Congratulations
to Caroline Wozniacki for taking over from Serena Williams as the new world
number one.
She has
been the most consistent of all those players and deserves to be world number
one.
I say
consistently the best but I mean consistently the best out of those players
who've played a lot this year.
Is she the
best player in the world? No. Serena Williams is the best player in the world
and Kim Clijsters is probably second best.
But Wozniacki
has been the most consistent player and won enough big matches and has worked
so hard to get where she is, she deserves to be ranked number one in the world
under this system.
For a
variety of reasons Serena hasn't earned enough points to be number one and I
think people should be able to separate the two things; there's the best player
in the world and there's the number one player in the world. We all know why
that's happened.
There
shouldn't be any blame attached to her at all and I don't think there is any
fault in the rankings. You can't cater for people who play less or people who
get injured. I think it's about right.
It's always
been a little bit the case with the Williams sisters anyway - we always knew
that, whatever variety of injuries they had over the last decade, they have
been for the most part the best two players in the world. I don't think that's
the case with Venus anymore but Serena can still come back and win tournaments
almost without practicing.
Of course
this is the same debate that we had last year when Dinara Safina and Jelena
Jankovic enjoyed stints at the top of the rankings.
What got me
about Safina and Jelena was the way people almost made it their fault that they
became number one by default. It's not.
They both
suffered as a result, Safina hugely and Jelena to a certain extent, and I hope
the same doesn't happen to Caroline.
I think it
did weigh on her a little at the US Open; I saw her play in the run-up and she
looked very nervous and self-conscious. I think she's playing better now. She's
taken so much in her stride - that's what I love about her; for all the
attributes she has, she is still so humble about things. It's great for her and
I think she's great for tennis. She's so approachable as well that she'll be
great to market as the world number one.
At the
moment, it seems like she's got her schedule right. I thought that when she got
that ankle injury earlier in the year in the run-up to Roland Garros, it was
ridiculous for he to play then.
But her
camp obviously knew what they were doing as it didn't seem to hinder her too
much and she's kicked on since then. She doesn't look fatigued at all.
I think
there's a real enjoyment there. A lot of players when they get to world number
one feel hunted every time they get on court.
I hope that
she can enjoy it a bit because she's achieved one of her goals. In a way it
helps that she hasn't won a Grand Slam because it gives her something still to
aim for.
I think
she's doing all the right things at the moment. Once she wins a Grand Slam then
maybe it's time to slow down her schedule a bit.
I see her
as a real threat for the Australian Open. I think she's a very good player -
super consistent and mentally very tough but Clijsters and Serena are better
than her and when they play in Grand Slams, barring injuries, I was always
expect those two to beat her.