Safina is no world NO1 and she will never win GS at the­ pace she is on. There are millions of women who can win­ any tourment organised in their village or town or city­ so all these women can be world No1? Safina should do­ something about winning a Slam.

aeronick2000 face it, the player who is ranked number 1­ is the most committed to the entire WTA calendar, and­ who tries their best in all of the events they enter.­ In terms of ability, Serena seems better than Dinara,­ but in terms of consistency, Dinara is better, and the­ WTA ranking system rewards the most consistent players,­ that is how Clijsters became number 1, and Jankovic,­ and Safina before winning a Slam. If Serena was so­ concerned about becoming number 1 on paper, instead of­ boasting who should be what, she would compete best in­ all events she played, not just the Grand Slams. Then­ again, even when she has competed 100% she has still­ been beaten in other events, but Serena wouldn't­ want to admit that would she? She would more than likey­ address her injury list she keeps in her designer­ handbag :X
So in terms of ability, we might say Serena­ is the 'real' number one, or the best or­ whatever, and it would be nice for Jankovic and Safina­ to win a GS to shut up the haters, BUT it is­ consistency, which rewards the players. Then we have­ the 'non-Slam number 1s' arguing which is­ better, if everyone thinks Serena is the best or Venus,­ measure the head to heads of these players, then you­ will see Safina is only 2nd on the best­ 'slamless' number 1s list, as her record­ against the 'real' number 1s is dire :X
So­ instead of all this neverending arguing about who is­ the 'real' number one, let the one who has a­ problem (Serena) prove it by rising to the top of the­ rankings. Until then, she isn't the number 1 on­ paper, Safina is, and since Safina has gone out early,­ and if Serena defends her title, the gap between them­ will be even shorter, and 'justice' will be­ restored. x

#92. sanchez.santos you'll find that you're on­ your own. The big argument that has been lingering is­ whether Safina deserves to be the world number one as­ she hasn't won a slam, and the source of the­ argument is attributed to Serena's comment "we­ all know who the real number one is". Later on she­ complained about not being the world number one despite­ holding three of the past four slams "what have I­ got to do to be the world number one" she says. In­ fact, the WTA authorities at some stage were forced to­ defend the ranking system under pressure. Her comments­ also imply that she doesn't think highly of current­ world number one, and believes she is there without­ merit. Its simple logic, if I feel I deserve to be the­ world number one, then its implicit that whoever­ occupies that position I feel they don't deserve­ it. There can only be one world number one at any given­ time.
And by the way what are doing on this­ "devalued­ site" as you put it? You're a­ lot more devalued than this site is. This­ "devalued­ site" allows you to post your­ poorly constructed arguments. I bet you haven't­ thought about that. In future, I urge you to think­ about what you write, and then read through it before­ you click on the 'Submit comment' icon. Or get­ someone to proof read it.

wtf? x

That's great, i'm genuinely pleased as the­ whole thing got so over the top at times as to be­ sureal. When I read your post 87 that you where going­ to finish after the US I thought Sanchez cannot leave­ as we where close "cyper buddies" and I would­ be left with a most unpleasant conscience.
Just to let­ you know, many of the usernames you assumed I was using­ probably some 90% I promise are nothing to do with me,­ and never have been.But anyway in future, I will stick­ to satire, as I know you sometimes can find it quite­ amusing!
Best wishes

Back to the drawing board girls and practice how not to­ grunt, because it appears to me that you are wasting­ valuable energy grunting,besides its not ladylike. If­ Kim can manage not to grunt so can you!

yes thanks i get it now, i expected kim to win to be­ honest, it was closer than it should have been, venus­ hasn't played will in ages - i think na li will­ beat kim though

Opera of course you are definitely not deluded, on the­ contrary I was lauding your enormous wealth of­ knowledge about the game. I was merely alluding to my­ own tendency to get in a stew about my predictions from­ all the data available to me, besides there would be no­ need for me to be unnecessarily rude without any­ provocation whatsoever. Hey what do I know? My reading­ of the likely outcome has come unstuck at the first­ hurdle because of kim taking out venus. One can never­ legislate for a Clijsters that comes out against Venus­ and plays near perfect tennis in the first and third­ sets, which I certainly did not expect, nor did Venus­ for that matter, judging by her own poor serving and­ allowing herself to be moved all over the court. I used­ the term protagonists about the players in the sense­ that they were all after the same title which only one­ of them can win, perhaps I should have written­ rivalries, if that explains it better?

