Week 38 - WTA ($500K) - Guangzhou, China - Hard

john · Top national player

RE: Week 38 - WTA ($500K) - Guangzhou, China - Hard

korriban · Challenger level

john wrote:
korriban wrote:
indiana wrote:
I noticed the other day that Laura hasn't got past the L16 stage in any tournanent this year.
I sometimes wonder when the press and tennis pundits who keep hyping her will notice the fact that she hasn't won a tournament of any description since the age of 14.
Great forehand. Unbelievable power. Can be unplayable for a set or even a match. Very nice girl. Still a teenager. But at the moment, that's very much it.......I think the best thing that could happen to her for the long haul would be a noticeable drop off in ranking and expectations and hype while she puts in the hard work needed to resolve the outstanding issues in her game. Which are still considerable. If she sticks around the 20-40 mark (probably with one-off good weeks and intermittent top 10 wins, yet even more bad losses) we might still be having the same discussion in 2-3 years time.
Still, always hopeful of a breakthrough in Asia. Good luck!
I think that's quite negative. She's a teenager who's beaten top 10 players in Grand Slams more than once and clearly has a very big game that just needs refining a little and she will regularly be winning tournaments.

I agree her game might benefit from a few tweaks. However her movement, athleticism and endurance needs a huge amount of work in order to be able to execute using her big game more consistently. I'm not being negative, just trying to be realistic that there's no shortcuts any more, given the athletes over the other side of the net. We may have a long long wait.

indiana · Tennis legend

And, korriban, Laura is still the best ranked teenager in the world with a number of outstanding high ranking victories and two last 16 Slam appearances in the last 13 months, the latest as GB's first women's slam seed since way back when...

I am sorry for some facts as opposed to hype, and I actually do not think Laura gets particularly overhyped these days. She simply is a very good tennis player with clear potential to go much further. Chart her rankings over the last 2 or 3 years, it's actually a very good general course. And she has such a big game compared to other young players such ss Beck of Germany.

Of course she has still very clear areas for improvement, particularly in adding consistency and better mobility to that strong game, which to me is very exciting in itself for the future. She is still maturing, surely we need no repetition of the fact that players mature at different paces ?

Of course many folk ( me even at times ) want more quicker and she can be frustrating. Yes, she needs to be more consistent within some matches and particularly match to match within tournaments - next year I certainly want to see her going deep in intetnationals and / or non premium mandatories. Hopefully she will have this time a more illness and injury free year than she has had the last couple of years. For I want her going up these rankings, maybe after dropping a bit this year end, fulfilling many of these expectations ( as opposed tp this pverhype that I just don't see ! )

Yes, you will gather that as for this ow, wow, where has it all being going wrong for this overhyped girl ?! - I just don't see it and am sorry that my previous purely factual post was maybe intetpreted as serious criticism and even more sorry that it gave an opening for the bunkum ( in my.opinion ) that followed !

I'm sorry if this appears overstrong, but I thought we'd got.past a little while ago different folk piping up every 6 months or do after some setback or other - oh, that Laura's overhyped.

philwrig · Hall of fame

Another impressive win over Nara by Jo, and a great draw.

Expectations for Laura are lowish here but for the fact she's got a draw to die for.
Unable to train much since the US open ( wisdom teeth, brief break in Greece and resting wrist ) so won't be 100%.
Also I've seen a picture of her in China and her wrist is still strapped, so hopefully again the wrist is not in any danger of getting worse.

I think Laura has had a slightly disappointing year, but I think 2014 will see a strong year for her. At her best this year she has looked better than her best from 2013 even if it hasn't been that often. I think she'll be a solid top 30 player by the end of 2014.

I think ultimately she can get into the top 10 but it won't be easy.

indiana · Tennis legend

I pretty much agree with all that, Phil, though I was already aware that we are generally in agreement re the long term prognosis on Laura's progress and ultimate capabilities.

korriban · Challenger level

I don't think anyone on this forum over-hypes Laura at all.

I do think superb one-off victories and undeniably sensational shotmaking can be misleading. They can tantalise about what might be.....

But in my opinion her media exposure, marketing, PR and the commercial side would appear to be more in keeping with someone who is regarded as a star of the future. That's part of what I mean by hype.

Furthermore, I also think most tennis pundits and former players as well as the balance of tennis journalists generally talk of her in terms of a future top 5 or top 10 player, and there is almost always discussion over whether she will or won't win Grand Slams one day. There is never such talk about Heather, nor indeed with many of the players currently ranked above her. Again that's what I see as hype.

It may all be justified...........

