Predictions for 2012 year-end WTA Top 10, best foreteller wins an autograph
The 2012 has gained its full swing with the Australian Open, and our loyal contributor and reader John Bolan would like to share his predictions of how the Top 10 rankings will look like at the end of the season. Don't forget to share your Top 10 picks in the comments, as John will send the person whose predictions turn out to be the closest to the actual 2012 year-end Top 10 a picture with an autograph of a Top 10 player. Nice incentive! 
Once again, it is time to pick the Top 10 players in the order they will finish on December 31, 2012. We have had a few weeks to observe which players have played well this year. Logic, injuries and where the players finished for 2011 are the main criteria used to make these picks.
TOP 10 FOR 2012
1. Victoria Azarenka
2. Maria Sharapova
3. Kim Clijsters
4. Serena Williams
5. Petra Kvitova
6. Caroline Wozniacki
7. Agnieszka Radwanska
8. Vera Zvonareva
9. Li Na
10. Sabine Lisicki
My pick for number 1 in 2012 is Victoria Azarenka (I also picked Victoria for number 1 in 2011). She squeaked by Maria Sharapova for third place last year, but is definitely a rising young star whose time has come. Maria is my pick for the runner-up spot – number 2. Let’s hope she stays healthy for the remainder of the year.
Three players who have already been injured this year are Kim Clijsters, Serena Williams and Andrea Petkovic. Do we take a chance and put any of them in the Top 10? Kim is my #3 pick and Serena #4. Although Andrea is the most sensational player in women’s tennis, she is seriously injured and will miss months on the tour in 2012.
My #5 pick is Petra Kvitova. Some say she is now the best player, but she will need to prove it.
Three very consistent players from 2011 – Caroline Wozniacki #6, Agnieszka Radwanska #7 and Vera Zvonareva #8 are my next 3 picks. Caroline’s personal life will interfere with her tennis game in 2012. She will lose her #1 ranking after two years in the top spot.
Li Na is anything but consistent. When she is on she is very good. She’s my number 9 pick.
Number 10 is Sabine Lisicki. She is very strong with one of the fastest serves in the WTA. In 2012 she will finally make her goal of a Top 10 player. I was one of a dozen fans to watch her comeback begin on the first day of the Miami tournament last March. She has played great tennis since then.
I doubt many of you will agree with me on these picks! Use the comments and make your picks! The person closest to the actual finish will get one of my autographed pictures of a player who finishes in the Top 10. Good luck!
Reminder: How accurate was John in 2011? Check out his November reflections on his January 2011 choices.
Thank you, John, for contributing with this article and offering to award a Women's Tennis Blog's reader a with valuable autographed WTA picture.
1. Caroline Wozniacki
2. Maria Sharapova
3. Victoria Azarenka
4. Petra Kvitova
5. Kim Clijsters
6. Samantha Stosur
7. Agnieska Radwanska
8. Sabine Lisicki
9. Francesca Schiavonne
10.Kaia Kanepi
1. Caroline Wozniacki
2. Maria Sharapova
3. Sabine Lisicki
4. Petra Kvitova
5. Victoria Azarenka
6. Vera Zvonareva
7. Agniezska Radwanska
8. Andrea Petkovic
9. Marion Bartoli
10.Peng Shuai
1. Petra Kvitova
2. Maria Sharapova
3. Viktoria Azarenka
4. Caroline Wozniacki
5. Kim Clijsters
6. Vera Zvonareva
7. Agniezska Radwanska
8. Andrea Petkovic
9. Sabine Lisicki
10.Marion Bartoli
1. Petra Kvitova
2. Victoria Azarenka
3. Serena Williams
4. Caroline Wozniacki
5. Maria Sharapova
6. Sam Stosur
7. Agnieszka Radwanska
8. Sabine Lisicki
9. Li Na
10. Andrea Petkovic
1. Victoria Azarenka
2. Petra Kvitova
3. Kim Clijsters
4. Maria Sharapova
5. Serena Williams
6. Caroline Wozniacki
7. Agnieszka Radwanska
8. Sabine Lisicki
9. Jelena Jankovic
10. Sam Stosur
1. Victoria Azarenka
2. Petra Kvitova
3. Caroline Wozniacki
4. Serena Williams
5. Maria Sharapova
6. Kim Clijsters
7. Marion Bartoli
8. Svetlana Kuznetsova
9. Li Na
10. Vera Zvonareva
I'd love to see Ana Ivanovic in the top 10 again
1. Petra Kvitova
2. Victoria Azarenka
3. Caroline Wozniacki
4. Maria Sharapova
5. Li Na
6. Kim Clijsters
7. Serena Williams
8. Jelena Jankovic
9. Agnieszka Radwanska
10. Ana Ivanovic
1. Victoria Azarenka
2. Petra Kvitova
3. Agniszka Radwanska
4. Serena Williams
5. Caroline Wozniacki
6. Maria Sharapova
7. Kim Clijsters
8. Li Na
9. Marion Bartoli
10. Vera Zvonareva
I don't get the time to follow closely enough to pick a top ten. However, I am going to predict that Sam Stosur, of whom I am an unashamed fan, will recover from her bad start and stay in the top ten as I thought last year when it was similarly predicted she would drop out.
Sam's un Aussie like vulnerabilty is part of her charm but she has already fought off a bigger challenge than most other prospective top tenners have faced;Lime's disease.
I just hope that the squealers drop as far as possible. Just watched a small part of the Clijsters Hantuchova match and what a pleasure to watch two real ladies who don't need their tennis to be accompanied by orgasmic screams.
all right Last year i predicted Li to get the top spot, and failed. This year i am going a different rout
1. Sharapova
2. Azarenka
3. Li
4. Wozniacki
5. Stosur
6. Kvitova
7.Williams, S
8.Schiavone
9.Zvonareva
10.Jankovic
Post scriptum: would be able to chose player?
