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

kundalini · Specialist Reporter + Intermediate Club Player

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

korriban · Challenger level

Coup Droit wrote:
Thoroughly well deserved.

I doubt she'll be happy with all of it (Brad Gilbert's book 'Winning Ugly' comes to mind) but she was clearly the better player and under a fair bit of pressure to win.

And she did!

Yes. And I'm glad she admitted after the match that she didn't play that well, but IMO she still had plenty of game in reserve to win, and then some. First set was ugly, second set a big improvement. Next round against Erakovic will be much much tougher - if she doesn't bring her A game from the opening set, she'll lose, but if she can I'd say she is more than capable of a good win.

Well done! biggrin

WD40 · Club Coach

That was an Ugly nervous win, but Laura knows that, and I suspect knows she will have to play better in the next round..........................but that is the point she IS in the next round. biggrin

Peter too · Tennis legend

Her 1st serve percentage shot up in the 2nd set and her unforced errors shot down, a much higher standard in the 2nd produced an easy win.

kundalini · Specialist Reporter + Intermediate Club Player

Not the match I was expecting to see. Duque Marino had moments of looking a really classy player; nearly all of which occurred in the first set. She returned Laura's first serve much better than I expected but her returning of Robson's 2nd serve was awful. Nervous start from Laura but 2nd set was much better. Returned well. First serve percentage was poor though 87% won behind first is encouraging.

Laura ahead 18-10 on unreturned serves. 11-8 on winners (not including aces). Aggressive shots that resulted in forced errors R 16 - DM 6. Unforced erros R 17 - DM 18

Coup Droit · Tennis legend

korriban wrote:
Coup Droit wrote:
Thoroughly well deserved.

I doubt she'll be happy with all of it (Brad Gilbert's book 'Winning Ugly' comes to mind) but she was clearly the better player and under a fair bit of pressure to win.

And she did!
Yes. And I'm glad she admitted after the match that she didn't play that well, but IMO she still had plenty of game in reserve to win, and then some. First set was ugly, second set a big improvement. Next round against Erakovic will be much much tougher - if she doesn't bring her A game from the opening set, she'll lose, but if she can I'd say she is more than capable of a good win.
Well done!

I particularly liked her comment in her interview that went something like:

Int: when you stepped onto Centre court did you feel like this is where you belonged, it was your stage ?

Laura (incredulous look) : er, no, I just felt nervous. But then I though she must be even more nervous,, she's never played here before . . . .

Tennis players are often so wrapped up in themselves and their game that they never think about the situation from their opponents point of view. It takes a bit of maturity.

(There was a great survey done by one of the tennis think-tanks which asked 50 futures/challengers players :

A and B are playing. A is winning 6-2, 4-1. Imagine you are player B (the one who's losing). Do you think you'll win ?

Everyone said (effectively) "I'd keep fighting but, no, I don't think Ill win". And, statistically of course, they're right.

The survey then asked : Imagine you are player A.. Do you think you'll win ?

and the answer was : well, maybe, but there's a good chance I won't, coz the other player will play better now she's losing and come back etc. etc. etc.

Two sides of the same coin, and an inherent contradiction in the players' thought process.

Just an aside - but pleased that Laura is seeing the big picture and being lucid.

Well done, Laura. Good luck in the dubs (unlikely to get played today in my view) and tomorrow.

tony_orient · ATP qualifying

Very nervy first set, but once she got through that and relaxed she started to play much better and the scoreline looks pretty convincing in the end. The way Laura played out the final game was probably the most impressive part of her game, and she also got back at least half a dozen balls on the stretch that she wouldn't normally make. It seemed like it took the best part of an hour for Laura to be comfortable with the focus of centre court all being on her, but hopefully that is something she will have a chance to get used to.

Erakovic tomorrow will be a much more even game, she has been playing very well recently - home advantage makes Laura the favourite though.

Alexei · Lower Club Player

Well done Laura. I'm glad her nerves settled down as when she plays with freedom she is a real threat. She scares me a bit with how honest she is in interviews. She admits she is nervous so I think the crowd get nervous on her behalf. I know I do!

steven · Tennis legend

I only saw the 2nd set and Laura certainly looked very good there most of the time.

She will now be carrying 7 scores of more than 100, which isn't too bad for someone with a bit of a reputation for inconsistency LOL

philwrig · Hall of fame

Nervy but thats Laura isn't it.
Erakovic will be very tough and Laura will need to play very well to win, saw their 1st encounter live but both have come on bundles since then, so very difficult to call. Hopefully be put on court 1 which will give Laura a slight advantage.

Oh and Kanepi just put out Kerber further enhancing the quality of Tara's display from Tuesday if it needed to be.

wales1994 · County player

Does this mean Laura will be seeded for the US Open?

briteny · Intermediate Club Player

philwrig wrote:
Nervy but thats Laura isn't it.
Erakovic will be very tough and Laura will need to play very well to win, saw their 1st encounter live but both have come on bundles since then, so very difficult to call. Hopefully be put on court 1 which will give Laura a slight advantage.

Oh and Kanepi just put out Kerber further enhancing the quality of Tara's display from Tuesday if it needed to be.

I don't know you guys have read this or not?

http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/tennis/wimbledon-2013-wildcard-tara-moore-defends-failing-brits-in-rant-on-twitter-8673361.html

steven · Tennis legend

There were more stories in the media about her 'rant' than about her match, in a couple of cases even mentioning the tweets from ovalballsforbrains' (or whatever he was called) that started it off.

Fairly pathetic from the press when all she was doing was sticking up for some of her older colleagues after a few idiots told them they were useless.

philwrig · Hall of fame

Advantage Erakovic with court 2 having already played on it, Laura having not. Bookies were always going to make Robbo favourite but it should be 50/50 IMO especially now with the court scheduling.

indiana · Tennis legend

Laura said herself she didn't feel she was striking the ball that well and she will have certainly played better. But as a professional "get the job done" exercise I was pretty impressed. She focussed, kept the ball in play rarely looking like overpushing for lines. Will have to up her overall game for Erakovic, but it is still good if she is learning how to win a match like that a bit "ugly" but still decisively.

Re any possible seeding for the US Open, since she still has 185 points to defend beforehanf ( from her Palermo SF and the Olympics last year ) almost certainly not done enough yet. Another win and getting the 280 R4 points would guarantee to take Laura just over 1500 points prior to the US Open and that "might" be enough. But really would need the 500 QF points to confidently say it would already be enough after Wimbledon.

Of course, hopefully she will win further points before the US Open anyway...