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2012 Year End Review: The women ranked Nos. 21-30

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Выложил статью Кронина - часть игроки ТОП 21-30

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2012 Year End Review: The women ranked Nos. 31-40

https://www.sports.ru/tennis/blogs/396722.html

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https://www.sports.ru/tennis/blogs/396702.html

2012 Year End Review: The women ranked Nos. 41-50

https://www.sports.ru/tennis/blogs/396673.html

 

Thus continues our review of the top 50 singles players on the ATP and WTA Tours. We resume with the women ranked Nos. 21 -30.

21. Varvara Lepchenko

If there was a player who improved more than Lepchenko did this season against quality competition, I’m not sure who she is. The lefthander began the season ranked No. 127, qualified for Australia, the Paris Indoors, Doha and Indian Wells.

She then qualified and won five matches in Madrid, upsetting Spaniard Anabel Medina before falling to Agnieszka Radwanska. At Roland Garros, she won three hard fought, intense three setters over Pervak, Jankovic and 2010 champ Francesca Schiavone. She improved her conditioning , learned how to dictate with her forehand and how to control points. The American has a realistic shot at the top 15 in the first quarter of 2013 and could even sneak into the top 10.

22. Jelena Jankovic

The former No. 1 overplayed so much that by year’s end in the Fed Cup final her back was wrecked and she couldn’t even put up a fight against Lucie Safarova. She says that she is going to schedule more intelligently in 2013, but she appears to be addicted to picking up appearance fees, which is one of the reasons she chose to play 31 events in 2012.  She’s already contested 649 singles matches in her decade-long singles career and admits that it’s taken a toll on her. While she may not be as fast as she once was, if she can convince herself to rest more she should end 2013 in the top 20. But if she doesn’t, she could end 2014 outside of the top 40.

23. Yanina Wickmayer

I am not going to say yet that Wickmayer won’t ever be truly elite player, but I am tempted to because she hasn’t made much progress in the past two years and despite having immense power, her lack of foot speed and poor game planning frequently catch up with her, which is why she consistently flames out big tournaments. 2013 will surely be a pivotal year for the 23-year-old Belgian

24. Venus Williams

That the 33-year-old managed to end the year in the top 25 despite her constant struggle against the autoimmune disease Sjorden’s Syndrome is a huge accomplishment . Now that she seems to understand what she has to be able to do to sustain her energy level, it’s all together possible that she can crack the top 10 again in 2013. But will she is still very good and has all the experience in the world, I just can’t see her winning a Slam in singles again. But really, her main goal is just to compete well, and she has done a terrific job at doing that.

25. Su-Wei Hsieh

While in my mind Lepchenko is the most improved player of the year (and yes, Laura Robson improved a ton too but she’s not in the top 30 yet, and you could also point to Sara Errani’s steps ahead), you could also make a strong argument for Taiwan’s top player, who went from being a doubles specialist to winning singles tourneys in Kuala Lumpur and Guangzhou. Her new coach, Paul McNamee, convinced her that she had enough weapons to become a force in singles and she took his word for it, constantly tripping her foes with a two hands off both sides attack. She began the season ranked No. 172 and ended the year with a 47-20 record. That’s damn impressive.

26. Zheng Jie

This was not a great season for the multi-skilled 29 year old, but she is wearing down so it wasn’t entirely unexpected. With fast hands, quick feet and her ability to keep the ball low she did manage to give Serena hell at Wimbledon, taking her to 9-7 in the third set, but she had no positive results the rest of the season, which she ended with three losses in Sofia. I wouldn’t be stunned to see her retire soon.

 27. Sorana Cirstea

Ana Ivanovic’s BFF had her best season ever, even though she can still be very erratic. The 22-year-old Romanian upset Sam Stosur in Australia, Li Na at Wimbledon and reached the semis of Stanford and Guangzhou. If she can refine her game and play more patiently, top 20 is not out of the question.

28. Klara Zakopalova

The Czech slugger is still so up and down, even though she turned 30 this year. She did upset A-Pavs and Kirilenko at Roland Garros and nearly took down eventual champ Sharapova, but she had a mediocre year on the hard courts and clearly that where she needs to make more of an impact. Will she end 2013 in the top 30 again? I don’t see it.

29 Yaroslava Shvedova

The WTA ‘s comeback player of the year began the year ranked No. 208 and ended it in the top 30, reaching the quarters of Roland Garros with a terrific upset of defending champ Li,  and she reached the fourth round of Wimbledon. But was most impressive from the Kazak who suffered a terrible knee injury  in 2011 was how she put her nose to the grindstone, winning 14 qualifying matches, grabbing a small Challenger crown and reached the final of another just to push her ranking back up. Her renewed commitment yielded fantastic results.

30. Tamira Paszek

The Austrian had her best year ranking wise, and also her best stretch as a pro when she put together a nine-match grass court winning streak, winning Eastbourne over Kerber and reaching quarters at Wimbledon, where she took down Wozniacki and Wickmayer in two dramatic three setters before falling to Azarenka. She gets hurt way too much though, which is one of the reasons why she suffered 14! first round losses. She can hit a very big ball, but she doesn’t keep in the court frequently enough.

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