Tag: WTA

Preview: This Summer on MT-Desk

ATP & WTA Majors Players Sitting Across Mertov's Tennis Desk Series Tactical Analysis 6 Comments

Dear friends and tennis fans,

Following a three-month-long absence on new posts (because of an important period in my “other life” that ended with great success I shall add), I am back to dedicating my time to tennis, the sport that I love. I planned trips to big tournaments this summer, and I may add more depending on my schedule. I will be happy to share my thoughts as much as possible on MT-Desk.

Here is what you will find on Mertov’s Tennis Desk during the next 2 months:
– Frequent comments and updates from Roland Garros 2016 on Twitter and MT-Desk, throughout the three-week period (Qualifying and Main Draw).
RG2

– Frequent comments and updates from Wimbledon 2016 on Twitter and MT-Desk, throughout the three weeks (Qualifying and Main Draw).
Wimby

– Match analysis, tactical comments,and pictures from the world of tennis…
– More chats with players for the “Sitting Across Mertov’s Tennis Desk” series…
– I will, at some point, probably at the start of Wimbledon, post the English version of my article/story on Cagla Buyukakcay, the 2016 Istanbul Cup winner, and her trials and tribulations during the pre-2016 period that will appear on the upcoming issue of Tenis Dunyasi, Turkey’s number one monthly tennis magazine.
Cagla

And later in the summer —> Western & Southern Open in Cincinnati (ATP Masters 1000 and WTA Premier 5), and more…
Cincy

As always, keep your comments and feedback coming on Twitter, or here in the comments section, or by email.

Note: Click here to follow MT-Desk on Twitter

Tactical Analysis: When One Sticks Too Long with the Wrong Strategy

Tactical Analysis WTA No Comments

The Case of Caroline Garcia (#48) vs. Timea Babos (#102) – WTA Cincinnati 2014 Qualifying 1st Round – Babos wins 6-4 6-3

SAM_2542

When Caroline Garcia (picture above) stepped on the court for her first round match in Cincinnati, she was on paper the clear favorite as the seventh seed against the Hungarian Timea Babos who was one of the lowest-ranked players in the qualifying draw. After getting broken in the first game and subsequently going down 2-0, Garcia won three games in a row and went up 3-2. At that point, everything seemed in order for the 20-year-old French player. In that stretch of three games won by Garcia, one of them was a return game in which Garcia hit a forehand return winner and one other return that forced an error from her opponent. Those were aggressive returns, taken very early, with Garcia being at least two or three steps inside the baseline. In other words, being extra-aggressive on returns worked for that one game. Ironically, it would also play a major role in Garcia’s downfall over the duration of the match. Garcia insisted on going for too much on returns, often trying to step far inside the baseline, especially on second serves, to hit return winners that frequently resulted in direct errors such as the one you can see in the clip below:

Click here (11 seconds)

It is possible that Garcia is currently working on improving her aggressive returns in the long run and that in order to attain that goal her coach told her to keep going for the returns regardless of how many errors she may make. If that is the case, I am usually for the idea of sacrifice in the short run if that points to the possibility of adding a new dimension to the game in the long run. However, this tournament was not the right time. Cincinnati is a WTA Premier Tier event. Garcia has been in the mix with the likes of Eugenie Bouchard, Simona Halep, Garbine Muguruza, and the rest of the “new generation” as an up-and-coming player in the last couple of years. She cannot afford the luxury to lose a match in a tournament of such importance, a match in which she would have greatly improved her chances had she simply made one minor adjustment: move back on the returns and put the return in play to construct the point later. Furthermore, Garcia’s confidence cannot be that high since she has recorded mixed results this year so far, on the heels of a very promising 2013 campaign. This was a case where the importance of winning the current match trumped the promise of a long-term goal. Going for broke on every return simply did not translate into winning games.

In any case, Garcia kept on taking high risks on returns, either making direct mistakes (such as the one in the clip earlier) or putting herself in a defensive position from the first shot in the point because her return was turned out to be dismal. In the following clip, we see just that, Garcia trying to do too much with the return on a first serve by Babos, and resulting in a bad return that allows Babos to force an error out of Garcia on the next shot:

Click here (10 seconds)

Ultimately, this wrong strategy gave confidence to Babos who actually started the match not serving particularly well – she made all three double faults in the first two serving games –, but as the match progressed, felt more and more comfortable on her serves because she understood that if she hit a solid enough serve she could collect the error from Garcia or get a ball back that she could attack immediately.

