Week 12 - WTA1000 Miami, USA Hard

the addict · Tennis legend

Week 12 - WTA1000 Miami, USA Hard

PaulM · Tennis legend

Saves a set point

4-5*

PaulM · Tennis legend

It's better than last week but not by much

4-6 1-2*

Crispy · Strong Club Player

To be fair - this is a fantastic performance from Stojanovic. Heather performing well, but the Serb is superb

Ace Ventura · Tennis legend

Lost 4-6 1-6 in the end.

Stojanovic did play well, and thoroughly deserved the win, but not the best couple of weeks for Heather. Charleston W500 next, and then presumably Fed Cup after that.

dodrade · Futures qualifying

wales1994 wrote:
Coup Droit wrote:
emmsie69 wrote:
Ace Ventura wrote:
Get in. Huge win for her for where she currently is.
I started a rant earlier but then she broke while I ws halfway through so I deleted it. Hopefully this match will go someway towards match fitness which is sadly lacking in most of the GB Women currently
Katie must have sensed your rant coming and broken on purpose to rattle your theory - well done, you, good timing !
Unfortunately, match fitness doesn't seem to help all our players - Naiktha has played tons of events and barely won a match.
Katie obviously is in a slightly different position to most, too - her chronic fatigue syndrome has to be managed in a specific way and must be quite a challenge.
But definitely great to see her chalking up a very good win - KP will not be pleased with her level, I'd have thought, in the latter half of that third set but that's life and all that
What's this chronic fatigue syndrome? I've not heard of this before, and didn't realise she had such a condition.

M.E.

Great result for Katie. Was rather disappointing in Monterrey but her back to back defeats to Kasatkina in Australia put into context by the latter's excellent form this year. Did anyone see her comments on how slow the courts are playing?

Andy Parker · Club Coach

Lovely to see Katie B win and climb the rankings again, and it is a relief to see her back in the top 300, but still a long way to go to be playing regularly in the bigger tournaments.

I think from what I have read, that it is her back that is now the main issue and has been for the last 2 or 3 years, rather than the chronic fatigue, which I believe is sometimes called ME and the docs are still pretty much in the dark as to what causes it, how to know if someone has it and what can be done. Let's hope that if she has had any version of that, that she is through it, because it makes it way harder for her to train as an athlete if she is suffering from that.

I feel that although Katie's results have not been consistent, victories against the likes of Gauff and Pliskova do really give an indication that she is, when fit, a top player, and it is probably going to be a bumpy ride back to the top, but I think she needs patience from all those who watch her, to realise that the quality is there and that once she does start to get playing again more regularly, the results and consistency are both likely to improve.

Her next match looks incredibly difficult - hopefully even if she loses, it is not a drubbing.

Sad to see Heather go out too.

dodrade · Futures qualifying

Watching the replay of Katie's match I wonder if the change of outfit before the third set helped as well.

-- Edited by dodrade on Thursday 25th of March 2021 02:57:31 AM

Peter too · Tennis legend

R128: KONTA, Johanna (GBR) 17 18 v Bye
R128: BOULTER, Katie (GBR) 319 def PLISKOVA, Kristyna (CZE) 78 4-6 6-3 6-3
R128: WATSON, Heather (GBR) 65 lost to STOJANOVIC, Nina (SRB) Q 95 4-6 1-6

R64: KONTA, Johanna (GBR) 17 18 (CH=4 2017) v LINETTE, Magda (POL) 50 (CH=33 2020)
R64: BOULTER, Katie (GBR) 319 (CH=82 2019) v MERTENS, Elise (BEL) 16 17 (CH=12 2018)

HarryGem · Club Coach

emmsie69 wrote:
Ace Ventura wrote:
Get in. Huge win for her for where she currently is.
I started a rant earlier but then she broke while I ws halfway through so I deleted it. Hopefully this match will go someway towards match fitness which is sadly lacking in most of the GB Women currently

Agree a very good result for Katie Boulter. I thought the match was very low on quality and both women looked woeful at times which probably reflects where a lot of players are right now. But Katie was definitely the better player on the day with some good forehands.

Heather, I thought , was disappointing again though her opponent played well enough.

I think it is not surprising re lack of match fitness right now but I have thought for quite a while that there is something lacking in the overall physical and mental fitness of British women players. I'm categorically not saying they aren't fit athletes nor am I having a go at those who, very publically and braveley, have come out about their mental health issues, but more in comparison to other players who just seem to be sometimes more athletic and frankly seem to have more energy at times. In a sport where small margins can make a big difference I sometimes question whether we have the right approach to this aspect of the game in the way our players train and recover etc. and even in matters like sports psychology.

JonH comes home · Tennis legend

Jo kicks off her campaign today, 2nd on court so anywhere around 4.30, 5pm?

