Friday, November 22, 2013

Serena Williams named Player of the Year

Serena Williams, the world's number 1 ranked player, was named Player of the Year today by the WTA. Williams won 11 titles this year, including the French Open, the U.S. Open and the WTA Championships. At age 32, Williams is the oldest player to ever receive the award, and this is the fifth time that she has received it.

Sara Errani and Roberta Vinci, the number 1 doubles team in the world, were named Doubles Team of the Year. Errani and Vinci won the Australian Open and the Paris indoor tournament. And as much as I thoroughly enjoy and respect the Italians, I do have a quibble about this award. Hsieh Su-Wei and Peng Shuai won Wimbledon, the WTA Championships, Rome, Cincinnati, and Guangzhou. They didn't knock Errani and Vinci out of the number 1 spot, but their performance in 2013 was the one that was truly outstanding.

Who do you pick--the number 1 team, or the team who won a major, the year-ends, two premier titles, and another title? I woud have gone with the latter, but I understand the decision.
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5 comments:

  1. Bobby SkipseyNovember 23, 2013 at 11:02 AM

    I understand the decision only to the extent that I understand the oh so human capacity for being illogical and out of focus. It's a crappy decision. The Chinese girls deserve the honor this time, not the Italians, nice though they are.

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  2. Todd.SpikerNovember 23, 2013 at 1:20 PM

    Additionally, they ended Errani/Vinci's long clay court winning streak en route to the Rome title. Sometimes people look no further than just an easy glance at the rankings, though.

    Of course, not that I'd expect the WTA to display much nuance in any decision-making processes... recent history tells us that's a rarity, at best.

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  3. Todd.SpikerNovember 23, 2013 at 1:22 PM

    I mean, look how long it took them to start giving these awards at this time of the year (which should have been obvious), rather in March of the following season when no one really care anymore. :|

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  4. DianeNovember 23, 2013 at 6:58 PM

    I feel bad for Hsieh and Peng. This isn't the first time the WTA year-end awards have been about numbers in a computer and not about reality.

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  5. AnonymousNovember 24, 2013 at 6:28 PM

    Hsieh is Taiwanese, not Chinese. Unless she decided to take the Chinese endorsement deals and I'm unaware.

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