Tennis superstars Serena, Sharapova and Victoria Azaranka lead field in year-end tourney

Here are the top eight female tennis players in the world. They are in Istanbul where they begin play in the year-end WTA Championships today.

Since Serena Williams won last month’s US Open as well as Wimbledon and the Olympic Games over the summer, there’s no doubt who the best player of 2012 is.

But even if Serena wins this tournament, she won’t be ranked number one the tour’s silly computer. If Australian Open champion Victoria Azaranka wins at least two matches, she will retain the number one ranking heading into next year.

Despite winning Wimbledon five times, the Australian Open five times, the US Open four times and the French Open once, has only twice finished the year as No. 1 – the same number of times as Caroline Wozniacki who has never won a grand slam title.

I’ve long been annoyed by the female tour rankings which seem to reward quantity over quality. The players who grind through the most matches, in tournaments large and small, are rewarded even if they can’t win the big ones.

Players should be getting more bonus points for actually winning the sports major championships. No one cares who won in Linz or Birmingham.

The Women’s Tennis Association has had this problem with the rankings since way back in 2000 when Martina Hingis stayed atop the field for a total of 129 weeks, a stretch in  which she won not a single grand slam singles title. (the last of her five slams came at the 1999 Australian Open).

But computer aside, I do think the women’s game currently has three bonafide superstars in Azaranka, Williams and Maria Sharapova who won the French Open this year to complete a career grand slam. They play with heart and with passion and, hopefully, will remain on top next year so the sport won’t regress into being hum drum featuring a cast of one-slam wonders.