Talk About Tennis 2.0

ti-amie wrote: ↑Wed Jan 18, 2023 2:42 am

She was upset and frustrated because she was having considerable difficulty with a player that virtually no-one had heard of.
In the on-court interview after the match, she was quite complimentary of Shnaider.

JazzNU wrote: ↑Wed Jan 18, 2023 2:25 am ...

Russian player in the NCAA that came thru qualifying. Only became aware of her 2 days ago for SP.

They showed the match. The strokes are there. Gorgeous serve, very, very, very good FH. She hit two smashes that reminded me of Mr. Pete.
Let's see the evolution.

ponchi101 wrote: ↑Wed Jan 18, 2023 2:52 amThey showed the match. The strokes are there. Gorgeous serve, very, very, very good FH. She hit two smashes that reminded me of Mr. Pete.
Let's see the evolution.

She can hit the first serve very well. But, the serve- especially the second serve- will need a considerable amount of work. Her toss can get way too low, and at times wonky. (Just based on this match, of course.)

TV (the world feed, I believe) just showed the weather conditions for Melbourne, with the temperature shown as 17C/75F. Those are not remotely the same.

nelslus wrote: ↑Wed Jan 18, 2023 2:49 am WELL done, Diana Shnaider. Truly- superb match.

Now, back to the Scrapheap with you, honey. Miss Lindsay Lee-Waters is waiting as your Tour Guide, and will review your WTA Losers' Policies and Procedures Guidebook with you. Please do have a nice life.

You ain't right!

15 minutes game between Kvitova and Kalinina. And it was very high quality.

I've seen good things from Kalinina in the past year or so. I think I posted at one time that she's a player to watch in the next couple of years.

With the excessive heat often being a factor at this time of year in Melbourne - and matches being delayed because of excessive heat -, this tournament can't afford many additional postponements due to rain.

In the meantime, Alex Molcan has entered the Zone and has a Pent House with a view. He just can't miss. Felix has to wait for a few UE's to crawl into Molcan's game, who has hit 6 in one set a 5-2.
Petra out.

I see that Petra's back in the Mugsy School of Wild Underachievement. Doesn't matter if she starts the year great (as she did this year), or poorly. Once she's in a Slam, she disintegrates.

Hey, Mugsy fans- at least Mugsy managed to whimper into a WTA Finals win during her most recent underwhelming years. Petra just gives crap.

ti-amie wrote: ↑Wed Jan 18, 2023 3:12 am

nelslus wrote: ↑Wed Jan 18, 2023 2:49 am WELL done, Diana Shnaider. Truly- superb match.

Now, back to the Scrapheap with you, honey. Miss Lindsay Lee-Waters is waiting as your Tour Guide, and will review your WTA Losers' Policies and Procedures Guidebook with you. Please do have a nice life.

You ain't right!

.....I was debating between Miss Meghann Shaughnessy or Miss Lindsay Lee-Waters as Our Scrapheap Tour Guide. Miss Lee-Waters for the "win".

ponchi101 wrote: ↑Wed Jan 18, 2023 4:19 am In the meantime, Alex Molcan has entered the Zone and has a Pent House with a view. He just can't miss. Felix has to wait for a few UE's to crawl into Molcan's game, who has hit 6 in one set a 5-2.

Felix has seriously just been pissing me off. He keeps playing this weird, thoughtless and ongoing generic game- not changing up much of anything. I did not see this 2023 crap level coming. (OF course, who knows what is going on with him otherwise?)

Meanwhile, Nadal loses the first set to McDonald. Will have to see if it was a mistake for him to play this tournament. (And watch him now win the tournament.)

Well, there are 127 players for whom playing this tournament was a mistake (and I don't mean because they will lose).
Serious here. Why would it have been a mistake for Rafa? He is not injured (more than usual).

ponchi101 wrote: ↑Wed Jan 18, 2023 4:55 amWell, there are 127 players for whom playing this tournament was a mistake (and I don't mean because they will lose).
Serious here. Why would it have been a mistake for Rafa? He is not injured (more than usual).

Come on, now. It hasn't crossed your mind that Rafa might be injured- more than usual? And/or exhausted? I mean, he's been losing, especially for him, a lot of matches lately. It'd be a mistake to play this for Rafa if he puts himself in more physical distress. Don't know what he's been saying in interviews. But, it's not like tennis pros are going to be fully honest about their injury status while playing any tournament, much less a Slam.

Again, for all I know, Rafa'll win this thing- he's pulled off countless miracles. All of this I post out of full respect for Rafa.

I've said for a few years now that Felix needs to be more like Denis, and Denis needs to be more like Felix.
By that, I mean that Felix plays a game that is too conservative - like he's using a book as a guide - he is too disciplined... and Shapovalov plays too wildly, with not enough discipline.
The two of them are close friends - and have been since childhood... which is interesting because they are total opposites in terms of personality - and that carries over to their playing style.

Felix needs to trust himself more and not rely nearly as much on trying to play tennis the 'proper' way. There is no proper way to play tennis!! Trust your instincts! But I feel that Felix is focussing too much on 'being disciplined', and is not in touch with his instincts at all...

(And Denis relies too much on his instincts, which is to be flashy and 'spectacular' on the court. It looks nice, but it inherently leads to errors and inconsistency. And so he needs to be more disciplined, and go for intelligent shots more often instead of always going for the spectacular shots.)