Back at junior Wimbledon 2015 Anna beat the top seed Marketa Vondrousova in the first round. She went on to the 3rd round where she lost to Anastasia Potapova who is very successful these days.
Well, Jaggy isn't right about everything (is that the understatement of the year? ) but I'll 100% give him Anna Brogan !
She played a really high quality, and gritty, match. Just so focused. And such good timing and placement of her groundshots.
The crowd got into it. I stayed right to the end (which I hadn't been intending). Diana wasn't playing that well in the first set, but she upped her game considerably in the second. And STILL Anna wouldn't go away.
One of the most enjoyable matches I've seen for a while.
And you should have heard the ROAR that Anna let out after she won
LL are determined by a draw of the 4 highest ranked losers, or if more than 2 main draw withdrawals by the completion of qualifying, the number of withdrawals + 2. Once that draw has been made any further LLs that are required will be by order of ranking using the rankings that determined qualifying seeding.
Also I missed this, but huge respect to Naiktha for her approach to this Wimbledon qualifying, and for how she has played. She deserves the prize money, and maybe she shouldn't transition to doubles just yet...
Also I missed this, but huge respect to Naiktha for her approach to this Wimbledon qualifying, and for how she has played. She deserves the prize money, and maybe she shouldn't transition to doubles just yet...
I watched Naiktha yesterday and she went fir a high risk strategy but needed a bit more discipline. When it went right it was fab, 3 aces in 1 game but when it didn't it was horrible. She could've won that match. Anna on the other hand was really disciplined and made her opponent run. Her opponent was really huffing in the 2nd set.
Hmmmm that's interesting Emmsie, good insight. I guess I respect that she didn't roll over and accept her 2nd round, but tried to take an (unnatural?) game to an opponent with experience and weapons. Here's hoping she goes away and finds that balance. I've only seen her play a few times, and passive was my first thought when I thought of her game. Maybe there's a route through back to the top 200 if she can find that balance between risk and discipline. Good luck to her.
Also I missed this, but huge respect to Naiktha for her approach to this Wimbledon qualifying, and for how she has played. She deserves the prize money, and maybe she shouldn't transition to doubles just yet...
I watched Naiktha yesterday and she went fir a high risk strategy but needed a bit more discipline. When it went right it was fab, 3 aces in 1 game but when it didn't it was horrible. She could've won that match. Anna on the other hand was really disciplined and made her opponent run. Her opponent was really huffing in the 2nd set.
Yes, I agree, her serve and volley strategy is great, up to a point. And, fair enough, if you know you'll break down in the rallies earlier than your opponent so you've got to roll the dice on the stuff that sets you aside - which did work in the first match
But there is a lack of rigour that is frustrating. Which is the exact contrast to Anna.
I agree; standing courtside, Naiktha could have won the match - or at least, got more of a tight hold on the third set - she played some of the important points very recklessly. (This goes for quite a lot of our players - and I do wonder if it's linked to not playing enough team matches - if you've grown up playing important team matches, with a coach on the bench, shouting at the important point 'Now, THIS ONE', as they do, I believe you learn how to play the key points better)
I wondered if Diana's fitness was a little misleading though. She was definitely huffing a lot, but when Anna did a couple of excellent dropshots she was there with time to spare. I wondered if Diana has been taught to do that sort of heavy breathing. I heard the GB coaches saying she ws playing far too much up the middle.