Week 18 - ITF W25 - Nottingham, GB Hard

indiana · Tennis legend

Week 18 - ITF W25 - Nottingham, GB Hard

Priesty · Challenger level

And another title for our Sonay, the Jack Draper of the women's challenger tour wink

You do get a sense that such shortcomings will be exposed and exploited as she goes higher and starts facing the tougher opposition so I agree, would be a good idea to force herself to do a bit of doubles.

-- Edited by Priesty on Sunday 8th of May 2022 12:44:47 PM

Coup Droit · Tennis legend

indiana wrote:
That was rather emphatic I had intended to watch some of it but it was all over before I had got myself into gear.

Really needs to sort out her touch / volleying game. Yes practice but I agree that doubles would surely really help. Sonay seems pretty single minded but Sonay please do it whether you like doubles or not. You want to get as high up there as you can, don't you.

Provisionally up to around WR 320 and to GB #10.

Nah, not sure I agree, Indy

As said, lots of coaches advocate the work on your good bits approach - make those mega good and just don't go near the net (or whatever). It's not all or nothing, of course, but certain players (like Chardy, say) have said they've never practiced a backhand in their lives - concentrate on having the very best forehand possible and then the ball won't come back and you won't have to hit a backhand.

And people might say - but if he'd practiced his backhand just think how good he could have been

To which the answer, of course, is that he might also have been a lot worse as his forehand wouldn't have been as good, as there's only so many hours in the day

To be honest, I think players like Jodie and Freya etc should work on their net game as part of their singles - they're quite good at it and it will strengthen their game

But players like Sonay and Katie B should barely bother - as Agassi said : if you have to go near the net, it's fine - just as long as you can back off and let the ball bounce.

For Sonay, I'd work on her second serve (it's not bad but she could get a bit more spin). And keep working on that forehand - it's great - make it more great - and the same for her other good points

jb288 · Satellite level

Coup Droit wrote:
indiana wrote:
That was rather emphatic I had intended to watch some of it but it was all over before I had got myself into gear.

Really needs to sort out her touch / volleying game. Yes practice but I agree that doubles would surely really help. Sonay seems pretty single minded but Sonay please do it whether you like doubles or not. You want to get as high up there as you can, don't you.

Provisionally up to around WR 320 and to GB #10.
Nah, not sure I agree, Indy
As said, lots of coaches advocate the work on your good bits approach - make those mega good and just don't go near the net (or whatever). It's not all or nothing, of course, but certain players (like Chardy, say) have said they've never practiced a backhand in their lives - concentrate on having the very best forehand possible and then the ball won't come back and you won't have to hit a backhand.
And people might say - but if he'd practiced his backhand just think how good he could have been
To which the answer, of course, is that he might also have been a lot worse as his forehand wouldn't have been as good, as there's only so many hours in the day
To be honest, I think players like Jodie and Freya etc should work on their net game as part of their singles - they're quite good at it and it will strengthen their game
But players like Sonay and Katie B should barely bother - as Agassi said : if you have to go near the net, it's fine - just as long as you can back off and let the ball bounce.
For Sonay, I'd work on her second serve (it's not bad but she could get a bit more spin). And keep working on that forehand - it's great - make it more great - and the same for her other good points

I'm no coach, but *surely* there is time in a day/off-season/training block to work on any aspect you choose. The idea that, in a whole career, you can only maximise a few things, and there's 'no time' to work on a particular aspect doesn't seem right to me. It would be like a doctor saying 'I've never really had time to work on my bedside manner in my career, I just hope that my really good diagnoses make up for it'. :P

And if there really is no time to work on an aspect...make time? Sacrifice a tournament, spend a week volleying every now and then. It may only add 0.5% to your game, but that generates pretty big compound interest over a 10 year career.

Coup Droit · Tennis legend

Some, who think that their strength comes from an all-round game, will do that.

But some coaches will say, you have so much time, and so much focus. And that tournament you've sacrificed to spend a week doing your weak volleys would be far better spent on your great forehand to make it EVEN better which will add 0.6% to your game and compound even higher than working on your weakness.

There's no right or wrong answer and, usually, players will obviously have some sort of balance - but many will focus far more on their strengths and not just because they enjoy that more but because their coach and the data boffins they use reckon it will give them far greater rewards. As said, no right or wrong though....

Peter too · Tennis legend

F: KARTAL, Sonay (GBR) (8) 371 def LAO, Danielle (USA) (2) 303 6-1 6-0

RJH1962 · Intermediate Club Player

jb288 wrote:
Bit of a shame the LTA couldn't generate any crowd for this (or even any chairs). I guess maybe it's not a 'normal' tennis club, but still.

Lovely tidy set from Sonay :)

I've only been able to see a few live and have to say that on all of those no consideration was given at all to anyone who wanted to watch.

Mervatron2 · Futures level

Wow was not expecting that shoreline. Awesome

JonH comes home · Tennis legend

Wins over the current series of 4 events, so far, are

Wins Name
8 Eden Silva
5 Sonay Kartal
3 Jodie Burrage
1 Anna Brogan
1 Emma Wilson
1 Freya Christie
1 Jasmine Conway
1 Mimi Xu
1 Talia Neilson-Gatenby

In the 3 weeks we have got 5,7 and 10 wins respectively