Janice: "Insulted you..." My gosh! You take­ my breath away. Is this some new kind of­ "debate" tactic...to prevaricate when all­ evidence of my comments to you is present for the world­ to see? "Insulted" you? Quite the contrary.­ I have differed with you and praised you. ...I have my­ breath back now, but I won't waste it any more on­ this. I wish you well. No Cheers this time - just total­ bewilderment.

I thought this is a lively debate to improvement and­ this is what democracy is all about. Safina was good­ when she started and slowly rose to this position with­ the decline in women's tennis. This is as a result­ of non competing Americans and Australians tennis­ players other than the contributions from the­ Williamses. To be honest, the best way to cure this­ issue now is for the standard to be raised to allow all­ the best female or men's tennis players to compete­ effectively in all tournaments at the same time; 10 GS­ per year and 1 Masters final and I Grand Prix where the­ best 10 compete for the Grand Prix. The contributions­ of the Russian girls be rewarded with a final Grand­ Prix in Moscow interchanging in all the continents;­ Japan should have one major GS. I like the GOlf system­ where the best compete with the best all the time. This­ system will make it impossible for non GS winner to­ maintain no 1 position as it is in female tennis in­ particular. Hatsutking and Janice A, I think your­ contributions to the debate have been excellent.. There­ are intelligent people on this forum and hope wta and­ atp takes note.

Hatsutking: I don't care how you insult me just­ don't there is just no need. Yes Jmac talked of­ the state of the WTA but was asked about Safina being 1­ in relation to not winning a slam 2 serena's 3 so­ its whatever if you think some how i lack logic. As 4­ K comment giving credit for her performance i agreed­ with it but didn't comment bcos its came attatched­ with personal insults. I choose to not address him/her­ as i have choosen to ignore most who swear at me.

I­ have pointed out is firstly not personal rather a broad­ view of Safina's game something that I notice, if­ you don't notice it thats your opinion, I feel i­ have talked off many things not just her being number 1­ when really put to the test when not put to the test­ Safina shine like a bight star. Which no player is­ perfect but a change an improve should be seen from­ final to final.
As for her being great outside of­ slam, i am have been merly addressing slam performance­ and her strange choice to play in Solvenia.
Like i­ said i don't do name calling, does it truly hurt to­ have respect it says more about you who insults other­ because they have something different to say, i could­ insult too but choose not to. I think i already said­ its not the losing its the HOW she loses and then­ getting to another semi's or final having not­ improved anything

KanatA don't make assumptions­ about me... as for listening to reports they were just­ quotes, yes Tracy does champion Safina however it­ doesn't negate from her comments made when Safina­ lost 6-0, 6-1. If you dislike Pat Cash, Jmac and­ whoever else its your personal opinion.

"being­­ Number 1 seems to lack true significance" is­ exactly what i ahve been trying to say

Janice, I know you are quite young, unexperienced and­ brainwashed, but that's not the point.. you are­ being insulted for being unable to constructively­ express your thoughts (that's the free advice the­ whole forum is giving to you...)
John Mcenroe is a­ clown of the game, and that's what the whole world­ knows, nobody listens to what he says, cause he is a­ complete idiot. note that i am not saying he is a bad­ player... as for Austin, she is the one who always­ backs safina, and always expresses her bitterness about­ safina's poor performance in the slam finals by­ saying that "she is the most talented player on­ the tour at the moment, who deserves to have a slam­ tournament". Pat Cash also said that Federer­ wouldn't win anything after his defeat in wimbledon­ last year, saying that he was too predictable and that­ 12 was federer's curse or whatever, as you might be­ knowledgeable of, Federer has won three more since then­ and now has 15, so just shut up, and try to analyze­ yourself, rather than listening to what the so called­ experts tell you!

