Friday, 10 October 2008

Favourite Players

As promised I would do a full Top 100 scan of my favourite players and this is what I got for Men's and Women's

Womens
Favourites
Serena Williams (2), Dinara Safina (3), Maria Sharapova (6), Venus Williams (8), Flavia Pennetta (18), Nicole Vaidisova (22), Maria Kirilenko (32)

Bubbling Under
Elena Dementieva (4), Daniela Hantuchova (13), Dominika Cibulkova (20), Jie Zheng (26), Na Li (29), Lindsay Davenport (34), Tamarine Tanasugarn (36), Gisela Dulko (45)

OK
Victoria Azarenka (17), Alize Cornet (19), Sybille Bammer (24), Sorana Cirstea (39), Iveta Bensova (41), Agnieszka Radwanska (10), Anna Chakvetadze (12) ,Caroline Wozniacki (16), Amelie Mauresmo (25), Ai Sugiyama (31), Alona Bondarenko (33), Shuai Peng (40), Bethanie Mattek (42)

Dislikes
Ana Ivanovic (5), Svetlana Kuznetsova (7), Marion Bartoli (15)

*Others in the Top 50 and not mentioned are in my Not Bothered list.
Special Mentions (50-100)
BU = Bubbling Under
Samantha Stosur, Marta Domachowska, Yung-Jan Chan, Kateryna Bondarenko, Aravane Rezai, Anne Keothavong (BU), Camille Pin, Tatiana Golovin, Anna-Lena Groenefeld, Su Wei Hsieh, Ashley Harkleroad (BU), Sania Mirza

Yep the favourites are all basically the same but without Justine Henin there is such a big gap! Maria use to be in my dislike list (ages ago) but now I really like her as she is a player who is consistent and determined - despite her going through a bad patch. Nicole is losing grace quickly.
The Bubbling Unders list is likely to stay that way for a long time unless Elena and Na Li make me suddenly put them in my favourites. Tamarina Tanasugarn was inducted into this group after her Wimbledon performance which made her my favourite non Chinese Asian beating out Ai Sugiyama.
Yep Anna Chakvetadze made my Ok list, which seems weird considering that I've always said she was an unworthy Top 10, but now that she's out of the Top 10 I find her ranking much more deserving - though still a bit too high! Shuai Peng is not with the contigent of Chinese players in the Bubbling under list because she hasn't been making a scene on tour.
Jelena Jankovic on the other hand has risen from my dislike list - I think she got out of that about half a year ago. I just like her more now compared to her Serbian compatriot.
Ana Ivanovic is the new dislikee in the block - she's just so annoying to me nowadays - from her winning the French I knew I was never going to put her into my Favourites list ever again - basically because she didn't deserve her win - she won it in a time of flailing opponents and a weaker competition! Svetlana Kuznetsova is really there to keep the other two company! Basically I don't like her enough to put her in my not bothered list but I don't hate her as much as the other two. Whilst there's no need for me to say why I hate Marion Bartoli!

Mens
Favourites
Novak Djokovic (3), Andy Murray (4), Andy Roddick (8), Dmitry Tursunov (26), Mario Ancic (31), Marat Safin (40), Feliciano Lopez (45)

Bubbling Under
David Nalbandian (7), James Blake (11), Richard Gasquet (15), Tomas Berdych (21), Mikhail Youzhny (22), Gael Monfils (28), Michael Llodra (36), Juan Monaco (43), Simone Bolelli (46), Jose Acasuso (47)


OK
Juan Martin Del Potro (9), Ivo Karlovic (14), Jo Wilfred Tsonga (16), Gilles Simon (17), Paul-Henri Mathieu (23), Marin Cilic (24), Mardy Fish (25), Nicolas Kiefer (27), Philipp Kohlschreiber (32), Rainer Schuettler (34), Robin Soderling (35), Juan Carlos Ferrero (44), Carlos Moya (48)

Dislikes
Rafael Nadal (1), Roger Federer (2), Stanislas Wawrinka (10), Marcos Baghdatis (42)

Special Mentions (50-100)
Ernests Gulbis (56), Tommy Haas (57) BU, Victor Troicki (60), Robby Ginepri (64) BU, Lleyton Hewitt (67), Yen Hsun Lu (69), Fabio Fognini (73), Kei Nishikori (77) BU, Jeremy Chardy (81), Arnaud Clement (86) BU, Chris Guccione (88), Kristof Vliegen (92), Filippo Volandri (95) BU

Like the womens I have 7 favourite men but Feliciano Lopez was very very close to my Bubbling Under group. AsI said Gasquet droppd to the Bubbling Under because of his lack of consistency, however after last week I may think about putting hi back into the Top; if he continues his form that is. and yes Verdasco is out of the top 3 lists cause I seem to have a change of heart towards Del Potro!
I still Dislike Nadal and Federer, though to a lesser extent. I was really thinking about putting them in my Not Bothered list but then I thought I do bother about them! Stanislas is in here basically because he just dens't get out of the Top 10! It annoys me so much when I don't even remember 1 of his achievements in the whole year! Whilst Baghdatis is a long known enemy of mine! In the special mentions Lleyton Hewitt has dropped out of Bubbling Under because I basically find that I only liked him before because I disliked Federer and liked most of the former No.1's because of that! Kei Nishikori has jumped into the Bubbling Under section as I see a possible Top 20 Asian guy here!

I just wanted to add here how I'm still depressed from the retirement of Henin, she was what tied the WTA together. It has been so so long since she retired its scary. Without her their is such a big gap in the womans game that I have reverted to liking the mens more. She's such a force in tennis that even one of my friends who is a severe Henin hater agreed that without Henin the tour is just not complete.

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