Weeks 3 & 4 - Australian Open - Main Draw - Melbourne (Hard)

emmsie69 · Top national player

RE: Weeks 3 & 4 - Australian Open - Main Draw - Melbourne (Hard)

Mervatron2 · Challenger qualifying

Hmm disappointing.

She had some taping below her knee. Wonder if that is the reason she didnt play warm ups?

9vicman · Satellite level

To me Sonay showed her lack of recent match practice. No idea what her ceiling is, but going into her first Australian Open cold was always going to be challenging. She could have played in Canberra.

I notice that she often takes breaks - and like all players needs to manage her body - but at the same time it's difficult to replicate match conditions in practice.

Coup Droit · Tennis legend

9vicman wrote:
To me Sonay showed her lack of recent match practice. No idea what her ceiling is, but going into her first Australian Open cold was always going to be challenging. She could have played in Canberra.

I notice that she often takes breaks - and like all players needs to manage her body - but at the same time it's difficult to replicate match conditions in practice.

yes, I'd thought the same

But her opponent also had no recent match practice - and it seemed to do her no harm cry

Coup Droit · Tennis legend

I was completely wrong on that - apologies - the ITF site for some reason doesn't have the January events

DF · Tennis legend

Sonay said in 2024 that her target was to be in the AO Main Draw. She managed that so it is odd that she and her team did not take

the tournament seriously and prepare properly by taking part in warm up events. Perhaps there was a reason for this, maybe health issues?

However hopefully her team and Sonay can target appropriate tournaments in 2025 so that she can stay in the top 100 and perhaps even

improve her ranking.

B00thy · Lower Club Player

Mervatron2 wrote:

She had some taping below her knee. Wonder if that is the reason she didnt play warm ups?

You may be onto something there .. I imagine she was desperate to play in AO main draw and prioritised that above match practice as she was carrying an injury that would put at risk her big goal for the beginning of the year

LordBrownof · Futures level

I'm not sure it was the injury; she talked about homesickness in the "Beyond the Baseline" YouTube series. I wouldn't be surprised if the lack of warm-ups was minimizing her time that far away from home. Whatever the reason, that first set can't have been a better teaching moment in that regard...

In terms of her ceiling, there's room there IMO. I watched her courtside at US Open this year and was surprised by how hard she could hit the ball. Good movement and variety. Whilst I don't think she'll rup up any trees in slams, I think with the right scheduling and training she could be a regular top 75 player. TBF to her, she has only been around a short time!

And her attitude on the court is pretty flawless.

Coup Droit · Tennis legend

This problem of playing away from home is one we've mentioned several times a year, for a while now

Although it sounds a bit harsh, I'd hoped she'd 'grown out of it' by now

She always hated travelling, played way more events in the UK than any other GB player, barely went abroad. Then went to Turkey a little (I believe she has some family there, although could be mistaken). And then - little by little - she seemed to be speading her wings slightly, and also had some good success.

But she's never played in Asia, or South America, I don't think, and barely in the US etc

It's obvious it's a struggle for her

But that's a fundamental part of the career - and Australia is a far 'easier' country for a Brit to adapt to than a whole host of others

Priesty · Challenger level

Maybe she needs to enlist the services of a sports psychologist, perhaps they could help her deal with the homesickness?

Otherwise, for an aspiring pro tennis player I do rather feel it's a case of "get out of the kitchen if you can't stand the heat" - figuratively speaking.

Lambda · Challenger level

Hey Sonay, ignore these naysayers. You're top 100. They aren't.

Var · Satellite level

Lambda wrote:
Hey Sonay, ignore these naysayers. You're top 100. They aren't.

Agree Lambda. First MD slam, still plenty to play for in 2025. A bit harsh some of the comments above.

PaulM · Tennis legend

Lambda wrote:
Hey Sonay, ignore these naysayers. You're top 100. They aren't.

biggrin

- I agree in that I don't think Sonay is overranked at all. I think she's got enough upside in her game to get up a reasonable bit higher along with just getting more experience at this level bringing the consistency. She'll have ups and downs but who doesn't.

Sonay's post match interview suggests she knows with hindsight what went wrong - didn't get the balance of offence and defence right, spent too much time too far behind the baseline giving the Spaniard the angles to work with.

She's learning, and it's still a lot of new stuff to work out. JBM was in her first Australian Main Draw too, but has played more big matches, some well, some with major wobbles/chokes. Having been so far off the pace it ended up very close, had she stolen the tiebreak as arguably she should have, she'd have surely been favourite in a third set.

That's tennis! Onwards!

-- Edited by PaulM on Sunday 12th of January 2025 05:43:06 PM

Coup Droit · Tennis legend

I didn't read any naysayers - only paulisi said she was ovrerranked - nobody else did (although he may be right and he's allowed to say it)

All the others were simply giving opinions about what went wrong with the specific match and what she may need to look at, given problems that she's identified herself in previous interviews

emmsie69 · Top national player

Coup Droit wrote:
I didn't read any naysayers - only paulisi said she was ovrerranked - nobody else did (although he may be right and he's allowed to say it)

All the others were simply giving opinions about what went wrong with the specific match and what she may need to look at, given problems that she's identified herself in previous interviews

I also said she was slightly over ranked. I've just looked at her WTA profile and she has this weird split of tournaments over the last year where she is either a high seed or WC/Q. I think there is one exception to this in the entire year.