Week 24 - WTA International ($227K) - Nottingham Grass

A131 · Intermediate Club Player

Week 24 - WTA International ($227K) - Nottingham Grass

scottie1 · Futures level

Samson wrote:
Jo's had a lot of matches this week so that can only be a positive for the next few weeks. She couldn't quite recover from a wobble in the 2nd and Vekic played better and better as the match went on.
I do feel Jo needs to add a bit of variety to her game, there were a few drop shots today and they were effective but she couldn't get anything else going when her usual game wasn't getting her anywhere. As a side note glad the Baltacha trophy helps keeps Elena's memory alive.

watched the match on eurosport it reminded me of the first round loss in the French Open Jo ran out of ideas and has no plan B

wolf · Tennis legend

Samson wrote:
As a side note glad the Baltacha trophy helps keeps Elena's memory alive.

Bit of a nit pick but i would rather they had named centre court after her.

Samson · Lower Club Player

Agreed.

Michael D · All-time great

This is actually a really bad result for Jo and suggests her game has bottomed out for the time being. The no plan B comment by Scotties sounds ominous to me. I would hope that Jo takes next week off instead of playing Birmingham and works on some greater variety to her game. For all Vekic's improved performance in sets 2 and 3, Jo should never have let her near, and the fact that Jo had neither another plan nor another gear in set 3 is something she definitely has to work on.

What a discouraging day. Everyone lost, men and women, except in the one match two Brits were playing.

Julia Carrot · All-time great

I watched quite a bit of Jo's match, albeit on a tiny screen. What I did notice was that she really went a bit overboard complaining about a call. She may well have been correct but one way or another I think it de-railed her a bit. In the conditions of that heat that would have been extra debilitating/distracting perhaps.

Michael D · All-time great

Julia Carrot wrote:
I watched quite a bit of Jo's match, albeit on a tiny screen. What I did notice was that she really went a bit overboard complaining about a call. She may well have been correct but one way or another I think it de-railed her a bit. In the conditions of that heat that would have been extra debilitating/distracting perhaps.

And would suggest that her philosophy of staying in the moment and focusing on each shot in turn is being derailed a bit at the moment. She's not doing the basics of what made her successful a year ago quite so well at the moment. I really hope she takes a week off now.

wimdledont · Challenger level

Well, she's just made the final of a domestic WTA, first British woman since whenever/30 years.

As disasters go, that's not really on the radar, as far as our women are concerned.

I thought Vekic played well; she's still only 21, but was in the final of Edgbaston 4 years ago, so no stranger to grass.

Jo's unlikely to win every tournament every week; though she came very close to winning this one.

Michael D · All-time great

No but this tournament was really set up well for Jo as she was the #1 seed and in the final playing the worlds #70 player. Of course she has no automatic entitlement to win, and yes reaching the final is a hugely significant achievement.... but Jo is going to have to play better to make more of a mark on this grass court season. She has the abilities, mentally and physically, so lets just hope she does some learning now, which is all I'm saying she needs.

indiana · Tennis legend

Disappointing to lose of course but to a good grass court player who has still a variable game but can be very good.

Anyway it is less than 3 months since Jo win the biggest title of her career, the Miami Premier Mandatory. She followed with a variable clay court season where in truth not too much was expected ( it's not her gig really ) and has reached the final of her first grass court tournament of the season, not played great and lost. Happens.

Think where she has come from in the last couple of the years and with this final she goes back up to WR 7 on I think maybe a personal high ranking points total of 4400.

Not of course to be complacent and I am sure she seeks to improve and possibly add variety to a fundamental game and mental approach that has brought huge dividends. But again there's not a huge lot wrong with something that was winning that Miami tournament yet you'ed think she suddenly hugely needs to develop, has been found out or whatever. She's gone a long way on what she has built in a relatively short time with some great assistance. Just maybe give her a bit more of a break than I see from some above.

Helen40 · Grand Slam Champion

indiana wrote:
Disappointing to lose of course but to a good grass court player who has still a variable game but can be very good.

Anyway it is less than 3 months since Jo win the biggest title of her career, the Miami Premier Mandatory. She followed with a variable clay court season where in truth not too much was expected ( it's not her gig really ) and has reached the final of her first grass court tournament of the season, not played great and lost. Happens.

Think where she has come from in the last couple of the years and with this final she goes back up to WR 7 on I think maybe a personal high ranking points total of 4400.

Not of course to be complacent and I am sure she seeks to improve and possibly add variety to a fundamental game and mental approach that has brought huge dividends. But again there's not a huge lot wrong with something that was winning that Miami tournament yet you'ed think she suddenly hugely needs to develop, has been found out or whatever. She's gone a long way on what she has built in a relatively short time with some great assistance. Just maybe give her a bit more of a break than I see from some above.

I totally agree. Some of the posters above seem to be very harsh.

She's done so well, way beyond anyone's expectations of a few years ago. I get that she's a professional, but anyone can have a bad day. We never really know what's going on behind the scenes anyway. It's a tough life on the road, and she's played alot of matches this season. Hopefully she'll get home and get so R&R now too, recharge for Wimbledon.