Week 2 - WTA International ($275k) - Hobart, Australia - Hard

the addict · Tennis legend

Week 2 - WTA International ($275k) - Hobart, Australia - Hard

HarryGem · Club Coach

Michael D wrote:
Well, good match and very close. That break for Rybakina to win the match was the only break in the final set. Heather can recover now for next week. This has been a great week for her... good tennis, good points, good for her confidence/ smile.

SF: WATSON, Heather (GBR) [Q] 101 lost to RYBAKINA, Elena (KAZ) [3] 30=CH 3-6 6-4 4-6

-- Edited by Michael D on Friday 17th of January 2020 09:20:05 AM

Exactly. No disgrace at all in losing to a very inform player. Heather seems to have regained a lot of confidence just now. I think she could do better than we think in Melbourne.

wolf · Tennis legend

I've watched Heather a fair bit this week, was a pleasure to watch, such good baseline play.

PockyTastic · Futures level

wolf wrote:
I've watched Heather a fair bit this week, was a pleasure to watch, such good baseline play.

Completely agree. So much better than the listless or tentative play Ive seen in recent years. Its been a good reminder of just how talented she is.

Michael D · All-time great

PockyTastic wrote:
wolf wrote:
I've watched Heather a fair bit this week, was a pleasure to watch, such good baseline play.
Completely agree. So much better than the listless or tentative play Ive seen in recent years. Its been a good reminder of just how talented she is.

Yes, I'm interested to know just how the difference has happened.. It would seem that Alex Ward has made a difference, but also that Heather has received help with her mindset. A big difference for her this week has been her ability to close out tight matches. She's tended to tighten up in the past with disastrous effects, so it's lovely to see her much clearer positivity, and the fact that she's continued that way even in the last game or so.

Coup Droit · Tennis legend

"It would seem that Alex Ward has made a difference, but also that Heather has received help with her mindset."

Presumably that is not 'but also'. Presumably that is part and parcel of what Alex was doing.

Michael D · All-time great

Coup Droit wrote:
"It would seem that Alex Ward has made a difference, but also that Heather has received help with her mindset."

Presumably that is not 'but also'. Presumably that is part and parcel of what Alex was doing.

Well that's what I'm really interested to know CD. Is Alex doing everything, or has she also consulted a mind coach too?

... Coz if he is doing everything, that makes Alex a damn good coach!!

-- Edited by Michael D on Saturday 18th of January 2020 10:04:47 AM

paulisi · Tennis legend

Heather is a confidence player. She has played well at Hobart before.

You are reading too much into it.
I'm not even sure if Alex is her coach, they often travel by rotation - Beechy, Morgan Phillips , Alex etc

emmsie69 · Top national player

She is but after a shocking 3/4 of last year she ended the season on the up and its good to see that its continued into this season.

Barefoot · Lower Club Player

Heather has a new boyfriend and has been posting about how much shes enjoying her personal life. Id imagine that has a lot to do with her confidence professionally as well.

SuperT · Futures level

I was going to post something similar Barefoot. Heather's new boyfriend is a footballer who plays for Yeovil town so probably understands the pressures of being a sportsperson. I thinks when she's happy and well supported she plays with much more confidence. There were times last year when she seemed to be travelling alone and looked a bit lost. Calling her Mum on for coaching advice isn't exactly ideal! I really hope she now has a happy and settled home life and this will be reflected in her results.

Michael D · All-time great

Ok thanks all, yes maybe just the stars aligning for once... well hope it keeps up, but Alex does seem to have a positive influence too.

Ace Ventura · Tennis legend

Rybakina won the title here, beating 4th seed Zhang 7-6 6-3 in the final.

Some select WTA tour results since April:

Late April - Istanbul QF (via qualifying) ranked 161

S-Hertogenbisch SF (via qualifying)

Bucharest W

Nanchang F

Wuhan P5 QF

Luxembourg SF

Shenzhen F

Hobart W

Amazingly, she's up to 26 in the live rankings having never won a single grand slam main draw match (She's only had 2 matches though), so that's an obvious next milestone for her. I'm often wary when players go deep the week before a slam (especially as it's back to back finals for her, and she did have those MTOs against Hev), but if she can break that duck vs Pera on Monday, then a potential R3 match with Barty, presumably on RLA, could be one to look forward to.

I'm not a huge fan of Zhang, especially after that Swan nonsense in Eastbourne, so this was extra sweet.