Thanks, Steffi (Graf caused the current WTA rankings disaster!)

Joe Pike

Joe Pike

Banned
Steffi dominated the 1995 and 1996 seasons because she won FO, Wimbledon and USO in those years. Due to her injuries she wasn't able to play more than 11 tournaments per season.

The WTA big-wigs were concernded. They wanted their top player to be more present in the minor tournaments. So they abolished the average points ranking system and invented the current one to punish players who concentrate only on the slams.

The rest is history.
Thanks, Steffi, for providing us with #1's as Jankovic, Ivanovic, Safina, and Wozniacki!
 
Joe Pike said:
Steffi dominated the 1995 and 1996 seasons because she won FO, Wimbledon and USO in those years. Due to her injuries she wasn't able to play more than 11 tournaments per season.

The WTA big-wigs were concernded. They wanted their top player to be more present in the minor tournaments. So they abolished the average points ranking system and invented the current one to punish players who concentrate only on the slams.

The rest is history.
Thanks, Steffi, for providing us with #1's as Jankovic, Ivanovic, Safina, and Wozniacki!
Click to expand...
Thanks Steffi, or Shame on you, Steffi?
 
Graf is by far the best women tennis player of all time. Such an incredible talent and athlete. A shame her injuries get her from breaking every existing record except for Courts comical Australian Opens record.
 
Joe Pike said:
Steffi dominated the 1995 and 1996 seasons because she won FO, Wimbledon and USO in those years. Due to her injuries she wasn't able to play more than 11 tournaments per season.

The WTA big-wigs were concernded. They wanted their top player to be more present in the minor tournaments. So they abolished the average points ranking system and invented the current one to punish players who concentrate only on the slams.

The rest is history.
Thanks, Steffi, for providing us with #1's as Jankovic, Ivanovic, Safina, and Wozniacki!
Click to expand...

Well, Steffi is not to blame (and I know you are not seriously doing that), but the paranoid WTA, and as you point out, we the fans were "rewarded" with low-to-no talent #1-ranked Safina, Jankovic and now Wozniacki.
 
Joe Pike said:
Steffi dominated the 1995 and 1996 seasons because she won FO, Wimbledon and USO in those years. Due to her injuries she wasn't able to play more than 11 tournaments per season.

The WTA big-wigs were concernded. They wanted their top player to be more present in the minor tournaments. So they abolished the average points ranking system and invented the current one to punish players who concentrate only on the slams.

The rest is history.
Thanks, Steffi, for providing us with #1's as Jankovic, Ivanovic, Safina, and Wozniacki!
Click to expand...

Let's not make it seem like Steffi Graf was yesterday's version of Serena. In addition to the majors, by 1996, Steffi played at least 7 or 8 tour events. By played, I mean Steffi usually got to the semis or won the event. Steffi took tour events as seriously as majors.

As to the changes in the ranking system and all its subsequent iterations, not sure what the WTA was thinking. Why did they want the top players to play more?

Whatever the case, one theory back then was that the WTA hoped through this change to help Monica, whom they thought would end up playing more. The immediate beneficiary of this change, however, was Martina Hingis, who had been playing many more tour events than Steffi or Monica. In 1997, Martina took over the number one ranking after winning the AO. At the time, Steffi was still the reigning champion at 3 out of the 4 majors.

In all fairness to Martina, she did acquit herself well. In Steffi's absence, she would go on to win 3 out of the 4 majors herself. Equally important, she played about 13 tour events, winning 9 of them.

Had the top player(s) followed the example of either Steffi in 1996 or Martina in 1997, the ranking system would never have become such a big issue. The ranking system (today's or yesterday's) just presumes that the top player is going to be as committed and as successful at tour events as she is at the majors. When that doesn't happen, when, as is the case today, you have a top player who for a number of reasons doesn't play or doesn't play well at regular tour events, then the ranking system isn't going to work. That begs the question, Is the ranking system the problem or is it the top player?
 
LDVTennis said:
Let's not make it seem like Steffi Graf was yesterday's version of Serena. In addition to the majors, by 1996, Steffi played at least 7 or 8 tour events. By played, I mean Steffi usually got to the semis or won the event. Steffi took tour events as seriously as majors.

As to the changes in the ranking system and all its subsequent iterations, not sure what the WTA was thinking. Why did they want the top players to play more?

Whatever the case, one theory back then was that the WTA hoped through this change to help Monica, whom they thought would end up playing more. The immediate beneficiary of this change, however, was Martina Hingis, who had been playing many more tour events than Steffi or Monica. In 1997, Martina took over the number one ranking after winning the AO. At the time, Steffi was still the reigning champion at 3 out of the 4 majors.

In all fairness to Martina, she did acquit herself well. In Steffi's absence, she would go on to win 3 out of the 4 majors herself. Equally important, she played about 13 tour events, winning 9 of them.

Had the top player(s) followed the example of either Steffi in 1996 or Martina in 1997, the ranking system would never have become such a big issue. The ranking system (today's or yesterday's) just presumes that the top player is going to be as committed and as successful at tour events as she is at the majors. When that doesn't happen, when, as is the case today, you have a top player who for a number of reasons doesn't play or doesn't play well at regular tour events, then the ranking system isn't going to work. That begs the question, Is the ranking system the problem or is it the top player?
Click to expand...


Yes, Serena has only won 7 (!) non-slam tournaments in the last 7 years.
She and her fans indeed have no reason to complain.

It is really beyond me how some morons can suggest she might be the GOAT.
 
Joe Pike said:
Thanks, Steffi, for providing us with #1's as Jankovic, Ivanovic, Safina, and Wozniacki!
Click to expand...
What is Ivanovic doing in that lineup, Joe ****e?

Oh never mind! You were probably still in diapers when she won a major in order to reach the N°1 spot :rolleyes:
 
jerriy said:
What is Ivanovic doing in that lineup, Joe ****e?

Oh never mind! You were probably still in diapers when she won a major in order to reach the N°1 spot :rolleyes:
Click to expand...

She reached the top of the rankings after her semifinal win. Had she lost in the final she still would have been number one. Either way at least Ivanovic won a slam.
 
Ummm... no.

Ana Ivanovic is in the books as number one from June 8, 2008 and that was the day she won the final.

So although you may be right that she knew she would be number one before the final was played the points weren't added in the books yet!

And that is the only thing that counts: the actual points (not the virtual cuz otherwise you might as well start awarding WTA points not just during tournaments but during matches within a tournament, or even during sets within matches, or even during games! Thank God the only thing that counts is WHEN the actual points are added and that was after June 8 and not a day or even a second before that. And on that fateful day some pretty face was already holding something pretty in her hands

1212937145315_ap_ivanovic.jpg
 
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All I'm saying is that she didn't need to win Roland Garros that year to reach the top stop. Good thing she did though. People give Ana a lot flack but of all the crappy number one's we've seen I felt she deserved her ranking since she did end up winning a Grand Slam. Too bad she didn't know what to do with it afterward. :-?
 
At least Safina had 3 slam finals from 08 RG to 09 RG, unlike any of the other slamless number 1's.
 
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