Tennis commentator Bud Collins was on ESPN this morning thrashing the U.S. Open women’s draw. His beef: The Williams sisters should be the top two seeds in the tournament. As it stands, Serena is seeded No. 2 and Venus is seeded No. 3. Collins argues that the two best players in the world are clearly Serena and Venus, and they should be the top seeds whether Dinara Safina is the No. 1player in the world or not (she is). The U.S. Open followed the world rankings for the top 7 women’s players.
Is Bud right? Should the Williams sisters have been 1-2? They were the finalists at Wimbledon and Serena beat Safina in the Aussie Open finals. Safina has never won a Grand Slam title; Serena is the defending U.S. Open champion. Safina is the world No. 1 largely because she plays more tournaments (two more this year) than the Williamses.
I’ll tell you this much: I’d put my money on Serena or Venus before I put it on Safina.
on Aug 31st, 2009 at 4:28 pm
Bud needs to quit bitching. Just because the U.S. Open won’t get their Serena/Venus primetime night final this year doesn’t mean that the draw is wrong.
I would agree that Serena should be #1, but Safina should be ahead of Venus, she has won more tourneys and been in 2 versus 1 finals this year.
on Aug 31st, 2009 at 4:47 pm
I think no one really expects Safina to win it all, but that isn’t the point. She gets her no. 1 ranking based on her steady play throughout the year . Serena’s game rises to the top in grand slam play while Safina’s mind crumbles against top players. An argument can certainly be made for Serena to be seeded no. 1 based on her major appearances over the last year.
This is certainly not the case for Venus Williams though. If you look at their last 4 Grand Slam results Safina has 2 runner-ups and 2 semis. Venus has a second round, third round, a quarterfinal and a runner-up. Other than a us open semi in 2007 Venus hasn’t made it passed the quarters of a non-Wimbledon major since 2003. I am no Safina fan, but she has earned her ranking. If people don’t like the fact that she is ranked higher than the Williams sisters, maybe they should put their efforts in getting them to play a little more.
on Aug 31st, 2009 at 5:50 pm
It’s time for all these people to quit complaining that Serena and Venus should be numbers 1 and 2. If they want to be one and two they should play more tournaments.
on Aug 31st, 2009 at 10:21 pm
I agree that Serena should be seeded #1, but not Safina ahead of Venus. Doesn’t matter what seed Serena is. She won the Australian Open as the 81st ranked player in the world. Venus hasn’t been playing well…and tonight we saw she’s suffering from patella tendonitis. So yes….Serena and Venus have themselves to blame for not being seeded 1 and 2 but they are both still better than Safina
on Sep 1st, 2009 at 12:56 am
Ron, that’s exactly what I’ve been saying. Yes, they are probably better. But the rules are they rules, they know the rules, and they decide to not play in as many tournaments despite the rules.
on Sep 1st, 2009 at 9:40 am
The Williams sisters know how to get the # 1 & 2 seeds, play more tennis and finish higher than the others. Granted they have better overall slams records than Safina, but the seeds are based on World Rankings.
Just imagine the complaints if it was the other way around, Dad Williams would have a field day if the girls seeds were reversed and not based on world rankings. All the players know that the top seeds are based on World Rankings.
on Sep 1st, 2009 at 12:52 pm
In actual fact, Venus has a much poorer slam record over the past year than Safina.
Safina has made the semis of all four majors and the finals of two. Venus made the finals of Wimbledon, but failed to make the semis at any of the other three. In fact, aside from Wimbledon, Venus has made only one major semifinal in the past six years. That doesn’t mean she can’t win here, but I don’t see much evidence that she’s the second best hardcourt player in the draw.
Also, Venus and Serena have only played two fewer tournaments than Safina. But it doesn’t help to play more tournaments unless you win matches at them.
on Sep 1st, 2009 at 12:57 pm
Why this tennis groupie’s (Collins) views deserve any attention at all has always mystified me. He just tries to stir up controversy by taking adversarial positions. Pure showboating. Ignore him.
on Sep 1st, 2009 at 1:08 pm
The draw is flawed for an entirely different reason. As the No. 2 and 3 seeds, Serena and Venus should not be in the same half of the draw. Venus should be in the same half as Dinara Safina as they are seeded Nos. 1 and 3. It seems that the U.S. Open officials have deliberately placed Serena and Venus in the same half of the draw to assure that at least one of them will be eliminated (maybe by her sister) before the final so that we will not have another all-Williams Grand Slam final, which some fans are starting to find boring. This is likely motivated bya desire for stronger prime time television ratings for the final. Such concerns should not dictate how the draw is conducted. Serena and Venus do not beliong n the same half of the draw in this tournament.
on Sep 1st, 2009 at 3:47 pm
Jim with all due respect, that is ridiculous. First of all, the draw is NOT fixed. Years ago the number 2 & 3 seeds were always on the same side of the draw. A few years ago they changed it so that, like the rest of the draw, it would be random as to whether the 2 or 3 seed would be in the same half as the top seed. And while some fansmay find another Venus-Serena final boring (me included) it would still get much better ratings than a one of them against one of the ‘ovas or a final that doesn’t include either one of them. Belive me if the USTA was going to fix it, Venus and Serena would never ne in the same half of the draw.
on Sep 2nd, 2009 at 3:02 pm
I agree with M Jonas. Bud is a drama queen that loves to stir shit. Ignore him….I do.
on Sep 2nd, 2009 at 3:37 pm
This same thing came up at Wimbledon before where non grass players were given lower rankings… Dinara should be #1 since she does well in everything else, but the grand slams. And even the Slams, she goes far. The Williams Sisters may excel at the slams but they just dont do enough outside. Mainly injury related! They compared Dinara’s record this year and it totally blows Serenas out of the water, mainly because she plays a lot more…
on Sep 3rd, 2009 at 2:17 pm
I haven’t researched it or anything but it seems to me like every year the US Open sticks more closely to the world ranking when seeding players compared to other Grand Slam events (surface maybe? I’m not sure.).