Serena Williams, Li Na and Agnieska Radwanska - Weekend Warriors

All of us must have made a lot of New Year resolutions and must have thought of the things that we wanted to do this year. One thing that I thought of doing this year was to start a weekly article on the blog, featuring the summary of the tournaments of the week and awarding players for their performance during that week. I thought about it, what to name the article and I came up with the name of “Weekend Warriors”. I am excited to be starting this article and I am in the process of completion of this article. I hope that all of you will like it.  

Champions

Auckland  (ASB Classic) :  Radwanska d. Wickmayer 6-4 6-4

Brisbane International  :       Serena Williams d.Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova 6-2 6-1

Shenzhen Longgang Gemdale Open : Li Na d. Zakopalova 6-3 1-6 7-5

Agnieska Radwanska became the first WTA titlist of 2013 when she defeated Yanina Wickmayer in straight sets to win Auckland. It is for the first time that Radwanska has won her first event of the year. The Wimbledon runner-up last year did not lose a set en-route to her first title of the year.

Radwanska started her 2013 campaign with a win over Greta Arn and followed it up with wins over Simona Halep, Elena Vesnina, Jamie Hampton and Yanina Wickmayer.

Wickmayer has to be happy with her runner-up showing in her first event of the year. En-route she defeated Anastasija Sevastona, Johanna Larsson and Mona Barthel.

Serena Williams picked up her 2013 campaign just where she left it in 2012. Serena Williams has now won 16 straight matches. She powered her way to her first 2013 trophy and her 47^th overall title. Serena Williams defeated Varvara Lepchenko, Alize Cornet, Sloane Stephens and finally Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova to win Brisbane International event for the first time.

 The Brisbane field was everything one could ask for in a non-slam event. Only two of the top 10 players were missing. There were some upsets and some unfortunate with-drawls from Brisbane International but overall it provided the drama and heat everyone was looking forward to.

Withdrawals started with reigning French Open champion, Maria Sharapova, who withdrew from Brisbane International due to right collarbone injury. It was followed by the withdrawal of reigning Australian Open champion and world no.1 Victoria Azarenka, from the block-buster semi-final against Serena Williams. Azarenka had to withdraw due to the infection on her toe that she sustained from a bad pedicure. The good news is that she will be ready in time for the defence of her Australian Open title.

Upsets started with the surprise win of Sofia Arvidsson over Samantha Stosur in the first round. Ksenia Pervak kept the upset streak going with her hard fought win over Caroline Wozniacki. Jarmila Gajdosova upset Roberta Vinci to justify her wild-card and move into the 2^nd round. Daniela Hantuchova showed the glimpses of her former self when she upset the world no.6 Sara Errani. Petra Kvitova bowed in the 2^nd round to Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova. Pavlyuchenkova followed up her surprise win over Kvitova by a hard fought straight sets win over world no. 5 Angelique Kerber.

Shenzhen did good in its inaugural year by attracting a good field in Li Na, being the top seed and Marion Bartoli, the second seed.

Li Na powered her way to her first title of the year as she defeated Klara Zakopalova in 3 sets in the final to clinch the title. The French Open 2011 champion defeated Mandy Minella in the first round, Julia Cohen in the second round, Bojana Jovanovski in the QF, Shuai Peng in the semi-finals and Klara Zakopalova in the final.

Klara Zakopalova did great in making her way through Andrea Hlavackova, Elina Svitolina, Marion Bartoli and Monica Niculescu, but fell short in the final against Li Na.

Let us move on to the awards.

Players of the Week:

Agnieszka Radwanska

Serena Williams, and

Li Na

Performance of the Week:

Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova

Honourable Mentions

Ksenia Pervak

Klara Zakopalova

Sloane Stephens

Surprises of the Week

Lesia Tsurenko

Jamie Hampton

Monica Niculescu

Disappointments of the Week

Petra Kvitvoa

Angelique Kerber

Victoria Azarenka (her late withdrawal from her semi-final match against Serena Williams)

Caroline Wozniacki

Players to watch for Australian Open:

Sloane Stephens

Jamie Hampton

Mona Barthel

Yanina Wickmayer

Klara Zakopalova

That is all for this week. Any additions that you would like to see in the article just let me know. Happy  tennis season 2013.

