It's Justine's Call! - 網球

http://www.henin-hardenne.be/bin/index.asp?lang=en

24/10/2006:

The end of season approaches, but there are still more twists and turns ahead
until the big finale in Madrid. The current number 1 player, Amelie Mauresmo
is off tour, and nursing an injury which forced her to take three steps back
in retaining the top spot. The number 3 player Maria Sharapova has shown cards
in play, and revealed what standard her current tennis form is by winning
Zurich against Daniela Hantuchova. Justine is training in Belgium, and giving
no sneak previews or cards away. The mighty Double H has yet to officially
announce her final answer for participation at Madrid, and keeping her
worldwide fans in suspense.

The 2006 Sony Ericsson WTA Championships will not only be a return to Europe,
but the first since the birth of the women's tour final championships in 1972
to have a complete shutout of American tennis players in the top 10. Justine
is still leading the race, and will be until the start of the Madrid event.

There are two berths left with Belgian Kim Clijsters racing against Swiss
master craftsmen Martina Hingis and Patty Schnyder for the final two spots.
Nadia Petrova's winning return in Stuttgart, and the Moscow final insured her
place as did Elena Dementieva with a career best season in WTA Tier I
tournaments.


The big question?

Who will reign as tennis queen for 2006, and start the next season as the #1
player in the world? The race is stictly between Justine, Amelie and Maria.
The current number 1 can only hope for poor outings from Justine and Maria
in order to retain her ranking. Mauresmo must also win Madrid to balance out
the deductions of points earned from winning the 2005 WTA Championships.
Sharapova racked up points by winning Zurich, and she's still rolling along
now in Linz, Austria, and will have to make the semi-finals to give herself
a margin to become #1.


Justine has all the cards in her hand

Justine determines who will be the number 1 player in the world. The various
win/loss round robin format matches are irrelevant to the Belgian's outcome
against her rival two. The post US OPEN match wins that Mauresmo and Sharapova
earned will be mute as Justine only really needs to enter the draw at the Sony
Ericsson WTA Championships and push until the semi-finals to have more points
than others. Whereas Mauresmo must win Madrid, and Sharapova must be a
finalistwhile looking wearily backwards praying for Justine to fall wayside.


The Playbill

Don't be left in the dark pondering Justine's fate after the Zurich tour
stopover, we've created a special chart for you to keep ahead of the media
pundits right here.. In our color coded graph simply look for the green
Justine bands to see her points, and track how far behind Sharapova and
Mauresmo are with each match, or tournament.


ALLEZ JUSTINE!


--