vohor wrote:

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Good idea :)

Naomi had a singles CH 138 on 29.9.14 but then went through a sticky patch; her current run of form started at the Washington WTA International in early August when she won through 3 rounds of qualifying and won her R1 to be back inside the top 200 at 193; she followed that by landing the 25k title at, ahem, Landisville to rise to 170; on 21.9.15 she took out her CH by reaching the SFs at the Quebec International to be world #127; a week later she reached the final of the Alberquerque 75k to be new CH 122; next CH was 116 on 12.10.15 (rising 6 places after a week when she hadn't been playing!); she then reached the QFs of the Auckland International, including taking out world #16 Ivanovic in R1, to be new CH 112 on 11.1.16; and lastly she won the Midland 100k to be new CH 96.

A nice 6 months it must be said :D

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By way of update, just to mention that on 15.2.16 Naomi (after a week when she wasn't even playing!) went +3 to her current CH 93; which is about to be taken out on Monday having reached the QFs of the Malaysian Open WTA International; at the very least she'll be new CH 87 and much higher if she manages to beat Lisicki...which she duly did (3rd seed Lisicki ranked 31) before going out to 6th seed Bouchard in the SFs. Should be new CH world #76 on Monday :D  

-- Edited by vohor on Saturday 5th of March 2016 12:46:55 PM

Really interesting charts again, ISF. Though our totals don't tally (227 v 217). Either way, I think a reasonable target bshould be 1,000 for the season. Serena managed 498 in 2015, but Naomi plays a lot more tournaments, and has a higher ace count per match so far.

I have a question which you might be able to answer, and which could be of great interest an practical advantage to both Naomi and Fitzy...

I'm under the impression that she serves better for a couple of points after a sit-down (i.e. at the start of a service game, when serving second). Does your data coverr this?

 EDIT: Your figures are right; my (tennis forum's) figures are wrong. 191 before this week; 217 now; 783 short of target.

-- Edited by wimdledont on Friday 4th of March 2016 10:30:26 AM

-- Edited by wimdledont on Friday 4th of March 2016 01:21:47 PM

She has played quite a few tournaments this year so sensible. Miami next?

The points on offer for the five rounds in San Antonio are very similar to those for winning the 2 qualies and first 3 rounds of Indian Wells.

SA:IW = 15:20/29:30/57:65/95:95/160:150

www.wtatennis.com/all-about-rankings

As the leading ace-server on the WTA, the most in-form player not in the Miami main draw (28th in the Race), and due to be seeded in the top handful in qualies for the third/fourth time at the biggest tournaments of the year so far (AO, Dubai, IW, Miami), she must be a likely international contender for a Miami wildcard.

In one way, she's had some lousy luck this year - in that her several abrupt rises up the rankings were all just too late to make a significant cut - AO MD, Midland seeding, Dubai MD, KL seeding. Now 76 in the live rankings, with 74 Duque-Marino just announced as the ALT replacing Sharapova at IW.

Naomi playing against Anna-Lena Friedsam in R1 at San Antonio

The podcast interview with Andrew Fitzpatrick that Stephen has posted provides a fascinating overview of Fitzy's time with Naomi so far. It is interesting, that although he is trying to help her 'rework' part of her game, that his main focus is on three things: helping her understand her own game better; playing to her own strengths; and become mentally stronger and more self-confident. Interesting too, that their relationship started with Naomi, without really having the money, deciding to invest in herself by hiring a full time, travelling coach, for the first time in her career. The interview covers all the bases for the year so far and to come for Naomi, Stephen asks all the right questions.

britennis.com/podcast/episode-3-andrew-fitzpatrick/

He came across very well. I like his approach to coaching and his views on Naomi's big game.

Not so sure about the far east swing; the courts will be painfully slow for Naomi, regardless of whether her opponent is mentally on holiday or not.