WTA week of 9/17; Guadalajara 1000 & Guangzhou 250

[coolcamden]

Yeah, we had two random strong results from American women in the past year, Pera and Parks, and neither of them backed it up. Neither of their wins was a 1000, so they got fewer points, but the strength of field can be considered comparable.


Ufff...

I'm in the same boat. Can never remember who is who, and have to click on their names in a draw to see their pictures. Same thing with a lot of the Spanish players (Sarebes-Tormo, Busca, Masaova in the WTA, Carballe Baena, Zapata Miralles, Ramos-Vinola, Munar in the ATP), a few of the Czechs (always confusing Fruhvirtova and the Noskova), plenty of Brits (I have no idea which one Dart, Burrage and Boulter are in the WTA, plus Broady, Draper, Peniston in ATP), and the Russians (Alexandrova, Samsonova and Kudermetova)...

Samsonova never seems to be able to tan. She’s always pale as a ghost. Kudermetova is the hot one in Armani.

 

[BenC]

Sarebes-Tormo

nominee for worst grunts ever

Fruhvirtova

there's two of them! good luck with that ...

Draper

big lefty

Peniston

lacks penetrating strokes, always beating around the bush

 

[Aussie Darcy]

Since nobody mentioned the doubles, the Guadalajara dubs final was competitive and entertaining. A lot of the improvisation and problem solving that makes doubles fun to watch between top doubles players.

Also a good final in Guangzhou. Jiang/Guo started slow then found the range on their groundstrokes, particularly on the forehand.

You kinda forgot to mention who won Guadalajara dubs.

Speaking of the doubles. Absolute insanity with the rankings at the moment.

Elise Mertens has gone back to #1 with the title in Guadalajara. She doesn't hold a single slam and has just one slam runner up this year. Her other slam results for the year were a QF, 3R and 1R loss at the USO. She holds just 3 titles currently (the WTA Finals last year with Kudermetova, and Rome and Guadalajara this year with Hunter). Yet she's #1.

#2 is her partner Hunter who holds just 2 titles as mentioned above.

#3 is Siniakova who does hold a slam (Aus Open) along with Indian Wells 1000 and San Diego 500.

#4 is the pairing of Pegula and Gauff who hold no slams, have no slam finals this year and only hold the Miami trophy along with Doha 500 and San Diego 500 from last year.

#5 is Krejcikova, mostly the partner of Siniakova, same results as mentioned.

And then at #6 is Hsieh. She has the French Open with Wang, she holds Wimbledon with Strycova and she made the US Open SF by going back to Wang. But no big other results and also a delayed start to the year which sits her at #6...

It's looking silly.

 

[robyrolfo]

Speaking of the doubles. Absolute insanity with the rankings at the moment.

Elise Mertens has gone back to #1 with the title in Guadalajara. She doesn't hold a single slam and has just one slam runner up this year. Her other slam results for the year were a QF, 3R and 1R loss at the USO. She holds just 3 titles currently (the WTA Finals last year with Kudermetova, and Rome and Guadalajara this year with Hunter). Yet she's #1.
...
#4 is the pairing of Pegula and Gauff who hold no slams, have no slam finals this year and only hold the Miami trophy along with Doha 500 and San Diego 500 from last year.
And then at #6 is Hsieh. She has the French Open with Wang, she holds Wimbledon with Strycova and she made the US Open SF by going back to Wang. But no big other results and also a delayed start to the year which sits her at #6...
It's looking silly.

I agree that it does look silly, but it's a sort of reflection on the recent state of the WTA in general. Gauff/Pegula are a good example. Highly ranked in doubles, despite winning next to nothing of note, because they are constantly going deep in tournaments before losing. Very similar to their high singles rankings prior to August (where they both got good results in singles). Similar to Mertens and Hunter in doubles.

Unlike the ATP, you no longer have one or two consistently dominant players in singles (the equivalent to Djokovic and Alcaraz, and any of the Big 3 before that), and throughout the top 50 or even 70 you have a very high percentage of inconsistent, hot/cold players that can play top 10 tennis one day, and outside the top 100 tennis the next. So the few that are consistent (Gauff, Pegula, Sakkari) stick around despite never looking dominant. In the ATP you generally have everyone playing at or near the level of their ranking on a consistent basis. Why that is the case is another question, but I personally believe it is the result of "power tennis" still being more effective in the WTA than it is in the ATP. You can be a big hitter on the ATP tour, but that alone will not guarantee you results. In the WTA, however, if you are a big hitter and on your game, you will almost always win/succeed. So it becomes a question of whether a player is having a good day or an off day.