2009 Year End Review The Women, No.’s 21-30 and Other Notables
By Matthew Cronin, TennisReporters.net 2010 could spell the end of Amelie.
Thus begins a review of the women’s and men’s top 30s, plus
other notables. The women are being reviewed first as their season is
over, while the men have yet to play their year-end championships.
21 Amelie Mauresmo: The veteran Frenchwoman put in a
substantial effort much of the year and had very little to show for it
given her own expectations. That third Slam title is now even more elusive
and a 2010 retirement is probable.
22 Ana Ivanovic: The sweet Serbian had the most precipitous
fall for a former No. 1 and Slam champ that we’ve seen in the Open
Era. AI has the weapons to climb back again, but she’s very confused
about how to do it.
23 Sabine Lisicki: If she can stay healthy, the German
is a top 10 player to be. She needs to refine her game a bit, but her
power is ultra impressive.
24 Elena Vesnina: Outside of Svetlana Kuznetsova’s
amazing Roland Garros run, this was a down year for the Russians, except
in the case of Vesnina, who showed that she’s more than just another
pretty blonde with a sizeable backhand.
25 Daniela Hantuchova: The Slovak veteran seems happy
off court, but she took a big step backward on court this year and may
never re-enter the top 20 again.
26 Aravane Rezai: Perhaps the best thing about the B-level
Championships in Bali was it showed just how much this fiery Frenchwoman
has improved. Once an afterthought to Marion Bartoli and Alize Cornet,
she just may end 2010 as her nation’s top player.
27 Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez: The lefty serve and volleyer
took a huge step up in singles this season and if she can improve her
movement and consistency off the ground, she’ll be Spain’s
greatest threat next year.
28 Anabel Media Garrigues: The veteran Spaniard won’t
go down quietly, but she has a limited attack and is better suited for
doubles heroics.
29 Alisa Kleybanova: It’s hard to get a read on
this tall and strong Russian. She can club the ball, but she needs to
improve her conditioning and court awareness.
30 Dominica Cibulkova: The Slovakian sparkplug had an
excellent year until she was injured in the late summer and then slid
downward. But she’s ambitious and gutsy and that counts for a lot.
Outside of the top 30, we saw notable improvement from Shahar Peer, the
Bondarenko sisters (especially Kateryna), Gisela Dulko, Magdalena Rybarikova
Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, Sorana Cirstea, Melanie Oudin, Britain’s
Katie O’Brien and Elena Baltacha, but saw slippage from Carla Suarez
Navarro, Aleksandra Wozniak, Jie Zheng, Agnes Szavay, Lucie Safarova,
Patty Schnyder (may retire soon), Alize Cornet (arguably took a worse
fall than Ivanovic), Sybille Bammer, Maria Kirilenko and Anna Chakvetadze.
It’s anyone’s guess as to how Jelena Dokic, Sania Mirza and
Anne Keothavong will respond physically next year.
Michelle Larcher de Brito, Karolina Sprem, Sesil Karantancheva and Bethanie
Mattek-Sands, please pick up the white courtesy phone, we are unable to
locate the direction of your careers.