I actually think Heather may do far better than Laura over the next 2-3 years......with limited "hype"

tony_orient · ATP qualifying

I would agree with 'slightly disappointing' as a accurate description of Laura's year so far, and that's pretty much what she said herself in the US Open press conference. The main reason for that is the very tough spell she endured in the spring where she was completely out of form and as we now know not getting along with her coach. Wimbledon has clearly been the highlight so far but with only 2 tournaments in 2 1/2 months since due to injury she has had no chance to build on that momentum.

The end phase of the season has always been good for Laura so hopefully she is now fully fit and able to perform well in Asia again.

john · Top national player

korriban wrote:
I don't think anyone on this forum over-hypes Laura at all.
I do think superb one-off victories and undeniably sensational shotmaking can be misleading. They can tantalise about what might be.....
But in my opinion her media exposure, marketing, PR and the commercial side would appear to be more in keeping with someone who is regarded as a star of the future. That's part of what I mean by hype.
Furthermore, I also think most tennis pundits and former players as well as the balance of tennis journalists generally talk of her in terms of a future top 5 or top 10 player, and there is almost always discussion over whether she will or won't win Grand Slams one day. There is never such talk about Heather, nor indeed with many of the players currently ranked above her. Again that's what I see as hype.
It may all be justified...........
I actually think Heather may do far better than Laura over the next 2-3 years......with limited "hype"

But she's ranked far ahead of Heather and not one of the "players ranked above her" are teenagers...

indiana · Tennis legend

How many "one-off" victories does a player have to have before they are not "one off" ?

The fact is Laura has had a number of very big wins. These are not just tantalising glimpses as to what might be, they are not figments of our imagination, but demonstrations of what an already powerful player she can be on her day.

Yes, I think just about anyone would acknowledge that Laura needs to do it a hell of a lot more consistently. But she CAN already beat very good players, and I think more consistency ( allied to technical improvements ) will steadily come. With the right guidance over the next few years and of course hard work by herself, I agree with Phil that Laura is likely to become a top 10 player. I have thought this for a number of years and still think it.

I like Heather a lot, but to my mind Laura's best markedly exceeds Heather's best, as does her ultimate rankings potential. All the best to both of them.

And, korriban, I still JUST DO NOT GET THIS OVERHYPE ! The papers, TV, pundits, they are all on about this huge great star and future Wimbledon champion - err, well no, not that I hear and read although I do hear reasoned discussion about what a good prospect she continues to be. Are folk not meant to write about or talk at all about someone a lot of folk genuinely think has still got a big future ? And gee let's not even mention the facts that she is the top ranked teenager in the worlld ( still after a year that hasn't gone as well as she had hoped ) or that she is the first GB woman seeded in a slam in donkeys. I mean such simple facts might be construed as hype.

It's as if you are inventing a non existent hype monster that you are determined to fight and keep in check. All very strange !

I rather enjoy that we have two such good young tennis players in Laura and Heather, although for neither ( Heather in particular for events outside her cpntro

indiana · Tennis legend

Oh, sent that off by mistake before I hsd quite finished, but you get the gist...

TomTraubert · Futures level

john wrote:
But she's ranked far ahead of Heather and not one of the "players ranked above her" are teenagers...

svitolina has a very good chance to pass her this week though

i talk to lots of neutral tennis fans about robbo they all say the same thing more or less

they like her

but they also dont want to watch her play

its coz her games are almost unwatchably random

~4 times a year she plays a great whole match - the rest of the time even when winning its UE city!!! going for magic shots and hardly making any - random short ugly points no flow no rythm nothing to get behind - my summing of there words and thoughts

even good wins on paper had people scratchin heads - kvitova at AO, good scalp, awful awful awful match

they all see the ability the big shots but they'd rather watch more consistent and predictable players coz as a neutral you cant chance watch laura be hoping for the makiri or aga victories and having to maybe sit through the niculescu in hobart, the hantuchova in doha, putintseva in dubai, arvidsson in IW, genie in charleston, LDL in katowice, morita in Oerias etc etc

they were all unwatchable for a neutral

neutrals also dont get why she is so big on twitter or with adidas they no she is big potential, but look objective at higher achievers who are virtual invisible and ask why - not as agianst laura, just they don't understand the value placed on her ........ YET

some even mention kournikova - and i give em a beat down if they do thats way unfair

anyway sure someone will say - I speak to folks to and they dont say that and wotnot - lol!

just relating what ive come to understand of laura out of the rabid uk bubble

TomTraubert · Futures level

joko due on court very soon

TomTraubert · Futures level

jk with a break *4-3

Coup Droit · Tennis legend

And wins the first set 6-3.

TomTraubert · Futures level

nice convincing job in that set