A LOOK AT THE LADIES TENNIS NEWS FROM WIMBLEDON 2015

Written by: Staff on 28th June 2015

A LOOK AT THE LADIES TENNIS NEWS FROM WIMBLEDON 2015

Maria Sharapova of Russia arrives for a training session on the eve of the Wimbledon Championships at the All England Lawn Tennis Club, in London, Britain, 28 June 2015. EPA/FACUNDO ARRIZABALAGA |

LET’S LOOK AT THE SEEDS…….

This being the hundred and fiftieth anniversary of the publication of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, we can’t help but think about curious legal cases. Which led us to think of a truly wild possible case: The WTA suing Wimbledon to force it to apply the seeding formula to the women as well as the men. After all, if there are male grass specialists, so are there plenty of female grass specialists — Petra Kvitova, Angelique Kerber, Alison Riske, and now Belinda Bencic spring to mind. Why shouldn’t they get the same consideration?

The answer, of course, is that for every player who would benefit from the seeding formula, there is a player who would be demoted. So there is no organized body pushing for seeding adjustment.

But that doesn’t mean that we can’t apply the seeding formula.

So what is the seeding formula this year?

* Take ranking points for this week

* Add “100% points earned for all grass court tournament in past 12 months.”

* Add “75% points earned for best grass court tournament in 12 months before that.”

We note a slight ambiguity in there. Normally the “last twelve months” would be clear — the events the week before the preceding Wimbledon through the events two weeks before the current Wimbledon. So, if this year were a normal year, that would mean Eastbourne 2014 through Birmingham 2015. But, this year, Wimbledon was pushed back a week. That means that Eastbourne 2014 was 53 weeks ago, not 52, and Eastbourne 2013 was 105 weeks ago, not 104. Should we count those events 53 and 105 weeks ago?

Petra Kvitova of the Czech Republic in action during a training session on the eve of the Wimbledon Championships at the All England Lawn Tennis Club, in London, Britain, 28 June 2015. EPA/FACUNDO ARRIZABALAGA

If the author were in charge, the answer would be “yes”; we should count by seasons, not by weeks. But the Tours always operate on 52 week years. So we took the literal reading and operated on that. We also took the entire Top 35, just to account for withdrawals. So Peng Shuai is in here even though she won’t play, and Zarina Diyas and Roberta Vinci are in here even though it turns out they won’t be seeded. Finally, we took actual points awarded, rather than adjusting for the change in the points table from 2013 to 2014. (Don’t get us started on that.) Doing all that gives us this set of adjusted seeds:

1. S WILLIAMS: 11631 points. WTA: #1

2. KVITOVA: 9245 points. WTA: #2

3. HALEP: 7155 points. WTA: #3

4. SHARAPOVA: 6265 points. WTA: #4

5. WOZNIACKI: 5378.75 points. WTA: #5

6. SAFAROVA: 4910 points. WTA: #6

7. BOUCHARD: 4540 points. WTA: #12

8. KERBER: 4413.75 points. WTA: #10

9. IVANOVIC: 4378.5 points. WTA: #7

10. MAKAROVA: 4125 points. WTA: #8

11. LISICKI: 3985 points. WTA: #18

12. RADWANSKA: 3840 points. WTA: #13

13. SUAREZ NAVARRO: 3725 points. WTA: #9

14. PLISKOVA: 3660 points. WTA: #11

15. PETKOVIC: 2866 points. WTA: #14

16. BACSINSZKY: 2745 points. WTA: #15

17. V WILLIAMS: 2716 points. WTA: #16

18. STRYCOVA: 2463.75 points. WTA: #28

19. KEYS: 2462.5 points. WTA: #21

20. SVITOLINA: 2460 points. WTA: #17

21. CORNET: 2206 points. WTA: #25

22. MUGURUZA: 2161 points. WTA: #20

[23. PENG: 2157 points. WTA: #26]

24. ERRANI: 2153.75 points. WTA: #19

25. PENNETTA: 2127 points. WTA: #24

26. AZARENKA: 2037 points. WTA: #23

27. STOSUR: 2030 points. WTA: #22

28. GIORGI: 1950 points. WTA: #32

29. JANKOVIC: 1935 points. WTA: #29

30. BENCIC: 1897.5 points. WTA: #31

31. KUZNETSOVA: 1877 points. WTA: #27

32. GARCIA: 1755 points. WTA: #33

[33. DIYAS: 1745.75 points. WTA: #34]

