WTA 500 Charleston 4/3 - 4/9 2023

[ashkor87]

Read Taleb's Antifragile if you want a 'western' view. But let us leave it at that..too deep a subject for a tennis forum!!

[ponchi101]

Ok. And I will put that book in my list. Taleb's Black Swan was an enjoyable read.

[JazzNU]

Fairly expected. Begu is not a menial foe, and about Sofia, we may have to start considering she will never again be relevant in the sport.
Like Thiem, they just seem unable to regain their previous form.

If Thiem is never what he was, that is not surprising and almost expected. His injury was reminiscent of Delpo's early wrist injury. It was almost bizarre when it occurred and just felt like it was going to be a catastrophic injury for his career, unfortunately that is seeming all too true.

But I have no idea what happened to Kenin. I think she's had multiple injuries that have affected her, but I've never been clear on what they were or when they occurred. She had that emergency appendectomy in Australia and it seemed like she would get back to playing, but another injury came up and she shut it down soon after coming back. It's been unfortunate for sure, but a bit of a mystery to me of how she got here. I think her injuries are far worse than what has been let on, like maybe her ankle or foot injury (I recall her being in crutches with a boot) was closer to what happened to Andreescu, but we didn't see it happen on court.

[JazzNU]

They are so busy talking about Shnaider being an NC State player that I missed that she was Russian.

It is seeming like both Stearns and Shnaider are further along than Navarro. Makes me wonder if the year Navarro played so well at the collegiate level wasn't the strongest of years. Navarro has improved for sure since we first saw her, but I'd expect both Stearns and Schnaider to crack the top 100 before Emma does and they had a later start on getting rankings and haven't been full time the last year like she has and aren't getting a 500 WC several years in a row.

[JTContinental]

Kenin is definitely better today than she was last year, so maybe there is hope for improvement

[ponchi101]

...

If Thiem is never what he was, that is not surprising and almost expected. His injury was reminiscent of Delpo's early wrist injury. It was almost bizarre when it occurred and just felt like it was going to be a catastrophic injury for his career, unfortunately that is seeming all too true.

But I have no idea what happened to Kenin. I think she's had multiple injuries that have affected her, but I've never been clear on what they were or when they occurred. She had that emergency appendectomy in Australia and it seemed like she would get back to playing, but another injury came up and she shut it down soon after coming back. It's been unfortunate for sure, but a bit of a mystery to me of how she got here. I think her injuries are far worse than what has been let on, like maybe her ankle or foot injury (I recall her being in crutches with a boot) was closer to what happened to Andreescu, but we didn't see it happen on court.

A very possible possibility (if I may be redundant).

[ti-amie]

[JazzNU]

Kenin is definitely better today than she was last year, so maybe there is hope for improvement

Most definitely. She's had some real flashes of her former self in the last two months or so. I was getting excited for her when I watched some of her matches last month because it was so much of what we used to see from her. But it's hard to get a read on where she is and if she's fully rehabbed because those very strong showings she's had against good or great players, have been mostly followed up by a loss like this to a Begu, not a bad player, but not a player she should not just struggle winning against. But I'd say more concerning, given the form had been showing in the previous match or the previous week, a player she should've beaten relatively easy. Hopefully this is about conditioning coming off of an injury and once she gets that sorted out, she'll be able to get back to what she was.

[JazzNU]

Badosa with a much, much needed good week in Charleston. The best she's played since that Aussie tournament where she was looking near that Top 10 form before she got injured that week.

[ti-amie]

Begu came from behind to take the second set from Pegula 6-4. Pegula won the first set 7-5.

[ti-amie]

I'm not sure what is going on with Pegula but she seems uninterested in playing this third set and Begu is up 4-0 after a loooonnnnnggggg bathroom break.

[nelslus]

Begu came from behind to take the second set from Pegula 6-4. Pegula won the first set 7-5.

Came back from a double break deficit. Begu had looked completely defeated, and seemed to be barely trying- until Pegula started hitting so many errors.

Pegula now down 4-0 in the third. I don't recall Pegula's level dropping so severely during a match. Very, very strange. But- it goes to show- let your concentration drop for a little bit, and....(NOW watch, Pegula come back, LOL).

[ti-amie]

I was thinking the same thing about Pegula coming back. I agree that I've never seen her lose focus like this before.

[nelslus]

I'm not sure what is going on with Pegula but she seems uninterested in playing this third set and Begu is up 4-0 after a loooonnnnnggggg bathroom break.

The loooonnnnnggggg bathroom break strategy. Works well all the time.

[ti-amie]

Looks like you were right nelslus! Pegula is back to 3-4 and will serve to level the set at 4 all.