WTA 500 Doha 2/13 - 2/18 2023

[Deuce]

I think that they had to slow the courts down to accommodate the "newer" racquets. For me tennis became unwatchable for a lot of the late 90's because there was no intellect to it. It was all serve, serve, and serve with some net play thrown in for the usual giggles. Tennis for me anyway is much more watchable now.

Yes - but, as I said, making the courts slower has not fully compensated for the increased speed and power, in my opinion. The game is still too fast for my liking.

Back in the '80s - and prior to that - THAT was a thinking person's tennis... because there was so little power and ball speed in the game - except for the occasional serve -, players had to use their intellect to figure out how to basically outsmart their opponents, mostly using variety and creativity.

[ti-amie]

I think that they had to slow the courts down to accommodate the "newer" racquets. For me tennis became unwatchable for a lot of the late 90's because there was no intellect to it. It was all serve, serve, and serve with some net play thrown in for the usual giggles. Tennis for me anyway is much more watchable now.

Yes - but, as I said, making the courts slower has not fully compensated for the increased speed and power, in my opinion. The game is still too fast for my liking.

Back in the '80s - and prior to that - THAT was a thinking person's tennis... because there was so little power and ball speed in the game - except for the occasional serve -, players had to use their intellect to figure out how to basically outsmart their opponents, mostly using variety and creativity.

Yes. I still watched but the servebot era was so boring...

[ponchi101]

Problem for me is that my two favorite players of all time were from the mid 80's through 2000.
Pete and Stefan made it exciting always. Specially Edberg, hitting volleys for winners from his shoelaces.

[ashkor87]

Let us pause for a moment to pay tribute to Iga..we are in the presence of greatness...she will change the game the way Serena did, the way greatness always does

[ti-amie]

Day 8 Order of Play

Center Court
Starts at 06:00 PM

Final
POL I. SWIATEK (1) vs USA J. PEGULA (2)

[ponchi101]

Let us pause for a moment to pay tribute to Iga..we are in the presence of greatness...she will change the game the way Serena did, the way greatness always does

She is playing great. No doubt about it.
But, change the game is a bit too far. Her game is fairly standard. Very solid from both wings, her serve is good, she is not comfortable at all at the net.
And it is still a bit early to compare her to the great ones. She is still nowhere near those numbers. We have to give her some time.

Right now: she is very much like Monica. Crushing it from both wings, and devouring serves.

[Suliso]

Regarding Iga - 10 Slams over or under?

[ponchi101]

Regarding Iga - 10 Slams over or under?

I go for over. Her haul at RG can be around Borg/Chrissie/Steffi numbers. That would mean just a few more others sprinkled here and there for her to reach 10+.
Next week we see a different challenge. For both Aryna and Iga, it may mean something. Aryna, to back up her new Slam Champion status, for Iga to lay down her position as the best. A few others also have to rise (although I don't know who can).

Caveat. A few years ago we did the same for Naomi. A completely different player, but right now that seems a bit difficult. The sport changes so much.

[ashkor87]

As you have also remarked, slow courts are the norm now. Nobody from this generation of players seems able to even stay on the court with her, let alone beat her. She is therefore a once-in-a- generation player, as Serena was..

[Deuce]

Way too early to crown Swiatek as being among the greats. As ponchi says, her game isn't remarkable - she is good - even very good - but her main strength is her consistency - she doesn't win by overpowering or otherwise dominating her opponents, she wins by missing less shots than her opponents. I think that can be exploited.
Also, we have seen her lose matches convincingly - and that tells us that she is obviously beatable, and that there may be a 'formula' that works against her.

Also, I think Swiatek is beginning to have a significant psychological advantage over her opponents, because it seems that her opponents EXPECT TO LOSE. I saw this in both Kudermetova and Pegula this week - you can see it in the body language and facial expressions. I'm not talking about after Swiatek has won the 1st set and is up 3-0 in the 2nd - I'm talking about right from the beginning of the match, her opponents don't believe they can win. And that's a huge advantage for Swiatek. It's happening because of her winning record, of course - so it's a direct case of cause and effect. But let's see how Swiatek does when she encounters an opponent who truly believes she can win. Then Swiatek will feel pressure - and we'll see how she reacts to that.

Finally, the weather conditions in Doha this week were difficult - very, very windy and cool temperatures. Maybe Swiatek simply managed the conditions better than anyone else.
She also had 2 byes...

[Suliso]

She does win tough matches too, but my question arouse mostly from her dominance on clay. Well proven by now. In some sense she reminds me of Justine. Henin won "only" 7, but there was Serena around.

[Suliso]

By the way Iga has beaten a very old record held by Evert for fewest games lost enroute to WTA title (7). Also bagel in every match.

[Deuce]

By the way Iga has beaten a very old record held by Evert for fewest games lost enroute to WTA title (7). Also bagel in every match.

That should not count, as Swiatek effectively had 2 byes in this tournament (1st round bye, and a walkover when Bencic suddenly quit the tournament). I doubt that Evert had 2 byes.
It should go by number of matches played. How many matches did Evert play when she set that 'record'? If it's more than 3, Iga's week this week doesn't count.

[Suliso]

Sure, it's just a funny factoid. Doesn't mean anything in particular and certainly not that Swiatek is better than Evert.

[ponchi101]

The record now stands at 5* (with the big asterisk )
Perhaps more relevant. Her record in finals is now 12-2. Very impressive.