I'd actually say that Daniela's decline started when she played Fed Cup against Spain with a broken foot as she's never been the same player since. She was playing so well in 2011 and the start of 2012 but since then she only ever had sporadic runs of form with a lot more downs than up. Having Pistolesi coaching her in 2012 hurt as everyone he coaches ends up being terrible.
I'd also say losing to Jankovic at Roland Garros last year after having all those set points hurt Daniela as I don't think she's won a set against a top 20 payer since even though she's been close a lot of times. I also wonder about how much Birmingham took out of her as her matches against Mladenovic & Schiavone were absolute wars, both mentally and physically, and Schiavone's gone straight down while Mladenovic was in a huge slump for almost a year afterwards. Daniela also had tough matches against Riske & Vekic to win. I think these events, within a few weeks of each other, had a big impact upon Daniela although winning Birmingham was amazing.

Hingis could play like an absolute drain and it would be Daniela's fault. Hingis is basically a succubus and no one that works with her ever seems to do anything in singles: Pavlyuchenkova was terrible when Hingis coached her last year, Lisicki was terrible when Hingis coached her this year but she got a lot better when Hingis stopped coaching her and Pennetta, US Open apart, has done pretty much nothing since they teamed up in doubles. It's not just tennis she affects, Arsenal had the longest unbeaten run in English league history, Hingis starts dating Sol Campbell, one of their star players, they start losing, he walks out during a game and they didn't win anything for almost a decade. Hingis is a wrong un, avoid.

I'd say that Zahlavova Strycova is the best partner Daniela's had for a long time and if they can win tomorrow then that would be a big boost and I think that they should stay together, at least until the end of the season, because they can be a good team.

We've also got to remember that Daniela's 31 and she's played almost 1500 matches in singles and doubles and that, plus all the training and travelling, will take a toll, with all the aches and pains, ailments and injuries that entails. I remember that she said that her serve would never be the same again and that she wished she could buy a new arm when she played the Fed Cup tie against France in February 2012 so I'd imagine that she's got quite a few more physical issues to deal with. Daniela's also had issues with her back which will have hampered her. I'm pretty sure that Daniela's clean and her career path has followed traditional careers in the 70s, 80s, 90s & early 00s with her very best years in her teens and early 20s and doing well in her late 20s before really hitting the wall in her 30s.

As long as Daniela enjoys playing and she still wants to and is still able to play, she should play as long as she wants to, she doesn't have to justify herself to anyone. She's had so many great achievements and I'm sure she can have some more before she calls it a day.

Wow that was over in a flash...is Daniela playing in Beijing?

3 more tournaments to try and keep her ranking in top 50..Come on Daniela!!

Anyone else find it a little strange that Daniela hasn't mentioned anything about Li Na retiring on her twitter? Thought she'd be one of the first to wish her all the best with her retirement...