Coup Droit · Tennis legend

HarryGem wrote:
emmsie69 wrote:
Ace Ventura wrote:
Get in. Huge win for her for where she currently is.
I started a rant earlier but then she broke while I ws halfway through so I deleted it. Hopefully this match will go someway towards match fitness which is sadly lacking in most of the GB Women currently
Agree a very good result for Katie Boulter. I thought the match was very low on quality and both women looked woeful at times which probably reflects where a lot of players are right now. But Katie was definitely the better player on the day with some good forehands.
Heather, I thought , was disappointing again though her opponent played well enough.
I think it is not surprising re lack of match fitness right now but I have thought for quite a while that there is something lacking in the overall physical and mental fitness of British women players. I'm categorically not saying they aren't fit athletes nor am I having a go at those who, very publically and braveley, have come out about their mental health issues, but more in comparison to other players who just seem to be sometimes more athletic and frankly seem to have more energy at times. In a sport where small margins can make a big difference I sometimes question whether we have the right approach to this aspect of the game in the way our players train and recover etc. and even in matters like sports psychology.

It's an interesting question, HarryG, but do you think that maybe you mainly notice the foreign players who are physically and mentally fit, and impressive, and don't notice the ones who are really poor? Especially slightly lower down the pecking order? We have so few players that unless one is a fervent fan of all tennis, we mainly watch the GB matches and get a skewed picture.

I mean, Pliskova yesterday - as you right say - was pretty shambolic yesterday. I wonder what the Czech site is saying. I know that there are heaps of French players who are considered by French fans to be mentally fragile (Kiki Mlad manages to lose matches from 5-0 up in the second set). I wouldn't be surprised if most countries are the same.

However, I think you have a point and - to me - the lack of team tennis in our system shows. As a teenager, it forges a player's ability to get a win.

The possible lack of athletic fitness (again just my opinion) is partly linked to our coaches (although I think we're nearly at the end of that favoured generation). As mentioned before, I remember being at Les Petits As, and seeing the top UK youngsters being coached and prepared for a match by two coaches who were about 55-60, didn't run much, and hit a wicked sliced backhand but couldn't hit a one-handed top-spin backhand to save their life. An old man's game, really. (One was a pretty well-known ex-player).

The foreign players all had very fit, physical coaches, in their 30s or 40s (who hit two-handed backhands). The spirit on the training court was completely different (you could watch them). Way more physical.

NB The point of the backhands was that the two GB girls I watched went on court having warmed up playing these ultra low sliced backhands, immediately got lifted, top-spin or floaty backhands to deal with, and were completely unprepared. Again, however, I think this is changing but too slowly for my liking. Also, British tennis has far too much one-on-one training, it doesn't foster physicality.

Andy Parker · Club Coach

I think we need to be careful not to lump everyone together, as regards fitness and training. Fran and Harriet, for instance are very fit and don't wilt at all in long battles of attrition, and with Katie B, anything you say about her has to recognise the horrible amount of injuries she has had. Jo Ko also has had a fair share of injuries and it does appear that she is managing her injuries now before she probably bows out in a couple of years.

Heather has not really changed in terms of fitness or body shape/mass over the years and so I think it would be unfair again to single her out for criticism - lots of people do say she doesn't look fit, but I think they are being very harsh on her and I don't think there is much she can do or needs to do to increase fitness, at this stage in her career.

Then go down the rankings, and there are lots of players affected by the less amount of tournaments taking place, who desperately need to get back to playing more regularly, to get match sharpness and fitness. Every player is different, but for a lot of players at the lower level, they may not be earning enough money to be jetting around the globe, playing in £15K or £25K tournaments. Some of the players outside the top few do frustrate me as well, and for instance, Katie Swan is someone I really feel needs to get in a lot more tournaments in the next couple of years to get her rankings right up, otherwise she probably won't make it in to the top 100, and I also very much want to see Emma R playing a lot more for the same reason, though she is still very young and about to sit 'A' levels - hopefully afterwards, she will make a real push to play regularly and get her ranking improved.

For some of the other players, I don't feel fitness and training are necessarily the major issues - it is just that they are not (yet) good enough to improve in the sport; hopefully as Covid lessens, the amount of tournaments will increase a lot again and some will improve and rise up the rankings. Jodie, Naiktha and Maia aren't that far away from where they need to be, for instance.

All in all though, I think we should be very, very wary of lazily grouping everyone together, and most players have special circumstances, which are affecting how much they play and how fit they are.

-- Edited by Andy Parker on Thursday 25th of March 2021 11:00:27 AM

emmsie69 · Top national player

I used the words match fit but really what I mean is match sharpness.

emmsie69 · Top national player

Re Katies ME. I do think it is one of those illesses where it takes a while to feel confident that it's behind you particularly when you have no idea what triggered it. We were lucky with my Son as we realised within 18 months what the problem was and he was fine after 5 years of not being well, however it was another 2 years before I was reassured that it was definitely finished. He still gets flair ups of headaches and swollen glands but not the fatigue. .