Petra Kvitova and Australian Open 2013

Not long ago, Petra Kvitova was dubbed as the next big thing of tennis in WTA, the new WTA leader, but Kvitova has not lived up to those expectations put forth on her by the tennis experts and fans. After finishing 2011 strongly, she faded as 2012 went on. It is not that Kvitova had a bad year, she had a great year, a year for which many players will give everything, but compared with Kvitova's potential, the year was a disappointment. Kvitova also had a lot of health issues during last year.

Now with the new  year running on, and the first events of 2013 nearing their end, let us see where Kvitova stands, and what are the odds of Kvitova winning the Australian Open this year.

Kvitova started her year at Brisbane, which had a loaded field with 7 of the top 10 players playing there (Maria Sharapova withdrew from Brisbane due to right collarbone injury). Kvitova won her first match of the year but lost her second match in straight sets to Pavlyuchenkova.

Where does Petra Kvitova stand and what are Kvitova's chances at the upcoming Australian Open? Let us look at what do numbers tell us about her.

Petra Kvitova will most probably be seeded 8th for the Australian Open 2013.

Petra Kvitova and Australian Open 2013 - Based on the past results of 8th seeded players.

There are only two seeds amongst the top 8 seeds, who have never won the Australian Open trophy during the last 25 years. Guess what, 8th seed is one of them. Kvitova won't be happy to know this.

The best showing by a player seeded 8th has been a runner-up showing. Anke Huber was the first 8th seeded player to do so back in 1996. She ousted two seeded players on her way to the final, 2nd seeded Conchita Martinez in the quarter-finals and 16th seeded Amenda Coetzer in the semi-final. However, she ran out of gas in the final loosing in straight sets to Monica Seles, in what was Seles' last grand slam trophy.

 Conchita Martinez repeated the feat in 1998 when she was seeded 8th and made it all the way to the final, beating two top 10 players en-route, but lost in straight sets to Martina Hingis.

Justine Henin was the 3rd and last player seeded 8th to make it to the final of Australian Open. She did that in 2006 and en-route defeated top seed Lindsay Davenport in the quarter-finals and 4th seeded Maria Sharapova in the semi-finals, both matches going the distance. She retired in the final against Mauresmo while trailing by a set and a break in the second set, due to stomach cramps.

Kvitova has 12% chance of making it to the final, while 56% chance of making it to the QF or better of Australian Open based on the past results of players seeded 8^th at Australian Open.

Interestingly an 8th seeded player has never lost in the opening round of Australian Open since 1988.

How will Petra Kvitova fare in the Australian Open 2013? Will she follow in the foot-steps of the past players or will she tread on her path?

Let us now have a look at how Petra Kvitova has done at Australian Open in the past?

Petra Kvitova and Australian Open 2013 - Based on Kvitova's past results at Australian Open.

Kvitova is 10-4 in the Australian Open so far. She first played tennis on the courts of Melbourne in 2009 (not including her loss in first round of Qualifiers in 2008). She lost in straight sets to future Australian Open champion and future world no.1 Victoria Azarenka (Azarenka was seeded 13th) in the first round.

Kvitova returned to the Melbourne courts in 2010 when she finally won her first match at the Australian Open, but fell in straight sets to then world no.1 and eventual champion Serena Williams in the second round.

It was 2011, that saw Kvitova breaking it throguh the draw and making it to the quarter-finals, en-route she defeated then world no. 6 Stosur in the 3rd round. She fell to world no.2 Vera Zvonareva in straight sets in the QF.

2012 Australian Open gave Kvitova a shot at the top spot but she fell short this time in the semi-finals. She lost a tight match at the hands of Maria Sharapova.

All 4 of Kvitova's looses at the Australian Open have come at the hands of quality opponents.

Victoria Azarenka - Current World no.1 and defending Australian Open champion.

Serena Williams - Current World no. 3 and 5 time Australian Open champion.

