With the curtain coming down on the tennis calendar, I thought it appropriate to reflect on a stellar year for the women’s game.
In 2011, the four slams were won by 4 different players, including the first winner from Asia, Li Na (or is it Na Li?) at the French in June, and the long drought for Aussie women was broken by Samantha Stosur in September at the US Open.
At the Australian Open in January, Stosur was beaten in the third round by the somewhat unheralded Petra Kvitova.
That win was a forerunner of things to come as Kvitova went on to win six titles in the year, including Wimbledon and, more recently, the season ending championships in Istanbul to finish the year as world number two to Caroline Wozniacki.
Wozniacki also won six titles this year and her first grand slam title cannot be far off.
We saw the resurgence of German tennis with Lisicki, Görges and Petkovic each making their mark (no pun intended), plus the usual Stoli (best collective noun I could think of) of Russians, notably Sharapova, Kirilenko and Zvonareva.
Throw Radwanska, Azarenka, Ivanovic, and Bartoli into the mix and it was certainly one of the more competitive seasons in some time.
Whilst the men’s game has been dominated by one player in 2011, the women’s has proved exciting, unpredictable and very watchable.
With a situation similar to Tiger Woods’ previous domination of mens golf, Serena Williams, when fit and motivated, is the best player in the world by some distance.
But when she’s not, there are at least a dozen evenly matched women battling it out for tournaments each week.
Predicting the slam winners for 2012 is certainly anyone’s guess. But if it’s anything like this year, serve it up, I say!
Whether it’s aces or races, try out Aussie bookmaker PlayUp for great odds and a great punting experience. Chances are you’re about to lose. Set a deposit limit.
Rafael Nadal has hailed the brilliance of Alex de Minaur, calling him "a great player" after the Australian forced the Spanish legend to say…
The clay season promises to be one of high level and tight margins. With the Monte Carlo open just around the corner, it will…
In incredible scenes, defending champion Carlos Alcaraz's quarter-final clash with Alexander Zverev at Indian Wells was halted abruptly due to a "bee invasion." Less…
Marathon man Jordan Thompson has finally clinched his first ATP Tour title, with the Australian upsetting Norwegian Casper Ruud to lift the trophy in…
Alex de Minaur has earned the perfect 25th birthday present, booking a place in the final of the Rotterdam Open with an emphatic revenge…
While watching the recent Australian Tennis Open I became obsessively fixated on the same thought. Why has no one done a television biopic or…
