Week 14 - WTA Premier ($800K) - Charleston, USA Clay

blob · All-time great

Week 14 - WTA Premier ($800K) - Charleston, USA Clay

paulisi · Tennis legend

Stollar played very well. Jo looked rushed and forced into too many errors.

-- Edited by paulisi on Wednesday 4th of April 2018 11:05:43 PM

indiana · Tennis legend

blob wrote:
I wish this were in jest, but, it seems all too pertinent: can confirm, there is no scenario whereby Jo will need a WC for Wimbledon. After that though...

She has so far a guaranteed 674 points for the US Open entry date plus I assume another 30 at least to come from mandatories so realistically will not be needing any WC for that. Though the fact that it even might come into discussion ...

I was thinking you could use the 4 letter word "clay" ( from her point of view ) as part explanation here, but I get the impression some feel like still using other 4 letter words. Oh dear

Still look back to the very recent Miami thread for the eulogies about her win vs Mertens and there is still clearly a very good player there who for whatever reasons is only bringing that to the fore very sparingly.

Michael D · All-time great

PaulM wrote:
That was dreadful. What are her coaching team doing? There's no evidence of anything actually happening in her game. I still don't see why either of our girls were playing this event in their schedule and all its done is reinforced negativity.

Shes running out of time to salvage anything before her ranking drops like a stone in the summer. It's getting pretty critical and it's sad to see. She used to be so clean and reliable. Now it doesn't matter who she draws she's in trouble.

I'm afraid I don't like Jo's coaching set up now. To me it seems to have deteriorated year on year the last two years, compared with her Spanish team, though Wim Fissette is still a good coach too. But I'm not convinced at all this year that she has the kind of support she needs. I'd love to be proved wrong but really fear I won't be.

blob · All-time great

GB salvage something from their green clay nightmare.
R16: Heather WATSON/Mihaela BUZARNESCU (GBR/ROU) 142 (73 + 69) defeated (WC) Misaki DOI/Christina McHALE (JPN/USA) (117 + 176) 293 3-6 6-3 [10-8]

QF: Heather WATSON/Mihaela BUZARNESCU (GBR/ROU) 142 (73 + 69) v. Raquel ATAWO/Anna-Lena GROENEFELD (USA/GER) 52 (34 + 18)

flamingowings · All-time great

Um, how many points does Jo defend during her really good grass season last year? Runner up in 1 and SF at Wimbledon at a minimum.

Only positive is that post grass she doesn't have much at all to defend...but something clearly is not working.

Samson · Lower Club Player

Bit of a nightmare draw for Jo. Getting someone whod played some matches on the surface beforehand and had the confidence of a few wins behind her. Still think Jo will have a better clay season than her 2017.

indiana · Tennis legend

Samson wrote:
Bit of a nightmare draw for Jo. Getting someone whod played some matches on the surface beforehand and had the confidence of a few wins behind her. Still think Jo will have a better clay season than her 2017.

Sorry but that was still a good draw. I'm not sure on what your optimism is based but let's hope so anyway.

Samson · Lower Club Player

indiana wrote:
Samson wrote:
Bit of a nightmare draw for Jo. Getting someone whod played some matches on the surface beforehand and had the confidence of a few wins behind her. Still think Jo will have a better clay season than her 2017.
Sorry but that was still a good draw. I'm not sure on what your optimism is based but let's hope so anyway.

Stollar had won three matches before facing Jo, is that not as many Jo won during the entire clay season last year? her poor record on clay leaves me some hope for some improvement, even if all it amounts to is R2 at the French. Still, early days. The clay season is long so plenty of time.

scottie1 · Futures level

My worry with Jo Konta is there is never a Plan B when she is losing a match ==big hitting from the back of court works sometimes but lacks variety!

