British Tennis Forum - Celebrating 20 Years!

dodrade · Futures qualifying

Week 31 & 32 - WTA1000 Montreal, Canada - Hard

the addict · Tennis legend

Doubles

R1/L32:- Tereza Mihalikova (SVK) / Olivia Nichols (GBR) CR55 (29+26) v Barbora Krejcikova (CZE) / Jelena Ostapenko (LAT) CR156 (153+3)

They've lost to Ostapenko/Hsieh three times this year, but I don't think they've played against Krejcikova.
If they get through this one it coule be Errani and Paolini (top seeds) in the second round.

HarryGem · Club Coach

Blue_Belle wrote:
HarryGem wrote:
31 minutes. Loses set and need toilet break. Call me a cynical old git but really this needs addressing in the women's game.
Maybe she has her period.

Indeed and I fully accept that. I would add though that I don't often see women leave the court after winning the first set in a short time.

Back to the tennis, Katie is clearly struggling right now. Her game depends so heavily on her serve though and if that is missing, as it is, then she really has no strong back up plan.

She's made some honest comments about her game in recent weeks and maybe she needs a bit of a break from the game. perhaps after the US hard court swing she should take a few weeks off. But then tennis is so often a game of confidence and maybe she's just one good or lucky win away from getting that back.

HarryGem · Club Coach

dodrade wrote:
It's hard to know where this crisis in confidence for Katie has come from, especially as Alex goes from strength to strength. He seemed to be a positive influence the past few years but doesn't appear to be able to help her recently.

I do wonder if it is down to where she is with her career. What can she realistically achieve that she hasn't already done in the game? She's been GB number 1, she's won some decent level tournaments, she's an established top 50/100 player, she's overcome injuries and illness to have a very decent career at the top of the game if a relatively short one so far.

She's probably not going to make the top 10 in ranking, she's unlikely to win a major, I think in the last 25 years only 3 or 4 players have won their first major at an older or similar age to what Katie now is. She's probably got around 2 years left at the top of the game, There are only around 10 players over 31 in the top 100 I think and of those 2 or 3 have been out recently with quite a lot of injury concerns. Maybe a sort of mid career crisis where your form is a bit off and it is tricky to get the motivation going when you, perhaps, can't see yourself achieving anything better than you already have.

Let's hope it is just a temporary slump in form.

Barefoot · Intermediate Club Player

Shes had a couple of real high points this year - that tournament win on clay, and her play vs Badosa at Wimbledon was great quality. Theres moments of really good form. Theres clearly a mental block which seems to have mostly kicked in after her injury break and Im just not convinced shes dialled in in the same way as last year.

Harry Gem has said it more eloquently than me!

-- Edited by Barefoot on Tuesday 29th of July 2025 07:01:21 AM

Lambda · ATP level

HarryGem wrote:
31 minutes. Loses set and need toilet break. Call me a cynical old git but really this needs addressing in the women's game.

What a misogynistic comment. Men leave the court for strategic purposes or mental resets too.

Coup Droit · Tennis legend

Lambda wrote:
HarryGem wrote:
31 minutes. Loses set and need toilet break. Call me a cynical old git but really this needs addressing in the women's game.

What a misogynistic comment. Men leave the court for strategic purposes or mental resets too.

Just because someone makes a comment that - may possibly - be unfairly one-sided, it doesn't make them misogynistic

Firslty, you need to see the stats - of course men do too but if women do far more then the comment is warranted

And even if, as said, you're right and it's pretty equal, it may make the comment mistaken, or unfair, or unbalanced, or whatever - it does not necessarily make it misogynistic

PaulM · Tennis legend

Indeed CD, and given this is the women's section of the forum it would be more surprising if any comment was *not* one-sided in terms of men vs women - we are in these threads to discuss women's tennis!

If people want to moan about tactical use of bathroom breaks and MTOs in the men's game (and Lambda is absolutely right to point out they are used there frequently too) there's another whole dedicated section to go and do that!

My own view, based on Katie's comments in recent weeks, is that she is unlikely to still be playing after Wimbledon in a years time. She's excited for her wedding and future with Alex, and so she should be.

But regardless, hopefully she can find a better level when she hits New York. Even just the one win there might give her a bit of a boost and feel better about things ahead of the Asian swing. But these things have a tendency to spiral, so it could be a long few months...

HarryGem · Club Coach

Lambda wrote:
HarryGem wrote:
31 minutes. Loses set and need toilet break. Call me a cynical old git but really this needs addressing in the women's game.

What a misogynistic comment. Men leave the court for strategic purposes or mental resets too.

I'm sorry if it came over that way and it certainly wasn't said with that intention. I'm sure men do the same but as I don't watch that much men's tennis I don't feel qualified to comment. But if I did I'd say exactly the same in regards to them.

I do watch a lot of women's tennis and I see a fair amount of these breaks, especially when the player loses the first set quickly. Of course there are perfectly legitimate reasons to leave court and it is all perfectly within the rules etc. However, what you call strategic may also be called gamesmanship or perhaps worse. It is undoubtedly a difficult issue as you don't want to discriminate against legitimate reasons for leaving the court. However, when your opponent is left waiting for 6 or 7 minutes to play the next point I think this does need to be looked at. Leaving the court for a mental reset isn't something that really should be needed especially now we have court side coaching.

Peter too · Tennis legend

If players leaving the court after losing a set becomes more common perhaps it should be included in the rules that there will be a break of a certain number of minutes at the end of each set, during which a player can leave the court.

-- Edited by Peter too on Tuesday 29th of July 2025 09:38:31 AM

Peter too · Tennis legend

Live rankings points seem to have been adjusted since last night. They now have Katie at 42 with 1278 points and Emma at 39 with 1331 points.

Var · Futures qualifying

HarryGem wrote:
Lambda wrote:
HarryGem wrote:
31 minutes. Loses set and need toilet break. Call me a cynical old git but really this needs addressing in the women's game.

What a misogynistic comment. Men leave the court for strategic purposes or mental resets too.
I'm sorry if it came over that way and it certainly wasn't said with that intention. I'm sure men do the same but as I don't watch that much men's tennis I don't feel qualified to comment. But if I did I'd say exactly the same in regards to them.
I do watch a lot of women's tennis and I see a fair amount of these breaks, especially when the player loses the first set quickly. Of course there are perfectly legitimate reasons to leave court and it is all perfectly within the rules etc. However, what you call strategic may also be called gamesmanship or perhaps worse. It is undoubtedly a difficult issue as you don't want to discriminate against legitimate reasons for leaving the court. However, when your opponent is left waiting for 6 or 7 minutes to play the next point I think this does need to be looked at. Leaving the court for a mental reset isn't something that really should be needed especially now we have court side coaching.

Well to put it bluntly, periods are an issue. Coco related how she was once told by the referee to take a toilet break to deal with an issue she wasnt aware of. Sometimes it can take a while to get comfortable again and secure.Sorry to be candid, but Hev did a great job calling this out.

B00thy · Club Coach

It struck me a week or so ago, when a men's match I was watching concluded a set, and both players changed their sweat-soaked shirts whilst sitting in their chair, that if there were statistics recorded to compare the number of end-of-set breaks in 3-set tournaments, between mens women's games, that the stats need to be carefully considered (periods being another).

PaulM · Tennis legend

Yes definitely B00thy, it's a very good point - outfit changes are another thing that is much easier for the guys to deal with on court.

indiana · Tennis legend

Never has bothered me. Gives me a break from watching.

Be strict with time limits ( with say point then game penalties ) and then just move on.