Sunday, October 25, 2009

WTA YEC Draw

by Savannah

I double dare anyone to say this is balanced or that an agenda isn't being pursued here.


Doha Draw

WHITE GROUP

Dinara Safina
Caroline Wozniacki
Victoria Azarenka
Jelena Jankovic

ROUND ROBIN MATCHES - White Group

Dinara Safina (RUS) vs Caroline Wozniacki (DEN)
Dinara Safina (RUS) vs Victoria Azarenka (BLR)
Dinara Safina (RUS) vs Jelena Jankovic (SRB)
Caroline Wozniacki (DEN) vs Victoria Azarenka (BLR)
Caroline Wozniacki (DEN) vs Jelena Jankovic (SRB)
Victoria Azarenka (BLR) vs Jelena Jankovic (SRB)

MAROON GROUP

Serena Williams
Svetlana Kuznetsova
Elena Dementieva
Venus Williams

ROUND ROBIN MATCHES - Maroon Group

Serena Williams (USA) vs Svetlana Kuznetsova (RUS)
Serena Williams (USA) vs Elena Dementieva (RUS)
Serena Williams (USA) vs Venus Williams (USA)
Elena Dementieva (RUS) vs Venus Williams (USA)
Svetlana Kuznetsova (RUS) vs Elena Dementieva (RUS)
Svetlana Kuznetsova (RUS) vs Venus Williams (USA)

3 comments:

Matt said...

OMG Savannah I was thinking EXACTLY the same thing and came straight to your blog to discuss with you!!!

This is the most SHOCKING and unbalanced draw I have EVER seen.

White group: ZERO grand slam titles

Maroon group: TWENTY grand slam titles (i think that's right)

It was commented on the WTA website that an all-Williams final is NOT possible. I do not think that is correct!! I recall from previous YEC that two women from the same group have battled it out in the final on a number of occasions... Unless they've changed the format I can't see how they justified that claim...

Very, very interesting. My money is on TWO of the girls from the maroon group making the final. Seriously cannot see any of the players from the white group making it past the semifinals...

Savannah said...

Matt the more I think about it the angrier I get. This is farce presented to tennis fans as a "balanced" draw. Once again the WTA has given us two tournaments - one a Tier III (I'm being kind) and the other a Tier I where the best of the best slug it out among themselves for the chance to meet one of the players who have never, ever, won a major. Was this done to protect the player ranked Number 1? Why did the WTA use a 50 week ranking period instead of the 52 week ranking period it has used before?

Wozniacki threw her match because she said she was injured. Azarenka has yet to show the mental toughness required to make it to the final of a major. Jelena has played a lot of tennis coming into the YEC. The less said about the player ranked number one the better. Pathetic. I will say this. If the top ranked player doesn't make the final of the YEC the WTA will have a lot of explaining to do to fans of women's tennis.

Fred66 said...

I'll gladly take you up on that dare, Savannah. I don't think the WTA was very happy with a no.1 player who was as unpopular as Safina. Everyone, even the powers that be at the WTA know, that Serena is the de facto no. 1 player to the fans no matter what her ranking is, so why in the world would they try to sabotage a player who is so well respected and admired, even though she is not universally "liked". (as if Serena could care less about that). The Tour is much better off with Serena as no.1, especially considering the importance of the American market.
I have to ask, what difference does it make whether Safina was seeded 1 or 2? The only player she was sure to avoid anyway in the round robin was Serena.