Week 34 - US Open women's qualifying - Hard

steven · Tennis legend

Week 34 - US Open women's qualifying - Hard

BeefyDeedz · Pro player

That's quite a tricky draw for Naomi. I don't really know much about the Black sisters but from what I've seen, both sisters are big prospects for American tennis. It seems that they're both excellent junior players, which is generally a good sign. Interestingly, Tornado seems to have bridged the gap between juniors and women's tennis particularly early, if it's true that she's already won two 10ks and reached a 10k final at 15/16. It's often a struggle for players to develop an adult game (perhaps more of a problem in men's tennis).

I quite fancy Naomi to qualify, myself. I'd probably be more worried about Kudryavtseva than de Brito, but she can qualify if she plays well enough.

PaulM · Tennis legend

If she's not fully fit she will struggle. Tornado has a powder puff serve which needs to be attacked at every opportunity, but the rest of her game is very solid.

kundalini · Specialist Reporter + Intermediate Club Player

If Tornado plays anything like she did in Wimbledon Juniors then she'll have an annoying habit of getting the ball back. Impressive speed around the court but attacking shots are few and far between. Could easily be 6-1 6-1 or 1-6 1-6 depending on whether Naomi is in decent form or not.

indiana · Tennis legend

I actually think that's a pretty good first round draw ( with 20 points on offer ) for a Slam qualifier. If she doesn't win that match I'd think it would be rather more to do with Naomi being quite a bit short of her top form.

Hopefully, she can win that match and more.

steven · Tennis legend

Naomi is 5th on Court 11, with play due to start on each court at 16.00 BST.

philwrig · Hall of fame

If Naomi is fit and playing well, she wins 100% of the time, however as she retired in her last match and even before that wasn't playing that well, could be an upset here, fingers crossed there won't be.

indiana · Tennis legend

Indeed, Phil, that's why I called it a pretty good draw.

Coup Droit · Tennis legend

I agree - that's a good first round draw, all things considered.

Of course, naomi could lose, especially if she's slightly injured.

But she has an atypical game so it's quite hard for youngsters to adapt to - Tornado won't have played against it before and will find it odd and will probably be bursting to do well at her home Slam.

Fingers crossed . . .

PaulM · Tennis legend

CBS Sports Network will once again be showing qualifying. I watched Bally play very well to beat Oudin last year in the first round. You need to download software which gives you a US IP address to be able to watch via the US Open website.

Court 11 is a streamed court, so depending on what else is going on at the time they may well show some or all of Naomi.