Stosur: Women’s tennis is not weak

It is six months into the 2017 season and predicting tournament winners on the WTA Tour is arguably harder than ever.

The absence of a pregnant Serena Williams has made this noticeable at Grand Slams but it extends much wider than that.

Collectively last year’s WTA Finals contenders have won three titles so far this season, shared between Karolina Pliskova (with two titles) and Simona Halep (one).

Dominika Cibulkova was crowned the WTA Finals champion, yet the Slovakian has not reached another final since.

Runner-up Angelique Kerber made one final in the first half of the 2017 season and perplexingly the world No.1 has a 1-8 win-loss record against top 30-ranked opponents.

Last year’s WTA Finals semifinalists Agnieszka Radwanska and Svetlana Kuznetsova are far from their best form, while Garbine Muguruza and Madison Keys have since tumbled outside of the world’s top 10.

Is there a lack of consistency among the WTA’s elite? Or is this a tour in transition?

We have fervently debated it in #Smashtalk throughout the season and former world No.1 doubles star Todd Woodbridge has weighed in with his thoughts.

RELATED: Woodbridge: Where is the next WTA champion?

Some have suggested it is a weak era – but this is not the case according to Australian star Sam Stosur, who turned professional in 1999 and has been a top 100 fixture on the WTA Tour for the past 14 years.

Currently ranked No.35 and sitting at No.22 in the WTA Finals Race to Singapore, Stosur believes the level in women’s tennis is higher right now than ever.

“I don’t like looking at it like it is weak, the reason it is so unpredictable is that the level is really, really high now,” Stosur, the 2011 US Open champion, told tennismash.com.

“Everyone has got attributes, some might have great movement, some might be really aggressive, some might just fight really hard. There is so many different aspects that go into being a tennis player – it’s sometimes hard to make them all gel together for long periods.

“I think it is really, really competitive at the moment and that is why you’re seeing different winners in all these big tournaments.”

Stosur’s comments follow Jelena Ostapenko’s unexpected Roland Garros triumph, where the then No.47-ranked 20-year-old won her first title singles title at WTA-level.

“Someone at her ranking and having never won a title, you wouldn’t necessarily be thinking she could go out and win the French Open, but she played great and it’s awesome for her – congratulations, it’s a huge moment,” Stosur said.

Stosur believes it highlights the increased level on tour and growing number of legitimate contenders.

“To win Slams you’ve got to have a good, aggressive mentality, and if you can keep that going for seven matches obviously you can win the tournament – and (Ostapenko has) certainly got that as part of her game,” she noted.

Stosur faced Ostapenko in the fourth round in Paris, a match which saw the Australian beaten in three sets and hampered by a stress fracture in her right hand that has since ruled her out of Wimbledon.

“Throughout periods of the match against me I thought she was playing exceptionally well. If she’s on, with the way she plays, she’s very hard to play against because she hits the ball hard, she goes for winners,” Stosur said.

“There is no doubt she has a huge game and very big potential, and winning Roland Garros absolutely proves that.”

With such unexpected results seemingly the new order, what is the feeling like among players in the WTA locker room?

According to Stosur there is a lot of positivity.

“I do certainly think that (everyone feels like) they’ve got a good chance at doing well,” she claims.

So should we stop trying to forecast tournament winners? Perhaps it is time to embrace the unpredictability for what it is.

Either way, it bodes for an interesting second half of the season. Bring it on.