Archive for: World Number One
The reigning Australian Open junior champion is eligible to spend another two years bolstering his already impressive age record, if he wants to.
But, after mixing junior and senior events in roughly equal measure in 2008, the talented Gold Coast teenager would prefer to speed up his development by committing fully to the men’s circuit next year.
“I’ve started this year to play more and more (open) Futures and Challengers, but then again I’ve played also juniors,” German-born Tomic said.
“I think it’s time to put juniors away next year hopefully and just focus on Challenger level and Futures and getting my ranking up to where I want it to be.”
Tomic is the junior world No.3, with the two players ranked above him both about 18 months older.
In the senior rankings, he is 772.
While he hopes to steadily cut that number, he needs to rely on the generosity of officials if he is to play in ATP events or senior grand slams.
His chief aims for the coming summer are to make his ATP debut at the Brisbane International, starting January 4, and then play in the Australian Open later that month.
He will need wildcards for both, a prospect that remains uncertain, particularly given Tennis Australia’s recent emphasis on awarding wildcards on a merit basis, with Tomic only the 26th-ranked Australian man.
The Sony Ericsson WTA Tour has released the official 2008 season-ending tennis rankings.
Jelena Jankovic has ended the tennis year as the number one tennis player in the world, followed by Serena Williams, Dinara Safina, Elena Dementieva, and Ana Ivanovic.
2007 POINTS DROPPED ON NOVEMBER 10: Madrid (SEC)
Top 20 Rankings (November 10, 2008)
1. Jelena Jankovic – Serbia – 4710
2. Serena Williams – United States – 3866
3. Dinara Safina – Russia – 3817
4. Elena Dementieva – Russia – 3663
5. Ana Ivanovic – Serbia – 3457
6. Venus Williams – United States – 3272
7. Vera Zvonareva – Russia – 2952
8. Svetlana Kuznetsova – Russia – 2726
9. Maria Sharapova – Russia – 2515
10. Agnieszka Radwanska – Poland – 2286
11. Nadia Petrova – Russia – 1976
12. Caroline Wozniacki – Denmark – 1678
13. Flavia Pennetta – Italy – 1670
14. Patty Schnyder – Switzerland – 1590
15. Victoria Azarenka – Belarus – 1494
16. Alize Cornet – France – 1492
17. Marion Bartoli – France – 1410
18. Anna Chakvetadze – Russia – 1363
19. Dominika Cibulkova – Slovakia – 1337
20. Katarina Srebotnik – Slovakia – 1272
SONY ERICSSON WTA TOUR RANKINGS
The Sony Ericsson WTA Tour Rankings is the worldwide computer ranking for women’s professional tennis.
The ranking system is a 52-week, cumulative system in which the number of Tournament results that comprise a player’s ranking is capped at 17 Tournament results for Singles and 11 Tournament results for Doubles.
The results used to determine a player’s ranking are the Tournaments yielding the player’s highest Ranking points over the past 52 weeks.
Rafael Nadal will miss Spain’s Davis Cup final against Argentina because of a knee injury.
The top-ranked Nadal said Monday he was still struggling with tendinitis in his right knee following a week of treatment.
“The knee said no,” the 22-year-old said.
Spain team doctor Angel Ruiz-Cotorro said Nadal would need three to six weeks to recover from the injury.
“These are very difficult moments, but I have done all that I could to be ready for the final,” he said. “It was a huge objective, and I’m used to playing with pain, but this is a distinct, new pain that I couldn’t control.”
Nadal’s absence deals a big blow to Spain’s bid for a third Davis Cup title since 2000. Spain captain Emilio Sanchez Vicario has until Tuesday to name his team.
Spain plays Argentina on indoor hard court at Mar del Plata from Nov. 21-23.
“We’re sorry for him, but it’s good news. Spain is one thing with Nadal and another thing without him,” Argentine captain Alberto Mancini told Buenos Aires-based radio station Continental.
Serena Williams has lost in the second round of the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix in Stuttgart, which will see Jelena Jankovic now be the number one player in the world. Li Na was the lady who beat Williams in the second round 0-6 6-1 6-4.
Previously, we wrote about Carlos Rodriguez and his thoughts on the state of womens tennis, and it seems he has a point with already four players holding the number 1 ranking this year: Ana Ivanovic, Jelena Jankovic, Maria Sharapova and Serena Williams.
On the 18th of August 2008 we are all going to witness Roger Federers number one ranking being handed to Rafael Nadal.
By no means is this the end for Roger, however here is a quick summary of his journey to number one.
1996 – 15 Year Old Roger was a pupil at the Swiss National Tennis Centre
1997 – Swiss Junior Champion
1998 – Junior Wimbledon Champion
1999 – Started the year ranked 302
2000 – Started the year ranked 64
2001 – Started the year ranked 29
2001 – Beat Pete Sampras
2002- Started the year ranked 13
2003 – Started the year ranked 6
2003 – Wimbledon Champion
2004 – Started the year ranked 2
2004 – Tennis Masters Cup
2004 – Australian Open
2004 – Became number 1 player in the world
Federer has dominated the sport for many years. The sign of a true champion. History shows us that these champions come along and change how the sport is played. They take the sport to a new level and rewrite the books.
Coaches and players have studied how Federer changed the game and needed to create a plan to conquer this dominant force. Being such a champion must be stressful. The focus is entirely on you and people want to crack the code.
Rafael Nadal and his team has proven they created a plan and trained for many years. Tested and modified their strategy where appropriate, persisted and executed it.
They had one single goal in mind to create a game which would take them to number one in the world. In this generation that meant conquering the game that Roger Federer owned and played on his terms.
Every champion owns a piece of the game. They created a moment in time. Thanks to them the game of tennis evolved to a new dimension. Tennis will be forever grateful to Roger for the impact he has had on the game.
Being number one for such a long time must be a lonely place. He would be very much be in a defensive mindset while others try and crack him open. Well done to Rafael Nadal.
Rafael Nadal has brought a new dimension to replace the previous one created by Roger Federer.
I would love to see what Roger does over the next few months. Does he relax, reflect and himself work out how to change his game to become number one in the world again.Becoming number one again would be his first goal – then the elusive Grand Slam. I personally would love to see Roger win all 4 Grand Slams. I would love to watch that piece of history unfold. I honestly think he deserves it.
Whatever the future holds – tennis is the winner having had Federer in the sport.
Michael
