Helen40, I'm not trying to be awkward so sorry if it sounds that way but, having been involved with elite junior development programmes (abroad), I really don't think that one can say : "Laura's always had the ability, just not made good on it" about someone who is only barely 19.

She HAS made good on it, she's the highest ranked world player of her age, the youngest top 50 player. She has risen spectacularly up the rankings since turning adult. And she will continue to make good on it.

The average age for a top 10 player is about 26 1/2. This is a phenomenon that has been very marked in tennis in the last 10-15 years and has had a lot of research spent on it. The physiological nature of the sport has changed dramatically since the Capriati/Austin/Graf days of youngtsers (when even then the average age was early to mid twenties).

Laura will be top 10 way before she's 26, imho, but she should be focused on her career over the next 10 years, not just a snapshot today.

-- Edited by Coup Droit on Wednesday 15th of May 2013 08:07:45 AM

i suspect Laura's service was about optimal against Serina. If you apply the statistics on her first serve to her second serve i.e. what would have happened if she siply repeated her first serve she would have made 12 DFs instead of 8 and she would have won 5 points on her 2nd serve instead of 6. If she had eased back any more to reduce her DFs I suspect Serina would have put them away for winners and Laura' would have won fewer points.

Laura now has a game that works and allows her to win points against any player. However in some cases her opponent can stay in the rally long enough to win the point but Laura's power shots and angled shots are becoming more consistent. The wins against top players will keep coming and should increase over the next year or two.

-- Edited by Peter too on Wednesday 15th of May 2013 06:10:21 PM

I'm not sure how much Simon Reed has seen Serena this year, but in contrast to some other years in her career, even in early rounds she is always showing that steely focus this year. There has been precious little of the cruising to which he alludes. I've watched almost every match Serena has played this year.

Also, statistically, last night was Serena's third easiest clay court victory (of 12) of this year. In terms of things like how many points Serena needed to win the match, how many points her opponent won, break points for/against etc, only Kirilenko in Madrid and Venus in Charleston fared worse. I mention this to provide counterweight to the "how well Laura competed" argument - she did not look out of place, certainly, but that did not translate in to anything tangible, even though Serena only brought her B- game.

However, it is true that Serena clearly respects the undoubted raw talent Laura has and rates her as a player. It was also very striking how often Serena went out of her way to say she liked Laura - this is a very rare thing. Serena often says of Sharapova, and others, things like "she's a strong player and a great girl," but never, "I like her".

Anyway...

Robmond are up on court now, slow start. *0-2

Coup Droit wrote:

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And an interesting article from Simon Reed:

http://uk.eurosport.yahoo.com/blogs/simon-reed/next-coach-could-break-robson-125127967.html

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 Very interesting article. I concur! It's up to Laura to make or break herself...

 

Meanwhile Robmond 6-6 0-2 in TB

1 set all

Robson/Raymond 6-4 in second set

 

 

 

 

CTB

Kunestova/Penneta to serve first

 

0 - 1*

0 - 2*

0* - 3

0* - 4

0 - 5*

0 - 6*

1* - 6

2* - 6

3 - 6*

4 - 6*

4* - 7

4* - 8

5 - 8*

6 - 8*

6* - 9

7* - 9

10-7 Raymond/Robson

 

GSM Raymond/Robson 6-7 6-4 (10-7)