Week 31 - WTA International $235K - Washington DC, USA - Hard

steven · Tennis legend

Week 31 - WTA International $235K - Washington DC, USA - Hard

WD40 · Club Coach

Nicola Slater is partnering Alison Riske here in the doubles............while Heather is partnering Anna Tatishvilli and are 3rd seeds.

WD40 · Club Coach

L16 : SLATER, Nicola GBR/RISKE, Alison USA v PEREZ, Adriana VEN/MUELLER, Alexandra USA
L16 : WATSON, Heather GBR/TATISHVILI, Anna GEO [3] v CORNET, Alize FRA/BARTHEL, Mona GER

TomTraubert · Futures level

good chance for niks first wta level win.

TomTraubert · Futures level

Hevs singles is against american q alexandra mueller (532) - i aint never herd of her

murray_2k9 · Challenger qualifying

Mueller is under-ranked at 532 and should be ranked closer to the top 200 than that IMO, she has a good solid game. She is not in Hevs league, but did beat Kleybanova during her comeback in a 10k a few weeks ago.

If Hevs back to near her best then straight sets should be on the cards.

WD40 · Club Coach

Nicola Slater's doubles is on court 2 at 21:00 BST.

steven · Tennis legend

Hev: She's a woman with a plan, determined to do what it takes to get her game ready to compete even better with the top players - and the plan sounds very sensible & self-aware to me:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/tennis/23488731

murray_2k9 · Challenger qualifying

I could not be more pleased to read that. I think Heather already knew it and was beginning to make the changes with her second serve and forehand being notably more aggressive.

The bit that really excites me is hearing about her volleying more in singles- what a revelation! Thats something I've wanted her to do for ages because it will really upset her opponents that extra bit, conserve her energy and will change Heather into more of a dictating player.

tony_orient · ATP qualifying

steven wrote:
Hev: She's a woman with a plan, determined to do what it takes to get her game ready to compete even better with the top players - and the plan sounds very sensible & self-aware to me:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/tennis/23488731

I can see from this article why she has made the coaching change. In the past couple of years Hev has emphasised adding power to her game as the key area for improvement but now she wants to focus on variety (volleying and slicing) which I think is the right way to go.

If she can make those improvements it will help her in two key areas - being able to finish off points where she is in control and being able to disrupt the rhythm of big hitting opponents. These are areas she struggles with at the moment so I can see the potential in her game.

Peter too · Tennis legend

We may have to get used to a few more DFs and UEs in the coming months at least for a while, but so be it. I remember after one of Andy's changes of coach his percentage of aces shot up but so did his percentage of DFs. Over time however the DFs got less just leaving the aces.

philwrig · Hall of fame

steven wrote:
Hev: She's a woman with a plan, determined to do what it takes to get her game ready to compete even better with the top players - and the plan sounds very sensible & self-aware to me:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/tennis/23488731

This reminds me of a little frustration I had when watching practice ahead of the Fed Cup tie in Sweden last year. Hev was practicing a new slice shot which I felt was great so she had more variation in her game,however the result of the practice shot was poor, I think it just made it tamely into the net. But I was then disappointed with the main coach who reacted by saying I wouldn't try that again. Personally if you're trying a new shot the first results are likely to be poor, but with a bit of practice Hev may have had a great addition to her shot selection, and who knows a devastating slice in her armoury. Just felt that was a surprising comment to make by a top coach.

Anyway great article, one that gives me every confidence that Hev will start to deliver some high quality results sooner rather than later.

TomTraubert · Futures level

steven wrote:
Hev: She's a woman with a plan, determined to do what it takes to get her game ready to compete even better with the top players - and the plan sounds very sensible & self-aware to me:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/tennis/23488731

Very good article thanks for posting

i think heathers analysis is very impresive, honest and accurrate and that is often the biggest part of the battle with players to get them to admit there short comings

i really hope she can do it and just have to be patient for a year or so at least. even if she (god forbid!!!) falls out the top 100 whilst she rebuilds things

I remember nick Faldo doing a similar thing after he won the Open at Murifield that time with his ''boring'' round of 18 pars in a gale. he knew he couldn't rely on his game to always be in that shape the way it was built then so he took it apart and re build it

Brave decisions but i think wise ones

tony_orient · ATP qualifying

I wonder how much Heather watched of Kirsten Flipkens run to the Wimbledon semi-finals, as she did this without a big power game but using all of the attributes Heather mentions in this article.

albino · Intermediate Club Player

It wouldn't suprise me if Hev, like us, has worked out how hard it would be for her to make much of an improvement in her ranking in the short term. It makes sense for her to work on making these improvements now so that she is in the best possible position to take advantage when all those low mandatory scores start coming off.