Vera Zvonareva - then world no. 2 (Zvonareva missed most of the last year due to injury and will be missing this year's Australian Open also due to injury).

Maria Sharapova - current world no. 2 and 2008 Australian Open champion. Sharapova was a runner-up last year.

The problem for Kvitova is that of the players who have beaten her at Australian Open, only Zvonareva will be missing the Australian Open, while the rest of the 3 are playing the Australian Open, and in order to get her hands at the trophy she will have to go through at least 2 of them, if seeds hold or all 3 of them depending on the draw. Kvitova has beaten Azarenka and Sharapova before, but that too came in 2011. She did not face Azarenka during 2012 and lost all 3 of her matches against Sharapova in 2012. As for Serena Williams, Kvitova has yet to score a win over Williams.

Kvitova made it to the QF of Australian Open in 2011, the semi-finals in 2012, will she make it to the finals this year to continue the trend of going one round better or will she go all the way?

What do you think and how far do you see Petra Kvitova going into the Australian Open 2013?

Australian Open 2013 Predictions - Part 1

Yesterday, I wrote about how eagerly we all are waiting for the season to start. I had also mentioned that over the course of next few days I will be bringing the Aussie Open predictions articles to you. So let us kick start the series.

The first article of the series looks at the chances of the top 8 players, based on the history of top 8 players in Australian Open. I have used the results since 1988, since it was 1988 when the surface of Australian Open changed from grass to rebound ace. The surface being used these days is Plexicushion.

Most likely top 8 seeds at this year's Australian Open will be:

Image via news.bbc.co.uk

1 - Novak Djokovic
2 - Roger Federer
3 - Andy Murray

4 - Rafael Nadal
5 - David Ferrer
6 - Tomas Berdych
7 - Juan Martin Del Potro
8 - Jo-Wilfried Tsonga

Let us now explore the chances of each player winning this year's first grand slam (Aussie Open) based on the rank of the player and how the players with similar ranks have performed at Australian Open in the past.

We will start from bottom and move upwards gradually. Let us start from potential 8th seed for the Australian Open 2013, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga.

No. 8 - Tsonga (Chances at Australian Open)

Image via en.wikipedia.org

Melbourne tennis courts have never loved an 8th seed. During the past 25 years, an 8th seed has never made it to the finals of the Australian Open. In-fact only one player seeded 8th has made it to the semi-finals during the past 25 years, it was Mats Wilander, back in 1990 (he lost in straight sets to Stefan Edberg).

Based on the past results the probability of Tsonga loosing before the QF stage are 80%, with only 20% chances of making it to the QF or better.

Tsonga has been working with a new coach and we know that he has got the game, he has been to the finals here and he knows what it takes to make it to the big one, will he change this statistic for the 8th seed, let us wait and watch.

No. 7 - Del Potro (Chances at Australian Open)
Of the top 8 seeds during the past 25 years of Australian Open, only 2 seeds have never made it to the final. One being a player seeded 8th, and the other, guess who? Yes, the unfortunate 7th seed. The Aussie tennis doesn't seem to like the 7th seed either. However, they have done better than the 8th seeds, making it to the semi-finals at 3 occasions during the past 25 years. The chances of Del Potro making it to the QF or better are 42% based on past results of the 7th seeds.

Del Potro won't be happy with this statistic and might want to change it this year. The fact that he did close his year on a high note, though it was a loss at the hands of Djokovic, he did play well, might be an indication of good things to come. Let us see what Del Potro can do for the 7th seed.

No. 6 - Berdych (Chances at Australian Open)
Of the top 8 seeds, no. 6 seed is the only seed out of the top 4 seeds to have won the Australian Open during the past 25 years. Must be a good thing to know for Berdych. Based on historical data, Berdych has 36% chances of making it to the QF or better. In fact a 6th seed has never lost in the final when he has made it during the past 25 years, doing it twice. Petr Korda did it in 1998 and Agassi did it again in 2001.

Berdych will be gunning for his first major, and given the statistics and the fact that he has beaten Federer and Djokovic back to back before at a major, he must be pumped up to go for it.

