Talk About Tennis 2.0

With Rybakina playing poorly, Sabalenka is the clear favorite now...

ashkor87 wrote: ↑Sun Mar 26, 2023 2:50 am

JazzNU wrote: ↑Sun Mar 26, 2023 2:16 am

ashkor87 wrote: ↑Sun Mar 26, 2023 1:49 am Potapova has pedigree...didn't realise she is junior Wimbledon champion 2016...taken 7 years to start making an impact on the senior tour but not bad....

No it didn't take her 7 years. You don't get to her ranking overnight. She's been making good progress for a few years now and this is far from her first win over a decently ranked player.

She has done nothing much till Linz..I checked her record.

So she's done nothing and magically got to a Top 30 ranking? Doesn't happen that way. Clearly you're just discovering her, but she's not some new player that has been below people's radar. People have been watching her since her junior career. She's had other big wins against ranked players at smaller and larger tournaments. I'm not just talking about 2023. She's more like a Kostyuk (only better at this point) where she has had several highs as she's figuring it out. This isn't the first time she's flashed that she is likely to ascend to the upper echelon of the game.

ponchi101 wrote: ↑Sun Mar 26, 2023 1:48 am Rybakina's UE count is off the scale. Badosa may win this match solely on keeping the ball in.

I purposely said nothing about her so as not to spook her while playing well. She should've had this one and it would've done well for her confidence, might have been the thing to get her back on track.

ashkor87 wrote: ↑Sun Mar 26, 2023 2:50 am

JazzNU wrote: ↑Sun Mar 26, 2023 2:16 am

ashkor87 wrote: ↑Sun Mar 26, 2023 1:49 am Potapova has pedigree...didn't realise she is junior Wimbledon champion 2016...taken 7 years to start making an impact on the senior tour but not bad....

No it didn't take her 7 years. You don't get to her ranking overnight. She's been making good progress for a few years now and this is far from her first win over a decently ranked player.

She has done nothing much till Linz..I checked her record.

What record were you checking?

That was a really good 'character win' for Rybakina.
She was down and on the verge of defeat, and dug down and battled and hung in there... and eventually found a higher level of play and pretty much ran away with the 3rd set.

Rybakina "playing poorly"? No - not even close.
She had a shaky 1st set tonight, battled hard in the 2nd, doing what she had to do, and played great from about the middle of the 2nd set through to the end.
If anything, she showed tonight that she's even better than people thought she was, because of the added element of the guts she needed (and came up with) to win this match.

JazzNU wrote: ↑Sun Mar 26, 2023 3:21 am So she's done nothing and magically got to a Top 30 ranking? Doesn't happen that way. Clearly you're just discovering her, but she's not some new player that has been below people's radar. People have been watching her since her junior career. She's had other big wins against ranked players at smaller and larger tournaments. I'm not just talking about 2023. She's more like a Kostyuk (only better at this point) where she has had several highs as she's figuring it out. This isn't the first time she's flashed that she is likely to ascend to the upper echelon of the game.

This is where I wish the WTA had a breakdown of player points like the ATP has, because it's hard to understand Potapova's top 30 ranking. She's got two smaller titles - one last month, and one last April - and a few finals, again at smaller tournaments. She seems to have had a very consistent year last year by winning rounds at most of the smaller tournaments she played, but struggled at the bigger events.

LOL, it feels bizarre to say that, IMO, in just about any other time in Tiafoe's career, he'd have lost against Watanuki- who played at a ridiculously high standard. Down a set and 3-1 against a red-hot yet low-ranked opponent, Tiafoe would have found a way to fold. Incredible match- and great to see Francis pull this one out. As we all say so many times about players- hope to see Watanuki maintain this level.

ashkor87 wrote: ↑Sun Mar 26, 2023 12:37 am Not surprised Coco lost.. she really isnt that good , yet.. the one I am suprised at is Vika, she had been playing well.. Berretini is the male version of Pliskova - what is he up to? Is he for real? Medvedev rolling through quietly, as expected. It is quite astonishing to me, how quickly Alcaraz has become #1 and how well he is actually doing - of course, keeping Djokovic out of the country helps, and now the clay court season begins, where I dont expect even Djokovic to beat him. I had thought Alcaraz would take a year or to get to this level of dominance, but he is already there!

She must be at least as good as Alexandrova because they have the same number of titles.

JTContinental wrote: ↑Sun Mar 26, 2023 8:15 am

ashkor87 wrote: ↑Sun Mar 26, 2023 12:37 am Not surprised Coco lost.. she really isnt that good , yet.. the one I am suprised at is Vika, she had been playing well.. Berretini is the male version of Pliskova - what is he up to? Is he for real? Medvedev rolling through quietly, as expected. It is quite astonishing to me, how quickly Alcaraz has become #1 and how well he is actually doing - of course, keeping Djokovic out of the country helps, and now the clay court season begins, where I dont expect even Djokovic to beat him. I had thought Alcaraz would take a year or to get to this level of dominance, but he is already there!

She must be at least as good as Alexandrova because they have the same number of titles.

no comment, doesnt deserve a response

ashkor87 wrote: ↑Sun Mar 26, 2023 3:08 am With Rybakina playing poorly, Sabalenka is the clear favorite now...

Uhm. Rybakina played poorly again, indeed. But it is the sort of thing that can be corrected in one good training session: she was just hitting too many UE's.
I say this was a great match for her. We know about the strokes: other than a terrible swinging volley (and they all have terrible swinging volleys because that is a dumb shot), all her strokes are excellent. But now we know she also has the will to keep fighting. The seemingly "I am not even interested in this match" facade is really a front: Badosa had her yesterday, and Badosa did not fold, Rybakina kept fighting.
Sort of "memo to the WTA: I don't fold". Signed, Elena.
I keep liking her more and more.

Bianca is playing solid tennis. Let's see if she is really back, or this is some hiccup.

Ashkor must be over the moon. Alexandrova is up 7-6(10), 5-2 with Bencic serving to stay in the match.

Alexandrova 7-6(10), 6-3

He also likes Belinda, so it balances. Good win for Alexandrova.
---0---
Lajovic will get 5 games max.

Wrong. He got six. A good second set by Lajovic.