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)

Maria Sharapova will play doubles only for the third time since 2005 and her new partner will be Yanina Wickmayer of Belgium. The two will team up at the Bank of the West Classic in Stanford which starts July 26.

Last two doubles matches Sharapova played were at the 2009 Indian Wells with Elena Vesnina and at the 2005 Birmingham with Maria Kirilenko.

Sharapova has won three doubles titles in her career: the 2004 Birmingham with Maria Kirilenko, and Tokyo and Luxembourgh in 2003 with Tamarine Tanasugarn. Wickmayer still has no Sony Ericsson WTA Tour doubles titles. As for their ranking, Sharapova is currently unranked in doubles, while Wickmayer is ranked 131st. (photos: Stephane Martinache, © Neal Trousdale)

The annual Sony Ericsson WTA Tour Player Awards were announced in Miami on Wednesday and seven players received the honor for their achievements during 2009.

World No.1 Serena Williams won her third Tour's Player of the Year award and, together with her sister Venus Williams, the Doubles Team of the Year award. In addition, they got the most votes by fans that voted online and have been honored with Fan Favorite Doubles Team of the Year award. Fan Favorite Singles Player for the Year went to the hands of Elena Dementieva.

Most Improved Player was won by Belgian Yanina Wickmayer, while her compatriot Kim Clijsters picked up Comeback Player of the Year award and her seventh Karen Krantzcke Sportsmanship Award, recognizing her conduct, attitude and fair play.

Melanie Oudin is the Newcomer of the Year, while Liezel Huber has been honored by the Player Service Award for the fourth time.

Here you can remind yourselves of the winners for the year 2008.

Additional information: Players voted on their favorite tournaments, and the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells came out as the favorite Premier event, while the Abierto Mexicano TELCEL in Acapulco is players' favorite International event. (source: Sony Ericsson WTA Tour)

I think this complicated case is finally over – Yanina Wickmayer’s ban was suspended by a Belgian court on Monday and now the International Tennis Federation, having consulted the World Anti-Doping Agency, has confirmed that Wickmayer is eligible to start competing.

The world No.16 has a wildcard for ASB Classic in Auckland, and is hoping to get a wildcard to play in the Australian Open. (via Women Who Serve, photo: emmett.hume)

Yanina Wickmayer’s doping ban was suspended on Monday, but the Belgian is not eligible to enter tournaments yet.

The International Tennis Federation still considers the ban active, and it will be so until they "receive further communication to suggest otherwise". They are waiting for an official correspondence from the Belgian anti-doping authorities.

All I can say, too complicated… But I hope everything will be resolved in due time and Wickmayer will be able to make use of her ASB Classic wildcard and compete at the start of the new season. (source: BBC, photo: emmett.hume)

Yanina Wickmayer has had her one-year ban suspended by a Belgian court and her lawyers hope she will be back competing as soon as possible. The world No.16 hopes to receive a wildcard for the 2010 Australian Open.

Wickmayer has, however, already been offered a wildcard for the January 5-10 ASB Classic in New Zealand.

"As our entries have closed the only way she could enter would be via wildcard, and the indication is she wants to play and now we just have to wait for officials to confirm she is allowed to," said ASB Classic tournament director Brenda Perry.

The 20-year-old Wickmayer was suspended in November, for failing to report her whereabouts three times, and thus breaking World Anti-Doping Agency rules. (source: ESPN, photo: emmett.hume)

Wickmayer received a one-year ban – the 20-year-old never skipped a test or tested positive but she failed to report her whereabouts on three occasions and her career is severely impacted now.

"The indispensable fight against doping is not the issue here. The problem is the lack of proportionality of certain measures," said Wickmayer's lawyer Jean-Louis Dupont.

Wickmayer is already appealing her suspension before the Lausanne-based Court of Arbitration for Sport. (source: The Associated Press, photo: emmett.hume)

Here’s the full transcript of Wickmayer’s presser at the Koning Boudewijn Stadium in Brussels, Belgium.

Welcome,

First of all, I would like to thank everyone who is present here today. It is extremely important for me to be able to tell my story.

- November and December 2008, I was training in Switzerland.

- In January 2009, I was in Australia to prepare myself for the Australian Open.

- Because of this, all of the letters that were sent to my house that had to be signed for, I was unable to receive and were returned to sender.

- On February 18, 2009 I went online and Googled the general email address of the doping agency, and sent them and email to ask for information as I had heard several players talk about the new anti doping program.

- On February 19, 2009, I received an email back, which included a login and did not include any information about the one failed update I had already missed, without knowing that this system even exists, even though all the letters that I had to sign for upon receipt and were sent back to the Flemish Anti-Doping Agency, meaning that they did know that I never received them.

- After this email, I left for the United States for 7 weeks and have tried numerous times to sign on to the system with the login details that they provided to me, which failed time after time.

- In early April, I then sent an email myself again to notify them that I could not get into the system.

- After the weekend, their reply to me was simply that there was a problem with my login and that they have reset this so I can log in with a new login into the system. There was no indication in this email that I now had already had two failures to update behind my name, even though I had not even logged into the system once.

- Following their reply to me and using the new login information, I mistakenly completed the online whereabouts details wrong, as I did not know that you could not select the option ‘competition’ and instead had to select the option "permanent residence", which I had no idea about.

- In June, I then called Mr. De Bruyn myself to ask him information as to how top complete the wherabouts correctly. I got the information that day for the first. This conversation took place after my 3rd missed update had already happened, even though I had not received any word about this.

- From that day on, my WADA has always been updated correctly and I have been tested out of competition at home.

- At the end of June it was that the Belgian Tennis Federation was notified about the situation. They notified my father about this by email.

Consequences for my career:

- As a result of this, I am being punished extremely hard. I will lose my ranking and will have to start again from 0. I will fight back but there is nothing that guarantees me that I will return to the same ranking.

- Throughout the year, I have had numerous doping test, and I have never failed or refused one.

- I have never had any education or information about it.

- The system is needed and I find it a good idea but it should happen in a more personal manner.

- Tennis players travel a lot so these updates are sometimes very difficult to do.

We are going to appeal this ruling and will do everything we can to get it overturned. If this decision is not overturned and I am not able to compete for a year, I am going to do everything I can to be back at the end of the year even stronger. I am a fighter and won’t give up.

I would also like to thank my team, my fans, and anyone else who have supported me so intensely. Words can not explain how much that support means to me.

(source: HCFoo's Tennis Blog, photo via emmett.hume)

The reason for the suspension: Wickmayer failed to report her whereabouts to anti-doping officials three times. However, the world No.18 denied any wrongdoing and is planning to appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport.

Wickmayer voluntarily withdrew from the ongoing Commonwealth Bank Tournament of Champions because of the punishment. (photo via Sony Ericsson WTA Tour)

Professional athletes caught doing drugs are usually penalized and ordered to seek drug addiction help and treatment.

Belgian Yanina Wickmayer beat Czech Petra Kvitova in the final of the Generali Ladies Linz, thus winning her second Sony Ericsson WTA Tour singles title and ensuring her place in the Top 20 for the first time.

Third seed Wickmayer, a wildcard into the draw, had defeated top seed and world No.11 Flavia Pennetta in the semifinals scoring her career-best win, and in the title match she went past unseeded Kvitova, ranked 55th, in an hour and 25 minutes, 6-3 6-4.

The world No.24 Wickmayer, who turns 20 on Tuesday, was a semifinalist at the 2009 US Open and by this title in Linz she consolidated that Grand Slam success. (via Sony Ericsson WTA Tour)