Week 19 - WTA Premier ($4.03M) Madrid, Spain - Clay

RBBOT · Futures qualifying

RE: Week 19 - WTA Premier ($4.03M) Madrid, Spain - Clay

philwrig · Hall of fame

RBBOT wrote:
philwrig wrote:

Hadn't seen him all week, and then there has been a sudden improvement in form, it all makes sense.

There was a pic of him with Lisa Raymond watching her R1 match.

Fair point, but Laura didn't use oncourt coaching during her match with Agadoo.

tony_orient · ATP qualifying

I noticed he wasn't there for the match against Aga but the match went so well I thought she just didn't want any coaching. Even though her results hadn't been great recently I am surprised Laura has decided to change it as Krajan was initially seen as a reasonably long term appointment. She splits with Krajan and suddenly plays brilliantly through, so perhaps she wasn't happy with how it was going and making the decision has lifted a weight from her shoulders (in Wimbledon 2011 she got rid of her coach and player her best matches in ages). Admittedly it's all speculation as to the reasons/impact.

I think Laura is better without the on court coaching so that might even help this week and the Adidas coaches seem to have worked well with her in the past.

PockyTastic · Futures level

korriban wrote:
Cibulkova was similarly openly critical. Its unusual for players to be so aggressively vocal about former coaches. It happens, but mostly players just move on and remain on fairly cordial terms.

I knew Dinara's camp had not been polite in their comments about Krajan, but wasn't aware Dominika was also so vocally critical... A quick google search suggest Jelena Jankovic (who Krajan coached briefly before Laura) also split with Krajan under less than amicable terms - it seems JJ was unwilling to adopt the game plan of Krajan (presumably to be more aggressive).

-- Edited by PockyTastic on Wednesday 8th of May 2013 08:36:22 AM

PockyTastic · Futures level

Not sure what to make of Krajan as a coach. During the Lisicki-Cibulkova match, Sam Smith made a very unflattering (but seemingly fair) comment about him. He'd previously coached Dominika and had made her play like Lisicki, going for winners after every ball, she now makes a bit more use of her speed and defensive skills. She DID say that it might have been Dominika's interpretation of his wants, but it seems similar to what Laura was doing under his guidance and Safina (though the strategy was successful for Dinara). Sam also talked about Krajan re-doing Dominka's serve so that she was starting with her back to the court etc (which she no longer does) but that it was not effective.

korriban · Challenger level

Dinara's mother was beyond scathing about him. She openly said that he got lucky, then ruined her daughter's serve, gameplan and confidence in herself. Cibulkova was similarly openly critical. Its unusual for players to be so aggressively vocal about former coaches. It happens, but mostly players just move on and remain on fairly cordial terms.

I'd imagine that the first 4 weeks under his guidance, which included the US Open, Krajan was probably just watching Laura play to pick up her strengths and weaknesses in match situations, and technical opportunities for improvement.....to then intervene and make changes subsequently.

I'd imagine in some ways Laura was "playing for" her new big time coach, in exactly the same way football teams often do well in the first 2-3 games after a new manager arrives, even with the same players, same fitness levels and limited tactical changes. They are playing for their places in the first team, and their new managers favour.

What is interesting is that the majority view on this forum moved over the last 4-6 weeks quite rapidly towards changing things with Krajan. And the fact that he arrived with her in Madrid implies this has come about without warning, and was a "go now" decision. She appears to have acted decisively, and that bodes well.

Roll on the French and Wimbledon now. I'm much mire confident we could see her play well by then, and more importantly this could give her a boost.

Helen40 · Grand Slam Champion

korriban wrote:
Roll on the French and Wimbledon now. I'm much mire confident we could see her play well by then, and more importantly this could give her a boost.

Yes, the whole relationship between players playing well as coaches roll on and off is very interesting.

I hadn't realised the correlation. I only hope that her time with Karajan has benefitted her in the long run, and not dented her confidence. I look forward to the uncoached Laura now, and hope that the freadful Laura we've been frustrated with over the winter has gone with Karajan.

The timing is good for the two majors, and as someone said earlier, she has done pretty well with team Adidas before now, so why not?

PaulM · Tennis legend

He should never have been appointed in the first place. Whatever he has been trying to do to her service motion needs unwound immediately.

She's in good hands in the short term with Sven and the Adidas guys.

korriban · Challenger level

http://nochallengesremaining.podbean.com/2013/05/08/episode-38-laura-robson/

Wonderful 20-25 minute interview with Laura with Ben Rotherberg, from Charleston a few weeks back. Second half of the podcast, but actually the whole podcast is very interesting indeed. She comes across very well indeed as a person - whether this is the type of character and attitude that typifies a champion is debatable (or rather unlikely) - but she is warm, fun, charming, self-deprecating and articulate.

One thing that is very amusing, but rather worrying from an intensity and focus perspective, is that she notices lots of people in the crowd during matches, listens to the calls from spectators, and as we know tends to sing along to change-over music. Not exactly Maria Sharapova-like, where I'd imagine she is focussing obsessively on her gameplan and the next point, deaf and blind to the world outside the tennis court itself!

A good listen.

tony_orient · ATP qualifying

Thanks for posting that link - Laura is always entertaining in interviews so good to hear such an extended and relaxed one.

Based on her singing at the end she did well to stick to just dancing in the Gangnam Style video.

murray_2k9 · Challenger qualifying

Thats a great podcast! Thanks for sharing. They put up a lot of interesting debate. Great to hear they agree that Madrid doesnt care about the women, explains my earlier confusing regarding scheduling. Interesting to hear their views on Tomic and Sloane too.

With regards to Krajan - ive been critical of him for a while now and Im glad to see Laura oust him. She needs to be able to play free on court and she just hasnt been of late. Will be fascinating to see her play tonight.

murrayman650 · ATP level

Robson to Serve first

0-15

0-30

15-30

15-40

30-40

40-40

adv Ivanovic

1-0 Ivanovic (2 DF for Robson)

-- Edited by murrayman650 on Wednesday 8th of May 2013 07:55:25 PM

murrayman650 · ATP level

0-15 (DF 1* Ivanovic)

0-30

15-30

30-30

30-40

1-1

15-0

30-0

40-0

40-15

40-30

2-1 Robson

-- Edited by murrayman650 on Wednesday 8th of May 2013 07:58:27 PM

murrayman650 · ATP level

15-0

15-15

30-15

30-30

40-30

3-1

15-0

15-15

15-30 (5th DF Robson)

15-40

4-1 Ivanovix

-- Edited by murrayman650 on Wednesday 8th of May 2013 08:53:50 PM

tony_orient · ATP qualifying

I hope the rain in Madrid doesn't hang around too long - I think it would hurt both Laura and Ana if the surface is wet and make for a lower quality match, but be more of a hindrance for Laura because of her relative lack of experience on sticky clay