attaha: I agree that WTA should assess the WTA system­ and ATP/WTA should add Grand Slams to draw a closer­ connection between ranking, competition, and­ accomplishment. The only way to reward true­ accomplishment right now is a Grand Slam trophy; being­ Number 1 seems to lack true significance. Kind of like­ posting mid-term grades wherein one student who makes­ the highest grade on that test is number one on the­ list; however, when the final exam comes (the Grand­ Slam of grades), that student may be listed toward the­ bottom and may even fail the overall course... Some­ fans want to continue to equate the current ranking­ system's Number 1 with Best---ridiculous. Your­ ideas might cure that deception. As for Safina's­ tennis attire; to tell you the truth, I hadn't­ noticed. I don't see how attire reflects skill and­ only notice it when the tennis media touts­ Federer's latest style, or Sharapova's themed­ tennis frocks. But I can't see the significance in­ relation to tennis skill. Very good comments from you,­ in my opinion. Cheers...

Janice m & Hatsuking; You are both writing good­ stuffs. I like the points both have presented and it is­ quite interesting to note the differences in the­ perception of a tennis player who plays the dominant­ tennis on a small stage to get to the top. It can't­ happen in Golf with no majors and in no 1 position. The­ only problem here is that the tennis GS need to be­ raised from the current 4 to about 10. This will make­ all the top 50 players competing with one another on a­ monthly basis to avoid top 10 players playing­ tournaments where there is no top 20 competing. If­ possible there should one GS in China, Moscow, Germany,­ Canada, Sweden and Doha. The money should be raised to­ enable competitive tennis and avoid players hiding­ behind low ranked players to get to the top of the­ game. We see this in Golf with the best players­ competing in every tournament and no 1 player with most­ trophies in the majors. Wta should reassess this­ declining position of women's tennis or else it­ will loose it's support from sponsors. To be honest­ if you look at Safina's dressing style, it is the­ worst among all the women tennis, overtly exposing her­ belly as well as backside. I don't know her­ sponsors at the moment.

Janice: Please. when you refer to what former­ champions and such--such as Johnny Mac--have to say­ about Safina's being Number 1, I suggest you do not­ take these remarks out of context. Most of these people­ were expressing through a stream of related comments­ their concerns about the state of WTA tennis these­ days, using Safina's earned Number 1 position as an­ example. Also, when you "debate," please do­ us the courtesy of "debating" the issue and­ not your opinion of well-presented argument. Your­ personal disagreement with an argument loses it's­ validity when you berate other people's references­ to reality. I usually enjoy reading your comments, but­ when you consistently promote unfair criticism of­ presentation of other comments your lose your logic.­ Denying that the others of us know how to­ "debate" definitely loses your point. Also,­ your false assumptions: Because one notes that Safina­ is Number 1 because she worked for it by playing at all­ levels of tennis, one is not saying how­ "great" she is, just reiterating that she­ works within the system. Also, you may want to take a­ lesson in phraseology from KanatatA: note that by say­ "dear idiot" he/she can still be emotional­ and get a point across. Also K...A does give Safina­ credit for playing in finals of slam, whereas many of­ your comments allude to her lack of prowess on the­ larger stage. Want to stop my long diatribes? Then go­ back to being the logical, strong commenter you­ sometimes are and I'll save my dialectics for my­ students. Cheers, always...and Tennis Forever.

Have you people never had a debate before accept 2­ sling insults pretty low really, For the i hate­ rubbish unlike you i don't waste time hating people­ i don't actually know, as for watching tennis live­ the answer is a FIRM YES i have, unlike you i call a­ game a player just as i see it not because i like them­ or not.
As for beating a dead horse none of you offer­ any other talk about being a number 1 or about her game­ or flaws or even her improvements. if you think Safina­ great good for you i'm happy for you, me myself and­ I not convinced and it ends there she can be number 1­ for years i still am not convinced yet, as for­ addressing the ATP/WTA it is just a debate gosh. The­ days have gone by when the likes of the greats won­ slams and became number 1 is my only point. When­ reporters, players laughing at you and even the head of­ WTA has to defend the ranking system there clearly is a­ problem unless you don't actually think so which­ again is fine. I point out clear weakness which i­ know you see which would be pointed out by any player,­ you saw when she played Venus poor, i was not the only­ one talking about that performance or asking questions,­ was it not Pat Cash that called it a shock her being­ number 1, was it not Tracy Austin that questioned her­ state of mind as a number 1 was it not John Mac said­ its shocking she can be number 1 with no slam, there­ was also an English reporter that said with due respect­ no one will remember small achievements and slams is­ what its all about.

