Tennis Tuesday: Serena Clinches Year End #1 for 3rd Time

If it's Tuesday that means we're talking about tennis. The big news today is that both tours are in the midst of their swing through Asia, with both men and women competing in China. World #1 Serena Williams is there and is in the quarterfinals having dispatched Francesca Schiavone in a scratchy performance on Tuesday. Her sister Venus lost to Sabine Lisicki while Victoria Azarenka lost badly in  the first round to Andrea Petkovic. On the men's side defending champion Novak Djokovic could lose the World #1 ranking if World #2 reaches the final of the tournament here, or if Djokovic fails to defend his title.

 Last week it was revealed that regardless of what happens in the last four weeks of play this season Serena Williams will end the year at #1 on the WTA Tour for the third time in her career. She was previously #1 in 2002 and 2009.

Williams has had an absolutely phenomenal season so far, putting together a 67-4 record and capturing nine WTA titles, including two Grand Slams (the French Open and US Open), six Premier-level titles (Brisbane, Miami, Charleston, Madrid, Rome and Toronto) and one International-level title (Bastad - her first International-level title). She returned to No.1 on February 18, becoming the oldest player ever to be No.1, and she has collected $9,077,322 in prize money on the season so far, blowing past the previous record of $7,923,920 that Victoria Azarenka set last year (with a month to go too). 

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Williams is the seventh player since the inception of computer rankings in 1975 to finish three or more seasons at No.1, joining Steffi Graf (eight times), Martina Navratilova (seven times), Chris Evert (five times), Lindsay Davenport (four times), Justine Henin (three times) and Martina Hingis (three times).

Congrats to Serena!