Hey Boys!

Tomorrow night I am heading out to Villanova to see some matches and going there all day.... I will fill you all in on what I see and hear. The guy who strings my racquets is the offical stringer of the tournament and I got to meet and see alot of the players.... I will miss see Myskina and her hot coach.

TJNB, you'll have a great time there, and be sure to check out the campus at Villanova, it's great. And the eye candy can be nice too on the quad if the weather is nice.

Cool. Looking forward to the eye witness accounts. And the reports on the tennis will be nice, too. wink

Have fun!

being a 'nova grad, i have to concur with the quad. however....

west and south campus gyms are full of eyecandy too......=)

I'm so glad I decided to ebay my Advanta ticket package Once I found out Venus pulled out I was like oh boy..I bet she won't be the only one. Venus, Serena, Maria, and Lindsay were all slated to play and now Amelie and Dementieva are the headliners? Sorry...Amelie has never been a favorite of mine regardless of the fact that she's a 2 time defending champ and Dementieva is not that household player I'm that excited to be going to see. I will probably go Thursday or Friday for just some singles to hopefully catch one of my favorite up and comers, Vaidisova. If the weekend looks to be shaping up nice I may go check out the semis or final.

Oh yes...Villanova does have some nice eye candy. I often go jogging from about Lancaster Ave Bryn Mawr to the Villanova campus and back. Definitely lots of eye candy of many varieties floatin around there.

[ November 01, 2005, 09:51 PM: Message edited by: ltskinmdterp ]

Even though Davenport and Maria have pulled out, I will still be going. It is a great set up there in the "Pavilion".

Look for my post on Friday morning.

not many of the college students are around the tennis. In years past when Kournikova played, it was packed and tons of highschool/ college boys which was great... nice when the ratio of men is high... wink wink

Here's an article about Mauresmo and sexuality:

Tennis star Mauresmo knows the controversy caused by sexuality
By Rob Parent
Knight Ridder Newspapers

PHILADELPHIA — Amelie Mauresmo has never met Sheryl Swoopes, and may not be aware of how much they have in common.
Mauresmo is from France, Swoopes from Texas. But both are professional athletes, both have been Olympians, and both are hailed by fans and fan Web sites alike — including one called outsports.com.
Just last week, Swoopes, a three-time U.S. Olympian in women’s basketball and twice the WNBA’s most valuable player, announced to the world that she is a lesbian. The reaction was loud, the impact felt throughout sports.
“I don’t know too much about it,” Mauresmo said. “I don’t know the player.”
In 1999, at the tender age of 19 and with a professional tennis career blossoming, Mauresmo openly declared herself a lesbian. She didn’t see it as news, just another topic for a session with reporters.
“I did it in an innocent way,” Mauresmo said Tuesday at Villanova’s Pavilion, as she prepared to play for a third consecutive singles title in the Advanta Championships. “I did not really know what it was going to be.”
Mauresmo did not foresee the attention her admission would draw, and certainly did not anticipate being drawn into controversy when quotes attributed to Martina Hingis and Lindsay Davenport about Mauresmo were deemed critical and inflammatory.
Hingis denied having used the phrase “half a man” when talking about Mauresmo to a German reporter during the Australian Open in 1999. And Davenport said her quote about Mauresmo’s powerful shots had been taken out of context. She later apologized to Mauresmo and sent her a note of support.
But all that was six years ago, a career lifetime ago for Mauresmo, who in 2004 reached the No. 1 ranking in the world and won a silver medal in the Athens Olympics.
“I achieved so many things last year and reached so many of my goals,” she said. “It’s always tough to be as strong and consistent as you want to be.”
Now, Mauresmo, who opens Advanta play on Thursday night as the two-time defending champion and suddenly the top seed, doesn’t give her sexuality a second thought when it comes to interviews.
As the No. 3 seed, she was a favorite here this week even before the top two seeds, Davenport and Maria Sharapova, withdrew Tuesday. But when told about Swoopes and her “coming out” on Saturday, Mauresmo seemed to wonder what all the “news” was about.
Asked whether she thought that Swoopes’ announcement could spark a wave of coming-out news conferences by professional athletes and celebrities, Mauresmo said: “I don’t know if it’s going to happen more often, but I feel like if I did it now, it wouldn’t make as much noise as it did six years ago. Not in Europe, anyway. Maybe it’s not quite the same here.
“It’s secondary now for me. Everybody likes me for being a professional tennis player at the highest level. Giving them some joy ... sharing things with the crowd. I don’t think they care about that now.”
What the fans in Villanova care about is watching tennis players they know. There are precious few of them remaining in this tournament, especially those known for connecting with this crowd.
Two of them, Mauresmo and Wayne’s Lisa Raymond, who had a first-round match last night with her doubles partner, Samantha Stosur of Australia, could be headed for a meeting in the quarterfinals.
It would be a match made in marketing heaven for this tournament, which will not be on the WTA’s schedule in 2006 and has an uncertain future.
“It always makes the tournament very special when you win it once, and twice is very different,” Mauresmo said. “Maybe it’s a little bit more of confidence, because you’ve had memories on the court and at the site.
“I don’t feel (pressure) here. It’s another week that you might win it, but also might go out of the tournament earlier than you want. Each week you put yourself on the line again. You have to accept that. It’s not bigger pressure.”
Bigger pressure? She accepted that and faced it down long ago.
———
© 2005, The Philadelphia Inquirer.
__________________________________________________
Now, I personally am not and was never a fan of Amelie's. I just don't care for her playing style but I have always respected and admired her as a person. She always has nice things to say about her opponents and never makes excuses for her losses. I don't think she is credited enough for the class she shows on and off the court.

