WTA 1000 Dubai 2/19 - 2/27 2023

[Ainsley]

Also Krejecikova worked really hard over this tournament week and she now has a very nice pitcher to serve either tea or coffee to anyone who visits her.

[ashkor87]

Krejcikova's position on service rturn was really aggressive, she took time away from Iga, which is what you have to do.. great win, flawless!

[ti-amie]

Krejcikova's position on service rturn was really aggressive, she took time away from Iga, which is what you have to do.. great win, flawless!

That is also something that is, or should be, coachable.

Player: I play Iga next round. What should I do?
Coach: If you take away her time she gets flustered and starts pressing. Here's how you use your style of play to do that.

It won't work all the time but I mean these players have to play and the coaches have to coach.

[ashkor87]

yep, all tactics.. easy to say, virtually impossible to execute.. your instincts have to aligned, else it will feel unnatural and you will second-guess yourself..

[Deuce]

Krejcikova is so crafty... She may be the most cerebral player in the top 30; maybe even in the top 100.

She said to Swiatek at the handshake "I respect you so much".

Iga must feel like nothing is going her way. She is openly mopey. Very negative for someone who famously has a sports psychologist.

^ I think that all her 'sports psychologist' has had to do up to now is ensure that Iga remains grounded as the wins accumulate and the gap between her and the other players grows.
There hasn't been much opportunity to 'teach' Iga the most efficient way to keep cool and maintain a healthy perspective when being properly challenged on court.

not to denigrate Krejcikova's marvellous accomplishment in any way, but let us not forget Swiatek did not win Dubai last year, either - didnt stop her from ruling the rest of the year. The difference is the court speed and the way the ball behaves. This is one more proof point!

^ No, this doesn't prove that Swiatek can only win on slower surfaces. Just like it doesn't prove that Sabalenka is weak on 'faster' surfaces because she lost in the Quarters here. Not everything in life - or in tennis - revolves around court speed. Life - and tennis - is not that simple or black & white.

Swiatek once again made some quality opponents look bad here in this tournament, getting to the Final, where she lost to a quality opponent who is currently playing very well. It was also the second tournament in as many weeks where she played until the last day - albeit with many quick matches and with a couple of walkovers thrown in, but playing two straight weeks at the top level is still rather draining psychologically, if not physically. She also had/has some sort of virus (hopefully they still test for COVID), as her voice was hoarse and she was often coughing a lot in interviews this week.
And so, with all of that considered, her losing today was not going to be shocking, or even that surprising, no matter the court speed.

If ever Swiatek actually struggles to any degree, and with some consistency, on faster surfaces (excepting grass, which is unique with a steep learning curve for almost everyone), THEN we can talk about such 'proof' about court speed - but not before.

[ashkor87]

am a bit surprised at Kudermetova/Samsonova winning the doubles.. didnt see any of the matches but I would have thought they are rather similar in style.. theory says a little diversity is good - ideally, they say, the combination should be a solid, classical doubles player and a somewhat wild, creative player - like Navratilova and Shriver, or Paes and Mirza, Smith and Lutz, Hsieh and Mertens etc. I wonder if that theory still holds... of course, there are plenty of counter-esamples too - the Williams sisters, both pretty similar players (but then, so great that really no rules apply to them!)

[Ainsley]

Iga must feel like nothing is going her way. She is openly mopey. Very negative for someone who famously has a sports psychologist.

I think it is really funny to say that Iga must feel nothing is going her way. She is the #1 player in the world and by quite a margin and hardly ever loses. I do see what you see though. I don't know if that is just her on court personality that she is just so focused that she seems like she is down all the time.

[ponchi101]

...

Iga must feel like nothing is going her way. She is openly mopey. Very negative for someone who famously has a sports psychologist.

...

Maybe Sabalenka's approach is not so iffy after all.
(Finding somebody else to fix your problem is not fixing the problem. Paraphrasing).

[Owendonovan]

Maybe she recognized she was having an off day and wasn't too thrilled about that as most of us wouldn't be either.

[Ainsley]

Maybe she recognized she was having an off day and wasn't too thrilled about that as most of us wouldn't be either.

Most definitely people have off days and that can lead to a pissy mood, especially when you're Iga and you don't really have many off days on the tennis court.