The four 2018 Grand Slam tournaments had four different winners. On the weekend Naomi Osaka made the coup at the US Open in New York. For Dieter Kindlmann, the German coach of the world ranking 15th Elise Mertens (Belgium), the development is no surprise.
Favourite falls are the order of the day in women’s tennis: nothing but the truth – or crude provocation? The fact is that there were eight different winners in the last eight major events: Naomi Osaka, Angelique Kerber, Simona Halep, Caroline Wozniacki, Sloane Stephens, Garbine Muguruza, Jelena Ostapenko and Serena Williams.
By comparison, only five men (Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic, Andy Murray, Stan Wawrinka) divided 55 of the last 58 Grand Slam titles. Seven of the top ten players had already dropped out at the recent US Open after the first week of the tournament
Not only for Dieter Kindlmann this is only further proof that the women’s top spot has become extremely wide: “About six or seven years ago the top players had no real opponents before the quarter-finals. Everything was pretty easy,” said the 36-year-old on the WTA homepage and said: “If a top player is not healthy or not 100% ready nowadays, she could lose in the first round. That’s what makes it so interesting.”
If one believes the Allgäuer Kindlmann, who for years also acted as Maria Sharapova’s hitting partner (Russia), then not only “20-30 players” have a high level, but “60-100” are really good.
Michael Joyce (45) can only agree with this. The coach of Briton Johanna Konta does not believe that the current top ten are better than before with stars such as Justine Henin, Kim Clijsters, Serena and Venus Williams and Lindsay Davenport – on the contrary. “But a girl in 40th or 50th place wasn’t as good as number 40 or 50 today,” Joyce, who once also coached Sharapova, emphasized: “Back then I was used to look at the draw at the beginning and then say who Maria would meet in the quarter-finals.
The Californian also sees the increase in prize money as the reason for the development and the numerous surprises at the tournaments. “The players deserve more, they have bigger teams and take better care of themselves. They are better athletes,” Joyce explained. Badly placed professionals would train in the same way as the top players.