by Nadya Vlassoff
2010 ushers in the start of a new year and a new
tennis season and hopefully the fresh start fans
have been waiting for since the dismal and controversial
on-court year of 2009. The doping scandals, ranking
instability, and general lack of consistent play,
left not only insiders and critics under whelmed
but many tennis fans disappointed. However, while
several high-profile players were sidelined with
injuries in 2009, a new crop of stars gave tennis
fans several thrilling performances. Oddly enough,
despite the inconsistency, 2009 saw fans flock
to the Australian Open and U.S. Open in record
numbers, which means tennis is very much alive
in the hearts of fans for 2010. Hopefully, the
players on the WTA and ATP tours can rise to the
new occasion.
Looking back, 2009 saw the resurgence of Andy Roddick and the dominance of Roger Federer who won his fifteenth grand slam singles title to surpass the former mark set by Pete Sampras. Serena Williams continued to beat the odds and won two grand slams, but the biggest surprise was the return of Kim Clijsters who won the U.S. Open four years after her maiden slam title at Flushing Meadows. It was a triumphant return for one of the most talented players of the past decade after a two year hiatus from the WTA tour.
With 2009 now off the court and the 2010 now in full swing, there is indeed a lot to look forward to in a new year of tennis if all goes well and a few key pieces fall into place for the WTA and ATP.
Here are our Top 5 Expectations for the 2010 Tennis Season:
The return of Justine Henin
It
was quite possibly the most exciting news out
of the WTA in 2009 when Justine Henin officially
announced her return to competitive tennis.
It is certainly a welcome relief after the organization
got a much needed shot in the arm from fellow
Belgian, Kim Clijsters, last season and Henin's
return to the court has already had the tennis
world buzzing. With Clijsters and Henin back
in play, the WTA's top 10 sees the return of
validity in the rankings after an entire year
of squabbling among the so-called tennis elite.
Henin's sudden retirement only weeks before
the start of the 2007 French Open was a shock
for many as Justine was then ranked as the top
female player in the WTA. A seven-time grand
slam champion, Justine Henin has a winning record
against nearly every player on the current tour,
which amps up the competitive play for 2010.
Henin's departure left the WTA floundering and
it has yet to fully recover. It's interesting
to think that Henin may be the one fill the
gaping holes in the WTA after a two year layoff.
Although Serena Williams has clearly emerged as the dominant female player in the post-Henin years, her refusal to play certain events combined with growing tensions with several players has fuelled a juvenile style rivalry that WTA Commissioner, Stacey Allaster has done little to mediate. Henin was no saint prior to 2007 but Justine looks ready to start a new chapter as she settles into Australia. Although it's not Allaster's responsibility to ensure that all WTA players get along but the WTA head would be wise to look to David Stern of the NBA for how to deal with player conflict to bring back respectability, decorum and etiquette.
Expect to see plenty of firepower from the former Belgian dynamo who, in our opinion, is still just as powerful and dominant to take out any player on the WTA tour.
Will Venus Williams Win More than Wimbledon?
It's
a question many have asked that may not even
have a concrete answer but Venus Williams is
still one of the strongest grass court players
on the tour. After five singles titles at the
All England Club, Venus will turn 30 this year,
and after a heart-breaking loss to sister Serena
in last year's Wimbledon final, Venus needs
to step up her game or risk fading out of the
Top 10 faster than Amelie Mauresmo.
Venus, however, spent most the year ranked in the Top 5 and won in both Dubai and Acapulco. At the season-ending championship in Doha, Williams lost in the final Serena but it was a performance that punctuated just how strong an athlete Venus Williams still is as she gets older. With tendonitis in her knees, Venus will need to ensure that her 2010 tour schedule allows for enough rest but still has her slotted into the premier tournaments. Maybe this year Venus will be able to make it back into the quarter-finals, or semi-finals, of a grand slam tournament as the Australian Open kicks off 2010.