Could it be her opponents have worked out her game now she is no longer the surprise element like she was 18 months ago

Having said that I hope she remains in top 20 but a lot of points to defend on the grass -a poor Wimbledon will see her nosedive

the addict · Tennis legend

Jo only has 125 points (55 from Stuttgart replaced by 55 from Dubai) to defend before the start of the grass season, so won't be dropping much further before then. Two or three clay court wins would make quite a difference, especially if she can win a couple at the French Open.

blob · All-time great

The concern being that on her worst surface by far she won't be adding much if anything at all.
Then, the grass 2017 points start to come off, and there's no logical reason to suspect they'll be defended given the current form, or even half, or quarter defended.
Then we're on ~~700-850 places, just hanging onto a top 100 spot, and scrabbling around for places at INternationals, and maybe needing to qualify there.
Yes, any wins from that position would all be net additive, but that's a big fall in rank and stature, and that can't be good for confidence, or immediate prospects thereafter.

But, I think we all hope, I hope we all hope, that everything will click back into place again, at least to some degree to staunch the flood, and stave off the apocalyptic scenarios.
Half empty.

PaulM · Tennis legend

Let's be honest, Jo has never been the same since the tragic death of the man who turned her career around. Yes she had a good Grass season last year, but 2017 was far more peaks and troughs than a very consistent 2016.

I don't think we should underestimate the impact that had on her and Carrill.

Michael D · All-time great

PaulM wrote:
Let's be honest, Jo has never been the same since the tragic death of the man who turned her career around. Yes she had a good Grass season last year, but 2017 was far more peaks and troughs than a very consistent 2016.

I don't think we should underestimate the impact that had on her and Carrill.

No, she hasn't been the same since, I agree with you. And I still also think that's why she ended the relationship with Carrill... too many memories she couldn't cope with. And nothing has really worked since. The more I think about it and see her performances the less I understand her current choice of coach. It looks pretty obvious to me they don't have too much in the way of chemistry, and Joyce certainly does not seem to be bringing that badly needed variety to Jo's game, so what is he contributing? It seems to me Jo is still in an avoidance mode, and that's causing her problems she's having difficulty escaping from. It would be great to have alternative evidence that this is just a pie in the sky theory, but it's not happening yet.

blob · All-time great

That seems like projection to me.
In 2017 she won her second WTA title, a Premier, Sydney; won the biggest title by a GB woman since Virginia in '77, Miami one step below a Slam.
She also reached a Slam QF, only losing to a certain Ms. S. Williams, another SF, only losing to a certain Ms. V. Williams, and had an excellent grass season generally.
After Wimbledon was the problem, and Jo has spoken at length in her manfdatory pieces and interviews (as a part of the top 10 player commitment) with WTA, about how the stress, pressure, and magnitude of that occasion and her success and exposure there really knocked her stars out of alignment.
That is usual, and we often see it - first huge success in front of a home crowd.
She hasn't found any way to shake herself out of the daze though, and keeps doing the right things, she believes, and 'trusting in the process'.
The death, and manner of that death, of Sr. Coto is undoubtedly a trauma that everyone around him carries with them, and it will have a lasting effect.
But Jo did just fine after this, not just a little or on a few occasions, she literally rewrote dozens of chapters of GB womens tennis history.
It's greatest impact may have been a desire for a change of scene, and the ending of the relationship with Carrill & Garcia (both of whom I still have utmost regard for, and wish we could employ with some other Brits somehow) - but we don't know that.
The same thing happened with Fissette, and it's nigh impossible to make the causal link on that occasion. Perhpas that was just form based, perhaps Jo likes to change coaches once she thinks she's gotten everything out of the relationship that she can. On some times that is a quick 'info blast' on other things it's a slow burn. Who knows?

I think the current coaching arrangement is deleterious to progress. I don't like Joyce, but then, I don't know him. I just hear bad things about him, and can't overlook his past.

You know who I think would be an absolutely perfect fit for Jo, and who isn't really doing anything much at the moment? Carlos Rodriguez. Make the call.

Whatever happens. My worry, hope, pessimism and best wishes levels are dangerously high. She's so good for us, we need her.