Serena Williams could capture the No.1 ranking again

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Serena WilliamsDinara Safina

Serena Williams has another chance to overtake Dinara Safina at the top of the rankings. The one who goes further at the ongoing China Open will be No.1 after the tournament.

Both the No.1 Safina and the No.2 Williams progressed to the second round of the $4.5-million, Premier-level event. Safina defeated Roberta Vinci 6-4 6-4, while Williams followed with a 7-5 6-4 victory over Kaia Kanepi.

If Serena doesn’t do it this time, I think it would be fair for her and the rest of the world to completely stop discussing Dinara and her top ranking. Am I right? (photos: our reader Jacob)

20 COMMENTS

  1. I would love for Serena to become world number 1 again! However, i would still like Dinara to stay in the top area, and for her to win a glandslam! I also think, if Dinara does win a major title, she will become a better player emotionally and physically. Do you agree?

  2. Umm, no, you’re wrong.

    It is simply INSANE that someone who is currently the defending champion of TWO grand slams is lower in the rankings than someone who has NO Grand Slams for the year, especially since player beat the other player in one of those finals!

    No one really cares how many weeks Safina is at #1 (or Jankovic for that matter) if they never win a major then they will be footnotes in the histor books. Period.

  3. Everyone goes about this #1 ranking as if Serena brought it up herself. She was asked a question (after Dinara took over) if she thought of herself as the number 2 player; of course, she said no; but she also said she feels as if nobody can beat her when she’s on her top game, so of course, clearly, she’s beaten top players when they thought they had their victories in the bag, and that makes her #1 in the world. The same journalists ran that over to Dinara saying ‘well, Serena thinks she’s better than you and that she deserves everything including to be #1 blah blah blah’…Dinara responded to this, and since then, especially after she bombed miserably at RG, no one has been able to shut up about it.

    Bottom line, tournies after slams offer too many points (…what I really mean is, too many tournies after slams carry unnessary prestige, hence, the huge number of points you can gain if you keep making QF after QF to slide your way into the top 10 and eventually, #1 spot. Hingis did it for years, the only difference with her was she already won slams, so it’s not the same situation as Dinara and Jelena). If you compare the WTA points with the ATP tour you will see a stark difference in how they separate big tournies from the smaller ones. Of course Serena can’t just come out and say this, but the other top 10ers play at least 18-24 tournies a season when they only need to commit to 16 a season (and then they bitch and moan about injuries and fatigue…oh hey Jankovic, Wozniacki, and Dementieva).

  4. Must we re-visit this debate again? I am a quintessential proponent of Dina, but even, I am eventually bored and tired of it.

    Bottom line, whomever should deserve Wo. 1 is subjective, but the points have favoured Dina who, if I dare say, does her due as a tennis player and is ACTUALLY BOTHERED TO DRAG HERSELF TO THE COURT ASIDE FROM THE FOUR GRAND SLAMS.

    I understand the whole pro-Serena debate that she is ‘better’ than Dina, and we musn’t forget that, but on the other hand I would not want our Wo.1 to only be present on the four grand slams of the year, where the golden points are available on offer. Dina on the other hand, is a technically weaker athlete but is hard working and persevering, and we see her more often. Poor Serena, cannot attend the ‘smaller’ tourneys, as she is suffering from a ‘hamstring/leg/thigh/unexplained’ injury. Sorry, that doesn’t cut it.

    Dina’s qualities, I believe transcend any momentary display of Grand Slam excellence, don’t you think? But of course whether she deserves it is solely up to you.

    I’m jealous, however, I took approx a hundred pics and none of them were better than the photos above. 🙁

  5. Mad Professah, I think Safina can rest now after this latest embarrassing loss.

    Jacob, Safina will win a major when she becomes emotionally stronger. And I hope you’ll get us more pics from your privileged seats next year. 😉

    Ella, I understand your point. Oh… now I’m kind of happy that Serena will finally be No.1 again, I want those discussions to be stopped, at least for a while. If she loses to Makarova I’ll kill myself. 😛

    Zuleika, you should see my Fed Cup pics. You would feel better.

  6. I dont think its Serena who is fuelling the no.1 debate,its the media that is always asking the players about the ranking.I think Serena doesnt necessarily wants to be no.1 above all else,she will probably be happy winning slams and making more money,if the ranking comes it comes but her primary goal I think is to equal BJK or better.

  7. Flyto, I think Serena would like to be No.1, but she’s not desperate to regain the top ranking.

    Jacob, I read your comment just as I once again said that I would kill myself. 😛 You mean university? I’ve kind of forgotten about it. :/ I’m working a lot.

  8. Haha i thought that! Yes Uni! Forgotten! Come on! My brother is doing his masters, he says his over it now. Haha. I start year 12 in two weeks, wow! I’m over school already. Hey guess what, I’m going to europe next year in november, i’ll totally come to serbia 🙂

    (maybe/hopefully)

  9. btw marija, do we know why the wta website only to highlights to some tournaments, and not others. its so annoying. i wanna watch the china open – its not even on pay tv!!!!

  10. Jacob, you thought that? Really? Oh no, then this is really getting serious, I should wake up and continue working on my thesis.

    Wow, that’s cool! A few weeks ago I met a guy from Sydney in my city. 😉

    About the WTA, well, it’s the best to ask them. We all have our drawbacks I guess. 😛

  11. I don’t know… I like it. It’s not that strange to me actually, because I think I’ve heard it before, a bit on TV and on the Internet. Or maybe he tried to speak without accent… 🙂 I remember him saying “bloke”, that’s purely Australian, right?

  12. Yes amongst ‘gorgeous’, ‘G’day mate’ and others. Well that’s right you would’ve heard it from Aussie tennis players… that is if they had enough coverage these days. 🙁

  13. It’s ‘Good-day mate’, but phonetically shortened because here we’re known for our laid back, lazy approach to life, [not everyone though! Thank god] so we can’t be bothered to say ‘Good day’ but instead just G’day. If you say that quickly enough, it should have the same effect.

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