Eek, I hope we don't have a repeat of the flamethrowing from the Swoopes thread. Anyways, that was an interesting article. If I remember correctly, Amelie's outing wasn't really a big deal--it was mostly Hingis's foot-in-mouth comment that caused the controvesy. But I wondered what the response was in France at the time. The last time I was in Paris (summer 99) she was being touted as the next great athlete for the nation, and her sexuality wasn't a big deal. I guess things are different there. Also, Amelie has been out her whole career, whereas Swoopes late career-outing is a bit more surprising.

If Amelie was more agressive, I'd like her game so much more. It was painful to watch her during the US Open, standing way back behind the baseline and barely looping topspin shots back into the court. Maybe Gaga4Gaby could comment more on this, but it seems like there are many similarities between Sabatini's and Mauresmo's games--the use of heavy topspin, similar levels of athleticism and fitness, the ability to flatten shots and hit with pace. But at least Sabatini figured out that she needed to be more agressive in order to win slams. Mauresmo looked like she was on the verge during Wimbledon; hopefully she'll put all the pieces together before she retires.

One of the nice things about the tennis board is that it lacks the flame throwers that (at least for me) make so many other areas of the Outsports Board distasteful (I had to swear off the NBA board today for just that reason). Plus, we always have G4G to keep us in line!

I think everyone can agree that Mauresmo has handled herself with tremendous class. Someone noted earlier that Navratilova was disappointed with Momo's not taking as much as an activist role as she might, but (if that's true) I think it's really unfair of Martina. On the other hand, Momo really does need to emulate Martina in one way -- by teaming up with a Nancy Lieberman type to instill a killer instinct. I keep hoping it's not too late.

I just adore Amelie, both on and off the court. I like her style as a person and love her style of play. Well, most of the time ... the super defensive odes to Conchita Martinez of late I could do without, but in general, she's got the talent to add aggression to the mix and I love to see variety and all court tennis. Thanks for posting the article, itskinmdterp.

Oh, absolutely. The first time I saw Amelie at the Aussie in 1999, I loved her because it was like watching Gaby again. I think Sabatini's game was much more fluid and natural than Amelie's is. (Not that Amelie's isn't nice to see but - you know - Gaby always looked like she was dancing on the court.) But Amelie has a much better serve. If Gaby had Amelie's serve, she'd be the 1991 Wimbledon champion and probably the 1993 French Open champ as well. But I digress.

