With another dominant run at RG, and an ever lengthening winning streak there...who will be the next person to beat her there and when?!?

We had several candidates who we thought would at least push her to three sets this year...it didn't happen.

It seems like a good time to discuss it now and we can comeback next year to see who guessed right; either that or Justine will win her 5th RG and we will keep this poll going for another year :wacko:

Pierce of course :D She finally got the measure of Justine at USO 2005 and will be looking to regain her French Crown next year :bow:

Sorry Liam I didn't think to include Mary in the poll :lol:

I went for Serena..predictable I know, but if anyone can it's her :) I will say though that she will have to play a full clay schedule and stay healthy.

the thing with Mary, she wont be seeded and will prob get Justine in the first round, then Justine will become one of them rare statistics where defending champ goes out first round :D Mary never does what we expect :) If Serena plays a full clay schedule i will get me tackle out on blackpool prom :huh: Although failing a Mary win, i would like either Serena, Venus or Hingis to win it next year. Image if Venus ended up with the Grand Slam, that would shut a few people up B)

roflmao Im sure Serena will play a full clay schedule is she's healthy...:shrug:

And by full schedule I mean Charleston and Rome :lol:

roflmao roflmao Maybe she should join Venus in Istanbul, we might actually get an all Williams final there roflmao

Serena playing two tournaments back to back :lol: It aint happened so far and I dout it ever will :P

I would love to see Mary in the finals again, i must admit :D

Venus of course will win roflmao

I've been saying it for 7 years, it's gotta happen right? :lol:

Sometimes when I watch my DVD of the 2002 Warsaw Final when Venus came back to beat Henin I don't know where it all went wrong :lol:

Dont you mean Amelia Island ;)

Yes, the early signs were promising :lol:

Venus just found she liked winning Wimby better roflmao

All clay tournaments are the same to me! :lol:

Sometimes I think Venus doesn't actually want to win RG, she just can't be bothered to turn up to the court somedays!

She does like the surface though, she's often said it in interviews.

Unfortunately Venus hates to compromise on clay :lol:

Her lack of compromise works amazingly on every other surface though :D

Both WS say they like clay, yet I would like to see more evidence of this at RG :lol:

After her loss to Henin Serena said she didn't think the fact that it was clay a part in her defeat, the crazy woman roflmao

Serena has looked so tentative on clay this year, i think she fears injury on the surface :unsure:

When the slice backhand comes out, you know she's in trouble roflmao

It was too soon for her, she needs lots of matches on the surface to do well....I :pray: she is healthy for the clay season next year. We haven't seen a poper clay season from Serena since 2004 and even then she just coming back from injury.

I miss Serena on clay :(

I remember how intimdating she was on clay in 2002 :o

Her match against Pierce in the quarters of the french that year :bow:

61 61 B) Her match against Capriati as well, she didn't care that it was clay, she just kept hitting winners and serving aces, everytime I watch it I am like :o

She wanted revenge for her crappy peformance in 2001 against capriati. The forehand was seriously off that match :wacko:

Looking at the list, would Sharapova and Vaidisova have to team up to beat Justine on clay then? :rolleyes:

I hope revenge is on the cards next year too :whistle:

After this year's RG it's hard to imagine anyone challenging Justine next year. :bow:

Yep.. to beat Justine, someone needs to be:

1. Technically solid;
2. Mentally strong;
3. Dedicated to the game.


No-one else in the women's game has all of that right now. So until someone does develop that then she won't be sufficiently challenged if her current level doesn't drop.

Serena is mentally on par, but on clay, the technique can be brittle, so its hard to say who can challenge her............

Yip, I meant to say specifically on clay..

i'd say that there are about 3-4 players that fulfil most of the criteria, but no-one who ticks all of the boxes. For now, at least ;)

Oh, I was intrigued to read that Justine had gone on record as describing Jankovic as 'mentally weak' prior to their semi final. Ouch!

Ouch indeed :lol:

By saying that though, she's effectively saying Jankovic should have beaten her most of times they played!

roflmao

Just like Nadia eh?

2005 FO Final 6-1 6-1 remember that? :hug:

Very true :bow: :bow:

All 5'5" of her roflmao

Unbelievable that 99% of the players are much bigger and taller than her but just can't challenge her on the most physically challenging court. :bow: :bow:

unfortunately i do :rolleyes: i didnt mind that so much as the USO final that year :angry:

I split them up. :ok:

Would Justine like a medal for being so small then? Or perhaps a full blown martyrdom? :rolleyes:

Honest;y you make it sound like being small is a disability, it actually has its advantages in some ways, being small means Justine's centre of gravity is closer to the ground which ennables her to have better balance on clay and generally be more controlled in general, and it's not like she hasn't developed ways to produce a lot of power in spite of her small frame.

In many ways being tall has its disadvantages just as much, have you seen Maria try to move on clay bless her!

Also Im surprised most people have voted Jankovic, Id be surprised if she ever beat Justine at all :unsure:

I think the most likely ones are Ivanovic and Serena if they can produce their best, Kuzzy also has a chance, except Justine has some sort of a mental hold over her.....

Good point SW19,being tall always hindered Davenport's speed around the court and didn't help Ivanovic yesterday either.But you have to admire Justine's technique which compensates for her lack of height.

Definitely Justine's excellent technique generates so much power as well, it's amazing really :ok:

why is jankovic so far ahead? after the way so played on thursday, she's got absolutely no chance, especially as she's thrown away two chances to beat henin (us open, berlin) when she was in a commanding position.
I feel Kuznetsova for some reason, don't know why, but I feel that if Henin was to lose, it would be some shock defeat to a lower-ranked player, as opposed to one of the top players.

Jankovic is far too defensive on clay for me to beat justine. In her matches against Venus and Vaidisova, she was lucky that their forehands were flying long. She moves exceptionally well, uses great angle and is a very astute player, but she's so far back on the court. Justine exposed it to such an effect last friday.

Kuzy and Serena are the likely challengers, maybe even more so kuzy. She is tailor made for a RG title IMO, but has so many inhibitions in her game. Has all the shots however and the firepower to beat justine in the future.

Can't see anyone beating her if she carries on in her current state and the rest in thiers. I'd have said Serena initially but not after this years' performance. Even if Serena were at her best, it would still be a very tough match to call. All the youngsters have gotta get a lot mentally tougher to beat Justine. Jankovic maybe could do it but only if she develops a more attacking and solid game. Like some others, I've gone for Kuzzy. although I would not bet on it. Purely because I think that if she played her best and toughened up mentally she has the weapons to do it. Trouble is she doesnt; bring them to the court enough in big matches, but you never know. She might hit a purple patch, it did take Amelie years to do that.