She Who Loses Last

News item #1: I have tickets to the first week of the Australian Open! (again!) I am very excited about it! Australian Open membership is the bomb.

News item #2: Caroline Wozniacki is a serious contender for the US Open.

I don't want to think Caro is a real contender. I can't think of anyone whose game I like less. The great headcases of our game - the Ivanovics and Safinas of the world - at least they went for stuff. They might have made some spectacular errors, but at least they died trying, in a manner of speaking. Caro seems to have got to where she is by waiting for her opponent to make a mistake, and while that is obviously within the rules of the game, I don't think it's within the spirit.

But nevertheless, CazWoz is a serious contender and may well be the #1 seed, now we've lost Serena. If she keeps forcing everyone else to make mistakes before she does - like she did in Montreal this week - then she's going to be near impossible to beat. What needs to happen is that someone needs to hit her straight off the court. Someone needs to go for the lines and hit them, not just miss them. Otherwise, Caro is going to make the final again and this time go one better.

But now Serena is out, here's the question - who's going to be the one to take down the game's greatest pusher? Who is going to step up to the plate? Will it be Clijsters again? Venus? Jankovic? Kuznetsova? Someone else entirely?

Or is pushing - not losing instead of winning - going to be enough?