Week 44 - ITF ($10K) - Sunderland, Great Britain

alex03maccy · Grand Slam Champion

RE: Week 44 - ITF ($10K) - Sunderland, Great Britain

philwrig · Hall of fame

She's heading off down under on monday for a batch of tournaments.
It is just a niggle but it really hampered her movement around the court . Her coach said she had been carrying the injury for a while now and she had an ice pack attached to her calf after the match.

philwrig · Hall of fame

Lisa is also injured and hadn't practised for over a week so it was a gamble. Tendonitus in the right shoulder but bizarrely her opponent had a similar injury which helped her get through this match.

Maza1987 · Challenger level

jenny ren.
nice work

philwrig · Hall of fame

I spoke in length to the Rens father. What a great bloke so laid back and easy going and so easy to talk to.
I also spoke in length to lisa's coach who also impressed me.

philwrig · Hall of fame

Someone from an earlier thread wondered why Lisa had suddenly made big strides so this is what I got from the Coaches "mouth".
Lisa's forehand had always been a major weakness but after working on it during the summer it became a strength and at the same time the backhand which had always been a strength became
a major weapon. Opponents could therefore not feed her forehand anymore and gain errors.
Coupled with the fact she loves the indoor tournaments and a growing maturity the results have come.
Last year a bad wrist injury and then a toe injury at the start of this year really hampered her progress and having completed her A levels now the only way is up.

Bolt · Lower Club Player

Maza1987 wrote:

jenny ren.
nice work

Really pleased with Jens result also

wolf · Tennis legend

Elizabeth Thomas (Gbr) bt Claire Birnie (Gbr) 6-1 6-3

Piia Soumalainen (Fin) bt Josanne Van Bennekom (Ned) 6-4 5-7 6-1

Lisa Whybourn (Gbr) bt Malou Ejdesgaard (Den) 2-6 6-1 6-3

Nicola George (Gbr) bt Joanna Henderson (Gbr) 6-2 6-2

Matea Mezak (Cro) bt Kelly Anderson (Rsa) 6-1 6-2

Jana Jandova (Cze) bt Joanna Horne (Gbr) 6-3 6-4

philwrig · Hall of fame

Synopsis of the players I saw today.
Jade C no big weapons will struggle to win the tournament on the basis of this performance.
Alex Walker nice performance and definite scope for improvement.
Joc completely out of sorts today but has a huge serve and a huge forehand, no backhand unfortunately always using a slice and her movement is poor but her calf injury was a major contributer to that.
Helen Parish Quietly impressive definitely on the upgrade. Packs quite a big punch for a girl small in stature.No major weaknesses. Her opponent though was woeful.
Holly Richards Carrying way too much body fat for a professional sportswoman.
Jade W no big weapons but does everything very well. Match closer than scoreline suggests.
Natasha Khan Really looks the part but too inconsistent and movement an issue.
Jennifer Ren Workmanlike performance solid player not enough power and movement also an issue.
Samantha Vickers Played really well and I can't see why her results haven't been better.
Lisa Great backhand and very good forehand average serve( may have been inhibited by injury)
prone to occasional mental letdown but comes across as a winner.
Liz Thomas Lefty I think too powerful for Birnie.
Nicola and Joanna very competitive rallies but Nicola way too much experience.

-- Edited by philwrig on Friday 6th of November 2009 04:16:41 PM

alex03maccy · Grand Slam Champion

thanks for that phil, i don't really know if jade can go an awful lot higher, she's just too small. the wimby dubs match versus and georgie and laura i thought she had a good solid game with decent volleys but got overpowered too easily on the baseline. sounds like lisa could be the best bet out of the bunch.

philwrig · Hall of fame

Lisa would be my pick too assuming she can avoid injury. Her shoulder injury is a minor one and will not affect her long term. Jos needs to improve that backhand to significantly move up the rankings but tough to judge as she was so restricted by the injury ( well I hope it was the injury) nice girl though shared a very brief word with her to offer my commiserations.
Jennifer Ren needs to add bulk to her evergrowing frame but her dad said that girls of her ethnic background don't reach their physical peak until 20/21.

indiana · Tennis legend

I do kinda feel sorry for Jade C. I think she had really big ambitions from an early age.

I remember loving an early website that she had for herself that was very professional compared to others at that stage. It showed side by side graphs charting how her rankings rise was mirroring how Muzza's had gone ( which was kool and you just needed to be a bit more aware to recognise Andy's were senior rankings and her's were junior rankings smile

)

It is a real pity and significant burden that she just has not really grown. OK, Phil is not the first I have heard to say that she lacks any big weapons, but being so small must be a real handicap. Unfortunately, I do see about 200 being the ultimate limit of her rankings.

philwrig · Hall of fame

Also had a 10 minute chat with Helen Parish. What a great down to earth persona she has.
She drove up to Sunderland by herself and has aspirations to become a top 100 player. I really hope she gets there. She is now fully focused on her tennis after completing her A levels and feels she now knows what it takes to get there having played Hofmanova and Parmentier in recent weeks ( was a bit too nervous when playing them to give of her best on those occasions)
But playing them has given her the confidence to believe she can beat the lower ranked players. I expect a close match in the second round against Mezak but Mezak looked good today. She also confessed to her major weakness that being closing out matches but working with a sports psychologist this year has really helped with this.

scottie1 · Futures level

never realised Timea Babos was playing here. she must be favourite for the title

philwrig · Hall of fame

Not on her best form from what I could see.