I concur that Sveta might get another chance at a Slam if she keeps this new-found positivity. I’ll be watching with interest to see how she looks in the run-up to the French. As I said before, I think defending that title will be a very big ask, but hopefully she’ll stay fit and positive and cause some problems for Henin and the other favourites.

As for your poignant question on Sharapova, Henin and Clijsters potentially making it back into the top 10, it’s certainly a tough one to predict. With the clay court season starting shortly, I think Henin has a real opportunity to rise meteorically up the rankings on her favourite surface with no points to defend. The extent of Clijsters’ resurgence, on the other hand, is less certain and her loss to Petrova in Melbourne was the worst scoreline she’d ever lost a match by. The next few months will tell whether her dream-like run at the USO last year was a sign of things to come or not. Lastly, I’m going to predict that Sharapova does regain her top-10 status, but only because the last time I wrote her off as past her best (end of 2007), she came back and won the Oz Open! As in the case of Sveta, it’s easy to forget how young Maria is, and how many more years she still has to experience dips in form and comebacks.

Thanks for your very observant comments. You’re right, 2010 does promise to be a lot more competitive and challenging across the top-10. I wonder if Sharapova, Henin, and Clijsters can all get back there?

I’m not sure that Svetlana’s loss against Kulikova is significant. Part of Kuznetsova being an opportunist is that she’ll put all losses behind her when the door is open.

With her we know that if the confidence grows she can be a factor against anyone. I’d say that she’s having a temporary dip in confidence, and that’s natural. The third set of the Petrova match is probably haunting her a bit, as she didn’t really do much competing in that set.

4.5 years between Slams is a long time, but I feel that if Kuznetsova stays positive and relaxed, she may get a chance to win another one sooner rather than later.

However, I think things will get tougher for her now (along with all the other top players), partly thanks to the Belgian resurgence. Sveta, I think, is an opportunist. She masterfully took her chances against Serena in the semis of RG last year and then used her experience and comparative mental stability to ease past the notoriously-fragile Safina in the final. And good for her! But it’s hard to imagine her repeating that success at the French now that Justine is back in the mix. And on hard courts, both Kim and Justine have already proven they’re a force to be reckoned with, post-retirement. I think the women’s tour in 2010 will be a lot tougher — not to mention a lot more exciting — than it was in 2009. Hopefully we can expect GS finals that are a little more entertaining than Sveta’s (admittedly brilliant) demolition of Safina.

Finally, and I’m sure this must have only occurred a day after you finished writing your post, Svetlana has just lost to a qualifier (Regina Kulikova) in the third round of Dubai. Significant? Maybe, maybe not… but it again illustrates the challenge that the world’s top 5 will have to face this year, not just from the revitalized Belgians but also from the plethora of up-and-coming Russians who are beginning to make noise on the tour.