Since 2008, when Jelena Jankovic gained the number one ranking much debate has sparked upon whether a player can really be considered the "best" in the game without having won at least one of the four major titles.
Jankovic although going on a strong fall run winning titles in China, Stuttgart and Moscow failed to back this up at the Australian or any other majors that year, and eventually lost the ranking back to Serena Williams.
Since then, both Dinara Safina and Caroline Wozniacki have occupied the number one spot, both without a major title to their name, and spend as much time in their press conferences talking about this lack of a major as they do about tennis!
The precedent in the last couple of years has been that sure the younger generation of Azarenka, Wozniacki, Radwanska etc win big tour events, but when it comes to the business end of the majors, up steps a Serena or a Clijsters to seize the moment, and do what they've done time and again, win the big one, leading many to question whether as long as the dominant older forces stick around, then the youngsters still have some time left to wait before they become the next dominant tennis champs!
Fast forward to Wimbledon last year and finally a new hungry young champion stepped up and showed that maybe the younger generation are finally ready to challenge the old guard of Williams, Clijsters and Sharapova at the biggest events.
Petra Kvitova's first grand slam win at the biggest one of them all, was important not just for being the first slam from the new generation, but for the dominant and composed manner in which it was done, serving out the match to love and finishing with an ace against a dogged Sharapova, who didn't play a bad final, just couldn't live with the consistent pace of Kvitova.
Having shown the world how emphatically she could win her first grand slam, the expectation was for Kvitova to kick on and prove the win wasn't just a fluke in New York a couple of months later, but her first round lost proved again in many eyes that nobody was yet ready to handle the pressure of expectation in the same way a Serena or Venus can.
2012 being an Olympic year, motivation will be extra high for all players, but especially for tour veterans like the Williams sisters and Clijsters (who's already signalled this will probably be her last year on tour) who will be eager to prove they still have the game to win big as they enter the twilight of their careers. Out of the young group, Petra Kvitova's game looks most likely to stand up to the test of a Serena slug fest, her power from both wings matching that of the Americans, but what can players like Azarenka and Wozniacki do to make this their year:
Woznaicki- Work on the forehand technique, and shorten the backswing to help flatten out her shots. The best backhand in the world won't be good enough to hide a forehand that when attacked looks vulnerable.
Azarenka- Work on getting a little more pace on the first serve and forehand but particuarly the serve. Isn't the weapon it could be, and would shorten the rallies for her.
While neither Kim or Serena are as dominant as in years gone by, both will bring sustained power hitting, and intense self-belief to the court, so it is up to the young guns to really step up to this level and prove that they do belong in the semi's and final's of majors.
Can they do it? Their first chance is not too far away, look for an Azarenka vs Serena final in just under a fortnight, and for the Belarussian to push Williams close but come up short in a good 3 set match.
DJT
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