No. 5 - Ferrer (Chances at Australian Open)
Ferrer had a stellar 2012, where he won the most titles of all the players, 7, his career best. In fact it was his career best year on tour. What is next for him, a Grand Slam, yes or no? We will have to wait and see.
A fifth seed has never won Australian Open, but he has been to the championship match on 3 occasions during the past 25 years.
Based on the past performances put in by the fifth seeds, Ferrer has 44% chance of making it to the quarter-finals of Australian Open or better. Ferrer's best grand slam result has been semi-final. He has never been to the final of a grand slam, will it happen at Australian Open, the odds are not that bad.

No. 4 - Nadal (Chances at Australian Open)

Image via guardian.co.uk

We have all been anxiously waiting for the return of Nadal from the injury lay off. How good will he perform remains to be seen.
Given the history of 4th seeds at Australian Open, they have made it to the final on 3 occasions (1988, 1996, 2005), winning it on 2 occasions, Becker in 1996 and Safin in 2005. Nadal has won the Australian Open trophy before, and he did that in style in 2009 when Ndal defeated Federer in the final.
Nadal's chances of making it to the quarter-final or better of the Australian Open are 52%. But it will all depend on how his knees hold up and how he deals with the pressure.

No. 3 - Murray (Chances at Australian Open)

Image via fr.wikipedia.org

Andy Murray walks into the Australian Open as the reigning U.S Open champion. He will be having all the confidence he needs. Based on the past trends a 3rd seed has 60% chances of making it to the quarter-finals of Australian Open, 44% chances of making it to the semi-finals, 24% chances of making it to the championship match, and 12% chance of winning the trophy.
Murray has been to the championship match of Australian Open twice, loosing to Roger Federer in 2010 and to Novak Djokovic in 2011.
With the weight of winning his first major off his shoulders, he will be looking forward to add more to his grand slam resume.

No. 2 Federer (Chances at Australian Open)

Image via guardian.co.uk

Based on the history of second seed in the Australian Open, Federer has a huge 76% chance of making it to the quarter-final of the Australian Open. In-fact a second seed has lost before the quarter-final only once in the past 10 years, and a total of 6 times during the past 25 years.
Federer has a 24% shot at winning the trophy based on the history of 2nd seeds at Australian Open. However, with his age and heat there in Australia, will he be up to the task, remains to be seen.

No. 1 Djokovic (Chances at Australian Open)

Image via optimumtennis.net

The top seed has the richest history in the Australian Open tennis during the past 25 years. A top seed has not lost in the first round, but once, in the past 25 years. The only top seed to loose in the first round was Australian stalwart Hewitt, back in 2001. A top seed has gone on to win the Australian Open trophy in 10 of the past 25 years, which makes a whooping 40% chance for Djokovic to win the trophy.
Djokovic is the two time defending champion, and is aiming to become the first player in the Open era to win Australian Open 3 consecutive years. Will Djokovic win Australian Open 2013, let us wait and see.

That was all from the part one, I will be bringing in the part 2 for you guys soon. Stay tuned and do let me know how you feel about this article or anything else you want to see on the blog. Hoping for a great season ahead of us.

For the probability of the individual players please refer to the links below:

Juan Martin Delpotro and Australian Open 2013

Jo Wilfried Tsonga and Australian Open 2013

Sara Errani and Australian Open 2013
Janko Tipsarevic and Australian Open 2013
Petra Kvitova and Australian Open 2013

Australian Open 2013 Predictions

The new season is about to start, all of the tennis fans are waiting for the balls to be struck again, linesmen to make calls again and players to sweat and fight it out again.

All eyes will be glued on how Rafael Nadal bounces back from his injury lay off, how Roger Federer goes on with his light schedule and ageing body, how Djokovic will be defending his top spot, and how Murray will be responding to a lot of new expectation, will Ferrer be able to win the elusive grand slam, or it will be Tsonga or Delpotro to break free the hold of BIG 4.

