Weeks 22 & 23 - French Open, Roland-Garros, Paris (clay)

PaulM · Tennis legend

Weeks 22 & 23 - French Open, Roland-Garros, Paris (clay)

PaulM · Tennis legend

flamingowings wrote:
Jo pulls no punches in her presser:
twitter.com/simonrbriggs/status/1000789293642780673

Would be better if she pulled no punches about her performance but perhaps getting mad is what she needs to do right now

Ace Ventura · Tennis legend

Real shame about Ostapenko going out, been a few poor results in a row now and that section is becoming a bit of a damp squib for the tournament. Credit to Wang, Kozlova and Putintseva, but none of them are particularly young or promising and the section has now lost the defending champ, a legend who may well be on her way out soon and from our perspective, our main interest in the women's draw (no disrespect to Hev).

It'll be hard finding show court matches out of some of those names, can't see Martic/Wang or Putintseva/Brady being the hottest ticket on Chatrier.

Coup Droit · Tennis legend

The Slams have made do without its women's defending champion by R2 in each of the last four events:

As Chris Clarey points out:

"Strange but true. The reigning women's singles champ hasn't won a match in the last four Grand Slam tournaments

2017 Wimbledon (Serena did not defend title)
2017 US Open (Kerber lost R1)
2018 Australian Open (Serena did not defend title)
2018 French Open (Ostapenko lost R1)"

-- Edited by Coup Droit on Sunday 27th of May 2018 06:17:03 PM

ROSAMUND · Futures level

Before laying any blame on Jo's current coach, it is best to remember that she did not do very well on clay under either Carril or Fisette. Apart from Eastbourne she did not do particularly well on grass courts under Carril either. In 2016 Tara Moore did better at Nottingham than Jo. More recently she played a brilliant match in the Fed Cup against Osaka. If the coaching was not given some time to develop it would become like modern football managers getting the sack on the 1st sign of failure. Clay is simply not her surface and her opponent Putintseva had reached the quarter finals in Paris in 2016. Some blame should be attached to the LTA for failing to produce any female players who can play on clay since the days when Sue Barker won in Paris in 1976 and Jo Durie reached the semi final in 1983. Even Virginia Wade was poor on clay.

flamingowings · All-time great

I think Jo can definitely work on her clay game - she can't just avoid it for the rest of her career given how much of the year is played on the stuff.
Whether that is getting a second specialised coach in just for clay or a new coach altogether it is a weak part of her game.

brittak · Pro player

Re Michael D and Paul above - yes the openerarankings.com site is a good option in the absence of Stevens wonderful tables etc.

You can apply a filter so that only the GB players come up and this will include those without the requisite number of points or counters so is a good source of information. From there you can see the counting tournaments and what is coming off etc.

I saved the page to my IPad so comes up quite quickly. Sometimes you have to press the filter button again but overall works pretty well.

would still love to see Stevens tables back but in the meantime good luck with this!

-- Edited by brittak on Sunday 27th of May 2018 11:06:36 PM

-- Edited by brittak on Sunday 27th of May 2018 11:15:05 PM

Oakland2002 · All-time great

brittak wrote:
Re Michael D and Paul above - yes the openerarankings.com site is a good option in the absence of Stevens wonderful tables etc.
You can apply a filter so that only the GB players come up and this will include those without the requisite number of points or counters so is a good source of information. From there you can see the counting tournaments and what is coming off etc.
I saved the page to my IPad so comes up quite quickly. Sometimes you have to press the filter button again but overall works pretty well.
would still love to see Stevens tables back but in the meantime good luck with this!

Not Stevens tables but not bad at all, thank you.

ROSAMUND · Futures level

This fact has been overlooked but Yulia Putintseva has been the nemesis of our players in 2017. Apart from beating Jo in the 1st round in Paris she also beat Heather in the 1st round in Melbourne.

Tennis Nut · Social player

LTA nothing to do with this.

ROSAMUND · Futures level

Tennis Nut wrote:
LTA nothing to do with this.

Quoting Mike Dickson he says Jo deserves a degree of sympathy for having to carry home hopes in solitary fashion at the top of the women's game in the UK. This is because the LTA system with masses of money over the years cannot produce the players!

Coup Droit · Tennis legend

ROSAMUND wrote:
Tennis Nut wrote:
LTA nothing to do with this.
Quoting Mike Dickson he says Jo deserves a degree of sympathy for having to carry home hopes in solitary fashion at the top of the women's game in the UK. This is because the LTA system with masses of money over the years cannot produce the players!

Completely agree about the LTA's failings.

But it is no excuse for Jo.

Ostapenko carried the home hopes in pretty much solitary fashion last year (certainly as much if not more that Jo) and did fine !

Halep isn't far off.

There are many countries with only one real contender.

Home players are under extra pressure at their home tournament.

But Jo has no one to blame but herself for doing so poorly at RG

indiana · Tennis legend

Sorry Jo, but it's as CD says. Look to within yourself and your camp.

Scrutiny and pressure comes with the territory.

Ace Ventura · Tennis legend

The Brit killer MDM has just recovered from 5-0 down in her first set vs Sevastova to get it back on serve at 5-4. Mind, remembering both of her matches vs Katie and Gabi, particularly the former, serving is not necessarily an advantage.

ROSAMUND · Futures level

indiana wrote:
Sorry Jo, but it's as CD says. Look to within yourself and your camp.
Scrutiny and pressure comes with the territory.

To be honest did not follow Jo's career much before Eastbourne 2015 so not familiar with her coaches before then. However in the last 3 French Championships she's had 3 different coaches with the same result i.e 1st round defeat. So perhaps it is within herself she needs to look.