Week 23 - WTA International ($250K) - Nottingham, UK - Grass

AliBlahBlah · All-time great

Week 23 - WTA International ($250K) - Nottingham, UK - Grass

AliBlahBlah · All-time great

OOP tomorrow sees Jo on first at 12:00, Tara 4th, and last, up, on the same court.

AliBlahBlah · All-time great

Jossanna played rather better to take the second set, and get to the MTB 3-6 6-3

AliBlahBlah · All-time great

From 2-2 to 2-7, and they were always up against it.
3-6 6-3 [6-10]

PaulM · Tennis legend

Thats a lot of points dropped

AliBlahBlah · All-time great

Doubles round-up:
R1: (WC) Robson/Christie (GBR) lost to Plískova/Plískova (CZE) 7-6(2) 4-6 [10-12]
R1: Rae/Smith (GBR) lost to Kudryavtseva/Zhu (RUS/CHN) 3-6 6-3 [6-10]
R1: Broady/Sevastova (GBR/LAT) defeated Aoyama/Voracovca (JPN/CZE) 3-6 6-2 [11-9]

QF: Broady/Sevastova (GBR/LAT) v. Xu/Zheng (CHN) [2]

indiana · Tennis legend

PaulM wrote:
Thats a lot of points dropped

Yes, I don't know when the Wimbledon doubles entry comes out. Assuming not until after next Monday's rankings update dropping 180 points ( 179 net ) must leave them liable to be needing s WC, which might have knock-on unhelpful effects.

-- Edited by indiana on Wednesday 8th of June 2016 09:10:47 PM

philwrig · Hall of fame

Great to see Naomi get the win today, big shame for Joss and Anna, who weren't far off, one thing I did notice was that Anna rarely comes to the net these days, so one back/one at the net. Joss looks to be carrying some sort of injury, but I thought played well, some great volleys in particular. Interesting tournament developing with the 4 winners today, all very impressive. Jo needs to put out a statement performance tomorrow to put herself in the mix. Love to see Tara continue her run and maybe secure a Wimby WC with a win.

korriban · Challenger level

indiana wrote:
Yes, I noticed that Laura now had her full quota of 16 ranking counters and couldn't add her last point.

But she remains very short of matches with how she has used her PR and WCs then lost so many R1 matches.

Phil was saying that she looked very good in practice but no doubt nothing beats matches for improving matches.

No doubt in her 'stategy' she didn't expect to lose so many R1 matches, and move quicker up the rankings, but some ( not all ! ) have been very tough asks.
She may have not much choice soon and I get the impression she'd prefer to take part in qualifying to even further reduce her tournament level.

-- Edited by indiana on Wednesday 8th of June 2016 11:46:33 AM

looking good in practice is often very misleading, especially if those practice routines happen to mirror ones strengths, rather than testing ones areas for improvement. and of course, the pressure of a match situation affects every player individually.

my challenge to Laura remains the same. before her injury, 2 strategies would regularly beat her.

1. keep the ball in play without any risk and wait. consistency related UEs would outweigh winners from Laura, so you win.

2. move the ball around with only slightly more risk and wait. as above. movement related UEs would outweigh winners from Laura, so you win.

more matches will bring more consistency and better movement one would hope, which forms a platform for her shot making brilliance to outclass most opponents. but this is not really "new" news. I absolutely expected inconsistency from Laura in her first 6-9 months back (like Del Potro) given a long lay off, but my concern is the fact that she hasnt really had a single surprise "ahead of schedule" win. and has been losing consistently at various levels. lets hope it clicks, but at what point is her injury lay off no longer discussed, just her tennis......

still think shes the best Brit female talent ive seen for 20 years

Helen40 · Grand Slam Champion

korriban wrote:
still think shes the best Brit female talent ive seen for 20 years

I agree, with you just on the 'tennis' front, but on the mental, consistency, work ethic - really not.

I just hope she can get these factors sorted again(?), and reach her potential.

