- 24 Okt 2009, 11:17
#1667719
Breakthroughs on the Big Stage
Serena Williams, Venus Williams and French Open holder Svetlana Kuznetsova will be the only former Grand Slam champions in the field at Doha, which means Dinara Safina, Elena Dementieva, Caroline Wozniacki and Victoria Azarenka will be looking to join a select group that has enjoyed SEC success before capturing one of the Big Four majors.
Four-time champion Chris Evert first did it at the inaugural staging on the clay of Boca Raton in 1972, two years before her maiden major at Roland Garros, while Gabriela Sabatini won at Madison Square Garden two years before she won at Flushing Meadows in 1990. Likewise Jana Novotna beat Mary Pierce for the SEC title in 1997, the year before she captured her cherished Wimbledon title on her third visit to the final.
But among the current crop of hopefuls, former world No.1 Safina, in particular, might take heart from the more recent examples of Kim Clijsters and Amélie Mauresmo.
Clijsters won the year-end championships in 2002 and 2003, when they were held in Los Angeles, before finally winning her first US Open title in 2005. Mauresmo was victorious in LA at the end of 2005, and carried the momentum to Melbourne at the start of 2006, where she won the Australian Open - not to mention Wimbledon six months later. Both Clijsters and Mauresmo held the No.1 ranking before they had tasted Grand Slam glory, and SEC success was certainly a contributing factor in their respective rises. (Mauresmo remains the last player to win the SEC in a year when she didn't win a Grand Slam.)
In any case, should a first-time champion emerge, it will be a good omen for her career: The only player ever to have won the season-ending championships but never a Grand Slam title is Geman lefty Sylvia Hanika, who upset Martina Navratilova in the 1982 final.
In fact, among retired players, just four players who never won a Grand Slam singles title have even made the final at the Championships. Andrea Jaeger fell to Navratilova in 1981; Helena Sukova fell to Navratilova in 1985; Pam Shriver fell to Sabatini in 1988; and Anke Huber pushed Steffi Graf to five sets in 1995. Last year's runner-up, Vera Zvonareva, won't want to join this group - but the 25-year-old has time on her side.
Veterans and Debutantes
This year there will be at least two debutantes in the field at Doha: Wozniacki and Azarenka. At just under 19 years, 4 months of age, Wozniacki will be the youngest member of the field - but she's a Tour veteran compared to some of her predecessors. Jennifer Capriati holds the record for youthful splashes, making her debut in 1990 at 14 years, 7 months, while Jaeger, Kathy Rinaldi, Sabatini and Monica Seles were all 15 when they made their respective debuts in the 1980s.
Wozniacki and Azarenka will be gunning to become just the third player to win the SEC on debut, after Serena (2001) and Maria Sharapova (2004). Sharapova was, in fact, only the fifth player to reach the final on her first appearance. But even if she wins Wozniacki won't be breaking any age records. Youngest of them all, Seles was just 16 years, 11 months old when she captured the first of a hat-trick of titles in 1990. Tracy Austin (1980), Sharapova and Evert were all 17 when they triumphed - as, indeed, was Seles when she successfully defended her crown in 1991.
Wozniacki can, however, become the first Danish SEC champ, while Azarenka would become the first woman from Belarus to win the singles. Her compatriot, Natasha Zvereva, won the doubles in 1993 and 1994 with Gigi Fernandez, and in 1998 with Lindsay Davenport. Surprisingly, only one Russian - Sharapova - has ever taken the title, but the odds will be stacked in their favor with at least three representatives again this year. To date the event has been won by women from 10 different countries.
Although the 2009 line-up is relatively mature, this year's event won't break any records at the other end of the age spectrum, either. Should Venus successfully defend her crown, she'll be 29 years, 4 months, making her the third oldest champion. Navratilova won the event both times it was held in 1996 due to an overhaul of the tournament calendar: She was 29 years, 5 months when she lifted the trophy in the March, and 30 years, 1 month when she did so again in the November.
In terms of appearances, Venus will have to keep going rather longer of she wants to catch Navratilova, who contested the SEC for the final time in 1994, shortly after her 38th birthday. But Billie Jean King, arguably the greatest player never to win the event, holds the record for longevity: the Tour legend finally made her last appearance in 1983 at 39 years, 4 months.
It's Been a Long Time, Baby
Venus is aiming to become the seventh player to successfully defend at the SEC, something Justine Henin managed in 2006 and 2007.
But with her sister, Serena, Venus will be striving for something more rare: victory in both the singles and doubles in the same year. The last player to do the double was Martina Hingis, who won the second of her two SEC singles titles in 2000, as well as a second doubles title, partnering with Anna Kournikova. The only other player to achieve the feat is Navratilova, who did so a spectacular five times in the 1980s, ably assisted by Shriver.
Speaking of Serena, should the 28-year-old prevail at the SEC for the first time since 2001, her win will represent the longest-ever gap between triumphs. After first lifting the trophy in 1988, Sabatini waited six years before doing it again in 1994. But the player who spread her success over the longest period was Graf, who won the SEC four times in the 10 years from 1987 to 1996; Navratilova reigned eight times in nine years, including those two wins in 1986.
And should Serena deliver in Doha this year (the SEC's No.1 seed has emerged victorious on 20 occasions since 1972) she'll become the first player to win two Grand Slams and the SEC in the same year since Henin, who won at Roland Garros and the US Open in 2007, as well as the Sony Ericsson Championships in Madrid.
Whether or not Henin can repeat history in 2010 remains to be seen, but for now there is no shortage of contenders in what is surely one of the hardest-to-call fields ever.
Venus ne samo da snazno udara nego se i savrseno krece i savrseno igra relije. Ovako je igrala i na vrhuncu svoje karijere i zato sam je voleo. Njeni izlasci na mrezu su umetnost.
) sto znaci da su VEOMA odmorne i rehabilitovane, a + igraju i u dublu u Dohi, te ce dodatno pojacavati medjusobnu sestrinsku (si)energiju.
)
) je u poslenja tri meča izgubila od 72, 132, 226, a Azarenka nikad nije bila problem.
