Week 23 ITF ($100k) - Surbiton, Grass

Sheddie · administrator

Week 23 ITF ($100k) - Surbiton, Grass

vohor · Grand Slam Champion

Super win for Gabi :D

steven · Tennis legend

Michael D wrote:
Nix wrote:
The other thing about Gabi yesterday was that she was not only playing against the no 1 seed but also largely the crowd, who were mainly supporting Heather. Although I struggle to choose when two Brits playing, so tried to keep it even. But even in the first set when she was struggling, she didnt berate herself for losing shots, she was rather thinking of the shot she should have played, eg should have sliced there, etc. I should imagine that helps with resilience.
That's both interesting that the crowd should be so relatively one sided - that even at that kind of venue people still comparatively 'know' Heather more, and that Gabi should prove so resilient. It means she is being well coached/ prepared too. I loved her tweet afterwards that Steven posted. Methinks there is also a little payback there for the way she was treated at the FedCup. Whatever else Gabi does this tournament now she has shaken up the 'old' order of British women's tennis, at least the one that has been around the last 3-4 years. And I certainly think that's a good thing. It may even help Heather too. She also needs to do some rethinking, and I'd love to see a bit more resilience from her in response.

I've noticed a few people saying/admitting that they'd never heard of Gabi before, so your first point is definitely correct. You'd think people who follow British tennis online (whether through us or the LTA tweets and weekly reports) would know something about her great start to the year, but I don't know what proportion of the spectators at Surbiton do that. If any of the offline supporters get the next Tennishead, they might find out a bit more about her, but only if they page through far enough to reach my article LOL Hopefully she'll do well enough in the next few weeks for everyone to know who she is anyway.

Gabi was utterly relentless again today, sort of Spanish levels of accuracy but on grass rather than clay, and Stollár was made to look quite ordinary, much to her chagrin. I am so impressed with her - she doesn't have any great physical advantages like some and no single killer shot, as far as I can see, but she has made herself into a nightmare to play against, especially at this level and hopefully beyond. smile

It's hard to imagine her having much trouble getting past Conny (famous last words!), who seemed to be struggling a bit in her doubles match today (though she had played singles not long before and will have a day off to recover on Thursday) but Gabi is still going to need to keep playing near her best to get past top 200 players, even if they aren't that keen on grass.

Katy played much better against Riske (especially in the 1st set) than she did against Jodie, but she needed to because the American is a natural on grass - in fact, the time she thrashed Katy 0 & 2 in the 2016 Eastbourne 50K, she went on to win the title there and she has reached R3 at Wimbledon three times. Alison was moving Katy all over the court - long, low accurate shots, a bit like Gabi but even better. Katy had a purple patch in the second half of the 1st set just after I arrived and got close to making a decisive breakthrough a couple of times, as I think Ace Ventura mentioned a couple of pages ago. I was thus expecting the 2nd set to be quite close too, but sadly it ran away very quickly, though 4 of the 6 games in that set went to deuce so it wasn't as one-sided as the bagel implies. She never gave up or really got down on herself though and generally seems much more mature and resilient than a couple of years ago, but that improved resilience had already been fairly obvious from the way the scorelines in some of her matches in Australia, etc, developed.

I had another chance to talk to her coach and he seems (quite rightly, I'd say) happy with the incremental progress she's been making on all fronts, then Katy came along and said hello, probably more because she was worried about what we might be saying about her behind her back than anything else wink

I also spoke to her much-maligned (by her daughter) mum, who's very open about the ups and downs of being a tennis parent, but in a very relatable way. I daren't repeat too much but hopefully it's ok to mention the time that Katy got the officials to ask her mum to leave the side of the court for putting her off by cheering and she managed to find a place to hide behind people and watch through their legs. I probably haven't recounted that completely accurately but it did make me laugh.

Katy and Harriet seemed to be heading out to the 2nd seeds in the doubles later too but turned the 2nd set around impressively (the turnaround started just after Anne Keothavong left, though I'm sure that was pure coincidence!) only for Hon and Stollár to regain control in the MTB.

I also got a chance to talk to Samantha Murray, who's really nice. Just as she was getting into a rhythm again, she broke her wrist in an accident in training late last year (I think I read that elsewhere some months ago, so I don't think it's new news) and this had been her first tournament back (a 3-set loss to Emily A and then a very close doubles loss partnering the same player) - she says that having put so much effort into recovery, she's going to try to play some singles and doubles, enjoy it as much as she can and just see where it takes her without expecting too much, which seems a sensible attitude under the circumstances.

