The Pro Tennis Year can be divided into six great sequences of events, or Swings, starting with Australian Swing each January. Following U.S. Open 2010, we entered the Year-End Swing, now in progress, which is almost entirely played on hard surfaces, outdoors and indoors.
 
Encompassed within Year-end Swing are the Asian packages -- overlapping sequences of men's and women's tournaments in China and elsewhere in eastern Asia. The Asian packages have been expanded in recent years, reflecting the economic importance of the Far East along with growing interest there in tennis. Their expansion seems a far-sighted, enterprising bid by ATP and WTA to advance pro tennis both as world sport and business.
 
Year-End Swing also includes the WTA and ATP Tour Finals, assembling the high point-gatherers -- the eight top women at Doha and the eight top men at London. Sometimes the Swing has a large role in deciding who finishes the year's points race as #1, thereby becoming the year's male or female champion. That did not happen this year on the men's side, where Rafael Nadal, by winning three of the year's four Slams, was already too far ahead after U.S. Open to be overtaken in the points race. Among the women, however, at least four contenders still had reasonable chances of capturing the final #1 honor.
 
Amid the attention to determining the year's champion, relatively little public notice goes to who finishes in positions #2 and below, although the annual top-ten lists are usually given in historical compilations and have large role in summarizing overall achievement. This year, the late sorting-out within the top group promised plenty of volatility, especially on the women's side.
 
WOMEN'S 2010 RACE
 
Serena Williams took the early lead in the 2010 race by capturing Australian Open. Sidelined thereafter, she yielded first place to Venus following big-sister's runner-up finish at the Sony Erickson in Miami. Strong showings on the Garros clay lifted Samantha Stosur and Jelena Jankovic slightly ahead of Serena and very close to Venus, who was still first. But Serena's triumph at Wimbledon 2010, where she won all seven matches without loss of a set, restored her to first place in the year-to-date race, well ahead of Venus and several others, all of whom were fairly closely grouped. (Behind Venus were Jankovic, Stosur, Henin, Garros winner Schiavone, and Wimbledon runner-up Zvonareva.) Quietly in eighth place, was Caroline Wozniacki, 19.
 
Caroline's surge to the top started quietly in early August, when she won her home-nation tournament in Copenhagen. After a quick exit at Cincinnati, she then captured the Premier Five tournament in Montreal, beating Schiavone, Kuznetsova, and Zvonareva. Then in the week preceding U.S. Open, she completed a remarkable month by winning the Premier tournament in New Haven, beating Petrova and Dementieva. Her run lifted her to second place for the year to date, behind only Serena, who had injured her foot and had not competed since Wimbledon.
 
Wozniacki looked strong at U.S. Open in reaching the final four, but in the semis she was stunned by Zvonareva. Her early-round wins, however, were enough to lift her ahead of Serena for the year to date. (Serena, who missed the Open, remained slightly ahead in the rolling-12-month rankings.) Kim Clijsters, who won the Open, moved up to third place for the year, and Open runner-up Zvonareva was now fourth. Venus and the others who had been grouped behind her followed.
 
Caroline Wozniacki is not the heaviest stroker on tour, nor is her serve overpowering in its effect. Nor is she the best mover, and if her consistency is an excellent asset, her deliveries lack the precision of, say, the early Martina Hingis. But in tennis, it is not necessary to be the best player in a tournament in order to win that event. It is only necessary to defeat the player across the net on each given day. And by now the evidence had become unmistakable -- the new leader from Denmark has a knack for winning matches.
 
The women's Asian package began quietly. Moscow-born Kudryavsteva was runner-up in Guangzhou and won at Tashkent, and fellow Russian Kleybanova won at Seoul. Most members of the world's top eight then joined the action at the Pan-Pacific in Tokyo and the China Open in Beijing, ending on 2 and 9 October, respectively. (Injury problems kept Clijsters and the Williamses sidelined.)
 
The Pan-Pacific semi-finals brought an interesting match-up pitting Wozniacki, 20, and her one-year-older rival, the harder-hitting and mercurial-tempered Victoria Azarenka. The two were of equal height, at 5-10, Victoria seemingly the trimmer. Caroline prevailed in three sets, stepping up her aggressiveness in stroking and placement as if to belie her reputation for defensiveness. Both players showed potent backhand two-handers and willingness to use them in opening up matters. Caroline's serving was the more effective, as Victoria double-faulted excessively and missed too many serve-returns. Caroline in stretches nearly matched Victoria in showing stormy temperament. Wozniacki d. Azarenka 62 67 64.
 
