TENNIS PLAYERS (Off-Court Shenanigans)

[Suliso]

[ti-amie]

Ah. Congratulations!

[the Moz]

Stephens motivation has always been a question throughout her career.

Winning a Slam out of nowhere or with a low ranking is rarely a successful launching point for future success. She's 297-211 in her career and has won $15mil losing a lot of matches. And this was for the most part all achieved before she got engaged or before her COVID year from hell. Patrick on point

[Suliso]

Stephens motivation has always been a question throughout her career.

Winning a Slam out of nowhere or with a low ranking is rarely a successful launching point for future success. She's 297-211 in her career and has won $15mil losing a lot of matches. And this was for the most part all achieved before she got engaged or before her COVID year from hell. Patrick on point

There is a fellow from Brazil who disagrees.

[Suliso]

Interesting factoid: Naomi Osaka has never reached a tournament final off hard courts and has never been to final in any European tournament. I guess we can fully expect her to turn into pumpkin after Miami.

[JazzNU]

Interesting factoid: Naomi Osaka has never reached a tournament final off hard courts and has never been to final in any European tournament. I guess we can fully expect her to turn into pumpkin after Miami.

Yes. Her current win streak is being overstated as people like to gloss over that she's played in only 4 tournaments since the hiatus, and withdrew from 2 of the 4. It just so happens those 2 wins were grand slams, so impressive and worth highlighting. But the win streak is made possible because she skipped Rome and the French. Last time she played on clay, she had an epic meltdown. Let's hope we're past that, but won't be surprising if she turns into a pumpkin in a matter of weeks.

[Suliso]

There is a recent interview where she says (after withdrawing from Stuttgart) that she has little interest in playing smaller tournaments and gets homesick if away from home for too long. Just from a financial point of view she's right, but that could be said about many elite players. I guess others just like the lifestyle and playing often.

[JazzNU]

Yes, she appears to have figured that out in the last year staying home almost the entire time and playing well when she does play. Though she hardly had a robust schedule before. Guess we'll see how it works out. Playing so little will make pushing her out as the face of women's tennis a harder challenge. Luckily, the WTA has more than just her to put forward, but it's still a bit of a blow.

[ponchi101]

When Naomi retires, her 8 Grand Slams will not feature a RG.
Then again, of Sharapova's 5 slams, 2 are RG's. So who knows if Naomi well develop a taste for the dirt.

[Suliso]

When Naomi retires, her 8 Grand Slams will not feature a RG.
Then again, of Sharapova's 5 slams, 2 are RG's. So who knows if Naomi well develop a taste for the dirt.

Will it feature Wimbledon? What is your crystal ball saying on that?

[ponchi101]

I say she will conquer Wimbledon. She has the serve, and she attacks.
Then again, you know my crystal ball is really just plexiglass...

[ti-amie]

[the Moz]

Cute couple and adorable kid!!

[3mlm]

lYes, she appears to have figured that out in the last year staying home almost the entire time and playing well when she does play. Though she hardly had a robust schedule before. Guess we'll see how it works out. Playing so little will make pushing her out as the face of women's tennis a harder challenge. Luckily, the WTA has more than just her to put forward, but it's still a bit of a blow.

Depends on how much Naomi wins. While Serena received some criticism early in her career for not playing as many tournaments as other players, she became the "face of women's tennis" after she won enough slams even though she continued to play fewer tournaments than most players.

[JazzNU]

Depends on how much Naomi wins. While Serena received some criticism early in her career for not playing as many tournaments as other players, she became the "face of women's tennis" after she won enough slams even though she continued to play fewer tournaments than most players.

But as it stands right now, before her stated reduction in schedule, she actually plays less than Serena did then. And now she's saying she'll be playing even less than what she was. If she keeps winning Slams, maybe not a big deal. But I wouldn't say that's great for the face of the sport. If Naomi was playing a Halep like schedule and said she was reducing it, then that would be one thing. But that is not her starting point at all.