indiana wrote:

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Ah, pity, but maybe not too unexpected.

As was said in the Glasgow thread, Naomi really came back pretty well in the first half of the season, but has for whatever reason not kicked on in the second half of the season, indeed her results have gone backwards.

After adding in the 8 points from here, her total ranking points will be 263, which should take her close to the top 200.

However, the split is :

Up to and including Wimbledon Q :  191 points from 9 counting tournaments.
After Wimbledon Q  :   72 points from 7 counting tournaments

She has baically generally been winning one round, but not getting further than L16's.

Based on folk's general feeling about her talents and her first half of the season, I would have fully anticpated her to have cracked on to now be within the top 200 and indeed to have perhaps surpassed her career high of 183rd.

Maybe, she does still have some lingering illness effects and these may have caught up a bit with her, and she may come back more refreshed again in the new year after a little break.

Whatever, the last few months have been a bit concerning.

I think 2010 is going to be a very important year for Naomi.

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Interesting point about the split between the first and second half of the year. If you look at 2008 and 2007 there is a similar pattern. If it wasn't for her illness I would be questioning whether her off-season conditioning work has been good enough to enable her to play at peak level throughout a full season. However it may well be that what was described as post-viral exhaustion has been in her system to an extent before, as well as continuing to have a negative impact, especially towards the end of the season.  Either way if the pattern continues then it will severely hamper her progress.