WTA Rivalries (old and new)

[tossip]

it will so sad for pova to say she is no.1 after losing 18times....sounds hollow
Serena must skip the asian swing and just go to YEC...on the other hand if she wins the grand slam the appearance fees will be out of this world..

 

[tossip]

RE: Rankings

Serena has broken a lot of records this year....one is the longest beatdown of one player in the history of WTA..12YEARS and still going strong.
and a h2h total of 34wins vs 5wins against two belarussians..

 

[GameSetAndMath]

RE: Rankings

Serena has broken a lot of records this year....one is the longest beatdown of one player in the history of WTA..12YEARS and still going strong.
and a h2h total of 34wins vs 5wins against two belarussians..

Are you sure of the first record that you are mentioning. The reason that I am asking is it is only 10 years and six months.

 

[Jelenafan]

RE: Rankings

If we just cover the time span when the beatdowns began:

The Martina N/Pam Shriver beatdowns (29 straight) were from 1982 AO (then played in Dec) 1982 through the 1992 San Antonio WTA tourney (March) which would be about 9 years, 3 months.

Chris Evert/Virgina Rizici (23 straight) was 1974 FO (May) to Hilton Head 1985 (April?) for a period of 10 years, 11 months.

Serena beat Maria in the 2005 AO(Jan) and now in the Wimbledon SF (July) so that is a period of 10 years, 6 months.

I think Virgina R. was a Major winner (FO one of the years Chris didn't play because of WTT).

The Serena/Maria beatdown is unique because Maria is a 5 time Major winner/and the current #2 ranked tennis player in the world, so it's unheard of for players of that caliber to have such a huge disparity for 10+ years. Even Borg didn't beat Connors for more than a couple of years without a loss, ditto Chris versus Martina N. when they were overmatched.

Serena doesn't have that kind of lopsided record with her other major competitors, namely Venus, Jenifer Capriati, Martina Hingis, Kim Clijsters, Lindsay Davenport, Justine Henin and even recent players like Viktoria Azarenka, who has beaten Serena 3 times in the last 5-6 years.

 

[tossip]

RE: Rankings

Serena owned Clijsters 7-2..Mauresmo i think 11-1 Azarenka has not beaten Serena since 2013 and has lost six or seven times since then...she lost 2 USA Open finals to Serena and since she hooked up with Sascha she has lost three successive times twice at slams..just hope she doesnt become bitter like Momo...Serena used to give Amelie this little pat on the back ,it was very funny...Davenport was also a pigeon of Serena...
pova and vika play a game that Serena grew up on so it will be difficult for them because Serena knows there will not be variety...she struggles with players that make her run faster and keep the ball in play,
Vika tries really hard to keep up with Serena and cannot keep up for three sets...

 

[Jelenafan]

RE: Rankings

Im not saying that Serena doesn't have impressive head to head records with most of her rivals (with Venus the only one who has 10 + wins over her) such as Amelie and Vika, However only the Maria head2head spans an undefeated record for 10 years.

Sidenote: Serena's record with Justine Henin is the most competitive, sure she has a 8-6 advantage, but Justine is 4-3 in Major matches and IIRC Justine is still the only WTA player who has beaten Serena in 3 different Majors in 3 different surfaces. (W-grass, FO-clay, USO-HC)

 

[Kirijax]

RE: Rankings

Venus is my choice, but who do you think will go down as Serena's greatest rival? Would you chose Henin over Venus?

 

[jhar26]

RE: Rankings

Venus is my choice, but who do you think will go down as Serena's greatest rival? Would you chose Henin over Venus?

If we just play the numbers game it's probably Venus. But when it comes to the grudge matches, the "unfriendly" rivalries, or those where there's a little bit of spice added to the mix my votes would go to Capriati, Henin and Hingis.

 

[Sundaymorningguy]

RE: Rankings

I don't know out of those who have played her. I preferred her matches with Jennifer most of those were just great matches and some of the most tension filled moments. You really didn't know who was going to win when that third set hit.

 

[kskate2]

RE: Rankings

Of the other active players not mentioned, JJ is the only other one that has at least 3 wins and there's always tension and drama when they play. And now you have to add Cornet to the pot as she has 3 wins too.

 

[Kirijax]

RE: Rankings

After Seles was stabbed, did Graf really have a true rival? Sure there was Sabatini and Sanchez, but I never really felt like they were true rivals. Better than anything Serena has had since Henin retired I suppose...

 

[kskate2]

RE: Rankings

After Seles was stabbed, did Graf really have a true rival? Sure there was Sabatini and Sanchez, but I never really felt like they were true rivals. Better than anything Serena has had since Henin retired I suppose...

It seems more like a collective now. A few players being able to push her, challenge her and put something on her mind, but no one that can beat her consistently when she's playing decent.

 

[Jelenafan]

RE: Rankings

Serena's career (so far) has spanned 17/18 years, from 1998 t0 2015. Other than Venus, she has either lasted longer than earlier older or contemporary rivals or has had recent younger rivals come on the scene. The only other long term rival completely within her era that's lasted 10 years has been Maria Sharapova and we all know how that has turned out.

 

[jhar26]

RE: Rankings

Serena's career (so far) has spanned 17/18 years, from 1998 t0 2015. Other than Venus, she has either lasted longer than earlier older or contemporary rivals or has had recent younger rivals come on the scene. The only other long term rival completely within her era that's lasted 10 years has been Maria Sharapova and we all know how that has turned out.

I actually think that if some divine entity were to pay Maria a visit and say to her, "Listen here Maria. You can either choose to win another major in 2016, or we can give you a couple of wins over Serena" that it's likely that she would choose the wins over Serena. Of course she would love to get her hands on that sixth major title, but to future generations five or six won't make that much of a difference in how she'll be regarded. But a few wins over Serena might. But it would have to happen while Serena is still at her seemingly never ending peak. Wins over a badly declining Serena wouldn't matter that much. I'm just making conversation though, because we all know that it's not gonna happen.

