Either people cant understand Maria when she speaks at interviews or you dont bother watch them.  Prior to playing Caroline, she was asked about the amount of tournaments that the other girls play and she replied... 'Yes some of them, (Caroline), are very athletic and can play continuosly throught the season.  I CANT do that, I dont have the strength.  I think I've played 9 or 10  so far this year'.  (wrong..she's only played 8).  Maria averages 10 a year while the others average 17.  JJ played 23 in 2008.

So dont start believing your own crap.  Maria has never played that many even when she was 18/19 years old.  She always posts her schedule for the different seasons, but always backs down at least once.  Pulled out of Montreal although 'she was lookingh forward to playing it again'...right.   Whenever she comes up with a minor 'faked' injury in a tough 3 set match towards the end of a tournament, you can bet she will use it to cancel the next one.  She has done it for the last 4 years. 

ok i agree to some extent with philli but: Maria played 11 tournaments so far and these are: the 4 GS ( OZ, French, Wimbledon, US) , Memphis, Indian Wells, Madrid, Strasbourg, BIRMINGHAM, Stanford, Cincinnati; and she will play Tokyo and Beijing,  so as a whole she will play 13 this season. She had 14 scheduled to play but she pulled out of Montreal. Again she pulled out because she didn't want to risk her presence at the US Open... so i think there is no way she will not be able to play both Asian tournaments cuz there is no other big tournament after. She will play both of them 4 sure.

One more thing: she played last year Tokyo and Beijing. why wouldn't she do that this year 2. nor reason for not doing it :)  

also to mention is, that  it is better to play 14 tournaments in which u know that u are 100% fit , than to play 20 tournaments and not be 100% fit to all of them..... that is what Masha is doing right now. 

Also look at the Williams sisters, they do the same, play around 14 tournaments a year and they are in top 3; another example is Clijsters the same thing. I dont think that improvement in rankings and play are determined by the number of tournaments a player is playing.  

ok i agree to some extent with philli but: Maria played 11 tournaments so far and these are: the 4 GS ( OZ, French, Wimbledon, US) , Memphis, Indian Wells, Madrid, Strasbourg, BIRMINGHAM, Stanford, Cincinnati; and she will play Tokyo and Beijing,  so as a whole she will play 13 this season. She had 14 scheduled to play but she pulled out of Montreal. Again she pulled out because she didn't want to risk her presence at the US Open... so i think there is no way she will not be able to play both Asian tournaments cuz there is no other big tournament after. She will play both of them 4 sure.

One more thing: she played last year Tokyo and Beijing. why wouldn't she do that this year 2. nor reason for not doing it :)  

also to mention is, that  it is better to play 14 tournaments in which u know that u are 100% fit , than to play 20 tournaments and not be 100% fit to all of them..... that is what Masha is doing right now. 

Also look at the Williams sisters, they do the same, play around 14 tournaments a year and they are in top 3; another example is Clijsters the same thing. I dont think that improvement in rankings and play are determined by the number of tournaments a player is playing.  

WELCOME TO THE REAL WORLD

ok i agree to some extent with philli but: Maria played 11 tournaments so far and these are: the 4 GS ( OZ, French, Wimbledon, US) , Memphis, Indian Wells, Madrid, Strasbourg, BIRMINGHAM, Stanford, Cincinnati; and she will play Tokyo and Beijing,  so as a whole she will play 13 this season. She had 14 scheduled to play but she pulled out of Montreal. Again she pulled out because she didn't want to risk her presence at the US Open... so i think there is no way she will not be able to play both Asian tournaments cuz there is no other big tournament after. She will play both of them 4 sure.

One more thing: she played last year Tokyo and Beijing. why wouldn't she do that this year 2. nor reason for not doing it :)  

also to mention is, that  it is better to play 14 tournaments in which u know that u are 100% fit , than to play 20 tournaments and not be 100% fit to all of them..... that is what Masha is doing right now. 

Also look at the Williams sisters, they do the same, play around 14 tournaments a year and they are in top 3; another example is Clijsters the same thing. I dont think that improvement in rankings and play are determined by the number of tournaments a player is playing.  

[/quote]Wrong example those Williams; all they can play are Slams, acouple of rounds and away they are; and u don't know the "real" Clijsters ZERO!!
[/quote]

yes Tiger u are right i forgot how smart u are. They play slams and after a couple of rounds they are out .. and that is why Serena won OZ and Wimbledon this year ... and huh i almost forgot she is #1 in the world... damm that just might be crazy luck!!!! 

Again NOT THE NUMBER OF TOURNAMENTS IS THE ONE THAT MAKE U A GOOOOODDDD PLAYER. NOT QUANTITY IS THE SOLUTION >> SOLUTION IS QUALITY... and if u can be on top with playing only an average of up to 16 than u are good.

One more thing: why playing more than 16 since only 16 tournaments count.

PS: Tiger if u like quantity over quality go be Caroline's fan

[/quote]

Tiger if u are so smart/know tennis so well and can give so wonderful advice to Masha on how many tournaments she has to play ... why not go an be her coach.

Stop being a smart-ass ( which obviously u are not) ...  and take the situation as it is, cuz i am more than sure that Masha knows better what she is doing on court than u do!

As I mentioned at the start of this thread. ...because Maria won Tokyo last year when JJ Retired, she was given a first round bye at the China Open... still she only lasted to the third round before going out.  Unless she wins or gets to the Final, she will be expected to play the first round in China.  That, my friend, is why I dont think she will do it.  We shall see.

