Freya Christie

the addict · Tennis legend

RE: Freya Christie

Michael D · All-time great

the addict wrote:
Close, I had her down as 280, British no 10

And I had her down at 323 and 13th. Currently she is 536 and 14th Brit. This week's 5 points (net 4) will shift her up to about 525, so Freya has plenty of work left this year to make real progress. She only has one 9 pointer, due off 21 May, and one 7 pointer, the rest are 5 points or less. Hope Freya can make some signs of a fuller recovery, since she clearly has the potential, but she's not getting there yet....

-- Edited by Michael D on Wednesday 14th of March 2018 03:55:47 PM

skibbarriz · Strong Club Player

I think she would have benefitted from going to play US college tennis. Because her game still has a long way to mature for the pro ranks, and that means receiving coaching.

A lot of the British girls that have gone pro at 18 come from wealthy families. I gather Freya isn't in that bracket, so she doesn't have the same options and provisions. Relying on the LTA and having to adhere to any conditions they set that accompany support is not the optimum situation for a player.

To elaborate, I remember a fairly recent news article where the LTA had a funding offer which required Heather to go in and have a LTA psychological assessment. She was spooked by the experience and said she is going to go it alone. Being roped into what are always, in effect, LTA pilot schemes, wasn't worth it.

As Leon says, College tennis is a great option for many players. And if after only a year or two, it seems you are far too good for it and it has nothing more to offer you, then great, you can go pro.

SuperT · Futures level

Michael D wrote:
the addict wrote:
Close, I had her down as 280, British no 10
And I had her down at 323 and 13th. Currently she is 536 and 14th Brit. This week's 5 points (net 4) will shift her up to about 525, so Freya has plenty of work left this year to make real progress. She only has one 9 pointer, due off 21 May, and one 7 pointer, the rest are 5 points or less. Hope Freya can make some signs of a fuller recovery, since she clearly has the potential, but she's not getting there yet....

-- Edited by Michael D on Wednesday 14th of March 2018 03:55:47 PM

I predicted she would be GB No 10 ranked 350, and I'm hoping there's still time for her to progress towards this. After such a tough year in 2017 it's bound to take time to get back to where she was before so I'm not giving up hope just yet.

Strongbow · All-time great

If she keeps playing, she could move upwards very quickly. Hoping smile

indiana · Tennis legend

The GB top 10 certainly has a vacancy.

With Tara's form having gone AWOL, Mandy still not back from injury and Sam been missing too, maybe it will be Freya that can seriously move in our top 9's direction. Or will it be Eden or Maia or maybe Jodie or Emily App?

All the better if a few can make big moves up and more importantly move up the world rankings.

But in Freya's thread for now just all the best to Freya.

wimdledont · Challenger level

I think Freya has all the raw natural athletic ability to make it to the top 100. But when I last saw her play, albeit on a stream, on grass, some time ago, I was very surprised by how bad her groundstrokes are.

Like several others - Naomi, Laura, KB - she could really do with putting in a few thousand hours of Konta-like Spanish-style hitting drills. Otherwise, with a decent serve and good hands and reactions, as evinced by her better performances in doubles, she's waiting for the rest of the world to come to its senses, plough up all their hard and clay courts and sow them with grass.

To judge by her Twittering, she's sticking with this strategy for now, and still working hard in the gym; the main result of which is likely to be that she will develop the muscular strength to inflict further damage to her wrists and ankles on a more consistent basis.

skibbarriz · Strong Club Player

I'm unclear, you're saying she's sticking with which current strategy?

I think it's been widely that recognised that Freya has some stong qualities and other apsects that sorely need development. And imo College coaching and competition would have best helped her develop.

Plodding around the world chasing $25k's while getting scarce coaching input has not done much for the development of a number of our 18-22yrs female players.

the addict · Tennis legend

Whereas Katy D has her coach with her and is doing well this year (and Gabi presumably benefits from him being there as well)

Coup Droit · Tennis legend

Would Freya have qualified for US college though? I have no idea but you have to have stayed in education and whereas a lot of the other girls were tweeting about A levels and stuff, I don't remember Freya ever doing that.

wimdledont · Challenger level

I mean standard LTA/Brit strategy A, of working on fitness, in anticipation of the day when the rest of the world's players will forget how to play when the surface changes to grass; as Freya doesn't have independent financial means, I don't think she has much choice but to go along with this. Certainly, her Twitter is full of weights, glutes, medicine balls and bungee cords, with nary a single BH drill to be seen.

When I've seen her play, she's mostly out of position to hit the ball, mainly due to poor footwork, and misses the court a lot. When she plays matches, I imagine she runs away with her numerous British Tour titles by simply overpowering all-comers, most of whom rarely face a serve that good. But that gives her little in-play practice, and when she faces better players who can get the ball back into play, they can usually rely on her to beat herself.

Like you say, college might well have been a good route. I think that with several months of Spanish/Floridian/Kontan drilling, she could put a lot of this right.

Michael D · All-time great

Yes I was struck by the fact that Monica Robinson beat Freya this week in an extended 3 set match, whilst last week Emily W-S beat same person running away with sets 2 and 3 after losing the first. In short, after working her opponent out, Emily could out smart her, whereas Freya didn't get that far. Of course Monica could have played better against Freya, but it still supports the thesis that its Freya's game play and tactics that need the work, not the gym accessories.

Coup Droit · Tennis legend

I feel that people are being rather too linear here.

I certainly agree that Freya's movement is not great. And she's not the most lucid player either - a bigger problem, in my view.

But in the round before, Freya beat a player ranked 361. And beat her easily.

In R2, she lost by an absolute whisker to a very good college player. The fact that Monica herself had lost to EWS is irrelevant in my view - Em has a quirky, oddball game that can get herself thrashed, cause huge problems especially to younger players who have never played it before, or somewhere in the middle. I don't think Em is a bellweather for other's results.

She's also in the doubles final of the 25k which is not bad.

And though it's true that Freya puts lots of pics up of her in the gym, that may well be just because the gym has people standing around happy to take pics, whereas out on the drill practice court there's just her and her coach/hitting partner - no odd bod with nothing else to do than take pics.

Michael D · All-time great

It would certainly be great to see Freya gathering some momentum again, so here's to that and hope the doubles provides a good starting point.

Strongbow · All-time great

Michael D wrote:
It would certainly be great to see Freya gathering some momentum again, so here's to that and hope the doubles provides a good starting point.

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