Week 34 - US Open Qualifying

JonH · All-time great

Week 34 - US Open Qualifying

Coup Droit · Tennis legend

Ace Ventura wrote:
Gutted. Left work just after Katie squared up and fully expected her to see it out. This to me does feel like a 'pesky' win. Probably relying fully on Hev now for a qualifier.

I've never been a fan of Naomi's tennis but that seems a little harsh, no ?

She's hardly a pesky, the girl is Stockport's finest.

Naomi was playing great in the World team tennis stuff - hopefully this was form from that match, in the big atmosphere that she obviously likes.

PockyTastic · Futures level

Ace Ventura wrote:
Lost the last time they played iirc earlier this year at the indoor Hungarian Open quals which was meant to be a favourable surface for her.

Garcia-Perez isnt your stereotypical Spanish player. Shes incredibly tall and her game is built around her huge serve, so Budapests surface suited her too

Michael D · All-time great

Well this is a surprise, I must admit, and yes interesting that this is the second 1-6 loss for Katie after squaring up. Maybe she is not quite as fit yet as she needs to be though probably it is just the psychologically toughness that let's hope she will develop with more regular playing at this level. Now though she is going to have to think about the Asian tournaments post US Open... because whereas it looked like she would probably get into the Aussie Open MD relatively easily, that is no longer a foregone conclusion. She needs a few more wins at a decent level.. Asian 125ks might be a good idea.

For Naomi, the win has a slightly retro feel towards it, though it's the best win she's had for a while I think, especially coming after her Vancouver no show... And really hope that after beating the Brit seed she will go a bit further now, and use this as a confidence boost. Katie now beaten by both Heather and Naomi in successive weeks now, the GB oldies now at #s 3 and 4 making some clear points to the upstart GB #2.

Ace Ventura · Tennis legend

JonH wrote:
Same as Andy beating kyle or Liam beating Jay. Young talented player beaten by more experienced one. It happens a lot, no real surprise. Good luck to naomi, she beat a world ranked 103 O that's positive. Bad luck to Katie, move on, tennis is about ups and downs

Think there's a bit of a difference with Andy mind given his pedigree. About 80% of the Tennis Podcasts poll were hoping Andy would beat Kyle recently whereas you go on tennisforum and Naomi is regularly brought up in worst top 100 in recent times conversations.

If Liam beats Jay (again) then yes, that would be more of a similar situation.

Ace Ventura · Tennis legend

PockyTastic wrote:
Ace Ventura wrote:
Lost the last time they played iirc earlier this year at the indoor Hungarian Open quals which was meant to be a favourable surface for her.
Garcia-Perez isnt your stereotypical Spanish player. Shes incredibly tall and her game is built around her huge serve, so Budapests surface suited her too

Yeah, true, fastest serve or something she has.

I'm on my phone here and haven't got the rankings at hand but I think at the time Naomi was about 50/60 placed higher (could be wrong), but inyerrsting to see they are adjacent to each other now in the rankings.

the addict · Tennis legend

Oh dear, such a pity for Katie to lose like that. I hope Naomi can pick up her form and press on now.

AliBlahBlah · All-time great

Ace Ventura wrote:
PockyTastic wrote:
Ace Ventura wrote:
Lost the last time they played iirc earlier this year at the indoor Hungarian Open quals which was meant to be a favourable surface for her.
Garcia-Perez isnt your stereotypical Spanish player. Shes incredibly tall and her game is built around her huge serve, so Budapests surface suited her too
Yeah, true, fastest serve or something she has.
I'm on my phone here and haven't got the rankings at hand but I think at the time Naomi was about 50/60 placed higher (could be wrong), but inyerrsting to see they are adjacent to each other now in the rankings.

When they played in their Budapest match, on 18th February, in week 8, Naomi was [q4] WR126, Garcia-Perez WR155
Naomi went 2/8 on BP, GGP 3/9

Ace Ventura · Tennis legend

Coup Droit wrote:
Ace Ventura wrote:
Gutted. Left work just after Katie squared up and fully expected her to see it out. This to me does feel like a 'pesky' win. Probably relying fully on Hev now for a qualifier.
I've never been a fan of Naomi's tennis but that seems a little harsh, no ?
She's hardly a pesky, the girl is Stockport's finest.
Naomi was playing great in the World team tennis stuff - hopefully this was form from that match, in the big atmosphere that she obviously likes.

