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

DF · Tennis legend

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

paulisi · Tennis legend

Excellent win and good to see the DF didn't come too regularly after the first set. Will be a big confidence booster and nothing to lose in the next round.

Bob in Spain · Tennis legend

Well played Laura

Note to tournament schedulers - please hold back Laura's 2nd round match until Tuesday afternoon.

Thanks

blob · All-time great

blob wrote:
1st set to the Slovakian
6-7(4)

I still think Laura's going to win this for some reason

Engaging smug mode... smug mode engaged!

Well done!

Hopefully this performance - came from behind, dominated thereafter, served well for two sets, and saw the match closed at the first opportunity, on her serve - is just the sort of tonic Laura needs. Perhaps not in this tournament, given who her next opponent is likely to be, but more generally.

And, she won the hard match and scores in another big tournament, where points rewards are very high, which is a happy knack she has.

Great to see, and look forward to dubles tomorrow, and then, who knows!

indiana · Tennis legend

Yes !!!!

Laura has generally shown before that she's more than comfortable on clay. Was just more a question of where her game / confidence and maybe health / fitness was.

tony_orient · ATP qualifying

Brilliant from Laura - I am so pleased for her but a bit guilty as I had started to lose faith in her (in terms of this clay court season anyway). To finally get a big win when the odds seemed stacked against her after losing such a long first set is even more impressive.

She should be able to enjoy the second round now with a good win under her belt and absolutely no pressure or expectations.

philwrig · Hall of fame

Great win for Laura and much needed.

I had wondered why the Slovak hadn't played since March and she did pull out of a tournament in Poland with a back injury, so I'm hoping that she is fully recovered from that problem and that it was the quality of Laura's play that saw her dominate really from 5-2 in the first. Even if it was due to her opponent struggling still a great win.

I also noticed that Laura had some sort of bandage just below her left elbow, again hope that's nothing to worry about.

Also hope Tony didn't waste too much on his bet if indeed he had one.

indiana · Tennis legend

A nice 80 points for Laura.

On the points subject, I presume Heather will get a zero score to replace her 16th counter of 30 points, this being a Premier Mandatory. However, what most matters there is just her getting back fit and healthy.

korriban · Challenger level

Nice to be able to discuss mostly good things, say well done, and wish her well with nothing to lose in R2.

Wish we could have SEEN the match to judge her form generally.

tony_orient · ATP qualifying

philwrig wrote:

Also hope Tony didn't waste too much on his bet if indeed he had one.

I'm poorer but happy!

Jan · Hall of fame

tony_orient wrote:
philwrig wrote:

Also hope Tony didn't waste too much on his bet if indeed he had one.
I'm poorer but happy!

definitely better than being richer but sad

Miriambee · Futures level

article on bbc tennis page already.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/tennis/

philwrig · Hall of fame

I see our friend TTT has just reminded the world that Laura is now up to 122 dfs for the year, CAN YOU BELIEVEEE IT.

She's just had a big win and all he want's to do is just give a rolling total for her dfs.

PaulM · Tennis legend

He needs to go away. I dont think he will ever become a paid tennis journalist and his attempts at "trying to get noticed" is just embarrassing.

steven · Tennis legend

I know what you mean - he always seems fine when we get into short conversations on Twitter, but tries a bit too hard to get noticed with stuff like that and the things like "please RT" "RT if you ..." etc that he (like many others on Twitter, to be fair) seems rather fond of. We all try to come up with the odd original thing on Twitter (usually more odd than original in my case!) but you have leave other people to decide whether they are interesting or not.

To my mind, RTs and followers only 'count' if you don't ask for them.

Stu_fraser is a great example of someone who had the same aim but was subtle about it, made sure he knew his stuff and produced info people actually wanted. I've been very happy to see him getting a lot of well-deserved breaks as a result.