SAM_2540Timea Babos

This particular tactic of going for the big return may not have been the only cause for Garcia’s straight-set loss, but there is no doubt that it had a snow ball effect as Babos felt less and less pressure on her serve. In the first set, Babos faced four break points, whereas in the second set, there was only one that was wasted away once again by Garcia’s missed return. Considering what little it takes to turn matches around in tennis, this was a good case of a match where Garcia could have moved back a bit and modified her returns to put the ball back in play. Perhaps, it could have been enough to win the match and build some momentum going into the U.S. Open in two weeks from now. I have been a fan of Garcia for a couple of years in that I believe she has the athleticism and the fundamentals to transform into a big-time player in the women’s circuit. However, this match was a step in the wrong direction, one that should indicate to her camp that setbacks of this type can be avoided with a little flexibility in the tactical preparation.

Coming Soon: WTA’s Much-Needed Facelift

WTA No Comments

Despite the title of the article, for many, it could not come any sooner. After years of Serena Williams’ supremacy and the duo of Victoria Azarenka and Maria Sharapova specializing in failed attempts to dethrone the American, but exceling in the shrieking department, the W.T.A. desperately needs an injection of new and fresh faces into the spotlight.

Fret no more! They are slowly but surely arriving. Three of them were at the Charleston WTA Tournament’s semi-finals, but their road to greatness has been progressing for some time now.

Furthermore, they don’t act like unattainable, superior divas. They actually spend more time praising their opponents in the after-match conferences than the lack of quality in their own game. They don’t necessarily believe the sport revolves around them – read as “I won because I am great, I lost because I played bad, and the girl on the other side of the net is of no consequence.” They behave far more mature than today’s star players did when they were up-and-coming hopefuls.

Eugenie Bouchard (pictured below) is neither jumping up and down for minutes after a win, nor sporting a bitter-face accompanied by comments on how bad she played without a word of credit to her opponent. If you wish to be impressed by the composure and the maturity of a young player in front of cameras, just observe one of her interviews. Belinda Bencic, at 17, keeps her emotions at check whether she saves a match point or chokes one away. You don’t hear the 20-year-old Jana Cepalova complain about being without a coach, a family in her box, or the lack of a hitting partner while she travels in a foreign country playing tournaments. She goes on her business and reaches the finals in Charleston, not to mention defeating Serena Williams, Elena Vesnina, and Daniela Hantuchova on her path. In fact, if it was not for the title-winner Andrea Petkovic mentioning in her after-match speech how much she admires Cepelova for accomplishing that without anyone on her corner, not many people would have even been aware of that remarkable anecdote. You are not likely to witness Caroline Garcia, the 20-year-old French player, talking about how “embarrassed” she is, after losing to a player ranked lower than her.

Bouchard 1

These upcoming and fresh faces constitute what WTA Tour desperately needs. The top players of today ignore the fans for the most part, unless they are fulfilling a contract requirement dictating that they smile for pictures and have a few moments with a number of hand-picked fans for a certain function or a cause. They cannot stand each other and maintain no friendly contact other than the handshake at the end of the match. The other players have expressed many times how these few divas harbor a considerable distance from the rest of the players. When your peers cannot even identify with you, it is naïve for the WTA to expect fans to do so.

John Isner said at the Cincinnati tournament that the top players in the ATP were all “class guys” and that everyone got along incredibly well. Juan Martin del Potro confirmed Isner’s observation. They both talked about how they admire each other as people and as players. Friendships among the top players are well-known. They also don’t mind staying on the court after their practice sessions and after matches to accommodate as many fans as possible, signing autographs. This brief reference to the ATP equivalent of how top players behave was simply to preemptively answer the handful of fans of those divas who will attempt to strike back with the feeble “the top women’s players’ job is not to entertain fans” argument. Fans love to watch Roger Federer, Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal, Andy Murray, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, David Ferrer and others, because they interact with fans, and remain attainable to the average tennis fan.

It is obvious that the WTA needs a major facelift in terms of who represents its stardom. Being noteworthy athletes can only carry your popularity so far and will prove fatal when the attention begins to diminish. The interest in women’s tennis is nothing like it used to be a decade ago, and there are no notable rivalries (please do not say Williams vs. Sharapova).

This up-and-coming group is talented, athletic, personable, and spectacular to watch. If you have not yet watched Bencic’s sizzling ground strokes, Cepelova’s drop shots, Garcia’s ability to accelerate the ball, Simona Halep’s footwork, and Zarina Diyas’ calmness on the court, and Sloane Stephens’ powerful ground strokes, you do not need to worry. You will get plenty of chances to see them in the near future. I will predict – for the WTA’s sake as much as my own – that by the spring of 2016, we will see a different layer of players fighting for the big titles while the divas of today will be trying to come to terms with what is hitting them. Moreover, instead of hearing yet again the excuses with regards to their games, tennis fans will embrace the change of layer at the top of the women’s game.

