Week 22 - WTA Grand Slam ($13M) Paris, France Clay - *singles main draw*

tony_orient · ATP qualifying

RE: Week 22 - WTA Grand Slam ($13M) Paris, France Clay - *singles main draw*

indiana · Tennis legend

Heather basically confirmed in interview with John Inverdale and Jim Courier that her match fitness is not there yet and she was thus blowing a bit in rallies, causing her ultimately to go for some lower percentage shots which she would normally have just put back in play.

Clearly very disappointed not to win a match that she felt she could have / should have won. But on the other hand I sensed a real relief that she is clear of her Glandular Fever so soon and back competing again. She can only improve and is looking forward to the grass season.

korriban · Challenger level

Looks like an extremely positive comeback match from Heather, which I hope to watch a replay of later. Fantastic to see her back, and almost getting the win despite her inevitable lack of fitness. Well done Hev! biggrin

philwrig · Hall of fame

Interesting match, low quality for the first 2 sets, and I really thought that Voegele would bottle it, but to be fair to her she really stepped it up at the business end of the third when Hev was fighting like a lion and playing some high quality tennis as well.Hev just paid for those nervy first couple of games in the final set, when she had all the momentum.
Very happy overall with Hev's performance, match fit I'm 80% certain she would have won that match even with Voegele playing her best tennis.
Encouraged by her post match interview with Annabel didn't see the ITV4 one, when she said that she'd felt much better out there than previously during the year. Should be 100% by the time Wimby comes along.

Until we know more about Laura's back problem difficult to comment, but I'd like to think we'll see her fighting fit for Birmingham in under 2 weeks time.

PaulM · Tennis legend

Will be interesting to see if Laura suddenly pops up as a wildcard into Nottingham next week.

philwrig · Hall of fame

Definitely not by the sounds of it, doctors advised her not to play, will see the doctor when she comes back home. Says she's still hoping to play Birmingham and Eastbourne, meanwhile Lisa Raymond is gutted as her run of 71 consecutive grand slams dating back to 1995 is halted.

PaulM · Tennis legend

Yeah it was just a general musing than a realistic thought. Wild Cards have gone to Anne, Bally, JoKo and Tara.

RJA · Hall of fame

philwrig wrote:
meanwhile Lisa Raymond is gutted as her run of 71 consecutive grand slams dating back to 1995 is halted.

Well you could argue that the run is still going as she is playing in the mixed doubles.

korriban · Challenger level

Jovanovski well on top against Wozniacki, further underlining how much Caroline's form has dropped this year.

I presume she is playing to Caroline's extremely poor forehand, rather than her world-class backhand, and not attempting to hit almost every ball for a winner!!! Little tactical tip for Laura there! Really frustrated about Monday's match - just don't get it.

murray_2k9 · Challenger qualifying

Back injury would make sense...Laura looked well below par vs Woz.

Heather showing signs of getting back to her best - just watched the match on record and felt the energy was nearly there but she wasnt quite the terrier we were used to. She had much more energy in 2012 and hence sets like the second set today were much more regular.

philwrig · Hall of fame

RJA wrote:
philwrig wrote:
meanwhile Lisa Raymond is gutted as her run of 71 consecutive grand slams dating back to 1995 is halted.
Well you could argue that the run is still going as she is playing in the mixed doubles.

I think it was women's doubles the reference was for.

philwrig · Hall of fame

korriban wrote:
Jovanovski well on top against Wozniacki, further underlining how much Caroline's form has dropped this year.
I presume she is playing to Caroline's extremely poor forehand, rather than her world-class backhand, and not attempting to hit almost every ball for a winner!!! Little tactical tip for Laura there! Really frustrated about Monday's match - just don't get it.

Woz played well against Laura, didn't play well today against an inspired Jova. I think that Laura tends to struggle against right handers with strong back hands JJ is another example. Its much easier for Laura to go cross court with her forehand into a right handers back hand, but this becomes a problem when their strength is their back hand.

korriban · Challenger level

philwrig wrote:
korriban wrote:
Jovanovski well on top against Wozniacki, further underlining how much Caroline's form has dropped this year.
I presume she is playing to Caroline's extremely poor forehand, rather than her world-class backhand, and not attempting to hit almost every ball for a winner!!! Little tactical tip for Laura there! Really frustrated about Monday's match - just don't get it.
Woz played well against Laura, didn't play well today against an inspired Jova. I think that Laura tends to struggle against right handers with strong back hands JJ is another example. Its much easier for Laura to go cross court with her forehand into a right handers back hand, but this becomes a problem when their strength is their back hand.

Phil. I'm sure its easier to go cross court for Laura, and also lower risk (lower net, more room inside court) but against Woz, it's also a massive tactical blunder to focus almost entirely on her backhand. As reiterated by the ITV commentary team, the ITV studio pundits, and the 5live commentators too. My frustration is that most of the crowd would have been aware of Caroline's much weaker forehand (mostly bunted up the middle with massive net clearance and no pace) before the match, along with every player on the WTA tour, which is why she's peppered on that wing by everyone else these days. Only Laura seemed out of the loop. The key reason Woz played better against Laura was because she was lucky enough to be given pace to her backhand with which to manipulate the ball on a sixpence, and put it in uncomfortable positions on the court for Laura.

korriban · Challenger level

I'm the most fashion unconscious person I know, but Azarenka and Schiavone look like a couple of sloppy teenagers who decided to go down to the courts for a quick knock-up during a cold November morning, arranged 10 minutes beforehand.

If they are being paid megabucks to sell clothing lines, I'm not sure who the target audience is supposed to be!!!

And the screaming (Italian) and falling owl (Belorussian) noises don't even distract me from the clothes!

Coup Droit · Tennis legend

Completely agree! But I actually quite like it - it looks sort of 'real' and I definitely think some of the women look daft in those baby doll/baby colour dresses - thought Kutznetsova looked really good yesterday in that hippy tie-die get-up (no pale pink pleated skirts for her . . .)