The LA Women’s Tennis Championships kicks off today in Carson, California, a WTA Tour Premier Level event with a solid draw that includes Dinara Safina, Ana Ivanovic, Caroline Wozniacki, Vera Zvonareva and Maria Sharapova.
The top seeds attended today’s all-access media hour, here’s some of what they had to say:
Ana Ivanovic on moving up and down the rankings: “I put lots of pressure on myself – and I still do – but I didn’t realize how good pressure was until I didn’t have it anymore. All of the sudden when I didn’t have pressure, I realized how much I missed it and how much it made me sharper and more focused. I want the pressure back.”
Dinara Safina on Serena Williams (who is not playing in L.A.) and the No. 1 ranking:
“Ranking is ranking. I didn’t do the ranking system. . . It’s the result of the way you play the whole year, not just the Grand Slams. If she (Serena Williams) has some questions she can go to the WTA.”
Caroline Wozniacki on her goals: “Today I’m No. 8 in the world and it feels really good, but I still have seven spots left to where I want to be.“
Vera Zvonareva on coming back after ankle injury: “I think at the moment it’s a little bit like starting over for me.“
Vera had much more to say about her comeback – I’ll post my interview with her later, as well as photos and comments from Maria Sharapova’s match against Jarmila Groth tonight.
Click here to visit the LA Women’s Tennis Championships website.
Tags: Aggie Radwanska, Ana Ivanovic, Caroline Wozniaki, Chakvetadze, Cibulk, Cibulkova, dinara safina, Dominika Cibulková, Ivanovic, LA Women's Tennis Championships, Petrova, Safina, tennis, Vera Zvonareva, Vesnina, Wozniacki, WTA, Zvonareva
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Nice logo background! I lurrrve Dinara. I agree with her too. If there’s someone to blame that she’s No. 1, then it’s the WTA. But actually I agree with Marat on this one: Let them be, because it’s good for the game. There’s no such thing as bad publicity.
Safina should never let anything like this get into her head. I hope this fuels her fire more. She’s working so hard to get there, she wants to show her brother that she can do it too. She’s getting into GS Finals. She’ll be winning Grand Slams. It just takes time to win. Andre Agassi peaked at 29. 23 is a good start.
Serena shouldn’t be aiming all these rants about ranking at Serena. It’s very unprofessional. We all know she’s the women’s top player, but come on. Her 3 GS wins already speak for themselves. There is no point torturing another player for some faulty system. It’s kinda a bad, weird case of sour grapes.
Ana is looking prettier than ever.
I hope she’ll go up the rankings before the year ends. Hope she won’t disappoint.
I don’t know if Wozniacki can get to number one. Maybe in a couple of years. She’s young and she has a lot of opportunities, but the Williams sisters are clearly dominating the game for many years now.
Thanks for the coverage freakyfrites.
Momo,
I think it’s safe to say that a LOT of things get into Safina’s head! I have never seen a top player self-destruct on a court like that (except Safin maybe!). Quite frankly, I can’t even watch her anymore, it’s too painful. Her game was never an attractive one but with the inevitable mental breakdowns, it’s downright ugly. Even as a dedicated Kuzzy fan, I still cringe whenever I think of that FO finale. If I were the new president of the WTA, I’d appoint her a sports psychologist. There is worse than having the #1 player without a Slam: the #1 player going Hara-kiri on the big stage (the GS) *every single time*.
OMG I think Oprah should have Dinara on her show! And Dr. Phil! Now that would be a WTA promotion I could get behind.
Honestly, I think Dinara can do it. I get what Julie’s saying about her breakdowns (the FO was so, so bad!) but oddly, I still think she has what it takes. At the very least the “will she or won’t she” issue has become one of the tour’s best storylines!
Let’s say she does win a Slam? Does that open the floodgates or is she a one-slam wonder? I’m thinking she wins multiples – but obviously it all depends on getting the first one.
Love all the LA pics and interviews, great stuff!
Not sure about the pressure making Ana Ivanovic “sharper”. If anything it seems to have triggered her free falls.
Good on Safina to stand up for herself. So sick of the rankings debate. Wish everyone would just stop harping on about this issue.
Having said that, going to ignore Safina until she decides to show up with her head screwed on in the latter stages of a slam.
great reporting and thanks for giving safina some love!
nice to see the gals pretty and relaxed. i like them all, so i hope things go well… especially for ana and safina. if they could just get their serves to be more consistent and powerful, plus improved mental toughness and calm in big points, i think they can both do well at the slams. ana could win another and safina could get over the big hump and finally win her first! i think she would relax and enjoy more getting past that hurdle. it is hard to watch both of them sometimes, because so much of it can be mental and the toss. i tune in because i think they have it within themselves to win the big ones!