34. BEGU: 1710.75 points. WTA: #30

[35. VINCI: 1512 points. WTA: #35]

So the Top Four are unchanged. But in the #5-#8 block, we have substantial changes. Eugenie Bouchard, last year’s finalist, shoots up from #12 to #7 — although she surely doesn’t deserve it this year. Angelique Kerber, who does deserve a grass promotion, also hits the Top Eight. Bouchard and Kerber replace Ana Ivanovic and Ekaterina Makarova. (Probably deservedly, for Ivanovic. Makarova perhaps should be higher — but she skipped this year’s warm-ups. She might have done otherwise were the formula “real.”)

It’s interesting to note that not one player in the adjusted #9-#12 block is seeded there in the actual draw. Ivanovic and Makarova were bumped down from the #5-#8 block. And Agnieszka Radwanska was promoted from the #13-#16 block, and Sabine Lisicki — the finalist in 2013, remember — promoted all the way from the #17-#24 block. Their promotions drop Carla Suarez Navarro and Karolina Pliskova to the #13-#16 block.

Lisicki’s dramatic improvement has another effect: It drops Venus Williams from #16 to #17. Yes, even though she’s a former champion, Venus gets demoted — because she has only one grass event in the last two years (Wimbledon 2014), and she lost early there. By the numbers, her demotion is well deserved; of our 35 players, she is co-#29 in grass points (tied with Stosur; the only players below her are Muguruza, Begu, Kuznetsova, Svitolina, and Errani. Svitolina is too new to have much grass on her record, and Muguruza only slightly more experienced; Errani hates the stuff. It’s pretty depressing company for Venus).

Venus is the only player demoted from above #16 to below, but we have more demotions around the #24/#25 diving line. Demoted below that mark are Stosur (because she’s lousy on grass) and Azarenka (because she didn’t play much); Pennetta would also fall if it weren’t for Peng’s withdrawal. Promoted into the #17-#24 block are Strycova and Cornet (which surprised us, but beating Serena obviously has its rewards…); Peng would also have been promoted if she played.

Incidentally, if you want to know each player’s grass points under the formula, that’s this list, which probably won’t surprise anyone (except, perhaps for the amazing fact that Serena Williams is at #18):

1. KVITOVA: 2375

2. LISICKI: 1665

3. BOUCHARD: 1422

4. KERBER: 1128.75

5. RADWANSKA: 1025

6. HALEP: 955

7. SAFAROVA: 855

8. STRYCOVA: 713.75

9. MAKAROVA: 550

10. IVANOVIC: 483.5

11. KEYS: 482.5

12. GIORGI: 470

13. PLISKOVA: 450

14. SUAREZ NAVARRO: 380

15. WOZNIACKI: 378.75

16. BENCIC: 362.5

17. CORNET: 361

18. S WILLIAMS: 340

19. DIYAS: 325.75

20. SHARAPOVA: 315

20. PENG: 315

22. PENNETTA: 280

22. GARCIA: 280

24. JANKOVIC: 250

25. VINCI: 221

26. PETKOVIC: 206

27. AZARENKA: 145

28. BACSINSZKY: 140

29. V WILLIAMS: 130

29. STOSUR: 130

31. MUGURUZA: 86

32. BEGU: 74.75

33. KUZNETSOVA: 65

34. SVITOLINA: 55

35. ERRANI: 13.75

If Bencic’s Eastbourne title were thrown in, she would rise to probably #8. Radwanska would be up to #4. Looks like we know who to watch out for this year….

