Not less than 6 women’s tennis players were in contention for the top spot in the rankings at the start of the US Open. 2 of them have fallen on the way, 4 still remain in the hunt by reaching the semi-finals. I don’t know what to call this - solid competition between the ladies, or simply the lack of consistency in any of them!!
I’ve been a keen follower of tennis since the days of Michael Chang, Pistol Pete, Jim Courier, Stefan Edberg n all…Those were days when you expected the top 4 seeds to reach the semi-finals of every grand slam and make worth every penny their supporters paid to watch them. These were the masters of the game and other players seemed mere spectators playing against them. Men’s tennis is still ruled by such masters as Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic and it’s nice to see one of them picking up the crown at the grand slams.
But what I’m talking about here is not men’s, but women’s tennis. They had their share of champions too. Martina Navratilova, Steffi Graf, Monica Seles and later Martina Hingis, the Williams sisters and Justin Henin have all shown to the world how dominating they can be. But the story seems to be going in some other unknown direction now, at least to me. The WTA rankings have been more or less made a mockery of by the players from Russia and other former soviet nations. This new breed includes players such as Jelena Jankovic, Elena Dementieva, Swetlana Kuznetsova, Ana Ivanovic, Dinara Safina (she seems like the only genuine contender to me), Maria Sharapova, Anastasia Myskina, Daniela Hantuchova and so on and so forth. Try going through the WTA rankings and chances are there would be at least 30 players in top 50 whose name ends with an “ova” or an “ic”. As of date there are only 2 Americans (who else but the Williams’), 2 Serbs (No.1 & 2, the ‘ic’s, Ana and Jelena) and an astonishing 6 Russians in the top 10.
I would like to give full credit to the Russians (and Serbs and Slovaks and Czechs) for creating this super-powerful (Universal Soldiers??) breed of players who have taken the tennis world by storm. No wrong in that. But my point is, what about people like me who want to see class tennis, players who like to serve and volley, who have more style and grace than power, who out-think and out-serve their opponent rather than grinding them with their muscle. It’s almost like watching 2 Energizer bunnies playing from the baseline picking up every shot till they drop dead. No elegance, no grace, no style, just power-packed forehands and two handed backhands from the baseline. And when was the last time the top seeded women reached the semis? Or a lady winning back to back grand slams? Top 3 seeds in the men's draw have made it to the semis on the other hand. The least I demand is a little consistency. Instead what we get to see is the top seed not even making to the quarters in most of the slams. They win one slam and then drop out in the 2nd round in the next. Case in point, Ana Ivanovic (No.1 seed, haha) and Swetlana Kuznetsova (No.4 seed, former champ), both falling at the US Open before someone even noticed. And here’s more…the no.2 seed, Jelena Jankovic hasn’t gone past the semis in a grand slam ever, and Elena Dementieva hasn’t been ranked higher than no.4 in her career and still has shot at the top spot…WOW!!! What a grand mess women’s tennis has become.
The only saving grace has been the Williams sisters yet again battling it out in a slam and giving top notch performances. Yah yah, I know most of you loath them for whatever reasons, but the fact remains that they have managed to stay at the top of the game for almost a decade now when compatriots like Martina Hingis, Justine Henin, Lindsay Davenport and Kim Clijsters have already retired. These Williams girls play only a handful of big tournaments and they win!! I beg you Justin Henin, Kim Clijsters, Martina Hingis…please come out of retirement for our sake and show these Russian chics how tennis was meant to be played and the art of winning Grand Slams!!!
