Top five moments in women’s tennis 2010
With the WTA season now complete, it’s time to reflect on the lasting memories of the year. In no particular order, here are five events that helped to shape women’s tennis in 2010.
Francesca Schiavone becomes an unlikely Grand Slam champion
At the beginning of the 2010 season, Schiavone seemed destined to be remembered as somewhat of a journeywoman, one of the last proponents of a single-handed backhand, an integral component of Italy’s successful Fed Cup team.
It all changed at the French Open.
Sam Stosur had carved a path through the field with consecutive defeats of former champions Justine Henin and Serena Williams, and followed that with a semi-final win over former world No. 1 Jelena Jankovic, but in the end it was a determined Italian fast approaching her 30th birthday that proved one step too far for Stosur.
In a final between two players who had never before been that close to becoming a Grand Slam champion, it was Schiavone who retained the composure that had seen her outplay Caroline Wozniacki in the quarter-finals to take the victory, and yes, plant yet another kiss on the red clay courts of Roland Garros.
Caroline Wozniacki steals world No. 1 ranking from Serena Williams
There was a point in the season when Venus Williams was talking up her chances of taking the world No. 1 ranking from her sister, but as both spent most of the second half of the season wrapped in cotton wool attending to their respective injury woes, it was Wozniacki who actually managed to do it.
The 20-year-old ascended to the season-ending No. 1 position after an impressive title-winning run in the latter stages of the season, and in the post-Wimbledon tournaments was only defeated four times (twice at the WTA Championships) and claimed an impressive five titles.
While Wozniacki still needs a Grand Slam title or 13 to prove she’s actually the world’s best player (few would argue that a fit Serena still holds that mantle) no-one can argue that she’s not been the most consistently successful outside the majors this year.
Kim Clijsters defends her US Open crown
The fairytale came true at Flushing Meadows in 2009 when Clijsters won the US Open title just three tournaments into her comeback, but this year the mum-of-one proved she could handle the expectations of returning as defending champion, sweeping aside Vera Zvonareva (who’d also finished as runner-up to Serena Williams at Wimbledon) in the final.
It was a victory that confirmed that Clijsters version two is a proven big game performer – even if her performances at the Australian Open and Wimbledon (she missed Roland Garros through injury) were comparatively underwhelming. And if any more proof was needed she fronted up to the WTA Championships at the end of the season without having played a match since the US Open final and won the title.
Justine Henin returns and Elena Dementieva retires
After shocking the tennis world with her retirement in May 2008, Justine Henin returned to competition this season and was quick to make an impact, reaching the final in her first tournament back, the Brisbane International, only to lose to Kim Clijsters. The former world No. 1 followed that with a runner-up finish to Serena Williams in the final of the Australian Open final.
In the end it was to be as close as Henin would come to Grand Slam glory in her first year back on tour, and her season would ultimately be cut short by an elbow injury sustained in yet another loss to Clijsters, this time in the fourth round at Wimbledon.
Yes, she’d go on to win two WTA Tour titles, but if there was one match that showed just why it’s good to have Justine back on the scene, it was perhaps that second round win over Dementieva at Melbourne Park, where in a high-class match, and epic battle, from start to finish Henin showcased her magical one-handed backhand and superb touch in an exhibition of all court play that only just shaded the efforts of the athletic Dementieva and her armoury of damaging groundstrokes.
As it turns out, that was to be the 2008 Olympic gold medallist’s last visit to Melbourne Park as a player, with the 29-year-old announcing her retirement at the WTA Tour Championships at the end of October, ending the career of a player many regarded as the best active player never to have won a Grand Slam title. She will be missed.
Ana Ivanovic rediscovers long lost form
After spending the best part of two seasons in the doldrums, with her ranking earlier this season falling to a long-time low of world No. 65, Ivanovic finished the season by winning her first title in two years at the Generali Ladies Linz this autumn, and followed it with victory at the WTA Tournament of Champions in Bali.
They are victories that may have passed the casual tennis fan by, but the 2008 French Open champion’s renewed confidence in her game - and with that blistering forehand there’s every reason to believe in it – has already seen her return to the top-20 and should bode well for better things in 2011 too.
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