Left field

Is Wozniacki a worthy number one?

Worthy number one or just a sad reflection of the way women’s tennis has evolved into a game of low-risk baseline slugging?

That is the question being asked after Denmark’s Caroline Wozniacki was confirmed as the new world number one.

Is she worthy? Well, the WTA rankings system would suggest that she is — just as Jelena Jankovic and Dinara Safina were when they rose to the top without winning the game’s top prizes.

Over the course of the year the 20-year-old has proved the most consistent performer on Tour and the best-placed to benefit from the injury which has sidelined 13-times grand slam singles champion Serena Williams since she won Wimbledon.

Wozniacki claimed her fifth title of the year in Tokyo last week, the first player to achieve that feat since Justine Henin won 10 in 2007. Yet she did not even reach the final of a grand slam this year and has managed that just once, her run to last year’s U.S. Open final where she lost to Kim Clijsters.

There is no denying that Wozniacki is one of the toughest players on Tour and it would be churlish to deny her place at the top of the pile as on current form she is the best there is.

Just like Safina and Jankovic before her, she will not be given due praise for the number one ranking because of the glaring omissions on her CV.

Clijsters reminds us what we’ve been missing

Venus Williams must wish Kim Clijsters had stayed retired and enjoyed a relaxing life as a millionaire mum.

The Belgian returned to grand slam action for the first time in 31 months and has left each and every one of her opponents at the U.S. Open embarrassed.

Williams’s status as the world number three looked a bit of a joke when she dropped the opening set to love against a woman who now stashes her suitcase with more toys than rackets.

With her 18-month daughter Jada being looked after at the tournament crèche, Clijsters completed a 6-0 0-6 6-4 fourth-round win over the seven-times grand slam champion.

While her victory was embraced by the hollering fans on Arthur Ashe Stadium, it is a double-edged sword for the WTA tour.

What does it say about the state of women’s tennis when a player who has been out of the game for more than two years can beat rivals who are supposed to be the standard bearers for the sport?

A tale of two draws at Flushing Meadows

It has been a tale of two draws at the U.S. Open, with the men’s seeds advancing full steam ahead and the women’s field in disarray.

Eight of the top 16 women’s seeds have been given the boot at Flushing Meadows, while all 16 men have strolled forward — the first time men’s seeds have marched in lock step into the third round of a grand slam.

Even more of the top-rated women could be getting the dickens beaten out of them going deeper into the tournament, especially considering the dangers that returning champions Maria Sharapova and Kim Clijsters pose after layoffs that pushed them down the rankings list.

Was a time that the early rounds of the women’s tournament was a yawner until the second week. Not so in 2009.

Meanwhile, the top 10 in the often volatile men’s draw have barely felt a ripple of opposition. Going into Friday’s fifth day of play at Flushing Meadows not one had lost a set.

“That’s shocking,” fifth-seeded American Andy Roddick said after his second-round victory Thursday. “Not to lose one set, not even a set? Not a quick little break at 11:00 (a.m.) out on grandstand? That’s pretty surprising.”

Andy Murray of Briton gained the unexpected distinction of becoming the first man among the top 10 to drop a set when he took one misstep Friday in a 6-2 3-6 6-0 6-2 second-round victory over 87th-ranked Paul Capdeville of Chile.

Does women’s tennis offer value for money?

Now is not a good time to compare the men’s game with the women’s and the question of value for money, both for the people who hand out the prize money and for those who buy the tickets, has come up again.

Three of the four women semi-finalists have yet to drop a set and three of the four quarter-finals — Dinara being the exception — together lasted less time than the fourth round battle between Andy Murray and Stanislas Wawrinka under the new roof.

Yet here’s the number that has got a lot of people talking on Tuesday — the four semi-finalists are guaranteed at least 212,500 pounds each in prize money for their troubles. In three cases, that’s for playing eight sets of tennis apiece.

But any calls to turn back the clock and reinstate the disparity in prize money should be resisted.

