Tennis Random, Random (On Court)

[Deuce]

Well done! Really shows that the theory of players being less resilient and less committed these days is simply untrue. Possibly except those 3-4 WTA exceptions, but even that could be bad luck.

I'll only be convinced it's 'untrue' when I can see reliable data on withdrawals and in-match retirements from the '70s and '80s.
Thus far, I think data has only been presented from the late '90s onward.
I don't even know if they kept such statistics in the '70s and '80s - but if it exists, it would be very interesting to compare it to the present day.

[Deuce]

I mentioned a few days ago in the coaching thread that Kasatkina's coach of the past 4 years, Carlos Martinez, has separated from her, and claimed that the two disagreed about her priorities away from the court.
I have watched most of her matches this year, and I've commented that she seems lacklustre and apathetic - very non-committed to playing well.

Considering Martinez's comments, and given Kasatkina's very poor efforts on the court so far this year, and her efforts in creating videos with her figure skater girlfriend at every tournament this year, if we are to put 2 and 2 together, it seems to me that Kasatkina is significantly more interested in 'having fun' at tournaments than she is in winning matches.

The videos that she and her girlfriend are making seem to focus on asking other players about cocktails, and are quite immature overall.
Daria is still young - but, despite physically looking like she's 12 years old, she is almost 26 years old, and these videos are immature even for a 25 year old.
It looks like she's decided to forget the maturity and discipline that helped her get into the top 10, and has decided to take advantage of all the privileges that come with being in the top 10, and just have fun instead. And judging by what I've seen of her on court and in the videos, and factoring in Martinez's comments, it seems quite clear to me that lack of responsibility and discipline is her main problem right now; like she just wants to 'have fun' and doesn't care about the consequences.
Her poor play corresponds pretty much exactly with the time that they began doing these videos... And shortly after that, Coach Martinez departed...

I've seen this type of careless, kind of reckless, behaviour, giving up something that one had valued highly, from people who are depressed and/or get into drugs, etc. They get to a point where only surface things matter - they just want to 'have fun', and stop caring about the things (and people) that they once cared deeply about.
Maybe this is linked to the anxiety Kasatkina feels about the Russia/Ukraine situation and the fallout of that which affects her personally (her family, etc.)... And/or it could be some anxiety linked to her coming out as a lesbian and the consequences of that, given that she's Russian... And/or it could be the influence of her girlfriend that is encouraging to prioritize 'having fun' over playing serious tennis.

I think she will soon see that it's impossible to have her cake and eat it, too - that if she slacks off on the responsibility and discipline, her tennis will suffer greatly. It's already happening, but she may still be at the point where she still believes she can somehow have her cake and eat it, too.
She might be in for a rude awakening.

Here's an example of the videos they are doing...

[ti-amie]

Sigh. I was really hoping that the influence of the girlfriend wasn't involved in her seeming disinterest in tennis.

[ponchi101]

Clerc, via ESPN (and you know I don't believe a word he says), reporting that Thiem has said he will go back to the challenger circuit.
If true, I say a wise move. Yesterday's match was a show that he really can't sustain a proper level in a long match.

[ashkor87]

I really dont understand the negativity being directed at Pegula because her familly is wealthy. Is it her fault? What do you expect her, or her parents , to do, given that the daughter wants to play tennis and tha family can afford it? I know what I would do - precisely what her family did. If these comments were coming from Cuba or some socialist 'paradise' it may be more understandable but Americans?

[JazzNU]

I really dont understand the negativity being directed at Pegula because her familly is wealthy. Is it her fault? What do you expect her, or her parents , to do, given that the daughter wants to play tennis and tha family can afford it? I know what I would do - precisely what her family did. If these comments were coming from Cuba or some socialist 'paradise' it may be more understandable but Americans?

I've gone over this many times and I'm not doing it again. It's not the wealth, it's the source of the wealth. And you must be kidding me with it being strange because we're Americans take.

[ashkor87]

how far back would you want to go? what is the source of the wealth of the famous Morgans? Or Kennedys?

[JTContinental]

You don't have to go back at all with Terry Pegula. He made his fortune off fracking and is now divesting it in pretense that has all come from sports teams.

[Fastbackss]

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/25412161/

Jon Wertheim posted this, study done on effect of grunting. I can't get whole report to load, but to be fair I didn't spend much time trying (and I am only on my phone)

[meganfernandez]

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/25412161/

Jon Wertheim posted this, study done on effect of grunting. I can't get whole report to load, but to be fair I didn't spend much time trying (and I am only on my phone)

Right off the bat, I'm skeptical. They had players hit while grunting and not grunting. That introduces an unnatural element - thinking about it, much less doing something different than what they are used to (depending on if they normally grunt or not). The awareness would very likely affect their stroke in some way. The mere idea that they are participating in a study and not playing a match under usual conditions changes the circumstances, too. I believe that change would definitely affect the some component of the stroke and therefore the results are fruit of a poisoned tree. It's pretty hard to study a behavior once the person knows you're studying it. Doesn't that alone most likely alter the behavior? Then to ask the player to consciously alter their behavior (to grunt if they normally don't, or to not grunt if they normally do) - you're not going to get my normal stroke if I'm thinking about it.

The only value this has it to compare the person's two strokes, one hit while grunting and the other hit while not grunting... but you still don't have a good control, which is that person's velocity under completely neutral circumstances.

[ponchi101]

All I will add.
In karate, you are not encouraged to grunt as much as to exhale when you are hitting. That loosens you up, so you can generate more speed on your blows. It is not a matter of grunting or not, it is a matter of relaxing when you hit.
When you are hitting tennis balls, being relaxed is very helpful. But it is not the grunting, it is the relaxation you get when you are exhaling.
And it is different to relax when you grunt ala Jimmy Connors (a muffled exhalation by today standards) than relax when you "grunt" ala Michelle Larcher de Brito (a scream that leads to somebody calling 911).

[JazzNU]

In karate, you are not encouraged to grunt as much as to exhale when you are hitting.

That's the same for baseball and softball as well.

[Fastbackss]

The previous information I had seen was exactly that - that grunting essentially allowed you to hit harder because you were exhaling

[ashkor87]

The value of coordinating your breath with your movement is well-known to all yoga practitioners. The exhalation just helps you focus your energies at the point of impact. Makes perfect sense

[ponchi101]

The value of coordinating your breath with your movement is well-known to all yoga practitioners. The exhalation just helps you focus your energies at the point of impact. Makes perfect sense

Key to all high performance athletes. Look at 100 mts speedsters, in slow motion. They will time every exhalation with a landing of every step, or every other step. Otherwise, you run in complete tightness, and lose considerable speed.
The point is: yoga practitioners and speedsters do not grunt. They do so silently.

Today I watched Garin play. Total cheating, in this aspect, as his scream (not a grunt) is always AFTER he has impacted the ball. As Baez did not seem to mind, no real cheating, but we have seen the extreme players that scream when the other player is impacting the ball.