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Daily Dispatch: Dinara Safina Weighs in on World No. 1 Discussion

4 October, 2012

A Russian interview with former World No. 1 Dinara Safina broached the issue of Victoria Azarenka’s World No. 1 ranking (translation via @anna_tennisfan):

“The ranking is the sum of the appearances in all the tournaments. Azarenka won the Australian Open and was consistent this whole year, and that’s very hard to do, you have to be physically prepared. Everyone started to forget about the achievements of Vika and of Maria Sharapova, who won Roland Garros, after Serena Williams won the gold in the Olympics and the title in the US Open, and that’s not right. Let Williams play a full season, and then we’ll see who will be No. 1.”

My two cents: Any player holding the World No. 1 ranking has earned it rightfully. The top rankings in the WTA and ATP are not achievable through luck, but through consistently winning matches, which is what the current World No. 1s Victoria Azarenka and Roger Federer have done.

Serena Williams – right or wrong – has always prioritized being fresh for her matches above earning the top WTA ranking.

But Williams also paled in comparison to Azarenka in the first half of the year, falling in the Round of 16 at the Australian Open and in the first round of Roland Garros.

Early in the season, she skipped Indian Wells, one of the WTA’s Premier Mandatory events, and then withdrew from another Premier Mandatory event in Beijing after her impressive summer.

Though Azarenka didn’t win two Slams this year, she won in Australia, reached the semifinals at Wimbledon, and reached the final of the US Open. Additionally, she won a bronze medal at the Olympic Games. She’s also played all four WTA Premier Mandatory events, reaching the quarterfinals or better at each one.

So simply put, Azarenka was the more consistently good player in the last 365 days, and that’s why she’s ranked No. 1. Period.

According to ChannelNewsAsia.com, Shanghai tournament organizers have tightened their security after World No. 1 Roger Federer received an online death threat:

“On October 6, I plan to assassinate Federer for the purpose of tennis extermination,” read the message, posted under the name ‘Blue Cat Polytheistic Religion Founder 07′ on baidu.com.

The user also posted a doctored image showing a decapitated Federer on his knees on a tennis court, with a masked executioner dressed in black and holding an axe posing next to him.

Petra Kvitova, Angelique Kerber, and Sara Errani today joined Victoria Azarenka, Maria Sharapova, Agnieszka Radwanska, and Serena Williams in qualifying for the WTA Championships in Istanbul. One spot remains for another qualifier.

Here’s a video of Marco Chiudinelli asking Janko Tipsarevic to wake up a fan who fell asleep during their match in Tokyo:

Per Lindsay Gibbs, Tomas Berdych shared a photo of himself and Andy Murray on Facebook with an entertaining caption making reference to their US Open semifinal match played in hurricane-like conditions:

Tweet of the day:


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