The 2011 season has just started and we're already thinking about the year-end rankings. Our friend John Bolan used a number of indicators to calculate how the Top 10 will look at the end of 2011. Isn't this a perfect time to get playful and test our projection abilities?

My friends and I play a game each year before the new tennis season begins: "Name the Top 10 players in order at the end of the year". We all have favorites, but I try to use a little logic in the picks.

First, see where the players finished this year. Then think about which good players have been injured for long periods during 2010. Finally, consider how many points players have to lose. Players with many points now must play better than players with fewer points to retain their ranking. Of course we all have personal favorites and think that different players will either rise or sink in the rankings.

My pick for number 1, Victoria Azarenka, has a combination of all the above factors – she has been injured, has fewer points to lose than anyone else in the Top 10, and is definitely a rising young star. Number 2, Justine Henin, and number 3, Maria Sharapova, also fit in the same mold.

One can’t forget to rank the Top 3 players from 2010. Kim Clijsters, Caroline Wozniacki and Vera Zvonareva are my next 3 picks. Although they have many points to subtract, they are the best 3 players in 2010.

Number 7 is Yanina Wickmayer. She is young and very strong. 2011 will be her breakout year.

Dinara Safina has very few points to lose, has been injured all 2010 and has more to prove than any other player. She will be back in the Top 10. Dinara is also my pick for a comeback player of the year 2011.

Ana Ivanovic is determined. She is working very hard.

In the last spot is Jelena Jankovic who will be steadier in 2011 and hold onto her Top 10 ranking.

There is no expectation on my part that any of you will agree with me on these picks! That is why we play the game! So use the comments and make your picks!

It will be interesting to get back to these projections when the 2011 season finishes. The time will come before we know it! (photos: Karla St John, John Bolan)

Thanks to our regular reader Maja J, we are learning about these sneak previews of adidas' WTA stars wearing their clothing for the 2011 Australian Open. We've already talked about the beautiful purple adilibria outfit Ana Ivanovic will be wearing Down Under, but now we're having the photo of the outfit on Ana herself (previously I thought it was a dress, but now I hear it's a skirt and a top), as well as the pictures of Justine Henin and Flavia Pennetta in the designs adidas prepared for them.

Justine Henin will be in more colors than usual with her new SS11 Barricade two-piece ensemble, but I have to say I prefer the less is more approach when it comes to Henin and colors. The outfit, consisting of a polo shirt and skort, will be available in two color combinations of "fresh pink", "intense green" and white.

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In an exhibition match of two Belgian superstars that took place in Antwerp, Kim Clijsters defeated Justine Henin 6-1 3-6 10-5.

Their meeting at the GDF SUEZ Diamond Games exhibition in Belgium was Henin’s first tennis match since the fourth round of Wimbledon in June, when she also played Clijsters and lost. The rest of the season Henin had to miss because of an elbow injury and her appearance in front of 14,000 fans at the Belgian exhibition was a nice test before the start of the 2011 season, which she plans to open with the Brisbane International, but only after playing the mixed doubles event in Perth. Clijsters will also begin her 2011 with an exhibition, but in Thailand, and then she will play the tournament in Sydney.

Another interesting piece of information regarding Clijsters and Henin is circulating the media – they are discussing competing at the 2012 London Olympics together, as a doubles team. Nothing is certain, but it definitely is a possibility. (source: ESPN Star, photo: Twenty90seven)

Justine Henin has recovered from the right elbow injury sustained at Wimbledon in June and besides warming up for the 2011 season on tennis courts, she's dancing and singing on TV. The video clip above shows Henin's performance on a Belgian show Cap 48, which aired on Sunday.

As for scheduled tennis appearances, Henin's plans for 2011 have not been defined yet, but she will play an exhibition match against Kim Clijsters at the Diamond Games in Antwerp on December 9, 2010, and is also expected to play the Hopman Cup in Australia in January. (via Justine Henin's official website)

Justine Henin has announced that her 2010 tennis season is over, although she expects to resume practicing in October. The Belgian still needs time to recover from the elbow injury she sustained in the fourth round of Wimbledon in July. The former world No.1 is scheduled to play the Hopman Cup which begins on January 1st.

Luckily, the ankle strain Ana Ivanovic so unfortunately sustained in the Cincinnati semifinals is healing well. Here’s what she wrote in her new blog entry:

I had almost non-stop icing for two days, to prevent swelling. My ankle has reacted quite well to the treatment and I still hope to play in New Haven next week. It’s going to be touch and go, but fingers crossed.

Also, Ivanovic gave praise to Kim Clijsters, her opponent in the semifinal, who visitied Ana at the doctor’s to see how she was.

Not only was she very sympathetic after the match but the next day, as she was preparing for the final and I was seeing the doctor again, she came to me again to show her support. It’s rare in tennis to see this kind of generosity and it meant a lot.

(photos: © Neal Trousdale)