Amelie grew up admiring Sabatini and has mentioned her as an inspiration. It's easy to see the similarities. Amelie can mirror the net attack that won Gaby the US Open most easily on grass, which she does every year, but then Mauresmo tends to back off the attack. She needs to rush the net more on every surface. Amelie knows this - I've read interviews where she fully admits it - but there's safety in hugging the baseline. Attacking the net is much riskier and it's hard to put yourself on the line like that over and over.

I would love for Mauresmo to hook up with Carlos Kirmyer, actually. He's the man who got Gaby to move forward and he helped to relax Gabriela off the court, too. I think he also coached Conchita when she was No. 2 in the world and he even had her going to the net more. When Gaby was with Kirmyer, she wasn't so uptight and it started to show in her tennis. MoMo could use that. Right now, she wants it too badly.

It really is all very Sabatini wink

thanks for the article. She opens her defense today, on a Thursday!? Seems like it's straight to the quarterfinals, but maybe there is some weird programming going on.

Although I did not see much of Sabatini, I agree that Mauresmo and Sabatini do have similar playing styles, similar builds and similar attitude to the game. It is just I have never thought about it before.

There are also similarities as women too, as there is something exotic and intriguing about them both.

G4G, perhaps you can add some wicked gossip and rumour here to report, confidentially of course, that during Roland Garros this year they (S&M) were spotted together, sitting close, in a little restuarant on the Left Bank sharing a bottle of Chateau Margaux shiraz?

Sorry this is waaaay off topic.

[ November 03, 2005, 05:31 PM: Message edited by: xanthos ]

To wander even further off topic, is Chateau Margaux making wines in Australian now?

I'm afraid I can't post any insights on how much sipping was going on between S & M, whose initials go together. But I can weigh in on the Mauresmo-meter and say I fall somewhere between the chilly admiration and the warmer enthusiasm of others here.

First and foremost, it's plain bizarre to me that Mauresmo doesn't wield more power on the court -- she's ripped and built to a degree that she should be able to "make every shot a power shot" in the style of a certain twiggier one-dimensional rival. There's something almost delicate about her demeanor out there at times, at least in comparison to most if not all of the other current top-10ers.

Of course, she's always been more old-school in style of play, with traces of chip-and-charge Navaratilova and Henin's en garde! backhand as well as Sabatini. If she would just mix things up some and hit some flat punishing shots a la prime Williams sisters, or develop somewhat of a looser but no less mean Davenport slingshot baseline game...perhaps she's too far in to change now?

A coach definitely seems like the answer, and though Lieberman seemed kinda scary with her 'Hate your opponent!' mind control, that kind of ruthlessness is exactly what Mauresmo needs if she's ever going to win a major.

Right now, I can't see that happening, and for that reason she's not one of my favorite players to watch, just the same way I almost gave up on my sentimental fave -- Venus -- after one too many years of choke losses in matches where she sported a nonstop hangdog expression. I knew Venus was a force to be reckoned with at Wimbledon early on this year because she wasn't making that damn sad face after every mistake!

Ultimately, I will always root for Amelie simply because I think she's great for being out.

Plus I like her tattoo.

The way I see it is that Mauresmo doen't wield more power is not because of her build or musclular development but how she strikes the ball.She has rather loopy topspin on both sides with a smooth flowing action whereas someone like Venus opt for a linear motion of the racquet. In other words she (Venus) can hit through the line of the ball and hit it very flat with great power.Capriati the same.

I believe if anything Mauresmo should develop a very agressive type of topspin, say like Nadal, who uses a very quick angular motion of the racquet head to create power. Some of the new wave of women like Molik and Kuznetsova are starting to play that style and I see heavier topspin the biggest change contemporary women players face.