Where all the eyes will be glued on the BIG 4, and the potential dark horse, everyone will also be eager to see how Serena performs after dominating the second half of 2012, will Maria Sharapova and Victoria Azarenka solve the Serena Williams puzzle, how far will Agnieszka Radwanska's game will take her (to an elusive Grand Slam may be???), will Kerber and Errani fall off the radar after stellar performances in 2012, or will Li Na, Petra Kvitova, Venus Williams make it back to the Grand Slam champions circle, will the fast rising Germans make it and take at least one Grand Slam this year?

Image via tennis.com.au

These and a lot of other stories are there, that everyone is looking out for. One of the most important will be the Australian Open starting on January 14th, 2013. Everyone would love to see if the defending champions (Djokovic and Azarenka) go on to defend, or someone else goes on to take the trophy.

I have been working on the predictions articles for the last few days, and I will be bringing them to you in a few days. There will be various articles predicting the winner of the Australian Open 2013, based on different variables.

Stay tuned for the articles. Do let me know in case you want  to see anything specific on the blog or you have any idea in your mind you would like to see an article on.
For first article of the series, please click here.

For the probability of top 8 players going deep at the Australian Open, please see below:

Juan Martin Delpotro and Australian Open 2013

Jo Wilfried Tsonga and Australian Open 2013

Sara Errani and Australian Open 2013
Janko Tipsarevic and Australian Open 2013
Petra Kvitova and Australian Open 2013

Kim Clijsters - Final Farewell

I can’t recall my first memory of Kim Clijsters, but I do have certain in my mind. Clijsters was one of the few players I wished would win every tournament she played in (Silly me)

Clijsters plays her last match against long-time rival Venus Williams in the Diamond games, Antwerp which have been dubbed as “Kim’s ‘Thank You’ Games” in the honour of Kim Clijsters.

Clijsters has been the darling of the tour for many years, there have been two versions of her, the pre-marriage version, and the post-marriage version. Which one was better, probably the later one, but it is for you to decide. Let us do a quick overview of the career Kim had.

Pre-Marriage Career

Clijsters made her breakthrough during 1999 where she made it to the 4^th round of Wimbledon, losing to Graf, and the third round of U.S Open, losing to Serena. She won her first career title that year at Luxembourg and won the “WTA Most Impressive Newcomer” award.

In 2001 CLijsters reached her first grand slam final, doing so at the Roland Garros. In doing so she became the first Belgian to reach a grand slam final, however, she lost the final to Capriati in a nail biting thriller that ended in the 3^rd set in Capriati’s favour 12-10. Clijsters was also a part of the Belgian team in 2001 when Belgium won its first ever Fed cup title, Clijsters baggled Dementieva in the first set of their match.

Clijster’s first big title came in 2002 when she won the year end championships in Los Angeles. On her way to the trophy she defeated Henin in the quarter-finals, Venus in the semi-finals and Serena in the finals.

Clijsters famously squandered a 5-1 lead in the third set of her semi-final loss to Williams, at the Australian Open. Clijsters became a part of the first ever all Belgian Grand-Slam final at the Roland Garros, but lost in straight sets at the hands of Henin. However, she did win the Roland Garros doubles crown and then the Wimbledon doubles crown with partner Ai Sugiyama. On Aug 11,2003 Clijsters became the first female player to be ranked world no.1 without winning a Grand Slam in her career. Clijsters again faced Henin in the Championship of Grand Slam, this time at U.S Open, but with the same fate, Henin winning the trophy. Clijsters won the year end championships for the second time, winning all her red group matches defeating Mauresmo, Dementieva and Rubin. Clijsters then defeated Capriati in the semi-finals and Mauresmo in the finals.

Clijsters made it to her 4^th grand slam final at the Australian Open in 2004, but lost at the hands of Henin once again.

Clijsters got it fifth time lucky when she finally won her first grand slam in 2005 at U.S Open defeating Venus in the quarter-finals, Sharapova in the semi-finals and Pierce in the finals.

In 2007 Clijsters retired from the professional tennis citing injuries and a desire to start family.