On a British tennis forum, yes, but no, not to me - I have literally got as much enjoyment from this result as I did from that recent Allie Kiick result, i.e. none.

jb288 · Satellite level

Well I'm pleased for Naomi, she needed the win more and still has plenty of years left :) Katie will have loads of opportunities to come, and very good luck to her with those too :)

Ace Ventura · Tennis legend

AliBlahBlah wrote:
Ace Ventura wrote:
PockyTastic wrote:
Ace Ventura wrote:
Lost the last time they played iirc earlier this year at the indoor Hungarian Open quals which was meant to be a favourable surface for her.
Garcia-Perez isnt your stereotypical Spanish player. Shes incredibly tall and her game is built around her huge serve, so Budapests surface suited her too
Yeah, true, fastest serve or something she has.
I'm on my phone here and haven't got the rankings at hand but I think at the time Naomi was about 50/60 placed higher (could be wrong), but inyerrsting to see they are adjacent to each other now in the rankings.
When they played in their Budapest match, on 18th February, in week 8, Naomi was [q4] WR126, Garcia-Perez WR155
Naomi went 2/8 on BP, GGP 3/9

Thanks, so her ranking then was pretty much what it is now.

Just had a quick look at her rankings over the past 8 months and it's extremely up and down. I remember it was over 200 when Gabi beat her at the back end of last year as I was having a conversation with someone about Gabi's top 200 win in her India/Australia streak and I remember saying GGP is now around 150 a few months later.

She was 238 on 18th Dec 2017, then up to the 150's as you say when playing Naomi around February, but then back to 219 in May and back to the 150's now. There was 80 places between the two on 15th January 2018 (118 vs 199), so perhaps I just assumed Naomi was a lot higher ranked at the time than she was.

indiana · Tennis legend

Naomi has never really been a favourite of mine. I don''t particularly enjoy watching her even on form.

BUT she did get to WR 76 largely as a result of becoming a comparative servebot when Fitzy hammered home really concentrating on that weapon plus he did seem to have some effect on other areas.

And that is perfectly legitimate. Naomi was not only ranked in the 70s but often a threat to players ranked quite a bit higher. That serve dependant style didn't make her the worst top 100 player or whatever and doesn't make John Isner say far too highly ranked. Different strokes and they win / won tennis matches.

Clearly she has been struggling and the serve has been a bit of an inconsistent mess, especially comparative to what it could / should be. I do hope she can take heart from this, indeed qualify and have a much better end to year.

SuperT · Futures level

Ace Ventura wrote:
Coup Droit wrote:
Ace Ventura wrote:
Gutted. Left work just after Katie squared up and fully expected her to see it out. This to me does feel like a 'pesky' win. Probably relying fully on Hev now for a qualifier.
I've never been a fan of Naomi's tennis but that seems a little harsh, no ?
She's hardly a pesky, the girl is Stockport's finest.
Naomi was playing great in the World team tennis stuff - hopefully this was form from that match, in the big atmosphere that she obviously likes.
On a British tennis forum, yes, but no, not to me - I have literally got as much enjoyment from this result as I did from that recent Allie Kiick result, i.e. none.

I was really disappointed with this result too. I just hope Naomi does go on to qualify as I'll be really upset if she deprives Katie of her place in the draw, and then promptly loses to a lower ranked player in the next round.

Coup Droit · Tennis legend

But Naomi didn't 'deprive' Katie of a place - Katie deprived herself by losing to a lower ranked player.

indiana · Tennis legend

The person that will have most deprived Katie is Katie by not winning. For whatever reasons Katie wasn't good enough to beat Naomi on the day. It is not for Naomi to roll over!!

And I did personally want Katie to win.

Snap !

-- Edited by indiana on Tuesday 21st of August 2018 07:21:59 PM