It wasn't a dreadful performance, but certainly below par. I think alot of the improvement in her movement which she showed last year was mental. Her US open form showed what she is capable of but it was such a huge jump that she was bound in some ways to take one step back before making further steps forward. Her career to date has been one step forward 1/2 step back and so on and so on. Add in the fact that she has had to deal with a couple of niggly injuries and the added expectation we now have this position. Laura has no plan B to go to when she is not playing her best unlike Hev because she has to be aggressive. I've got no doubt that she will not drop in the rankings this year, just doubt over how high she will climb.We also don't know the dynamic between her and her cocah.Finishing on a positive though the BH is certainly alot better.

korriban wrote:

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What I find odd is that all of us broadly know what Laura needs to do - get fitter, improved movement, iron out what is a decent serve, more patience and consistency, cutting out the obsession with going for winners to early, and often out of position. Its what the commentators also say, and the funny thing is, 4 months ago she got herself into a position to do exactly that - and it worked a treat!!!! Why revert to her old gaemplan, which clearly doesn't work, and never did work ( apart from runs of a game or two). Poor form may be temporary, but what happened to the new levels of movement, and what happened to the new and improved gameplan? Its back to old Laura. I dont understand.

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We went through all this kind of thing with Muzz too. It always seemed like, even though the results were much better when he played more aggressively, he didn't really completely believe it was the answer until Ivan Lendl told him ... and then he finally won a slam.

Indeed, with Andy it sometimes seemed like he got so irritated by so many fans and lesser players saying that he should play more aggressively (apparently thinking everyone expected out-and-out aggression when most of were well aware that it had to be controlled) that he would go back to his old ways just to be awkward! (I'm sure that wasn't his line of thought, but it did seem like it sometimes LOL)

Re. comments about Putintseva - I certainly don't object to a bit of fist-pumping and I thought Putintseva seemed perfectly nice in her interview too. That may just reflect the fact that it's easier to be nice when you've won than when you've lost, but equally it may mean her 'bad girl' reputation has been exaggerated (in the way so many players are deemed to be either angelic or evil when in reality they are all shades of grey somewhere in between) or is simply out of date. On the very, very limited evidence of today, her relationship with her father as coach seems to be rather better than most!

blob wrote:

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Worrying. Think Rebecca Marino and how her life was almost torn apart by related issues, and pray it's nothing like that. (Happily Rebecca is now playing again, and trying to get back to where she was, but it a long slow process)

Also, other factors it seems: http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/tennis/infection-adds-to-laura-robsons-frustration-8500436.html

Best wishes to her and may all her problems, if any, on and off court, bring themselves to a speedy and happy conclusion.

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 Well done for finding that link, thats the one I was struggling with in my previous post.

I have to say I have occasionally read through Laura's timeline on twitter and basically 95% of the comments I have read have been positive. There have been the occasional over the top sexual comments from young blokes which are inappropriate but apart from that I don't think its too bad compared to others I have read. However after her loss today there were quite a number of rude comments made about her performance.

She had a huge following on twitter so hopefully she will come back sometime soon.

It's obviously been a very difficult few days for Laura, feeling unwell, having her jewellery stolen and then losing a very close match - so not surprising if a few bad comments on twitter pushed her over the edge last night as it would be quite normal for her to be feeling very down at the moment (certainly as a fan I've been feeling pretty down after that match).

Laura is normally a very positive person though and I'm sure she will bounce back fairly quickly.

I think Laura's comments in the independent article show she is lacking some confidence in her game which was very evident in the break points she had yesterday. Her tendency to be over aggressive in one point followed by overly passive in the next point was not persistent throughout the match but happened a lot on the break points where she was probably thinking about what to do a bit too much.

-- Edited by tony_orient on Tuesday 19th of February 2013 10:05:02 AM

Let's hope Laura takes this time off now to get herself truly fixed, healthwise first and foremost, and then her game and her mental state.

On the match, she felt she was too defensive, which is that last thing I would have said. Perhaps I was watching another match, but the only times she was perhaps a little passive was on break points - particularly one occasion when up 0-40. In my opinion, she was going for winners too early and/or off balance to finish points off - it would be interesting to see how many of her 49 UEs were made going for forcing shots/winners, against those where she simply broke down or made a silly mistake.....I'll bet more than half were when she was pressing too much, or at the wrong moment (too early). As Ratty intimated, the skill of a great player with all the shots ("the style") as opposed to a flashy player with all the shots is to know when to use them, and when to play the percentages.

The great news is.....she CAN get this balance right (US Open), her backhand looks better and better every match, and her serve also looks more of a weapon again. Her forehand consistency needs a lot of TLC!! The biggest challenge for me is her lack of movement and even poorer anticipation (an area where Bartoli's lightening reactions all but make up for her lack of speed), both areas that had improved tremendously, but now seem possibly poorer than ever. Perhaps her general health issues are directly affecting this.....it's also a lot easier to be patient when you reach more balls, and a lot easier to cut out UEs when you aren't late on simple ralley shots.

As for twitter, I can't say I'm surprised, and it may do her a lot of good in the end. She comes across as a very nice fun girl, very balanced and friendly. She cares. I can imagine negative and rude comments affecting her. When you see the twitter musings of Vika or Serena, they often come across as ****y, self-indulgent, egocentric ramblings "for their fans" - but you do get the impression that it would matter to them "not a jot" what their fans or enemies said back to them.....the recent MTO incident with Vika, is a prime example. It's early days, but Donna Vekic looks similar - very self-indulgent, ****y ramblings for the most, but she probably doesn't care what the world thinks (her agent might!)

I for one will be glad to see less Gangnam Style videos, less questions about One Direction or collecting pins, and more focus on the tennis to the exclusion of all else........for a few months anyway until she sorts herself out.

Good luck to her!

 

Just read this on twitter:

Barry Flatman @Barry_FlatmanST
Dubai arrival a little disappointing. Rather worried about Laura Robson; not necessarily her loss but her state of health.... Coughing & spluttering in press conference. Revealed she had been suffering from chest infection since Olympics. 4 bouts of anti-biotics... and still not anywhere near better. Seeing a specialist in London