2014 Early Season Notes…

ATP & WTA No Comments

2014 season has begun with several unexpected events that set the stage for a terrific year in tennis. The Australian Open, although by now it seems to be a distant memory, provided a number of spectacular matches and ended with a surprise women’s final in which Li Na captured her second Slam and her first Australian Open titles, defeating Dominika Cibulková in the finals. She also went through the draw without facing a single top 10 opponent. On the men’s side, Stanislas Wawrinka did a couple of things that he has never done in the previous 12 meetings against Nadal: win a set, and then win the match. He also defeated the world number one Novak Djokovic en route to the title. His win was overshadowed by Nadal’s injury in the second set which caused the Spaniard to play the rest of the match at less than one-hundred percent; however it should take nothing away from the Swiss’ well-deserved title, especially considering that he was dominating the match when Nadal injured his back in the second set.

On the one hand, Djokovic’s early form produced a couple of disappointing losses and no titles, putting question marks next to the Nole-Boris collaboration that began two months ago. I find it premature to question the partnership based on two losses to two in-form players, Wawrinka and Roger Federer. While Nole has not necessarily looked to be in top form à-la-2011, he has certainly not played poorly either. The Indian Wells and Miami tournaments should shed more light on the direction of the partnership. On the other hand, Federer seems to have found his good form. He played better in the Australian Open, even in his semi-final loss against Nadal, than he has played throughout 2013, and performed impeccably in the Dubai tournament, especially in the third sets against Nole in the semi-finals and against Thomas Berdych in the finals, before capturing his 78th career tournament victory.

Like Djokovic, Serena Williams has suffered couple of unexpected losses, first to Ana Ivanovic at the Australian Open, then to Alize Cornet in the semifinals of the Dubai tournament. Unfortunately, her after-match comments following her loss to Cornet once again showed the stunningly wide gap between the amounts of class that exist amongst the elite of men’s tennis and that of women’s. John Isner pointed out after his victory against Juan Martin Del Potro in Cincinnati several months ago that the top guys in men’s tennis were all class acts, and it shows in their comments about each other in the post-match conferences as well as how they handle the fans and the media. What do the elite women have to show in comparison? Bunch of players who never talk to each other, who do not acknowledge some of the lower-ranked players in the locker room, and who, like Serena did following her loss to a lesser-ranked opponent, cannot find the magnanimity to simply say “my opponent was better than me today, all the credit goes to her.” instead, Serena sarcastically chuckled and laughed through the questions saying how embarrassed she was to have lost (to Cornet) and that she has not played that poorly since three or four years ago. There is no need to wonder why women’s tennis is losing audience while men’s tennis is flourishing: if I were the WTA, I would desperately search for ways to make the top faces of the tour more identifiable to fans. There is more to being a ‘complete’ player on the tour than shrieking on the court as loud as possible and grimacing as if it was a miracle when an opponent hits a good shot.

Davis Cup also produced the unexpected so far, with Spain, minus Nadal and David Ferrer, losing to Germany, and Serbia, minus Nole, losing to Switzerland that featured both Wawrinka and Federer. With teams like Kazakhstan, Japan, and Great Britain in the quarterfinals, the last one making it to this stage for the first time since 1986, the weekend of April 4-6 promises to be an exciting weekend. If Andy Murray plays, the tie between Italy and Great Britain in Naples, Italy, looks to be the most compelling tie of the quarterfinals.

I close this article with an “I told you so” anecdote. For years, I have been saying that I found it disingenuous that the players constantly complained about the length of the season and argued that the season should be cut shorter so that they could have time to recuperate from a grueling season of tennis. I did not believe in their candidness at the time because many of them scheduled exhibition matches, and traded trips and days in the hotel to pocket more money instead of resting and staying home like they claimed they desired to do. Now the hypocrisy is official. The International Tennis Premier League (ITPL) is set to begin its first year of competition at the end of this year, and just about every top player in women’s and men’s fields, as well as some legends such as Andre Agassi and Pete Sampras, have signed up for the event that will occupy half of the period of the so-called 7 weeks of rest following the WTA and ATP year-ending championships.

The competition will take place in Asia, putting players like Nadal, Djokovic and Williams in traveling mode and hotels for over three weeks at a time that they supposedly need their rest. Yes, the matches are supposed to be one set only per match, and yes maybe the intensity may not be what it is in the Slam tournaments, but when there is money to be made, you can bet that the competition will not be taken lightly either. It will certainly require an intensity level that is higher than that of an exhibition match. I am simply curious to see how Nadal, Nole, Murray, Williams, Victoria Azarenka, and Caroline Wozniacki will answer the tough questions by the press about the need for “rest.” If Roger Federer were to win the 2015 Australian Open, and Maria Sharapova and Li Na were to play in the women’s finals, I will certainly not want to hear about how well-rested those three were because they chose not to participate in the ITPL. The “worn-out” excuse will not carry much weight at that time.

