Mpol
3rd Round
Posts: 444
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Post by Mpol on Oct 5, 2009 13:11:15 GMT
Yeah... that thought crossed my mind as well. I can't see why, she has a great game. I guess she hasn't ever improved that forehand and second serve, when things get tight. She just gets... much the same.
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Post by acre on Oct 5, 2009 16:07:12 GMT
The opening sentence of the story on Safina was ...."Top seed Dinara Safina imploded at the China Open on Monday", and I thought yeah, shouldn't that just be a macro at this point? I mean how often does she get legitimately beat as opposed to just losing it?
I'm disappointed in Venus' results, too, but I feel like at least she gives it a go, and her problems are more often mechanical than mental. It is a shame cause if she could clean up her wildness and errant over hitting she for sure could and should be a top player. I mean, she very often beats herself too, but it feels different - I never think she's afraid to win!
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Post by breezybee on Oct 6, 2009 10:31:51 GMT
Roddick and Del Potro both out to qualifiers in China. That opens up the draws a little bit.
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pokey
2nd Round
Posts: 190
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Post by pokey on Oct 6, 2009 12:26:27 GMT
I suspect Del Potro has probably spent a little too much time celebrating; but it is nice to see the men flaming out as badly as some of the women.
Also nice to see, during Sharapova's match against Azarenka, after Azarenka's second MTO, Maria says "what is her last name Jankovic?". I'm still chuckling; I love Maria's crazy bitchy side. Also love that she then came back from 2-5 down to win.
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Post by breezybee on Oct 6, 2009 12:54:09 GMT
And Safin wins another match! I watched most of the Nadal/Baggy match this morning. I was really pulling for Baggy because he needs the points and confidence. It was not to be but he played well for the most part.
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Post by falafaclese on Oct 7, 2009 20:35:16 GMT
Venus gets into these jags when she's just completely error central and there's no apparent reason why. I see her play a person who's not hitting her off the court, and keeping up with her, but not playing lights out, and she just can't keep the ball in play. Usually she starts blasting shots long over and over whether she's in position or not. It's like shades of Marat, and it's frustrating as hell.
I'm disappointed but not surprised about Dinara given all the pressure she's put on herself this year. I'll be interested to see what happens with her next year. I think she'll either drop significantly, or win her first major, it doesn't look like there'll be any middle ground. The problem she has is that now she has the two Belgians to deal with on top of everything else, but I actually think not being number one will be a positive for her mentally.
I saw part of the Rafa/Baghy match too, and it was very entertaining. I was rooting for Baghy to almost beat Rafa, and he definitely fought better than he has in a while. I'd love to see him raise his level again, and play more consistently this time.
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Post by acre on Oct 7, 2009 22:14:36 GMT
Oh dear, I don't know about Dinara - the idea that she might win her first major next year? As negative as I am about her, I would actually be thrilled if that happened, but I just really don't think so. I do agree that not being #1 will probably benefit her, but she needs major changes to have a chance at a major.
I'm afraid she's just about a terminal headcase, sorta Novotna-like (who, granted, did finally win a major) and I don't think she has the brilliant talent of her brother that allowed him to twice overcome his own issues. Though she's a harder worker and more committed to her tennis for sure - but that too could be part of the difficulty? Dinara is talented, but not in the same class as Marat. He stopped driving me crazy years ago cause I just gave up on him, and anyway he was a different type of headcase - too into partying and this and that, she just can't seem to take the pressure.
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pokey
2nd Round
Posts: 190
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Post by pokey on Oct 8, 2009 14:26:11 GMT
I think it will help Dinara not being number one but I also am strongly of the opinion she needs to make a coaching change to reach that next level. Not that she can't win a slam with her current coach but to have any chance of not consistently freaking out under pressure, I think she needs a different setup. Even then, it's going to be a difficult task.
Also, nice job losing to Petrova today Serena. Just this week when talking about finally getting back her number one ranking, she mentioned how consistent she has been this year. Consistently average in non slams, yeah. It just infuriates me to have her whine that much for that long and then can't even pull it together for one week after getting "her" ranking back.
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Post by acre on Oct 8, 2009 18:48:47 GMT
Yeah, I actually have no problem at all with the way Serena is managing her career, the fact that she really only commits at the Slams, I think it's even pretty smart - BUT you cannot then bitch about not being #1! That's just classless.
Very nice to see that Nadal-Blake, Tsonga-Gasquet and Santoro-Hewitt all had competitive matches, plus Safin won.
ETA: Jeez, her nga-Gascareer?? Not sure what I was trying to type there - ah. bet I lost my cursor place and was typing about Tsonga-Gasquet! I'm sure noone cares but me, but at least I'm glad I could figure out a reason for my own gibberish other than straight up incoherence.
