Tennis Random, Random (On Court)

[Deuce]

When the controversy was "raging" because of Iga's comments how hard would it have been for someone to do what this fan did? It would've informed the conversation giving a reference point for people to start from. Tennis journalists, present company excluded, seem to basically take PR releases from top players, tours or tournaments and rehash them.

I don't play anymore but there are lots of folks on TennisTwitter who do and a "cheat sheet" like this would've enabled people to look at results, etc and form an opinion.

That's all I meant.

I see no problem with them sometimes using regular duty, and sometimes the thicker extra duty felt. It's a challenge to adjust from one to the other, and challenging situations are good for the game.
I don't see it as being any different than adjusting to different surfaces, or adjusting to the temperature, or the wind, etc. Even the different brands of ball play differently... so those players who are whining about the regular duty vs. extra duty should really just shut up and play.

In baseball and football, they must adjust to different playing surfaces, too... In hockey, there have been different sizes of rinks...
God knows that every golf course is different from the last one they played on...
Life is about the challenges of adjusting to different circumstances and conditions.

[Deuce]

Marino continued her strong play into the 1st set of her semi-final vs. Magda Linette. But after Marino won that 1st set 6-3, a storm front moved in... Play was delayed only for about 5 minutes due to a little rain - but the wind increased dramatically from that point onward through the remainder of the match, which Linette won in 3 sets.

There was only one stationary camera (with its own microphone) in use here, and all you could hear on the camera's microphone were the constant gusts of wind. It was so strong that you often couldn't hear the balls being struck.
As soon as that storm front moved in, Marino's level dropped. She didn't know how to deal with the strong wind.
Marino used to be a rather one-dimensional, hard hitting baseline player. But lately, she's incorporating more variety into her game, not just hitting hard from the baseline. She's slicing more, using more angles, etc. I think this was the reason that she couldn't adjust to the windy conditions - slices usually don't work well in the wind.

She's been working with a Mexican coach (paid for in part by Tennis Canada) for the past few months, and it seems that he has encouraged her to be more multi-dimensional, and not just a one dimensional player. It has been working well - she's had good results in the past few months, and is ranked around #80 now. But it just didn't work in the wind today.

[Deuce]

At an 80k tournament in France, youngster Clara Tauson's behaviour was apparently rather questionable in her match vs. Petra Marcinko.
Tauson is 19 years old. She was a top Junior player.
Marcinko is a 16 year old who many people believe has a lot of potential to do well.

I did not see the match. But what I've read about the match was that Tauson was complaining a lot about line calls and time violations (both while serving and receiving), was being belligerent, and was generally very frustrated.
I've also read that she was justified in some of her complaints about the line calls.

In the end, Tauson simply quit at 1-2 in the 3rd set. No injury - she had just had enough.

Here are the last few minutes of the match. Again - I did not watch it - but for those who want to invest the time to see how it all played out, the entire match is here.
(I think I've set it up to show the last few minutes, but in case I haven't, you can start at the 1 hour, 45 minute mark, where Tauson is closest to the camera)...

[ti-amie]

You set it up just fine Deuce.

Tauson is on a lot of peoples watch list but I've seen her play before and her inner brat is always lurking just below the surface. Unfortunate behavior from her.

[Deuce]

If you go back and start at 1 hour, 30 minutes in the video above (Tauson is closest to the camera again), you'll see some more of Tauson's behaviour - whining about line calls, getting called for time violations, deliberately giving points away by hitting balls into the net to get the point over with...
Her frustration was definitely increasing every minute.
Part of her frustration was very likely losing the 2nd set rather easily to a 16 year old kid...

She was booed by the crowd as she walked off the court after quitting.
That's tough for a 19 year old to deal with - but it seems that she brought it upon herself.
Hopefully down the road a bit, she'll look back and view this episode as a learning/maturing experience.

[ti-amie]

I follow someone on Tennis Twitter who has been talking her up ever since she was the age of the person she lost to today. Lately he hasn't been cheerleading as much as he used to.

[Deuce]

I follow someone on Tennis Twitter who has been talking her up ever since she was the age of the person she lost to today. Lately he hasn't been cheerleading as much as he used to.

Suliso here has been keeping an eye on her and has let us know how/what she's doing on occasion. I wonder if he's seen any of these possible 'behavioural issues' before. This is the first I've seen or heard of it.

[Suliso]

I haven't seen myself, but I've read about it... It's a bad season by her. No real improvement in her game, maybe also a reason for such a behaviour. Disappointing...

[ti-amie]

The transition from the junior to pro tour is difficult enough without being labeled "the next big thing". Exhibit A is Richard Gasquet.

There was also this from our new "favorite" today.

[ti-amie]

[ti-amie]

[Deuce]

The transition from the junior to pro tour is difficult enough without being labeled "the next big thing". Exhibit A is Richard Gasquet.

Or maybe 'Exhibit A' is Donald Young...
Gasquet did make it into the top 10.
When he was 14 or 15, a lot of people - including John McEnroe - were saying that Donald Young is a future #1.

I remember a few years ago at a pro tournament, Felix was just a 14 or 15 year old kid, and he was hitting with some other Canadian kids on a practice court while Donald Young was practicing 2 courts away. I said to Young something like "You see that kid over there (I pointed Felix out among the other kids)? He's doing well - already won a couple of 'adult' tournaments. A lot of people are talking about him being a future top player. You'll likely be hearing from him soon."
Young replied something to the effect of "Wow, that's great. Looking forward to it."
I resisted the urge to add "We hope he won't be the next Donald Young."

Not that Young's career has been bad - he's had a respectable career... But it hasn't come close to what was predicted by many.

[ti-amie]

I agree about Donald Young. He could've been much more but he was never able to break away from his toxic family. And don't forget the Nadal family wanted him to come train with them but he (his family) refused the offer.

[Suliso]

True about Donald, but wasn't he also kind of small and underpowered for a top level pro? One can't say that about FAA.

[ponchi101]

Zverev said it: There must have been a million future #1's that never became #1.
And the number of players that went the Young way must be way more than the ones that went Felix' way. Milan Schreber, Jimmy Arias, Janovicz, etc. The sample size is large.