Week 16 - ITF ($25K) - Karshi, Uzbekistan - Hard

TomTraubert · Futures level

RE: Week 16 - ITF ($25K) - Karshi, Uzbekistan - Hard

Mervatron · Masters Series Champion

Good start for both. Hope they keep on winning

steven · Tennis legend

L32: (5) Naomi Broady WR 218 beat Chantal Skamlova SVK WR 431 (CH 397 in Nov) by 1 & 2

L32: (7) Tara Moore WR 242 beat (WC) Arina Folts (UZB) WR 873 (= CH) by 0 & 2

L16: (5) Naomi Broady WR 218 v Yana Buchina (RUS) WR 387 (CH 334 last Aug)
L16: (7) Tara Moore WR 242 v (LL) Alena Tarasova (RUS) WR 465 (CH 443 in Dec)

paulisi · Tennis legend

Really good chance for our two girls to push on these two weeks and pick up some good points. Neither tournament is particularly strong and both players will be seeded next week.

Both need to replace points that are dropping off this week.

Mervatron · Masters Series Champion

I'd like to see both pushing for the top 200 before the grass season. They are both better than their current rankings. I should think Naomi should be top 175 and Tara should comfortably be top 150

AliBlahBlah · All-time great

Disappointment in the doubles with an early exit. Hopefully the singles exploits this week will provide ample compensation.

R1: BROADY/MOORE (GBR) [1] lost to BYCHKOVA/KUDERMETOVA (RUS) 5-7 5-7 bleh

Coup Droit · Tennis legend

paulisi wrote:
Really good chance for our two girls to push on these two weeks and pick up some good points. Neither tournament is particularly strong and both players will be seeded next week.

Both need to replace points that are dropping off this week.

Naomi has a far more 'stable' points total, though, far less vulnerable, because she has so many good 'non-counters' in reserve. She's got a 6 and some 4 s in reserve and, after this week, only 14 points to defend between now and Wimbledon

Tara has only mainly 2s and 1s in reserve and 30 points to defend after this week.

Agree with Mervanton that tara should be a LOT higher, but her year so far has been pretty disappointing.

As you say, paulisi, maybe this is the time to really make a difference - great chance for both, that's for sure . . .

Jaggy1876 · Grand Slam Champion

I'd say the opposite to what has been said in that Naomi is top 150 with Tara 175 not much evidence on Tara being higher but hopefully I ll be wrong.

Coup Droit · Tennis legend

Jaggy1876 wrote:
I'd say the opposite to what has been said in that Naomi is top 150 with Tara 175 not much evidence on Tara being higher but hopefully I ll be wrong.

I know what you mean and it's certainly true that Naomi has had a far better last 6-9 months than Tara.

But I guess my point would be that, when you see Tara play at her A1 best, she looks every bit a top 50 player, it's all there. And hence she's had some amazingly close matches (eg last Wimbledon)

But when you see naomi play at the A1 best, it's true she has some excellent weapons but she still has some major weaknesses. Now obviously in some matches the weapons will outweigh the weaknesses and it'll depend on her opponent etc. etc. but it's just hard to see her really being a top 80 player. However, it definitely takes all sorts and maybe if her weapons just get better and better then the other side matters less and less (i.e. do you train to take care of the 'weakest link' in your game? Or do you train to just maximise the strongest point in your game?). And she's still got age well on her side so if she makes the top 150 I wouldn't be surprised. But can't see much higher. Tara, on the other hand, will really be 'one who got away' if she doesn't make the top 100, IMHO.

Mervatron · Masters Series Champion

Agree with Coup Droit's analysis. That's the reason why I see Tara as the higher potential

philwrig · Hall of fame

Coup Droit wrote:
Jaggy1876 wrote:
I'd say the opposite to what has been said in that Naomi is top 150 with Tara 175 not much evidence on Tara being higher but hopefully I ll be wrong.

I know what you mean and it's certainly true that Naomi has had a far better last 6-9 months than Tara.

But I guess my point would be that, when you see Tara play at her A1 best, she looks every bit a top 50 player, it's all there. And hence she's had some amazingly close matches (eg last Wimbledon)
But when you see naomi play at the A1 best, it's true she has some excellent weapons but she still has some major weaknesses. Now obviously in some matches the weapons will outweigh the weaknesses and it'll depend on her opponent etc. etc. but it's just hard to see her really being a top 80 player. However, it definitely takes all sorts and maybe if her weapons just get better and better then the other side matters less and less (i.e. do you train to take care of the 'weakest link' in your game? Or do you train to just maximise the strongest point in your game?). And she's still got age well on her side so if she makes the top 150 I wouldn't be surprised. But can't see much higher. Tara, on the other hand, will really be 'one who got away' if she doesn't make the top 100, IMHO.

Agreed, I remember when Bollettieri had Tara down as the best 14 year old at his academy, and comfortably ahead of Hev at that time. When Tara is on she has top 50 potential ( Birmingham/Wimby last year ), whereas when Naomi is on her potential is top 100.

indiana · Tennis legend

Tara does seem to be a bit of a "rise to the occasion" player ( Wimbledon / Fed Cup ) and her best is quite exciting. I am always very interested in "best" since this is more an indication of ultimate potential, if not necessarily final destination.

It is certainly the main reason why Laura more excites me than Heather, though I really like Heather. If everything goes well for them ( and much of that is up to them ) I simply see Laura as the ultimately higher achiever. You don't repeatedly compete well with and indeed beat top players by accident, but need to be able to do it consistently and back to back.

Naomi is a bit different from these others, in that she also has a "best" that excites. But that is much more to do with the good elements of her game coming together and the issues in her game being at least controlled. Ultimately, although she can and should climb quite a bit higher, say to top 150, I personally could see Tara going higher. But I wouldn't put money on it.

Jaggy1876 · Grand Slam Champion

Interesting comments I still see Naomi as the better player of the two and I think she will be about 50-100 places higher at year end rankings so we shall see. Without checking I'm sure Naomi has beaten higher ranked players more consistently than Tara.

That said Naomi did lose to Sabrina a couple of years ago!

Coup Droit · Tennis legend

tara's won the first set 6-1

Coup Droit · Tennis legend

L16: (7) Tara Moore WR 242 def. (LL) Alena Tarasova (RUS) WR 465 (CH 443 in Dec) 6-1 6-4

(Bit of a wobble in the second, got broken back for 4-4, all very close, and then she closed it out . . . :) )