91Èȱ¬

It is great to read a measured and well argued piece on the subject of Caroline becoming number 1. I agree with all the sentiments expressed. Williams is obvoiusly the best player on the tour, but Caroline is the most consistent, and is still only 20. She will need to do even better next year to defend all these points. A grand slam or two will silence her critics!

Hello Jonathan,

It seems then that there are two "Number 1" players.

Wozniacki is the Number 1 Tour player, by virtue of her (undoubted) ability and playing schedule.

S Williams is the Number 1 Major player, by virtue of her major record, (undoubted) ability and playing schedule.

Realistically, until Wozniacki starts winning majors (or S Williams actually retires), there can be no definitive way to cleave this split.

Good luck to Miss Wozniacki.

Great article Overend!! Do you think maybe next time you could actually publish something? I am so tired of the new age of 91Èȱ¬ journalists. There are so much spelling errors, grammar errors, mis-information reports it is embarassing!!! SOFRT IT OUT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I will be so pleased to read the blogs from the English journalists when Westwood gets to number 1 in the golf rankings. I haven't seen him win a major either...

"There are so much spelling errors, grammar errors..."

So many spelling errors, grammatical errors...

"SOFRT IT OUT"

Sort it out

Let he without sin cast the first stone.

The problem we have is that the media/WTA/ATP have this misconception that the rankings are designed to identify the best player in the world. They in fact reward quantity/consistency over quality. This fact was reinforced at the US Open. Prior to the event Kim Clijsters was ranked 3, having won the event she was demoted to 5, being overtaken by Venus Williams and Vera Zvonareva, both of whom she had defeated in winning the title. To truly judge a player look at who (s)he has lost to - not who (s)he has beaten, particularly in the Majors - that is a more telling guide to their capability.

PS Looking at this measure you would also conclude that Andy Murray is over ranked at 4.

Great to learn that she is the seventh youngest woman to become world number one. What a killer stat, you can just keep reeling that one out to your mates for years to come and never fail to surprise and delight people with it.

I think at the moment it's pretty obvious Serena is the best female tennis player at the moment regardless of what the rankings say.

I think though, it shows a lack of strong challengers in the ladies game. Serena can pick and choose when she plays and pretty much maintain number 1 status.

I am a huge Serena fan, I think she is an amazing player and she isn't given enough credit (people making fun of her looks instead of appreciating her tennis). I would prefer to see her have much tougher competition to further show how good she is.

Here is hoping for people like Wozniacki to push on and become strong challengers.

@ Simon.....obviously you didn't get the sarcasm in @TennisEquality's post. He was just trying to say some of the errors are just too apparent you can't miss them.

Hope I was of help.

Yes tg, you were very helpful. It's amazing how you know what @TennisEquality intended. Your mind reading abilities must be awesome. What colour am I thinking of?

C Woz is not the finished article, has a few things to iron out and needs to develop a weapon. However it's not her fault that Serena doesn't play thus making her #1 by default. C Woz though is a huge talent and is only 20 a future GS winner for sure

Got to agree with JT, you can't say that the WTA should have missed off the 'at least 4th round at every major' while poiting out she is the seventh youngest world number 1, when there have only been 20.

Is it just the Williams sisters that create this unusual situation at the top end of the women's game? I always thought that Safina was a truly dreadful player and a disgrace to have at number one. Wozniacki is better but still not great. Compare that tp the men's game, where no one would argue with Rafa's placement at the top of the heap or Fed's before that.

A dreadful indictment of the current state of WTA, a player as limited and bland as 'Grinder' Wozniacki has reached number one. Tremendous athlete, defender and retriever but oohhh soo lacking any of the finer arts, creativity in her game. Watching her '3 winners a set' matches is worse than watching paint dry.

#7 Brilliant post.

Not quite in the Martin Tyler class of stats.

"... unfortunately, we have to scrutinise Wozniacki's credibility as a number one."
Surely this is backwards. Wozniacki's No 1 ranking is a matter of arithmetic. The scrutiny should come to the unsubstantiated claim that Serena Williams is the best player in the world. Why is it so hard to accept that the "best" and the "ranking no 1" are different. It's useful when they coincide, but it's not a big deal. If you don't like the ranking system, then lobby to change the rules, or you can spend your time arguing about who's best, and will settle nothing.
Lee Westwood is apparently about to overtake Tiger Woods as the No 1 golfer in the world. Zero majors to somewhere in the mid teens. Wow!

@simon, muppet! Is that spelling good enough for you? Thankyou tgtaxi for seeing beyond the message. I don't know if you have noticed but the laziness of those responsible for the uploading of content is incredible! Every day without fail there are MASSIVE errors littered throughout the site. Unfortunately from what I see it seems to be predominantly in the Sports section :( I have been moaning about it for months but my calls go answered :) no surprise there... More people need to shout about it, the quality of the Blogs are pretty poor on the whole. It seems that posting a controversial comment to raise a reaction qualifies as good journalism nowadays! Very sad...

I agree with one of the previous comments that your article is very reasoned and objective. It is difficult to find such an article on most websites by our writers. It seems to be a journalistic maxim that one should wear his biased opinion on his sleeves.

Fathers of young tennis stars tend to contribute to the stars early exit from the game or worse relegate them to a position of struggling to stay in the top 50 on the ranking list. Caroline would have to defend those points she has gained this year and still must up her game to try to win a major against the fir power of Serena, Venus, Henin and Kim. She has losing records against all of them. It is a pity.

I'd be interested to hear what these massive errors in style, panache and general competence are that have so infuriated TennisEquality.

