British Tennis Forum - Celebrating 20 Years!

PaulM · Tennis legend

Week 43 - WTA500 - Tokyo, Japan - Hard

GAMEOVER · Futures qualifying

Might just as well gone to Wrexham.

HarryGem · County player

PaulM wrote:
I mean I'm sure there was something educational in there somewhere...

Probably just how much work there is to do. Plus the best players tend to keep the ball in court for one more shot.

Mika played some good points and obviously has a good foundation to her game but not really sure much was gained from this experience.

the addict · Tennis legend

L28: Alexandra Eala (PHI) WR20 [8] def Mika Stojsavljevic WR308 [WC] 6-1 6-2

sammmm · County player

I know UEs are a consequence of Mika's game but 41 UEs and being net -17 in winners to UEs is unsustainable

PaulM · Tennis legend

41 UEs might be understandable across a long three setter, but she played 15 games. It's like starting 0-30 down every time (although I always take the stats with a slight pinch as there are usually a fair number of errors included a player couldn't do a huge amount about).

Coup Droit · Tennis legend

GAMEOVER wrote:
Might just as well gone to Wrexham.

Her promoters obviously had a big say, as they should

But maybe they weren't too pleased either?

I understand more UEs against someone like Eala because, as above, she obviously knew she had to go for one-strike tennis against her

But it's still too many and too many 'poor' ones (although Paul is spot on with the fact that the decision of what counts as a UE or not is very suspect - Roger Federer thought it was utterly daft and it showed a lack of understanding of tennis, andhe's not wrong (not surprisingly )

But it's been rather a long time since Mika has played a really encouraging individual singles match

SuperT · Futures level

I know everyone on here was very supportive of Mika's decision to play Tokyo for the experience, but I can't help feeling Hannah has gained far more from her week in Wrexham!!

wales1994 · Pro player

Agreed - although, Eala also got similar 'why's she getting these wildcards' criticisms to events above her results for a few years. But I do feel going all the way to the other side of the world to lose 1 and 2 with so many UEs.... playing Wrexham and Glasgow would've been better.

Coup Droit · Tennis legend

SuperT wrote:
I know everyone on here was very supportive of Mika's decision to play Tokyo for the experience, but I can't help feeling Hannah has gained far more from her week in Wrexham!!

Indeed smile

But Hannah lost in R2 of her previous event, and lost in R1 of the event beofre that.

And Mika did play last week in GB

Mika may well have lost in R1 of Wrexham too - and then everyone would have said she might as well have gone to Tokyo

HarryGem · County player

Coup Droit wrote:
GAMEOVER wrote:
Might just as well gone to Wrexham.
Her promoters obviously had a big say, as they should
But maybe they weren't too pleased either?
I understand more UEs against someone like Eala because, as above, she obviously knew she had to go for one-strike tennis against her
But it's still too many and too many 'poor' ones (although Paul is spot on with the fact that the decision of what counts as a UE or not is very suspect - Roger Federer thought it was utterly daft and it showed a lack of understanding of tennis, andhe's not wrong (not surprisingly )
But it's been rather a long time since Mika has played a really encouraging individual singles match

Mika is still very young but it is the last sentence of yours which I think is perhaps the most concerning. In terms of levels of tennis it clearly was a complete mismatch and frankly an inappropriate level of competition for Mika right now. Setting aside her BJK cup win there have not been many things to cheer about and it has been a season where her game has stagnated somewhat. Still many years to come though of course.

Watching the match for me the thing that stood out was her in game decision making. Obviously this comes with experience but she's not some complete rookie who's never played in big matches, though in her age group. It was about point construction, or many times, the lack of it. trying to blast a winner when just continuing the rally was the right choice. Often the backhand was pulled out of court or the forehand went into the net.

I'm not going to be too hard on her. She did play some good shots but not enough of them and showed an inconsistency you would expect from someone so young and inexperienced in the pro-game.

I wonder if her coaching team though this was a good idea?

The expectations for Mika are high and sometimes it is hard to live up to them.

