Fed Cup 2016 - Europe/Africa Group 1

GBJ · Club Coach

RE: Fed Cup 2016 - Europe/Africa Group 1

WavenNarsam · Lower Club Player

Jan wrote:

But well fought Katie - you've had a good debut!

-- Edited by Jan on Saturday 6th of February 2016 09:22:25 AM

Completely agree. If I'm honest, I expected she would win the two ties from the group and I had little expectations she could win this one going into it and she did well to make it a real battle. It's just frustrating that most of her serve stats (even in the third set) were improving throughout the match and it still wasn't enough in the end. When she leveled the match and held comfortably in the first game winning all the points on her second serve, I thought she was going to win, but tennis is a strange game sometimes and that final set was pretty strange.

The main positive I think Katie can take from this week is she can play at a much higher level than her current ranking and maybe she anticipated (although she's always been confident of her ability) and that should be a good sign for the rest of her season and hopefully a rapid rise up the rankings is possible.

Coup Droit · Tennis legend

tony_orient wrote:
Despite not being able to win today, it's been a really good Fed Cup showing by Katie and she has done herself and her country proud. I'm sure that won't stop her feeling pretty down about today's result though, but she will feel a lot better if Heather and then Joss & Anna win their matches!

The first serve stats (4 pts from 19) in the third set is strange and hard to explain without seeing a match. It's fairly usual to see first serve % or pts won on second serve fall to very low numbers but much less so % won behind the first serve.

The most obvious guess, especially for a junior, is that she took a lot off her first serve, just wanting to be assured of getting it in, (and take pressure off her second serve) and so it wasn't really a 'first' serve as such and hence easy for the opponent. But as Katie has a strong serve, that's less likely than with some of the other players. But that would be my guess. Maybe our man on the ground will let us know? smile

steven · Tennis legend

Despite the rankings deficits, the bookies make GB favourites for the other two rubbers, giving Hev a 56% chance of winning and Joss/Anna a 62.5% chance. Of course, that only works out to a 35% chance of winning the whole tie.

insomniacfolder · Challenger level

GBJ wrote:
Encouraging that she made it close despite some of the issues mentioned so well done for that Katie. Very interested to hear from someone who saw the match. Can I get a live scores link pls?

I'm using this: http://fedcup.tennis-live-scores.com/scoreboard.html

wimdledont · Challenger level

I do hope not, but the other obvious explanation is that she has picked up an injury, or aggravated an existing one, and continued playing when she might have retired if in individual competition, but with a much weakened first serve.

tony_orient · ATP qualifying

Coup Droit wrote:
tony_orient wrote:
Despite not being able to win today, it's been a really good Fed Cup showing by Katie and she has done herself and her country proud. I'm sure that won't stop her feeling pretty down about today's result though, but she will feel a lot better if Heather and then Joss & Anna win their matches!

The first serve stats (4 pts from 19) in the third set is strange and hard to explain without seeing a match. It's fairly usual to see first serve % or pts won on second serve fall to very low numbers but much less so % won behind the first serve.

The most obvious guess, especially for a junior, is that she took a lot off her first serve, just wanting to be assured of getting it in, (and take pressure off her second serve) and so it wasn't really a 'first' serve as such and hence easy for the opponent. But as Katie has a strong serve, that's less likely than with some of the other players. But that would be my guess. Maybe our man on the ground will let us know?

It's possible, but if it was a tactic it was clearly not working, and you would think Judy would have told her to start hitting the first serve again. It might just be one of those random things from a small sample size that Katie happened to play those points badly and her opponent played them well, but to go from 12/12 to 4/19 is just strange. Frustrating as Katie was well into her opponents serve too.

WavenNarsam · Lower Club Player

Bonaventure's points won on serve per set:

Set 1: 13/22
Set 2: 19/36
Set 3: 14/26

Compare that to Katie's:

Set 1: 14/32
Set 2: 16/19
Set 3: 11/29

So the conclusion I can draw from that, like is often the case in tennis, is that the steadier player won.