Indeed it was 50 / 50, I got worked up about something­ that should have been handled differently but one lives­ to learn. Yeah high fives!

oh sanchez "Like I­ said before I hope you­ don't ever punt on tennis­ matches as you simply­ have such wealth of knowledge of­ the players and their­ record that it is bound to be a­ complex endeavour for­ you to predict a winner of a­ particular title since­ many of the protagonists are in­ fact favourites of­ yours at some time or the other." why do I bother?­ I suppose it is hope and faith for my favourites to get­ some good wins, remember, I have had SOME correct­ predictions in the past...and I don't fully­ understand your comment about my faves being­ protagonists, could you please clarify? In simple terms­ I sometimes predict matches, based on how I have seen­ them play before, and I am always hopeful that some of­ these results turn out, I was with my Zheng, despite­ being scared, I knew she could do it, and she did­ defeat Safina last time they played...lol I probably­ agree with the rest of your comment, but really­ can't tell if you are praising me or ridiculing my­ 'deluded' predicitions....and about that other­ guy, there is plenty of room here :P

It was 50/50 as you know. Shake hands?

I think Safina is getting "Ana Ivanovic -­ syndrom"... Since she became no.1 she started to­ play... strange, i guess... But with all of the attacks­ she is becoming from the media and everyone, i think­ she is doing really well by winning any match... It­ seems that everyone (not me) is so impressed with­ Williams sisters, so that all of the other girls are­ looking weak in their eyes... I really don't­ understand why is everyone going crazy about Williams­ sisters... They are for me like any other top 10­ player...

What is there left to say about Safina, all i can say­ is yes people talk but don't let it get to you and­ just do what you know best, did she even face anyone in­ the top 10 no and she lost to someone ranked 70 not­ because hse can't play but because she seems to not­ think clearly or at least think when things are not­ going her way. if Safina does not address this like­ yesterday she won't be number 1 for long and will­ wait even longer for that slam. Now its even more­ event that her being number 1 is purely down to play­ more and nothing else. I felt sorry for her usally its­ just a joke to see her lose but i did feel sorry for­ her because i think she works really hard but possibly­ not addressing her real problems, if her coach­ doesn't do it its time to cut your losses and find­ a coach who will work on that area

Of course truce, you know you had me beat from the word­ go, so its your call anyway.

aeronick2000 what a shame that you can write such a­ long treatise (commendable) but totally based on a­ false foundation which to be credible, you should have­ checked on the facts before you waste your energy in­ this literary exercise. You have fallen foul of what­ most casual contributors on this site do, you read some­ falsehood that someone else said and you write in a­ queue to condemn something that was not said to begin­ with. This ranking argument is one entirely of your­ making and the mischievous writings of journalists in­ articles and blogs just to catch attention and sell­ readership. You will be far better served in life if­ you research your facts first. Where did you hear­ Serena say what you have accused her of? Please have­ some integrity and actually try to find out the answer­ truthfully. You will be surprised that Serena acepts­ the ranking system as it is and is on the record as­ saying she is far content with her no. 2 status so long­ as she keeps winning slams. Granted she is not PR savvy­ enough to be aware of the necessity to distance herself­ from these twists but why should she? It is your­ problem and your ignorance if you want to write a book­ about something Serena never said, any one who bothers­ to establish that fact beforehand will not be buying­ your book, trust me, because at the end of the day, it­ is simply disingenious to pontificate about a­ non-event. Serena is busy trying to win the US Open­ 2009 whilst you are wasting your time on a devalued­ site giving opinions on why somebody deserves a ranking­ that the systems has given to them correctly in the­ first instance.

