Week 16 - WTA500 - Stuttgart, Germany Clay

HarryGem · Club Coach

Week 16 - WTA500 - Stuttgart, Germany Clay

HarryGem · Club Coach

Much better serving from Emma there. Needs to be that good at the moment.

PaulM · Tennis legend

Had 30-0* but Ostapenko wins 8 points in a row.

1-2*

She's being schooled. Ostapenko seems to find it all quite amusing. These sort of heavy learning experiences on this surface will continue for a while but hopefully her and her team take something from them. Pretty much every ball she has hit has been perfect for Ostapenko strike zone, no effort to throw in some lower slices or try anything to get her uncomfortable.

Always a chance Ostapenko will go off the boil but she'll need to implode for Emma to have any sort of impact.

HarryGem · Club Coach

Just a wee bit embarrassing however well Ostapenko is playing which she is.

Peter too · Tennis legend

R1: RADUCANU, Emma (GBR) 68 lost to OSTAPENKO, Jelena (LAT) 22 2-6 1-6

Peter too · Tennis legend

Her next tournament is likely to be Madrid. It has a 96 player field so hopefully she might get someone a bit easier to start with. She needs more matches. After Madrid there is a choice of WTA125s, which would offer her the chance to get some matches under her belt.

-- Edited by Peter too on Tuesday 18th of April 2023 07:19:46 PM

PaulM · Tennis legend

Ostapenko will need an hour on the practice court to warm up. So easy for her today. Her game was working, was making her targets, Emma offered no real competition.

Keep working. Keep learning.

HarryGem · Club Coach

Ok lets' start with the positives.

She managed to complete the match.
Doesn't appear to have picked up another injury.

That's about it. Ostapenko was sensational but the gap in quality between the two was a chasm.

Emma had no plan B at all. She's so far away from top 20 level probably even top 30 level. A big loss of points here too will impact her ranking further.

I really don't see much point in her accepting wild cards for this level of tournament only to be brushed aside in such a manner. Ok she could have got a better draw.

For her own good and development she needs to drop down to the ITF level now. get some wins, build some confidence in her play and get time on court.

I know clay isn't her best surface but today really exposed her against a quality opponent who hits the ball hard and to which Emma simply had no answer.

HarryGem · Club Coach

Peter too wrote:
Her next tournament is likely to be Madrid. It has a 96 player field so hopefully she might get someone a bit easier to start with. She needs more matches. After Madrid there is a choice of WTA125s, which would offer her the chance to get some matches under her belt.

-- Edited by Peter too on Tuesday 18th of April 2023 07:19:46 PM

Maybe but there's no guarantee of a better draw and a first round loss will probably see her drop out of the top 100. She needs to drop down to ITF level, even to W60s. Get some points on the board and win some matches.

RJH1962 · Intermediate Club Player

HarryGem wrote:
Ok lets' start with the positives.

She managed to complete the match.
Doesn't appear to have picked up another injury.

That's about it. Ostapenko was sensational but the gap in quality between the two was a chasm.

Emma had no plan B at all. She's so far away from top 20 level probably even top 30 level. A big loss of points here too will impact her ranking further.

I really don't see much point in her accepting wild cards for this level of tournament only to be brushed aside in such a manner. Ok she could have got a better draw.

For her own good and development she needs to drop down to the ITF level now. get some wins, build some confidence in her play and get time on court.

I know clay isn't her best surface but today really exposed her against a quality opponent who hits the ball hard and to which Emma simply had no answer.

Totally agree with all of this. She needs to drop a level to get some game time. could Struggle to stay in the top 100

Rich2310 · County player

Agree with all these comments. Emma should just decide now to drop down to lower level events to get some wins, build confidence and start to rebuild. Yes, she is a grand slam champion but there's nothing inbetween. Emma has not won at W25, W60 etc or a 125. Would rather see her in a W80 somewhere winning matches and building the game she needs rather than what happened in this match today. Just wipe the board clean and start afresh from ground zero if needs be.

Peter too · Tennis legend

Rich2310 wrote:
Agree with all these comments. Emma should just decide now to drop down to lower level events to get some wins, build confidence and start to rebuild. Yes, she is a grand slam champion but there's nothing inbetween. Emma has not won at W25, W60 etc or a 125. Would rather see her in a W80 somewhere winning matches and building the game she needs rather than what happened in this match today. Just wipe the board clean and start afresh from ground zero if needs be.

She won several W15s, and a W25 in Pune, India in Dec 2019. She lost in the final of a WTA125 in Chicago in 2021 to Clara Tauson. That's about it apart from the US Open.

HarryGem · Club Coach

Peter too wrote:
Rich2310 wrote:
Agree with all these comments. Emma should just decide now to drop down to lower level events to get some wins, build confidence and start to rebuild. Yes, she is a grand slam champion but there's nothing inbetween. Emma has not won at W25, W60 etc or a 125. Would rather see her in a W80 somewhere winning matches and building the game she needs rather than what happened in this match today. Just wipe the board clean and start afresh from ground zero if needs be.
She won several W15s, and a W25 in Pune, India in Dec 2019. She lost in the final of a WTA125 in Chicago in 2021 to Clara Tauson. That's about it apart from the US Open.

The Chicago tournament was just before the US open.

She's our current best woman player by a distance but I'm not sure how much good came from today and this isn't the first loss of this kind to admittedly very decent players. I think it is hard to learn your craft when you're basically being thumped around the court without the weapons or plan to do anything about it.

Lambda · Challenger level

Emma has mostly not been able to choose what she plays so far this year.

This week was a contractual sponsorship commitment. All her other tournaments so far this year apart from Auckland have been mandatory. Madrid is mandatory. She's in Rome which is non-mandatory, and she could have chosen to miss, but would then be mandated to play every other non mandatory 1000 that she would get in to this year. She has a commitment with the LTA to play Birmingham. So really she doesn't have much scope to play lower tier tennis until after Wimbledon.

RJH1962 · Intermediate Club Player

If she contractually committed to playing events wheres shes getting thrashed then she should have a word with her agent. She has the potential to be top 30 but frankly may not even be the U.K. number 1 much longer