Wuornos
Professional
The Marsh Rating system is a historical rating system used to make comparisons between the peak playing strength of singles tennis players within the open era. It takes into account a player’s total achievement within their career adjusts this to derive a numerical measure of peak domination depending on how concentrated or spread the best results of the career were and finally looks at the player’s peers and their dominance and adjusts the rating to reflect the standard of opposition faced.
Justine Henin’s climb up the Marsh Ratings is both unusual and interesting. Unlike most great players where improvement seems both constant and rapid in their early years, Justine’s progress is defined by periods of sudden improvement and similar periods of consolidation. She has climbed the ratings gradually instead of exploding on the scene. This type of development profile is more consistent with a player who’s game has been carefully constructed and developed rather than a great natural talent. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying that one way is better or preferable to another, just different.
I won’t go into the various components of the Marsh Rating in relation to Justine but instead just consider how her overall rating progressed during her career.
Justine Henin first impacted on the women’s game in 2001 with a semi-final appearance in the French and a place in the Wimbledon Final. This was a solid start but is no better than has been achieved by numerous past players who subsequently faded away. She finished the year with a Marsh Rating of 420 although she did peak at 421 during the year. Statistically she had proven beyond reasonable doubt that she was a top 10 player at that time.
The following year in 2002 she showed no signs of improvement, but instead did just enough to maintain the standard she had achieved the previous year with a Wimbledon Semi-Final appearance. Her end of year rating was marginally lower than 2001 at 418 which was now enough for her to be ranked 9th in the world, but this was due to a reduced standard in the women’s game rather than any improvement on her part.
Then came 2003, which, following Justine’s year of consolidation in 2002, marked a leap forward to a whole new standard of play. Consistency was the order of the day as apart from winning both French and US she was a Semi Finalist at the Australian Open and Wimbledon. Her Marsh Rating rocketed to an end of year peak of 605. This was enough for her to be ranked third in the world on the Marsh Ratings behind Serena and Venus Williams respectively. Her performance was now sufficient for her to be ranked 19th best women’s singles player of the Open era.
2004 saw her win the Australian Open to hold three of the majors simultaneously and her rating peaked at 663 points pushing her up to 15th in the Open Era best of list. By the end of the year her rating had slumped down to 538 points but because of the decline of the Williams sisters this was sufficient for her to have attained the world number 2 place on the Marsh Ratings.
2005 saw her win another French title but overall her standard was not as good as she had previously achieved. When she held the three majors she was competing at a time when their were three women, including herself, playing in excess of a 600 rating point standard. In 2005 no one was playing at that level. Her rating fell slightly to an end of year 519 and she dropped back to 3rd in the world.
2006 and Justine is right back to the playing standard we saw in 2003 and the start of 2004. She competes in all four major Finals and again wins the French. Her end of year rating hits 664, almost identical to her previous peak, and she captures the Number 1 Slot in the World on the Marsh Ratings for the first time with a 104 point advantage over the number 2, Maria Sharapova.
2007 and the quality of her play continues to improve. She wins both the French and US and makes the Semi-Finals at Wimbledon. Her end of year rating is the highest it has ever been at 689 and thanks to a decline in Sharapova’s play she is now 132 points clear of the rest of the world. Her new peak makes her 13th best in the history of the open era.
Her rating development has been less steep than many comparable stars of the game. She has still not yet achieved the standard of a peak Serena or Venus, but she is dragging up the standard of the women’s game which at the moment is in a slump. How much further she can improve remains to be seen, but should she be successful in continuing the steady development we have seen so far in her career, she will eclipse all but the big 5 who exceeded 800 point on the Marsh Rating scale. Namely, Court, Evert, Graff, Navratilova and Seles.
Justine has thrown down the gauntlet to the rest of the game and it now remains to be seen if anyone has the ability to accept the challenge and exceed the 600 point barrier to provide some legitimate competition for Justine.
Allez Justine !
Justine Henin’s climb up the Marsh Ratings is both unusual and interesting. Unlike most great players where improvement seems both constant and rapid in their early years, Justine’s progress is defined by periods of sudden improvement and similar periods of consolidation. She has climbed the ratings gradually instead of exploding on the scene. This type of development profile is more consistent with a player who’s game has been carefully constructed and developed rather than a great natural talent. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying that one way is better or preferable to another, just different.
I won’t go into the various components of the Marsh Rating in relation to Justine but instead just consider how her overall rating progressed during her career.
Justine Henin first impacted on the women’s game in 2001 with a semi-final appearance in the French and a place in the Wimbledon Final. This was a solid start but is no better than has been achieved by numerous past players who subsequently faded away. She finished the year with a Marsh Rating of 420 although she did peak at 421 during the year. Statistically she had proven beyond reasonable doubt that she was a top 10 player at that time.
The following year in 2002 she showed no signs of improvement, but instead did just enough to maintain the standard she had achieved the previous year with a Wimbledon Semi-Final appearance. Her end of year rating was marginally lower than 2001 at 418 which was now enough for her to be ranked 9th in the world, but this was due to a reduced standard in the women’s game rather than any improvement on her part.
Then came 2003, which, following Justine’s year of consolidation in 2002, marked a leap forward to a whole new standard of play. Consistency was the order of the day as apart from winning both French and US she was a Semi Finalist at the Australian Open and Wimbledon. Her Marsh Rating rocketed to an end of year peak of 605. This was enough for her to be ranked third in the world on the Marsh Ratings behind Serena and Venus Williams respectively. Her performance was now sufficient for her to be ranked 19th best women’s singles player of the Open era.
2004 saw her win the Australian Open to hold three of the majors simultaneously and her rating peaked at 663 points pushing her up to 15th in the Open Era best of list. By the end of the year her rating had slumped down to 538 points but because of the decline of the Williams sisters this was sufficient for her to have attained the world number 2 place on the Marsh Ratings.
2005 saw her win another French title but overall her standard was not as good as she had previously achieved. When she held the three majors she was competing at a time when their were three women, including herself, playing in excess of a 600 rating point standard. In 2005 no one was playing at that level. Her rating fell slightly to an end of year 519 and she dropped back to 3rd in the world.
2006 and Justine is right back to the playing standard we saw in 2003 and the start of 2004. She competes in all four major Finals and again wins the French. Her end of year rating hits 664, almost identical to her previous peak, and she captures the Number 1 Slot in the World on the Marsh Ratings for the first time with a 104 point advantage over the number 2, Maria Sharapova.
2007 and the quality of her play continues to improve. She wins both the French and US and makes the Semi-Finals at Wimbledon. Her end of year rating is the highest it has ever been at 689 and thanks to a decline in Sharapova’s play she is now 132 points clear of the rest of the world. Her new peak makes her 13th best in the history of the open era.
Her rating development has been less steep than many comparable stars of the game. She has still not yet achieved the standard of a peak Serena or Venus, but she is dragging up the standard of the women’s game which at the moment is in a slump. How much further she can improve remains to be seen, but should she be successful in continuing the steady development we have seen so far in her career, she will eclipse all but the big 5 who exceeded 800 point on the Marsh Rating scale. Namely, Court, Evert, Graff, Navratilova and Seles.
Justine has thrown down the gauntlet to the rest of the game and it now remains to be seen if anyone has the ability to accept the challenge and exceed the 600 point barrier to provide some legitimate competition for Justine.
Allez Justine !