It’s true that the women’s game needs more players with the talent to challenge the Williams sisters, Venus and Serena, but they will surely come. Women’s tennis recently lost its undisputed number one in Justine Henin, who retired a little over 12 months ago to everyone’s surprise. Any sport losing its best player could be forgiven for struggling for a little while.

In fact, in just a few years the women’s game has had to say goodbye not only to Henin but Kim Clijsters (although she is coming back in some form), Martina Hingis and Jennifer Capriati, while Lindsay Davenport appears to be on her way as well.

That’s a large void to fill, and the loss has left spectators in a transitional period whereby a seemingly endless line of teenaged eastern european prodigies emerge to replace the last great hope to shine momentarily.

From the sublime to the ridiculous at Wimbledon

The trouble with a match as riveting as Andy Murray’s against Stanislas Wawrinka is that it’s very hard to find something good enough to follow it … and women’s quarter-final day at Wimbledon was singularly unable to do so.

From the sublime tennis provided by the British number one and the Swiss number two in an historic match under the new Centre Court roof, we went to a 6-1 6-2 victory for Venus Williams over Poland’s Agnieszka Radwanska that was ridiculously easy.

Next up was Elena Dementieva against Italy’s Francesca Schiavone and the Russian won 6-2 6-2. And that, if you were one of the people clutching precious tickets for court number one, was that, save for a doubles match that hardly anyone bothered to stick around for, that was that.

Back in centre court, fans were getting a little more value for money.  Dinara Safina had to come from a set down to beat Sabine Lisicki 6-7 6-4 6-1 but even though this was much more of a contest it still felt flat compared to Monday night’s action. Maybe the last of the four quarter-finals, between Serena Williams and Victoria Azarenka will catch fire.

The tournament certainly needs it to. I’m a fan of women’s tennis, and thought Maria Sharapova’s exit to Gisela Dulko was utterly compelling, but today was not a great advert for the game.

SUBLIME: Britain’s Andy Murray serves under the new roof of the centre court during his match against Stanislas Wawrinka of Switzerland, June 29, 2009. REUTERS/Toby Melville

RIDICULOUS EASE: Venus Williams of the U.S. returns the ball to Agnieszka Radwanska of Poland during their match at the Wimbledon tennis championships, in London June 30, 2009. REUTERS/Eddie Keogh

With one final shriek, Sharapova is gone

It’s beyond me how anyone can deride women’s tennis as being dull. The relentless changing of the guard at the top of the world rankings and the general air of a free-for-all that the grand slams are cited as weak points in the game, when the sheer unpredictability of women’s tennis (compared to the men’s game) is precisely the reason it should be celebrated.

What many of the critics are really bemoaning, I suspect, is that Maria Sharapova didn’t go on to become the women’s Roger Federer. And while you couldn’t help be enthralled by her Wimbledon match against Gisela Dulko of Argentina on Wednesday, the Russian’s nailbiting defeat beneath the sunshine on centre-court is only going to bring more tut-tuts about the state of the game.

Which is a shame… because this was an absolute humdinger — the best match, involving men or women, on centre court so far this year.

When Sharapova won Wimbledon in 2004 at the age of just 17, the breathtaking power and accuracy with which she hit her shots seemed set to usher in a long spell as the game’s dominant force.

It didn’t happen that way. It was Justine Henin who established herself as the world number one and almost as soon as the Belgian had retired, Sharapova was struck by a shoulder injury that forced her out for nine months.

Sharapova is making her way back up the rankings but it’s been slow going. She went out at the quarter-final stage at Roland Garros and here she just made too many errors in her defeat by Dulko, who five years ago to the day beat Martina Navratilova at the same second round stage.

Is women’s tennis better for being ‘cattier’?

“Clearly women’s tennis is better than men’s tennis. It’s way cattier, so it’s way more exciting to watch.”

Before the anti-sexism police start to wave their batons in my direction, I would like to clarify that these are not my words but those of 10-times grand slam champion Serena Williams, who lost in the Roland Garros quarter-finals on Wednesday.

