Weeks 39 & 40 - French Open, Roland-Garros, Paris (clay)

JonH comes home · Tennis legend

Weeks 39 & 40 - French Open, Roland-Garros, Paris (clay)

indiana · Tennis legend

ROSAMUND wrote:
Swiatek won the French singles without dropping a set. The last player to achieve this in Paris was Justine Henin in 2006 and 2007 in her zenith.Prior to that it was Arantxa Sanchez In 1994 and Steffi Graf in 1988. The last player to win a Grand Slam singles without dropping a set was Serena Williams at the 2017 Australian Open. It is not achIeved very often.

Thank you, I was wondering about that.

Of further interest, all these other players conceded at least 5 games in at least one set. Iga never conceded more than 4.

JonH comes home · Tennis legend

Sadly Jordanne lost a v tight match. Well done still!

ROSAMUND · Futures level

indiana wrote:
ROSAMUND wrote:
Swiatek won the French singles without dropping a set. The last player to achieve this in Paris was Justine Henin in 2006 and 2007 in her zenith.Prior to that it was Arantxa Sanchez In 1994 and Steffi Graf in 1988. The last player to win a Grand Slam singles without dropping a set was Serena Williams at the 2017 Australian Open. It is not achIeved very often.
Thank you, I was wondering about that.
Of further interest, all these other players conceded at least 5 games in at least one set. Iga never conceded more than 4.

The last player to win the US Open without dropping a set was Serena Williams in 2014. She actually did not concede more than 3 games in a set but conceded more games overall 30 in 7 matches as opposed to Swiatek's 28 games. The last player to win Wimbledon without dropping a set was Marion Bartoli in 2013. Both Eugenie Bouchard in 2014 and Angie Kerber in 2016 didn't drop a set in reaching the final but then lost.In the post war era the French is the hardest Grand Slam title to win without dropping a set. Australia is 28, US 23, Wimbledon 20 and the French a mere 10 occasions.

JonH comes home · Tennis legend

With the womens season effectively over, in terms of big events (men still have Paris Indoor and World Tour FInals to play) I thought I would have some fun. Given the rankings arent representative of the last 12 months, rather the last 18 months, I wondered who people would say have been the top 10 women this season (2020 calendar year) on WTA Tour.

Here is my top 10 and rationale: let us know what your top 10 as I am sure this is totally wrong below!

1.S. Kenin - despite losing todays final, and easily, she has probably had the best overall record this year. Won AO, RU in FO, last 16 at USO, 16-2 slam win record, 88.9% overall. Hard to argue really, even if she may not be the best actual player, she probably has the record to make her this years top player
2. N. Osaka - like Vika, it was all about New York winning USO and RU in Cinci, just edges Vika on that basis - got the wins the right way around!
3. V. Azarenka - 3 weeks in New York, winning Cinci and RU in USO, with a last 8 in Rome, just edged 3rd for me, but could have been 4th
4. I. Swiatek - title this fortnight at the FO brings her from nowhere, and a last 16 in AO as well. Almost 3rd to be fair, but 4th is decent
4. S. Halep - won Rome, semis in Melbourne and last 16 FO. Not sure if ahead of Kvitova but a title in Rome shades it for me
6. P. Kvitova - semis in FO, last 8 AO, last 16 USO (12-3 80% slam record) and Doha finalist.
7. G. Muguruza - RU in Melbourne, semis in Rome and a last 8 in Doha, in a year with few standing out with consistency, she gets 7th for me
8. A. Sabalenka - basically, won Doha but in a season with 6 big events, that is enough to get her a top 10 spot in my book
9. E. Mertens - not sure if I have her too high, but consistency was the name of her game. US Open last 8, Cinci Semis, Rome last 8, AO last 16. Probably over rated her but...
10. A. Barty - realise no play since March but semis at AO and in Doha. Just ahead of Ons Jabeur, I was very tempted to put Ons in the top 10

In terms of doubles, the top pair - it was a two horse raise between Strycova and Hsieh (won Doha and Rome, RU AO) and Babos and Mladenovic (Won AO, Final tbd French, Semis in Doha). Should they win tomorrow, Babos and Mladenovic clearly would have it, as it is I shade it to them as top pair of the season.

ROSAMUND · Futures level

JonH comes home wrote:
With the womens season effectively over, in terms of big events (men still have Paris Indoor and World Tour FInals to play) I thought I would have some fun. Given the rankings arent representative of the last 12 months, rather the last 18 months, I wondered who people would say have been the top 10 women this season (2020 calendar year) on WTA Tour.

Here is my top 10 and rationale: let us know what your top 10 as I am sure this is totally wrong below!

1.S. Kenin - despite losing todays final, and easily, she has probably had the best overall record this year. Won AO, RU in FO, last 16 at USO, 16-2 slam win record, 88.9% overall. Hard to argue really, even if she may not be the best actual player, she probably has the record to make her this years top player
2. N. Osaka - like Vika, it was all about New York winning USO and RU in Cinci, just edges Vika on that basis - got the wins the right way around!
3. V. Azarenka - 3 weeks in New York, winning Cinci and RU in USO, with a last 8 in Rome, just edged 3rd for me, but could have been 4th
4. I. Swiatek - title this fortnight at the FO brings her from nowhere, and a last 16 in AO as well. Almost 3rd to be fair, but 4th is decent
4. S. Halep - won Rome, semis in Melbourne and last 16 FO. Not sure if ahead of Kvitova but a title in Rome shades it for me
6. P. Kvitova - semis in FO, last 8 AO, last 16 USO (12-3 80% slam record) and Doha finalist.
7. G. Muguruza - RU in Melbourne, semis in Rome and a last 8 in Doha, in a year with few standing out with consistency, she gets 7th for me
8. A. Sabalenka - basically, won Doha but in a season with 6 big events, that is enough to get her a top 10 spot in my book
9. E. Mertens - not sure if I have her too high, but consistency was the name of her game. US Open last 8, Cinci Semis, Rome last 8, AO last 16. Probably over rated her but...
10. A. Barty - realise no play since March but semis at AO and in Doha. Just ahead of Ons Jabeur, I was very tempted to put Ons in the top 10

In terms of doubles, the top pair - it was a two horse raise between Strycova and Hsieh (won Doha and Rome, RU AO) and Babos and Mladenovic (Won AO, Final tbd French, Semis in Doha). Should they win tomorrow, Babos and Mladenovic clearly would have it, as it is I shade it to them as top pair of the season.

I know Sabalenka won Doha but in Grand Slams is yet to reach a quarter final. But apprecIate in a shortened year difficult to judge..I feel in one respect that Swiatek has brighter prospects than Gauff or Ostapenko when she won Paris That is the issue of double faults. Gauff wiil surely not win anything unless she cuts out the double faults. The only player she has played recently not to benefit from this was Jo Konta who was making too many unforced errors of her own.