ATP 500 WTA 500 Washington DC 7/31-8/6 2023

[skatingfan]

I think this is an issue for Wu Yibing - he fainted during his match against Frances Tiafoe at Wimbledon a few weeks ago.

[meganfernandez]

I think this is an issue that Wu Yibing - he fainted during his match against Frances Tiafoe at Wimbledon a few weeks ago.

Hope he's seeing a specialist. Worrisome.

[ashkor87]

Svitolina does seem to have become more aggressive - hitting the ball harder, serving harder.. looked very good in her win over Vika

[ashkor87]

again, based on notoriously unreliable videos, court seems medium-fast, not painfully slow.. not really fast either. If anyone would care to tell me, having seen an entire match, I would certainly appreciate observations on the speed...

[Suliso]

Let's also remember that the top players in the world, both for the ATP and WTA, are European. And once they come to the Americas it means at least 5 weeks of being here. They may want to stay one extra week back home (I assume they all see themselves as making the second week of the USO; they are, after all, the top players).

hmm.. i suspect most of them live and train in Florida

That used to be true 20-30 years ago, but no longer. Sabalenka and Azarenka the only ones I can think of.

[ashkor87]

Let's also remember that the top players in the world, both for the ATP and WTA, are European. And once they come to the Americas it means at least 5 weeks of being here. They may want to stay one extra week back home (I assume they all see themselves as making the second week of the USO; they are, after all, the top players).

hmm.. i suspect most of them live and train in Florida

That used to be true 20-30 years ago, but no longer. Sabalenka and Azarenka the only ones I can think of.

they may have gone back home due to Corona but I would ve suprised if most of them do not still make their base in Florida - they need the all-year-round good weather to be able to play outdoors. But if it is true, it is certainly a change.. i see many players like Badosa and Federer train in Dubai.. same reason, need the sunshine..France may be a great place to live but I cant imagine people playing outdoors there in winter.

[ashkor87]

meanwhile, impressive win for Samsonova over Collins - could win this title again, she likes this surface and presumably, as defending champrion, feels good here.. Collins did not play badly, Samsonova seemed to just overpower her

[ptmcmahon]

Kenin out:

https://www.yardbarker.com/tennis/artic ... 1_39079999

[ponchi101]

meanwhile, impressive win for Samsonova over Collins - could win this title again, she likes this surface and presumably, as defending champrion, feels good here.. Collins did not play badly, Samsonova seemed to just overpower her

It was way more lopsided than what I expected. I felt Collins had a chance, specially being the home player.

[ashkor87]

meanwhile, impressive win for Samsonova over Collins - could win this title again, she likes this surface and presumably, as defending champrion, feels good here.. Collins did not play badly, Samsonova seemed to just overpower her

It was way more lopsided than what I expected. I felt Collins had a chance, specially being the home player.

i think Samsonova is better than people think (but I am a fan anyway)

[meganfernandez]

meanwhile, impressive win for Samsonova over Collins - could win this title again, she likes this surface and presumably, as defending champrion, feels good here.. Collins did not play badly, Samsonova seemed to just overpower her

It was way more lopsided than what I expected. I felt Collins had a chance, specially being the home player.

i think Samsonova is better than people think (but I am a fan anyway)

Samsonova seems like one of those players who has the talent, we've seen it, and we just don't know when it's going to show up at its fullest extent. In other words, so far she has been inconsistent. I don't think the results are as random as they seem from our perspective, though. We just aren't aware of all the currents in a player's life/game, the fluctuations of confidence, physical condition, mental focus, life interruptions, etc.

[mmmm8]

A lot of these tournaments have to follow Los Cabos and Acapulco. Start play late in the afternoon.

I believe DC used to do this - the heat there is notorious. But looks like with the addition of the higher-profile women's matches they shifted earlier. Not the best idea probably. There'd been some cases of heat exhaustion in the past there.

[meganfernandez]

A lot of these tournaments have to follow Los Cabos and Acapulco. Start play late in the afternoon.

I believe DC used to do this - the heat there is notorious. But looks like with the addition of the higher-profile women's matches they shifted earlier. Not the best idea probably. There'd been some cases of heat exhaustion in the past there.

The humidity is awful in this part of the country in July and August. Same for Atlanta, same for Cincy (or can be, not as bad as I've heard about DC, maybe because Cincy is pretty open). I've always wondered if it's really harder on players than other places with extreme heat, like Australia and Miami. Since the sport follows the sun, I bet a lot of places are oppressively hot.

Then sometimes it's downright cold! I was freezing at a night session at the US Open a few years ago. I had to buy a fleece blanket in the gift shop, the cheapest thing there. It certainly adds another wrinkle to the players' lives, since the weather changes conditions for their body, their prep, he ball, and the court.

That said, this week in DC is a mild one. Humidity is low and it's mid-80s. Quite nice tennis weather.

[ashkor87]

It was way more lopsided than what I expected. I felt Collins had a chance, specially being the home player.

i think Samsonova is better than people think (but I am a fan anyway)

Samsonova seems like one of those players who has the talent, we've seen it, and we just don't know when it's going to show up at its fullest extent. In other words, so far she has been inconsistent. I don't think the results are as random as they seem from our perspective, though. We just aren't aware of all the currents in a player's life/game, the fluctuations of confidence, physical condition, mental focus, life interruptions, etc.

I think it is simpler than that...she needs the court to be slow..that is all ..no psychoanalysis required

[meganfernandez]

i think Samsonova is better than people think (but I am a fan anyway)

Samsonova seems like one of those players who has the talent, we've seen it, and we just don't know when it's going to show up at its fullest extent. In other words, so far she has been inconsistent. I don't think the results are as random as they seem from our perspective, though. We just aren't aware of all the currents in a player's life/game, the fluctuations of confidence, physical condition, mental focus, life interruptions, etc.

I think it is simpler than that...she needs the court to be slow..that is all ..no psychoanalysis required

I don't think it's psychoanalysis. I mean all the factors that affect a player day to day, week to week, etc, that shape confidence and the body and mind. All of a sudden a player pops off and has a great week or a big run, and we think, where did that come from? It might have been building in a way that we didn't notice. We just chalk it up to inconsistency. And we tend to only value wins, when it's performance that matters, and good things can come from losses, too, since most people lose every week. Even avid fans don't have a very good understanding of the full picture.

If all she needs is a slow court to be great, why hasn't she been great yet? Four titles is solid, one 500 and three 250s. And three were last year, so that's what I'm saying - maybe she is building some confidence that will pay off this year when things align. Maybe you're right.