Not the demolition I expected, but the results were expected. Serena takes her 7th title of the year and ends 2012 as the undisputed MVP. Credit to Maria for putting up a better fight and not folding like a lousy poker hand. The 2 biggest names in ladies' tennis played their most competitive match since Wimbledon 2010. Maria was aggressive from the start, hitting huge groundstrokes trying to get the first strike. However, the numbers speak for themselves as Serena hit 40 winners including 11 aces to just 11 unforced errors. Maria had a +3 winner/error positive ratio which shows her improvement.
As I mentioned, Maria should be commended on her good week of tennis, winning 4 matches including a win over the world number one and 'pushing' Serena to win 7 games. Serena, the undisputed player of the year, will be happy to cap her season with her 3rd season ending title. Serena is a hot favourite for the Australian Open if she can maintain her form. Winning another Serena Slam is also not out of the question. Hopefully Serena will reclaim the number one ranking after the Australian Open as seeing #3 next to her name is just not right.
All in all, a very successful YEC both in terms of audience attendance and match quality although we could have had better semi final and final matches. The only blimp perhaps was the jeering the sponsors received by the crowd, which made their boisterous reception to the players all the more heart felt.
4th place qualifiers Kirilenko and Petrova won the doubles titles to add to their Olympic Bronze medal. It has been a good year for Kirilenko in singles as well. Credit also to Nadia for winning the title in Tokyo.
2012 was no doubt a season in the WTA where order was restored and 3 quality players made or reclaimed their positive as the queen of the courts. After 2 years of the wozniacki number one fiasco, the number one player of 2012 is definitely a deserving one. While Serena is no doubt the best player of 2012, Victoria was the most consistent, having played well from January to October. Serena was the best player by far from Wimbledon one wards but she was surprisingly mediocre at the start of the year.
I hope you've enjoyed my updates and recaps of the YEC as much as I've enjoyed writing it. Hope to be back in some capacity on this blog even when Sean returns. Would be interested to know what kind of columns you'd like me to write.
Will probably write a season recap and awards following the Fed Cup final and the tournament in Sofia.
Till then, thanks for reading and continue to enjoy some ATP tennis in Paris and London!
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