The Return of a Rivalry
It
may be one of the most confusing topics to discuss
in terms of the WTA, but for many spectators
in the sports world, the presence of a big rivalry
adds to the excitement and anticipation throughout
the entire season. Where would we be if the
Ohio State Buckeyes and Michigan Wolverines
didn't duke it out every year? How about Real
Madrid and FC Barcelona, or the Boston Red Sox
versus the New York Yankees? The list is endless
and tennis has seen its fair share of thrilling
rivalries, too. Borg and McEnroe, McEnroe versus
Lendl, Chris Everett Lloyd versus Martina Navratalova,
Steffi Graff versus Monica Seles, Pete Sampras
versus Andre Agassi, Venus and Serena, Roger
Federer and Rafael Nadal, the list of great
tennis rivalries is what we wait for each year.
However, in recent years the WTA has been painfully
lacking in big name rivalries to keep old fans
in the game and new fans interested.
Looking back at last season, the window for decent rivalries was small. Maria Sharapova was sidelined with injury for most of 2009, Henin had yet to return, and Kim Clijsters only came back near the end of the season. Dinara Safina was hardly a challenge for Serena Williams despite the fact that Safina maintained the #1 ranking for most of the year. It was an endless exchange of barbs between the two, mainly centering on the validity of the WTA's ranking system. Either way, the WTA failed to make its point with the revamped schedule and the so-called "mandatory" premiere events. Now with new commissioner Stacey Allaster taking over for Larry Scott, the WTA will have to find a way to encourage rivalries and do what it takes to give fans what they want to see in the sport and from the players. 2010 looks hopeful, with exciting new talent in the ranks and several marquee players returning to the tour. Let's just hope it's not a little too late to build a few much needed rivalries for the good of the game.
Deal or No Deal?Say what you will about Larry Scott and his decision to leave the WTA mid-season, but the now former commissioner was one of the biggest reasons that the WTA saw large growth in sponsorship money and maintained a sustainable fan base since 2003. It was Scott who engineered the 6-year, $88-million deal between Sony Ericsson and the WTA, which was vital to women's tennis. As a title sponsor, Sony Ericsson has been heavily branded throughout tennis, with a clever move at the season-ending championships, which is now called the Sony Ericsson Championships.
As of November 2009, however, no official extension has been signed on the original 2011 sponsorship agreement and without one at all, the WTA is headed toward another tenuous year. A dismal third quarter in net losses for the electronics giant also doesn't bode well for the WTA in an economically challenged era. Although the economic downturn impacted most industries, the WTA did have record attendance numbers at some events, although most of those were shared with the ATP. The current Sony Ericsson deal doesn't expire until 2011, the first year that the season ending championships is expected to be played in Istanbul. The ball is now in new WTA commissioner Stacey Allaster's court.
Doping? More like Duping
If
there was one huge sore spot in the 2009 season
(both tours), it was the fluctuating doping
rules and scandals. After the mockery that Richard
Gasquet made out of anti-doping regulations
when Gasquet failed a drug test for the Miami
Masters, we are sure that someone, somewhere
in the world Martina Hingis was having a fit,
and for good reason. Gasquet's drug test result
showed traces of cocaine, which resulted in
a ban from the game. However, Gasquet appealed
and successfully won after explaining to the
commissioner that the cocaine wound up in his
system because he kissed a woman in a nightclub
who had ingested the drug. When Martina Hingis
tested positive in 2007, she was banned for
two years even after going through another test
at a private clinic where both samples came
back negative. The ban effectively put the kibosh
on Hingis' comeback, a disappointing end to
a brilliant career.
Then Yanina Wickmayer and Xavier Malisse were suspended in 2009 for a year after both failed to file paperwork about their whereabouts. After a successful appeal, Wickmayer managed to get her focus back and recently won the title in Auckland, one of the many precursors to the Australian Open. However, thanks to the Flemish anti-doping tribunal that initially set the ban, Wickmayer will now have to play in the qualifying event the week before in order to grab one of the few wildcard spots left despite being ranked in the WTA's Top 20. We hope that 2010 proves to be less about double standards and more about the actual competition.
Now that the 2010 season is officially underway, tennis fans can settle in to watch the start of a new decade of budding superstars and current champions. Will the Federer - Nadal rivalry continue to flourish? Can Justine Henin dethrone Serena Williams? Who will be the new breakout stars of 2010? We can't wait to watch and find out. Game on!
