FanNation - The Republic of Sport

Bigdleech said 06/07, 09:58 PM
Ana Ivanovic may in fact be the top player in the world right now, reflected by her top ranking. Not only will Sharapova continue to challenge Ivanovic for the top ranking for the next few years, but their will also be another competitor: twenty-three year old Jelena Jankovic, a countrywoman of Ivanovic.

Now Ivanovic has had the head to head advantage between the two, but these two are never going to show a Federer-Nadal type of dominance. You should expect these two, along with Sharapova, to dominate for the next three or four years.

The problem with you saying that she will dominate is that none of these players is head and shoulders above the others.

But back to Sharapova vs. Ivanovic. Sharapova is inconsistent? No way. Sure, she wasn't very good in the French Open this year, but she has had a very good season to date. She won the Australian Open for her third grand slam(two more than Ivanovic and only a year older), and she has started the year on a 27-2 run with three titles. You want inconsistent? Ivanovic is 20-6 this year with only one title. Plus, Sharapova leads the all-time series 3-2.

Ivanovic might be able to remain on top, but she won't dominate anything.

Bigdleech said 06/07, 10:30 PM
Maria Sharapova may not be as strong on clay as she is on the other surfaces, but she still isn't bad on it. She may have not been great this year, but she did make it to the semifinals last year in the French Open. So it isn't that farfetched that she will win it in the next couple of years. You can't base an opinion off of one tournament.

Her better surfaces are grass and hard court. Sharapova has won Wimbledon, along with both hard court grand slams. Therefore, there is no reason to expect Ivanovic to beat her either at Wimbledon or at the US Open.

Sharapova will remain the top female athlete in the world for a while. Ivanovic may be attractive, but she isn't as marketable as Sharapova for a couple reasons. Sharapova is a Russian who looks like she could be American. In fact, some people who just know the name would probably say she is American. People not involved with tennis have no idea who Ivanovic is.

Ivanovic not only can't dominate, but she just isn't known well enough to make the sport larger in the bigger countries.

Plus, the Olympics ultimately doesn't matter. The average fans only care about sports like swimming, track, and gymnastics in the Olympics.

Bigdleech said 06/07, 11:07 PM
Sharapova has had many unforced errors lately, but that doesn't change the fact that Sharapova has been better head-to-head. Ivanovic's only two wins in the series have come on clay(one), and on carpet. No big tournaments are ever on carpet.

Sharapova has beaten Ivanovic when it really matters. All three of her wins have come on hard court, like the US Open will be. And her last two wins have come in major tournaments, the Tour championships and the Australian Open Final. Sharapova has proven to be clutch. If these two do develop a rivalry, it could be like Nadal-Federer. One is a little better(Federer), but the other seemingly dominates head-to-head on all but one court.

You can't declare a person as the clear favorite after one big win. And she will become more popular, but it will be very hard to take over Maria's spot as an almost-American icon. Men love Sharapova, and many of them have still not heard the name Ana Ivanovic.

And women's tennis may not be resurrected for a long time. The talent pool is nowhere near what it was in the time of the Navratilova-Evert rivalry. There isn't enough excitement to pull in the average sport's fan, even with the attractive players.