kpatterman
Rookie
Well, unless something drastic changes over the course of the next couple of weeks, the season ending championship line-up is virtually official:
1 HENIN, JUSTINE*
2 JANKOVIC, JELENA*
3 KUZNETSOVA, SVETLANA*
4 IVANOVIC, ANA*
5 WILLIAMS, SERENA*
6 CHAKVETADZE, ANNA
7 WILLIAMS, VENUS USA
8 SHARAPOVA, MARIA RUS
*Officially Qualified
Obviously the pools have not been determined yet, but what are the general predictions? My thoughts...
Serious Contender(s): Justine Henin, Serena Williams, Venus Williams
Moderate Contender(s): Jelena Jankovic
Distant Contender(s): Svetlana Kuznetsova
Non-Contender(s): Ana Ivanovic, Anna Chekvetadze, Maria Sharapova
Allow me to justify my thought process: Justine, Serena, and Venus are simply always going to be favoured to win an event when they're playing their best. Although Serena is not currently "in-form", she will likely have enough time to rest so she'll be ready. Either that or she'll default from the tournament altogether. But I think she's more likely to play and succeed.
Jelena Jankovic is on the verge of a breakthrough, but may not be ready to open the door of opportunity just yet. However, it is possible that she may gain the confidence needed from this event to propel her grand slam career in a winning direction, much like it did in the past for Mauresmo.
Svetlana is considered a distant contender because she is simply too inconsistent for her game to hold up in a round robin format against such a deep field.
Finally: Ivanovic, Chekvetadze and Sharapova are all riding rocky Octobers. I'm really wondering, much like Serena, if Slumpapova will even show up for the year-ending event? In my mind, the only reason she will attend the event is to prevent the loss of ranking points that are rapidly escaping her. If she does play, she is vulnerable to having her confidence squashed by the opposition.
Thoughts?
1 HENIN, JUSTINE*
2 JANKOVIC, JELENA*
3 KUZNETSOVA, SVETLANA*
4 IVANOVIC, ANA*
5 WILLIAMS, SERENA*
6 CHAKVETADZE, ANNA
7 WILLIAMS, VENUS USA
8 SHARAPOVA, MARIA RUS
*Officially Qualified
Obviously the pools have not been determined yet, but what are the general predictions? My thoughts...
Serious Contender(s): Justine Henin, Serena Williams, Venus Williams
Moderate Contender(s): Jelena Jankovic
Distant Contender(s): Svetlana Kuznetsova
Non-Contender(s): Ana Ivanovic, Anna Chekvetadze, Maria Sharapova
Allow me to justify my thought process: Justine, Serena, and Venus are simply always going to be favoured to win an event when they're playing their best. Although Serena is not currently "in-form", she will likely have enough time to rest so she'll be ready. Either that or she'll default from the tournament altogether. But I think she's more likely to play and succeed.
Jelena Jankovic is on the verge of a breakthrough, but may not be ready to open the door of opportunity just yet. However, it is possible that she may gain the confidence needed from this event to propel her grand slam career in a winning direction, much like it did in the past for Mauresmo.
Svetlana is considered a distant contender because she is simply too inconsistent for her game to hold up in a round robin format against such a deep field.
Finally: Ivanovic, Chekvetadze and Sharapova are all riding rocky Octobers. I'm really wondering, much like Serena, if Slumpapova will even show up for the year-ending event? In my mind, the only reason she will attend the event is to prevent the loss of ranking points that are rapidly escaping her. If she does play, she is vulnerable to having her confidence squashed by the opposition.
Thoughts?