posted Mar 11, 2008

fwiw, I think Sharapova will finish the year at #1

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posted Mar 11, 2008

I think Henin will be tough to topple this year. Sharapova has been playing the best tennis this year and has no points to defend after Miami until Roland Garros. She has very little points to defend from IW or Miami. After the French Open, there are no serious points to defend until Madrid. Should be #2 at least because she's better than Ivanovic.

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posted Mar 12, 2008

Duggietoo,

Sharapova won only three GSs in four years, which demonstrates her severe lack of consistancy: she had a 14-win-series including winning Wimbledon in 2004, but played no role in USO that year! She won 2006 USO unexpectedly, and then totally disappeared in 2007! She is again on a 14-win-run including winning AO 08, but I won´t be surprised if she disappears again soon.

To be no-1 she has to have far more consistency. With the lead Henin has on her (3000 points), she has to win all three GSs of 2008, without Henin playing in any of them! Even that would NOT be enough, since Maria made the semis of French, R4 of Wimby and R3 of USO in 2007. So she will have to accumulate more points elsewhere. But do anyone believe that Maria will win all the rest 3GS in 08 and Henin is not playing any of them?

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posted Mar 13, 2008

Bing you may well be right - I hadnt looked closely at the numbers.

I appreciate that Henin has an enormous lead , but that can sometimes disappear over a year look what's happened to Fed since March 07 - 3000 points advantage has all but disappeared.

Sharapovas year was full of injury last year and I am just impressed how she has started 2008 - she looks a much better player.

I like Henin too , but she hasnt seemed well so far and I wonder if she can sustain the incredible successes of last year,

I can see a fine contest at the top as the year progresses.

Sometimes one of the problems with a mass of points is the defending of them.

Whats your view of Henin at present ?

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posted Mar 13, 2008

Duggietoo,

Sharapova was definitely in the form of her life when she won AO 08. She carried the momentum to win her two Fed-Cup debut matches in Israel. But in Doha, she showed her drop of form already, needing a few three-setters to overcome a Russian qualifier and Zvonareva (she did not lose a set in AO, beating Henin, JJ and Ivanovic convincingly!). She also struggled against Radwanska who had a three-hour-match less than 24 hour before! Maria won Doha without having to play a top ten -- Ivanovic pulled out and Williams, JJ, Kuzzy all lost early. But she (Sharapova)was no longer in a fine form. I expect her to struggle in IW as well, with Radwanska, Hantuchova, Kuzzy in her half.

Henin´s form is obviously sub-par(75-80%). She struggled in the warm-up tournament for AO. In AO her performance was nowhere near that in USO 07 where she beat both sisters and Kuzzy to win. In Dubai again she played miserably for her standard and was ousted by someone she never lost before. I wonder what the reason for this sudden decline is? Maybe there is something her camp has been hiding, but I am not sure. The only thing I can tell is she had her knee wrapped up at AO -- something more serious perhaps? She is no longer the aggressive player she has been in the past which suggests that she has a physically handicap. She is not in IW, but we will surely know more in Miami where she has a final appaerance to defend.

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posted Mar 13, 2008

Bing

I wonder however if Shara was suffering from the bug that caused her to pull out of Dubai.

AS for Henin, I agree she doesnt look quite right at the moment.

I think IW is going to be very interesting in both men and womens events.

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posted Mar 15, 2008

sharapova has improved all round as a player, and is nw i feel in legend-makin form. All she needs 2 do is carry on the consitency, and i can see here running riot. Carry On!!

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