 

[sk310]

RE: Rankings

After Seles was stabbed, did Graf really have a true rival? Sure there was Sabatini and Sanchez, but I never really felt like they were true rivals. Better than anything Serena has had since Henin retired I suppose...

This is an argument I absolutely hate. It's some how become accepted knowledge that Serena has had "no real competition" as other players in earlier generations did. I think that only extends to Martina and Chrissy. If you look at Steffi she played Martina at the tail end of Martina's dominance, Monica for a few years before the stabbing, and then was free to dominate as everyone else had at most 3 slams.

Serena has existed entirely within the generations of Venus 7 slams, Henin 7 slams and Sharapova 5 slams. Of the top 10 in the all time slam leaders Serena played for all or part of 6 of their careers. Of the top 10 in the all time slam leaders Steffi played for all or part of only 5 of their careers. 6 if you include Evert who retired in 1989.

 

[Jelenafan]

RE: Rankings

One of the reasons that younger prodigies don't pop out in the WTA, besides the age eligibility rules enforced, is that power is more part and parcel of the womens game. Maybe some women lack real punch on their serves, but even so called counter punchers these days can really punish the ball. That is why the women have upsets of the top 5 in Major tournaments more often than not.

So to say the Serena has no rivals is debatable, but I would argue the depth overall in womens tennis is greater than ever.

It's funny, but when the WTA would have most of the top seeds come through it was proof of the lack of depth in womens tennis and now with more upsets it's proof that the womens game is full of mental midgets.

Serena's current domination is impressive because she has shown that it's not always a cake walk, but somehow she pulls those wins off.

 

[sk310]

RE: Rankings

One of the reasons that younger prodigies don't pop out in the WTA, besides the age eligibility rules enforced, is that power is more part and parcel of the womens game. Maybe some women lack real punch on their serves, but even so called counter punchers these days can really punish the ball. That is why the women have upsets of the top 5 in Major tournaments more often than not.

So to say the Serena has no rivals is debatable, but I would argue the depth overall in womens tennis is greater than ever.

It's funny, but when the WTA would have most of the top seeds come through it was proof of the lack of depth in womens tennis and now with more upsets it's proof that the womens game is full of mental midgets.

Serena's current domination is impressive because she has shown that it's not always a cake walk, but somehow she pulls those wins off.

Thats a good point. If Martina could win THAT many singles titles (outside slams) what does it say about the actual field she faced? Imagine the strain it would put on a player in 2015 to win that many titles. IT's still amazing that Martina did it, but says a lot about the field.

I still mostly blame age eligibility rules for the change in maturation of players. IT's just so clear to me when you see that the last player grandfathered into the old age eligibility rules was Maria and those who went pro at that age/time.

 

[tossip]

RE: Rankings

its not Serena s fault that these girls are more worried about getting endorsements instead of playing to win...after what Aga s coach said I dont blame Serena for getting all that money lying idle on tour.Serena so far has made $9mil on tour alone in 2015 and yet some of these girls who want to look like models cant break even..she has made $39mil on the WTA since she came back from the embolism break...she setting records and making big bucks in the process...thats very smart and might reach $80mil total earnings next year..
Serena is setting herself up for life after tennis...all these records she is setting will keep her earning money long after she is retired.Their compelling story will be talked about long after they have retired,its for the history books...she will be talked about as the most compelling talented confident player that ever lived.She can be a motivational speaker and earn a lot of money..the sky is the limit for Rena,
I dont want to see her coaching these spoilt brats or doing commentary work because she has to earn a living...

 

[Fiero425]

its not Serena s fault that these girls are more worried about getting endorsements instead of playing to win...after what Aga s coach said I dont blame Serena for getting all that money lying idle on tour.Serena so far has made $9mil on tour alone in 2015 and yet some of these girls who want to look like models cant break even..she has made $39mil on the WTA since she came back from the embolism break...she setting records and making big bucks in the process...thats very smart and might reach $80mil total earnings next year..
Serena is setting herself up for life after tennis...all these records she is setting will keep her earning money long after she is retired.Their compelling story will be talked about long after they have retired,its for the history books...she will be talked about as the most compelling talented confident player that ever lived.She can be a motivational speaker and earn a lot of money..the sky is the limit for Rena,
I dont want to see her coaching these spoilt brats or doing commentary work because she has to earn a living...

Whenever I talk tennis records, I NEVER invoke or muse about money since it's all relative! Back "in the day," the top 10 got to maybe $200,000 a season, the next 10 in the $100,000 mark, with a big drop off after that! You can make that in a month and not win anything these days! Nole's cleaning up now, but besides his winning, the amounts have almost doubled in the last several years! He will pass both Rafa and Roger even without as many major wins due to inflation! I had the same debate concerning Navratilova and her record amount of $20+ million, but Graf came along when prize money seriously jumped in the 90's! Now Serena's ruling it all and should hold onto records for years to come; except we all know players like Sharapova and Kornikova clean up OFF the court because of their physical beauty; something Serena won't ever have to worry about! :nono :angel:

 

[tossip]

I dont think Serena cares about how much pova makes because she is very rich herself.I think its the disrespect she gets from the tennis media that probably bothers her...
Anna has faded just like pova will fade...beauty is just skin deep.I stopped liking Anna when she was on Biggest Loser,didnt like the way she treated and talked to the contestants...who knows Enrique might dump her and get a young latina.
I think Serena is very attractive with her curves and big smile....she seems to have a fun personality and her team always seem to be enjoying themselves.
on the other hand pova s team look so miserable they wear same clothes and watches....