actually work towards getting into this one. So, in a sense this
tourney gives added significance to other events.

To summarize, it is so obvious that the importance of YEC is not even debatable.

On the other hand, there is another shady event called "tournament of champions"
which typically invites those players who could not make it into YEC. Further they
base their decisions on who should be invited on random stuff including marketability
of the event. I think WTA would be better off getting rid of that bogus event.

Perhasps Si Si is confusing these two events.

 

[Si Si Simona]

^ not confusing at all. I just hate hype and too much show off, just like my player does. Must be a character thing.
The problem is that my player started to like show off hype. Success degrades the spirit and makes you vain

 

[lomaha]

Caro just has to keep ahead of Kerber which she did in Tokyo.

But Kerbers draw in Wuhan is much better than Caros..... Caro will face Ana Ivanovic and potential Sharapova in the early rounds and Kerber meets Cibulkova and Halep (who doesn't play well for the moment)....

I think it can be a close run....Like it was last year, where Kerber pulled a fast one on Caro....

 

[faradubii]

The problem is that my player started to like show off hype. Success degrades the spirit and makes you vain

WTF? I mean your player is Halep, right? If so please provide some semblance of proof as to her becoming the show off type and vain.

 

[Sundaymorningguy]

I think you are being much harder on Halep than is warranted. She has improved immensely from where she was last year. She made the final of a slam and had many opportunities to win it. She is progressing nicely. Her problem is with proper scheduling when you reach the top of the rankings, then you need to schedule accordingly to make it where your game is peaking at the right moments for the slams. She had terrible scheduling for her hard court season and paid the price at the US Open.

 

[Correspondent Kiu]

Aga Radwanska fell today in Wuhan, the first round exit does not favor her chances in Singapore.

Ana exited early too.

 

[sk310]

The problem is that my player started to like show off hype. Success degrades the spirit and makes you vain

WTF? I mean your player is Halep, right? If so please provide some semblance of proof as to her becoming the show off type and vain.

Faradubii I warn you its fruitless to get into this debate with this person. They are only angry that Simona has lost a few big matches and didn't do well at the USO so they now have turned from constantly praising her to constantly criticizing her in a bizarre manner. It's not based on fact it's based on weird emotion.

 

[sk310]

I think you are being much harder on Halep than is warranted. She has improved immensely from where she was last year. She made the final of a slam and had many opportunities to win it. She is progressing nicely. Her problem is with proper scheduling when you reach the top of the rankings, then you need to schedule accordingly to make it where your game is peaking at the right moments for the slams. She had terrible scheduling for her hard court season and paid the price at the US Open.

I agree with this. I used to feel this same way about Caroline when she was number 1. I would get so angry that she constantly played New Haven right before the US Open. I guess she had sentimental attachment to the event but I think a player needs to prioritize a slam the week before it begins if you're already at the top.

 

[Correspondent Kiu]

Here are the standings as of today, the first number in parenthesis is previous weeks standing:

[1] 1 WILLIAMS, SERENA UNITED STATES 6931
[2] 2 SHARAPOVA, MARIA RUSSIA 5575
[3] 3 HALEP, SIMONA ROMANIA 5189
[4] 4 RADWANSKA, AGNIESZKA POLAND 4377
[8] 5 IVANOVIC, ANA SERBIA 4060
[5] 6 KVITOVA, PETRA CZECH REPUBLIC 4049
[6] 7 LI, NA CHINA 3970
[7] 8 BOUCHARD, EUGENIE CANADA 3901
[9] 9 WOZNIACKI, CAROLINE DENMARK 3795
[10] 10 KERBER, ANGELIQUE GERMANY 3370
[12] 11 CIBULKOVA, DOMINIKA SLOVAKIA 2909

 

[Si Si Simona]

faradubii and Sundaymorningguy,
I respect and understand your opinions, but as someone who follows her since 2011 (since Doha 2011 versus Vika on Eurosport), I will stick to my opinion and hope she fixes herself asap.
You two have not followed all her matches in Nurnberg or in Belgium or in Budapest or in Moscow.. etc..etc..
I did that

 

[Correspondent Kiu]

Doubles field now half complete

 

[GameSetAndMath]

I think you are being much harder on Halep than is warranted. She has improved immensely from where she was last year. She made the final of a slam and had many opportunities to win it. She is progressing nicely. Her problem is with proper scheduling when you reach the top of the rankings, then you need to schedule accordingly to make it where your game is peaking at the right moments for the slams. She had terrible scheduling for her hard court season and paid the price at the US Open.

Yes, that is true. Her scheduling is a major problem. This is something that usually happens
when a player moves on to higher echelons in the food chain. They still think like before and
schedule which is detrimental to themselves.

The mistakes are as follows.

1. She played and won that Romanian event and she should have skipped that as it
is too small for her stature. Slightly pardonable as it is her home country.

2. She should definitely have skipped New Haven. You just don't play the week before
a slam when you are a top 10 player and in her case she was #2 player.

3. The standard course of preparation for a top 10 player in the hard court season
is to play Canada, Cincy and then take a week off and head to USO with
sufficient practice and zest.

 

[Sundaymorningguy]

faradubii and Sundaymorningguy,
I respect and understand your opinions, but as someone who follows her since 2011 (since Doha 2011 versus Vika on Eurosport), I will stick to my opinion and hope she fixes herself asap.
You two have not followed all her matches in Nurnberg or in Belgium or in Budapest or in Moscow.. etc..etc..
I did that

I'll give you a cookie for your dedication then!

 

[Si Si Simona]

faradubii and Sundaymorningguy,
I respect and understand your opinions, but as someone who follows her since 2011 (since Doha 2011 versus Vika on Eurosport), I will stick to my opinion and hope she fixes herself asap.
You two have not followed all her matches in Nurnberg or in Belgium or in Budapest or in Moscow.. etc..etc..
I did that

I'll give you a cookie for your dedication then!

Thanks*

*I just pretend that I dont know what you mean