Week 43- ITF W25 - Loughborough, Great Britain, Hard

the addict · Tennis legend

Week 43- ITF W25 - Loughborough, Great Britain, Hard

Lambda · Challenger level

The 4th doubles QF wasn't played because it was a walkover.

the addict · Tennis legend

Lambda wrote:
The 4th doubles QF wasn't played because it was a walkover.

Ah, thanks. It wasn't showing as such when I checked the draw before posting, but is now. I'll edit my earlier post.

Peter too · Tennis legend

Christine wrote:
Barefoot wrote:
Glad to see Katy competitive though. I have a soft spot for her and hope she can get back to a reasonable level of play again after so long off.
Me too - I saw her play (and lose) a qualification match in Barnstaple many years ago, she was getting so frustrated with herself but she had so many promising skills.

Katy in 2011 taking the 6th seed Bianca Koch to three in the Bournemouth 10K.

Strongbow · All-time great

Brooke Black will get a doubles ranking as she already has 2 counters from Roehampton and Aldershot biggrin

PaulM · Tennis legend

Shame to see both Katie S and Heather have withdrawn from Shrewsbury.

seagull · Hall of fame

LTA still posting on social media with a big picture of Heather saying what an amazing tournament it is.

jb288 · Satellite level

Today's Eden-Emily clash is a repeat of last year's pro-league finals QF, which Eden won in an MTB.

Interestingly, Emily's mum has started a tennis blog detailing the reality of life on tour: realitytennis.wordpress.com/

She doesn't really reference Emily herself, which I think is a good call, but it's well written and some interesting insights. Aimed I think at tennis parents primarily.

jb288 · Satellite level

Eden was 5-2 up but contrived to lose the first set 7-5.

Meanwhile Eliz is 4-1 up in the second having lost the first 2-6.

Think we'll probably see both in 3 sets.

DF · Tennis legend

Well done Emily who wins 7-5 6-3

jb288 · Satellite level

Well done Emily! The two were fairly evenly matched in groundstrokes, but two things made the difference: 1) Serve - Emily served really well, and Eden's first serve just didn't have the bite or placement it needed. 2) Mindset - Emily always seems to be consciously placid in matches, very rarely showing any kind of emotion; Eden is very self-critical, and shows visible frustration whenever something goes wrong. It's looking like an Emily v Eliz semi, which will be interesting - Eliz won twice earlier this year, but I seem to remember Emily winning at the pro league a few times.

Jaggy1876 · Grand Slam Champion

Was impressed by Emily there game looked very assured and served well. Seems to be clicking for her now. The age she is at now maybe just takes time for the body to develop. Hope she puts the doubles on the backburner at the higher level and concentrates on 25/60k progress as she seems to be playing top 300 tennis. Not sure about Eden however, back to the drawing board there.

Coup Droit · Tennis legend

jb288 wrote:
Well done Emily! The two were fairly evenly matched in groundstrokes, but two things made the difference: 1) Serve - Emily served really well, and Eden's first serve just didn't have the bite or placement it needed. 2) Mindset - Emily always seems to be consciously placid in matches, very rarely showing any kind of emotion; Eden is very self-critical, and shows visible frustration whenever something goes wrong. It's looking like an Emily v Eliz semi, which will be interesting - Eliz won twice earlier this year, but I seem to remember Emily winning at the pro league a few times.

I've seen quite a lot of Emily's matches recently and the one thing I've posted each time is that her serve has been really strong and effective. It's good to see, and not that usual in women's tennis at her ranking level.

This is not that new - she's always had a decent serve. But she seems happier with it now, and using it more as a weapon i.e. happy to take some double faults, not dialing it down the instant is goes a little AWOP...

And, yes, she's SO impassive you barely know she's won at the end smile

Eden is frustrating beyond belief. I'm sure she won't give tuppence, but I've basically stopped supporting her - how many matches can you throw away, and not seem to care, as in the next match you behave in exactly the same way?

Which is a shame as she has an elegant game.....

jb288 · Satellite level

Yes I'm a big fan of Eden's game but she is a self-saboteur unfortunately. If she can get her mindset sorted and add 10% to her first serve, she'll be a real force.

We used to say this about Jodie, and she's improved a lot it appears. I think it's a kind of perfectionism which we are all vulnerable to in our work - you mess up, but you want everyone around you to know that 'usually I'm better than this', so you overtly criticise yourself, to project the idea 'this isn't the real me'. Unfortunately, of course, the mistakes are part of the real you, and if you allow them to appear significant it becomes a vicious cycle.

It's like a teacher planning out a lesson in their head, and then being frustrated that, when it comes into contact with real children, it doesn't play out the same. Being frustrated by this is natural, but illogical - practice is fundamentally different to the real world. I really hope Eden can work on this, because she has such potential.

Coup Droit · Tennis legend

jb288 wrote:
Yes I'm a big fan of Eden's game but she is a self-saboteur unfortunately. If she can get her mindset sorted and add 10% to her first serve, she'll be a real force.

We used to say this about Jodie, and she's improved a lot it appears. I think it's a kind of perfectionism which we are all vulnerable to in our work - you mess up, but you want everyone around you to know that 'usually I'm better than this', so you overtly criticise yourself, to project the idea 'this isn't the real me'. Unfortunately, of course, the mistakes are part of the real you, and if you allow them to appear significant it becomes a vicious cycle.

It's like a teacher planning out a lesson in their head, and then being frustrated that, when it comes into contact with real children, it doesn't play out the same. Being frustrated by this is natural, but illogical - practice is fundamentally different to the real world. I really hope Eden can work on this, because she has such potential.

It's a good analysis.

I don't really go for the perfectionist argument - or, at least, I think you're right but I hate the way that lots of people (not just tennis players) use it as an excuse, and - worse - a laudable excuse. They're almost proud of it.

I say, if you're a perfectionist, then be perfect.