And Ms Williams should know.

Last week the American was involved in a catfight with Spain’s Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez and accused the Spaniard of being a “cheat” for accepting a disputed point during their French Open third round contest.

That was only the latest episode in her rather drama-filled life on tour.

In 2003, a sobbing Williams accused Justine Henin of “lying and fabricating” following a controversial semi-final defeat at Roland Garros. Henin denied the allegations.

Do fewer tantrums = more titles?

Temper tantrums are more or less a thing of the past for Dinara Safina, who said on Tuesday that her rise to the world number one spot had been helped by her efforts to stop her angry mid-match outbursts.

Ditching most of the rages — which culminated at last year’s Roland Garros with some unsuspecting flowers near the court being decapitated — seems to have worked for the Russian as she stayed on track for a maiden grand slam title by reaching the French Open semis (although she did break one racket along the way).

It got me wondering how many more titles her big brother Marat might have won if he’d learnt to control his fury.

One of the most naturally gifted players of his generation, he claimed the 2000 U.S. Open and 2005 Australian Open and also held the number one spot — relatively slim pickings when you consider his talent.

Safin estimated four years ago that he had destroyed 300 rackets and it must be at least another hundred by now. 

Did the inability to stop himself boiling over on court cost him more grand slam trophies?

Roger Federer used to be a hothead but has put his temper in check, becoming the model of serenity in his charge to 13 grand slam titles. Pete Sampras, the man whose record of 14 major titles Federer is chasing, was level-headed to the point of machine-like.

Time to silence the grunters?

Serve-GRUNT-forehand return-MOAN-groundstroke-YELP-backhand-SQUEAL-volley-SCREAM-drop shot … 0-15.

Sitting on centre court at the French Open this week, I realised I was listening to tennis rather than watching it.

There have been the grunters like Monica Seles and Maria Sharapova who have annoyed their opponents by accompanying their lethal deliveries with distracting guttural sound effects … but Portuguese teenager Michelle Larcher de Brito took things to a whole new level. Decibel level, that is.

She later told reporters that the noise was simply part of the shot and that her game would not be complete without it (in the end, it didn’t seem to help her as she lost). When her opponent complained to the umpire that it was all very disturbing, Larcher de Brito pointed out that there was no rule against The Grunt.

Raising the question: Isn’t it time there was?

She quashed the suggestion that grunting was on the Nick Bollettieri curriculum but there can be no denying that the Florida tennis academy boasts a number of alumni with first-class qualifications in Art of the Grunt – Sharapova, Seles, Nicole Vaidisova.

How is it that their male counterparts can get on with hitting the ball hard without the need to add a soundtrack? Yes, Rafael Nadal is guilty of the odd grunt but it usually happens on a key point or during extreme exertion, rather than on 15-0 in the first game. Roger Federer maintains a dignified silence at all times.

Dokic is not done yet

If anyone deserves to make a successful comeback to top flight tennis it is Jelena Dokic.

When most players want a second bite of the cherry, it is because they enjoyed their careers so much the first time round and realised how much they missed it when they began to pursue other interests. If in doubt ask Martina Navratilova, (a blink and you’ll miss it singles return in 2004), Martina Hingis or even Kim Clijsters (who has had enough of changing nappies, perhaps).

But Dokic, once ranked as high as fourth in the world and a former Wimbledon semi-finalist, had little to shout about when she was making waves about a decade ago.

Her career was marred by depression, injuries and not to mention a domineering father (who had a penchant for destroying other people’s mobile phones and complaining about the price of salmon among many other things).

With such memories tied in with what should have been the best days of her life as a sportswoman, few would have blamed her if she had sprinted away as far as possible from a tennis court.

But it is because she wants to replace those memories with happier ones that she embarked on a comeback trail this year.

Luckily for her, she has not lost the talent, or the heart, to produce the goods on court. Despite being ranked 187th in the world in January, she beat three seeded players to make it all the way to the Australian Open quarter-finals.