-- Edited by WavenNarsam on Saturday 6th of February 2016 09:48:04 AM

Coup Droit · Tennis legend

tony_orient wrote:
Coup Droit wrote:
tony_orient wrote:
Despite not being able to win today, it's been a really good Fed Cup showing by Katie and she has done herself and her country proud. I'm sure that won't stop her feeling pretty down about today's result though, but she will feel a lot better if Heather and then Joss & Anna win their matches!

The first serve stats (4 pts from 19) in the third set is strange and hard to explain without seeing a match. It's fairly usual to see first serve % or pts won on second serve fall to very low numbers but much less so % won behind the first serve.

The most obvious guess, especially for a junior, is that she took a lot off her first serve, just wanting to be assured of getting it in, (and take pressure off her second serve) and so it wasn't really a 'first' serve as such and hence easy for the opponent. But as Katie has a strong serve, that's less likely than with some of the other players. But that would be my guess. Maybe our man on the ground will let us know?
It's possible, but if it was a tactic it was clearly not working, and you would think Judy would have told her to start hitting the first serve again. It might just be one of those random things from a small sample size that Katie happened to play those points badly and her opponent played them well, but to go from 12/12 to 4/19 is just strange. Frustrating as Katie was well into her opponents serve too.

Yes, quite.

The only worry is that Phil says she wasn't going for her first serve all the time yesterday either (although that might have been tactical) and that, if she DID start taking a lot off her first serve today, it was because she has a slight reoccurence of the old injury. But that's jumping ahead and probably nonsense (although certainly a possibility)

wimdledont · Challenger level

Heather's match has started.

van Uytvanck has had very patchy form on the WTA since her breakthrough QF at RG, recently double-bagelled by Azarenka in Oz, and recently beaten by Bouchard.

insomniacfolder · Challenger level

Hev under way, fending off 2 BP's, but broken on a third.
It's gonna be a fraught hour or two!
0-1*

WavenNarsam · Lower Club Player

Coup Droit wrote:
tony_orient wrote:
Coup Droit wrote:
tony_orient wrote:
Despite not being able to win today, it's been a really good Fed Cup showing by Katie and she has done herself and her country proud. I'm sure that won't stop her feeling pretty down about today's result though, but she will feel a lot better if Heather and then Joss & Anna win their matches!

The first serve stats (4 pts from 19) in the third set is strange and hard to explain without seeing a match. It's fairly usual to see first serve % or pts won on second serve fall to very low numbers but much less so % won behind the first serve.

The most obvious guess, especially for a junior, is that she took a lot off her first serve, just wanting to be assured of getting it in, (and take pressure off her second serve) and so it wasn't really a 'first' serve as such and hence easy for the opponent. But as Katie has a strong serve, that's less likely than with some of the other players. But that would be my guess. Maybe our man on the ground will let us know?
It's possible, but if it was a tactic it was clearly not working, and you would think Judy would have told her to start hitting the first serve again. It might just be one of those random things from a small sample size that Katie happened to play those points badly and her opponent played them well, but to go from 12/12 to 4/19 is just strange. Frustrating as Katie was well into her opponents serve too.
Yes, quite.
The only worry is that Phil says she wasn't going for her first serve all the time yesterday either (although that might have been tactical) and that, if she DID start taking a lot off her first serve today, it was because she has a slight reoccurence of the old injury. But that's jumping ahead and probably nonsense (although certainly a possibility)

I would probably say it isn't down to an injury if she is able to win all points on the first serve in the second set. I might be inclined to believe it could be an injury if the second set was the first set, but of course it wasn't. :P

tony_orient · ATP qualifying

Heather down 0-2 after two long games, and you get the feeling this could be a long match.

DF · Tennis legend

Senior player NOT steadying the ship. Not going according o plan at the moment.

wimdledont · Challenger level

tony_orient wrote:
Heather down 0-2 after two long games, and you get the feeling this could be a long match.

Heather's fit as a fiddle, and should relish the prospect of a long match.