Post Marriage Career

In 2009, Clijsters came back to the tour as a mother, her post marriage career. In just her 3^rd tournament she went on to win her second grand slam title, U.S Open 2009. In doing so, she defeated Venus Williams, then World no.3, in the 4^th round, Li Na in the quarter-finals, Serena Williams, then World no.2 and defending champion, in the semi-finals and Caroline Wozniacki in the finals. 

Clijsters became the first Wild Card champion in the history of U.S Open and became the first mother in the Open Era to win Grand Slam, since Evonne Goolagong won Wimbledon in 1980. Clijsters defeat of both Williamses proved that her run to the Championship was no fluke.

Clijsters defended her U.S Open title in 2010 by defeating Venus Williams in the semi-final and Zvonareva in the final. Clijsters then went on the win the year end championship. 

Clijsters is one of the only 6 players to win the year end championships 3 times, the others being Navratilova, Graff, Seles, Evert and Serena.

In 2011 CLijsters finally won a slam outside the courts of U.S Open, winning the Australian Open, her 3^rd and final grand slam on her return. In doing so she joined Margret Court as the only mothers to win 3 Slams after becoming mothers. 2011 also saw the return of Clijsters to the top spot as she became the first mother to clinch the top spot since the inception of WTA rankings. 

Rest of the year and most of the 2012 year was marred with injuries and Clijsters retired at U.S Open 2012, in a surprise loss in the second round at the hands of Robson.

During her illustrious career, Clijsters won 41 singles and 11 doubles titles, and earned more than $24 million in prize money.

Clijsters was one of the friendliest personalities on the WTA tour, and with an interesting game to watch, she will no doubt be missed a lot. Here is to the wishing that just as she followed the right path in her tennis career, her life after tennis also follows the right path and is full of happiness and peace of mind.

I will be signing off for today with these words of Clijsters on her retirement :

“I always try to give my best in everything I do, maybe that’s something I would like to be remembered for. It feels right, I can’t describe it in any other way. It feels right and it’s surprising that I’ve kept it dry and I haven’t been crying or anything. And that’s another sign that it’s the right choice.” 

Serena Williams, Maria Sharapova, Victoria Azarenka - Who is World no.1 (2012) ? - Part 2

First and foremost, apologies on my part for being out and not putting up articles. I had my exams in December, and got free on Thursday and now I am back to full swing. (Keeping fingers crossed for my result ) . 

Last month we had a look on the first half of the year, that Azarenka, Sharapova and Serena had. While Azarneka and Sharapova swept through the first half of the year, not that Serena had a bad first half of the year, it was excellent, one for which many players can dream, but it was average when compared to that of Azarneka and Sharapova.

Let us now have a look at the second half of the year of the 3 players and see how they performed during the second half of the year starting from Wimbledon and ending at the Year end Championships in Istanbul.

SUMMARY FOR THE SECOND HALF OF THE YEAR

Description	Azarenka	Sharapova	Williams
Tournaments played	8	6	6
Win - Loss	31-6	23-6	29-1
Record against Top 10 players	7-5	6-5	13-1
Average Rank of player who defeated her	10.33	5.5	7
Titles Won	2	0	5
Runner - Up Showings	1	3	0

The above summary clearly shows that, Williams literally swept everyone aside in the second half of the year, with the only defeat in the second half coming at the hands of Kerber, who was ranked no.7 then in Cincinnati.

- Serena played 6 events in the second half and won all but Cincinati, where she lost her only match of the second half of they year at the hands of Angelique Kerber. 

- Sharapova, like Serena played 6 events, and was always the brides maid, never the bride, as she made it to the finals of 3 events, loosing all, 2 to Williams and one to Azarenka. She failed to make it to the quarter-finals of just one event of the 5 played, which was at Wimbledon, where she lost to then 15th ranked German Sabine Liscki. 

- Azarneka on the other hand played 8 events, winning two of them. She like Sharapova failed to make it to the quarter-finals of just one event (of the 8 events played by her), Montreal, where she retired against the then 43rd ranked Paszek.