You ppl spit insults but bare not­ to address anything i've said accept to say oh you­ are ignorant, most of you don't anything great o­ say do i watch tennis, i'm ignorant, blah blah not­ addressing the real discussion which are all ignored as­ it does not get to what this is all about, rate it low­ it does not change the fact that Safina will not only­ be talked about by little old me but by many people,­ not just here but many forums.

We have so many talented comentators of this debate on­ safina. She brought it on herself but no one can take­ away her no 1 status. Great for women tennis but not­ enough to get her to the status of a great player with­ her names on the honour lists. She is likely to do that­ when all the current players; Venus, Serena, Svetlana,­ Dementieva or maybe JJ retires. I doubt this strongly­ as age is against this attainment. She will be­ remembered if at all for being no 1 without a SLAM .­ Same goes for JJ who is now out of the big expectation.­ Having been no 1 without a SLAM is now resigned to­ playing normal tennis, pressure off her back.

Janice, you seem to know very very very very little­ about tennis... your lengthy comments are just shining­ with that ignorance. You seem to be blinded with­ adoration to your idols or hatred towards others'­ success and unable to think clearly. Being world number­ one is what all tennis players dream about, and they­ would do anything to achieve that dream... only because­ that dream is very difficult to get to we have only­ about 20 women who have ever achieved that spot... and­ what about grand slams, simply statistically they are­ much easier to get to, and the number of women who have­ ever won slam tournaments, believe me, is more than­ 20....

has janice ever been to watch a live G/S tennis match ­ from inside the stadium with top 10 players ??

seems­ as if TV highlights are her very top limit

Janice: I think you may be addressing the wrong­ audience with your frustration about a player who seems­ not able to shine on the larger tennis stage becoming­ Number 1. We, the fans, waste our breath by beating­ such a dead horse. What we think or feel about players­ who dominate in small tournaments, add up points, maybe­ even avoid tournaments they feel they can't win,­ etc..and become Number 1 doesn't mean a thing. It­ doesn't change anything to moan and debate about­ that. Fans don't decide policy -- the ATP and WTA­ decide policy. Fans don't call the shots on when­ and where an individual player plays. The two pro­ agencies only require a player to play a certain number­ of tournaments. You need to address your concerns to­ ATP and WTA directly, both of whom will probably tell­ you that their goal is to set policy that keeps­ professional tennis going all year long and the keep­ players playing. ...Long an ardent fan and observer of­ pro and armature tennis, I am constantly puzzled by the­ way fans totally ignore pro tennis policies about this­ Number 1 thing. In Chinese, the words for Best and­ First are the same. I know of no other language in­ which this phenomenon occurs. You make such valuable­ remarks in your Comments, but I lose you train of logic­ when you keep beating that dead point. Cheers...and­ keep commenting.

Go Dinara!
As expected, the usual drivel with regards­ the World Number One position; i refuse to engage any­ further on this matter - head, brick wall and banging­ suddenly springs to mind!!!!

My dear Jimmy, I can at least go to the wta site and­ read and analyze properly... as for playing tennis,­ i've been playing it since i was 24 and actually­ know quite a lot about this game... and i am playing­ tomorrow in the evening...adios!

Ya, people do you really think that the fact that­ Ivanovic won a grand slam makes her a better wolrd­ number one???? Are you f**ing kidding, JJ compared to­ Ivanovic, not even mentioning Safina, is a super-druper­ number one ... Oh don't say she was unlucky to be­ injured, she is a zero player, and that's what all­ experts on tv imply when commenting Ivanovic's­ game...

32. My dear armchair expert Janice, Federer has beat­ Nadal in slam finals, twice! Ya now what you shout­ about safina is so credible!!

however sara errani has not been bulldozed...brava!

Safina is they first player in Tour history to defeat­ three different reigning world No.1s in the same season­ (2008: Henin, Sharapova, Jankovic).