WTA 500 Berlin 6/19 - 6/25 2023

[ashkor87]

and, I hasten to add, that logic doesnt apply to people like Alexandrova because Alexandrova may not even get to play Wimbledon and, in any case, I dont expect her to win the whole thing. Players like Ryabkina can focus on Wimbledon, Alexandrova cannot, she has to take whatever she can get.

[ponchi101]

You keep bringing this up. Why wouldn't Alexandrova play? I did some searches on the web and there is no mentioning of any problems for Russian or Belarusian athletes. There is actually no news about the UK implementing any sort of extra requirements for citizens of those countries.
And if we are going to start nominating a WTA 500 a "Prep tournament", I would say our standards would be reaching new highs. This is obviously an important tournament to play.

[ti-amie]

Day 6 Order of Play

Steffi Graf Stadion
Starts at 11:00 AM

RUS E. ALEXANDROVA vs USA C. GAUFF (5)
NOT BEFORE 12:30 PM
CZE M. VONDROUSOVA vs GER J. NIEMEIER
NOT BEFORE 3:00 PM
BLR A. SABALENKA (1) vs RUS V. KUDERMETOVA
NOT BEFORE 5:00 PM
GRE M. SAKKARI (6) vs BLR A. SASNOVICH

Court 1
Starts at 11:00 AM

RUS D. KASATKINA/GER S. LISICKI vs USA D. KRAWCZYK/NED D. SCHUURS (2)
FOLLOWED BY
CZE K. SINIAKOVA/CZE M. VONDROUSOVA vs KAZ A. DANILINA/CHN Y. XU (4)
FOLLOWED BY
USA N. MELICHAR-MARTINEZ/AUS E. PEREZ (1) vs GER J. NIEMEIER/GER N. NOHA AKUGUE

Court 2
Starts at 11:00 AM

RUS Y. SIZIKOVA/BEL K. ZIMMERMANN vs FRA C. GARCIA/BRA L. STEFANI

[ashkor87]

Coco vs alexandrova is intriguing ...will Coco's awesome defense and serve prevail against Alexandrova's aggression? I would say 55-45 Alexandrova

[ashkor87]

You keep bringing this up. Why wouldn't Alexandrova play? I did some searches on the web and there is no mentioning of any problems for Russian or Belarusian athletes. There is actually no news about the UK implementing any sort of extra requirements for citizens of those countries.
And if we are going to start nominating a WTA 500 a "Prep tournament", I would say our standards would be reaching new highs. This is obviously an important tournament to play.

Even the Uk home office is saying they are scrutinizing Russians and Belarusians more..I am not making it up, I wish I was!

[ashkor87]

https://www.eurosport.com/tennis/wimble ... tory.shtml

Good news is some players, like Sabalenka, have gotten their visas..so it is moving.

[ashkor87]

yikes! that was a thrashing Alexandrova adminstered to Coco.. anyone see the match? what happened to Coco?

[ashkor87]

just saw the highlights on the wta site.. Coco won every point!
AI clearly doesn't know much about tennis....

[JTContinental]

Clearly no overhitting for Alexandrova today

[ashkor87]

Now Alexandrova has to play Kudermetova yet again! Must be getting tired of each other.. K beat Saba in streights...

[ponchi101]

Wonder if Rybakina and/or Sabalenka will look into WC's for next week. They each got only two matches of this week, none last. I would not want to go into W with such little time on grass.

[ashkor87]

Not convinced about Sabalenka on grass..she doesn't move that well, looks like a container truck trying to make a turn ...

[ashkor87]

Wonder if Rybakina and/or Sabalenka will look into WC's for next week. They each got only two matches of this week, none last. I would not want to go into W with such little time on grass.

Do they need matches? How many did Rybakina have last year?

[ashkor87]

Coco had 27 UFEs on forehand...

[ponchi101]

I remember that Agassi once said that, in grass, he wanted as few matches as possible, because the adjustment process affected his game. I say Sabalenka should; she did not play last year and she has not been on grass for a while.

In favor of your argument: Borg never played a single tournament in between RG and W. Pete has a "low" count of matches won on grass because he also never played on any prior tournaments.
Against your argument: Martina played almost every week prior to Wimby. Of course, her matches used to last 1 hour, so there was no reason to avoid "fatigue" (not that she was ever fatigued).