I do feel for her as she had her injury as she was just getting it together - BUT, alot of players get injured eg Delpo, Rafa, Andy, and they do the hard yards and get back in there. I only hope that Robbo can do it too, and realise her potential.

Strongbow · All-time great

Really undecided about what Laura should do next - but she's the only other player we have at present who could get to 20-30.

Sad but hoping smile

LordBrownof · Futures level

She's got to keep plugging away. For me the pre US open hardcourt ITF's will be hugely important for her. These 25Ks will really define whether she will get back into the top 200 in the near future. I fear if these are largely unsuccessful, she'll find it difficult to mentally keep going. She needs match positives soon.

As an aside, she needs around 70 points to get into US Open qualifying. That should be her rather conservative target right now.

The Optimist · ATP qualifying

I am not surprised at the current state of Laura's matchplay....she has played so few matches after such a long time out. No matter how good the training goes, a live match makes different demands. She alluded to this in an interview this week, how slow she still is to adjust to momentum changes and to regroup after a few bad points etc etc. But these things only come with matches.....any matches.....they don't all have to be at the top level.

I do wonder if her scheduling hasn't in part been driven by financial concerns. She has had a long time with no prize income and presumably, even with LTA help and sponsorship income there have still been quite a few expenses to cover. She may also have wanted to do the high profile events to remain visible for current / future sponsors. And of course, there's always been the chance of a kind draw and some confidence and momentum coming through that. And win or lose, her ranking has kept creeping up. But what I don't understand is why she has not supplemented her schedule with tournaments in the 25K-100K range just to get live match time. If she were a junior you'd be saying to her...come on, match after match wherever you can get on court, re-establish your courtcraft.

Helen40 · Grand Slam Champion

The Optimist wrote:
But what I don't understand is why she has not supplemented her schedule with tournaments in the 25K-100K range just to get live match time. If she were a junior you'd be saying to her...come on, match after match wherever you can get on court, re-establish your courtcraft.

I hadn't thought of that. Good point. She did try the 25k etc to start off with, and wasn't winning anything there because her game was the same there, ie very in consistent. Because of this I supported her decision to use her SEs to play WTA events and to get WCs into them. Mixing and matching them with itf tournaments that she could get into by ranking would have been a great idea to get court time.

The only downside I can see is that she wasn't winning games at that level she should have been when she started her road back. If she still didn't wouldn't that be really demoralising?

scottie1 · Futures level

korriban wrote:
indiana wrote:
Yes, I noticed that Laura now had her full quota of 16 ranking counters and couldn't add her last point.

But she remains very short of matches with how she has used her PR and WCs then lost so many R1 matches.

Phil was saying that she looked very good in practice but no doubt nothing beats matches for improving matches.

No doubt in her 'stategy' she didn't expect to lose so many R1 matches, and move quicker up the rankings, but some ( not all ! ) have been very tough asks.
She may have not much choice soon and I get the impression she'd prefer to take part in qualifying to even further reduce her tournament level.

-- Edited by indiana on Wednesday 8th of June 2016 11:46:33 AM
looking good in practice is often very misleading, especially if those practice routines happen to mirror ones strengths, rather than testing ones areas for improvement. and of course, the pressure of a match situation affects every player individually.
my challenge to Laura remains the same. before her injury, 2 strategies would regularly beat her.
1. keep the ball in play without any risk and wait. consistency related UEs would outweigh winners from Laura, so you win.
2. move the ball around with only slightly more risk and wait. as above. movement related UEs would outweigh winners from Laura, so you win.
more matches will bring more consistency and better movement one would hope, which forms a platform for her shot making brilliance to outclass most opponents. but this is not really "new" news. I absolutely expected inconsistency from Laura in her first 6-9 months back (like Del Potro) given a long lay off, but my concern is the fact that she hasnt really had a single surprise "ahead of schedule" win. and has been losing consistently at various levels. lets hope it clicks, but at what point is her injury lay off no longer discussed, just her tennis......
still think shes the best Brit female talent ive seen for 20 years

Sorry to disagree but a fit and healthy Elena Baltacha would have been a shoein top 20 player I still like laura though