Un sondaggio Wta ha lanciato un sondaggio fra i giornalisti sul 2009: giocatrice dell’anno (Serena, Safina, Kuznetsova), coppia (Williams-Williams, Huber-Black, Lagostera-Martinez Sanchez), ritorno (Clijsters, Date, Sharapova, Stosur), maggior progressi (Wozniacki, Azarenka, Li Na, Wickmayer, Martinez Sanchez), rivelazioni (Oudin, Lisicki, Dulgheru). Ubaldo voterà dopo aver contato i vostri voti.

Cari amici del blog, per prima cosa mi scuso molto per averlo aggiornato assai poco recentemente, anche se avrei mille cose da scrivere. Ma il tempo è tiranno e il coordinamento in Australia di sei, sette inviati fra redattori, fotografi e collaboratori, più i contatti con chi è rimasto in Italia portano via un sacco di tempo. Faccio a malapena a tempo a scrivere per www.ubitennis.com.
La Wta mi ha mandato questo sondaggio, che vedete qui sotto con le motivazioni delle nomination. Scrivetemi i vostri voti. Io li conterò e poi voterò di conseguenza.

Sony Ericsson WTA Tour 2009 Player Awards MEDIA BALLOT
PLAYER OF THE YEAR:
Serena Williams: Titles – 3 (Australian Open, Wimbledon, Sony Ericsson Championships-Doha)
Ninth Top 10 season of career, highlighted by two Grand Slam singles crowns (Australian Open and Wimbledon) bringing her career total to eleven; improved to 11-3 lifetime in Grand Slam singles finals
Finished year-end No.1 for second time in career (also 2002) bringing career total to 85 weeks in the top spot (at Jan 4, 2010)
In remaining Grand Slams, finished in the semifinals at the US Open and quarterfinals at Roland Garros (beaten by eventual champions in both)
Winner of second Sony Ericsson Championships title (Doha); also won in 2001 (Munich)
First player to win over $6m prize money in a single season at just over $6.5m
Best winning percentage on Tour for the year (.806)
Spent 22 weeks at No.1

Dinara Safina: Titles – 3 (Madrid, Rome, Portoroz)
Two-time Grand Slam finalist (Australian Open and Roland Garros)
Won titles in Madrid, Rome and Portoroz
Additional runner-up finishes at Cincinnati, Stuttgart and Sydney (tied for most finals with Wozniacki)
Semifinalist at Wimbledon
Spent most weeks at No.1 (26 weeks)
Holds longest match win streak for the year (16)

Svetlana Kuznetsova: Titles - 3 (French Open, Beijing, Stuttgart)
Won second career Grand Slam singles title at Roland Garros
Won additional titles at Beijing and Stuttgart (bringing career total to 12); one of six players to win three singles titles
Only player to defeat Dinara Safina on clay in 2009 (finals of Stuttgart and Roland Garros)
Finalist in Rome
Improved ranking from No.8 in January to No.3 at year-end

DOUBLES TEAM OF THE YEAR:
S.Williams/V.Williams: Titles - 3 (Australian Open, Wimbledon, US Open)
10-0 in career Grand Slam doubles finals; went 20-1 in Grand Slam doubles matches for the year, and 4-0 in doubles finals for the year
Won eighth to tenth Grand Slam titles (Australian, Wimbledon, US Open); also won Stanford
Improved ranking from (Serena No.27, Venus No.23) to finish the year tied at No.3
Played in Tour Championships for the first time (also qualified in 1999 but withdrew before start of tournament)

Black / Huber: Titles – 5 (Madrid, Cincinnati, Dubai, Paris & Birmingham)
Five Tour doubles titles won were 23rd-27th of partnership
Played doubles exclusively together
Third year in a row finishing co-ranked No.1
Runners-up at US Open and Tour Championships
Semifinalists at Roland Garros & Wimbledon; Quarterfinalists at Australian Open

Llagostera Vives / Martinez Sanchez: Titles – 7 (Tour Championships, Toronto, New Haven, Bogota, Acapulco, Barcelona, Palermo)
As a team, won the most Tour doubles crowns in 2009
Won season-ending Sony Ericsson Championships – Doha in their debut appearance; became first Spanish team to accomplish the feat
Quarterfinalists at Australian Open, Wimbledon and US Open
Began year ranked No’s. 23 and 29 in doubles, respectively, ended at No’s. 5 and 6

COMEBACK PLAYER OF THE YEAR:
Kim Clijsters: Rank move – unranked to No.18
In first three tournaments of comeback, reached QF of Cincinnati in August, third round of Toronto and won second US Open crown
First player ranked outside the top 10 to win the US Open singles title (since the inception of the modern ranking system - she was unranked at the time)
First mother since Evonne Goolagong in 1980 to win a Grand Slam singles title
Debuted at No.19 in the rankings

Maria Sharapova: Rank move – No. 126 (at lowest point – May 25) to No.14 (112 spots)
Played first event of comeback in May at Warsaw (reaching QF) after shoulder injury caused nine month layoff
Ranking fell to No.126 before rebounding
Won Tokyo Pan Pacific title, finished finalist at Toronto, semifinalist in Birmingham and Los Angeles

