In yesterday’s final she came back after losing the first set to defeat Vera Zvonareva 6-7, 6-0, 6-2. She played as if her mind was honed in on victory, which it was. She served as well in this match as in any she has ever played, she was aggressive from the baseline, and she meticulously constructed point after point in the style of other great players. She frustrated her opponent, forced her into making errors and ran her sweet ass off. Zvonareva knew from the moment the second set began that she had awoken a sleeping giant by winning the first set. There was never any doubt as to who the eventual winner was going to be.

Venus received a check for $1.34 million to bring her total career earnings to a staggering $22 million, and at 28 she proved that she can rise back to the top of the ladies game if she sets her mind to the task. Billy Jean King was present at the presentation ceremony which in an unprecedented move for Qatar was attended by Sheika Mozah bint Nasser Al Missned, the wife of the ruling Sheik, dressed in black robes and head scarf. The outfit itself could have been designed by Venus, and while she never said so I bet she thought it as she exclaimed, Wow, Thanks to your Royal Highness for coming!

The win for Venus of the WTA Championship, an event she has missed winning twice before, adds yet another notch to her winning belt of tennis achievements, and for a while she has eclipsed her sister Serena as the best and most consistent of the two. Her year end ranking goes up to #6, and Zvonareva rises to #7, for her best performance to date.

The doubles title was won by the pair of Cara Black/Liezel Huber over Kveta Peschke/Rennae Stubbs 6-1, 7-5.

And so the season has come to an end, Jelena Jankovic can rest on her laurels as the Number one player, but she must know that with the imminent return of Maria Sharapova, and a dedication to play more from Venus and Serena Williams, her days as the best player might be numbered. Venus ended her season on a high note, she was the best player in Doha without any doubt, but can some of her success be attributed to her freshness from not playing as many events as most of the other players. Is the WTA schedule too gruelling for the players to be at their best each and every time they step on court? When November rolls around are they too tired, sore and hurting?

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Are these final four the best players in the world? If Maria Sharapova had been fit and able to play I believe she would have made her way into this select group at the expense of Zvonerava. And just like in a bottle of old fashioned non-homogenized milk, the cream rises to the top. Venus should be favoured to beat Zvonareva, and Serena holds a winning record against Jankovic, but if Serena plays as badly as she did against her sister, Jankovic will beat her. It has become a familiar pattern of play for Serena to play herself into tournament shape in the first few rounds, if she hopes to win she had better be in top form to defeat the world’s number one player.

The four players who have been forced to pack their bags at the end of a long tough season, will head home to rest, to contemplate the year they have had, and to speculate on what they could have done better. For Ana Ivanovic her season started so well, with a win at Roland Garros and the clinching of the number one ranked player spot left vacant by the unexpected retirement of Justine Henin. But after her success in France it was all down hill. She played badly, she cried on court, she lost her cool, she complained of tiredness and injury, and she was quickly replaced at the top spot by fellow Serb Jankovic.

For Dinard Safina, who wound up as Number 2 at the season’s end, it must have been a satisfying year. In a nutshell she grew up. She played with a maturity and patience that she had never shown before, and unlike her brother Marin Safin, she kept her cool, sucked it up when a call went against her, smiled politely and continued on with the game. She had a streak of three wins in a row, and made it to a Australian open Grand Slam final.

Svetlana Kuznetsova is moving home to Moscow after calling Spain home for a long time. She played solid tennis throughout the season, and remains as a fixture as top ten player. She and fellow Russian player Elena Dementieva are the two models of consistency in the women’s game, between them they make it to more quarter and semi final matches than most other players. Winning the gold medal must make Australian open 2008 a successful season for Elena.

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