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Post by falafaclese on Oct 8, 2009 20:30:33 GMT
I think it will help Dinara not being number one but I also am strongly of the opinion she needs to make a coaching change to reach that next level. Not that she can't win a slam with her current coach but to have any chance of not consistently freaking out under pressure, I think she needs a different setup. Even then, it's going to be a difficult task. Just as a point of clarification, I what i said before was that I think she'll either break through or her4 level will continue to drop. I don't think it will be a holding pattern type year for her. That said, I always wonder how helpful changing coaches will be for her. After all, it was Krajan who helped her get to where she is right now, which is a decidedly different than where she was 2 years ago, to say the least. I still wonder if the pressure is coming from her rather than him, and I also wonder if anyone other than Dinara can change that. BF'aclese and I were watching a replay of the Dinara/Venus match in Rome from earlier in the year a couple nights ago, and we were discussing the harshness of Krajan's exchanges with Dinara. The BF, who is Eastern European also, said that some of the harshness could be cultural (ie. an Eastern European thing) too, and it didn't really alarm him, so I don't know. She could at least do with a sports psychologist though. I'm glad Nadal Blake was competitive, even if I didn't get to see it. Incidentally, Blake just left Brian Barker who has coached him since age 12, and got a new coach himself, so that's sort of an interesting development. Serena continues to be less than her former impressive self. She really needs to pull it together in my mind. I get that she values the Slams above all else, but if she's going to comport herself like dominant force, she needs to do more. Let's face it, the Premier Mandatory tournaments are big, and if she doesn't care about the points, maybe she should care about how losing them affects her intimidation factor? Justine was never a year-long grinder either, but when she showed up at a tournament, you knew she was usually going to be a threat to win, and that probably helped give her a more formidable air at the majors. I just hate to see her looking so meh at these tournaments and still crowing as much as she does. I'm in awe of her slam record, but win a couple more for pete's sake. ETA: Serena just posed nude for the cover of ESPN magazine's "Body Issue". |
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Post by acre on Oct 8, 2009 21:48:05 GMT
Interesting falafaclese. I couldn't actually get the pic to load, but I don't feel in much doubt of pretty much exactly what Serena's body looks like - boobs, check; booty, check; brawn, check!
Okay now it did come up - fairly flattering pic, but I mean, why wouldn't it be? She's got a body on her for sure. Funny though, that of the three "checks" I gave her, really it's only her muscles you see. I certainly didn't expect anything graphic, but thought they might show more of her body shape than they do. Does make me wonder about the Jehovah's Witness angle though - I freely admit that I know only superficial stuff about that religion, but I'm surprised nude posing is a-ok.
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Post by falafaclese on Oct 9, 2009 2:16:37 GMT
I probably know less about it than you do, but I was wondering about that too. I think she looks great though.
Some troubling news regarding Momo:
Apparently she pulled out of her next two tournaments, and it looks like she's done for the year at least.
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lt
Semi Finals
Posts: 3,223
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Post by lt on Oct 9, 2009 2:29:56 GMT
I had no idea. That's HUGE! Is it wrong that I'm already planning on him having a much better 2010? Who's the new coach? I'll have to look that up. I won't stay awake/get up early but I'll be crossing my fingers in my sleep that Fer takes out Beaker in the quarters of Beijing.
eta: ugh. I just looked up the new coach situation. Blake chose a "longtime friend" with the "illustrious" career of working with Mardy Fish and John Isner. One step forward. . . two steps back.
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Post by oopssorry on Oct 9, 2009 21:59:55 GMT
The Mauresmo sentiments make me think again about the Favre/Jordan/Clijsters/Henin type of retirements that aren't so permanent. I have often thought that there was a corporate angle to why they chose to retire officially rather than take a break. But there's Mauresmo saying just that - she'd rather take a break and be sure than make a too-hasty decision. I find that much more appropriate, and have struggled to like even Kim as much post-retirement issues.
I guess it seems too media-directed. Like a Wag the Dog situation.
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Post by acre on Oct 9, 2009 23:35:25 GMT
Oh no, you don't love Kim? Everyone has to love Kim! Semi-facetious only - in her case I felt it was just very clear, not all drama queen stuff, she wanted to be a mother much more than a tennis player(plus the injury issues) - and now she has fulfilled what was apparently a burning need for her, so it makes perfect sense to me that tennis then became appealing again. Plus I love me some Kimmy, always did, always will.
At the same time, I commend Amelie for her honesty and self-knowledge, I'm not at all trying to say one way was better than the other. Henin, Favre:pffft do not care.
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