Let us have a look at the breakup of the second half of each player, the tournaments each played, and the players each lost to and how far did each player make it in the tournaments she entered.

TOURNAMENT	Azarenka			Sharapova			Serena
	Result	Rank of Player who defeated her	Name of Player who defeated her	Result	Rank of Player who defeated her	Name of Player who defeated her	Result	Rank of Player who defeated her	Name of Player who defeated her
WIMBLEDON	SF	6	Serena	4r	15	Liscki	W	N/A	N/A
STANFORD	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	W	N/A	N/A
OLYMPICS	SF	4	Serena	R-up	4	Williams	W	N/A	N/A
MONTREAL	2r (retired)	43	Paszek	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP
CINCINNATI	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	QF	7	Kerber
US OPEN	R-up	4	Serena	SF	1	Azarenka	W	N/A	N/A
TOKYO	QF (W/O)	6	Kerber	QF	9	Stosur	DNP	DNP	DNP
Beijing	W	N/A	N/A	R-up	1	Azarenka	DNP	DNP	DNP
Linz	W	N/A	N/A	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP
YEC	SF	2	Sharapova	F	3	Williams	W	N/A	N/A

Remarkably, of the 4 events where all three players played, all the  events were won by Serena, in two of those events she defeated both Azarenka and Sharapova (Olympics, and YEC), while in the other two she beat Azarenka (semi-final of Wimbledon and Final of U.S Open).

This shows that Serena had one of the best, probably the best second half of the tennis calender any player ever had.

Let us now come to our question as to why Serena was not rankned no. 1? Please refer to the ranking rule in the Part 1 of this article , since the below summary will be elaborative of that rule.

Category of Tournaments	No. of Tournaments required by WTA Rankings	No. of Tournaments Played.			Points won
		Azarenka	Sharapova	Serena	Azarenka	Sharapova	Serena
Grand Slams	4	4	4	4	4,580	4,580	4,285
Premiere Mandatory	4	4	4	2	2,950	2,350	1,250
WTA Championship	1	1	1	1	530	1,050	1,500
Olympics	1	1	1	1	340	470	685
Premiere 5	2*	4*	2	2	1,125	1,125	620
Others	4	3	1	3	1,070	470	1,060
Total					10,595	10,045	9,400

*Points from the best two Premiere 5 tournaments will count.

Missing Miami and Beijing costed Serena the year end no. 1 ranking, or perhaps the first round loss at the French Open or the fourth round loss at Australian Open costed her the top spot at the end of the year.

But it all ended with Azarenka and Sharapova being ranked ahead of Williams, who in her 30's is still the player to beat. Williams, however, has a chance to grab the top spot by the end of the Austrlain Open 2013, there will be a three way fight for the top spot between Azarenka, Sharapova and Serena Williams.

For now, we can say that Azarenka and Sharapova are rightly ranked ahead of Serena, and that there is no flaw in the ranking system. What do you people think????

Serena Williams, Maria Sharapova, Victoria Azarenka - Who is World no.1 (2012) ? - Part 1

A lot of debate has been going on lately as to whether the WTA ranking system is working fine or not, with Serena Williams winning Wimbledon and U.S Open, Olympic gold medal, and the year-end championships, but still finishing the year at 3rd place behind the Australian Open winner and Olympic bronze medalist and Roland Garros winner and Olympic Silver medalist, Azarenka and Sharapova respectively.

Few questions everyone has been asking are:

Should Williams be ranked ahead of Azarenka and Sharapova?

Is Azarenka the legitimate world no. 1?

Should the ranking system be changed?

I did not intend to go into detailed analysis of this issue, since I have been very busy lately with my internship and my approaching exams in December, but I just could not stop myself from jotting down this article today ;)

Let us first look at what the ranking system says:

“The WTA rankings are based on a 52-week, cumulative system. A player's ranking is determined by her results at a maximum of 16 tournaments for singles.”

Interestingly, the ranking points of none of the 3 players come from 16 tournaments. Azarenka's ranking points come from 15 tournaments, while Sharapova's and Serena's come from 13 tournaments each.

