Wednesday, April 11, 2007

Crumbling in Charleston

There is no love story this week between the top women of the WTA and the Family Circle Cup, held in Charleston, South Carolina. After the event's four top players withdrew prior to the start of the tournament, both Serena Williams and Nicole Vaidisova fell in their opening matches.

This certainly lends some support to the WTA's roadmap for the tour, which cited that players will withdraw from events less if they have an easier schedule to work with. I'm sure the Charleston folks would have loved to been in that 'required' section this year.

While some active players were missing in action this week, an inactive player played an exhibition in Houston last week. Monica Seles, the nine-time slam winner, defeated Martina Navratilova in three sets (a third-set super tie-breaker was used) and followed up the match with this interesting quote: "I'm looking forward to playing more." Another comeback in the works for Miss Seles? The Houston Chronicle thinks so.

ESPN.com has declared four players "The Ones to Watch" this spring. Will these stories really develop? I think I have the same response for this one as I do for Monica: let's wait it out.

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