Week 38 - WTA Premier ($799k) - Tokyo, Japan - Hard

Coup Droit · Tennis legend

RE: Week 38 - WTA Premier ($799k) - Tokyo, Japan - Hard

Jajon · Club Coach

Jo was doing her best to replicate that performance against putintseva at the French open towards the end of the second set there. Was an experience.

Does anyone know what Michael Joyce adds? Other than ineptitude that is. Asking for a friend!!

Julia Carrot · All-time great

Donna Vekic just beat Caroline Garcia 6-3 6-4 and Caroline was a break up in the 2nd set initially. It happens.

Michael D · All-time great

Jajon wrote:
Jo was doing her best to replicate that performance against putintseva at the French open towards the end of the second set there. Was an experience.

Does anyone know what Michael Joyce adds? Other than ineptitude that is. Asking for a friend!!

I've not seen anyone on this forum advance a case yet of anything that Michael Joyce does add, or has improved with respect to Jo's game and court craft this year.

Nix · Futures level

It was interesting on commentary they were talking about the drop shot that Vekic had been working on that she used to devastating effect a couple of times in her match against Jo. As has been said, youd expect a new coach to introduce some improvements to a players game like Torben Beltz has to Vekics.

SuperT · Futures level

The situation with Jo is so frustrating. She has both the weapons and the athleticism needed to compete against the very top players but at the moment she seems to be squandering her talent and wasting so many opportunities to progress. She needs more to her game than just hitting the ball as hard as possible and that's where the coach should be stepping with guidance. Her latest tweet said "#ontothenextone" but what's the point less something changes? I do wish she's stayed with Wim Fissette.

Michael D · All-time great

Yes, I'm still curious to know exactly what happened there, why Jo fell out with him (Wim Fissette). There was something about chemistry not working I recall, but maybe that was shorthand for, he wanted to change things that she was reluctant to do? This #ontothenextone has been Jo's philosophy all this year, allied to a general defensiveness against anything approaching criticism. And yet it's clear for all to see now that she is squandering the potential that I daresay she still does have.

ROSAMUND · Futures level

Jo finished with Caril in October 2016 when she was having a successful 2nd half of the season and also Fissette when she had successes. I cannot think of what has been achieved with Mike Joyce as coach. Hope this is a partnership that finishes before 2019 starts.

flamingowings · All-time great

I don't think Wim Fissette is bothered given his great success with Kerber this year.

foobarbaz · Strong Club Player

To be fair, Michael Joyce isn't the one hitting the ball in Jo's matches. If there is one thing sure to really ramp up pressure on Jo, that is criticism of her employees. Joyce is in no position to defend himself, and until we all hear differently we must all believe that Jo is happy with the coaching Michael is providing. We had all this type of chitchat about Andy Murray and Amélie Mauresmo, and yet it is clear that they had a strong working relationship with a lot of mutual respect and friendship to this day. There's been enough reported, and advice given by tennis pundits, to Jo about her playing style and strategy, that she must have considered it all. It can only be that Jo feels most comfortable playing this way. It does work pretty well when she is confident in matches, and likely does when she is practising too.

indiana · Tennis legend

Yes, some variation to Plan A would be good to see or at least to have in the locker but the main problem is that Plan A is not being executed nearly as well as when Jo is near her best. I am confident that it is a way that would still be very effective if she was just playing better.

And while no Joyce advocate, and as I say variation at times would be good, I am not sure how he can really be responsible for her basic game being in such relatively poor shape. But then who knows with training, practice methods etc.

Coup Droit · Tennis legend

*** irrelevant to the above discussion but you know when you read something really quickly ....

".....Plan A is not being executed nearly as well as when Jo is near her best. ..... "

I read this as

"Plan A is not being executed nearly as well as when John Isner was best......"

Instant confusion, weird, why would Isner have an impact on Jo???

confuse confuse

-- Edited by Coup Droit on Friday 21st of September 2018 12:55:43 PM

indiana · Tennis legend

biggrin

Michael D · All-time great

foobarbaz wrote:
To be fair, Michael Joyce isn't the one hitting the ball in Jo's matches. If there is one thing sure to really ramp up pressure on Jo, that is criticism of her employees. Joyce is in no position to defend himself, and until we all hear differently we must all believe that Jo is happy with the coaching Michael is providing. We had all this type of chitchat about Andy Murray and Amélie Mauresmo, and yet it is clear that they had a strong working relationship with a lot of mutual respect and friendship to this day. There's been enough reported, and advice given by tennis pundits, to Jo about her playing style and strategy, that she must have considered it all. It can only be that Jo feels most comfortable playing this way. It does work pretty well when she is confident in matches, and likely does when she is practising too.

I personally wouldn't draw a parallel between Joyce and Jo and Andy and Amelie Mauresmo. I think the benefits Amelie brought were more obvious, and we know that most of the initial controversy generated around that relationship was simply because Mauresmo as a woman was coaching a man.

ROSAMUND · Futures level

Michael D wrote:
the addict wrote:
Jo was around 300 points from WR32, so with almost nothing to drop, stands a good chance of making up the gap and getting a seeding for AO.
Her minimum Premier counter is 55 though, so she needs another win this week to pick up any further points.

In the actual event this got absolutely nowhere. Jo has hardly got anymore ranking points in the 2nd half of 2018 than what she managed in 2017. To be fair she had a couple of difficult opponents including one in Julia Goerges who she had lost easily too on their previous meeting. One wonders if she will change her coaching set-up for 2019?