Week 35: US Open (Women's Main Draw) - Hard

DF · Tennis legend

RE: Week 35: US Open (Women's Main Draw) - Hard

PaulM · Tennis legend

What in the world was that? - the errors, the movement, the shot selection, the body language, the inability to time a single groundstroke, the obvious moonballs. She actually had a shot at getting back into the match in the second set but missed a number of break points, just didn't play them smartly. Just approached the match all wrong which I think was completely mental, rather than bad tactics. With the exception of her flawless performance against Nara in Birmingham, I haven't seen one performance from Jo this year which has been positive In terms of demonstrating progression in her game. In terms of technique and ball striking she seems to have regressed this season. Again, I think it's all between the ears.

This is going to sound very harsh, but that was a pretty embarrassing performance to put in at a Grand Slam. She will no doubt be furious with herself for failing to play remotely well on the day, and rightly so. Huge opportunity and she's out huge pressure on herself for the rest of the year.

I really hope her team can find a way to help her through this patch. It would be so sad if she drops to the top 150.

-- Edited by PaulM on Monday 25th of August 2014 09:37:09 PM

Sim · County player

Moving on.... Hev is first on court 13 tomorrow so 4pm start

philwrig · Hall of fame

Clearly something is not right with Jo at the moment. Wimby was a big disappointment, particularly after Eastbourne where I watched her live and was very impressed with her form. The technique on her FH seems to have completely deserted her, Greg was talking about too many coach changes. I wonder whether the guy from Nice has departed and she's in no mans land at the moment, hope not because he seemed a good fit.

PaulM · Tennis legend

Small bit of news worth confirming, Jo was out during the summer with her wrist, so the absence wasn't related to the fall in Istanbul.

The Optimist · ATP qualifying

Any idea what was wrong with the wrist?

PaulM · Tennis legend

Phil I think that may be it, this quote from the Daily Mail is a bit vague but added to what Greg said would make sense:-

'I've had a lot of changes come my way this year, a lot of personal things. I just need to keep working hard and trust that the results will come.'

Konta was playing only her third match in more than a month after recovering from a right wrist problem.

She said: 'That's all fine now. It's my third match back so I need to get back into the swing of things. Hopefully that shouldn't take too long.'

I'm getting a lot of flashbacks to Katie, who was messed around horribly by the LTA with her allocated coaches, and it really hurt her just when she needed that stability to (funnily enough) cement her position in the top 100. Katie had found a great coaching relationship, but it ended, and then the LTA kept chopping and changing who she was working with and nothing was a good fit.

If the Lisnard relationship ended before it started, for whatever reason, it's really important she has finds someone she can work with before the end of the season, so even if she does drop to around the 160-180 mark she can have a good offseason and come back well in Oz.

-- Edited by PaulM on Tuesday 26th of August 2014 03:00:11 PM

Coup Droit · Tennis legend

Not starting well for heather :(

1*-4

PaulM · Tennis legend

Sorana is hitting the ball very cleanly, which is not what you want to see. Heather might not be able to turn this set around, but she needs to hang with the Romanian and hope she starts to fly off the handle, and be ready to pounce. At the moment it's too good.

PaulM · Tennis legend

Looks distinctly second best, Sorana playing very well and wins the first set 6-1 with ease.

Heather will do well to win a couple of games at this rate. There's not really much she could be doing.

BeefyDeedz · Pro player

Looks like Heather is being outclassed by Cirstea. I'm just really not sure about Heather's potential as of yet.

PaulM · Tennis legend

The thing is, like Jo, Heather isn't really playing a player ranked #81, she's playing a top 30 player who has had a rough year, but that's it. She's not playing a journeywoman, a woman who is untested at this level, a woman with no real credentials. She's playing someone who has been at the top of the game and achieved way more than she has.

BeefyDeedz · Pro player

I understand the scoreline, I'm disappointed that Watson has no answers and seems not to be looking for any. It feels like she's pushing but you can't push against somebody cleanly hitting winners.

Madeline · Admin:Moderator + Tennis Legend

Looks like Heather has dropped her service in the first game of the second set, too.

PaulM · Tennis legend

Sorana chucks in a couple of errors that game to allow Heather to recover the break. This match is on the Romanian's racket.

*1-1