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

korriban · Challenger level

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

philwrig · Hall of fame

Same as yesterday, Erakovic had seemingly no confidence coming in, played like that for 2 games then played very very well, Bally though was off the pace which meant we had a very lopsided scoreline.

indiana · Tennis legend

Hmm, not at all good.

korriban, you might give folk a chance to maybe come up with one or two of the possible comments you brought up so that you can actually be sarcy about actual rather than mythical comments !

PaulM · Tennis legend

Erakovic did play very well, but again the point is she was allowed to because Bally didn't execute well enough to put a challenge in.

Bally played into Erakovic's hands today, once she lost the break she seemed to panic. Guessing she wasn't thinking clearly because te tactics went out the window and she was playing to all Marina's strengths. I mean hitting everything to the forehand against a girl who has one glaring weakness in her game?

Like Laura yesterday, Bally made her opponent look very, very good because of poor execution tactically on the day. You can't always dismiss it as the opponent must just have had a really old day. Players will always look like world beaters when they are allowed to play the match entirely on their terms.

I'm looking forward to seeing her on the grass though. I think she'll settle in and get into a real groove.

scottie1 · Futures level

Agree it was terrible Elena looked really ordinary on court and had no ideas. I think she should not play on clay does not suit her game.

blob · All-time great

korriban wrote:
PaulM wrote:
That was dreadful :(
Just waiting for someone to call Elena a "warrior", and list a selection of mitigating factors. I'm sure she battled hard, fought until the last point, left absolutely nothing out on the court, gave everything she had, represented GB with pride, etc.
But I suspect the reality is that Paul's comment would be what 95% of objective non-Brits would be thinking

Suffice to say, I drafted a very long and angry riposte to this but did not post it, there's no point.

PaulM · Tennis legend

Don't worry blob.

Tennis is a great sport because you get another chance next week. You pack up you move on and try to do better next week.

Bad day at the office against a good player. Lets just see what Nottingham brings, I'm pretty sure it will be a step forward once more on Bally's journey back up the rankings.

indiana · Tennis legend

Hopefully Bally can find some much more encouraging form on grass, though I don't have any big expectations. I suspect she will still be rather off her best, even with the surface change.

She certainly appears to remain very ambitious and I do hope she doesn't get too frustrated with her performance level in the short term.

murray_2k9 · Challenger qualifying

There was a slightly resigned air to Bally on this occasion - I felt she knew she wasnt quite there yet but was pleased to be competing at that level again. Coming back from foot surgery on to clay makes things harder, the grass should be more forgiving on her movement.

Jaggy1876 · Grand Slam Champion

I will repeat what I said a few weeks ago in that both Anne and Bally are done as top 200 players. Coaching is the way forward can see Bally doing well in that. I'd rather see us use wild cards on younger players as the French and Aussies do because for me Anne and Bally cant compete anymore at this level. Both have suffered heavy defeats to cery average players. I really fear for them if they get a top 10 player at Wimbledon.

markymc1983 · Club Coach

Jaggy1876 wrote:
I will repeat what I said a few weeks ago in that both Anne and Bally are done as top 200 players. Coaching is the way forward can see Bally doing well in that. I'd rather see us use wild cards on younger players as the French and Aussies do because for me Anne and Bally cant compete anymore at this level. Both have suffered heavy defeats to cery average players. I really fear for them if they get a top 10 player at Wimbledon.

Bally beat a top 100 player just last week, on clay! After foot surgery and 8 months off the tour. Quite a remarkable feat and certainly not worthy of such pessimism.

indiana · Tennis legend

Although as I indicated, I am not too optimistic about Bally short term, she was just outside the top 100 before her lengthy injury break ( i.e. good enough PR for a main draw entry here ).

So, unless she is unable to recover full fitness and / or previous enthusiasm it seems to me highly premature to declare her "done" as a top 200 player.

PockyTastic · Futures level

korriban wrote:
indiana wrote:
Hmm, not at all good.

korriban, you might give folk a chance to maybe come up with one or two of the possible comments you brought up so that you can actually be sarcy about actual rather than mythical comments !
Spoilsport!
Sometimes I do feel like Anne and Bally have been awarded almost complete immunity on this forum from anyone calling it straight about their abilities - simply as a result of being the best 2 players that GB could muster over a 5-10 year period, despite the fact they never really had much competition for that honour, and in world terms never came close to winning anything. Their influence on women's tennis in GB should be praised to the hilt. They have served our Fed Cup team willingly and with pride for about a decade (what division are we in?) They try their hardest at Wimbledon. But I do think they still receive praise well above what they probably merited (in terms of pure results) from the LTA firmament, the British press and GB tennis fans.....and often the language used when they go down fighting (again) is couched in rather, err, "heroic" terms.
I'd still give them both WCs at Wimbledon like a shot. Simply because there are almost no up and coming girls outside the top 8-10 who merit one.

Hmm.... Perhaps we are quick to defend them. I'll admit I'm a big Annie K fan. She's coming to the end of her career, she's got an injury that isn't helping her and yes she has not set the tennis world alight in the grand scheme of things. She has reached 7 WTA singles SFs (Kolkata 07, Auckland 09, Memphis 09, Warsaw 09, Memphis 10, Luxembourg 10, Luxembourg 11) and 1 WTA singles final (Florianapolis 13). No she didn't push on to win, so I guess your "never came close to winning anything" is valid if you determine coming close as having MPs (which she didnt have in the doubles final). Bally has had some marvellous wins over top opposition and some good runs at slams (which now seem more run of the mill thanks to Laura and Heather). I guess for me personally it's a case of UK media trashing British women's tennis for a decade, including some pretty cruel reports about Anne and Bally that has made me protective of them - as redundant a reason as that may be.

I know it's unlikely that they will fight their way back into the top 50, but perhaps understand why some on here have soft spots for them. They will ultimately retire when they're good and ready and that is a decision they will both make. Anne in particular is a realist, so I'm not sure we shall see her doing a Maureen Drake and playing on as her ranking slides outside of the top 500.

-- Edited by PockyTastic on Wednesday 29th of May 2013 08:24:26 AM

Peter too · Tennis legend

If all of our players who have been "advised" to change career after losing a match did so, we would have few if any tennis players left.

steven · Tennis legend

PaulM wrote:
Peter too wrote:
If all of our players who have been "advised" to change career after losing a match did so, we would have few if any tennis players left.
This. i hate when people suggest players should give up.

Me too. If Bally has been prepared to put in a huge effort to come back again and still thinks she has got it in her to get some more out of her playing career, why shouldn't she carry on for as long as she wants to? Whatever her ranking, it's more fun having her playing than not.

In any case, she had a good win last week and has never been very comfortable at RG - a R1 defeat in Paris is hardly unusual even in her better years - in fact, it is the 4th time she has been bagelled in her first match at RG, an 0 & 4 loss to Lyubtsova in QR1 in 2008 being the low point.

-- Edited by steven on Wednesday 29th of May 2013 09:41:51 AM