Girls: 13th Sportastic Junior Open Wels, presented by Isospeed - ITF Grade 1 -2007.

Salmon · Tennis legend

Girls: 13th Sportastic Junior Open Wels, presented by Isospeed - ITF Grade 1 -2007.

Mervatron · Masters Series Champion

Good chance for Tara to pick up some big points here.

Salmon · Tennis legend

Tara didn't get a good draw. She is in the same section as Kasia Piter and Hercog, who both have a chance of taking the title.

http://www.junioropenwels.at/wintree/winTree_girls_user.php

Goldenslam · Intermediate Club Player

Jos won a very bizarre match 6-3 in the 3rd. She got stung by a bee & had the court invaded by a frog!!! Tough match against an Italian clay courter. Steph Cornish was out hit 6-2 6-0 by an Austrian girl, not the most professional of performances. Tara Moore has a bye I believe??

Salmon · Tennis legend

Joc lost by 4/6 7/5 6/1 to sixteenth seed Alison Bai in the second round.

Good fight.

Tara won her match (yes, it was a three setter

) against the in form Berlinecke who reached the semis last week. Hercog beat top seed Piter and plays Tara now.

Hercog is probably the most underranked player in the ITF tour. Judging by the fact that she won a G2 two months ago with scores of 60 61, 60 61 (against a top 20 player), 76 62, 60 61, 61 60 and 63 62, I think that she is as good as most of the top 15 players on clay.

-- Edited by Arka at 19:11, 2007-07-18

Salmon · Tennis legend

What's Tara's game like, Goldenslam?

Goldenslam · Intermediate Club Player

very big but very flashy, not the best build, or the fasted but hits big & goes for the ball!! on her day I would bet that she would beat most of the top 30 ITF & is well inside 200 WTA but........ she can also lose to a complete no hoper. Given the fact she is a 92 I would expect her to end her junior career having been top 20-10 but she just needs to toughen up mentally & play the percentage a bit more, she has everything else. I like her in a pain loving kind of way!

Salmon · Tennis legend

Thanks!

She lost to Hercog by 2 and 2. Not too bad a performance (in terms of scorelines), I think.

Goldenslam · Intermediate Club Player

Score was actually 2 & 3, very immature performance mentally, rushed between points when down but you could see her quality & no doubt this time next year she will win these sort of matches if she puts the work in. openly says she does not like to practise, so the work could be an issue.

Mervatron · Masters Series Champion

She sounds like she has the game to go far. Someone needs to sit her downd and help work on her game. Is she still at Bollitieris.

I knwo shes good friends with Tamaryn Hendler. And it can;t have been good for her to see her friend have a more rapid rise than her.

Goldenslam · Intermediate Club Player

I agree & she has the type of personality to want to get to the top, although I have to question her work rate. Needs to get under the ball more to create more spin & increase consistency on rally balls when not in an attacking position. Her mother wants her to train at Bolleteries for 6 months & Roehampton for 6 months, this is crazy & will just disrupt the girls game, she needs to have 1 coach/team / base & stick with it in order to iron out the creases in her game.

Salmon · Tennis legend

I am sure that she has the right mentality. She seems fiercely competitive - playing above her age group all the time and choosing stronger events even when she has the option to play in weaker ones. That's something 98% of our Junior players lack.

Mervatron, I think that that's not the case! I believe that Tammy's success will probably inspire Tara to do equally well.

Goldenslam · Intermediate Club Player

I do agree with you on that she is competitive & has big goals for herself, she is planning on playing no more ITF's after 2008 & will concentrate solely on WTA, which shows a willingness to be good at a high level but I just feel that she should show she is one of the best juniors ITF & not a top 1992 before stepping up full time. Where I question how far she will go is her attitude to practise & fitness off court & to reach the top, the work rate needs to be special & the body has to be so finely tuned, that it can last all day if needed. When Willis & Pauffley warmed up (physically) before hitting she actually said "what are you guys doing? I'v never warmed up in my life" shocking I am sure you will agree, no doubt she is talented & still very young mentally but she needs to improve this side of her game to really maximise her huge potential.

Sheddie · administrator

wow, that is quite shocking for a pro player never to have warmed up before ! She's still very young so hopefully these things will come with extra maturity and the realisation that she has to put in the off court work to fulfill her talent. It does amaze me how little work some of the top British players have been prepared to put it....I read a few yrs ago that the likes of Boggo and Dave Sherwood were only doing 3hrs a day (I know this has changed big time with Boggo since 2004) and I was amazed. I guess that one of the dangers with really talented players is that everything comes so easy to them at first so they don't really feel the need to put in the work in the gym and the practise court and so end up just drifting along. I guess this is also partly the responsibility of the coach, to really make it clear to the player that if he/she doesn't put the work in, they wont get anywhere

Personally I think Tara's decision to just concentrate on WTAs after 2008 is a good one....so many of the top female player break through at such an early age on the womens tour, so if you have the talent surely it's best to start focusing mainly on that at 16 rather than spend another two years playing mainly ITFs which don't matter so much in the big picture. Especially as there is such a marked difference between the WTAs and ITFs in terms of intensity etc. By 2009, she'll surely be top 20 ITF and as she won't be able to play WTAs all the time, she can fill the gaps between tourneys with the slams and GAs etc.

I agree with you on her training base, splitting the year between different coaches giving her different advice on her game will surely be confusing.