Week 26/27 - Wimbledon women's main draw - grass

PaulM · Tennis legend

RE: Week 26/27 - Wimbledon women's main draw - grass

korriban · Challenger level

Excellent effort from Tara. She could easily have won all 3 sets and was never outclassed at any time. Collective prayer from the forum that she takes all the praise that rightfully will come her way(if not the win and ranking points) and redoubles her training and fitness and practice programmes that clearly have added tremendously to her ability. Would love her to keep climbing the rankings and come through US Open qualies. She deserves some good luck.

indiana · Tennis legend

Hmm, I certainly don't agree about the inevitabilty of heartache, and to me Tara certainly didn't either.

Kanepi was potentially in deep trouble when Tara was inches from going * 6 - 5 up when the umpire overruled on BP. That was out of Kanepi's control and Tara could of been serving for the match.

philwrig · Hall of fame

She has been brilliant during the whole of the grass court season, very impressive against Baby Bally ( new nickname for M'Lady) at Birmingham, Tara has really shown me with the right application and hard work she is a dead cert for the top 100 in the future, huge talent and no weaknesses. A few similarities with Evo.

Mervatron · Masters Series Champion

Great to see Tara managed to come back from the fall and being 0-3 down in the third but yet again another british loss at 7-5/8-6 in the third. Johanna last year. Mel a few years ago against Bondarenko. I'm sure Katie did the same. Anne's done it. Naomi Cavaday. Lucie AHl and Julie Pullin back in the day.

Its getting irritatting now.

tony_orient · ATP qualifying

So one win from seven overall, a bit disappointing as two would been the hoped for result from the draw, but it feels much more positive as the two best British performances came from the last two matches. Also, a win for Laura offers the most hope of further success.

Laura produced a very strong performance today combining excellent ball striking with a willingness to chase down every ball and much improved shot selection. Similar to when she beat Radwanska, she started OK, grew in confidence as the match progressed and took over from 3-3. Kirilenko didn't have much of an answer as the match went away from her very quickly. It was great to see Laura performing at her best in the spotlight at Wimbledon when it was really needed.

Tara was equally impressive and unlucky not to progress in a very entertaining match that was so close all the way through. The line calls certainly didn't help in that final set. The key for Tara (exactly as for Laura) is to be able to produce that level of tennis on a consistent basis, but by and large she has done that this year with a big improvement in her ranking. Today showed there is plenty more scope for her to climb the rankings even further.

LordBrownof · Futures level

I was at the match today sat with Tara's gang and overall extremely impressed. The difference for me (and it's really eye opening being that close to the action!) between the two was focus. At times, Tara reacted to the crowd and there were a few incidences where she seemed more interested in pulling faces to certain people in the crowd than focussing on the next point. A double fault usually followed.

I don't want to sound overly critical because I thought she was excellent for 90% of the match, she just needs to sustain absolute focus throughout, especially when things go against her or on crucial points. Having said that there were some shocking line calls!

savva0122 · Intermediate Club Player

So sad for Tara thought she showed real spirit today and showed she could compete at this level - only positive for me.

Brilliant win for Laura; hope she can keep her focus for what should be a relaitvely straightforward R2 match and nice to see her serve working.

Bit disappointed for Hev but with glandular fever it's unlikely she'll be up to full fitness for a while yet so a victory just to play here.

indiana · Tennis legend

Interesting to read that report frim up close, LordBrownof. I just watched on TV but had some quite different general impressions.

I actually thought Tara's focus was really good, possibly actually better than Kanepi, who threw in quite a lot of really loose shots at times, quite often on break points. As I said earlier, I also thought she was good at putting disappointments behind her.

She did seem to really enjoy the occasion and made a few faces, but I really didn't see it as an issue.

Strange we saw it so differently...

indiana · Tennis legend

Been watcbing a replay of Laura's match and even more struck by her movement today.

To my mind, not only is she generally often slow to the ball, but doesn't get in great position often at the ball, but today I was particularly struck by so many quick small steps. This I think helped her timing so much, so balls went in instead of flying out, which on bad days is often by bad positioning rather than carelessness.

korriban · Challenger level

Laura's next match (hopefully at least her next 2 matches) should be very interesting in the context of all the issues we've seen from her in the past. At her best she ought to beat the qualifier easily, and at her best she would probably be favourite against either Peng or Erakovic, even if Peng is seeded 24. Based on how she played for a set and 5 games yesterday, we should all be quietly confident. Itt's still 90% about the movement, as Martina and Boris both reiterated, so this has to be maintained or further improved.