SAM_1417

No more tired legs excuse in the end of 2014!

Wacky Week in Women’s Tennis

WTA No Comments

The tennis season is nearing its end. WTA already played its year-ending WTA Championships in Istanbul, Turkey, with Serena Williams emerging as the champion one more time. Historically, this tournament signaled the end of individual competition for the year in Women’s Tennis. Fed Cup finals take place one week later, but it’s a team competition involving two countries and a handful of players, which means that it’s resting time for the players until January. But for the last four years, the WTA has scheduled an additional event. To top it all, it has the wackiest name that I have ever heard for a tournament: “Masters bis”. This year, it was held in Sofia, Bulgaria, and it involved those players who finished high in the rankings, but not high enough to qualify for the WTA Championships. It was merely a matter of time before the events butted heads, and it finally happened this year.

This year’s event clashed with the Fed Cup finals between Italy and Russia. The problem began when one Italian player, Roberta Vinci, and three Russian players, Maria Kirilenko, Elena Vesnina and Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova received invitation to play the “Masters bis” – I admit, I can’t get over the ‘Parisian street address’ name. Roberta Vinci chose to represent Italy in the Fed Cup finals, but all three Russians chose the tournament over Fed Cup. With Sharapova, Kuznetsova, and Makarova unavailable for various other reasons, the legendary Russian Captain Shamil Tarpischev found himself unable to field a competitive team despite having 6 Russian players in the top 30 rankings. He settled for four players outside the top 100 against the Italian team composed of its top guns, Sara Errani (#7), Roberta Vinci (#13), Flavia Pennetta (#31), and Karina Knapp (#41). To add salt to the Russians’ wounds, the tie was held in Cagliari, Italy, in front of an enthusiastic and partisan crowd.

Needless to say, the Italians won without losing a match, although the first match between Vinci and Alexandra Panova produced a dramatic encounter, lasting 3 hours and 13 minutes, with Vinci saving four match points before finally defeating Panova 5/7 7/5 8/6. The presence of the second-tier Russian team should take nothing away from the Italians performance. It was impressive how united they appeared throughout the tie, constantly cheering their teammates, moving from one side of the stadium to the other every game change so that their encouragement could be heard by their teammate on the court. Francescha Schiavone played the leader role on the sidelines without even being officially selected for the team. Errani confirmed the positive influence of her presence when she told Italy’s leading sports journal La Gazzetta dello Sport that she was glad to see that even Schiavone was part of the team. In short, the Italians showed how team spirit can still have a positive effect on tennis performance, which otherwise would seem to rest on individual skills and effort.

Next year, there will not be a repeat of this conflict, since the International Tennif Federation (ITF) – responsible of Davis Cup and Fed Cup events – agreed to move the Fed Cup finals a week later, coinciding with the week scheduled between the ATP Paris Masters and the ATP World Tour Finals (this year, they are back-to-back, but it will have a week in-between in 2014).

Lastly, the conflict also brought to the surface the larger set of problems facing Russian tennis on the one hand, and the tension between the International Tennis Federation and the WTA on the other.

Tarpischev, who is also the President of the Russian tennis Federation, has already expressed his dismay in 2012 at how the Russian authorities balk at every proposal the Federation brings to the table with regards to their tennis programs. The young talented Russian players defect to other countries – for example, Mikhaïl Kukushkin and Andrey Golubev now represent Kazakhstan – due to the promise of more money and better opportunities. There is also a communication problem between the women’s tennis players and the Federation considering, for example, that Elena Vesnina put the blame on the Tarpischev for not managing the problem in a timely fashion. It is already widely known that Maria Sharapova and the Russian Federation have had close to zero communication and that Sharapova is not likely to play for Russian anytime soon (although, this time around, it can ‘officially’ be blamed on her injury).

There is equally a ‘cold war’ brewing since 2009 between the ITF and the WTA. That is the year the extra event was scheduled by the WTA. Then, in 2012, the ITF decided that it would double the requirement of representing his/her country in Davis/Fed Cup for tennis players who wished to participate in the 2016 Olympics. While they were required to participate in two ties to be eligible for the 2012 London Olympics, now they have to play in four ties if they wish to be eligible for the 2016 Rio Olympics. Both the ITF and the WTA are standing firm behind their position, and other than the ITF’s decision to accommodate the scheduling next year, there does not seem to be much communication or compromise.

Under these circumstances, it is hard to cheer the 50th-year anniversary of Fed Cup Competition but Italians deserve high praise for their fourth Fed Cup title since 2006.

© Mertov's Tennis Desk / 2014-2018 / All Rights Reserved / Powered by WordPress

MENU

Navigation