Weeks 3-4 - Australian Open Main Draw

Maza1987 · Challenger level

RE: Weeks 3-4 - Australian Open Main Draw

Maza1987 · Challenger level

yess.
break back

wolf · Tennis legend

Bally 1-3*

C'mon Bally Safina is soooo there for the taking.

Tennis36 · Masters Series Champion

wolf wrote:

Bally 1-3*

C'mon Bally Safina is soooo there for the taking.

is she confuse

pieboyjr · Social player

Too many errors from Elena, she needs to slow it down and just calm herself.

wolf · Tennis legend

Honestly if Bally was playing near her best...

Bally 1-5*

-- Edited by wolf on Friday 22nd of January 2010 12:38:24 AM

wolf · Tennis legend

First set lost 6-1

Great service hold to love to start the second set..much better.

Bally 1-6 1-0*

wolf · Tennis legend

Bally 1-6 *1-3

Major difference tonight has been quality of the return.

Portsey · Intermediate Club Player

Well this is fun

kundalini · Specialist Reporter + Intermediate Club Player

There is a ceiling for most players and Safina looks way above Elena's peak level. Her defensive play isn't anywhere near good enough to keep Dinara at bay.

Finishes 1-6 2-6.

A few good moments from Elena but she couldn't cope with a far superior opponent, causing her own level to drop.

-- Edited by kundalini on Friday 22nd of January 2010 01:10:23 AM

wolf · Tennis legend

Safina wins 6-1 6-2

To be fair Safina was playing some really good tennis after the first few games but I think Bally will be disapointed with that.

kundalini · Specialist Reporter + Intermediate Club Player

wolf wrote:

Safina wins 6-1 6-2

To be fair Safina was playing some really good tennis after the first few games but I think Bally will be disapointed with that.

It's natural to overpress in these situations, because she was being out-hit. Had she been the dominant force in the rallies then I suspect her error count would have been far lower.

If it was Laura then I think it would be realistic to stress all the areas she would need to improve in order to be competitive at this level but the likes of Anne, Katie and Elena can't change their games or their fitness that much at this stage in their career. Safina was just better at everything.

jb288 · Satellite level

Yup, not the best display from Bally, but a tough ask! Interesting comparing Katie's & Bally's play against higher opponents - there wasn't really much to choose between them, with Bally also DFing on vital points here, though her serve certainly improved later on. Her key advantages over Katie are obviously her first serve and her far superior (i.e. existent!) net approaches, but she wasn't really able to exploit them; Katie seems better at turning defence into attack than Bally, who was far too often hitting back into the centre with relatively little depth - Katie was more adept at finding lines and corners and using the whole width of the court. But Safina and JJ are two very different opponents, so it's apples & oranges really.

Peter too · Tennis legend

Occasionally Elena managed to play her game and won a few points in a row but most of the time she was forced onto the back foot by the shear weight of Safina's shots.

Portsey · Intermediate Club Player

I don't know too much about tennis technically but i've changed channels and the quality of rallies between two top 30ish players is astonishingly different, physically they are fitter and quicker too. It's noticeable. I think, at the moment, Bally is at her ranking but to compete with the elite she has to be fitter (i did hear the commentator say she already was but it needs to be more) and learn to deal with speedier hitting. Safina probably killed her serve in a way she hasn't known but even so she didn't have the skills to react. Getting in to bigger tournaments regularly will be a help though.