Week 17 - WTA International ($250K) - Rabat, Morocco - Clay

Priesty · Challenger level

RE: Week 17 - WTA International ($250K) - Rabat, Morocco - Clay

Strongbow · All-time great

I'm sure that Laura is more fustrated than anybody about the slow recovery.

All we can do is give her some support smile

Oakland2002 · All-time great

Laura is just going to take time and lots of games to recover form. Given the severity of her injury, the wrist is a complex small joint, at this point getting games in pain free is not a bad place to be, particularly when your A game is reliant on power all of which is delivered through her wrist. 18 months at least before it is fair to make a judgement.

Priesty · Challenger level

Oakland2002 wrote:
Laura is just going to take time and lots of games to recover form. Given the severity of her injury, the wrist is a complex small joint, at this point getting games in pain free is not a bad place to be, particularly when your A game is reliant on power all of which is delivered through her wrist. 18 months at least before it is fair to make a judgement.

Absolutely, and if we're going by the saying that it takes as long to come back as however long you were out for - she didn't return from a 17 month lay off until Eastbourne last year and her appearances even since then have been a bit sporadic so there's plenty of time yet. Although I do worry about what will happen once the SEs dry up if she is then only ranked high enough to gain direct entry into the ITFs.

The Optimist · ATP qualifying

Agree with you Oakie, Laura does need lots and lots of games. My earlier post wasn't to write her off in some way but to point out, given her earlier career path, how hard it will be for her to get those matches and wins. Whilst I agree there have been welcome signs of progress, IMO I don't think her game is going to cut it at the top level for quite a while, certainly not regularly enough to get the number of matches she needs. Before her injury her game was a bit one dimensional, relying on a terrific lefty serve and great ball striking going for early winners (not necessarily a bad thing given how good that dimension was!). But it was based on sheer power and after wrist surgery that is probably hard to replicate initially and without it there is not a lot in her game to trouble tour level players. And she's never really played at the lower levels where there is no atmosphere, courts can be a bit iffy, less qualified umpires, greatly reduced player facilities and facing opponents where she is not going to get a quality ball coming at her over the net on a regular basis making it harder to get in a rhythm herself etc etc. And because she's never really played those kind of tournaments I think she's going to find it particularly tough. But I wish her well and hope she is able to dig deep enough to do it.

vohor · Grand Slam Champion

That was always going to be a difficult match-up for Laura especially on clay; we will see where she's truly at during the grass court season. Good luck Laura :)

indiana · Tennis legend

I hear this saying that it takes as long to come back as however long you were out for, and it has a ring to it, but not sure how objectively it is matched by evidence. I reckon not too much. More simply,on an individual basis, the longer you are out for, the longer it is likely to take to get back,

There have been a number of players out for a long time who have come back very quickly and clearly others haven't. To me if the absence has been injury related it is very much about the injury itself, and points have been made about the particular problems a wrist injury may still cause and in particular given Laura's game. And that is the other thing, it is very much related to the person, not just their game but their whole individual feelings and attitude to the comeback.

I think it is very clear that things are not happening anything like as smoothly or as quickly as not just some folk here, but much more importantly Laura herself would have hoped for some clearly quite understandable reasons and maybe others we don't know about. It has not gone to plan as much as you can have a plan. But she is on the journey, some improvements are there and all the very best to her.

-- Edited by indiana on Friday 29th of April 2016 12:07:12 PM