Aces
Ana Ivanovic has been named the Women’s Tennis Player of the Year 2008 by the International Sports Press Association. (Ana Ivanovic’s website)
Should tennis be included as part of the Olympic Games? (Star-Telegram)
Win a free week of tennis lessons at the Nick Bollettieri Tennis Academy! (Nick’s Picks)
The Sony Ericsson WTA Tour has opened its new office in Beijing, China. (Sport Business)
Amelie Mauresmo will likely enter the Pilot Pen tournament in New Haven. (New Haven Register)
Faults
None today!
On the Ivanovic award. That’s just dumb! There are many WTA players whose achievements for 2008 exceed hers. The WS, Sharapova, Radwanska come to mind immediately. It confirms for me that much of the sports press coverage of women athletes is inane. Contrast the male player of the year – Nadal. Although I’m a Federer supporter, the award was clearly given to the most deserving male player for 2008
I’m not the biggst Ivanovic fan, but she has been the most consistent this year (she gets a pass for wimbledon). Aus Open finalist, Frech Open champion and #1 ranking. You can’t argue with those results.
Will,
Ivanovic has not been the most consistent player this year. First, Wimbledon is a very important marker – no pass. Second, her W/L is overshadowed by at least 2 players. Third, her play hasn’t been impressive.
Ivanovic hasn’t been the most consistent this year. Second, Wimbledon is an important marker – she gets no pass on that. Third, her W/L is overshadowed by at least 2 players. Fourth, her play has been anything but generally impressive.
I’ll issue this disclaimer again: I’m not close to a fan of Ivanovic. That being said, I think it was a combination of fatigue, pressure (new #1) and two outstanding opponets that did Ana in at Wimbledon.
Also, most of these Associations that hand out these “Best” awards, usually look at performance in Grandslam Tournaments. Look at Mauresmo in 2006 and Justine in 2007. Every other day you heard about them being named sombody’s something.
And most importantly, I can’t think of anyone who has been more consistent than Ana (as far as grandslams go) this year (excluding wimbledon).
I agree that she isn’t the best player on tour and hasn’t done well outside of the slams. But who can you argue that has had better results than her?
Ana ivanovic certainly deserves the honour.
After all 9100 yournalists from more than
150 countries cannot be wrong.
[...] idea for this week’s discussion from an ongoing debate of Ana Ivanovic’s achievements here. While Ivanovic is the No. 1 in the world and French Open champion, does that place her ahead of [...]
Will,
No disclaimer needed. We can all postulate various reasons why Ivanovic didn’t perform well at Wimbledon. However, if we do that, then we’re going to have to do it for other top ranked players that didn’t perform well. The fact is that the GS are always part and parcel of all players tour routines and making excuses selectively is really slanting things.
Based solely on stats, in the current top 10, both Serena Williams and Sharapova have had better results(W/L ratios, wins, win streaks) in 2008.
Ana Ivanovic leads WTA race with 2761
points, so does Nadal ATP race for 2008.
Those facts cannot be ignored.Ana is more than two hundred points ahead of Maria and Serena and practically already qualified for Doha.
???? Player of the year and the season is not over?? I dont see her as Player of the Year at all. What do they base it on? Good looks? Bubbly personality? Zvonoreva has made a tremendous return from injury. Young Aga Radwanska continues her fine form. I see the commercial sector promoting a new “WTA Poster Girl” here.
milanolino,
Lead is not merely looking at the points the players have accumulated, we also have to look at the number of tourneys they had entered. Ivanovic has played 10 tournaments so far this year, while Maria and Serena with just 8 tourneys apiece. Take for example Jankovic, she is on the top 2 but that is because she already played 12 tournaments and out of those 12, she only has won one!
milanolino,
Lead is not merely looking at the points the players have accumulated, we also have to look at the number of tourneys they had entered. Ivanovic has played 10 tournaments so far this year, while Maria and Serena with just 8 tourneys apiece. Take for example Jankovic, she is on the top 2 but that is because she already played 12 tournaments and out of those 12, she only has won one!
And on the men’s side, it’s obvious that Nadal is the best player of the season so far, he already has won multiple titles aside from his 2 GS.
I don’t know what are their bases in naming someone as the best player of the year, whether it’s partly 2007 and partly 2008 performance or not, but an award that says “Women’s Tennis Player of the Year 2008″ should only be awarded when the 2008 season is finished because the WTA calendar is still pretty long.
One does not become world Numero Uno
just by goood looking.Ana leads ranking and race points so far in 2008.
The final chapter for 2008 will close in
october in Doha.We will see then, but until
now The Good Looking is The Best!
All of them: Maria, Serena,Agnjeska are
great players and super stars, but did not aquire enough points to be the best so far in
2008.
Hard working Ana did!
Good looks is just a bonus….
milanolino,
You’re comments are becoming increasingly vapid. Good-looking??? If you like Ivanovic’s looks – that’s your thing. Why are you mentioning it in a thread about performance? It’s clear that you’re an Ivanovic fanatic and that you’re unwilling, or unable, to assess this clearly.
Pov.
I did mention “good looks” in order to reply
to certain JimM who elaborated on this topic
earlier on this post which you obviously
overlooked.
milanolino,
I did overlook that. My apologies to you. In that context your comments are understandable and appropriate.