Weeks 35-36 - US Open Main Draw

Peter too · Tennis legend

RE: Weeks 35-36 - US Open Main Draw

Helen40 · Grand Slam Champion

Not Robbo's best match, like going back a month or so with all those UEs and DFs
I have such high expectations for her and am dissapointed when her level drops.
She's played amazingly against Kim this week, and fought well against Li. Great tactics by Stosur, but far too many UEs from Laura. Great breakthough, may she go forward at the level of her second two matches, and not her previous level.

NotAClue · Lower Club Player

41 unforced errors out of 134 total points played.
Or, to put it another way, UE on 28.5% of points.
Hard to win any match that way, let alone against the defending US Open Champion.

I think Laura goes to the far east swing now, having put the fear of God into her upcoming prospective opponents. Onwards & upwards indeed!

Heather still GB #1, and I saw that she tweeted good luck to Laura. I'd been worried that they'd fallen out quite badly over the Olympics. Be great if Hev can rasie her game in response and they can fire each other on, with JoKo chasing hard.
There's a brighter light on the horizon of GB womens tennis than even the best days of Annie & Elena. Can't wait!

tony_orient · ATP qualifying

I though Laura played OK today, but obviously not close to her level of the previous matches. She also looked pretty tired by the second set, which is quite understandable after such a big week.

Stosur's performance was unspecatcular, but very professional and tactically well thought out (whereas maybe Clijsters' and Li Na's tactics were based on Laura not being able to move well Stosur was aware of Laura's improved movement and played much less aggressively). Stosur also served very well, especially on break points where she served unreturnable serves so often.

One area Laura needs to think about tactically is how to play when she isn't quite on her game. When it's all going well she can just play all her shots and most go in, but when she's a bit short of her best she needs to learn when to go for it and when to play it a bit safer. Stosur was able to break several times without having to do anything today (though to be fair the last break was due to Stosur's good play). Laura is already at a level where even below her best she can beat a lot of players with the right tactics and maintaining a positive attitude.

Good to see the match actually end on a positive as well with Laura digging out her last reserves to save all those match points.

What an amazing week overall as well, which losing today takes nothing away from. Just hope Laura can stay fit and work hard so that her performance level against Kim and Li Na becomes the norm rather than outstanding perofrmances. Laura has shown this week she can produce top 10 tennis for a whole match on her day, which is outstanding for an 18 year old.

Helen40 · Grand Slam Champion

NotAClue wrote:
Heather still GB #1, and I saw that she tweeted good luck to Laura. I'd been worried that they'd fallen out quite badly over the Olympics. Be great if Hev can rasie her game in response and they can fire each other on, with JoKo chasing hard.
There's a brighter light on the horizon of GB womens tennis than even the best days of Annie & Elena. Can't wait!

I was worried about the pair of them falling out too, but who kows unless you're actually in it. I'd hoped the two would play dubs again together. It's certainly going to be interesting how the three of them come along. I'd hoped Jo would spur Naomi on, but it doesn't seem to be happening.

philwrig · Hall of fame

Just ran out of gas, particularly obvious in the second set. She's come such a long way physically in such a short time spell, but this was just one match too far. The great thing is though that if she had played as well as she did against Li Na, she would have won this match comfortably.

Top 10 is a near certainty within the next 3 years if she can continue to stay injury free and improve her fitness.

Be interesting to see how she backs up this tournament for the rest of the season, would like to see her take a few days off to refresh and then comeback firing.

Doesn't she love saving match points though, umpteen saved against Sweden and 8 saved here and a bit unlucky not to save the ninth.

Helen40 · Grand Slam Champion

philwrig wrote:
Top 10 is a near certainty within the next 3 years if she can continue to stay injury free and improve her fitness.

I was thinking next six months or so.

philwrig · Hall of fame

Helen40 wrote:
philwrig wrote:
Top 10 is a near certainty within the next 3 years if she can continue to stay injury free and improve her fitness.
I was thinking next six months or so.

Now that would be a tough assignment. I'm looking towards maybe top 50 within the next 6 months. No rush, I don't think, just about consolidating her game at this level and continuing to work on her fitness.

philwrig · Hall of fame

Just read her post match interview transcript which includes details of her upcoming schedule. Going to Asia after a training week back home with 4 tournaments starting 17/9 in China planned.

murray_2k9 · Challenger qualifying

Laura less impressive today but she wont have played anyone like Stosur before (huge serve/spin) and so in that regard still amazing.

Cant wait to see what the new and improved L-Rob can do. Consider the fight for British no.1 well and truly ignited!

tony_orient · ATP qualifying

Good to hear Laura is having a training week back home rather than playing a week 37 tournament - I think she will need the week away from competitive tennis after such a big run, so she can be fully focussed for the next event.

Based on the 2012 Race points after the US Open points are added, there looks to be a very healthy competition both for 1st and 3rd place in the British Rankings list.

Current standings:

Heather	805
Laura	759
Anne	439
Johanna	406
Elena	377

Laura has the momentum behind her after such a great week, but Heather's consistency week to week and 46 point lead possibly make her still the favourite to end the year as British No. 1.

-- Edited by tony_orient on Monday 3rd of September 2012 10:36:15 AM

Ratty · County player

Yes, yes, yes, good stuff and all that, but what about the mysterious and unexplained substitution of Virginia Wade by Sam Smith? Maybe (at long last) some Sky executive finally got pissed off with the endless stream of drawling bullsh*t - the idiotic speculation about the players' weight could have been the final straw - and demanded her IMMEDIATE retirement! We can only hope ...

tony_orient · ATP qualifying

Here's a stat you might not expect Laura to be leading in (as of 3rd September before play starts):

http://www.usopen.org/en_US/scores/extrastats/f_srv_ret_won_ws.html

Rank	Player	Country	Matches	1st serve receiving points won
1	L.Robson	GBR	4	70
2	D.Cibulkova	SVK	3	69
2	M.Bartoli	FRA	4	69
2	O.Puchkova	RUS	3	69
5	S.Stosur	AUS	4	68
6	A.Tatishvili	GEO	4	67
7	V.Azarenka	BLR	4	65
8	A.Kerber	GER	3	60
9	T.Pironkova	BUL	3	58
10	M.Sharapova	RUS	4	57

Laura is 3rd on the 2nd serve table, and so also has won more receiving points in total than any other player.

Obviously this stat doesn't account for the top players winning easily and playing a lot fewer return games, or half the 4th round matches not being played yet. You just don't expect Laura to top a return based statistic.

-- Edited by tony_orient on Monday 3rd of September 2012 02:21:46 PM

indiana · Tennis legend

Yes, I do think some of the US Open stats that are numbers should be % of games / points played, in which case I suspect Laura would be about bottom of that top 10.

Fun stat to see though, and undoubtably her returning success will have improved with her general game improvements.

-- Edited by indiana on Monday 3rd of September 2012 03:33:34 PM

philwrig · Hall of fame

Laura loves playing in Asia, but Hev has a soft Quebec tournament on her schedule so I think its too close to call. However if Laura plays to a similar level to what she did this past week and stays injury free I would say she is a heavy favourite to be GB 1 by end of season, but will she that is the big question.

We're also going indoors for a while as well so Anne will probably remain GB number 3.

Bally I believe won't comeback sadly, seems to be completely focused on her academy now. Also no chance of getting her number 1 GB ranking back given how well both Hev and Laura are playing and their potential to play so much better, so what is her incentive. A hint at the end of this piece to suggest that a retirement is becoming more and more likely. http://www.eadt.co.uk/sport/numbers_rise_at_elena_baltacha_tennis_academy_1_1501312