Week 22 - Roland Garros main draw (women) - Paris, France - Clay

paulisi · Tennis legend

RE: Week 22 - Roland Garros main draw (women) - Paris, France - Clay

steven · Tennis legend

L128: (Q) Heather Watson WR 92 beat Barbora Zahlavova-Strycova (CZE) WR 63 (CH 39 in 2010) by 3 & 4

L64: (Q) Heather Watson WR 92 v v (4) Simona Halep (ROU) WR 4 (= CH; Madrid finalist)

H2H 0-1, 3 sets, US Open R1 last year

-- Edited by steven on Tuesday 27th of May 2014 10:52:34 AM

PaulM · Tennis legend

Really good performance. A good draw, but against a tricky opponent.

Huge test against Halep now.

tony_orient · ATP qualifying

Good win for Heather, solid performance and nice that she will regain the GB No. 1 spot through gaining points herself rather than Laura having points coming off.

A bit ominous that Halep won her match so easily and it would take a massive upset for Heather to progress any further, though she did push Halep close in the US Open even though Hev was in the middle of a terrible run of form at the time.

By about this time last year we had no GB men or women left in the singles, so already an improvement.

-- Edited by tony_orient on Tuesday 27th of May 2014 11:03:36 AM

steven · Tennis legend

Heather has now equalled her top winning streak as a pro (9 matches) - the other ones were in 2009 , when she won Frinton 10K as a qualifier then qualifed for a 50K in Saguenay, and this year, when she won 4 Fed Cup matches then won Midland 100K.

-- Edited by steven on Tuesday 27th of May 2014 11:06:40 AM

philwrig · Hall of fame

Solid performance from Hev, I think she can play a little better, which I think she will against Halep with the pressure off. I think as I've said before her biggest strength is her mind. If she has a bad game she usually comes back strong the next game and that is awfully tough to play against. I noticed that she was mixing her 1st serve up between an aggressive hit and a more roll it in type serve. Against Halep she will have to gamble more.

But overall very encouraging and the Halep match will be alot closer than most people think IMO.

-- Edited by philwrig on Tuesday 27th of May 2014 11:47:21 AM

indiana · Tennis legend

Very good.

With these 9 successive wins, Hev goes 30-7 for the year ( 11-5 against top 100 players , 3-4 against top 50 ).

And as Tony said, great that she will take back the GB no 1 spot in style before we get to the grass court season and Laura loses big points.

LordBrownof · Futures level

BBC website reporting that it's her first main draw win at Roland Garros.

I give up.

Sim · County player

Also on same BCC report :

"maintaining a run that is likely to see her regain the British number one spot from the injured Laura Robson in the weeks to come."

A bit more than likely..........

steven · Tennis legend

Ah, I thought I wouldn't be the only one to notice that.

Piers: "Someone will be flogged, cheers." LOL

Peter too · Tennis legend

In an interesting interview with Heather she says she doesn't look at the draw and didn't know who her next opponent might be until after she won her match today and her coach told her that her next opponent would be Halep. She likes to concentrate on one match at a time.

Coup Droit · Tennis legend

Peter too wrote:
In an interesting interview with Heather she says she doesn't look at the draw and didn't know who her next opponent might be until after she won her match today and her coach told her that her next opponent would be Halep. She likes to concentrate on one match at a time.

Yes. I thought it was an excellent interview.

I also liked the fact that, sort of contrary to the above, she used to block out whatever her opponents were up to (tantrums whatever) and just concentrate on her own game.

Whereas now she tunes in to the emotions of her opponent and uses them as an additional tool in her favour.

Peter too · Tennis legend

Coup Droit wrote:
Peter too wrote:
In an interesting interview with Heather she says she doesn't look at the draw and didn't know who her next opponent might be until after she won her match today and her coach told her that her next opponent would be Halep. She likes to concentrate on one match at a time.

Yes. I thought it was an excellent interview.
I also liked the fact that, sort of contrary to the above, she used to block out whatever her opponents were up to (tantrums whatever) and just concentrate on her own game.
Whereas now she tunes in to the emotions of her opponent and uses them as an additional tool in her favour.

I used to play a lot of table tennis and my coach told me to always keep smiling. He said, "Even if you are a long way behind, keep smiling and convince your opponent that this is all part of your master plan and you are about to take total control of the match". I think Heather must have a similar coach.

Armchair · County player

Heather dealt with all the interviews really well.

She'll gain a lot of fans from her open, thoughtful and cheerful demeanour as well as her tennis.

Well done Hev so good to see you enjoying your game again.

indiana · Tennis legend

Good sounding theory. She'll do well to generally avoid hearing about her next or prospective next opponent.

'Good luck Hev, go get through that match and you can then sure give Halep a game.' Oops.

Kind of similar to folk recording football matches and not wanting to know the score.

Still, interesting and probably good principle for her not to actively seek out the draw, particularly then not knowing too far ahead, and concentrating on the job at hand