“The tournaments that count towards a player's ranking are those that yield the highest ranking points during the rolling 52-week period. They must include points from:

-          -  Grand Slams (each player played the 4 grand slams)

-    - Premier Mandatory tournaments (Azarenka and Sharapova played all the 4 premiere mandatory  tournaments, Serena on the other hand skipped two of them, and played in only 2 tournaments)

-        - WTA Championships (Serena went undefeated, Sharapova’s only defeat came at the hands of Serena, while Azarenka’s 2 looses came at the hands of Serena and Sharapova)”

“For Top 20 players, their best two results at Premier 5 tournaments will also count”  (Azarenka played 4 Premiere 5, whereas Serena and Sharapova played 2 each)

I have summarized the year of 3 players in a few key measures; I hope you people will agree with them:

Description	Azarenka	Sharapova	Williams
Tournaments played	17	14	13
Tournaments counted for ranking	15	13	13
Win - Loss	69-10	60-11	58-4
Record against Top 10 players	19-8	14-9	18-2
Average Rank of player who defeated her	9.6	7.7	45
Titles Won	6	3	7
Runner - Up Showings	3	6	0

Serena excels in 2 categories (highlighted in yellow), record against top 10 and the titles won. The only category where she does not excel is the average rank of the player who defeated her, thanks to Razzano's upset at Roland Garros.

The above summary clearly indicates that Serena should have ended the year at top. However, things are not as simple as they look. 

Let us break the above summary into two parts, first half of the year (From the beginning of the year till Roland Garros), and second half of the year (starting from Wimbledon the end of the year). We will be looking at the first half of the year today, and the second half of the year tomorrow.

SUMMARY FOR FIRST HALF OF THE YEAR

Description	Azarenka	Sharapova	Williams
Tournaments played	9	8	7
Tournaments counted for ranking	8	7	7
Win - Loss	38-4	37-5	29-3
Record against Top 10 players	12-3	8-4	5-1
Average Rank of player who defeated her	8.5	8.8	57.6
Titles Won	4	3	2
Runner - Up Showings	2	3	0

The above summary clearly indicates that Azarenka and Sharapova were way better than Williams in the first half of the year.

It is interesting to note that Sharapova made it to the quarter-finals of all the events she played in the first half of the year. What is more interesting  is that all her loses came at the hands of eventual champions.

Azarenka and Williams made it to the quarter-finals of all the events they entered into, with the exception of two tournaments for each player. For Azarenka it was at Rome, where had had to withdraw from her 3rd round meeting against Cibulkova due to injury, and French Open where she lost in the 4th round to Cibulkova. Williams on the other hand fell to Makrova in the 4th round of Australian Open and in the first round of Roland Garros at the hands of Razzano. It was Williams first ever loss in the first round of a Grand Slam.

Note that Serena did not make it to the quarter-finals of the two grand slams played during the first half of the year, whereas Azarenka won the Australian Open (d. Sharapova), while Sahrapova was runner-up at Australian Open (lost to Azarenka), and winner at Roland Garros (d. Errani).

Let us have a look at the breakup of the first half of each player, the tournaments each played, and the players each lost to and how far did each player make it in the tournaments she entered.

The rows highlighted in red show the tournaments the player did not play, while the yellow highlighted ones show the tournaments played by all three of them.

(Sorry for the abnormal size of the picture, I just could not paste it properly either as a table or as a picture, it was not legible if I reduced its size)

Remarkably of the 5 events where each of the 3 players played, Azarenka and Williams won one tournament each, Australian Open and Madrid respectively, while Sharapova won two tournaments, Rome and Roland Garros. However, Williams defeated both Sharapova and Azarenka in her title run to Madrid (Sharpova in QF and Azarenka in F), Sharapova and Azarenka did not have to face Williams during their title runs, since Williams lost early in Australian Open and Roland Garros, while withdrew from her semi-final match in Rome.

This is it for today; we will look into the second half of the year tomorrow, with a summary for the whole year at the end of it. I hope you people enjoyed it, stay tuned for the second part. Don’t forget to let me know how do you people see it!