Week 1 - WTA Premier ($1.5 mill) - Brisbane, Australia - Hard

Ace Ventura · Tennis legend

RE: Week 1 - WTA Premier ($1.5 mill) - Brisbane, Australia - Hard

ROSAMUND · Futures level

Ace Ventura wrote:
ROSAMUND wrote:
ROSAMUND wrote:
Why is Maria Sharapova given a wild card when there are many players ranked above her who have to qualify? She may have won Brisbane but that was 5 years ago!
Well I see Sharapova was beaten by qualifier Jennifer Brady in the 1st round. So no match against Ash Barty then..
Yep, a deciding set tie break, but like Konta, this was her first (competitive) match since the US Open, so perhaps qualifying would have been more beneficial. However, like many tournaments, Brisbane obviously wanted her in the main draw.

Didn't watch the match but I read that Sharapova served 2 double faults at a crucial stage in the tie-break. Relating to Jo how is the Great Bake off going to fit in with her tennis schedule?

Ace Ventura · Tennis legend

ROSAMUND wrote:
Ace Ventura wrote:
ROSAMUND wrote:
ROSAMUND wrote:
Why is Maria Sharapova given a wild card when there are many players ranked above her who have to qualify? She may have won Brisbane but that was 5 years ago!
Well I see Sharapova was beaten by qualifier Jennifer Brady in the 1st round. So no match against Ash Barty then..
Yep, a deciding set tie break, but like Konta, this was her first (competitive) match since the US Open, so perhaps qualifying would have been more beneficial. However, like many tournaments, Brisbane obviously wanted her in the main draw.
Didn't watch the match but I read that Sharapova served 2 double faults at a crucial stage in the tie-break. Relating to Jo how is the Great Bake off going to fit in with her tennis schedule?

Yep, I was following the score at work and it was *3-4 in the tie break, and I decided to stop following and then watch the conclusion on my phone on my lunch break without knowing the result, but just before I left, I saw that you had bumped the Brisbane thread on the forum index, so I assumed she had lost, ha, and sure enough, just as I settled down to watch, back to back DFs, and then Brady served it out on her first MP, so that was very short and sweet, although not necessarily the latter for me.

flamingowings · All-time great

Bake off is pre-filmed, isn't it?

the addict · Tennis legend

flamingowings wrote:
Bake off is pre-filmed, isn't it?

I believe it is normally pre-recorded in the spring to be shown later in the year. Although Jo's photo on instagram suggests that it might have already been filmed - looks like she is in a studio kitchen

https://www.instagram.com/p/B6_71Ojnb-p/

ROSAMUND · Futures level

HarryGem wrote:
ROSAMUND wrote:
I always feel uncomfortable about Jo's prospects when the BRI****CH website predicts she will win matches as happened with the Strycova match. Similarly when I read Jo is targeting a Grand Slam. Personally I do not think she will reach a Grand Slam final because her best is not good enough. Having reached the last 16 of 8 Grand Slams she has then lost in straight sets every time. The closest we have got in the last 40 years to a finalist was Jo Durie at the French in 1983 when she lost in 3 sets to Mima Jausovec. That was more frustrating than any of the current Jo's losses. I feel our next potential champion/finalist is not on the scene yet.
I tend to agree with what you say. However, as to targetting a grand slam it is hard to see what else she can say/do. Age is starting to go against her though. I would say she has 8 more realistic shots at reaching a grand slam final, though when she gets close she seems to come up short. I know there are recent examples of players over 30 winning and reaching finals but take out the Williams sisters and there aren't that many in recent years.
For Jo I think the serve has to work near to perfectly for her to progress. When it does she's top class but when it falls short, as it did in Brisbane, her B game plan doesn't have the same effect.
As to your last point if whilst watching Wade win the Wimbledon title someone had said that we would be here in 2020 with no other champion I would have laughed, now I'm not sure I will live long enough to see it.

They may not have won Grand Slams but since the days of Durie and Hobbs, our most promising players tend to arrive in pairs. Back in the late 1980's Sarah Loosemore and Sam Smith promised something but never quite delivered. At the beginning of the 21st century it was Anne Keothavong and Elena Baltacha. Fast forward to 2010 it was Laura Robson and Heather Watson. We must be due another promising duo soon.

ROSAMUND · Futures level

No thread for Shenzen but I notice Elena Rybakina has reached the final. Yet one year ago she was playing in the $25k tournament in Playford. just beating Gabi Taylor and Katie Swan in the process. Just 12 monnths on her career has gone in the opposite direction to our players even though they are all of a similar age.

Ace Ventura · Tennis legend

ROSAMUND wrote:
No thread for Shenzen but I notice Elena Rybakina has reached the final. Yet one year ago she was playing in the $25k tournament in Playford. just beating Gabi Taylor and Katie Swan in the process. Just 12 monnths on her career has gone in the opposite direction to our players even though they are all of a similar age.

Yep, I bumped that thread Playford W25 thread in Sept after Rybakina's Wuhan P5 run, and she's obviously continued from where she left off as she's had a few notable wins to reach that final, Mertens in particular. She's pretty much been on a WTA tear since April, and it'll be interesting to see how much further she goes. One of the cleanest ballstrikers around.

It really is amazing the contrast though. I did mainly focus on Katie S because of their respective junior pedigrees and that there's less than 3 months between them, while Gabi is a little older, but literally 12 months ago they were ranked something like 176 and 182, now one is almost certainly going to be seeded at the AO, while Katie is almost certainly not even going to make quals, and Gabi is a similar story.

While I very much doubt it will be on a remotely similar scale, it would be nice if one of our 19-21s could have some sort of breakthrough season this year, and post some notable results.