It would have been nice if Daniela and Ai had won but it wasn't to be. At least Daniela can have a few days rest and recuperation before she prepares for the grass season.

most players that are really serious and focused on their singles don't even play doubles in the first place.[/b]

I'm guessing that the Williams sisters, the Radwanskas, Petrova, Cibulkova, Wozniacki, Pennetta, Azaranka, Zheng, Schnyder and Kanepi aren't serious and focused on their singles if they're playing doubles here, even though they're all in the top 20 (apart from Urszula Radwanska).

I have to say I think its top-20 at best for Daniela now. I think 2002 and 2007-2008 Aus Open may have been her career-best years. Two titles, making the YEC and making the semis at a Slam may arguably be her 'highlight' 12-months, despite her ranking being lower then than it was in 2002.
With so much competition out there I don't see Daniela as a top-10 player. The WTA Tour is getting really strong once again; not only do you have the mainstay top-10 players like the Williams', the Russians and the Serbs, but there are so many very strong yougsters coming up (Azarenka, Wozniacki, Cornet - when she is in form). Plus, with the return of Sharapova (and Clijsters in the summer), and with more young up-comers like Larcher de Brito and U.Radwanska (who I'm sure are going to be great players in a couple of years time), it seems unlikely that Daniela will return to the top-10.
I just hope she manages to get some good draws during the American hard-court season so she can at least get back into the top-20 (which is definately where she should be), and maybe get a few decent top-10 wins, and ideally, a top-5 win (which would put her back in the spot-light once again).

I'm not sure i totally agree. But i guess the most disappointing thing is that Daniela really looked like cementing her position inside the worlds top ten before she got injured. I actually think she would realistically have challenged all of the slams this year, but now there's just something missing. For the majority of 2007 she won the games she was expected to (she was dealing with players outside of the top 20 with relative ease), which is something which just isn't happening anymore. I'd really love it if she could re-capture that form, because she hasn't got a lot of time left to make big in-roads in the slams.

In terms of Sharapova, her mental strength is pretty incredible. She never ever doubts herself. I'm not a huge fan of her game, but she manages to win and win consistently with it, which is what i find impressive.

I think the thing that annoys me most is that players like Safina (someone Daniela used to have the edge over) have managed to overcome their mental composure and now they're seriously contending grand slams. Daniela could be in that position and it's really, really annoying that she's not.

But yeah, here's to a good grass court and american hard court season. It might be the last chance Daniela has of turning things around.

I'm not sure i totally agree. But i guess the most disappointing thing is that Daniela really looked like cementing her position inside the worlds top ten before she got injured. I actually think she would realistically have challenged all of the slams this year, but now there's just something missing. For the majority of 2007 she won the games she was expected to (she was dealing with players outside of the top 20 with relative ease), which is something which just isn't happening anymore. I'd really love it if she could re-capture that form, because she hasn't got a lot of time left to make big in-roads in the slams. The loss to Ivanovic at the AO,and the way it happened,just killed her. She hasn't been the same player since. I honestly think it would have been better for her to lose comfortably in straights,that way she wouldn't be dwelling on what might have been.

Daniela's had devastating losses and slumps in the past, notably 2003 and 2004, but she revived and won tournaments again and got into the top ten again. Daniela's shown her ambition and mental strength to get over traumatic events in the past. The manner of the Australian Open loss was devastating to her, especially being essentially stabbed in the back by a "friend" but Daniela wasn't helped by illness and injury which wiped out most of the start of 2008 and deprived her of the opportunity to quickly rebuild confidence by getting wins. I'm sure Daniela would have had a great chance to beat Henin at Antwerp which would have gone a long way to boosting her confidence, given Henin's form at that tournament and how she struggled against Bacszinsky who only got past Daniela because Daniela was sick. But Daniela had to withdraw and she also missed the Middle Eastern tournaments. She played Miami and Amelia Island injured and had two tough losses in matches that I think Daniela would have won had she been healthier, so she went into her injury layoff with the memory of two tough losses. The Austalian Open loss was very tough on Daniela but it was compounded by her health problems in the subsequent months.

I'd say there have been quite a few times over the years when playing doubles has translated into singles success for Daniela. She got to the 2002 Australian Open doubles final and won the mixed doubles and a couple of months later she won Indian Wells. In 2004, she got to the mixed doubles semi-final at Roland Garros, a few weeks later she got to the Eastbourne final. Likewise after the devastating Gloria loss at the end of 2004, Martina Navratilova teamed up with Daniela to play doubles at the start of 2005 and Daniela had a good start to the year in Australia and the Middle East. Daniela's form dipped soon after her split with Martina. She won the mixed doubles at Roland Garros and the doubles at Birmingham and that seemed to kick start a revival as she had some good wins at Wimbledon and the North American and indoor seasons - notably the LA final - while she had doubles wins at Filderstadt and the US Open mixed doubles. I'd also say that doubles success in the first half of 2006 helped Daniela's confidence after she had that devastating loss to Li in Doha.

Different things work for different players but a lot of the time when Daniela has struggled in singles in the past, success in doubles has helped her.

Final:

Svetlana Kuznetsova - Dinara Safina 6:4 6:2


Great win by Kuzi. Really deserves that win. Safina wasn't able to play her best tennis and lost because of her nerves.

Congrats to Kuzi.

that's the spirit

Im happy for Sveta.. though I wanted Safina to take it. She seemed very heartbroken.

Sveta is so cool

And Roger, GOAT for real