Coup Droit · Tennis legend

HarryGem wrote:
Coup Droit wrote:
GAMEOVER wrote:
Might just as well gone to Wrexham.
Her promoters obviously had a big say, as they should
But maybe they weren't too pleased either?
I understand more UEs against someone like Eala because, as above, she obviously knew she had to go for one-strike tennis against her
But it's still too many and too many 'poor' ones (although Paul is spot on with the fact that the decision of what counts as a UE or not is very suspect - Roger Federer thought it was utterly daft and it showed a lack of understanding of tennis, andhe's not wrong (not surprisingly )
But it's been rather a long time since Mika has played a really encouraging individual singles match

Mika is still very young but it is the last sentence of yours which I think is perhaps the most concerning. In terms of levels of tennis it clearly was a complete mismatch and frankly an inappropriate level of competition for Mika right now. Setting aside her BJK cup win there have not been many things to cheer about and it has been a season where her game has stagnated somewhat. Still many years to come though of course.
Watching the match for me the thing that stood out was her in game decision making. Obviously this comes with experience but she's not some complete rookie who's never played in big matches, though in her age group. It was about point construction, or many times, the lack of it. trying to blast a winner when just continuing the rally was the right choice. Often the backhand was pulled out of court or the forehand went into the net.
I'm not going to be too hard on her. She did play some good shots but not enough of them and showed an inconsistency you would expect from someone so young and inexperienced in the pro-game.
I wonder if her coaching team though this was a good idea?
The expectations for Mika are high and sometimes it is hard to live up to them.

Yes

But Hannah was in exactly the same position !

She had a dire spring - a US tour that was just hideous tennis, and results, really hard to get any positives from, losing to players ranked 700 and worse

And she came back and was given a wildcard / several wildcards to high-level WTA grass events - events like Mika here that were MILES out of her league - including Queens, Wimbledon etc

And she lost pretty much everything (although she did begin to play quite well)

And it all started going in the right direction

Var · Challenger level

Coup Droit wrote:
HarryGem wrote:
Coup Droit wrote:
GAMEOVER wrote:
Might just as well gone to Wrexham.
Her promoters obviously had a big say, as they should
But maybe they weren't too pleased either?
I understand more UEs against someone like Eala because, as above, she obviously knew she had to go for one-strike tennis against her
But it's still too many and too many 'poor' ones (although Paul is spot on with the fact that the decision of what counts as a UE or not is very suspect - Roger Federer thought it was utterly daft and it showed a lack of understanding of tennis, andhe's not wrong (not surprisingly )
But it's been rather a long time since Mika has played a really encouraging individual singles match

Mika is still very young but it is the last sentence of yours which I think is perhaps the most concerning. In terms of levels of tennis it clearly was a complete mismatch and frankly an inappropriate level of competition for Mika right now. Setting aside her BJK cup win there have not been many things to cheer about and it has been a season where her game has stagnated somewhat. Still many years to come though of course.
Watching the match for me the thing that stood out was her in game decision making. Obviously this comes with experience but she's not some complete rookie who's never played in big matches, though in her age group. It was about point construction, or many times, the lack of it. trying to blast a winner when just continuing the rally was the right choice. Often the backhand was pulled out of court or the forehand went into the net.
I'm not going to be too hard on her. She did play some good shots but not enough of them and showed an inconsistency you would expect from someone so young and inexperienced in the pro-game.
I wonder if her coaching team though this was a good idea?
The expectations for Mika are high and sometimes it is hard to live up to them.
Yes
But Hannah was in exactly the same position !
She had a dire spring - a US tour that was just hideous tennis, and results, really hard to get any positives from, losing to players ranked 700 and worse
And she came back and was given a wildcard / several wildcards to high-level WTA grass events - events like Mika here that were MILES out of her league - including Queens, Wimbledon etc
And she lost pretty much everything (although she did begin to play quite well)
And it all started going in the right direction

Agree CD. There was a lot of hang wringing on this forum about Hannahs stall in progress earlier this year and even regression. Sometimes you need to just take time out and go for the schedule that suits your game and level. However you cant blame a 17 year old for wanting the bright lights of a WTA500? Just has to put it down to experience.

Peter too · Tennis legend

The occasional match against a higher level player could be beneficial, both to learn how to cope with their sort of game and also to copy features of their game.

-- Edited by Peter too on Monday 26th of October 2026 04:00:05 PM

indiana · Tennis legend

I've always thought and contnue to think that Mika, like Hannah, was the real deal, given time and space to continue learning and developing.

Of course, having a good support team in place to help that development is very important in assisting a more consistent sustained development and emergence into higher levels.