Tara Moore. A pleasure to watch you play. Wish I'd gone along to Nottingham today
I'm going tomorrow, and I was beginning to think there would not be any Brits left, but now looking forwards to seeing Tara play. Great result into the quarter finals of a WTA.
Can I just ask one question, was that as good to watch online/tv as it was live, because I've never witnessed anything as good as that ever. Simply quite the most amazing/unexpected performance by a Brit for a long long time.
I was glued to Eurosport, and yes, it was really good, particularly in the second set. I would rate it alongside JoKo and Hev's performances over the last year
Same here. Some of the put-aways on McHale's second serve were Serena-like. A couple of points that Andy would be happy to put on his showreel. I can't remember seeing a better performance by a British woman.
There was a group of us supporting loudly from the back of the stands, and we were like, is this actually happening, there's got to be a dip, but there wasn't. I think her mum was there too to watch. Makes up for what's really been a pretty awful week.
I mustn't forget Naomi in the doubles, who played some great tennis towards the end of that match.
Jo well, a bit of a nightmare, and to cap it off, a potential injury, fingers crossed this is just a 1 week blip.
I last saw Tara at Shrewsbury at the end of last year. What a difference 6 months makes.
A lot more confident, not distracted by spectators/mates. Taken a bit of the serve, which seems to be working. The forehand is still a big weapon, but it is more consistent now and the backhand in particular the slice is much improved and very effective.
Tara will win this comfortably and will give other WTA players plenty to think about. Currently playing top 80 tennis.
Just watched another player who's been away from singles for 18 months or so, slightly different circumstances of course, but here's Ashleigh Barty, now looking noticeably more muscular, playing an absolutely mesmerizing set of tennis 6-0 in 18 minutes for the loss of 7 points against a decent grass court exponent in Hlavackova. Played every shot in the book with aplomb, and clear precise point construction finished with winner after winner into the spaces that had been constructed and earned, not gambled on short angles or tight lines. A remarkable comeback so far, last week and this. Really happy to see her so comfortable on court again.
I also read that in her period away from tennis, she had a none too shabby first class cricket batting average of 46.60! These over-achievers, huh?
We thought Barty looked as if she was carrying a bit extra weight, not muscle, but that 1st set was exceptional.
Tara Moore. A pleasure to watch you play. Wish I'd gone along to Nottingham today
I'm going tomorrow, and I was beginning to think there would not be any Brits left, but now looking forwards to seeing Tara play. Great result into the quarter finals of a WTA.
And it's no longer predicted to rain tomorrow...
It really is a fantastic result to get to a quarter of a WTA, like you say. I wish it was a nicer drive. I'd really love to be there but getting there is not that appealing especially on a Friday afternoon on the A50 !
After following all of Tara's excellent results on live scores, it was great to finally get to see her play and what a performance it was. She doesn't look like she is ever going to miss on the forehand despite going for big powerful shots close to the lines. The backhand slices and net approaches also mean she has a perfect game for grass and McHale didn't look like she had any idea how she was going to win.
She can go further in the tournament the way she is playing, and has a couple of great role models in JoKo and Naomi who hit a great run of form and then kept it going.