Furthermore, I would like to see Amelie do some serve volley and chip/charge and use her volleying skills. She has a good volley, courtspeed, excellent knee bend and moves very well laterally. I saw her play like that this year at Wimbledon, she was my prediction to win the title, she had Davenport on a plate in the semi and Venus had not beaten Amelie since 2002.
It was there for her to take. Alas, who knows what goes on in her head? Coulda, shoulda, woulda, if,but,maybe.........it just didn't happen.

[ November 03, 2005, 06:43 PM: Message edited by: xanthos ]

Hello All!

I attended the Tournament on Wednesday night and most of Thursday.

The matches were under par but the atmosphere is great there. Not a bad seat in the house. I was impressed with Vaidisova's doubles play more than her singles. Peschke has a nice game.... Karatantcheva was not in the match at all. Lisa Raymond played well last night, her ground strokes were great.

Here are some off court findings:
- Gigi Fernandez is coaching Lisa Raymond.
- Lori McNeil is coahing a young and upcoming player.
- Jill Craybas's coach is also the coach for Corina Morariu (she got injured late yesterday afternoon in doubles)
- Sat near Dementieva near the player's lounge. I was amazed at how much prettier she is in person..... up close she is more pretty than any of the Russians. Here skin, hair and eyes are perfect. She is a very quiet person.
-Mashona Washington is very personable.... nice smile
-Overhead Cara Balck talking to the stringer... it turns out, she not only adds lead tape to her racquet head, but also under the grip... I found that very interesting.

If I think of anything else, I will post.

The big names are missed. I heard a rumor there yesterday, that since the year end championship is being moved to Spain, that this tournament may disappear. In the future, I think they should have this tournament havign a week between it and the year end championships... then the big names will play and make for better competition.

Didn't this tourney disappear once already and then came back? And I did read in some article that it won't be around next year ...

Thanks for the behind-the-scenes scoop, TJNB! It sounds like you had a good time at the matches. I think Lisa Raymond is alot of fun to watch in person.

Regarding any "S&M" rumors, I hate to break it to everyone, but word on the street is that Gabriela Sabatini is engaged. To a man! eek! She's been sporting a ring and this guy has been a constant companion of hers for several years now. Sabatini hasn't confirmed or denied the rumors. She is as private now as she was during her professional tennis days.

As far as Mauresmo's hitting, I agree that it's the style of groundstroke that keeps her from hitting as hard as flatter-hitting players like Sharapova or Venus.

Mauresmo is capable of flattening it out, sure, and does on occasion. But Amelie's game plan when she goes onto the court is to take away her oppenents' rhythm by using her tremendous toolbox of skills - the variety of the heavy topspin, the low slice, the flatter shots, the chip-and-charge, or staying back. She has to use it all. She doesn't win by bludgeoning the other girl off the court.

I actually think it's a more complicated, difficult way to win. You'd see it alot when Gaby used to play Monica - Monica was just relentless pounding the ball, but Gaby had to carefully craft her points, mixing it up and only hitting the ball hard when Monica was in trouble. If you fed Monica pace, she thrived on it. Gaby could only hit it hard when Seles didn't want her to, which was a helluva lot easier said than done. I think that's Amelie's challenge against most of the top players now, too. But today almost all the best girls play more in the Seles style, Justine Henin-Hardenne notwithstanding. Against top players with that much power, if you don't execute perfectly, you're gonna end up losing the close matches more often than not. I saw it so often with Gabriela. And now it's happening again with MoMo.

Speaking of Mauresmo, she won her first match in almost a month (!) by defeating Sugiyama to advance to the quarterfinals in Philly. She'll play Mashona Washington - whom she *should* beat - and would then face either Vaidisova or Raymond in the semifinals.

[ November 04, 2005, 06:37 AM: Message edited by: Gaga4Gaby ]

Elena Dementieva is such a nut. She's playing Peschke right now and they've split sets. Elena lost the first set, 4-6, and then turned around and won the second set 6-0!

Edited to add: Elena won 6-3 in the third. She was up 5-1, so I guess there was a minor hiccup. She'll play Petrova in the semis.

