Martina Navratilova has chosen Simona Halep as a favourite for the WTA Finals title but believes the Romanian must “step outside her comfort zone” in order to get the better of Maria Sharapova in their round robin match on Tuesday.
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Navratilova, who is playing the Legends Classic at the WTA Finals in Singapore, is an eight-time winner at the season-ending Championships and won 18 grand slam singles titles in her illustrious career.
Sharapova and Halep will face off in a blockbuster Red Group clash today with both of them owning one victory under their belt already this week at the Singapore Indoor Stadium – the former beating Agnieszka Radwanska and the latter delivering a straight sets drubbing to Flavia Pennetta.
“The court being as slow as it is and Halep playing as well as she is, I think this is her way of really salvaging the year. I would have to put her as the favourite,” Navratilova told reporters in Singapore yesterday.
Sharapova and Halep have not faced off in 2015 but their rivalry heated up last season when they played each other three times – all three going to a final set. Their contrasting styles make for an intriguing matchup but so far, Sharapova has had the upper hand in all their meetings and owns a 5-0 head-to-head record lead over the world No2.
“This surface, you want to hang back because you can run down so many balls. That is Halep’s game. She's been trying to be more aggressive this year and has done it well at times. She needs to stay with the defence when it calls for it, but still make herself get inside the court more and not let Maria dictate,” said Navratilova.
“Because Maria will be playing better and better as the week goes. She is fresh, she's happy to be here, she's healthy finally, so she's not feeling any pressure. So Simona needs to, I think, get out of her comfort zone a little bit and get closer to the baseline.”
Navratilova, 59, frequently commentates on tennis matches and briefly coached Radwanska earlier this season. The Czech-born American says she is “baffled” by the frequent fluctuations in form many players at the top of the women’s game experience and says she has no explanation for why it happens.
Six players made their top 10 debut in 2015 – Ekaterina Makarova, Carla Suarez Navarro, Garbiñe Muguruza, Lucie Safarova, Karolina Pliskova and Timea Bacsinszky – while regulars like Ana Ivanovic and Caroline Wozniacki have dropped outside the top 15.
“I don't know why there is so much turnover, so much more turnover within top 10, top 20, top 50. Players fluctuate so much more than in my time. Yes, there is much greater depth, no doubt. But still doesn't explain the level of fluctuation. On the guys you don't really see it that much. You see it much more on the women's side,” said Navratilova.
“The fluctuation to me is baffling because you get the players that were No 1, Wozniacki, Ivanovic, (Jelena) Jankovic, go from 1 to 30 and back to top 10. That is what's baffling.”
Navratilova also believes the scheduling of the tour needs to be addressed and says it should be one of the top priorities for the newly appointed WTA CEO and Chairman Steve Simon.
“I still think overall we see the number of injuries and withdrawals is still too high,” she says.
“You got to think long‑term. Maybe it's great to have all these tournaments, but at the end of the day, if you don't have enough players playing, you got a problem. So I still think for me it probably would be the length of the calendar that's a long‑term project.”
