Weeks 27-28 - The Championships, Wimbledon (grass)

Neil Gee · Club Coach

RE: Weeks 27-28 - The Championships, Wimbledon (grass)

foobarbaz · Strong Club Player

Well I thought Lulu Sun played mostly flawless tennis today, a good strong serve, lots of power on both wings, some tremendous angles from the southpaw, ruthless with anything short, good footwork, taking balls out of the air with ease, a cracking forehand, and ice-cold shot selection. Emma has played better, but she was a bit flummoxed by the angles from Lulu Sun. Emma was well beaten, as was under what seemed like continuous press from the off. No shame in that, for Raducanu, being beaten by the better player on the day.

Emma will be back, stronger and more experienced. Not bad getting three good wins. Who would have thought a New Zealander would emerge like this, Lulu might do more damage yet. Go on Lulu, win it.

kundalini · Specialist Reporter + Intermediate Club Player

An abysmal, ridiculously passive, performance that got what it deserved. If it wasn't due to some minor injury then I'm finding it very difficult to understand why she chose to play like that, especially because it quite evidently wasn't working. For long spells in that match Emma looked absolutely useless, no penetration on any of her shots.

Coup Droit · Tennis legend

foobarbaz wrote:
Well I thought Lulu Sun played mostly flawless tennis today, a good strong serve, lots of power on both wings, some tremendous angles from the southpaw, ruthless with anything short, good footwork, taking balls out of the air with ease, a cracking forehand, and ice-cold shot selection. Emma has played better, but she was a bit flummoxed by the angles from Lulu Sun. Emma was well beaten, as was under what seemed like continuous press from the off. No shame in that, for Raducanu, being beaten by the better player on the day.

Emma will be back, stronger and more experienced. Not bad getting three good wins. Who would have thought a New Zealander would emerge like this, Lulu might do more damage yet. Go on Lulu, win it.

She's been playing for Switzerland until last year, I think it was (which is where she grew up)

Emma should watch the videos back - it was poor

9vicman · Satellite level

A lot of knee-jerk reactions here and even a little bit of trolling, which doesn't happen too often on these boards but when it does is disappointing. If I want to see some trolling I can just put Raducanu's name into Twitter and fill my boots.

I don't think Emma played well today, and obviously had some physical issues, but I just think she never got used to Lulu's game. The lefty serve and angles, the heavy spin, the ability to open up the court. I don't think it's a coincidence that her toughest match to date was Zarazua in the first round.

But what an amazing run from Lulu from match point down in the second round of qualifying. And someone who is even more a United Nations of a player than Raducanu, with connections to China, Croatia, New Zealand, Switzerland, USA and Slovakia. With a British step dad to boot.

PaulM · Tennis legend

Goodness this bottom half is so open. There's not a player left I wouldn't have reasonable expectations of Emma beating. I suspect Navarro comes through but would be fun if Sun managed it! Hard to see past Rybakina to win it though?

foobarbaz · Strong Club Player

9vicman wrote:
A lot of knee-jerk reactions here and even a little bit of trolling, which doesn't happen too often on these boards but when it does is disappointing. If I want to see some trolling I can just put Raducanu's name into Twitter and fill my boots.

I don't think Emma played well today, and obviously had some physical issues, but I just think she never got used to Lulu's game. The lefty serve and angles, the heavy spin, the ability to open up the court. I don't think it's a coincidence that her toughest match to date was Zarazua in the first round.

But what an amazing run from Lulu from match point down in the second round of qualifying. And someone who is even more a United Nations of a player than Raducanu, with connections to China, Croatia, New Zealand, Switzerland, USA and Slovakia. With a British step dad to boot.

Totally agree with your comment 9vicman about the trolling. Imagine saying Boulter would have been the best bet to get furthest in the draw, but then saying she turned up and only played at 20%, which is a real insult to a Top100 professional player in her home Slam. With fans like that who needs enemies. I say well done to Harriet, 3rd time lucky in 3-setters against Katie, and not that far from getting into the 4th rnd (though I didn't see that match). I'm not one that has jumped on the Raducanu bandwagon, preferring to see her gradually getting stronger and developing her game, but she's shown enough this year to see that the promise is still there. Doing so well in the BJK Cup tie in France on clay, and getting good wins on the grass, after recovering from the surgeries. We could have a really strong GB team later in the year, especially if another of our star players makes a successful return from a chronic injury.

nicofrance · Strong Club Player

Cori Gauff losing makes Emmas loss even worse .

What might have been .

Coup Droit · Tennis legend

nicofrance wrote:
Cori Gauff losing makes Emmas loss even worse .

What might have been .

That I don't agree with

Because as posted previously, Coco hasn't been playing well all tournament

And was never my pick for the finals

I think Coco would have lost to any number of players in her part of the draw

GAMEOVER · Satellite level

I knew it was tempting providence when Simon Briggs wrote in the Telegraph that Emma had what looked like a gimme against Lulu Sun.

indiana · Tennis legend

I've been out and about all day so miased all of Emma's match ( I aim to watch at least some of it back tomorrow ).

Undeniably I am very disappointed about the result ( i.e. as against my expectations ). While I could see maybe a bit of a dip from her previous 2 matches occurring, I did anticipate a win. But it loolks as if the dip was too big and Sun was good enough to take advantage.

Whatever the combination of reasons for her inconsistency of performances this Wimbledon, hopefully she and her team will have learned quite a lot to aid her going forward.

At least she has shown again that she can sustain a too level through whole matches that is of a level of a real contender for the top prizes ( but then again, as I have said before, I already thought that she could be again without the further evidence from this week ).

Hopefully she will have no lingering injury issues coming out of Wimbledon and be fit and well enough to have a productive North American hard court season.

Again I understand being disappointed at her level today, no doubt she was herself. But I am at a bit of a loss at to me the sheer nastiness of some comments here. But whatever, I really can't be bothered pursuing these any further. All the best to her.

-- Edited by indiana on Sunday 7th of July 2024 09:13:01 PM

JonH comes home · Tennis legend

I agree Indy and others - they all did their best this week and as a cohort, what a great Wimbledon it was for the women, and the grass season as a whole matched the last two years.

If anyone had said Emma or Harriet would be in action this weekend and Emma last 16, at the start of the grass season, wed have all taken that.

Course both their last results were disappointing and they need to analyse what happened, but fair dos to them both for a great event overall.

JonH comes home · Tennis legend

And to Sonay and Katie Boulter for being top of the grass courts heap for the summer!

GAMEOVER · Satellite level

What are the odds on a final between Xinyu Wang and Lulu Sun or Kalinskaya and Lulu Sun?

GAMEOVER · Satellite level

It may be a long shot but Paolini could reach the French and Wimbledon singles final in the same year which tends to be a feat for only the top players over the years.