[ November 04, 2005, 12:43 PM: Message edited by: Gaga4Gaby ]

Didn't Petrova just win her first tournament? Dementieva better step it up.

With Elena's win that moves her into the 8th spot for the Year End Championships, knocking Venus to 9th. Thanks Elena for saving Venus the $200,000 fine she would've had to pay for withdrawing from the YEC.

G4G, it's precisely the variety in Mauresmo's game that you point out that causes me to fee lshe still has potential to rise to slam wins and dominance in a way that Roddick, who is getting discussed similarly in the Fall Tennis Thread, can't.

I was probably wrong in thinking that adopting the Williams type of flat power shot is the way to go -- Xanthos makes a good point that fiercer topspin like my fave male player at the moment Nadal is more suitable to Mauresmeo's current game. Still, I think her muscularity counts for soemthing. When you watch her play, it really doesn't look like she's tapping into it to a degree that some players, most notably Venus and Serena -- or even little fireplug Henin -- do.

Ah, Elena B. Demented-eva. A match against Petrova is almost certain to be a psychodrama, considering Petrova had Vaidisova throwing a Bad Seed temper tantrum at the US Open. Would love to see that one, and any first-hand reports would be great.

Itskindterp, not sure what you mean? If Venus is injured and needs to withdraw surely she would not be fined? Is it she just needs a break away or is not inclined to play the EOYC?

[ November 04, 2005, 03:12 PM: Message edited by: xanthos ]

I don't know if Amelie could really drive the ball with heavy topspin like Nadal does. The only woman I can think of who can do that consistently is Kuznetsova. I don't think she has to fundamentally change her strokes; I'd just like to see her take the ball earlier, and seize her opportunities when they come better.

Speaking of Kuznetsova, I love it that she listens to "In da Club" and Snoop before matches.
She seems like she'd be fun to party with.

Maybe this is material for a separate thread, but while we all know Mauresmo is out, what WTA players aren't that you can't help but wonder about? I suppose the Snoop fan listed above springs to mind for me, and also I've wondered a bit about Venus -- you hear about Serena's boyfriends, but has she ever had one?

I think Venus was dating one of her (male) bodyguards for a while. But she seems to shun the spotlight--I guess she's the Nikki to Serena's Paris.

I never really thought much about it before now, but Kuznetsova gives off a bit of a lesbian vibe. And I could see Sharapova liking the ladies.

Tell that to Justine who is being fined $200,000 for withdrawing from the YEC even though she says she has an injury. She said she's trying to work with the tournament director to get it down to $100,000 by helping to promote the tournament.

Yeah, and you should have seen Peter Bodo lacing into Justine for withdrawing on his site. Ouch. Personally, I think it's just as well. It was pretty unlikely that Justine would play better than Elena Dementieva at the YEC, given what we've seen of her this fall.

JC, As far as I know Chateau Margaux are not making wines in Australia. They may have invested in one of the local wineries but I am not aware of that either. Some of the other big wine houses from France make wine here now or have invested to, among other things, get access to Australian technology.Particularly Moet & Chandon who developed the Chandon range here with their Chandon Vintage Sparkling Chardonnay
quite fabulous.

Sorry off topic...hic....hic....hic

[ November 04, 2005, 06:31 PM: Message edited by: xanthos ]

In regard to the YEC, what am I missing here? Is there now a general reluctance for the leading players to go to Los Angeles because of tiredness,promotion of the event,timing or just some other reason?

Could someone retail the current situation here. Thanks.

I'm with you. Changing her strokes would be so challenging. And wouldn't address her confidence issues. Because she is excellent hitting as she does. The strategy and the risk and belief at those crucial times is where she falls short. I firmly believe she could win, playing more aggressively. Each of the others are attackable: Lindsey is relatively slow and can get down on herself, Venus has great speed but can get worn out and can spray on her forehand (don't groove it too her, but change it up...Amelie's specialty), Maria's movement and own lack of variety, Kim can still play too defensively and has patches in a match where she loses confidence, Serena is not fit, so is attackable like Venus. The super heavy topsin dulls her attack and her mind, just like it did with Gaby.

