Week 40 - WTA Premier Mandatory - Beijing,China - Hard

kundalini · Specialist Reporter + Intermediate Club Player

Week 40 - WTA Premier Mandatory - Beijing,China - Hard

steven · Tennis legend

New rankings:

L32: Laura Robson WR 41 v (7) Angelique Kerber (GER) WR 9 (CH 5 in 2012)

philwrig · Hall of fame

Will be on the telly I think.

Julia Carrot · All-time great

philwrig wrote:
Will be on the telly I think.

You mean 'proper telly' as opposed to streams, or bt sport which can be watched on telly, or what Phil ?? Whatever, I hope you are going to watch a bit more than you said you did of her last match.

Miriambee · Futures level

Eurosport 1 are showing Beijing matches, today it was most of the daytime.

Julia Carrot · All-time great

Thanks Miriambee. I forgot about the existence of Eurosport. Though do not subscribe, at the moment.

philwrig · Hall of fame

Julia Carrot wrote:
philwrig wrote:
Will be on the telly I think.
You mean 'proper telly' as opposed to streams, or bt sport which can be watched on telly, or what Phil ?? Whatever, I hope you are going to watch a bit more than you said you did of her last match.

It's a strange one, Eurosport are advertising the fact on twitter, and have it on the Sky guide, whereas BT Sport are saying nothing about it and have other matches on the Sky tv guide.

tony_orient · ATP qualifying

The sky guide for BT hasn't been reliable so far. Last week in Tokyo it listed Sunday's matches on the Monday, and Sunday wasn't even televised. Pretty sure Eurosport and BT have the same rights so I would imagine Laura's match will be on both. I'll only be able to watch at lunch though so I'm hoping it's still going at 1pm

korriban · Challenger level

Jajon wrote:
korriban wrote:

Looks like you are the one having a hissy fit.
I promised I would stop posting on this forum should anyone be openly rude and make personal insults. That day has come.
I will of course continue to read the excellent posts from Steven, Indiana, Bob in Spain and many others who contribute facts as well as debate and opinion, rather than simply anodinedrivel. Thanks to all!

I think you were the poster who brought up the expression "hissy fit", I merely put it back to you.

If that makes me rude, or somehow hypocritical, then I apologise. I don't think you were being at all rude to me earlier, and if you were trying to make a personal insult towards me, I'm afraid it's all gone over my head. Sometimes I deserve it anyway! smile

I don't agree with you, but I hope you realise my irritation with Laura is because IMO she is so talented and special and that her laziness on movement/footwork (or probably more relevantly her coaches laziness in not correcting it; perhaps for fear of being sacked for forcing her to do "boring stuff" when she could beat everyone her own age anyway) - ie something so simple/basic - is preventing her from being a world-beater.

If Usain Bolt kept forgetting to tie his shoelaces and secure his starting blocks every week, he'd still probably win his fair share of races, but it would frustrate and confuse everyone watching, who would ask "why can't he and his coaches just sort this out" - that's how I feel about Laura's footwork/positioning sometimes

-- Edited by korriban on Tuesday 1st of October 2013 01:36:26 PM

Helen40 · Grand Slam Champion

Looks like Sloane and Eugenie are having a humdinger!

korriban · Challenger level

Looking forward to actually watching Laura this afternoon.

We'll have to add 6 minutes extra as Vavs Lepchenko decided she needed a toilet break lasting that long after losing the second set from dominating the first. Momentum is an oft abused word in sport, but in tennis there is no doubt that it can change very quicly within a match and so "stopping the train" is clearly important when you are under the cosh.

Literally Lepchenko ambled off court. ITF please come up with a solution......there must be something you can do, surely!

korriban · Challenger level

philwrig wrote:
I see Laura's position as this. Because of the hype/expectation there is due to the junior Wimby win at 14, any defeats are perceived to be due to a poor performance. For example today a decent effort in the second set is ignored and a balanced view is not given. Even her so called fans e.g on TF slate her when she loses. If she wins the hype/expectation is just raised further.
If you look at it, yes she has world class ball striking talent, but she doesn't have world class athleticism. Unlike Andy Murray she has a huge weakness there. It doesn't matter how hard she works that will always be a weakness and something that will hold her back in winning grand slams/raeching the top of the womens game.

Now we know as well that she is facing a long term health condition that is likely to only to get worse( not sure Annie K should have let Sam Smith reveal that information on commentary), we don't have a very positive situation.

Phil. Whats the health issue - clearly Laura was a little unwell, but I had sound off so missed the explanation.

BTW. There are quite a few examples of so so or even poor athletes who maximised/worked very hard on their weakness and did well for themselves, particularly on the women's side. Marion Bartoli, Lindsay Davenport, Mary Pierce.....even Maria Sharapova upto a point. Plus even before the athletic stuff clicks in, good footwork and good positioning benefits even a poor athlete in tennis.......

.....hope there really is nothing long term to worry about healthwise.....much more important than tennis

-- Edited by korriban on Tuesday 1st of October 2013 06:22:34 PM

Miriambee · Futures level

korriban wrote:
Looking forward to actually watching Laura this afternoon.
We'll have to add 6 minutes extra as Vavs Lepchenko decided she needed a toilet break lasting that long after losing the second set from dominating the first. Momentum is an oft abused word in sport, but in tennis there is no doubt that it can change very quicly within a match and so "stopping the train" is clearly important when you are under the cosh.
Literally Lepchenko ambled off court. ITF please come up with a solution......there must be something you can do, surely!

Was it Milts who got penalised for taking a long loo break, to such an extent that he went from 4-3 down in the final set to losing the whole match 6-3?

Was that ITF or ATP?

kundalini · Specialist Reporter + Intermediate Club Player

Eurosport mentioned Laura's chronic bronchitis too (either Annabel Croft or Simon Reed)

As for philwrig's point, the list of slam winners and world number 1s who were poor movers but good ball strikers is a long one: Davenport, Sharapova, Ivanovic for starters.

-- Edited by kundalini on Tuesday 1st of October 2013 06:20:32 PM

steven · Tennis legend

Miriambee wrote:
korriban wrote:
Looking forward to actually watching Laura this afternoon.
We'll have to add 6 minutes extra as Vavs Lepchenko decided she needed a toilet break lasting that long after losing the second set from dominating the first. Momentum is an oft abused word in sport, but in tennis there is no doubt that it can change very quicly within a match and so "stopping the train" is clearly important when you are under the cosh.
Literally Lepchenko ambled off court. ITF please come up with a solution......there must be something you can do, surely!

Was it Milts who got penalised for taking a long loo break, to such an extent that he went from 4-3 down in the final set to losing the whole match 6-3?
Was that ITF or ATP?

It was Alex Ward and it was in a Spanish Futures event last week (i.e. ITF)