This comment was removed because the moderators found it broke the house rules. Explain.

Serena, Vwnus, Henin and Clijsters hardly ever play. Wozniacki has proved her worth against other active players throughout the year. The number one spot rewards consistency over a rolling twelve month period. Grand Slam championships reward consistency over a two week period. They are two completely different things. 'The real number one' is not (and can never be) someone who hardly ever plays.

If serena williams cannot be bothered to support the WTA tour and play enough tournaments outside the majors to secure the #1 ranking, which she appears to think is her god-given right, then she doesnt deserve the ranking in the first place! Wozniacki on the other hand has proven her committment to the tour and has done everything in her power to reach the #1 spot. clearly the same cannot be said of miss williams!

serena should start focussing on her tennis and prove shes committed to the entire tour (not just the majors) before she starts running her mouth off about who the "real number one is". one things for sure though.. with comments like that shes clearly nowhere near the #1 classiest player on the WTA tour!

CONGRATULATIONS CAROLINE

Congratulations to Caroline - clearly worked very hard to climb up the rankings, and seems like a nice girl too, which always helps the public image. But as much as I like her, I think Jonathan was spot on - number 1 or not, she can't consider herself to be up there with S.Williams, Clijsters, Henin or V.Williams until she wins a Slam. Clijsters was number 1 before she won her first Slam, and it was the same for her too - nobody thought she was up there with the best until she started winning slams.

To be fair to Serena, it isn't through choice that she's played so few matches this season. She injured her knee after the Australian Open and had to miss at least 5 tournaments and 3 months of play, then cut an artery in her foot the week after Wimbledon and hasn't been able to play since. I admit that she used to treat the WTA Tour really badly but in the last 2 or 3 years she's definitely matured.
In some respects, I think Wozniacki deserves the number 1 ranking because of her consistent wins in big tournaments (not Grand Slams but the next level down) but I think she's got off lightly because of the fact that Serena and Justine Henin haven't played since Wimbledon, and Venus has only played once since Wimbledon. It'll be interesting to see her face the Williams sisters at the start of next year, if she can beat them she deserves the number 1 ranking.

This is all elementary. While I congratulate Caroline for being the best tennis player in the world over the past 12 months, if she were never to win a Grand Slam then she will fade into memory. Ask Ivanovic what she would rather have - her French Open title or the no. 1 spot for a few weeks. I think she'd plump for the latter every time. The case in point is Marcelo Rios. He is better remembered for his comments on the grass of Wimbledon than his stint as the world's best.

Besides, it is all a ridiculous argument. Until Jankovic and Safina hit the top spot, the rankings were the marker that people agreed on as the marker as the best player in the world at that time. The rankings don't become farcical overnight. There was always the opportunity for this to happen but with a greater range of players going about their business at a top level coupled with The Williams, Clijsters and Henin not playing full schedules, the opportunities for their peers to win more matches and tournaments - therefore more ranking points - means that Woz was always likely to eventually be no.1 by virtue of winning the most titles this year

"I think at the moment it's pretty obvious Serena is the best female tennis player at the moment regardless of what the rankings say."

Not at all. At the moment, Serena can't play tennis because of her injuries, so she'd hardly be the best!


As for the quality against quantity debate, look at Schiavone, with almost as many tournaments as Wozniacki (just one fewer) and with a slam win among them, but nowhere near on points. Perhaps that's a better comparison.

*meant the former, with regards to Ivanovic

I find the article somewhat Williams biased, lets examine the facts. Its fine to observe weaknesses in other players games however Venus and Serena both turned pro early (like Wozniacki) Serena in 1995 and Venus in 1994 and it took both players five years to win their first majors. Wozniacki turned pro 2005 and is therefore in my opinion on track to emulate the same. Serena took 7 years to become World #1 and Venus 8 years, we also need to consider the massive media hype and financial support that the Williams sisters were given by foundations and federations. In short Wozniacki deserves her place as World #1 she is consistent, a tough competitor, has a tremendous work ethic on and off court and is non gimmicky! (apart from the yellow nails)so if these attributes are not what is needed to be #1 I must be missing something.

Johnathan, I am rather disappointed that you have chosen to write an article that comes across as little more than a thinly-veiled attack on Caroline Wozniacki and a vague moan about the rankings system not favouring Serena Williams.

It's hardly Caroline's fault that Serena only turns up to tournaments that interest her or that she is required to compete in and as such has only played her twice, both times in 2009 - the first time Serena won a tightly-contested match, the second Caroline retired. Rather than Caroline being #1 because Serena hasn't been around much, perhaps rather Serena was #1 because no-one else was around much to challenge her on a consistent basis?

What exactly is your point in making a statement such as "that is reality - no matter what the rankings say"? As others have said, the WTA rankings are not designed to show who is best at winning Grand Slams, it's designed to show who is the most consistent across all tournaments. Are you stating that your opinion is worth more than the WTA rankings?

If all you were to consider in the rankings were who got to the QF or better in Grand Slams, then Serena would be top of the rankings. However, above Caroline (SF & QF) would also be Vera Zvonerava (twice Runner up), Francesca Schiavone (Winner & QF), and Sam Stosur (Runner up and QF). Would you consider all these to be better players than Caroline? Na Li also managed the same results as Caroline - is she as good a player as Caroline?

If it were Elena Baltacha or Andy Murray that had got to #1 without winning a Grand Slam, would you still be complaining? I suspect not. A little objective journalism would not go amiss here - complaining about the manner in which someone attained something just because you do not agree with the process is only ever likely to result in people accusing you of bias or sour grapes.