She reminds me in some ways of Edberg...totally classy. Almost too nice to win. Yet Edberg learned how to win, and didn't lose who he was doing it. Wonder if she needs that more than a Lieberman type. Some are born with it (Chris, Steffi, Monica, Serena), others develop it (Martina, Venus, Justine), others don't yet still can come through (Gaby, Arantxa, Lindsey). Amelie could be there still.

btw, G4G, what nice word of mouth about Gaby. She is so sweet, can only hope that it's true and she finds a great companion.

In addition, why did the YEC leave New York? Are they really doing better in LA?

EOYC is doing even worse in LA, which is why it's the last year here. Next stop is Spain, I believe. I guess there are too many distractions, with LA's non-existent NFL teams and its sudddenly non-existent Lakers. frown

[ November 04, 2005, 08:28 PM: Message edited by: Larry@LA ]

good hands - you make an even better point than you may have realized...just go with chrissie, steffi, and monica for example sake, these women were trained to win, they had the instinct and spirit to win...if you watch any of these three during their prime years, you see no nerves, only guts...the reason seles beat capriati and even graf during that oh too brief period from 91 until the stabbing is because she simply didn't let up...if the stakes got higher, the points got more important, Monica hit harder...she's one of the best examples of this of all time...It's in the head, it's in the wiring, and there's definitely a couple of great examples of girls who went the long road and learned how to conquer and whom came into their game later, but just using LD as an example, as great as she's brought her game the last couple years, she's faltered big time in the biggest of situations...it must haunt her...Hingis, too, had a total champion's mind for that great period, no one scared her...until a certain point...and of course, why would she want to come back now...

did everyone see the seles article on yahoo? ain't no way she's coming back...i wish they'd drop it now, and that she would just say no...i don't want to drag this out any longer...

It's weird.....poor Justine.

Petrove withdrew from her semifinal, so Elena D is in the final

Mauresmo won 75 26 75 against Dementieva in the final. An almost crazy third set. Amelie was leading 4-1 with 2 occasions to go 5-1, then Elena won the next 4 following games to go to serve for the match. Dementieva was 30-0 on her serve and started to have problems with her serve. Mauresmo broke to level 5-5 and then she went to win the match.

That's a good win for Amelie, since Dementieva has been a thorn in her side the last couple of years. I guess you could say she almost fumbled it away, but Elena often plays well when her back is to the wall. When you say Elena "had trouble with her serve", did she double-fault the match away? Or did Amelie go after her serve aggressively?

She made 13 double faults in the match. I remember 2 when she was up 5-4 in the first set.
When she was serving for the match she made at least a double fault when she was 30-15, then she made a couple of first serves who barely reached the net! Mauresmo wasn't even very agressive on her returns.

[ November 06, 2005, 12:11 PM: Message edited by: andrea ]

Just got back from the final of the Advanta Championship. I had a lot of fun...mostly because of a couple guys my boyfriend and I were sitting next to who we then had dinner at Georges' in Wayne with. BTW...great restaurant...I recommend it to those in the area.

As for the match...I'm glad it was a good 3 setter. Amelie and Elena are 2 players who work my LAST nerve but I have to say that I enjoyed the match. It was competitive and I was pulling for Elena in the end. She had a chance to serve for the match, even though she shouldn't have even since Amelie had chances to go 5-1. Elena's serve once again let her down at crucial moments and at one point it was like "ok who wants to win the damn match?" So Amelie does the hatrick in Philly...3 consecutive titles...congrats to her. Advanta isn't on the schedule for 2006 which sucks for her since she seems to play well there.

Interesting though...I didn't know that Elena has ZERO titles in 2005, yet is in the Year Ending Championships. Of the 8 in the Year Ending Championships they have a combined total of 7 grand slams. And its the top 5 that have that total. Davenport: 3, Sharapova (1), Clijsters (1), Pierce (2).

