Comment 18 opera.aria - you asked me how will Dinara be­ number one when she loses her­ points from this week,­ the next tournament and the US­ Open??? x Did you­ happen to see the results from Rnd 3 at Cincinatti????­ That's how! And add another bomb in the equation­ called Kim Clisters who surely will meet one or both­ Williams in future events. By The way Dinara is still­ in the draw and guess how high her confidence will be­ right now knowing that the main rivals are all out. If­ she picks up a win against Peng she gathers even more­ points to increase her lead. I hope she wins the event­ actually.....

AJ-comment 28, yes she was a lovely person and a­ fantastic player. I had the pleasure of seeing her play­ up close on the practice courts in Melbourne. What a­ tellent, I envy that you have met her in person and­ have a photo with her. Fond memories hey??? As for­ Safina, she'll do better once some of the pressure­ comes off her and she relaxes. I think all the negative­ publicity has weighted her down a little but she'll­ recover, she is only 23 and is on top of the tennis­ world.

Isabelle T, I hope you choke on a piece of bone one day­ and no-one is there to help you.........compassion goes­ a long way. I don't need a self help book or­ to­ start up a self help group. Those that criticise others­ definitely need that sort of help. Marat­ Safin­ isn't everyone's cup of tea but I wouldn't­ mind drinking with him especially when he is man enough­ to stand up for his younger sister. Obviously you see a­ problem with that.

To Con: I think you should write a self help book or­ start up a self help group. You sure seem to have all­ the answers - good for you. As much as I like Marat­ Safin he is a bit of a loose cannon most of the times­ so I would'nt use him as my role model let alone­ quote from his words. Safina won because Vinci choked­ she said so herself so stop bigging her up.

Con i loved Jana Novotna and her game and have many of­ her matches on dvd.I have her loss to Graf in 1993 and­ her win in 1998.I have met and spoken to Jana at­ eastbourne she is a lovely lady.I also have photo's­ of her with her trophy thanks to reuters of­ london.
Safina must do better today.

Safina is not outstanding on hard courts, her clay­ season was simply amazing, what she has been doing so­ far on hard is still amazing, being in the final and­ semi-final of the last two hard court slams is worth­ mentioning... she doesn't expect much from the us­ open for sure, and noone does... hope to see her­ finally lift the french open cup next year, but­ won't mind if it happens to be the us open though!

On the Topic of Chocking, anyone remeber Jana Novotna??­ She was the one that cried on the shoulder of the­ Duchess of Kent after losing the 1993 Wimbledon singles­ final to Stefi Graff . After losing a tight first set,­ Novotná took a 6–7, 6–1, 4–1, 40-15 lead. With victory­ seemingly in her grasp, she lost her nerve and began­ missing easy shots, sometimes hitting the ball out by­ wide margins (including an infamous overhead smash that­ hit the back tarp). Graf took the next five games and­ the title. Five years later in 1998, she won the title­ after defeating a young Venus Williams in a close­ quarterfinal. Novotná also avenged the previous­ year's loss by ousting Hingis in a semifinal and­ veteran Nathalie Tauziat in the final 6–4, 7–6. Her­ highest Singles ranking was No.2. and she won 24 career­ titles in singles and was ranked No1 in doubles with 76­ titles including 12 Slams (2 Oz, 3 French, 4 Wimbledons­ and 3 US) . Nerves can hit anyone, anytime, anywhere­ and there is nothing you can do to stop it. It happens­ to the best of them.

the 'hype' is because it is who is left­ standing after 2weeks out of 128 players. i agree with­ some of the things you say regarding how many­ tournaments the williams' play, but sabatini won 5­ tournaments the year first half of the year when she­ got to the final of wimbledon.

ajpbolton you are missing the point. The ranking system­ is not all about winning Slams, it's about­ rewarding players who are most consistent in their­ performances and it is a true indicator of who had the­ better year all round. If Dinara loses to Serena in­ The Oz and Wimbledon opens and turns around and beats­ her 6 other times in smaller events or she crashes out­ to other competitors, does that mean that Serena is a­ better player than Dinara because of the slam­ victories?? Especially if Serena does not play half the­ events Dinara does throughout the year because her body­ can't take it??? Slams are usually 128 draws­ whareas smaller tournaments are 64 or 32 draws. Winning­ these smaller events is just as tough as the slams so­ what's all the hype about slams, because they carry­ more points???