Wozniacki's final-round opponent in Tokyo was veteran Elena Dementieva, who had advanced by defeating top-eighters Zvonareva and Schiavone and who now, like Azarenka, stood only slightly outside the top-eight group. Elena at once asserted her strong game, dominating the first set while Wozniacki struggled to find her consistency. Caroline gradually improved thereafter, raising her own forcefulness, indeed often holding the inititive over Elena even while cutting down her own error-making. Early in the third set, both players were at their best amid many hard-fought points. But with Elena ahead at 2-3, the Wozniacki backhand became the foremost weapon on court, and the Danish youth captured the last four games over a perhaps tiring and mentally worn Elena. Wozniacki d. Dementieva, 16 62 63.
 
The cast reasembled in Beijing for the last of the year's four "Premier Mandatory" tournaments, which at 1,000 ranking points for the winner are the richest in points after the Slams and Doha. Again, Wozniacki advanced through the field without loss of a set, though she seemed flat in defeating Shahar Peer in their semi. Meanwhile Vera Zvonareva was more impressive in reaching the final round, beating five opponents, among them Safina and Schiavone. Her semi-final opponent was the Chinese star Li Na, but Li's potent ground game failed badly against Vera amid a nightmare of close errors by Na. Zvonareva d. Li, 63 63.
 
The rain-delayed final was played Monday evening, October 11. Zvonareva was the player who had humbled Wozniacki in the semis at U.S. Open and had now fought her way upward to #2 in the year-to-date rankings. Caroline had won their previous meeting, in the final round in Montreal in August. The outcome was important for both. A win by Caroline would practically guarantee her first-place finish at year's end, while a win by Vera would leave matters to be decided between the two at Doha.
 
Zvonareva captured the first break of serve but then lost the first set. Vera recovered strongly to take the second set, scoring impressive winners in stretches and regularly serving with precision. But Caroline's relentless pressure founded upon her superior avoidance of error ultimately told. Aferwards Caroline summed up matters, as reported by writer Hal Spivack, "I tried to keep pressure on her, tried to keep her moving, and I thought we played a really, really good match." The remark seemed to capture not only Caroline's winning tactics but also a seldom-seen sense of how both players contribute in the making of the greatness of a match. Wozniacki d. Zvonareva, 63 36 63.
 
Here was the year-to-date top-ten list imediately following Beijing, updated here from the previous week's WTA data. (Note that the winner at Doha can earn no more than 1,500 points.)

-- #1. Caroline Wozniacki, 7,270 ranking points. Her almost unbroken stretch of success since early August gives her commanding position in the 2010 race.
-- #2. Vera Zvonareva, 6,098. Vera passed Serena and Clijsters during Year-End Swing to reach #2 in the year's race, comfortably ahead of Serena given only moderate success at Doha by Vera.
-- #3. Serena Willliams, 5,355 points. Out of action since Wimbledon owing to foot injury, Serena's chances at Doha cannot be dismissed, as she shows a history of returning to top form promptly after long absences.
-- #4. Kim Clijsters, 5,295 points. Sidelined since winning U.S. Open with infected foot. Her return is anticipated shortly.
-- #5. Venus Williams. 4,985 points. Will be out of action through the end of 2010 with continuing knee trouble.
-- #6. Francesca Schiavone, 4,594 points. Reached semis at Tokyo and quarters at Beijing. Is clearly on the rise.
-- #7. Sam Stosur, 4,568 points. Lost her first match at both Tokyo and Beijing. Won her first match at Osaka.
-- #8. Jelena Jankovic, 4,236 points. Lost her second match at both Tokyo and Beijing.
-- #9. Elena Dementieva, 4,085 points. Performed well all year belying a mediocre W-L record for the year. Reached finals at Tokyo, carrying Wozniacki to three sets.

-- #1. Rafael Nadal, 11,405 ranking points.
-- #2. Roger Federer, 6,105
-- #3. Novak Djokovic, 5,125
-- #4. Andy Murray, 4,135.
-- #5. Robin Soderling, 4,085.
-- #6. Tomas Berdych, 3,570.
-- #7. Andy Roddick, 3.350.
-- #8. David Ferrer, 3,125.