Weeks 3-4 - Australian Open, Women's Main Draw - Melbourne, Australia - Hard

paulisi · Tennis legend

RE: Weeks 3-4 - Australian Open, Women's Main Draw - Melbourne, Australia - Hard

ROSAMUND · Futures level

paulisi wrote:
Jan wrote:
JonH comes home wrote:
ROSAMUND wrote:
aCan't find anywhere else to put this but Anne Keothavong is appearing on Question of Sport on Friday 31st January.
That suggests bbc want to publicise the fed cup, so maybe they are showing it on one of their platforms?
It's allegedly on red button and website - hopefully!
BBC are switching off text, red button and the sport app very soon.

At the moment the BBC have put on hold switching off text. They are holding a review because disability groups are unhappy with this decision.

ROSAMUND · Futures level

HarryGem wrote:
ROSAMUND wrote:
Of the top 8 in the ITF Junior World Rankings 2015, Kenin is the 3rd player in that top 8 to play in a Grand Slam singles final in the past year, the other 2 being Vondrousova and Andreescu. It has been noted on another website that Katie Swan beat Kenin at junior Wimbledon of 2015. But if you look Galfi of Hungary beat Kenin in the 2015 US Open Junior final. It has been pointed on this forum that logistically it is impossible for every successful junior to be a successful senior. Barty's defeat in the semi finals having had the lead in both sets reminded me of Jo in Paris last year. At the semi final stage the pressure gets to them which is not too surprising when you think about it.
And sadly there any comparison ends. It will be interesting to see if Kenin can hold it together in her first grand slam final. I'd put Muguruza as the likely winner and she is playing some very good tennis just now. But I do like Kenin, I know some find her arrogant but I wish we had a young British woman half as good as her with her attitude.

As regards Katie she had alot of help from the Murray family in trying to make her successful.

markymc1983 · Club Coach

Shame BBC are not showing the final on any platform. Does anybody have a link?

Ace Ventura · Tennis legend

Going the distance in the final. Kenin takes the second set 6-2, having dropped the first 4-6.

flamingowings · All-time great

Kenin up a break in the 3rd...

the addict · Tennis legend

Kenin holds her nerve, and Muguruza doesn't - we have a new champion

Ace Ventura · Tennis legend

Enjoyable final, but a bit of a collapse from Muguruza. 2-2 40-0*, didn't break then just faded away. 3 DFs in the final game, including match point. Shame the way it ended, as it was a good match, but congrats to Kenin. She really has posted some impressive results these past 12-15 months.

mbturner · Lower Club Player

Is there anything to learn from US tennis support or is it individual determination? They have 17 players in the top 100 of the live rankings. GB players spend more time in rehab than on court.

-- Edited by mbturner on Saturday 1st of February 2020 11:33:42 AM

Michael D · All-time great

Yes I'd hoped Garbine would win... but even by the end of the first set she seemed to be hanging on... and after then she was definitely second best. Kenin very impressive in the rallies and her general consistency.... also a nerveless display in contrast with the number of BPs she saved with really good play. She certainly deserved to win, even if she was not my favourite.

goldfish · Futures qualifying

Great win by Sofia and she doesn't shriek on serve! Can cope with her celebrating shots - looking forward to seeing more from this young lady. Probably helped that she was very much under the radar even if it annoyed her father a little. Certainly a good crop of youngsters to mix up the women's game now.

Coup Droit · Tennis legend

mbturner wrote:
Is there anything to learn from US tennis support or is it individual determination? They have 17 players in the top 100 of the live rankings. GB players spend more time in rehab than on court.

-- Edited by mbturner on Saturday 1st of February 2020 11:33:42 AM

To be fair, they also have a country that has about 330 million people.

So they should have 5 times the number of players in the top 100 as the UK. i.e. we have 2, they should have 10. So, it's true they beat us but not by that much....

Given their relative size, in fact, their results are not so amazing.

Germany have 5 in the top 100, with a population of 82 million. So that's 20 on a like-for-like basis, which beats the USA.

France has 4 for a population of 67 million, which is also 20 and beats the USA.

The real powerhouse, however, would be somewhere like the Czech Republic.

8 players in the top 100, for a population of 10 million. That equates to 264, compared to USA's 17 !!!

Beats the USA into an absolute pulp - the Czech Republic are doing fifteen times better than the USA.

JonH comes home · Tennis legend

Coup Droit wrote:
mbturner wrote:
Is there anything to learn from US tennis support or is it individual determination? They have 17 players in the top 100 of the live rankings. GB players spend more time in rehab than on court.

