Week 1 - (ITF 25k) - Playford, Australia, Hard

indiana · Tennis legend

Week 1 - (ITF 25k) - Playford, Australia, Hard

Ace Ventura · Tennis legend

Michael D wrote:
Ace Ventura wrote:
Peter too wrote:
QF: SWAN, Katie (GBR) 4 176 def MCPHEE, Kaylah (AUS) WC 352 6-4 6-3
QF: TAYLOR, Gabriella (GBR) 2 187 lost to RYBAKINA, Elena (KAZ) 6 182 6-3 2-6 6-7(3)

SF: SWAN, Katie (GBR) 4 176 v RYBAKINA, Elena (KAZ) 6 182 CH=175 10/12/18
Sometimes when you do a comparison of players it can be a bit like comparing apples to oranges, but there definitely are similarities here. Both were very good juniors, they're pretty much the same age (Swan is 21 in March, Rybakina 21 in June), both have decent serves and forehands, and they have both been on the tour a few years, so were at similar stages, and you can see that on Jan 4th at the start of the season, both were very near their career high (Katie's is 163 acheived in October 2018), with Katie the higher ranked seed. Fastforward nearly 10 months, so pretty much a full season, and one of them has since won a WTA title on clay, reached another WTA final on hard, another WTA semi final on grass, qualified herself for 2 of the slams, and this week, has made use of a surprise MDWC to reach a P5 QF and is now 43 in the live rankings (37 in the live race). The other is currently ranked 265, and 287 in the live race, and although obviously had a tough year for a number of reasons, has still managed to play 17 events, which is more events than many above her in the race.
I suppose it shows that someone really can burst on the scene, which could hold some hope for a few of our younger players, but talk about a contrast in years for 2 players making a W25 semi final at the start of the year.

Wow, that certainly brings it home Ace, what a disappointing year Katie has had so far...as unfortunately just one of many of our last year's top 10 who've had disappointing years thus far.

I suppose looking a couple of lines above the bolded part, you could say the same about Gabi, who was ranked just a few spots behind them at the time (despite being the 2nd seed), but she did have a lot of Aussie points about to drop off, so it was more likely her ranking who initially fall, plus she's a year older, has a completely different game style, not as much junior pedigree, so it would basically just be comparing 2 young players, and like apples and oranges.

Coup Droit · Tennis legend

Yes, this time last year, Katie lost to Thandi in the QFs of a 25k.
Thandi is now ranked 462.
So Katie has done majorly better than her.
As Indy says, you can always find a comparison to suit the storyline.
But it's certainly true that, on a more general level, given all the hype about Katie as a 16/17 year-old, she has not - yet - managed to reach the level expected.
Again, as Indy says, certain specific issues have obviously weight her down.
I hope that playing doubles here is a sign that she's fit and happy to play.

Ace Ventura · Tennis legend

Coup Droit wrote:
Yes, this time last year, Katie lost to Thandi in the QFs of a 25k.
Thandi is now ranked 462.
So Katie has done majorly better than her.
As Indy says, you can always find a comparison to suit the storyline.
But it's certainly true that, on a more general level, given all the hype about Katie as a 16/17 year-old, she has not - yet - managed to reach the level expected.
Again, as Indy says, certain specific issues have obviously weight her down.
I hope that playing doubles here is a sign that she's fit and happy to play.

Agree that you can pick and choose certain things to suit something, and that Thandi was just an example you plucked out to show the other way (even if she literally hasn't hit a ball since March, a bit like Katie B), but I just thought it was quite an interesting comparison between 2 players the same age with obvious similarities, especially as they faced each other at the very start of the year and we're now heading towards the end, and both have had reasonable schedules since, (Rybakina 22 events, Katie 16), and I referenced her issues in the initial post. Also to highlight what a stunning year Rybakina has had so far, after she too had initially struggled to take her junior pedigree and potential on to the pro tour.

But yes, nice to see her back in some capacity here, and would be good if she could get something going in singles before the end of the year (especially as she has 51 of her 221 points coming off before the end of the year...)

-- Edited by Ace Ventura on Wednesday 25th of September 2019 01:54:22 PM

ROSAMUND · Futures level

Michael D wrote:
Was interested to watch Gabi today really to see whether her game seemed to have evolved from last year at all and whether she looked like she has the potential to improve much on her CH of 162 - or even to maintain this over the next few months, considering she has 3 25k wins to defend from her successful run in Aus early last year. On this showing, her game is still more or less where it was, and she still lacks either the power or precision to move up a level. There wasn't enough variation in her game today either, Rybakina being the one who caught Gabi cold with two good drop shot winners in the last few games, but that was also because Gabi was being kept by and large well behind the baseline. When she could come in Gabi hit some better shots, including some down the line winners, but in most of the rallies it was Gabi that was the defensive player. This is her first tournament back, but she is going to need more to her game than she showed today to progress this year.

This was written at the beginning of January and unfortunately proved to be fairly prophetic one feels as far as Gabi is concerned.

Ace Ventura · Tennis legend

It certainly is interesting reading the posts back.

Michael D · All-time great

ROSAMUND wrote:
Michael D wrote:
Was interested to watch Gabi today really to see whether her game seemed to have evolved from last year at all and whether she looked like she has the potential to improve much on her CH of 162 - or even to maintain this over the next few months, considering she has 3 25k wins to defend from her successful run in Aus early last year. On this showing, her game is still more or less where it was, and she still lacks either the power or precision to move up a level. There wasn't enough variation in her game today either, Rybakina being the one who caught Gabi cold with two good drop shot winners in the last few games, but that was also because Gabi was being kept by and large well behind the baseline. When she could come in Gabi hit some better shots, including some down the line winners, but in most of the rallies it was Gabi that was the defensive player. This is her first tournament back, but she is going to need more to her game than she showed today to progress this year.
This was written at the beginning of January and unfortunately proved to be fairly prophetic one feels as far as Gabi is concerned.

Yes, it's interesting that during her brilliant run early last year Gabi had two excellent coaches supporting her, neither of whom last through the fall, as they both went off with other people. Gabi is one of those whose natural game is rather defensive - cf Andy Murray - and it is only good coaching that gets them out of this natural mindset and into the kind of on court behaviours they need to be successful. Right from the beginning of the year Gabi seemed to have slipped back into past behaviours, including the annoying being mad every time she mi**** a shot. I'm not clear what her current coaching set up is, but it is clearly not what it was for that brief spell.

Gabi nevertheless does clearly have more potential than her current ranking, so hope she can find a way back up again.

Ace Ventura · Tennis legend

And one of those coaches Budo, went to work with Paula Badosa (also 21 years old) around Aug/Sept 2018 when she was circa 183, she's now inside the top 100 and has recently made QFs and SFs of WTA events. Not sure where Sunyer currently is.

ROSAMUND · Futures level

Ace Ventura wrote:
It certainly is interesting reading the posts back.

As an aside some of the posts about Johanna Konta before she made it can be quite interesting too. As far as Gabi is concerned I had a look at her record in 2018 and 2019. When she had that good spell in February and March in 2018 she played in 6 tournaments winning 3 of them and winning 22 matches and losing 3 , one of which she retired in. She also beat Georges twice then whom she lost to at Roehampton this week. After the Fed Cup selection her results went downhill for some reason or other. Since then she has played in 32 tournaments and won 18 matches. In 2019 her record is 10 wins and 17 losses. Only on 2 occasions has she won more than 1 match at a tournament in 2019.(it is 11 in a row at the moment of 1 win or less) She may not be a world beater but one would think should be capable of better results.