WTA 500 Berlin 6/19 - 6/25 2023

[meganfernandez]

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?

I think Rybakina's general inconsistency is the bigger obstacle to defending her title, not match play on the surface.

[ashkor87]

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).

Yes, it depends on the player...

[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?

I think Rybakina's general inconsistency is the bigger obstacle to defending her title, not match play on the surface.

I really don't see any inconsistency...Rybakina has been astoundingly consistent from the AO onwards..remember, clay is not her surface yet she won the Italian...

[ponchi101]

She can leave her FH at the hotel every once in a while ...

[ti-amie]

Day 7 Order of Play

Steffi Graf Stadion
Starts at 11:00 AM

RUS V. KUDERMETOVA vs RUS E. ALEXANDROVA
NOT BEFORE 12:30 PM
FRA C. GARCIA (3) vs CZE P. KVITOVA (7)
NOT BEFORE 3:00 PM
GRE M. SAKKARI (6) vs CZE M. VONDROUSOVA
STARTS AT 5:00 PM
RUS E. AVANESYAN vs CRO D. VEKIC

Court 1
Starts at 11:00 AM

Semifinal
USA N. MELICHAR-MARTINEZ/AUS E. PEREZ (1) vs FRA C. GARCIA/BRA L. STEFANI

[meganfernandez]

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

I think Rybakina's general inconsistency is the bigger obstacle to defending her title, not match play on the surface.

I really don't see any inconsistency...Rybakina has been astoundingly consistent from the AO onwards..remember, clay is not her surface yet she won the Italian...

I think she said she likes a slow surface, actually - around the time of Indian Wells. To me, if you win the Italian, you're decent enough on clay.

It's true that her losses haven't been bad ones - 6-4 in the third to Vekic isn't awful, but that's not a match Iga would lose on her favorite surface. She is 23-8 since the Australian, with two 1000s titles, and three of the losses were walkovers or retirements, so that's not bad on paper, you're right. Yet several of us have the impression that she isn't very consistent and not the favorite to defend her title. Hmmm.

The illness at the French was unfortunate. Really wanted to see her play Iga. She clocked Iga at IW.

In looking this up, I saw Kvitova won Miami. I had totally forgotten that.

[ashkor87]

Yes, Kvitova could win again ...I think it is easier, not harder, to repeat..

[ashkor87]

Tomljanovic said in breakpoint that Rybakina is the kind of player who gets better as the tournament progresses,.

[meganfernandez]

Tomljanovic said in breakpoint that Rybakina is the kind of player who gets better as the tournament progresses,.

Apparently she is, if she doesn't withdraw.

[ponchi101]

Yes, Kvitova could win again ...I think it is easier, not harder, to repeat..

We like that narrative because we have seen some players dominate there. Serena, Pete, Roger, Novak, Venus, Martina, Borg.
But, since 2004, if you take out Serena and Venus (and, admittedly, that is taking out a lot of championships) the only player that has repeated has indeed been Kvitova. Of all the other players to have won the championship (excluding Rybakina, because she is defending this time), only Sharapova reached a second final.
It is a very difficult tournament to play in.

[meganfernandez]

Yes, Kvitova could win again ...I think it is easier, not harder, to repeat..

We like that narrative because we have seen some players dominate there. Serena, Pete, Roger, Novak, Venus, Martina, Borg.
But, since 2004, if you take out Serena and Venus (and, admittedly, that is taking out a lot of championships) the only player that has repeated has indeed been Kvitova. Of all the other players to have won the championship (excluding Rybakina, because she is defending this time), only Sharapova reached a second final.
It is a very difficult tournament to play in.

Not arguing with you about the difficulty, but if you take out the Williamses, then there aren't many cases to judge because of some oddities.
--Halep has only played once since winning in 2019, and she lost R1
--Barty and Bartoli retired as defending champs
--Mauresmo had 3 straight semis before winning and then didn't make a second week again in three tries, but she was winding down
--Muguruza and Kerber support your theory

I gauge these things not just by winning again, but having consistent deep runs (semis/finals).

[jazzyg]

Halep reached the semis last year.

Kvitova, for what it is worth, has made it past the third round of Wimbledon only once in her last seven visits. She was not injured or out of form in all of those years. She just has underperformed horrendously.

[ashkor87]

Kvitova is a tier1 player ..only tier1 players can be confidently expected to win majors...it will certainly take more than Alexandrova (a. Good tier 2,) to beat her!

[ashkor87]

Halep reached the semis last year.

Kvitova, for what it is worth, has made it past the third round of Wimbledon only once in her last seven visits. She was not injured or out of form in all of those years. She just has underperformed horrendously.

The horrendous knife attack?

[ti-amie]

Day 9 Order of Play

Steffi Graf Stadion
Starts at 01:00 PM

Final
FRA C. GARCIA/BRA L. STEFANI vs CZE K. SINIAKOVA/CZE M. VONDROUSOVA
NOT BEFORE 3:30 PM
Final
P. KVITOVA (7) vs CRO D. VEKIC