davey25
Banned
How would you rank the current 2 slam winners for women plus Capriati. I feel it is insulting to the other 3 slam winners to even include Capriati amongst them, and also unfair to Capriati herself as her hopes of being competitive with the other 3 slammers are about on par with when she stepped on court with a prime Graf, so I instead have dropped her into this category. Here is how I would rank them:
1. Kim Clijsters- I hope she is out of this category sometime soon but it is difficult to when or even if that will happen. I am so glad she is now in this category rather in the one with the Sabatini and Novotnas of the World. She has won alot of singles, I believe 36. She has won the WTA Championships, the biggest non slam event, twice. She has been in 4 other slam finals. She also was probably the best player in the World in 2005, and though she narrowly missed the computer year end #1 to Davenport she swept the Player of the Year awards.
2. Amelie Mauresmo- I debated between her and Pierce but decided to go with Mauresmo. It just seems to me she was more consistent than Pierce and despite the feeling of many Pierce was more dangerous and had a higher top level of play, it actually seems to me Mauresmo had more real chances to win slams missed than did Pierce as I try and recollect the careers of both. Mauresmo was for all practical purposes the player of 2006 with 2 slams, even though she was not acknowledged as such by the computer (I could see an argument for Henin too, but no way did should Maria although she also had an excellent year have been ranked higher at years end). She won a WTA Championship title and won a total of 25 WTA career titles many of those tier 1s or tier 2s.
3. Mary Pierce- I am wondering if I made a mistake in ranking her behind Mauresmo. Still her up and down career and play bothered me somewhat when accessing her career. Still she made 6 slam finals total, which is double what Mauresmo or Capriati reached. I cant think of a year she was ever even arguably the best player in the World. Her official career high ranking was #3. She won a total of 18 WTA titles, runner up in the WTA Championships twice but never winning it. She has beaten every key somewhat contemporary opponent multiple times in her career, but I believe that is true of everyone on this list minus Capriati.
4. Jennifer Capriati- I felt since I dropped her into this list I shouldnt further punish her by ranking her last so I threw her a bit of a bone and ranked her over Kuznetsova (which she might deserve anyway). She did officialy win 3 slams by some miracle. She also did win an Olympic singles Gold for those Olympic lovers (personally I see the Olympics as below the WTA or ATP World Championships and just above a single tier 1 at best, and the ATP and WTA computer instead see it below a tier 1 or Masters but anyway). She won only 14 WTA singles titles, the fewest of anyone on this list. She did not reach a final of either Wimbledon or the U.S Open, the Worlds 2 most prestigious tournaments. She also failed to ever reach a final at the WTA Championships. Of her main competitors she did not beat all of them multiple times beating Graf only once in 11 attempts and failing to beat Venus even once in 4 attempts. She did officialy briefly hold #1 but was never truly the best player in the World, as in 2001 Venus the Wimbledon, U.S Open, and Miami Champion with her 3-0 2001 record vs Capriati was the rightful holder of that title in the eyes of most.
5. Svetlana Kuznetsova- many actually consider her an underachiever. Given her considerable talent and athletic ability, and the number of chokes she has had in big matches I somewhat agree. That is why it is remarkable and also quite lucky she somehow still has won 2 slams. Despite all the opportunities for huge wins and possible runs at a slam title she has blown: 2005 French Open round of 16 match point vs eventual winner Henin, 2004 French Open round of 16 match point vs eventual winner Myskina, 2009 quarters huge choke vs eventual winner Serena, and probably some others, she still has had some opportunities fall into her lap under unexpected circumstance that she has still somehow managed to pull off 2 slam titles and 4 slam finals despite those blown chances. The 2 slams she did win were not as impressive as some of these others she missed out on might have been. At the 2004 U.S Open she did not face her scheduled round of 16 and quarterfinal opponents Sharapova and Henin, instead facing weaker opponents (an out of shape/out of prime Pierce and Petrova) who upset them in the previous round. She allowed herself to be destroyed by Davenport in the 1st set of their semifinal, and came back to barely win the match only via a reaggravation of a serious leg injury to Davenport which had her barely moving the final 2 sets. This was always Davenport's U.S Open title otherwise. Then in the final she faced a fatigued and injured Dementieva who simply no longer had enough in the tank after third set tiebreak marathons with both Mauresmo and Capriati, already entering the U.S Open with a leg injury that had a bigger wrap it seemed each of her final 3 matches. Her 2009 French Open was simply prevailing amongst a really weak clay court field with Henin and Clijsters not on tour, Jankovic and Ivanovic not in form or contending at all, and Dementieva and Serena no longer formidable players on clay. She didnt really get lucky here, it simply wasnt alot of competition to win the French last year. In some respects her career is still better than Capriati, but Capriati did "officially" win 3 slams, and Capriati atleast beat a much more impressive string of players to win her least lucky slam at the 2001 Australian Open so I went with Capriati over her for now.
