Week 12 - WTA Premier Mandatory - Miami FL, USA - Hard

Spectator · All-time great

RE: Week 12 - WTA Premier Mandatory - Miami FL, USA - Hard

philwrig · Hall of fame

Oh no, Hev was apparently serving underhand at the end of her match.

tony_orient · ATP qualifying

Sounds like it was an injury affected performance from Heather:

Ben Rothenberg ‏@BenRothenberg 4m
Virginie Razzano beats wild card Heather Watson 6-4, 6-0 in Miami. Not there yet, but heard Heather was serving underhandedly at the end.

Hopefully nothing too serious

indiana · Tennis legend

Darn, pity. I wonder when Heather picked up whatever injury she evidently has.

And ( getting too ahead of myself ) I really liked that L64 draw against Flipkens.

AliBlahBlah · All-time great

tony_orient wrote:
Sounds like it was an injury affected performance from Heather:

Ben Rothenberg ‏@BenRothenberg 4m
[...] but heard Heather was serving underhandedly at the end.

Hopefully nothing too serious

Underarm, perhaps, and that would be worrying.

I refuse to countenance however that Heather would ever resort to serving underhandedly! It's a very big difference.

In some sense an injury is almost a relief, as it lessens the chance of GF being a cause, and also all but eliminates just a "bad day at the office" because that lacklustre a performance from Hev is just not her, and it would set a troubling precedent.

Hoping for a very short term injury, maybe something like a trapped nerve. Hopefully Mr. Rothenberg will elucidate further in due course tonight.

insomniacfolder · Challenger level

I hope that Heather is OK. I have been anxiously scouring the usual sources for any hard evidence about what happened today, but can't find anything yet beyond a restatement of the score.

Osprey
She is down for the $50K in Osprey next week, and even if she is fit and able to play, I sincerely hope that she withdraws from that event. It is the most thankless, over-subscribed event of the year simply because of its proximity to Miami.

Players not expecting to reach the second week in Miami enter, and if they do lose in the first week, all pile in to this event just down the road, for some, supposedly, easy points.

There was talk about looking at the scheduling last year after about half a dozen top 100 players were unseeded at a $50K, and the main draw cut off was 126 - higher than many International level events. Nothing, however, seems to have changed this year. Personally I don't think this is a worthwhile event to enter even if fit; even if successful, you play a lot of tough tennis for a reward that is not commensurate to the effort expended.

insomniacfolder · Challenger level

Update from The Telegraph (Briggs)
Shoulder injury from 3 days ago and a "shifted rib"

www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/tennis/10709941/Heather-Watson-forced-to-serve-underarm-in-Sony-Open-defeat-due-to-shoulder-injury.html

Bob in Spain · Tennis legend

There is no mention of injury or underarm serving in the BBC report, which simply states that "A series of double faults and poor shot selection from Watson helped Razzano close out the match".

www.bbc.com/sport/0/tennis/26654709

But the picture is quite revealing. Certainly some heavy strapping on the right shoulder. I am guessing that whoever wrote the BBC report didn't actually see the match.

-- Edited by Bob in Spain on Thursday 20th of March 2014 08:18:17 AM

Spectator · All-time great

Ah yes, the BBC's tennis reporting. Every time I get asked to complete one of their user surveys, I note how often their tennis stories are flawed or partial. True, there are budget limitations, and they can't be all things to all people, but presumably they have access to interview transcripts as well as the same basic information the rest of us have. And frankly, anyone who knows anything at all about Ms Watson would worry about a scoreline like that against Razzano: it's just not her style.

TomTraubert · Futures level

sky coverage here is even worser coz it makes it seem as though its rep WAS there by stating thing like:

Double faults and a poor shot selection failed to help Watson, whose first-serve percentage was just 14 while her only two break-point opportunities were brushed aside before the Frenchwoman clinched the contest on serve and with her first match point.
like there reporter saw the poor shot choices and the 'brushing aside' and the dreadful unexplained serving.

but they dont mention the underarm serve or any injury so i bet they just brought the AP copy to but rewrote it to give the false impresion which is something they do a lot of in all areas - as ian hislop can tell you!!!

http://www1.skysports.com/tennis/news/12110/9222083/wta-sony-open-heather-watson-loses-in-the-first-round-in-miami

philwrig · Hall of fame

Per Simon Briggs who's out there in Miami :

www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/tennis/10709941/Heather-Watson-forced-to-serve-underarm-in-Sony-Open-defeat-due-to-shoulder-injury.html

Doesn't seem too serious, but soo frustrating.