nounforcederrors
Hall of Fame
Deuce on Aryna's serve.
WTA week of 4/19; Stuttgart 500 & Istanbul 250
- Thread starter spystud
- Start date
Aussie Darcy
Bionic Poster
Sabalenka fighting hard to stay in it and she holds her serve.
Bsrty to serve for it.
Bsrty to serve for it.
Aussie Darcy
Bionic Poster
Ash Barty does it!
She wins her 3rd title of 2021.
She defeats #7 Sabalenka 3-6 6-0 6-3 to win the 2021 Stuttgart title.
She wins her 3rd title of 2021.
She defeats #7 Sabalenka 3-6 6-0 6-3 to win the 2021 Stuttgart title.
Aussie Darcy
Bionic Poster
Ash Barty showing all the haters why she is #1.
Her 3rd title of the year. Beats three top 10 players back to back to back to secure the title.
This was her first time back on clay since she beat Vondrousova in the French Open final and she wins the title.
Epic stuff.
Her 3rd title of the year. Beats three top 10 players back to back to back to secure the title.
This was her first time back on clay since she beat Vondrousova in the French Open final and she wins the title.
Epic stuff.
nounforcederrors
Hall of Fame
Congrats to Ash, her support group and her many fans. Hope she'll stay in good form for RG.
Aussie Darcy
Bionic Poster
For the longest time people called out Ash for her record and the fact she hung on to #1 for so long but she shows them how she did it. She's up to #1 in the 2021 race ranking and now has 3 titles this year. Holds a bunch of titles and proves to everyone why she is the best.
nounforcederrors
Hall of Fame
I have to admit I contemplated an Ash/Simona final in which Simona, in very good form, might edge Ash out. Glad it worked out otherwise. Love Ash.
Aussie Darcy
Bionic Poster
Oh and Barty is set to play the doubles final with Brady in about 45 minutes cause she’s that good.
Aussie Darcy
Bionic Poster
Seemed fine on my stream but if you want to make excuses than go for it,
romeo8880
G.O.A.T.
I bet on Barty after the first set so I’m glad she won but it is clear Sabalenka was injured
Aussie Darcy
Bionic Poster
Definitely thought that could've been the final. Halep losing to Sabalenka quite easily was shocking and poses an interesting French Open coming. Perhaps just a blip so we'll see.
Aussie Darcy
Bionic Poster
Barty is now 1,855 points ahead of Osaka with some more clay tournaments to come.
Osaka is defending QF points in both Rome and Madrid while Barty is defending QF points in Madrid and 3R points in Rome.
It is looking highly likely that regardless of what happens at this years RG, the #1 will stay as Ash.
Many will be upset at this understandably but also they weren't beating Ash at the titles that helped her keep the ranking..
Osaka is defending QF points in both Rome and Madrid while Barty is defending QF points in Madrid and 3R points in Rome.
It is looking highly likely that regardless of what happens at this years RG, the #1 will stay as Ash.
Many will be upset at this understandably but also they weren't beating Ash at the titles that helped her keep the ranking..
ScentOfDefeat
G.O.A.T.
At this rate, I can't see Osaka being number 1 for very long (if at all) in her career.
But then again, I can't see Barty winning many Slams in her career either.
So I guess things make sense at the moment.
We're still waiting on a player who can do both things: regular domination of the tour as a whole + the ability to accumulate Slams at a higher rate.
But then again, I can't see Barty winning many Slams in her career either.
So I guess things make sense at the moment.
We're still waiting on a player who can do both things: regular domination of the tour as a whole + the ability to accumulate Slams at a higher rate.
nounforcederrors
Hall of Fame
It's all a matter of preference, and maybe we will have another Steffi, Monica or Serena. But to me it's more fun to have several serious contenders at or near the top than to have one person dominating. I like relative underdogs to have some hope. Not that anyone in the top fifty could be considered a true underdog.
ScentOfDefeat
G.O.A.T.
I guess that's why I'm a big fan of tennis in the 90's.
Because despite there being dominant players in the game (Graf, Sampras), there was also a bit of space - especially in the men's game - for other ATGs to coexist and carve their own, extremely successful careers (Edberg, Becker, Seles, Sanchez-Vicario). You even had different levels of all-time great players coexisting, down to just great players who won one or two Slams in that period. It was certainly more interesting in terms of variety than what we came to experience under the big 3, who for a long time didn't even allow for any other player to reach the all-time great category.
I agree. Obviously COVID has had a major impact on the circuit, tournaments players' commitments (pre-COVID Osaka's scheduling for example was perfectly normal) etc. Plus sadly women's tennis will always be criticised and receive more criticism than men's tennis regardless of whether one player dominates, a couple or a few players dominate, or there is a lot of parity.
But overall and all things considered namely the huge challenges presented by COVID, I think women's tennis is a very good product these days (far better than men's tennis IMO). There were numerous enjoyable matches this past week at Stuttgart including the Barty-Svitolina SF yesterday, recently at a big tournament like Miami etc., several of the smaller tournaments without top 20 / top 30 players present including St Petersburg and Monterrey on the same week were very entertaining etc. And young players have broken through and won titles.
In the 80s, 90s and even early 00s, there was very little depth (if any) in women's tennis outside the top 10 and certainly outside the top 20. With the vastly superior depth in the WTA top 100 as a whole (that really cannot be emphasised enough) these days, it's far more difficult for a small group of players to keep going deep in tournament after tournament without being upset early on. I can safely say that the standard of early round matches in majors, tournaments like Miami, smaller tour events without the top players present etc. is astronomically better these days than in was it those previous eras.
Aussie Darcy
Bionic Poster
Points for Madrid in 2019 come off this week even though the tournament was held the week of May 6..
As a result, some movement in rankings:
Hsieh and Strycova lose their title points and as a result, Elise Mertens will become #1 in the doubles for the first time in her career.
Halep loses 650 points from her runner up so Osaka and Barty increase their lead over the pack.
Muguruza jumps 3 spots to #10 in singles meaning she returns ton the top 10 for the first time since August 2018.
Bertens drops 7 spots to #17 as she loses her Rome champion points.
Ons Jabeur hits a new career high of #24, likewise for Gauff at #34.
Sloane drops 16 spots to #67.
As a result, some movement in rankings:
Hsieh and Strycova lose their title points and as a result, Elise Mertens will become #1 in the doubles for the first time in her career.
Halep loses 650 points from her runner up so Osaka and Barty increase their lead over the pack.
Muguruza jumps 3 spots to #10 in singles meaning she returns ton the top 10 for the first time since August 2018.
Bertens drops 7 spots to #17 as she loses her Rome champion points.
Ons Jabeur hits a new career high of #24, likewise for Gauff at #34.
Sloane drops 16 spots to #67.
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