Talk About Tennis 2.0

Fernandez looking lost out there - it’s an error fest coming off her racket.

ashkor87 wrote: ↑Tue Jan 18, 2022 3:40 am Have a feeling Sabalenka will go down today...the crowd will support Sanders and Sabalenka could go mad...

The way Aryna played the last two weeks, she could be playing in downtown Minsk and I would still expect her to lose.

ti-amie wrote: ↑Tue Jan 18, 2022 3:48 am Has anyone here ever seen Inglis before? Leylah is busy handing her the match 4-6, 0-3.

Yes, she's been around. But I personally find it very hard to tell what is expected and when from Aussie players. They seem high on so many, with seemingly very few making a push to the upper echelons. And very few seem to be 18 when you start hearing more about them, sort of like Storm Sanders last year.

Leylah is not looking good. And I don't like her body language - which is a first for me. She seems confused and annoyed, as if thinking "Hey - I'm supposed to win this match routinely, what's going on?"
I hate to say it, but I think she'd be winning this match if she hadn't done what she did at the U.S. Open. She's young, and, as genuinely humble as she is, there is a part of her that thinks she's better than she is right now - and that comes from what happened in New York 4 months ago.
Consider this a reality check.

Leylah has only played 2 matches pre-Aussie Open - lost to Swiatek in the second. Then pulled out of doubles and pulled out of Sydney. That shouldn't be an excuse for losing in the first round, though.

Her dad told me last year that when she beat Bencic at Fed Cup in 2020, she got 'kind of a big head about it', and it affected her performances for a while. Leylah's not the arrogant or obnoxious type at all - so her 'big head' would be more of a semi-conscious internal feeling.
She's still young - these things happen - it's all a learning process. As one of the commentators of this match said about 20 minutes ago (paraphrasing) "Often, learning experiences are only realized after the fact. While it's happening, you're not learning - but you learn from it when reflecting on it afterwards."

I've seen Inglis play live a couple of times in Challengers (I saw Leylah beat her in one of them). She is playing really well tonight - but she's very emotional and unpredictable - her game can suddenly go south at any moment. But thus far, she's been very steady.

5 months later, and that USO final keeps getting weirder.
Let's see how Emma fares later.

Leylah losing early will take some of the pressure off of Emma.
Because of Leylah's loss, I think Emma has a better chance to beat Sloane than she had before Leylah lost.

Inglis has a really nice smile (though I'd have preferred to not see it tonight ).

It's not easy to encourage someone who's done what Leylah did at the U.S. Open to have confidence in her own ability, but to also realize that she's not as good as her run at the U.S. Open; that one tournament does not make a career; that she has to both gain confidence from the U.S. Open, and also forget it completely. It's a very difficult and delicate balance.

In my mind, this (link below) is a significant part of the reason Leylah lost (remember that she also got crushed by Swiatek a couple of weeks ago)... It's a typical case of 'too much too soon'. Personally, I'd have advised her to stay away from the sponsorships for now - maybe do one, but do it very quietly and subtly - no more than one...

When you're doing marketing and commercials for companies, and they're telling you how much they 'love' you, etc. - it has a strong tendency to go to a young person's head. That is a distraction to your tennis focus. Rather than simply a tennis player, you start viewing yourself as a tennis player AND 'media star'.

When Leylah was 15 years old, and I was just starting to watch her, I said to her older sister "Please don't let her take the same path as Genie." She said "No, don't worry - our dad won't let that happen."
Indeed, when I had my first conversation with her dad right after that, I mentioned the path that Genie had taken, and that I'd been told he wouldn't allow Leylah to go that way. He said that he gave Leylah a choice - she can work on her ass like Genie, or work on her tennis. He said that Leylah, not surprisingly, chose to work on her tennis.
I'm actually quite surprised that her dad approved of the marketing stuff - especially since it all came out in public right before the first Major of the year.
I'd rather see her concentrate only on her tennis at this point, and forget about the external activities like doing marketing shoots. I feel it would be better for her in the long run.

https://dailyhive.com/vancouver/leylah- ... alian-open

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ti-amie wrote: ↑Tue Jan 18, 2022 2:49 am When it comes to Slams I'm an outer court person. I'm watching Baptiste vs Garcia right now after watching a bit of Rublev vs Mager.

AND after, I believe, Hailey had been down 3-6, 3-5 to Garcia, she ended up winning 3-6, 7-6 (4), 6-3. We watched the match in bits and pieces- a matter of, at important times, big serving, and weathering the storm when Caroline hit her usual hot streaks. Hailey had been up 4-0 in the third set, Caroline played lights-out for three games (I don't think Hailey won a point during those three games), Hailey then played a solid service game, and, as is predictable- Caroline then played a stinker service game. In any case, great result for Hailey.

atlpam wrote: ↑Tue Jan 18, 2022 3:14 am I’m watching Inglis - Fernandez. Megan would like Inglis’ kit - she’s wearing shorts.

Yay, shorts! So much more common these days.

ponchi101 wrote: ↑Tue Jan 18, 2022 3:50 am

ashkor87 wrote: ↑Tue Jan 18, 2022 3:40 am Have a feeling Sabalenka will go down today...the crowd will support Sanders and Sabalenka could go mad...

The way Aryna played the last two weeks, she could be playing in downtown Minsk and I would still expect her to lose.