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)

The first thing you see when you arrive at the website of Belgian Kim Clijsters is that it has three versions: Dutch, French and English. When you pick the language and proceed, you arrive at the homepage rich with glimpses of the latest content - from news, photos, and videos, to an extract from Kim's last blog entry, as well as the list of logos of Kim's sponsors and promotion of her social media profiles on YouTube, Twitter and Facebook (haha I see a lot of familiar faces in the people who follow Clijsters on Facebook). In addition, highlighted at the home page is the next tournament Clijsters is scheduled to play.

The "info" tab in the navigation menu features Clijsters' biography, some additional things about her, her records, her upcoming schedule, and also a very interesting section called "family". When you click on "family" you will be taken to a page where Kim's husband, former professional basketball player Brian Lynch, is promoting his music! There is a large introduction where Brian is saying what music means to him and how he is just an amateur, and you can hear his song "Beneath the Surface" which suggests that your life doesn't have to be perfect just because you're famous and rich professional athlete in the spotlight. Check it out, you can hear Brian rapping!

The website also features a forum, but I haven't used it, so I'm not sure how live it is.

And last but not least, the website is user-friendly and all the content is easily reachable.

Additional info: www.kimclijsters.be was voted "Site of the Year" in Belgium, in the athlete site category.

As you know, Women's Tennis Blog is currently on vacation, but I've prepared a number of interesting posts to keep you entertained while I'm away. Even though I won't be updating about tennis happenings in Brisbane, Auckland, Sydney and Hobart, I will give you a bunch of great posts and the first in the series is the compilation of photos of top women's tennis players and their mothers. Enjoy!

Let's start with Caroline Wozniacki and her mother, Anna Wozniacki. Caroline is coached by her father, Piotr, who played professional soccer, but her mother was also an athlete, having played on the Polish women's national volleyball team.

Vera Zvonareva's mother Nataliya Bykova played field hockey and was a bronze medalist at the 1980 Moscow Olympic Games. You can read a very nice story Nataliya herself told a magazine about Vera's early life and the beginnings of her tennis career.

Kim Clijsters' mother is Els Vandecaetsbeek (the blond woman in the picture), a former national gymnastics champion. Kim claims to have inherited gymnast's flexibility from her mother. Read more »

Caroline Wozniacki and Kim Clijsters will play an exhibition match in Hua Hin, Thailand, on the first day of the new year. Wozniacki has already arrived in Thailand, while Clijsters will be there on Wednesday.

The exhibition event is called the 84 World Tennis Invitation Hua Hin, and the match between Clijsters and Wozniacki will start at 5 pm at Centennial Park, InterContinental Hua Hin Resort. The women’s exhibition will be followed by the match of American twin brothers Bob and Mike Bryan against Thai twins Sonchat and Sanchai Ratiwatana.

Wozniacki and Clijsters will sign a get-well book for His Majesty the King at Siriraj hospital on Thursday and after that they will meet Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva at Government House. (source: Caroline Wozniacki's official website, photo: r. olczak)

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)