Tennis - World Rankings

just looking at the world rankings for both the women and men .....it will be interesting to see whether Kim Clijsters can bow out this year with the No 1 Ranking and maybe another major or if Martina Hingis can really turn back the clock and claim another grand slam event . Serena Williams zoomed back to no 15 thanks to her Aussie Open triumph ...alas she is now injured again . Maria Sharapova regained the no 1 spot a few weeks back from Justine Henin-Hardene who was unable to play a few recent tournaments because of personal family reasons .

In the mens rankings , no change really as Roger Federer maintains his iron grip on the no 1 spot .....Andy Murray at no 13 and aiming to go higher this year ...


Women

1 SHARAPOVA, MARIA RUS
2 HENIN, JUSTINE BEL
3 MAURESMO, AMELIE FRA
4 CLIJSTERS, KIM BEL
5 KUZNETSOVA, SVETLANA RUS
6 HINGIS, MARTINA SUI
7 PETROVA, NADIA RUS
8 DEMENTIEVA, ELENA RUS
9 VAIDISOVA, NICOLE CZE
10 JANKOVIC, JELENA SRB
11 SAFINA, DINARA RUS
12 CHAKVETADZE, ANNA RUS
13 SCHNYDER, PATTY SUI
14 IVANOVIC, ANA SRB
15 WILLIAMS, SERENA USA
16 LI, NA CHN
17 PEER, SHAHAR ISR
18 HANTUCHOVA, DANIELA SVK
19 GROENEFELD, ANNA-LENA GER
20 GOLOVIN, TATIANA FRA

Men

1 Federer, Roger (SUI)
2 Nadal, Rafael (ESP)
3 Davydenko, Nikolay (RUS)
4 Roddick, Andy (USA)
5 Gonzalez, Fernando (CHI)
6 Blake, James (USA)
7 Robredo, Tommy (ESP)
8 Ljubicic, Ivan (CRO)
9 Ancic, Mario (CRO)
10 Haas, Tommy (GER)
11 Nalbandian, David (ARG)
12 Berdych, Tomas (CZE)
13 Murray, Andy (GBR)
14 Djokovic, Novak (SRB)
15 Ferrer, David (ESP)
16 Gasquet, Richard (FRA)
17 Baghdatis, Marcos (CYP)
18 Hewitt, Lleyton (AUS)
19 Stepanek, Radek (CZE)
20 Nieminen, Jarkko (FIN)

As much as I would like to see it I don't think Kim will bow out as Number 1 , not unless something happens to Sharapova. If Serena Williams can remain injury free I can see her back in the top 5 she has the talent for sure.

Can't see anyone knocking Federer off the top in a while , he's just head and shoulder's above the rest.

Aye, I can see Murray popping up the rankings.

yeah ..i expect Andy Murray to break into the top ten this year . As for Kim Clijsters , she almost made the number 1 spot last year ...only an injury prevented her from getting that ranking ...which ended with Lindsay Davenport being No 1 come January 2006 . It will be tough but Kim can beat anyone if she is `in the zone ` as she likes to point out .

Kim says she wants to skip Roland Garros and a few other tournaments
to prepare for Wimbledon - I don't think she's in the zone any more.

It's her last year as a tennis player,
the fans who have supported her over all those years, around the globe,
have the right to see her for the last time
and she does that


Anyway what about the young talent Safarova?
How long before she cracks the top 20 or even top 10?

that will be a shame then but i hope she can win one more big one before she goes . Lucie Safarova had three good wins over Nicole Vaidisova , Svetlana Kuznetsova and Justine Henin-Hardene on her way to the final of the Open Gaz De France last week before losing to Nadia Petrova in three sets . I think she is about 26 in the rankings so she could well break into the top 20 or higher this year .

I'm not sure whether to open another thread for the following.
Can we just say we're discussing tennis here, and not just the rankings?

=============================

Kim Clijsters will take the first step on shifting from tennis diva to "ordinary" housewife
when she marries on July 14 just day after the end of Wimbledon.
The 23-year-old former No. 1 is following through on her vow
to quit the game and swap it all for domestic bliss.

The Belgian who won the 2005 US Open is set to marry American basketballer Brian Lynch.
"We'll marry just after Wimbledon on July 14," said Clijsters.
"I'll also be focusing my attention on this in the coming weeks."

Lynch plays for Belgian club Bree, the hometown of his fiancee.
The pair got engaged last April, with the oft-injured Clijsters
announcing that she'd call time on her career.

Fourth-ranked Clijsters is skipping the French Open
to concentrate on the grass-court season and Wimbledon.
She owns 34 singles titles including her one Grand Slam honor in New York.

Clijsters has already pulled from the Indian Wells Masters starting March 7
in order to be able to play in another big event,
the Sony-Ericsson Open, in Miami, a production of the WTA Tour's title sponsor.

I think her injuries also played a part in the retirement , but I wish her the best in her new life. She's had a good career and is set for life. I do hope she wins either Wimbledon or US Open before she goes