Switzerland’s Belinda Bencic leaves following a training session for the All England Lawn Tennis Championships Grand Slam tournament in Wimbledon, London, Britain, 28 June 2015. The All England Lawn Tennis Championships will take place from 29 June until 12 July 2015. EPA/PETER KLAUNZER

Estimated WTA Rankings As of June 28, 2015

Rank &

Prior

Rank …Name …………. Points

1..(1) SWILLIAMS ……… 11171*

2..(4) SHARAPOVA ……… 5720*

3..(3) HALEP …………. 5151*

4..(2) KVITOVA ……….. 4880*

5..(5) WOZNIACKI ……… 4770*

6..(7) IVANOVIC ………..3775*

7..(6) SAFAROVA ………..3285*

8..(9) SUAREZ NAVARRO …..3285*

9..(8) MAKAROVA ………..3155*

10.(11) PLISKOVA ………..3090*

11.(10) KERBER ………….2865*

12.(13) ARADWANSKA ………2790*

13.(15) BACSINSZKY ………2505*

14.(16) VWILLIAMS ……… 2466*

15.(17) SVITOLINA ……… 2405*

16.(14) PETKOVIC ………..2360*

17.(19) ERRANI ………….2085*

18.(20) MUGURUZA ………..2075*

19.(18) LISICKI ……….. 1900*

20.(23) STOSUR ………….1900*

21.(12) BOUCHARD ………..1882*

22.(25) KUZNETSOVA ………1866*

23.(21) KEYS ……………1860*

24.(22) BENCIC ………….1860*

25.(24) AZARENKA ………..1832*

26.(26) PENNETTA ………..1787*

27.(30) JANKOVIC ………..1685*

28.(27) CORNET ………….1615*

29.(28) Peng ……………1602

30.(31) BEGU ……………1436*

Draws

Wimbledon — Week of June 29

1 S Williams

Gasparyan (Q)

Babos

Cetkovska (Q)

Hantuchova

Cibulkova

Watson

32 Garcia

19 Errani

Schiavone

Krunic

Vinci

Erakovic

Putintseva

Brengle

16 V Williams

9 Suarez Navarro

Ostapenko (WC)

Dulgheru

Mladenovic

Flipkens

Beck

Kontaveit (WC)

23 Azarenka

30 Bencic

Pironkova

Diatchenko

Friedsam

Van Uytvanck

Mattek-Sands (Q)

Xu (Q)

7 Ivanovic

4 Sharapova

Konta (WC)

Hogenkamp (Q)

Wang

Gibbs

Tsurenko

Gavrilova

29 Begu

24 Pennetta

Diyas

Zhu

Sasnovich (Q)

Duque-Marino

Broady (WC)

Rogers

14 Petkovic

11 Ka Pliskova

Falconi

Vandeweghe

Schmiedlova

Gallovits-Hall

U Radwanska

Kovinic

22 Stosur

27 Strycova

Stephens

Hercog

Davis

Hsieh (Q)

Kanepi

Riske

6 Safarova

5 Wozniacki

S Zheng

Siniakova

Allertova

Arruabarrena

Parmentier

Pereira

31 Giorgi

20 Muguruza

Lepchenko

Lucic-Baroni

Shvedova

Pavlyuchenkova

Barthel

Witthoeft

10 Kerber

15 Bacsinszky

Goerges

Karatantcheva

Soler-Espinosa

Larsson

McHale

Gajdosova

18 Lisicki

26 Kuznetsova

Siegemund (Q)

Kr Pliskova

Smitkova

Puig

Niculescu

Cepelova

3 Halep

8 Makarova

Vickery (Q)

Knapp

Rybarikova

Mitu

Govortsova (Q)

Konjuh

25 Cornet

21 Keys

Voegele

Wickmayer

Kulichkova

Maria

Jovanovski

Duan (Q)

12 Bouchard

13 A Radwanska

Hradecka

Tomljanovic

Koukalova

Paszek (Q)

Dellacqua

Doi

17 Svitolina

28 Jankovic

Vesnina

Rodina

Robson (WC)

Linette

Nara

Bertens

2 Kvitova

Content Via Bob Larson Tennis News Service.

Topics: All England Lawn Tennis, Ladies tennis, tennis update, Wimbledon 2015, Wta

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10sBalls_com says:

June 28, 2015 at 1:03 pm

A LOOK AT THE LADIES TENNIS NEWS FROM #WIMBLEDON 2015- http://t.co/nh7JcjfRrO #Wimbledon2015 #SW19 #tennis @Wimbledon @WTA #WimbledonAwaits