Nadal and Sharapova already done at the running Wimbledon thread

At least Henin could play.

What you're basically saying --- and I don't necessarily disagree with you --- is that women's tennis needs sex appeal. That's why Sharapova had a bigger following than, say, Amelie Mauresmo or Safina or Kuznetsova. Same reason Chris Evert was more highly regarded than Billie Jean King or Martina Navratilova. And don't even get me started on Anna Kournikova, who never won a single tournament, but was the tennis darling of millions.

But, back to your premise that tennis needs a star, that is why I see potential in the likes of Azarenka, Cibulkova and Radwanska. Good looks, good game, nice personality. For what it's worth --- and this could be a totally different thread altogether --- there are no up-and-coming American teens who seem poised to crack the top ten. It's Venus, Serena and no one as far as US women are concerned.

There are certain significant segments of the tennis world who, for various reasons, aren't all that thrilled with Venus and Serena and are looking for someone else to support.

 

No, what I'm saying is that they need engaging personalities that people like. As cute as Chrissy Evert was (and occasionally still is) she was a beast on the courts. Back in those days one had to produce to be credible and she was as good as King and Martina for a long period of time. Graf, Navratilova, Seles...I see no sex appeal but very interesting personalities who were very well known to the sports fan.

Gabriela Sabatini, who was incredibly sexy, was often criticized for not winning as much as some people thought she should have. I think she won 2-3 majors and made a couple of finals, but probably should have done a little better.

Justine Henin was a great player but not very personable and the reputation of being a cheat and a phony doesn't exactly help the public profile.

Now her countrymate, Kim Clijsters, very personable and popular. She's not going to save women's tennis or anything, but if she comes back strong it would not hurt the game.

 

True. Clijsters might be top ten within six months.

I never thought Graf had much of a personality. Bit of a recluse and painfully shy, at least in her younger years. But I don't disagree that tennis needs personalities and I think the younger gals, particularly Azarenka, have that.

Do you think Sharapova would have become such a media star if she looked like, say, Svetlana Kuznetsova or Dinara Safina?

 

To Sharapova's credit, she's a LOT more Americanized then the other two so that definitely helped her image along with being very attractive.

Steffi was very introverted but she was so damn good people were drawn to her. When you win the way she did and in the fashion that she did it, her general fear of the media and speaking out became part of what drew people to her.

She really opened up after the Seles stabbing and once Navratilova started to fade. But I think she was shy because Navratilova was such a dominant personality and was such an activist. Graf wasn't very progressive at that time and I think she didn't want to talk about a lot of those things.

 

Certainly got spoiled watching Evert, Navratilova, Graf and Seles dominate. In the 10 years since Graf retired, I think Henin has certainly been the most consistent. Serena Williams has more major titles, but she's also been known to lose early more often.

Graf, Navratilova, Evert almost never lost before the quarterfinals of a major. And, yes, I realize the field wasn't as deep then as it is now.

 

Hard to say Henin was more consistent because Serena's the only woman in this era to win on all surfaces and did it within a very quick period. At no point do I believe Henin's best was better than Serena's best.

Unfortunately what should have been the Williamses best years were their toughest when their sister was murdered. That coupled with injuries pretty much ruined them for pretty much all of 2004 and the majority of 2005.

I think they were never given a pass for that time period they deserved because I guess people didn't believe that they should have emotions or time to grieve. I always found it funny how Capriati was given so much sympathy for being a junkie and the Williams sister weren't given a similar break for suffering a tough personal loss.

 

I don't know who gave Capriati a pass for being a junkie. Certainly not me. I was glad to see her make a real comeback and actually win a couple of majors toward the tail end of her career.

Certainly Venus and Serena can, and have, taken time away from tennis for various things. But here's the catch: if you aren't playing a full schedule, your ranking is going to reflect that. I've really never heard either one of them talk about the murder, so I can't begin to guess how it affected them. Serena got to the Wimbledon final (losing to Sharapova) in 2004 and Venus won the title in 2005.

For the record, Sabatini won one major (1990 U.S. Open) and got to one other major final. Had the misfortune to come along at the same time as Graf and Seles. I certainly thought she had more game than, say, Arantxa Sanchez-Vicario, who won four majors.

People talk about Serena's 10 majors or Venus and Henin with seven each. And then look at Graf with 22 majors in 13 years... now that's domination.

The real impressive thing about Federer's 14 is that he's done in less than seven years (first coming in 2003).

 

You hit on another contributing factor...there's no woman challenging a historical mark. I guess Serena's next Australian Open title would be a new record (5), but that's it.

Venus needs two Wimbledons to tie Steffi. Considering she only plans on playing through the 2012 season, I don't see her reaching Martina's mark but I guess she's got a better than average shot of getting 7.

22 majors ain't happening for a long time. A Golden Slam will never happen again in my lifetime, I'm pretty convinced of that. I mean 10 majors is a pretty damn good career number and it's not even close to Evert (17) or Martina (18).

Then I was looking at doubles and did you know Martina has 31 GS doubles titles? That's ridiculous. 31 titles! And 10 more mixed doubles titles.

I always thought Sabatini won a second U.S. Open. I know she choked away the Wimbledon title, I think she was up an early break on Steffi in the third set. It wasn't as bad as Novotna's choke, but still pretty rough.

 

Yeah. And, of course, the field is much deeper now. For most of their careers, Evert and Navratilova had only 2-3 players capable of beating them in big matches. Evert had some ridiculous streak of 10 + years of making at least the semis at EVERY slam she entered until a stomach virus and a good grass courter in Kathy Jordan stopped her in the third round at Wimbledon in 1983.

In Graf's prime, opponents just hoped to win a few games against her and stay on court for more than an hour. Certainly no one dominates like that today in the women's game. And it makes what Federer has done since 2003 all the more remarkable.

 

Just thought now would be a good time to recognize a long-forgotten Wimbledon champ who was the shiznit in 1950s sport ...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vic_Seixas

... who is, thank Tebow, still alive.

 

We MAY have discovered the next good American women's player. 17-year-old qualifier Melanie Oudin of Georgia rallies from a set down to beat 6-seed Jelena Jankovic in three sets in a three-hour marathon. This is Oudin's first time in a Grand Slam singles main draw and she reaches the fourth round.

Oudin had four set points in the first set tiebreaker and let that get away. I figured she would probably go away after that. But, instead, she really dominated the next two sets. Has good strokes, plays smart and showed a lot of composure. Actually got better as the match went along, winning the third set 6-2.

Sure, it was against Jankovic, who never met a match she couldn't choke away. She had some mysterious medical problem that caused a 12-minute delay after the first set and never looked very energetic afterward. But Oudin has game, too and might just give either Radwanska or Li Na a battle in the next round.

 

And look out for Tomas Berdych in the men's draw. He's the guy who beat Federer in the 2004 Athens Olympics. I really thought he was sure-fire top ten player, but sort of plateaud. Got a good serve and volleys well.

I pick him to beat Roddick in the fourth round and get to at least the semifinals.