Kimiko Date Krumm: Rank move – No.186 to No.82 ( 104 spots)
Won eighth Tour singles title (and first in over 12 years) at Seoul at 38y/11m/30d

Was second-oldest player in Open Era to win a Tour singles title after Billie Jean King (1983)
Semifinalist at Tournament of Champions – Bali
Won two ITF $75k Challengers
Best win was over No.21 Hantuchova

Samantha Stosur: Rank move – No.51 to No.13 (38 spots)
Returning from injury, began year at No.51, finished at No.13 (missed most of second half of 2007 and first three months of 2008)
Won first career Tour singles title in Osaka (d. top seed Wozniacki in semifinal)
Reached first Grand Slam semifinal at Roland Garros, made Top 20 debut at No.18 the following week
Made the quarterfinals or better four more times – quarterfinal at Miami (d. No.2 seed Safina en route; lost to eventual champion Azarenka), semifinal at Stanford (d. top seed S.Williams en route; l. to eventual champion Bartoli in 3s); finalist at Los Angeles, and quarterfinalist in Toronto
Los Angeles was first Premier 700 level final

MOST IMPROVED PLAYER OF THE YEAR:
Caroline Wozniacki: Rank move – No.12 to No.4
Tied with five other players for the most singles titles won (3 – Ponte Vedra Beach, Eastbourne and New Haven)
Tied with Safina for the most finals reached (8)
After reaching final in Madrid, made Top 10 debut on May 18
Made Top 5 debut on September 21, two weeks after reaching first Grand Slam final at US Open (l. to Clijsters)
Most matches won on Tour (67)

Victoria Azarenka: Rank move – No.16 to No.7
Made Top 10 debut at No.10 after reaching semifinal of Indian Wells
Won first three career Tour singles titles in first three months of the year (January - Brisbane, February – Memphis, March – Miami)
Miami was biggest tournament win of career, defeated five-time and defending champion Serena Williams in the final
Won 24 of first 26 matches of the year
Reached first two career Grand Slam quarterfinals at Roland Garros and Wimbledon

Li Na: Rank move – No.28 to No.15
First Top 20 season; debuted at No.20 after reaching 4r of Roland Garros
US Open was second career Grand Slam quarterfinal (first was 2006 Wimbledon)
First Chinese player to reach the quarterfinals of the US Open
Ranking improved from No.28 to No.15 (Top 15 debut on October 26 equaled Zheng’s highest ranking record from earlier in season, the highest of any Chinese player)
Runner up at Monterrey & Birmingham

Yanina Wickmayer: Rank move – No.71 to No.16
Cracked Top 20 at No.20 after winning title at Linz
Won first Tour title at Estoril; also won Linz
In only her seventh Grand Slam, reached the semifinals for the first time at the US Open (she had also not progressed past the first round of a Grand Slam until reaching the second round of Roland Garros, also last year)

Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez: Rank move – No.92 to No.27
After playing professionally since 1997, won first Tour singles titles in Bogota followed by second in Bastad
Semifinalist at Tournament of Champions – Bali
Reached quarterfinals in Barcelona and Rome
With compatriot Llagostera Vives, became first Spanish team to win the prestigious Sony Ericsson Championships

MOST IMPRESSIVE NEWCOMER:
Melanie Oudin: Rank move – No.176 to No.49
Reached fourth round of Wimbledon (as qualifier, d. No.29 seed Bammer and No.6 seed Jankovic en route for first Top 10 win)
Made career Top 100 debut after Wimbledon on July 6 (from No.124 to No.70)
Reached quarterfinals of US Open (d. No.4 seed Dementieva, No.29 seed Sharapova and No.13 seed Petrova en route, falling to No.9 seed Wozniacki; win over world No.4 Dementieva was second Top 10 win)
Surged from No.70 to No.44 afterwards on September 14, blowing past previous career-high of No.67 to make Top 50 debut

Alexandra Dulgheru: Rank move – No.343 to No.51
As qualifier, won first Tour title at Warsaw, it was also her debut Tour main draw; d. No.5 seed Errani and No.6 seed Hantuchova, and No.8 seed A.Bondarenko en route
Was fifth non-Top 200 player ever to win a Tour singles title

Sabine Lisicki: Rank move – No.56 to No.23
Won first Tour event at Charleston - as No.16 seed, d. No.2 seed V.Williams, No.6 seed Bartoli and No.5 seed Wozniacki en route to title; wins over world No.5 V.Williams, world No.13 Bartoli and world No.12 Wozniacki were fourth through sixth Top 20 wins, and win over V.Williams was second Top 10 win)
Surged from No.63 to No.43 afterwards on April 20 (a career-high)
Reached first Grand Slam quarterfinal at Wimbledon (d. No.32 seed Chakvetadze, No.5 seed Kuznetsova and No.9 seed Wozniacki en route, falling to top seed Safina in 3s); wins over world No.5 Kuznetsova and world No.9 Wozniacki were third and fourth Top 10 wins); made career Top 30 debut afterwards on July 6 (rose from No.41 to No.26).

Questo articolo è stato pubblicato Sabato, 23 Gennaio 2010 alle 08:36 e classificato in Wta. Puoi seguire i commenti a questo articolo tramite il feed RSS 2.0. Puoi inviare un commento.