by Ibarrategui » 03 Sep 2008, 08:32
Before I'm sure the wta file is operationnal, I want to put the last handsoff with slam results. First name AO winner, second name FO winner, third name wimby winner, fourth name US winner (in bold, the girls wins in my handsoff and in reality)
1990 : Graf / Graf / K.maleeva (grr) / Sabatini
1991 : Graf / Seles / Seles / Seles
1992 : Seles / Fernandez / Seles / Seles
1993 : GRaf / Graf / Graf / Graf
1994 : Sanchez / Graf / Graf / Sanchez
1995 : Sanchez / GRaf / Graf / Graf
1996 : Graf / Graf / Graf / Graf
1997 : Sanchez / Hingis / Hingis / Seles
1998 : Pierce / Hingis / Seles / Graf
1999 : Hingis / Davenport / Davenport / Davenport
2000 : Hingis / Seles / S.Williams / Davenport
2001 : V.Williams / S.Willliams / V.Williams / Capriati
2002 : S.Williams / S.Williams / S.WIlliams / S.WIlliams
2003 : Mauresmo / S.Williams / V.Williams / Hénin
2004 : Sharapova / S.Williams / V.Williams / Hénin
2005 : Mauresmo / Hénin / V.Williams / Clijsters
2006 : Mauresmo / Hénin / Mauresmo / Hénin
2007 : Clijsters / Kuznetsova / Sharapova / Hénin
As you can see, some results (Graf domination, Venus at Wimbledon, Mauresmo) are realistic.
I know that I don't want to have results exactly parallel to the reality. For me, the most important is to have results which are realistic : Kuznetsova could win a french, S.Williams could make a grand slam, Graf may win 14-15 slams...
=>
Graf wins 16 slams in this handsoff, she wins 14 in reality between 90 and 99
Seles wins 9 slams / 8 in reality
K.Maleeva 1 / 0
Sabatini 1 / 1
Fernandez 1 / 0 (but she reach 2 finals in reality=> it's realistic she would win a slam)
Sanchez 3 / 4
Hingis 5 / 5
Pierce 2 / 1
Davenport 3 / 4
S.Williams 8 / 8
V.Williams 5 / 6
Capriati 1 / 2
Mauresmo 4 / 2
Hénin 6 / 7
Sharapova 2 / 3
Clijsters 2 / 1
Kuznetsova 1 / 1
But as you can see, I have always some problems : Navratilova is not competitive in 1990-91 (because she have doubles rankings in wta files, I lower his coeff singledoubles but it is not really effective), Katerina Maleeva is able to win slams, S.Williams is too strong in FO, Henin is stronger at the US Open than at the FO, Seles is not as strong than I hope at the FO...
When I finish, I will post a file with my changes.
For the doubles, it is really difficult. In 90's Novotna, Sanchez, G.Fernandez and Zvereva were the best players. But in my files, to be realistic, I put the singles rankings of Sanchez and Novotna => they play doubles but not at the same level as before... I don't think that I have a solution for this.
Then your last question : WTA history of doubles is not the same than the ATP one. You have a lot of good singles players which dominated the doubles in 70's (King), 80's (SHriver, Navratilova), 90's (Novotna, Sanchez, Zvereva). Even the specialists were good singles players (Ann Smith, Katie Jordan, Gigi Fernandez), able to reach slam semifinals.
The last great player to play singles and doubles was Martina Hingis. The Williams are able to win any slam they play, but they do not play oftently doubles.
For 10 years, you have some doubles specialist who emerged : Ruano-Pascual, Suarez, Stosur, Stubbs, Raymond, Cara Black, Liezel Huber. They play few singles match (except Suarez who reach FO semis in 2004).
But, contrary to the men, you have no Paul Hanley, Andy Ram or Mike Bryan in women doubles => women doubles specialists play in singles, or have played in singles before if they are getting old. And singles good players as Safina, Dechy, Groenefeld, Sugiyama were able to win slams...
To synthetize the wta/atp distinction : Liezel Huber's career is an exception, Mike Bryan's career is a rule...