Women's Tennis: Why Neither Victoria Azarenka nor Anyone Else in Top 5 Dominates

About 20 minutes into the 2012 Sony Ericsson Open quarterfinal match in Miami, the forehand shot of Victoria Azarenka, the world’s No. 1 women’s tennis player, hit the net. Azarenka smashed her racket into the ground; then she looked at it in disgust, murmuring something in Belarusian.

It was the one of many times in the quarterfinal when Azarenka had lost an easy point. Psychologically, that point cost her the match. After that unforced error, Azarenka was losing, 0-3, in the first set and 15-30 in the fourth game. She never recovered. Her opponent, Marion Bartoli ranked seventh in the world, beat Azarenka, 6-3, 6-3, putting an end to her 26-game winning streak, and more.

Before that match on March 28, Azarenka was actually starting to look like the dominant player in women’s tennis. No one had claimed the spot after Venus and Serena Williams were wining tournaments left and right in the early 2000s, and after Serena Williams’ comeback in 2008, winning the Olympic gold medal. The comeback lasted two years, a period during which she won the French Open and the Australian Open.

Since then, both sisters have been on and off the court due to injuries. Venus Williams, who was diagnosed with Sjogren’s syndrome, an autoimmune disorder that causes fatigue and joint pain, slipped to No. 87 and her sister to No. 10.

Since then, there has been no dominant player in women’s tennis. The current Top 5 is comprised of young, talented but mentally and physically unprepared players when it comes to big matches.

“[Azarenka] looked fragile,” said Dean Goldfine, the assistant coach for the 2004 U.S. Olympic Tennis Team and co-founder of the Goldfine-Smatt International Tennis Academy in Hallandale, Fla. “She looked like she was going to cry,” he said. “It is the mental edge, the mental toughness, that separates the great players like [Steffi] Graf and [Martina] Navratilova.”

Azarenka, 22, won the Australian Open this year and became the most recent No. 1 female tennis player. She took the crown from Caroline Wozniacki, 21, who topped the rankings without ever having won a Grand Slam. “Azarenka is dominant only on paper,” said Craig Kardon, the former coach of Navritalova and Lindsay Davenport. “She is similar to Wozniacki. Wozniacki wasn’t better than anyone else. It just took awhile for the others to figure out how to beat her.” Since losing the top spot in January 2012, Wozniacki has dropped to sixth place.

Four of the Top 5 players have each won one Grand Slam. “These Top 5 can beat each other any given day,” Goldfine said. “There’s some insecurity out there.”  

Along with insecurity due to lack of experience because they are still very young, there is lack of physical challenge. Playing in the best-of-three format, women tennis players don’t spend as much time in the gym working on endurance. The shorter format, in which they play fewer minutes on the court, doesn’t bring out the best in the players. “In the three out of five format, the best player will definitely win,” Goldfine said, referring to the men’s game. “The test of their ability is higher because they spend more time playing.” That’s why winning by chance is unlikely.

It’s different for women. Because of the format, they never get tired to the point where all they can focus on is hitting the ball back. They are not used to playing a match longer than an hour and a half.

That leaves room for surprises. A match can go either way. That is what has been happening. Twenty-two-year-old Agnieszka Radwanska of Poland came in as the underdog in the latest tournament in Miami. She won the trophy after beating three-time Grand Slam champion and world No. 2 Maria Sharapova, 6-4, 7-5. In order to get to the finals, Radwanska had beaten the No. 7 in the world, Bartoli, 6-4, 6-2.

Women’s tennis is no longer about power, Kardon said, “It’s more about strategy and [avoiding] unforced errors. Radwanska is doing just that. She stays in line and forces her opponents to take bad shots.”

It’s not clear whether changing Women’s Tennis Association’s format of playing best-of-three would have any effect. “We don’t know, “ Kardon said. “[Women’s [tennis] has never been played before like that.”

Tennis fans will not see an equivalent of the Chris Evert-Martina Navratilova rivalry any time soon—they had the mental strength. Now, there are too many young, good players who are reaching their prime years as professionals.

Azarenka certainly has the best chance of being that dominating one. But, she needs to stop smashing rackets on the court, get over the loss of a point and be ready for the next. As of now, she is 1,050 points ahead of Sharapova in the WTA world rankings, and the next Grand Slam is the French Open in May. None of them has a Roland Garros title in singles yet.

Hristina Tisheve is a Contributor for Bleacher Report. Unless otherwise noted, all quotes were obtained first-hand.