The loud one
Victoria Azarenka (Belarus, 21, WTA no.4)If Victoria Azarenka starts screaming out on court, run for cover. Just like Maria Sharapova, the Belarusian bellows every time she hits a ball, and the harder she hits, the louder she gets. Born in Belarus but now living in United States, she is coached by a team of French experts led by Sam Sumyk and has been in or around the top 10 since 2008.
In 2009, Azarenka won in Miami, beating none other than Serena Williams in the final, and made the quarter-finals at Roland Garros and Wimbledon. She was no.7 in the world at the end of 2009 but then went off the boil slightly and seemed to have real trouble coping with any defeats she suffered. Now she is more relaxed but still as strong physically and is looking to take her game to the next stage at the majors.
This seasonHer no.4 ranking is down to her success in Miami after a relatively quiet start to the season. She peaked in Florida, defeating Kim Clijsters, Vera Zvonareva and Maria Sharapova, and then moved seamlessly from hard courts onto clay, winning the ninth title of her career in Marbella before following that up with a final appearance at the WTA Premier event in Madrid.
The up-and-coming one
Petra Kvitova (Czech Republic, 21, WTA no.10)She is six feet tall, the hardest hitter on the circuit and also one of the best movers. Petra Kvitova first made people sit up and take notice at Wimbledon last year when she made the semi-finals, and now she is starting to hog the limelight.
A while back, she seemed too nervous out on court to ever become one of the real stars of the game, but she has certainly put that behind her. She is a more accurate player now in particular when it comes to her own service, and having added a gritty edge to her game thanks to various Fed Cup campaigns, the lefty from Bilovec in the Czech Republic is now confident enough in her own abilities to let her talent speak for itself.
This seasonThe statuesque blond got 2011 off to a flying start, winning in Brisbane, making the quarter-finals at the Australian Open and putting in a faultless performance in the Fed Cup semis before adding the Open GDF Suez in Paris to her trophy cabinet. She then had an awful American hard-court swing but came back to Europe with a vengeance, winning in Madrid and making herself one of the (many) de facto favourites for the French
The girl most likely to...
Andrea Petkovic (Germany, 23, WTA no.15)Andrea Petkovic has got it all. She is attractive, intelligent, funny and multilingual with bags of personality. When the WTA asked its top players what their ideal Valentine's Day would be, all of them spoke of candlelit dinners on the beach. All except "Petkorazzi", that is. She would rather go to a gig and enjoy a beer or two. Not that she is rough and ready, far from it. She reads Sartre and Goethe, can hold court on any subject and is an expert when it comes to politics.
Getting back to tennis, she has the ideal physique and a fine tactical brain to go with it. In the past, she suffered some agonising defeats when victory was in her grasp (most notably against Svetlana Kuznetsova at Roland Garros last year) but this at least made her go back to the drawing board and start sorting out the mental side of her game, which in her own words is still a work in progress.
This seasonShe made the final at Brisbane and the quarters at Melbourne before proving what she is really capable of by reaching the semis in Miami, defeating Caroline Wozniacki and Jelena Jankovic on the way. She came down to earth with a bump in Madrid, but Roland Garros - her favourite tournament - is very much her main objective.
Victoria Azarenka (Belarus, 21, WTA no.4)If Victoria Azarenka starts screaming out on court, run for cover. Just like Maria Sharapova, the Belarusian bellows every time she hits a ball, and the harder she hits, the louder she gets. Born in Belarus but now living in United States, she is coached by a team of French experts led by Sam Sumyk and has been in or around the top 10 since 2008.
In 2009, Azarenka won in Miami, beating none other than Serena Williams in the final, and made the quarter-finals at Roland Garros and Wimbledon. She was no.7 in the world at the end of 2009 but then went off the boil slightly and seemed to have real trouble coping with any defeats she suffered. Now she is more relaxed but still as strong physically and is looking to take her game to the next stage at the majors.
This seasonHer no.4 ranking is down to her success in Miami after a relatively quiet start to the season. She peaked in Florida, defeating Kim Clijsters, Vera Zvonareva and Maria Sharapova, and then moved seamlessly from hard courts onto clay, winning the ninth title of her career in Marbella before following that up with a final appearance at the WTA Premier event in Madrid.
The up-and-coming one
Petra Kvitova (Czech Republic, 21, WTA no.10)She is six feet tall, the hardest hitter on the circuit and also one of the best movers. Petra Kvitova first made people sit up and take notice at Wimbledon last year when she made the semi-finals, and now she is starting to hog the limelight.
A while back, she seemed too nervous out on court to ever become one of the real stars of the game, but she has certainly put that behind her. She is a more accurate player now in particular when it comes to her own service, and having added a gritty edge to her game thanks to various Fed Cup campaigns, the lefty from Bilovec in the Czech Republic is now confident enough in her own abilities to let her talent speak for itself.
This seasonThe statuesque blond got 2011 off to a flying start, winning in Brisbane, making the quarter-finals at the Australian Open and putting in a faultless performance in the Fed Cup semis before adding the Open GDF Suez in Paris to her trophy cabinet. She then had an awful American hard-court swing but came back to Europe with a vengeance, winning in Madrid and making herself one of the (many) de facto favourites for the French
The girl most likely to...
Andrea Petkovic (Germany, 23, WTA no.15)Andrea Petkovic has got it all. She is attractive, intelligent, funny and multilingual with bags of personality. When the WTA asked its top players what their ideal Valentine's Day would be, all of them spoke of candlelit dinners on the beach. All except "Petkorazzi", that is. She would rather go to a gig and enjoy a beer or two. Not that she is rough and ready, far from it. She reads Sartre and Goethe, can hold court on any subject and is an expert when it comes to politics.
Getting back to tennis, she has the ideal physique and a fine tactical brain to go with it. In the past, she suffered some agonising defeats when victory was in her grasp (most notably against Svetlana Kuznetsova at Roland Garros last year) but this at least made her go back to the drawing board and start sorting out the mental side of her game, which in her own words is still a work in progress.
This seasonShe made the final at Brisbane and the quarters at Melbourne before proving what she is really capable of by reaching the semis in Miami, defeating Caroline Wozniacki and Jelena Jankovic on the way. She came down to earth with a bump in Madrid, but Roland Garros - her favourite tournament - is very much her main objective.
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