'22 AO Day 2 OoP & Discussion

[Deuce]

That was a bizarre scoreline... and a bizarre match.

Stephens upped her game in the 2nd set, and Emma's level declined. A rather convincing advantage to Sloane in the 6-2 set.

Then Sloane inexplicably disappeared for the 3rd set. And missed some easy, easy shots where there was no pressure at all. Was she afraid she may win and would - gasp - have to play another match? Emma got back to the aggressive level she played in the opening set - but Sloane just looked like she had no focus or drive. 6-1 Raducanu.

Stephens really needs to find some enduring intensity if she wants to get back to anywhere near the top 20, even. She displayed some intensity in the 2nd set - she looked like she actually cared. And she won the set.
She's tough to figure out.

[meganfernandez]

That was a bizarre scoreline... and a bizarre match.

Stephens upped her game in the 2nd set, and Emma's level declined. A rather convincing advantage to Sloane in the 6-2 set.

Then Sloane inexplicably disappeared for the 3rd set. And missed some easy, easy shots where there was no pressure at all. Was she afraid she may win and would - gasp - have to play another match? Emma got back to the aggressive level she played in the opening set - but Sloane just looked like she had no focus or drive. 6-1 Raducanu.

Stephens really needs to find some enduring intensity if she wants to get back to anywhere near the top 20, even. She displayed some intensity in the 2nd set - she looked like she actually cared. And she won the set.
She's tough to figure out.

i have a different take on the 3rd set... Sloane did miss a few seemingly easy volleys, but Emma was scrambling her tail off and putting pressure on her. One of them, Emma got right down to Sloane's feet and made the shot difficult. Raducanu played with more intensity, but then Sloane doesn't play with intensity usually - she's more smooth. She made too many errors in some long rallies, though I wouldn't call it an error-fest. They had really good rallies. I thought Emma had to step up and win the match. Good start for her first match ever in Melbourne!

[ponchi101]

Is there something with Raducanu which makes her play better at Slams?

Who knows. Pretty small sample size right now. Maybe she feeds off the excitement. There were a lot of good rallies in the half I saw (last half). She played her heart out. Good win.


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Agree it is a small sample, but since last year, she has 17 wins at tour/WTA level (including today) and of those, 11 are at Slams (3W, 7USO, 1AO). So maybe she plays better at Slams, after all.
Her streakiness is, at least, odd.

[meganfernandez]

Is there something with Raducanu which makes her play better at Slams?

Who knows. Pretty small sample size right now. Maybe she feeds off the excitement. There were a lot of good rallies in the half I saw (last half). She played her heart out. Good win.


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Agree it is a small sample, but since last year, she has 17 wins at tour/WTA level (including today) and of those, 11 are at Slams (3W, 7USO, 1AO). So maybe she plays better at Slams, after all.
Her streakiness is, at least, odd.

I don't consider her streaky, personally. I don't consider her anything yet except a young champion with a lot of potential to have a terrific career. I think the circumstances between Sept and now are too unusual to mean much. And people lose matches. It's normal. We make too much of it and tend to grasp for meaning.

[meganfernandez]

6 minutes into his interview

[ponchi101]

And lost amid yesterday, Kerber lost her first round. I would say she is homing on retirement soon, too.

[meganfernandez]

And lost amid yesterday, Kerber lost her first round. I would say she is homing on retirement soon, too.

Ashkor mentioned it ... said the slow-ish court speed didn't help her generate pace against Kanepi. But you'd think Kanepi would have given Kerber all the pace she needed. Oh well, we'll see.

[ponchi101]

...

Ashkor mentioned it ... said the slow-ish court speed didn't help her generate pace against Kanepi. But you'd think Kanepi would have given Kerber all the pace she needed. Oh well, we'll see.

Now that you say it, indeed he did.
I never saw Kerber as a hard hitter, although I was corrected. The problem is not losing, it was the score. That looks very humdrum for Kanepi, and it is not as if she is a newcomer to the tour that caught her by surprise. So first round on a hard court and you go out 4 &3? Does not look good.

[meganfernandez]

...

Ashkor mentioned it ... said the slow-ish court speed didn't help her generate pace against Kanepi. But you'd think Kanepi would have given Kerber all the pace she needed. Oh well, we'll see.

Now that you say it, indeed he did.
I never saw Kerber as a hard hitter, although I was corrected. The problem is not losing, it was the score. That looks very humdrum for Kanepi, and it is not as if she is a newcomer to the tour that caught her by surprise. So first round on a hard court and you go out 4 &3? Does not look good.

I've always thought Kerber is definitely more defensive but she redirects pace really well and that’s her offensive weapon, IMO. This match sounds routine but it’s one break per set. Sometimes the score tells the story, sometimes it doesn't. I guess it would surprise me a bit if she retires soon since she has had good results lately and her ranking isn’t in danger of plummeting. But who knows.


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[ti-amie]

I agree with Megan. Kerber wants her opponent to give her pace which she then uses against her. Maybe she's become less adept at doing that or her opponents more adept at playing her?

[ti-amie]

I dragged Heather Watson but she came back to win her match vs Sherif.

I said elsewhere that the Raducanu/Stephens match would depend on which version of Sloane showed up. I set myself up to watch the match and slept through the entire thing.

I was talking with someone about the match this morning and she said that Sloane hasn't done anything to improve or fine tune her game, that she has been playing the same game for a few years now. I didn't see the match so I'm asking what you guys think of her observation?

[Suliso]

I agree with Megan. Kerber wants her opponent to give her pace which she then uses against her. Maybe she's become less adept at doing that or her opponents more adept at playing her?

Perhaps has become slower with age?

[ponchi101]

I dragged Heather Watson but she came back to win her match vs Sherif.

I said elsewhere that the Raducanu/Stephens match would depend on which version of Sloane showed up. I set myself up to watch the match and slept through the entire thing.

I was talking with someone about the match this morning and she said that Sloane hasn't done anything to improve or fine tune her game, that she has been playing the same game for a few years now. I didn't see the match so I'm asking what you guys think of her observation?

Saw the last set. If Sloane has been playing the "same game", and we assume that was the "same game" that took her to a USO title and a RG final, she would not be losing in the first round of the Aussie. Agree, Emma is also a slam champion, but I can't see how the same game that took you to a slam drops you all the way to #87. The women's game has gotten better, indeed, but not by THAT much.
I could really not say what happened to her today. But in the last set, they were engaging in some long rallies and Emma came on top of that game. She did not look very pressured by Sloane.

[meganfernandez]

I agree with Megan. Kerber wants her opponent to give her pace which she then uses against her. Maybe she's become less adept at doing that or her opponents more adept at playing her?

Perhaps has become slower with age?

could be... she has to track down a lot of balls. Back in 2019, 2020, my German tennis friend said she was struggling to get much pace on the ball.

[jazzyg]

Kerber has become a one-surface player--grass--because a lot of power players aren't comfortable moving on it and with the lower bounces, though they are nowhere near as low as they used to be.

She gets overpowered quite a bit on hard courts now. Danielle Collins beat her in 56 minutes at the Aussie Open three years ago. It was a drubbing.