by funches on Sun Oct 28, 2012 4:21 pm
Serena continued her incredible year by cruising past Sharapova, who had played her best match of the year in the semis to clobber Azarenka.
From Wimbledon on, Serena has finally asserted herself as a candidate for greatest player ever. I always resisted that talk because of A) her inconsistency, B) her lack of playing and C) the number of times she lost to in-form players when she was playing at the top of her game going into the match, something American journalists and commentator refuse to believe. Henin took her down at Wimbledon and the U.S. Open in the same year. Clijsters was on the verge of taking her down at the U.S. Open when she got defaulted. Even Stosur got her last year.
But with her serving display at Wimbledon (the greatest ever), her all-around play at the Olympics (maybe the greatest ever) and her dominance at the U.S. Open and the year-end event, she has reached her full potential. Let's see what she does to back it up next year. A second Roland Garros title is essential for her credentials.
Gasquet is the only player behind Tipsy who can crash the ATP World Tour final without reaching the final of Paris, hence, he is the only player with a chance of passing Tipsy. It would require him reaching the semis (and having to beat Federer in the quarters) while Tipsy loses in the second round, most likely to Dolgopolov. It's a long shot at best, but not totally impossible, although I'm not sure the Dog man has ever won consecutive matches at a tournament the week after he reaches a final. He's the classic head case who can go a month without winning a match, then crush a bunch of decent to good players on his way to a final, then go another month without winning a match.
Tomas Berdych
