Who wants to hand out grades for the top 10 players?
Azarenka - A- (Still needs to work on clay, but an impressive season)
Sharapova - B+ (going 3-6 in finals knocks her down a little)
Serena - A (when she did feel like playing)
Radwanska - B (started great, had a not-so-great fall campaign)
Kerber - A- (could have done better at majors and YEC, but was solid all year)
Errani - B+ (great slam results, but just so-so at PM/P5 events)
Li - B- (winning Cincy was the only high point for her.. Error Na comes out too often)
Kvitova - C+ (her results at slams was a bit on the underachieving side, but she improved her AO/French/summer hard court results. She isn't ready for heavy scrutiny.)
Stosur - C- (from USO champ to going 2012 without a title. Like Kvitiova she doesn't like all the attention and pressure.)
Wozniacki - C (fell off the map which was expected. Tried new things in her game and finished somewhat strong. Daddy reclaiming control again.....)
Reasonable grades--but Kerber probably deserves a
B grade, as she had so much (false) expectation for the majors placed on her, and I feel she was buying into it to a degree, but when it was time to go "all out," she failed in a manner not in line with what the expectation would suggest.
Regarding Kvitova and Stosur disliking attention and exposure...tough crap, ladies. They picked the wrong profession if they believe the isolationist/hermit/weirdo act is going to give them a psychological profile to stand on the big stage--to
want to stand on that stage.
Perhaps it explains how both entered 2012 as defending champions of majors, yet they were uttlerly incapable of defending said titles (both the recipent of hype as the "answer" in Stosur's case or in Kvitova's, the "future of tennis/next big thing"). Graf was a private person, but she was no shrinking violet to the point of behaving like she cannot deal with the fact live bodies were in the stands, so when it was time to mow through the competition....the rest is history.
Kvitova has this problem to a great degree, so even if she manages to win another major or two, it is fair to doubt her chances to really leave a mark for herself in the annals of the sport.
Stosur's USO title seems more and more like a once-in-lifetime fluke, considering how she's played since. From my POV, she's somewhere between a C- and D+.
Then, there's Serena. While the A grade is fine, after an abysmal French Open (and the usual suspects questioning her ability, age, etc.), to come back, wipe the floor with the top players (including the defending champion) to win yet another Wimbledon, make history at the Olympics, beat the best of the new guard in a stunning display of inner strength/strategy in the U.S. Open final, and to top it off, win the WTA championship, I think she deserves A+ for the year.