Truce ?

GO TO FACEBOOK AND JOIN THE GROUP "DINARA SAFINA­ IS A JOKE"!!! THE GROUP DOES EXIST, THIS IS NOT A­ JOKE UNLIKE THE TENNIS THAT DINARA PLAYS!

honeybeecro7, how can anyone miss the fact that Serena­ has won three out of the last four slams? Thats her­ main basis for the argument as to why she should be­ reinstated as the world number one, even though outside­ the slams she is horrendously mediocre as anyone else.­ And yes her career is winding down. Can you not see­ when someone is past her best? Roger Federer is still­ the greatest of all time with 15 slams to his name, but­ even he would admit that his best days are behind him,­ he was by far the most frightening player on the tour­ in 2006 and 2007. Simply put, choose to debate if you­ want, but she is not up for anything else other than­ the slams. And it will get worse, because in due­ course, she will begin to select which slams she is up­ for (and I bet you the French Open will be the first to­ be crossed of the list).
In most professions and­ sport, Serena's comments regarding the 'real­ number one' and how much she deserves it would be­ found insulting and shows a lack of respect to a fellow­ professional. And it has mobilised a barrage of attacks­ and criticisms at her ability. We are looking at it as­ tennis fans, but if you were to critically think about­ it, could you imagine yourself in a situation where­ your colleagues at work constantly remind you of how­ incompetent you are, although you are consistently­ amongst the best performers. If any of you found­ yourself in such a situation, you would realise how­ frustrating it is. Then think Safina, she is constantly­ dissed by other wta players, newspapers, sport sites,­ even when she switches on the telly. And yet she has­ been the world number one for over 6 months.­
Personally, I don't fall for Serena's nonsense­ and it has been tolerated for too long. She's not­ the real number one because she's an inconsistent­ performer and she's past it. She should stick to­ winning slams but the rankings are based on other­ criteria, and it has served well for decades, thank­ you.

Thanks opera, unfortunately I have messed with the­ sickest of all internet vermins, so I will indeed leave­ him to his kingdom when the US Open ends as I can't­ help feeling that I am definitely being dragged down to­ his level. Shame he doesn't have the class like the­ diva pjcogs who earlier on this thread stylishly told­ you in no uncertain terms that there simply wasn't­ any room for two divas on the boards (how classy is­ that..........and very funny too, I thought). Like I­ said before I hope you don't ever punt on tennis­ matches as you simply have such wealth of knowledge of­ the players and their record that it is bound to be a­ complex endeavour for you to predict a winner of a­ particular title since many of the protagonists are in­ fact favourites of yours at some time or the other. I­ really do see that top half of the draw as­ unpredictable as I mentioned earlier and, I­ wouldn't be so sure of any of those outcomes you­ predicted. In respect of the bottom half of the draw,­ the difficulty for most non-williams fans is that they­ just think any of their favourites can beat them (like­ indeed they do at non-slams) and they are often blinded­ to the likely outcome that they will in fact triumph­ because they are simply better at slams than most of­ their competitors. I predict that the only chance of a­ non-williams victory at this US Open is if Venus takes­ out Serena at the semis and Sveta comes through the top­ half of the draw, then Sveta will win. My bold­ prediction being that only Venus can stop Serena­ winning this US Open 2009. Well I also thought JJ­ could but divine intervention stopped her. Even if­ Venus takes Serena out and Sveta is beaten before the­ finals, then Venus herself will win. And there you have­ it.

yeah Sanchez, woops I can't believe the cloning is­ still going on - I saw Nadia play and defeat my Zheng,­ Petrova just has too many weapons for Oudin, Kuznetsova­ ofcourse should beat Caroline, and Pennetta is playing­ the best tennis and will hopefully beat Serena and win­ the tournament x