I imagine it's easy for people (though hopefully not people on here) to forget that she has already made the top 150 in doubles and been not far off in singles, so it would be great to see her mixing it with the mid-late 1990s girls who are surging at the moment, but after all that's happened, I'm sure she's right to take it one step at a time and to make sure she enjoys all the playing time she's got left, wherever it may lead.

Biggest highlight of the day, though, was meeting philwrig, at long last!

paulisi · Tennis legend

Is that a highlight???? smile smile smile smile

goldfish · Futures qualifying

Thanks again Steven and Sheddie. Good to get insight from the players themselves. Good Luck to Sam - very happy she's still trying to make the most of her tennis career.

Michael D · All-time great

Thanks Steven for the update, good to hear all, and especially to Sam. Reference to her wrist hasn't been made on the forum as far as I know - I may have missed it - so it hasn't been wholly clear why she has been out, and upsetting many people's women's predictions for this year, who had expected her to go on and make progress well within our top 10! So I hope she can regain her fitness now, stay healthy, and belatedly restart that upward progress she was making late last year.

On Gabi, interesting Sheddie's comment about her still not being well, and it was Nix that pointed out that she was blowing heavily even in her first match against Heather after just one set. In that case, her performance in maintaining focus and intensity is all the more impressive. One thing about her great Australian run at the beginning of the year when she climbed into the top 200, was her ability to adapt to different surfaces seemingly without difficulty, as she won 25ks on both hard and grass surfaces, and then played clay too, and that adaptability seems to be one of her games strengths, as is that intensity. In a way she reminds me a little of a female David Ferrer, who at his peak was metronomic in his power, intensity and accuracy. Gabi doesn't have the comparative power of Ferrer, but she has more variation in her game, the lack of which I always thought hampered Ferrer from becoming a great rather than merely very good player.

Hope Gabi is able to get over her cough etc somewhat better on her rest day before she resumes her challenge here; in the meantime look forward to seeing how the two Katies and Harriet take up the challenge today. In addition, lest we not forget her, Laura R also has a chance today to get inside the top 100 once more, even if this time it is only for doubles rather than singles. Her hip is obviously still bothering her, so seems unlikely she is going to be able to give singles play on grass that much of a go this year, which is unfortunate for her attempts to keep up with the five that are moving into the top 200 and receding into the distance ahead of her at the moment.

Helen40 · Grand Slam Champion

paulisi wrote:
Is that a highlight????

I must admit I thought philwrig was a a great guy when I met him. Iknow I've met one other forumite, but can't remember who it was. Was it you paulisi?

Jan · Hall of fame

Thanks for all the first-hand reports - it is great to have some insights and get a bit of a feel for what's going on.
And good luck to all our players today!

paulisi · Tennis legend

Helen40 wrote:
paulisi wrote:
Is that a highlight????
I must admit I thought philwrig was a a great guy when I met him. Iknow I've met one other forumite, but can't remember who it was. Was it you paulisi?

I don't believe so. I've met a few, but I don't think I was Edgbaston when you met Phil.

Priesty · Challenger level

paulisi wrote:
Helen40 wrote:
paulisi wrote:
Is that a highlight????
I must admit I thought philwrig was a a great guy when I met him. Iknow I've met one other forumite, but can't remember who it was. Was it you paulisi?
I don't believe so. I've met a few, but I don't think I was Edgbaston when you met Phil.

You met me briefly at Shrewsbury years ago

the addict · Tennis legend

First set to Harriet 6-2. No live stream as far as I can tell. Considering they streamed the mens match before it, it's disappointing to say the least ( or ******* **** if you prefer)

SMC1809 · All-time great

Harriet a break up in the second set.

JonH · All-time great

Re the streaming, is it because the stream is provided by the ATP as part of their Challenger Tour service, as opposed to itf for the women. So they effectively switch it off when men aren't playing. Shame they couldn't work out some arrangement though.

the addict · Tennis legend

JonH wrote:
Re the streaming, is it because the stream is provided by the ATP as part of their Challenger Tour service, as opposed to itf for the women. So they effectively switch it off when men aren't playing. Shame they couldn't work out some arrangement though.

Precisely !

4-4 one break all

Jan · Hall of fame

The odd thing is that they do often stream the women's itf matches (eg currently from Brescia), so why not here??