Maria - The Unforgotten History Maker

The French Open this year could yield 2 history makers. So much is made of potentially Djokovic holding all 4 Slams or Nadal winning an un-equalled 7th French Open. When you consider such greats as Evonne Goolalong, Martina Hingis, Monica Seles, Venus Williams, Justine Henin, Kim Clijsters have not completed the Grand Slam.

Maria Sharapova has a very good chance to achieve this goal this year at the French Open. Winner at Wimbledon 2004 at the age of 17 de-throning Serena Williams. For her US Open title she defeated Justine Henin. You could say the equivalent of defeating Nadal and Federer in finals. Given she is only 25 it feels like she has been around forever. The one player for me which may prevent her quest is Li Na. Current defending champion and she conquered Maria last year in the semi's. However, Sharapova has been moving a lot better on Clay. Kvitova is also lurking in Maria's half and that for me would be the match of the tournament on the womens side should they meet.

Can the French Open see 2 history makers this year?

Interesting to note that a career slam is on on women's side as well. Maybe she'll do it. So many players find the French is the last one to try and get.

Just out of interest, how many women have achieved this and who are they?

I can think of Graf, Navrat, Serena, Evert,

anyone else?

She is making history in the weakest wta era ever.

nobody cares.

Mauresmo gone, Henin gone, Serena old, Venus old, etc.

jersey not sure this is the weakest WTA era ever so fair pay to Sharapova if she does win. Personally I thought her shoulder injuries and serving issues meant her best days were behind her but who knows?

newballs wrote:jersey not sure this is the weakest WTA era ever so fair pay to Sharapova if she does win. Personally I thought her shoulder injuries and serving issues meant her best days were behind her but who knows?

But she won't win as she won't beat Kvitova.

Win or lose, she is welcome in my house for a post-match massage.

And she will beat Kvitova, and win it...hmm not sure.

Jersey/Jahu - I reckon the women's play in this RG has been about as poor as I can remember in an GS.
To see the so-called top players seemingly unable to hold serve and playing completely mindless tennis is sad to witness. Time and again players have got themselves into winning positions only to fall apart with the finishing line in sight.
I'm taking Kvitova to edge Sharapova cos I reckon she'll get broken fewer times. Errani - perhaps the one redeeming thing about this tourney - might find Stosur a step too far.

One thing you absolutely can't take away from Sharapova - she broke the Williams hold on Wimbledon in 2004, which was an astonishing achievement. Her other slam wins have also involved impressive victories somewhere along the way - in my view that tends to add validation to whatever she manages to achieve here.

The women's game feels a bit like the men's game from 2001-2003 when multi-slam winning greats were winding down and nobody from the next crop seemed to have it to seize the moment. At the moment it looks like Kvitova or Azarenka should be the next big thing, and they could well be, even Fed was flakey until 2004.

One problem they have which the men's game did not in 2001 was the awful noise which puts off so many spectators and hence reduces the $$$$$ possibility of the sport!

The grunting is un-bearable. It would be good if a survey was carried out at the stadiums to see what the perception is of the womens game.

Agree LK...this facet alone has stopped me watching womens tennis because you have #1 and #2 being the biggest grunters. Perhaps thats what differentiates the women now in a world of identikit FHs and BHs...

Needless to say, I wont be watching the women's semis today.

I shall put the mute on lydian.

I do still watch the womens. It is rude not to

As long as there's one woman out there NOT grunting then there's no need for the others to do it. A Kvitova-Stosur final would be comparatively quiet.

legendkillarV2 wrote:The grunting is un-bearable. It would be good if a survey was carried out at the stadiums to see what the perception is of the womens game.

"We want to make sure that if anything can be done on this issue it doesn't adversely affect veteran players who were taught to play this way, while still sending a strong signal to young players that excessive grunting is a real problem," WTA spokesman Andrew Walker said Monday at the Australian Open.

http://www.usatoday.com/sports/tennis/story/2012-01-17/wta-addresses-grunting-in-tennis/52621698/1

The WTA issued a statement Tuesday, saying it is “aware that some fans find it bothersome.”

“We are currently in the process of exploring how to reduce excessive grunting, especially for younger players just starting out, without adversely affecting players who have developed their game under the current training, rules and procedures,” the statement said. “We do believe that we need to address the concerns expressed by some fans and take a careful look at our rules and education policies.”


http://www.tennis.com/articles/templates/news.aspx?articleid=16033&zoneid=25

I may have posted this before.

How about telling them that grunting will not be tolerated come the 2014 season (or the 2015 season), end of and those who wish to continue but who grunt now will just have to stop it.

They can be reminded that the business-element of their sport depends upon its entertainment value, which grunting damages to the detriment of those who do not grunt.

I suspect that so long as Sharapova is big box-office they'll be weak, but when she stops they'll get tougher because none of the other grunters are as important to the $$$$$ image of the WTA tour, even Azarenka (for the moment).