Wimbledon 2nd round: Barbora Strycova, Steady and Menacing

Barbora Strycova (23) def. Lesia Tsurenko 6-1 6-4

Many avid followers of Barbora Strycova will tell you that she is a tough customer on grass, and they are right. After today’s win, she stands at 16 wins and 14 losses at Wimbledon over 15 years, where she enjoyed her best show at a Major back in 2014, reaching the quarterfinal stage. She has also gotten to the final match twice in Birmingham (2014, 2016), where the Premier-Level WTA grass-court event Nature Valley Classic is currently held. That being said, she also enjoys success on other surfaces. For example, her two WTA career titles came on hard courts and she has played finals in two other clay-court ones. As for this year, she made fourth-round appearances in both the Australian Open and Roland Garros.

There are several factors contributing to Strycova’s prowess on grass courts. She is not a tall player and does not base her game on power, which may sound strange at first when talking about her success success on grass. What she does have, on the other hand, is a load of experience, a high IQ, and the willingness to use all the variety she possesses in her repertoire.

During her straight-set victory that lasted one hour and four minutes over Lesia Tsurenko on Thursday at Wimbledon, the 32-year-old Czech player hit four aces, committed no double faults, and made only five unforced errors. Yet, let’s dig a bit deeper than sheer numbers.

She won a large majority of baseline rallies by dictating points with the depth of her shots, while using her forehand cross-court angles at times, and her backhand slice at others. For good measure, and to keep Tsurenko off-balance, she mixed in the occasional serve-and-volley attempt and timely drop shots.

Tsurenko, for her part, committed 24 unforced errors – reminder: I do my own count of unforced errors -, some due to Strycova’s efficient use of variety during rallies, and some due to possibly not being 100% physically fit. She appeared to be moving well at first, but as the match progressed, I got the impression that her first-step explosion was slightly off.

For the record, Tsurenko did retire from two matches this summer. The first one was at Roland Garros when she stopped with a thigh injury after two games against Garbine Muguruza. The second came in the Nature Valley Classic – in fact, against Strycova – at 5-7 0-3, when she retired due to pain in her left hip. She wore a bandage on her right thigh today, but I must note again that I cannot be completely sure that her movement was hampered. In any case, Strycova thoroughly deserved the win, although her well-oiled engine sputtered a bit toward the end.

Leading 6-1 5-1 and poised to walk off the court, Strycova missed a backhand return in the net on match point. Tsurenko held serve and followed it with her two best games of the match. It may have been because she felt like there was not much left to lose and decided to go for her shots freely. I also felt that she passed on some chances to approach the net throughout the match prior to that sequence, which I found surprising, especially considering that Strycova was winning an overwhelming majority of rallies. Tsurenko would step inside the baseline, strike an aggressive shot to the corner that would put the Czech player on the run, and then back up to the baseline to re-engage in the rally, instead of following her shot to the net. It’s not like she did not have success at the net – she won eight out of thirteen points at the net for the match.

Five of Tsurenko’s ten total winners came during the three-game stretch that saw her come from 1-5 down to 4-5. She earned her first break of the match at 2-5 (did not even have a break point until then) and saved two more match points at 15-40, 3-5.

On her third match point, Strycova missed a routine forehand deep (only her fourth unforced error of the match), and by the time she lost the game four points later, she was clearly annoyed. As she headed to the chair, she told the ballgirl who was running to her with the towel “on the chair” as she pointed to it. She yelled the same phrase again one second later, much louder and with a meaner tone**, when the ballgirl did not appear to change her direction.

**Yes, I am calling those out every time I see them. I have done it on social media and will continue to do so. Many of my readers will know that I have had it for a few years now with players using ballkids as their punching bags when they are upset about the match. Maybe I am asking too much (I personally do not think so), but I am longing for the day where a rule is introduced and ballkids are no longer responsible of handling players’ sweat-filled towels that they ask to be brought to them every point, even after a double fault sometimes.

For as close as the match got, the last game turned out to be a run-away for Strycova, thanks to three returns and a forehand missed by Tsurenko, giving much-needed relief to Strycova in the form of a blank game. But outside of the last ten minutes, Strycova played five-star tennis, advancing to the third round where she will face the German Julia Goerges, the 13th-seed.

Until next time…

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