Fifteen. That's how many games the four runners-up could muster this year in women's Grand Slam finals.

First there was Serena Williams' drubbing of Maria Sharapova. Then Ana Ivanovic's nerve-fest against Justine Henin at the French. Venus followed that up by humbling a bouncy Marion Bartoli on the grass before Henin capped off the year by destroying Svetlana Kuznetsova.

The future of women's tennis can find solace in the fact that it had seven marquee players in four finals, Henin being the only to make two appearances. The lack of quality play late in Slams has to worry insiders and fans alike. In fact, Bartoli's win over Henin at Wimbledon and Kuznetsova's defeat of Chakvetadze just this past week were the only two three-set semi-finals out of eight this year. Two out of eight? That's not exciting tennis.

'The problem still remains in the fact that the four Slam finals were just plain boring this year'


I don't want to take away from the brilliance of Serena's comeback at the Aussie, or the fact that Henin won both the French and the US Open without dropping a set, or the sheer dominance by which Venus captured the All England Club with this year, but it's the lack of competitive women's tennis in the late stages of said tournaments that worries me.

Where's the classic Seles-Graf or Navratilova-Evert battles? No two women will stand out of this generation with the distinction that those past champion do; they do, however, have the chance to be known for competitive and inspiring tennis. To watch such whitewashes is discouraging, especially knowing that the talent in the women's game has only improved over the last decade.

Ten years ago a bright-eyed Martina Hingis defeated a beaded Venus Williams 6-0, 6-4 in the finals of the Open. Though that wasn't a particularly compelling match, Venus had just come out of a nail-biting semifinal win over Irina Spirlea. Including that final. NONE of the last 11 US Open women's finals have gone three sets. Last year's title between Henin and Maria Sharapova was one of the more closely fought matches.

Such Grand Slam finals as Wimbledon 2006 between Henin and Amelie Mauresmo, or the 2005 Championships featuring Venus and Lindsay Davenport certainly can't happen every time, but it would certainly be nice to watch some competitive tennis, especially when the biggest titles of the tour are on the line.

It's hard to say why the tennis in late stages of majors seems to lack the competitive bite that we all know tennis can deliver. Are the women too tired? Are seven matches in two weeks too much for them? That would be doubtful, especially with athletes such as Henin, the Williams sisters and a barrage of other professionals who have taken their fitness to another level.

But the problem still remains in the fact that the four Slam finals were just plain boring this year. Maybe history has to go through such patterns to get the bad matches out of its system, or is there something about the intimidation factor on the WTA Tour that is unique from anything we've ever seen before?

Whatever the case is, it'd be nice to see the LOSER at the Australian Open next January win 15 games in one match. That would be competitive tennis, and the fans and players would welcome such competition late in a Major.

Can the women of the WTA produce quality tennis in the late stages of a Major? Post a comment below or submit an article to Sportingo!