Dinara Safina deserved to be number 1

After hearing about her retirement to Jankovic at Doha, I am deeply saddened that she will not be able to hold the number 1 ranking at the end of 2009. Throughout the year, there was a controversy as to whether she deserved the number 1 ranking. Many tennis commentators have slaughtered her for not winning a slam whilst retaining her number 1 status in the world. They have often cited Serena Williams as the better of the 2 players, therefore she should have been the number 1. Dinara Safina has often defended her ranking by blaming the ranking system. Instead of blaming her performance in slams, she often told reporters and commentators to blame the WTA officials who were responsible for creating the system. Other players who have reached Number 1 without earning a slam title include Jelena Jankovic, Kim Clijsters. Kim eventually won the US Open twice but not during her reign as number 1. Serena Williams has been firing verbal comments at her arch rival Dinara throughout the whole year claiming that she would rather win slams and be number 2 than not to win slams and be number 1.

People who were against Safina when she held Number 1 ranking
Pat Rafter has been criticising Safina and supporting Serena in the Australian Tennis magazine. Serena who was at one time in 2009, the holder of 3 slams, Australian Open 2009, Wimbledon 2009 and US Open 2008 is apparently the rightful heir to the number 1 ranking.

People who supported Safina when she held Number 1 ranking
Daniela Hantuchova in an interview with the tennis channel website states that Safina has worked hard for her number 1 ranking.

At the end of the day, you cannot criticise Dinara Safina for holding the number 1 position without winning a slam. The fact is, when she was holding he number 1 position, she performed more consistently on the tour compared to Serena Williams. Women's tennis is not only about the slams, it also about the other important premier mandatory tournaments that occur in the year. The reason why the ranking system is created this way is because if winning slams was a prerequisite to gaining the number 1 ranking, then slams would have to award the majority of points. Players would not enter as many tournaments throughout the year and the game of tennis would practically be only be played in slams- 4 times in the year. How would WTA feel about the loss of money from needing less sports commentators, spectators and sponsors? Personally, I would prefer to win many small-scale tournaments and a couple of Premier Mandatory events than win some of the slams and do pathetically in other tournaments as the Williams sisters are famed for. The lesson is that Serena Williams should not underestimate the importance of tournaments outside the slams. Safina is truly a great tennis player; hopefully she will perform well in 2010 despite extra competition from Kim Clijsters and Justine Henin.