-- Edited by mbturner on Saturday 1st of February 2020 11:33:42 AM
To be fair, they also have a country that has about 330 million people.
So they should have 5 times the number of players in the top 100 as the UK. i.e. we have 2, they should have 10. So, it's true they beat us but not by that much....
Given their relative size, in fact, their results are not so amazing.
Germany have 5 in the top 100, with a population of 82 million. So that's 20 on a like-for-like basis, which beats the USA.
France has 4 for a population of 67 million, which is also 20 and beats the USA.

The real powerhouse, however, would be somewhere like the Czech Republic.
8 players in the top 100, for a population of 10 million. That equates to 264, compared to USA's 17 !!!
Beats the USA into an absolute pulp - the Czech Republic are doing fifteen times better than the USA.

264 in the top 100, now that would be special!

foobarbaz · Strong Club Player

Coup Droit wrote:
mbturner wrote:
Is there anything to learn from US tennis support or is it individual determination? They have 17 players in the top 100 of the live rankings. GB players spend more time in rehab than on court.

-- Edited by mbturner on Saturday 1st of February 2020 11:33:42 AM
To be fair, they also have a country that has about 330 million people.
So they should have 5 times the number of players in the top 100 as the UK. i.e. we have 2, they should have 10. So, it's true they beat us but not by that much....
Given their relative size, in fact, their results are not so amazing.
Germany have 5 in the top 100, with a population of 82 million. So that's 20 on a like-for-like basis, which beats the USA.
France has 4 for a population of 67 million, which is also 20 and beats the USA.

The real powerhouse, however, would be somewhere like the Czech Republic.
8 players in the top 100, for a population of 10 million. That equates to 264, compared to USA's 17 !!!
Beats the USA into an absolute pulp - the Czech Republic are doing fifteen times better than the USA.

Well said, Coup Droit. I agree that we need some statistical fairness in this discussion, and your numbers based on population are a good first step. As to the recent comments by a few in this thread, that seem to suggest the GB ladies don't have the required attitude, or determination, and that they're not "half as good" as the American, Kenin [brilliant win btw], I wonder why the negative spin when our young Fed Cup squad are out there preparing for the contest in Bratislava. You only have to think back a short while to the recent Fed Cup victories, to see that our ladies are determined, and that they have exactly the right attitude. I'm certainly glad that there wasn't anyone spouting on about whether my (lowly non-tennis) career was likely to be a success, before I was 21 years old. I'd have thought that playing for your country at senior level, and competing against some of the best players in the world, was doing pretty well, tbh. As for re-hab time spent, it seems to me that the transition to being able to compete at the highest level in women's tennis is tougher than it's ever been.

ROSAMUND · Futures level

foobarbaz wrote:
Coup Droit wrote:
mbturner wrote:
Is there anything to learn from US tennis support or is it individual determination? They have 17 players in the top 100 of the live rankings. GB players spend more time in rehab than on court.

-- Edited by mbturner on Saturday 1st of February 2020 11:33:42 AM
To be fair, they also have a country that has about 330 million people.
So they should have 5 times the number of players in the top 100 as the UK. i.e. we have 2, they should have 10. So, it's true they beat us but not by that much....
Given their relative size, in fact, their results are not so amazing.
Germany have 5 in the top 100, with a population of 82 million. So that's 20 on a like-for-like basis, which beats the USA.
France has 4 for a population of 67 million, which is also 20 and beats the USA.

The real powerhouse, however, would be somewhere like the Czech Republic.
8 players in the top 100, for a population of 10 million. That equates to 264, compared to USA's 17 !!!
Beats the USA into an absolute pulp - the Czech Republic are doing fifteen times better than the USA.

Well said, Coup Droit. I agree that we need some statistical fairness in this discussion, and your numbers based on population are a good first step. As to the recent comments by a few in this thread, that seem to suggest the GB ladies don't have the required attitude, or determination, and that they're not "half as good" as the American, Kenin [brilliant win btw], I wonder why the negative spin when our young Fed Cup squad are out there preparing for the contest in Bratislava. You only have to think back a short while to the recent Fed Cup victories, to see that our ladies are determined, and that they have exactly the right attitude. I'm certainly glad that there wasn't anyone spouting on about whether my (lowly non-tennis) career was likely to be a success, before I was 21 years old. I'd have thought that playing for your country at senior level, and competing against some of the best players in the world, was doing pretty well, tbh. As for re-hab time spent, it seems to me that the transition to being able to compete at the highest level in women's tennis is tougher than it's ever been.

One reason for it being tougher is because tennis is a global sport where countries you would never have thought of can produce champions. 10 years ago you would never have thought of Latvia producing a Grand Slam champion or Andorra producing a junior Grand Slam champion. Back in the pre Open era most of the representatives came from either USA, Australia, UK or South Africa which has disappeared off the tennis map excluding Kevin Anderson in the mens.