Why is everyone having a go at Dinara Safina?

OK, she was overwhelmed by Venus Williams at Wimbledon last week and has lost in the final of three majors, not playing her best in each. But can we really deny the young Russian the world No.1 spot in the WTA rankings?

Serena Williams is unhappy about still being No.2, even though she is the holder of three of the four majors at the moment. What Serena fails to realise is the the rankings are based on a 52-week system.

Points drop off from last year as points are added from this year's tournaments. Grand Slams are heavily weighted to have the most points available for victory. For example, a winner of a Grand Slam is awarded 2,000 points while winners of the next biggest tournaments are awarded 1,000 points. To me, that is a big enough weighting.

Whilst Serena has points for three wins and one quarter-final appearance in her ranking, Dinara has points for two final and two semi-final appearances, still very consistent in my opinion.

If you look back at this year's clay-court season Serena failed to win one match until the French Open, losing in the first round in Madrid, Marbella and Rome. Hardly a great performance.

Safina, on the other hand, won tournaments in Madrid and Rome and reached the final in Stuttgart. All these tournaments are very big on the WTA tour and attract the very best women players. They may not get as much coverage as Grand Slams, but Safina defeated the world's best and gained a huge number of points towards her No.1 ranking.

In 2008, Safina had a highly successful end to the year, winning tournaments in Los Angeles, Montreal  and Tokyo while also being runner-up in the Olympics. She therefore has a lot more points to defend than most other players.

If she loses her consistency, then Serena will have the chance to move back to the No.1 spot. However, will Serena play enough tournaments to be able to topple Safina? I doubt it...

While Serena is happy to play 14 or so tournaments a year to gain her success, Dinara is more than likely to challenge herself to 20 or so events, and therefore deserves the success she has gained.

Safina is dedicated to the cause while Serena prefers to mix up her tennis life with her fashion business etc. If she wants that No.1 spot, then she needs to play more and become more successful at the other tournaments.

Tennis is a 52-week sport and the people who think it is wrong for Safina to be world No.1 should take note if this.

Do not get me wrong, Serena and Venus are excellent players and deserve all their success. But did anyone really want to see another all-Williams final at Wimbledon this year? I don't think so.

Serena should be content with her victories and stop trying to take away the success of Safina and her achievements. I just hope over the next year Dinara can hold her nerve at the Grand Slam events and finally win one of the majors. Until then, unfortunately the media and 'Serena fans' will probably not be happy that the Russian still heads the rankings on the WTA tour.

As a true tennis fan and one who watches the sport throughout the season, I firmly believe that Safina is the world's No.1 player and hope that her level of consistency and determination to travel around the world week in, week out keeps her ahead of the frankly quite boring Williams sisters.