Week 31 - WTA ($250K) International - Citi Open Washington, USA Hard

PaulM · Tennis legend

RE: Week 31 - WTA ($250K) International - Citi Open Washington, USA Hard

Strongbow · All-time great

Well done by Naomi - Splendid effort smile

tony_orient · ATP qualifying

Good effort against a top player from Naomi, ending a fantastic run in this tournament.

One of those weeks which make her ranking of 212 seem a long way short of what she is capable of.

vohor · Grand Slam Champion

Brilliant fight Naomi; terrific week :D

Strongbow · All-time great

Joc Anna just started

wolf · Tennis legend

QF: (1) Alla Kudryavtseva & Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova (RUS/RUS) beat Jocelyn Rae & Anna Smith 6-1 6-2

wolf · Tennis legend

57 aces in 4 matches for Naomi in this tournament.

Peter too · Tennis legend

R2: BROADY, Naomi (GBR) 212 lost to MAKAROVA, Ekaterina 1 12 4-6 6-7(2)

Strongbow · All-time great

Joc/Anna lost against the top seeds 1-6 2-6 cry

Oakland2002 · All-time great

Ok so that's settled it, Naomi should never bother with a second serve ever.

indiana · Tennis legend

Superb serving performance by Naomi and that's the best general week of serving from Naomi I can recall. She has before done similar, but more on a one or two off.

I remain unconvinced for much of the reasons I have previously given about employing a first serve as second serve as any general rule even against much better players. But it's an interesting thought and maybe someone can prepare a thesis for her and her coach.

Naomi will be back into the top 200 with sod all to defend for the rest of this year ( effectively currently a net 2 points, 10 to come off in October and her best non counter is 8 ).

I can't help looking at Naomi with some feelings "if only". If only that great serve had become much more ingrained day to day, week to week ( great as it has been this week , to have it as a pretty reliable weapon would be tremendous ) and if a number of the fundamentals in her stroke making and general game had been got hold of by some really good coaching at an early age ( it is the relative lack of back up game that I accept does make the first / first serve idea a real consideration against the top players ).

To me, Naomi may be the top 100 ( even top 50 ? ) player that got away. But at least for now she is back in that top 200 and a good end to the year can really push up her ranking a lot further.

-- Edited by indiana on Friday 7th of August 2015 06:58:14 AM

paulisi · Tennis legend

For those not aware, Naomi seems that have been working with Fitzy over the last couple of weeks.

indiana · Tennis legend

Thanks paulisi, didn't know that. Bonus for Fitzy !

paulisi · Tennis legend

I'm not sure of the situation with Fitzy now as Wozza was playing at Stanford this week and Fitzy is on Washington. I suspect he is not longer working with Wozza.

Fitzy was definitely working with Naomi this week and probably last week as well. I've no idea if this is just temporary or permanent, but Naomi's earnings over the last 2 years means she may be able to pay for coaching/hitting partners now

Coup Droit · Tennis legend

indiana wrote:
Thanks paulisi, didn't know that. Bonus for Fitzy !

yes, cheers, paulisi.

Good to know more about Naomi's set-up and always good to know that our ex-pros are working and doing well.

I noted in fitzy's tweets about Naomi he hashtags 'justthebeginning' - don't know if he meant just the beginning for Naomi (i.e. on the bigger stage) or just the beginning for the two of them and their partnership (or indeed both).

But tx again