Silence Achmed, I kill you.  I know gay marriages are illegal in your culture, but in Paradise its okay, you even get 28 handsome young men to choose from.  bunch of hypocrits.

ok i agree to some extent with philli but: Maria played 11 tournaments so far and these are: the 4 GS ( OZ, French, Wimbledon, US) , Memphis, Indian Wells, Madrid, Strasbourg, BIRMINGHAM, Stanford, Cincinnati; and she will play Tokyo and Beijing,  so as a whole she will play 13 this season. She had 14 scheduled to play but she pulled out of Montreal. Again she pulled out because she didn't want to risk her presence at the US Open... so i think there is no way she will not be able to play both Asian tournaments cuz there is no other big tournament after. She will play both of them 4 sure.

One more thing: she played last year Tokyo and Beijing. why wouldn't she do that this year 2. nor reason for not doing it :)  

also to mention is, that  it is better to play 14 tournaments in which u know that u are 100% fit , than to play 20 tournaments and not be 100% fit to all of them..... that is what Masha is doing right now. 

Also look at the Williams sisters, they do the same, play around 14 tournaments a year and they are in top 3; another example is Clijsters the same thing. I dont think that improvement in rankings and play are determined by the number of tournaments a player is playing.  

[/quote]Wrong example those Williams; all they can play are Slams, acouple of rounds and away they are; and u don't know the "real" Clijsters ZERO!!
[/quote]

yes Tiger u are right i forgot how smart u are. They play slams and after a couple of rounds they are out .. and that is why Serena won OZ and Wimbledon this year ... and huh i almost forgot she is #1 in the world... damm that just might be crazy luck!!!! 

Again NOT THE NUMBER OF TOURNAMENTS IS THE ONE THAT MAKE U A GOOOOODDDD PLAYER. NOT QUANTITY IS THE SOLUTION >> SOLUTION IS QUALITY... and if u can be on top with playing only an average of up to 16 than u are good.

One more thing: why playing more than 16 since only 16 tournaments count.

PS: Tiger if u like quantity over quality go be Caroline's fan

[/quote]

Tiger if u are so smart/know tennis so well and can give so wonderful advice to Masha on how many tournaments she has to play ... why not go an be her coach.

Stop being a smart-ass ( which obviously u are not) ...  and take the situation as it is, cuz i am more than sure that Masha knows better what she is doing on court than u do!

WELCOME TO THE REAL WORLD

I honestly don't mind people criticisning Maria, but only when those crticisms are reasonable.

Maria knows that the failure of her season has been that she has not got the points when she needed them -- set points against Serena, break points against Justine, match points against Kim, and countless break points against Caroline. Failure to perform at the big points has been the death of Mara's year. This is a reasonable criticism supported by fact. how mnay times has Maria emphasised the point that she 'did not take her chances' in matches?

However, to say that the game has moved past Maria, I feel, is not a reasonable suggestion. You simply don't have so closes matches against Justine and Serena is you are past it like some people suggest. Likewise, it is unreasonable to suggest that Maria lacks dedication. We can all see how much it hurts Maria when she loses; if she did not care, then she ought not to look so dissapointed when she loses. Maria is no Vaidisova.

The difference between the good and the great, is that the great are willing to get back on the horse every time they fall. Did Venus crumble when she went four years without a slam, and when people were writing her off, to claim three more Wimbledon titles? Did Mauresmo and Schiavone crumble when for all intents and purpose it looked like they would end their careers without ever making an impact on the sport? Did Kim crumble when people wrote her off for as a contender after giving birth? No, no they didn't, because these women are great, and that's why they will always be better than these internet commentators who find nothing better to do with their times but to spew hate. Even the girls ranked 500th in the WTA are 1000 times the people than these haters will ever be. I have every faith in Maria, so to those haters, I am immune to their poison. History has been decided by people who overcome those who hate and criticise.

Agree about Liquid's nice post. [H] That said: shrapi is the nicest & most helpful member of this forum, y'all hear?

 Eurosport:

Toray Pan Pacific Open (UK Times)

Mon 27 Sep 09:00 Day 1 British Eurosport (09:00-12:45)
Tue 28 Sep 09:00 Day 2 British Eurosport (09:00-12:45)
Wed 29 Sep 09:00 Day 3 British Eurosport (09:00-12:45)
Thu 30 Sep 09:00 Qtrs  British Eurosport (09:00-12:45)
Fri 01 Oct NO LISTING FOR SEMIFINALS AS YET.
Sat 02 Oct 05:00 Final British Eurosport 2 (05:00-06:45)

for-pay TennisTv.com (unavailable in Europe) promises eleven live matches beginning Mon 27 Sep--probably about the same deal as Eurosport. Eurosport & the "world feed" aside, webcasters have been able to access the GAORA host directly, so we may get more than these will provide.

[quote user="yvonne08"]God Bless Sharapova in her next match. After her disappointing US OPEN. I am sure she's a bit down right now. But she'll be able to cope up with it. She's getting better and better. I expect that next year, she'll come out firing again. So sure of it. Too bad, I don't think she can join YEC this year. :(
[/quote]

At this point, I don't know that it's possible for more than one Russian the return to the top eight in time for YEC. That was our bosses' intention when they criminally targeted Dementieva earlier in the year--to make ALL Russians ineligible. They did not anticipate the ascendancy of Zvonareva. Dunno why they didn't. Vera, like Masha, is an IMG client. But WTA is simply crooked, not necessarily smart.

Now, the schedule itself is obviously designed to cripple Russian power by jamming the YEC, Fed Cup final & Kremlin Cup into close conflict. Due to YEC ineligibility, outta Fed Cup (Team Russia players have only themselves to blame for expecting Dementieva to win the semifinal all by herself), I say to those at liberty: Getcha asses to Moscow! [H] BUILD that fine tournament WTA tries to undermine.