GRAND SLAM SINGLES TITLES OF THE 8 IN THE TOUR CHAMPIONSHIPS:

1 Lindsay Davenport ..3 total career Slam titles
2 Kim Clijsters ..... 1 total career Slam title
3 Maria Sharapova ....1 total career Slam title
4 Amelie Mauresmo ... 0 total career Slam title
5 Mary Pierce ....... 2 total career Slam titles
6 Elena Dementieva ...0 total career Slam titles
7 Patty Schnyder .... 0 total career Slam titles
8 Nadia Petrova ..... 0 total career Slam titles
TOTAL OF THE 8 PLAYERS: 7


WTA TOUR SINGLES TITLES OF THE 8 IN THE TOUR CHAMPIONSHIPS:

1 Lindsay Davenport .. 51 total WTA Tour titles
2 Kim Clijsters ...... 30 total WTA Tour titles
3 Maria Sharapova .... 10 total WTA Tour titles
4 Amelie Mauresmo .....18 total WTA Tour titles
5 Mary Pierce ........ 18 total WTA Tour titles
6 Elena Dementieva ... 4 total WTA Tour titles
7 Patty Schnyder ..... 10 total WTA Tour titles
8 Nadia Petrova ........1 total WTA Tour titles
TOTAL OF THE 8 PLAYERS: 141

That to me is unbelievable weakness. Maybe thats why I'm not at all excited by the YEC and why I never have been. When it was a 16 player format they decided to move it to 8, not because the men did, but because the tour felt there weren't 16 good enough women to play the event. I can see why. Its ashame too because there are a lot of ranking points and prize money at stake and its the top 8 women for the year on tour. But this resume of stars is rather weak minus Lindsay and Kim. I know...I know...it rewards consistency. So basically...I can play the year and make it to the quarters, semis, even finals without winning a title and still make it to the YEC. Injuries are such a major side story to this year and I hope that players like Venus, Serena, and Justine (even though I can't stand her) get healthy and back in action next year. Cuz this is ridiculous that 3 of the 4 slam winners are not in the YEC. The only thing I'll be interested in regarding the YEC is if Lindsay or Kim will end the year at #1. I'm ready for January and the Australian Open.

That is interesting but that is how the statistics fall, accumulation of points being the reward for consistency. I find that fair.This year it is only one Grand Slam winner, Venus, who did not qualify, as Serena and Justine are apparently, both out injured.

So to offer a solution......... I would like to see the winner of each Grand Slam get automatic entry to the YEC, the next two places by accumulation of points in Tier1 tournaments and the last two places by overall accumulation from all events.

Didn't the men's format used to give an automatic berth to winners of the grand slams? In any event, Serena didn't have enough points to make it. Besides, be honest ltskinmdterp--do you really think she or Justine would beat Petrova or Dementieva the way they've played this fall?

The men get in automatically so long as they're top 20 (which keeps a total fluke winner out).

What those statistics show is how much the Williamses and Henin have dominated recent slams. It isn't the WTA or YEC format that's to blame -- Venus and Henin are injured. And who knows if Serena would have played even had she qualified. (And as JC points out, how would she play)

You'll are misunderstanding me. I'm aware of the format for the YEC. Thats why I said injuries are a side story to this year and its ridiculous and ashame that 3 of the 4 slam winners aren't in the YEC. I hope that players like Justine, Serena, and Venus don't suffer from ailments and can play a pretty full year.

I correct my earlier posting and agree that Serena actually did not qualify this year.

How many years has it been since all of the top 5/6 players in the world have completed in every Grand Slam and YEC ? It is disappointing and frustrating.

[ November 07, 2005, 04:45 AM: Message edited by: xanthos ]

I just had to give props to (one of) my gals, Amy Frazier (A-Fray) for winning in Quebec. I've always been an A-Fray fan (I play a similar game...uhh...when things are actually working) and have always pulled for her, so it's a great way to end a tough year for her.