FIVE THINGS WE LEARNED IN DOHA - posted November 3

It was a mixed bag at last week's Sony Ericsson Championships in Doha. Plenty of good matches, some not so good. And injuries aplenty. Here, I take a look back to see what conclusions can be drawn from the WTA Tour's final flourish in Qatar.

1. It is as it once was - Serena and Venus are the best in the world

Both Williams sisters may be heading towards 30 - Venus will reach that mark in June - but they remain the players to beat on the WTA Tour. Personally I don't think their games have improved from their pomp towards the start the decade, but the class of 2009 was simply not good enough to stop them, in particular Serena. Her display in the final in which her thigh was heavily strapped and clearly bothering her was pretty remarkable. To only lose seven points on serve against a player of her sister's quality takes some doing, but that's what happened. Venus had shown some great fighting spirit to reach the final - all four of her previous matches had gone the distance - but she was well beaten in the title decider. Lifting the trophy capped a fine week for Serena. She won every match and as a result picked up a cheque for US$1.55million. But more important to her than that, and the indeed trophy, will be the fact that due to her performance in Doha she's ended the year ranked number one for only the second time in her career. The debate raged long and hard this year about who was the true number one - Dinara Safina holding the position for the majority of the season - but most observers will agree the right woman ends the year on top. With a 1,200-point gap between the pair in the end, it's hard to argue. In the main, Serena was majestic when it really mattered. Her three titles came at the Australian Open, Wimbledon and here. And in the other two Slams she lost to the eventual champion. Whether she can repeat such feats in 2010 when returning Belgians Kim Clijsters and Justine Henin should offer a greater challenge remains to be seen, but it certainly wouldn't be a surprise to see Serena - or indeed Venus - right up at the top in 12 months' time.

2. Caroline Wozniacki is a superstar in the making

Aside from Serena, the real winner of the week in Qatar has to be Caroline Wozniacki. She arrived in Doha being portrayed as a villain having quit a match in Luxembourg the week before when a set and 5-0 up. Why couldn't she just play another game?, people asked. Well, she probably had the Championships in mind, after all this was her debut at the prestigious event. And once on the court it was clear to see her hamstring was only just holding itself together - perhaps that one more game may just have been one too many after all. From day one it was obvious Wozniacki was not 100 per cent fit but she displayed admirable battling qualities which should endear her to many fans around the world. All too often in tennis we see players quick to retire and the Dane could easily have done so in any of her matches. How she battled on when cramp forced her to collapse to the court during her epic with Vera Zvonareva we'll never know. And it wasn't just on court where she shone. She's more than happy to accommodate the media, while those who saw her dancing in the stands with her father during a break in play during the Radwanska-Azarenka match will know she's the sort of character the tour needs. Few fans would have disappointed to see Radwanska win that match to send Wozniacki through to the semis and although that contest proved one too many, it was no surprise to discover that the happy-go-lucky teenager rewarded her friend Radwanska with a handbag. Already a Grand Slam finalist and fourth in the world rankings, Wozniacki will be someone we hear more and more about.

3. Doha is the wrong venue for this prestigious event

Taking this event to Doha may have been a good commercial decision but aside from that I'm not sure what the WTA is gaining from this move. Tour officials may, if asked, talk about taking the game to a new audience - away from its traditional home in the US and Europe - but the crowds in Qatar, admittedly a country with a big immigrant population, seem to have been largely made up of ex-pats. And that's before mentioning that there have been plenty of empty seats on show for the second year running. It's perhaps no wonder given Qatar does not have a single female player with a world ranking. Never mind, the show moves on in 2011. But only to Istanbul. Turkey is hardly been a hotbed of tennis either. For reference their top player is Cagla Buyukakcay, currently ranked 312 in the world, and something tells me she will do well to be in the field in 24 months' time. Quite why the WTA has not followed the ATP in taking its showcase event to the Far East seems strange. The Masters Cup was well supported in Shanghai. Given players from China and Japan have made a real impact on the WTA Tour (unlike their male counterparts) it would seem a logical move. It seems to me that this tournament has all the ingredients to be a cracker - mainly the world's best players. Instead of throwing loads of money at the players in a bid to increase their motivation (after all the top eight on tour this season all arrived in Doha having made at least US$1million on court in 2009), the lure of an event with a tremendous atmosphere may just get the juices flowing a little more.

4. Tennis journalists need to go back to school

Not me, you understand, but frankly some of the reporting on the Championships was an embarrassment. I would imagine most readers of this column would have seen the tournament on TV via British Eurosport. If you did, you would have been told by their commentator Chris Bradnum that Caroline Wozniacki had won the white group when in fact Jelena Jankovic had. And you would not have been told of Svetlana Kuznetsova's elimination when it happened (Thursday night). And it wasn't just Eurosport struggling with their maths. Reuters had Wozniacki in the semis after she had won her second match when clearly - at least to those who knew the rules - she was not yet through. OK, the format at the event is different. Personally I think it's a great way to end the year. Fans want to see the top players more often and the round-robin groups ensure each player plays at least three times. Of course, this also means the rules have to be understood. Anyone can understand the straight knockout format seen for 44 weeks of the tennis year. You lose and you're out. That's not the case with round-robin. So what do you do if you're a tennis journalist covering this different format? Well, personally I'd say take a look at the rules. It seems some didn't and I'm sure the examples I've given were not the only errors. The WTA could also help fans by prominently displaying the rules on its website, while surely updating the possible scenarios shortly after each match finishes is not too difficult to do in this day and age. For reference, the WTA rulebook can be found here. And here are the ATP rules. Doubtless they will be needed when the Tour Finals, which use the same format, are held in London later this month.

5. Injuries are still a worry for the WTA

The Tour's 'Roadmap' plan was introduced in 2009. At its core was the idea that injuries had to be reduced so that the big names played the big events more often. A shorter season would help this, it was argued. Certainly the season-ending Championships were brought forward this year but the action in Doha showed that injuries are still very much part and parcel of what is a 10-month slog for the main stars. Of course, the Championships are supposed to be for the top eight players of the season but injuries to Dinara Safina (back) and her stand-in Vera Zvonareva (ankle) meant 10 were actually needed. Of those, two more failed to finish their campaigns - Victoria Azarenka and Caroline Wozniacki (both hamstring) - while the final saw the Williams sisters, Serena and Venus, far from their best due to thigh and knee problems respectively. Yet it would be daft to blame the WTA entirely for this situation, which some will regard as an unfortunate co-incidence. The tour's new measures should be applauded and in some cases the players need to take a look at themselves. For example, Wozniacki played 27 tournaments in 2009, surely too many.

Do you agree with Andy? Or do you have any other points to make about the action in Doha? Mail us your feedback to tennisfeedback@sportinglife.com and we will publish the best comments.