The interesting thing is how often this year (and possibly previously, I haven't checked) Laura has had big match leads only to falter close to the winning post. Possibly 3 or 4 times (Arvidson, Cornet, Domingues-Lino for sure). It happened again yesterday, but she came through just about before the match could turn on its head. The good news is that if you reverse the results of the matches she lost this year from virtually the winning post (plus the odd additonal victory in those tournaments), her year starts to look quite good, from rather poor. The even better news is that we know her "pre-nerves" play is therefore far superior to most players of a similar or lower ranking. And the best news is that these match situations can be trained for with mental routines, plus her experience will grow and grow anyway.

I still think she looks very downbeat, almost morose, off the court. Strange for her.

-- Edited by korriban on Wednesday 26th of June 2013 05:54:11 AM

-- Edited by korriban on Wednesday 26th of June 2013 06:17:48 AM

RJA · Hall of fame

indiana wrote:
Interesting to read that report frim up close, LordBrownof. I just watched on TV but had some quite different general impressions.

Without commenting on this match I have to say that being at a match gives you a much better perspective into a player attitude and demeanour. You can pick up on so many little things that you miss when watching on TV.

steven · Tennis legend

I've always assumed that most BBC and Daily Mail commentors do still live in small villages just like that!

Talking of Laura's nationality ... Google today disbelief

Or have they been doing this for ages and I just haven't noticed before?

-- Edited by steven on Wednesday 26th of June 2013 07:58:01 AM

Helen40 · Grand Slam Champion

tony_orient wrote:
Laura produced a very strong performance today combining excellent ball striking with a willingness to chase down every ball and much improved shot selection. Similar to when she beat Radwanska, she started OK, grew in confidence as the match progressed and took over from 3-3. Kirilenko didn't have much of an answer as the match went away from her very quickly. It was great to see Laura performing at her best in the spotlight at Wimbledon when it was really needed.

Tara was equally impressive and unlucky not to progress in a very entertaining match that was so close all the way through. The line calls certainly didn't help in that final set. The key for Tara (exactly as for Laura) is to be able to produce that level of tennis on a consistent basis, but by and large she has done that this year with a big improvement in her ranking. Today showed there is plenty more scope for her to climb the rankings even further.

I'm happy with Laura's performance today, now I've had time to look at it again (albeit the wimby highlights), I am encouraged as you say by jer movement and willingness to track the ball down. I did realize she did the same against Radwanska. I was wondering whether Miles had anything to do with that, and her serve - which was the best I've ever seen it. Watching the doco on Murray, one scene where he was playing shots with a harness on, I wondered whether Miles had done that with Laura, and that had had an effect???

For Tara's first Wimby, it was a very impressive performance. I've seen her play before at Shrewsbury, and although she hit it hard, her movement and consistency, and general match head wasn't anywhere near as good as today. If only she could maintain this level against lesser opponents when there is no one watching, and no TV cameras.

They are all only human albeit tennis professionals, and we all perform better in different circumstances..

Coup Droit · Tennis legend

I think it would be interesting to compare Tara's on-court demeanor with how is it normally. i.e. does she always laugh, squeak and make eye-contact with the crowd. If so, then maybe that's just 'her'.

Purely from watching on TV (and I agree it's not the best, by far), I thought she played such a free game that laughing at key moments, at daft balls, whatever, may well be important for her in order to keep 'loose'. I can't remember from the first-round Kiki match.

NB I have a pretty poor opinion of most GB coaches (Leon excepted) and Jeremy Bates is right down there.

However, Miles Maclagan come on down !!! The BBC commentary team were talking about how he'd already tweaked Laura's serve, getting her to 'rock' slightly at the beginning so that she is not so static. Well, I don;t know if that's all it was but he might as well take the credit because the transformation was amazing. Brilliant serving. And, yes, far better footwork, especially the tiny adjustements. Whatever he's doing, so far, keep on going !

I saw Duque-Marino play at Roehampton - she's an elegant tennis player, hits a sweet ball, and has a VERY focused, vocal team around her. Won 8-6 against Mestach in the third too (and Mestach is a fighter second to none). But I think Laura will have no trouble (hardly a startling prediction given the difference in rank) - Laura's power and leftie angles will knock Mariana sideways.

PS great quote (Daily Star!) from Miles as part of the 'temporary' trainer question:

"After all, he is the first to admit he is on a steep learning curve as he attempts to harness the English girls talents and work out what makes the opposite sex tick.

Maclagan said: Theres a lot I need to learn about women in general . . . "

-- Edited by Coup Droit on Wednesday 26th of June 2013 08:15:44 AM