Week 41 - WTA ($235K) - Osaka, Japan - Hard

indiana · Tennis legend

RE: Week 41 - WTA ($235K) - Osaka, Japan - Hard

Julia Carrot · All-time great

COME ON HEV

indiana · Tennis legend

Heather again saved BPs, but ended up being broken.

3 - 4 *

indiana · Tennis legend

Tight game again, went to deuce but Pica held.

* 3 - 5

indiana · Tennis legend

Went to 4 - 5 * when I wasn't really following so seems like quite a quick hold.

But now MUST break.

indiana · Tennis legend

Picapower prevailed to 15. G,S,M. 6-4 6-4

TomTraubert · Futures level

:(

hevs serve is proving to easy to get hold of for all her oponents

write this year off

though we might now see her in any of barnstaple, captiva isalnd, new braunfels, dubai or sharm el sheikh

to hopefully pick up points and confidence at season ending 50-75K's and ensure AO direct entry

though the rest might be the best thing.
but she actually has a huge part of her points to defend now in AO

indiana · Tennis legend

I just followed the livescore from Heather being 3-1 up in the second set and that was as good as it got.

The next 4 games were very tight, deuce or multiple deuce affairs, but crucially Heather lost out in all 4.

So, overall looks to have been a pretty competitive affair with 5 breaks to 3 in the match. But I'm afraid not the result Heather or her many supporters wanted.

Maza1987 · Challenger level

Probably best to start fresh next year with regards to ranking.

tony_orient · ATP qualifying

Maza1987 wrote:
Probably best to start fresh next year with regards to ranking.

I agree. It might be tempting to chase ranking points to squeeze into the Australian Open main draw, but the close season is going to be really important for Hev to get back to full fitness for 2014. If she does that, her ranking will rise soon enough.

indiana · Tennis legend

Yes, Hev's ranking could easily be down in the 200s come March time.

But she got up into the top 50 before quite quickly, so a little older and wiser she can certainly do so again. The most important thing is that she feels refreshed both physically and mentally, and then go for it !

paulisi · Tennis legend

A drop into lower quality tournaments won't do her any harm short term. In fact she probably needs to get that winning feeling back and a confidence booster.

steven · Tennis legend

Russell Fuller (BBC): "By her own admission, the pressure of defending ranking points has got to Heather Watson. Defeat in Osaka could see her drop o/s top 130"

All this pressure over the last few weeks would have been with the knowledge that she had 280 points to defend here, so in a way, the fact that the worst has now happened in this context (i.e. dropping outside the top 100 and outside the AO cut-off) might be a monkey off her back.

I hope she doesn't chase ranking points over the rest of the autumn just to try to make the AO cut-off (though it would be good if she could get a couple of wins, maybe in ITFs, before the year comes to an end) - far better that she completes her recovery and has a good off-season and then (at least after the AO is out of the way) next year should be all about moving back up and could actually be a lot of fun!

A131 · Intermediate Club Player

Don't get me wrong - I like Heather Watson she comes across as a very likeable individual - but as Russell Fuller says it is always harder to defend points than chase them and may be one or two people went a bit overboard when she won the tournament last year. What has happened to the girl she beat? - seems to have slipped away completely and she beat Stosur and Laura Robson.

indiana · Tennis legend

Interesting, Steven. Thanks for that Russell Fuller quote.

Yes, I wasn't disputing that there could be a general real pressure in defending ranking points, just that I felt it unlikely to be particularly heightened in Osaka itself.

As I said, she needed ranking points last week, the week before and next week just as much, and unfortunately it seems she has felt this over a period and it hasn't been helpful.

I remember Fitzy basically suggesting politely that he didn't really want / need a reminder of when he could specifically face a real drop down the rankings. He was just intent on producing a decent points haul over a period of time, and that would see him back up the rankings.