can we get back to the days when you needed at least 2­ slams to get to the top.

sabatini-us open runnerup and­ winner and runner up at wimbledon highest rank of­ 3!

martinez-wimbledon winner highest rank of­ 2

novotna-wimbledon winner highest rank of 2

its a­ joke how we've had 2 players in the last 12months­ at the top of the womens ranking of havent won a slam.

opera.aria-comment 15, All you experts have written her­ off already. You seem to forget that Serena Williams­ and Jankovic and others who are her main rivals in­ points are also dropping points each tournament. As­ long as Dinara keeps making Semis and Finals she is­ picking up points in the process so even if she loses­ in the final of every event, the gap between her and­ the other rivals remains, perhaps not as wide but it­ remains. Secondly, how many events are there left­ between now and December, only a handful??? So how are­ the others going to close the gap?? JaniceM-comment19,­ how am I being racist?? By telling the truth? Everybody­ is entitled to an opinion and I offered mine. I like­ Dinara, I don't love her as you suggest but I also­ think she deserves to be where she is because she­ earned it, through hard work and perseverance.­ Furthermore, I do not put people on a high pedestal and­ expect miracles from them every week or criticise them­ when they have a failure or two. A lot of players carry­ injuries, emotions, fatigue and other ailments into­ games each week and although most of them would prefer­ NOT to play they have no choice due to contractual­ agreements and for the need to pick up points to keep­ their ranking. I didn't see anyone criticise­ Jankovic or Ivanovic or Sharapova for their lack of­ performances lately, so why stick it to Dinara.

opera.aria-comment 15, All you experts have written her­ off already. You seem to forget that Serena Williams­ and Jankovic and others who are her main rivals in­ points are also dropping points each tournament. As­ long as Dinara keeps making Semis and Finals she is­ picking up points in the process so even if she loses­ in the final of every event, the gap between her and­ the other rivals remains, perhaps not as wide but it­ remains. Secondly, how many events are there left­ between now and December, only a handful??? So how are­ the others going to close the gap?? JaniceM-comment19,­ how am I being racist?? By telling the truth? Everybody­ is entitled to an opinion and I offered mine. I like­ Dinara, I don't love her as you suggest but I also­ think she deserves to be where she is because she­ earned it, through hard work and perseverance.­ Furthermore, I do not put people on a high pedestal and­ expect miracles from them every week or criticise them­ when they have a failure or two. A lot of players carry­ injuries, emotions, fatigue and other ailments into­ games each week and although most of them would prefer­ NOT to play they have no choice due to contractual­ agreements and for the need to pick up points to keep­ their ranking. I didn't see anyone criticise­ Jankovic or Ivanovic or Sharapova for their lack of­ performances lately, so why stick it to Dinara.

Con how will Dinara be number one when she loses her­ points from this week, the next tournament and the US­ Open??? x

I don't think Dinara pulled out a win from the jaws­ of defeat her opponent choked and that is how she won,­ seriously she led twice served for the match once, its­ not the first time Vinci has been a position to win and­ choked she played Ivanovic and was in the same position­ and lost, she choked and Dinara survived. Dinara­ should be beating the likes of Vinci with ease saving­ her best tennis for those that are much tougher,­ however i'm not saying match are not tough but with­ Vinci's result and the kind of player she is and­ the player Dinara is supposed to be, she should really­ leave her in the dust, as it is she struggled against­ Sara Errani and now Struggled with Vnici. Has not­ defended her LA title which again happens and i­ don't expect her to depend many of the titles she­ won last year, the climb is so much easier than­ sticking to it. So its ok to have an opinion so long­ as you love Safina and support her but if you disagree­ you have have played the game and you are also racist­ OK !.

CONGRATULATIONS ********************* Bravo

CONGRATULATIONS ********************* Bravo

yeah dinara u r the best

Safina struggle once again will have to do much better­ or she won't be number one for much longer.

Don't worry attaha there is no doubt she won't­ be number 1 for much longer x