1. Kim Clijsters- I hope she is out of this category sometime soon but it is difficult to when or even if that will happen. I am so glad she is now in this category rather in the one with the Sabatini and Novotnas of the World. She has won alot of singles, I believe 36. She has won the WTA Championships, the biggest non slam event, twice. She has been in 4 other slam finals. She also was probably the best player in the World in 2005, and though she narrowly missed the computer year end #1 to Davenport she swept the Player of the Year awards.
2. Amelie Mauresmo- I debated between her and Pierce but decided to go with Mauresmo. It just seems to me she was more consistent than Pierce and despite the feeling of many Pierce was more dangerous and had a higher top level of play, it actually seems to me Mauresmo had more real chances to win slams missed than did Pierce as I try and recollect the careers of both. Mauresmo was for all practical purposes the player of 2006 with 2 slams, even though she was not acknowledged as such by the computer (I could see an argument for Henin too, but no way did should Maria although she also had an excellent year have been ranked higher at years end). She won a WTA Championship title and won a total of 25 WTA career titles many of those tier 1s or tier 2s.
3. Mary Pierce- I am wondering if I made a mistake in ranking her behind Mauresmo. Still her up and down career and play bothered me somewhat when accessing her career. Still she made 6 slam finals total, which is double what Mauresmo or Capriati reached. I cant think of a year she was ever even arguably the best player in the World. Her official career high ranking was #3. She won a total of 18 WTA titles, runner up in the WTA Championships twice but never winning it. She has beaten every key somewhat contemporary opponent multiple times in her career, but I believe that is true of everyone on this list minus Capriati.
4. Jennifer Capriati- I felt since I dropped her into this list I shouldnt further punish her by ranking her last so I threw her a bit of a bone and ranked her over Kuznetsova (which she might deserve anyway). She did officialy win 3 slams by some miracle. She also did win an Olympic singles Gold for those Olympic lovers (personally I see the Olympics as below the WTA or ATP World Championships and just above a single tier 1 at best, and the ATP and WTA computer instead see it below a tier 1 or Masters but anyway). She won only 14 WTA singles titles, the fewest of anyone on this list. She did not reach a final of either Wimbledon or the U.S Open, the Worlds 2 most prestigious tournaments. She also failed to ever reach a final at the WTA Championships. Of her main competitors she did not beat all of them multiple times beating Graf only once in 11 attempts and failing to beat Venus even once in 4 attempts. She did officialy briefly hold #1 but was never truly the best player in the World, as in 2001 Venus the Wimbledon, U.S Open, and Miami Champion with her 3-0 2001 record vs Capriati was the rightful holder of that title in the eyes of most.
5. Svetlana Kuznetsova- many actually consider her an underachiever. Given her considerable talent and athletic ability, and the number of chokes she has had in big matches I somewhat agree. That is why it is remarkable and also quite lucky she somehow still has won 2 slams. Despite all the opportunities for huge wins and possible runs at a slam title she has blown: 2005 French Open round of 16 match point vs eventual winner Henin, 2004 French Open round of 16 match point vs eventual winner Myskina, 2009 quarters huge choke vs eventual winner Serena, and probably some others, she still has had some opportunities fall into her lap under unexpected circumstance that she has still somehow managed to pull off 2 slam titles and 4 slam finals despite those blown chances. The 2 slams she did win were not as impressive as some of these others she missed out on might have been. At the 2004 U.S Open she did not face her scheduled round of 16 and quarterfinal opponents Sharapova and Henin, instead facing weaker opponents (an out of shape/out of prime Pierce and Petrova) who upset them in the previous round. She allowed herself to be destroyed by Davenport in the 1st set of their semifinal, and came back to barely win the match only via a reaggravation of a serious leg injury to Davenport which had her barely moving the final 2 sets. This was always Davenport's U.S Open title otherwise. Then in the final she faced a fatigued and injured Dementieva who simply no longer had enough in the tank after third set tiebreak marathons with both Mauresmo and Capriati, already entering the U.S Open with a leg injury that had a bigger wrap it seemed each of her final 3 matches. Her 2009 French Open was simply prevailing amongst a really weak clay court field with Henin and Clijsters not on tour, Jankovic and Ivanovic not in form or contending at all, and Dementieva and Serena no longer formidable players on clay. She didnt really get lucky here, it simply wasnt alot of competition to win the French last year. In some respects her career is still better than Capriati, but Capriati did "officially" win 3 slams, and Capriati atleast beat a much more impressive string of players to win her least lucky slam at the 2001 Australian Open so I went with Capriati over her for now.