P!nky, I don't think so, depending on which autographs John has. If he has your player, he will surely give it to you.
My Picks for 2012:
1. Petra Kvitova
2. Kim Clijsters
3. Serena Williams
4. Maria Sharapova
5. Victoria Azarenka
6. Caroline Wozniacki
7. Li Na
8. Sabine Lisicki
9. Vera Zvonareva
10. Samantha Stosur
You all have excellent picks. Pinky, I will try my best to give you your choice of an autographed player picture. Thanks for playing!
1.Kvitova
2.Azarenka
3.Wozniacki
4.Sharapova
5.Li
6.A.Radwanska
7.Bartoli
8.Stosur
9.Lisicki
10.Kanepi
1.Petra Kvitova
2.Victoria Azarenka
3.Caroline Wozniacki
4.Kim Clijsters
5.Serena Williams
6.Agnieszka Radwanska
7.Vera Zvonareva
8.Marion Bartoli
9.Kaia Kanepi or Sabine Lisicki
10.Jelena Jankovic
1.Kvitova
2.Azarenka
3.Sharapova
4.Radwanska
5.Wozniacki
6.Kim Clijsters
7.Serena Williams
8.Zvonareva
9.Kanepi
10.Stosur
John, your incentive has inspired a lot of people to join.
That's great!
1. Victoria Azarenka
2. Caroline Wozniacki
3. Ana Ivanovic
4. Petra Kvitova
5. Jelena Jankovic
6. Agnieszka Radwanska
7. Samantha Stosur
8. Maria Sharapova
9. Andrea Petkovic
10. Kim Clijsters
I Want to do top 20 as well!
11. Venus Williams
12. Serena Williams
13. Marion Bertoli
14. Sabine Lisicki
15. Shahar Pe'er
16. Mona Barthel
17. Daniela Hantuchova
18. Vera Zvonareva
19. Li Na
20. Urszula Radwanska
1. Victoria Azarenka
2. Petra Kvitova
3. Agnieszka Radwanska
4. Maria Sharapova
5. Sabine Lisicki
6. Caroline Wozniacki
7. Vera Zvonareva
8. Serena Williams
9. Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova
10. Sam Stosur
(I believe Kvitova will hold the number one ranking for a period before Wimbledon)
1. Maria Sharapova
2. Victoria Azarenka
3. Petra Kvitova
4. Agnieszka Radwanska
5. Samantha Stosur
6. Caroline Wozniacki
7. Vera Zvonareva
8. Marion Bartoli
9. Sabine Lisicki
10. Li Na
1)Petra Kvitova
2)Victoria Azarenka
3)Caroline Wozniaki
4)Maria Sharapova
5)Agnieszka Radwanska
6)Serena Williams
7)Marion Bartoli
8)Sabine Lisicki
9)Samantha Stosur
10)Na Li
I hope Venus gets back to the top of her game! She could snatch Wimbledon or the Olympics this year…
1)Petra Kvitova
2)Victoria Azarenka
3)Caroline Wozniacki
4)Maria Sharapova
5)Agnieszka Radwanska
6)Serena Williams
7)Marion Bartoli
8)Samantha Stosur
9)Sabine Lisicki
10)Na Li
Bring back Venus though!
I posted mine on my blog a while ago – so I'm adding it here for posterity
http://inferiorpotassium.blogspot.com/2011/12/2012-wta-predictions.html
1 – kvitova
2 – azarenka
3 – wozniacki
4 – clijsters
5 – petkovic
6 – radwanska
7 – sharapova
8 – serena williams
9 – lisicki
10 – stosur
Of course – we're 3 months in and I'm already way off mark.
sharapova @ number 7???
really?? really really???
come on!
1:sharapova
1:Maria sharapova 2:Victoria azarenka 3:Petra kvitova 4:Carolin wozniacki 5:Serena williams 6:Agnieszka radwanska 7:Samantha stosur 8:Li na 9:Kim clijster 10:Marion bartoli
1 Victoria Azarenka
2 Maria Sharapova
3 Serena Williams
4 Agnieszka Radwanska
5 Petra Kvitova
6 Anglique Kerber
7 Sara Errani
8 Li Na
9 Samantha Stosur
10 Caroline Wozniacki
1- Victoria Azarenka (because she is the most consistant one)
2- Serena Williams (after all te success she is the real N1, she storms the 2012 calender)
3- Agnieszka Radwanska (because she is playing every week)
4- Maria Sharapova (playing good tennis, but i think that in 2013 she will not be in the top 10)
5- Angelique kerber (consistant play, and playing almost every week)
6- Petra Kvitova (strong player with a lots of up and downs)
7- Samantha Stosur ( i dont like her style of play, but when she is playing good she is strong)
8- Sara Errani (good season but still a very hard work to do)
9- Na Li (a lots of up and downs, but when she is playing good tennis she can win)
10- Caroline Wozniacki (playing every week, collecting a lots of points, but at the bigg stage she is over rated)
Finally i love to see VENUS back to top 10 … she is really fighting harddd and dealing with a very bad illness …
1. Victoria Azarenka
2. Maria Sharapova
3. Serena Williams
4. Agnieszka Radwanska
5. Angelique Kerber
6. Li Na
7. Sara Errani
8. Petra Kvitova
9. Sam Stosur
10. Caroline Wozniacki
Are we going to do the same thing for 2013? For 2012 I only got Vika correct :3
Daniel, I'll have to ask John. What is sure is that in the coming weeks we will announce the winner and John will write an article reflecting on his predictions.