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.

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. Read more »

Dear readers, professional tennis instructor Florian Meier from OnlineTennisInstruction.com is back with another guest post, this time presenting his take on the Australian Open women's draw. Florian's previous contributions to Women's Tennis Blog included in-depth analysis of Sabine Lisicki's game and US Open predictions. Enjoy Florian's preview!

Hey everyone. The Australian Open is about to start and this year the field seems to be wide open without clear favorites. Also many of the top players are struggling with injuries and Andrea Petkovic already had to withdraw from the event because of a back injury. In this article I want to give you my view on who has the best chances to win the tournament.

I decided to pick out four players who I believe have the biggest chance to win this year’s Australian Open title.

1. PETRA KVITOVA

Petra Kvitova is currently in a close battle with Caroline Wozniacki for the world number 1 ranking. She had her breakthrough winning Wimbledon last year and I think she has very good chances to become the most successful player in 2012.

Her game is big, she played well in the warm up matches to the tournament, and she seems to have the confidence and belief now.

CHECK OUT HOW WELL KVITOVA IS PLAYING IN THIS VIDEO

2. KIM CLIJSTERS

Clijsters is the defending champion and in my opinion always a threat at any Grand Slam. She had a tough second half of the season in 2011, where she did not play much at all because of several injuries.

Having had such a long preparation could be an advantage for her because she is probably in great shape right now. At the warm-up tournament in Brisbane she seemed to be in strong form but had to pull out because of a hip injury. The latest reports are saying that she is practicing at 100% though and therefore I think she is one of the favourites to win the title.

3. SERENA WILLIAMS

As usual it is difficult to assess what kind of form Serena Williams is in for the Australian Open. She has not played much before the tournament but she obviously likes the tournament, having won it five times in the past.

In a recent interview I heard Brad Gilbert, famous coach and expert, talk about how hard Serena was preparing and how well she looked out on the practice courts. An ankle injury forced her to pull out of Brisbane but she has also been seen practicing hard on site in Melbourne. She has not played many tournament matches in a while so it will be crucial for her to get through the first couple of rounds.

If she gets through the first couple of rounds and stays healthy she will definitely be one of the top favourites for the title. Read more »

Maria Sharapova has still not recovered 100% from her ankle injury sustained at the Tokyo tournament in the end of September and the latest news is that the Russian will not play the Brisbane International starting January 1 in Australia.

However, Sharapova reassured us that the injury will keep her off the courts for long and she is expected to play at the first Grand Slam of the season, the Australian Open which starts two weeks later.

After the injury occurred, the 24-year-old did show up at the WTA Championships in October, but lost both her matches – to Samantha Stosur (for the first time in ten meetings!) and Li Na. (photo: Fiji Water, source: Tennis.com)

I came across this video of 13-year-old Maria Sharapova talking about the role of her father Yuri in her life and tennis career. Today I admire Sharapova for her eloquence, so it's funny to see her from the times she was less articulate.

The interview of the young Sharapova is a perfect addition to our series dedicated to tennis stars when they were little, although Masha has been featured two times so far: in June 2010 when I showed you a bunch of her childhood photos and a few months earlier when I shared a video of a junior final between little Sharapova and Peng Shuai.

The first Women's Tennis Blog's fashion retrospection was dedicated to Maria Sharapova's Nike dresses in 2007 and the unofficial queen of tennis elegance remains an absolute must in our yearly overviews. During the five years we've been paying close attention to her outfits, we noticed that 2011 is the year she tuned down her glamorous and extraordinary looks and turned to more common dresses, wearable for everyday practice.

In the period between 2007 and 2010 Sharapova had at least one piece that absolutely stood out with uniqueness and extravagance - in 2007 those were the red and white US Open dresses with a chest area resembling a New York skyline (my all-time favorites!), in 2008 it was a luxurious Federer-style Wimbledon outfit, in 2009 the light layers of her dresses from the start of the season, in 2010 it was the seaweed Australian Open dress and again very unique US Open collar dresses.

In my humble opinion, Sharapova's 2011 dresses are all beautiful but more sporty, more simple than in the previous years. There still are a lot of details, but the designs are less striking than what we got used to associating with the Russian fashion queen. What's your view? Did you happen to notice the same? Read more »