[hacyOrgachbic]

No, Dinara. Nobody's jealous of you. They're laughing at you because it's a joke that your'e #1. Same with Jankovic and Mauresmo (before actually winning a major).

I don't think....that anyone is laughing at Dinara. And...I don't think that it is a joke that she's number one.

Like she said...she won it fair and square. Right now...the ranking is a numbers game. And according to the numbers, Dinara is the #1 tennis player in the world.

Probably there is no one in the world that is putting more pressure on her than herself. That girl is a perfectionist but she's learned to control her emotions on the court.

And it wasn't a joke that Kim, Jelena, and Amelie were slamless #1's. It is nothing more than...the state of the WTA whether you like it or not, or agree with it or not.

[kubekniekubek]

I don't think....that anyone is laughing at Dinara. And...I don't think that it is a joke that she's number one.

Like she said...she won it fair and square. Right now...the ranking is a numbers game. And according to the numbers, Dinara is the #1 tennis player in the world.

Probably there is no one in the world that is putting more pressure on her than herself. That girl is a perfectionist but she's learned to control her emotions on the court.

And it wasn't a joke that Kim, Jelena, and Amelie were slamless #1's. It is nothing more than...the state of the WTA whether you like it or not, or agree with it or not.

And that is the crux of the argument. I could be wrong but since the WTA got rid of quality points their ranking system has been crap. Maybe it's time to revisit that topic?

[hacyOrgachbic]

And that is the crux of the argument. I could be wrong but since the WTA got rid of quality points their ranking system has been crap. Maybe it's time to revisit that topic?

I could go with that Ti.

The issue here isn't really .....is Dinara the number one player because according to the ranking system, she is, so you'll get no argument from me there.

But at the same time, I'd agree that if we have a player who won 2 slams and made a slam final and that's not the number one player....something is wrong with the system, not the player.

I hope that one day the WTA does revisit this and soon wouldn't hurt anyone.....

[freddystone]

And that is the crux of the argument. I could be wrong but since the WTA got rid of quality points their ranking system has been crap. Maybe it's time to revisit that topic?

I (usually) loved the quality points system. But I don't see how it can work under Roadkill. When you have players being forced to play certain events and summarily retiring at 0-1 in the first because they didn't want to be there in the first place and/or felt like playing the event was a hinderance to their preparation for other events, it can skew the ranking system even further... Or, give a player like Tatiana Garbin a fairly solid place in the top 30 or 40 for a full 12 months after accidentally beating a subpar Henin at Roland Garros...

The quality points system has bugs.

So in the end, I end up coming down on the side that any system is going to be, at least to some degree, imperfect. Unless there's a Grand High Poobah somewhere who makes arbitrary decisions about who really deserves quality points and who doesn't... Which, of course, is completely out of the question.

[suilusargaino]

I don't think....that anyone is laughing at Dinara. And...I don't think that it is a joke that she's number one.

Like she said...she won it fair and square. Right now...the ranking is a numbers game. And according to the numbers, Dinara is the #1 tennis player in the world.

Probably there is no one in the world that is putting more pressure on her than herself. That girl is a perfectionist but she's learned to control her emotions on the court.

And it wasn't a joke that Kim, Jelena, and Amelie were slamless #1's. It is nothing more than...the state of the WTA whether you like it or not, or agree with it or not.

I'm laughing at her for thinking that anybody is jealous of her "accomplishment" of being #1. And I know I'm not alone.

[hacyOrgachbic]

I'm laughing at her for thinking that anybody is jealous of her "accomplishment" of being #1. And I know I'm not alone.

Attaining the number one ranking is an accomplishment......especially when you look at what Dinara had to do to attain it. Her performance over the past year was just fantastic.

Last year...Dinara Safina just....surged ahead so strong and won what....4 events in a row? And she ended the year strong. She earned every single point that was awarded to her that resulted in her becoming the number one player.

And...right now, given the injuries and line up, Dinara is one of the strongest girls on the Tour and......I bet she takes Madrid, on top of her win last week.

[suilusargaino]

Yeah she did well. Yet I'm still laughing at her for thinking anybody is jealous of her. I don't blame her for defending her "accomplishment," but that's the wrong way to go about it. Very childish, actually.

[kubekniekubek]

I wouldn't say laughing per se but the mere fact that only a "handful" of reporters attended her presser and the fans voted with their feet does raise troubling issues for the WTA about their ranking system.

Whether I, or anyone else likes it or not she is number one fair and square. And she is going to have to win a major soon. That is pression. Will it be RG? I don't know. As I said in another thread I think the women's field is wide open for the FO.

It's going to be interesting to see how many fans are in the stands tomorrow for the WTA match.

BTW she is way off about the age thing.

[aLZ9zKsO]

And that is the crux of the argument. I could be wrong but since the WTA got rid of quality points their ranking system has been crap. Maybe it's time to revisit that topic?

A tennis statistician wrote a column on the topics. Using the "old "system , Serena would have stayed number 1 until April 26th. But Safina will have become number 1 by now. So , It doesn't solve the "problem".

Way more on the article
Real One: Revising WTA Rankings
The ranking system of averages is, in my opinion, the fairest system of all. Players who want to play in many events can still do so, earning the prize money and experience that comes with playing in many events. However, a fair and accurate ranking system must include results from all tournaments played.
A system which regards quality is one that must also give recognition to victories over highly-ranked players. In the current system, if two players reach the semifinals of a major, but one player does this by knocking out two top seeds and another gets there by a default, and victories over much lower-ranked players, who would be deemed to have had a better result? And yet the current ranking system rewards each player equally. Prize money should be the same per round. And points earned towards a year-end playoff should also be the same per round. But a ranking system must recognize victories over top ranked players, because that is another very strong and accurate measure of a player’s true standing in the game.

This ranking was devised using the current WTA point allocation for tournaments, but also includes bonus points for wins over players based on their rankings (and modeled after the WTA’s most recent system for awarding bonus points.). The total number of points was then divided by the total number of tournaments played, or by a minimum of 14 events. I think virtually every tennis expert would concur that these rankings more accurately reflect were the best players for 2008, and in what order. Not only that, but extending this ranking system into 2009, it yielded this other result as to who really is still the true No. 1 one in the world today.

Current rankings through April 26, 2009

1. Serena Williams 691.0000
2. Dinara Safina 676.4118
http://www.tennisweek.com/features/f...id=6631644#top

[repldoinfo]

The only reason why there are still arguments about this is because the palyer who won most Grand Slams in last 12 month (Serena) has not been consistent enough in other tournaments. It is one thing to prepare yourself 100% for a major and then perhaps lose form a bit in smaller events. Not that she doesn't want to win all events, but just maybe she can not do it on consistent basis, something like Justine did in say 2007. It takes a lot more effort to be very good day in and day out. It takes a lot more practice and dedication. Dinara has been the most consistent player in last 12 months and rankings are showing just that. On top of that she won big event last week and is in the final this week. One can say she is the most in form player right at this moment and will come in to RG as a top favorite. Sounds like number 1 to me.