Week 9 - ITF ($15K) - Macon, France Hard

Ace Ventura · Tennis legend

Week 9 - ITF ($15K) - Macon, France Hard

The Optimist · ATP qualifying

Alicia was at Northwestern in the Big 10, one of the stronger conferences (leagues). She has been competing as a professional for less than a year I think so Ace V, although her age suggests she is maybe blocking someone younger, she is actually at the beginning of her tennis career. She has made steady progress so far but certainly needs to be accelerating soon. Wish her well.

Michael D · All-time great

The Optimist wrote:
Alicia was at Northwestern in the Big 10, one of the stronger conferences (leagues). She has been competing as a professional for less than a year I think so Ace V, although her age suggests she is maybe blocking someone younger, she is actually at the beginning of her tennis career. She has made steady progress so far but certainly needs to be accelerating soon. Wish her well.

Yes indeed, so do I. What was interesting about yesterday's match was the pop that Alicia clearly has on her serve. She served 8 aces to Maia's none, and although her first serve percentage won wasn't great (53%) her second serve was as consistent (54%), suggesting her serve is something she can build off more.

Here is a good write up on her from two years back when she was at Northwestern. If she can build on this she has potential certainly to progress up into the top 500, and that should be at least her target this year.

http://www.excellesports.com/news/alicia-barnett-northwestern-tennis/

-- Edited by Michael D on Thursday 1st of March 2018 10:03:58 AM

Jaggy1876 · Grand Slam Champion

Agree with others here, although being a Scot youd assume Id prefer Maia to have won its actually better for Alicia as Maia is already inside the top 500 and has more time on her side. We need a few more over the 500-1000 players like Alicia and Beth getting the points as these are the players likely to be in Wimbledon quailies due to the current progress of the top 300.

Coup Droit · Tennis legend

The Optimist wrote:
Alicia was at Northwestern in the Big 10, one of the stronger conferences (leagues). She has been competing as a professional for less than a year I think so Ace V, although her age suggests she is maybe blocking someone younger, she is actually at the beginning of her tennis career. She has made steady progress so far but certainly needs to be accelerating soon. Wish her well.

It's a bit more than a year, The O. More like 18 months.

As the addict said, and in line with when I saw her, she started out in August of 2016. And has then played tournaments consistently from then on in. She does have a decent serve, and a strong back-of-the-court game. Not bad at the net, too, like a lot of college players who've done a lot of doubles. Good athlete.

The Optimist · ATP qualifying

I couldn't remember whether she was a 2016 or 2017 graduate and couldn't get access to Northwestern's site to check (never go with a gut feeling.......).

The Optimist · ATP qualifying

Michael D wrote:
The Optimist wrote:
Alicia was at Northwestern in the Big 10, one of the stronger conferences (leagues). She has been competing as a professional for less than a year I think so Ace V, although her age suggests she is maybe blocking someone younger, she is actually at the beginning of her tennis career. She has made steady progress so far but certainly needs to be accelerating soon. Wish her well.
Yes indeed, so do I. What was interesting about yesterday's match was the pop that Alicia clearly has on her serve. She served 8 aces to Maia's none, and although her first serve percentage won wasn't great (53%) her second serve was as consistent (54%), suggesting her serve is something she can build off more.
Here is a good write up on her from two years back when she was at Northwestern. If she can build on this she has potential certainly to progress up into the top 500, and that should be at least her target this year.
http://www.excellesports.com/news/alicia-barnett-northwestern-tennis/

-- Edited by Michael D on Thursday 1st of March 2018 10:03:58 AM

I haven't seen Maia play for at least a year but a low ace count doesn't surprise me against an opponent who is a good overall athlete. Unless it has changed recently, Maia's game has always seemed to me to be about consistency and general athleticism rather than attack - no real weaknesses and a very low error count but no jaw-droppingly great weapon either. This isn't a criticism, Caroline W has made a very good career out of a similar approach!

Edit: typo

-- Edited by The Optimist on Thursday 1st of March 2018 10:57:06 AM

Coup Droit · Tennis legend

Yes, I agree. Maia is quite short, and her game is based around being ultra nimble, quick thinking, good defence, and seeing the shots well. She's great to watch because she is so 'keen' - rather like Emily Arb. Dynamo bunny style. And, also liker her, varies the rallies well, takes you by surprise. But a strong serve is certainly not really her thing (difficult to serve really well if you're her height).
Whereas Alicia is tall and strong, and packs a punch, as she should with her physique. And so has a serve that's more of a weapon.

paulisi · Tennis legend

I have seen a lot of Maia. If her serve is working, she will fly through a tournament. She is a very clean striker of the ball and is good defensively.
Her serve is quite inconsistent, but she has done a lot of work on it.

Coup Droit · Tennis legend

Maia has a tendency to get too far behind the baseline - quite common with players who are good at defence. It used to be a big problem (have seen several matches where it really was a problem, even if she ended up winning the match).
But she's obviously been working at it, and played a lot more on the front foot the last time I saw her (in summer). In fact, it was the first time I'd really seen her step up to the ball consistently, and it was great.

blob · All-time great

Alicia and Anna, on the wrong end of a combined 1400 point ranking gap, are up against it in their doubles SF, 3-6 0-1*

blob · All-time great

SF: Barnett/Popescu (GBR/GBR) 1761 lost to Arcangioli/Di. Marcinkevica (FRA/LAT) [1] 411 3-6 3-6

indiana · Tennis legend

Maia seems to do an awful lot better in GB than beyond these shores.

From more limited events her points split last year was 38-21 towards GB events and with her early Glasgow 25K RU spot this year it is so far running at 31-1.

Particularly with not much sign of increasing GB events, it would be good to start having better tournaments abroad.

Ace Ventura · Tennis legend

Vismane 4/6, Barnett 11/10

blob · All-time great

Alicia's QF is under way; a break each already, *2-2