Week 3 - Australian Open (Women's Main Draw)

Julia Carrot · All-time great

RE: Week 3 - Australian Open (Women's Main Draw)

Madeline · Admin:Moderator + Tennis Legend

Oh dear! not the result I expected to find when I went out with Anne a set and a break up!

DallasTone · Social player

Too many unforced errors in the final set.

Petkovic was able to keep it in play and wait and see for way too many points.

Good tournament for Anne though, even with that disappointing last 60 minutes - still good points accrued.

-- Edited by DallasTone on Wednesday 19th of January 2011 02:32:43 PM

Peter too · Tennis legend

Petkovic is ranked 33 so for Anne to be very competitive for two sets suggests she is getting close to the form she had prior to the accident.
Anne doesn't have a good record in Grand Slams which has made it hard for her to climb the rankings as the GS points have to be included, however good or bad. Even at her best she only managed to reach the 3rd round of the US Open in 2008 and the 2nd round of Wimbledon the same year so the points she has picked up this week gives her a real chance to climb the rankings.

philwrig · Hall of fame

This was my take on Anne's match. Petko went into this match expecting Anne to be playing to a similar level to when they last played just 3 months ago when Anne could have been double bagelled. However Anne was striking the ball night and day better than then surprising Petko. A rattled Petko then made far more unforced errors than you would expect. Therefore you had all the ingredients for a huge upset. 1. The underdog playing out of their skin and 2. The big favourite underperforming. Anne's movement around the court was also night and day better than I've seen it for a long time.

Alas Anne couldn't take the winning opportunities she had when twice a break up in the second and then having 15-30 5-5 with her opponent clearly on the retreat. Sloppy errors meant that Petko was let off the hook on each of those occasions. The third set scoreline was somewhat inevitable following this sequence of events.

Very encouraging though for Anne and I expect her to be top 75 by the year end.

indiana · Tennis legend

Pity for Anne.

But anyway in WTA World you only get another 60 points for winning R2 of the main draw ( 40 by the way for winning Q1 ) and she'd already accumalated 160 points for qualifying and winning R1.

Still would have been nice to get these points too and also to build up her confidence more. A meeting with Venus would have been interesting. Not sure how good "interesting" at the moment

wolf · Tennis legend

What did everyone think of Bally's new service motion? It reminded me a bit of Date-Krumm's, and seems to have lost sone pop espeically with serves down the T.

It was done out of necessity rather than choice for injury prevention though, so can't really compain.

philwrig · Hall of fame

She's been utilising the new motion since July last year and it doesn't seem to have had a major impact on her results. Not good on the eye but reasonably effective without having quite the same level of pop.

Madeline · Admin:Moderator + Tennis Legend

Peter too wrote:
Anne doesn't have a good record in Grand Slams which has made it hard for her to climb the rankings as the GS points have to be included, however good or bad.

Do they really? Even if you get in by qualifying, not by ranking? That seems very harsh.

indiana · Tennis legend

Slam points do have to count even if you get in by qualifying, but these points are not an issue since you would have 60 points for qualifying and that would no doubt be a counter anyway for anyone in a position of having to qualify.

No, the real issue effecting Anne is direct entry then losing in the first round, which has effected Anne in Grand Slams and also Premier Mandatories, currently holding 5 points for each of 5 of these. Slightly more controversially with some ( although I have argued re its fairness if you are going to have mandatories ) you also have to carry 0 points for these you could have had direct entry to but for whatever reason did not compete in ( eg. Anne while injured for the US Open 2009 and Aus Open 2010 ).

The effect of this ( effectively Anne going into the Aus Open having to "carry" 6 tournaments worth 25 points in total rather than simply count her best 16 ) can to my mind be maybe a little overestimated. Anne's actual six tournaments worth 11th to 16th in points total 103 points. If she could have been counting these rather than the six mandatories she would have ben ranked 107th rather than 118th.

Much more significant really than the fact that Grand Slams and Premium Mandaries have to be counters is simply the fact that Anne just hasn't over the last year or so won matches at them. Gladly this time she has earned 160 points which will take her up close to WR 90

ANNE KEOTHAVONG ( 577 points from 16 counters going into the Australian Open )

30-Jan-10

Australian Open

GS

w/d

0

31-Jan-11

M

14-Feb-10

Midland

100

QF

36

14-Feb-11

21-Feb-10

Memphis

Int220

SF

130

21-Feb-11

20-Mar-10

Indian Wells

PremM

L96

5

21-Mar-11

M

03-Apr-10

Miami

PremM

L96

5

04-Apr-11

M

04-Apr-10

Monzón

75

QF

30

04-Apr-11

10-Apr-10

Torhout

50

SF

32

11-Apr-11

02-May-10

Fès

Int220

QF

70

02-May-11

05-Jun-10

Roland Garros

GS

L128

5

06-Jun-11

M

03-Jul-10

Wimbledon

GS

L128

5

04-Jul-11

M

08-Aug-10

Copenhagen

Int220

L16

30

08-Aug-11

15-Aug-10

Tallinn

25

RU

34

22-Aug-11

11-Sep-10

US Open

GS

L128

5

12-Sep-11

M

17-Oct-10

Linz

Int220

L16

30

17-Oct-11

24-Oct-10

Luxembourg

Int220

SF

130

24-Oct-11

09-Jan-11

Auckland

Int220

L16

30

08-Jan-12

-- Edited by indiana on Wednesday 19th of January 2011 09:09:53 PM

Madeline · Admin:Moderator + Tennis Legend

Thanks Indy, that's clearer.

SMC1809 · All-time great

The Kim Clijsters (pregnant?) interview if you haven't seen it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0-Wts8Y1ds0

Reeltime · Satellite level

Thats brilliant. I heard them talking about it last night on AO radio

indiana · Tennis legend

Brilliant from Kim biggrin

She is such a breath of fresh air and may she stick around for quite some time yet.

steven · Tennis legend

SMC1809 wrote:

The Kim Clijsters (pregnant?) interview if you haven't seen it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0-Wts8Y1ds0

Poor Todd must have wanted the ground to swallow him up. It makes him sound like such a neanderthal. Then again, that's a badge of honour among Aussies in my experience.

The really mystifying bit is him asking "what did I say in it?" - how many texts about Kim does he write in the average week?! biggrin