Anyone like Tennis?

You might want to save your dissapointment for someone who really merits it. I'd think Serena did more than enough by beating everyone this year who had lately been rated number one.

Obviously Serena does not care if I am disappointed or not, but if she is the best (and I think she is), she should care enough to go for the ring. Yes, she's had a great four months, but the eight months before that were pretty lackluster. She could have erased all of that by doing the Asian tour but it looks like she doesn't care. You want to miss Tokyo, I think that doesn't make sense given the size of the tournament and the field but fine. But to turn around and cancel on the China Open? Winning those two would have made her number one or pretty darn close. If she bothers playing the year end championships and wins, she is still pretty far from number one. Today, the number one player is Azarenka and no one can say she hasn't earned it. She's been there for twelve months, played the tournaments and has a slam win and a final to her credit. Yes, Serena has won their head to head matches, but Serena is going to have to step up for twelve months if she wants number one and as someone who really appreciates her game, I wish she would commit to a full calendar of events. If she wants to be the standard bearer for the sport, she needs to be at the big events.

I don't know if she cares about being number one per se. I don't know if she cares if anyone looks at her as the "standard bearer" for the sport. I think she wants to be able to look at herself as one of the best if not the best woman ever to play the game. I think there is a reasonable case to be made for that.

I care less than both of you. I like Serena, somewhat. I've also liked a lot of other players. Yvonne Goolagong comes to mind, but also Bjorn Borg. Thus, many.

I think engineer has a good point.

There was some set of photos a while ago of her snooking up to a coach, but I'm not monitor on all that. I presume she wants a life or at least some pleasure. Choices happen and matter, for all the players, bottom to top.

Here's something for you to consider engineer:

Even before Serena was tagged with her "Antisocial Mean Person" false label, when she was a fresh-faced phenom tearing through the ranks, I used to watch her get booed by Americans and watch her Czech, Russian, Belgian, etc. opponents get cheered by the same crowd - sometimes when Serena and Venus were the only remaining Americans in the tournament. I tried to rationalize why this was. I never could make it seem sensible or fair. It just seemed shitty.

As time went on and the sisters became dominant forces in the women's game, every time that happened it just made me admire them more for putting up with it and staying strong and proud and excellent at their game.

So it's hard for me to see you or anyone else sniffing about being "disappointed" in Serena - as if she hasn't worked hard enough. I really believe that even if she busted her ass and played in enough tournaments to maintain top ranking for a long time, there would still be people who didn't appreciate what she did.

At Serena's age, maybe she thinks it's smarter to choose her battles very carefully and extend her career - rather than kill herself chasing "Number 1".
I sure do.

I'm different from from both of you - I do not care who is american. It's true I follow sports americans are involved in, and have no clue about cricket. But I don't pay attention to rankings of players because of their country they are representing (I doubt I ever have) or their skin color or even their chart position.

That is why I can hardly bear to read olympics news, it's all jingo, everywhere, all the time. Just tell us, please, who is good at the sport.

I can appreciate that you "don't care who is american". But don't you find it at least noteworthy if (for instance) the only Australian playing at the Australian open isn't supported by the australian home crowd?

No, I don't follow that closely all the time.

I was near weaned on sports stories of the year, those years being the forties, the books I was allowed to take out of the library as an early teen in the fifties.. My idea of stories is much wider now, but that is still my interest in sports, about the athletes.

I think you are very right on Serena and yet I think you still miss my point. To my view, there is no doubt that Serena gets a lot warmer welcome in Europe than she does in the US and that has been the case her entire career. While the officiating snafus at the US Open have come at the hands of foreign referees, she still has never had the support that other US players have received, especially in NY while in Europe it seems like she is well thought of. In terms of greatness, she was first labeled the best of all time in 2010 by a Sports Illustrated writer and with her feats in the last few months, that call has only gotten louder. That said, there is a difference between the greatest tennis player ever and a great tennis champion and I would love for Serena to be recognized as both. She's got all the tangible requirements, but she's missing the intangibles and while I agree that her reputation for being gruff and abrupt is misleading, you still have to admit that she is not willing to pick up the champion flag that is sitting right in front of her. She refuses to play in Asia. Japan and China roll out the red carpet. I've never heard that she's had even one bad incident in Asia, but she boycotts them as effectively as she does Indian Wells. By doing so, she kills all the buzz she generates in the hardcourt season and diminishes all the tennis fervor in the US. It's obvious that she works hard, that she's in great shape, that the competitive fire is there, but she passes on so many tournments that she is FOUR tournaments short of the minimum required to fill up her scorecard. We all know she will never play Indian Wells for good reason, but how can you be a great champion when you don't even play a full schedule? Azarenka is known for her really nasty comments but she's being embraced because she is filling the champion role that women's tennis needs, one that Serena should be filling. It's bad for tennis when the best player of all time is a part timer. You can't say it is her age, because she has never played a full schedule. I appreciate that has contributed to her longevity but now is the time to make a statement and the only place we get to see her is on the society pages. I'd rather see her on the court and I say that as a appreciative fan. Her time on the main stage is limited and I'd like to see her make the most of it.

Serena sweeps the round robin at the year end championships handing Azarenka a 6-4, 6-4 defeat. Serena and Sharapova have advanced to semi's, Azarenka plays Ni for a spot tomorrow. The final position is still up in the air.

And it is Serena in straight sets for the WTA end of year championship!

Just watched the tape delay broadcast. Sharapova's final service game consisted of an ace, then four beautiful service return winners by Williams, each one a textbook study in stroke motion. Just amazing.

That gal could be great if she were just a better ambassador for tennis. Such a shameful waste of potential.

Well, good, nods.

I tend to get interested in different sports at different times, and tennis has dropped off my radar now. Only so much room in my brain.. laughing.
I had a colleague once, a rheumatologist from London now in LA, who refused to memorize phone numbers because they'd take up too much brain room. He was kidding, but maybe not entirely.

Time for the Austrialian Open. Here is the SI preview: http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/tennis/news/20130111/australian-open-roundtable-preview/?sct=tn_t11_a4

Like everyone else in the world who is not British, I'm taking Djokovic and Serena to win it all.

Thanks for the reminder.

Go, Venus! (won her first one)

We'll have to see how Serena bounces back from that nasty ankle turn yesterday.

I was watching that match and I thought she was done. You could tell she was favoring it throughout the rest of the match. I know her opponent wasn't the biggest challenge in the world but it was something to watch Serena limp from point to point and just pound winner after winner. I wonder if she'll drop doubles.

She's come back from some similar-looking ankle mishaps before, but time has moved on since then, and I don't know if she can recover as fully or as fast. But we should all know something soon - since the most telling time with a non tissue traumatic joint injury is the morning after. If she has minimal swelling and pain, she'll be fine. If she is swollen and sore even if the MRI shows no tears or breaks, she ain't gonna stroll through the Open.