The "What's Wrong With Her?" Thread

[TMF]

Originally Posted by soyizgood

So much for the Belgians raising the standard of play...

So Kim gets the heat just for losing to a mickey mouse tournament after winning the big one in Miami.

How about Serena play some tennis for change.

[soyizgood]

Originally Posted by TMF

How about Serena play some tennis for change.

Serena withdrew from Charleston. Her next scheduled event isn't until Madrid. Unless she gets a wild card for Rome, she'll have been off for something close to 3 months. Heck Serena could wait until the FO as she has 0 pts to defend until then.

Safina is scheduled to play Stuttgart. If that happens, that will be after a 2 1/2 month layoff.

If Serena and Safina don't get it together soon, Wozniacki could possibly make a run for #1 though quite a few things would have to happen especially with her playing 6 clay events leading up to the French. Kuznetsova is only playing 3 events before the French and she has a title and a runner-up finish to defend.

With the sad state of affairs in the top 5 and with Azarenka still wishy-washy, this leaves a lot of openings for Venus, Clijsters, Jankovic, and a few others to potentially feast on.

[davey25]

Originally Posted by soyizgood

If Serena and Safina don't get it together soon, Wozniacki could possibly make a run for #1 though quite a few things would have to happen especially with her playing 6 clay events leading up to the French. Kuznetsova is only playing 3 events before the French and she has a title and a runner-up finish to defend.

With the sad state of affairs in the top 5 and with Azarenka still wishy-washy, this leaves a lot of openings for Venus, Clijsters, Jankovic, and a few others to potentially feast on.

Clijsters, Venus, Henin, and even Jankovic (when in form) are better players than Wozniacki, Safina and Azarenka so I dont what is "sad" if they are replacing them at the top. It would be better for the womens game to have the current weaker players in the top 5 replaced by real champions who are superior to them anyway.

As for Safina with all the points she has to defend she will be lucky to be top after Wimbledon. Kuznetsova will be lucky to possibly be top 10 coming out of the French as well.

[NLBwell]

Originally Posted by davey25

Clijsters, Venus, Henin, and even Jankovic (when in form) are better players than Wozniacki, Safina and Azarenka so I dont what is "sad" if they are replacing them at the top. It would be better for the womens game to have the current weaker players in the top 5 replaced by real champions who are superior to them anyway.

As for Safina with all the points she has to defend she will be lucky to be top after Wimbledon. Kuznetsova will be lucky to possibly be top 10 coming out of the French as well.

I don't know about Safina's physical state, but on clay I would put her, Kuznetsova, and Wozniacki at least as likely to win a clay court match or tournament as Clijsters, Henin, and Jankovic and far ahead of Venus. Clijsters has been good, but has a couple bad losses and Henin isn't back to the form she dominated clay with a couple years ago.

[jamesblakefan#1]

Clijsters is overrated a bit on clay on here (as she is on HC seemingly) by some people. Sure she's good on the surface, but on a good day, players like Jankovic, Safina, Kuzzy, Vika can definitely take her out at the French. Clijsters making the FO final is far from a lock, and she isn't half the player Henin is on clay IMO.

[davey25]

Originally Posted by jamesblakefan#1

Clijsters is overrated a bit on clay on here (as she is on HC seemingly) by some people. Sure she's good on the surface, but on a good day, players like Jankovic, Safina, Kuzzy, Vika can definitely take her out at the French. Clijsters making the FO final is far from a lock, and she isn't half the player Henin is on clay IMO.

I in part agree on that. However I dont think Safina or Kuznetsova will be any factor this years clay court season. Kuznetsova is completely out of form and Safina has been injured or completely out of form since last summer. Viktoria is a big mental wuss in the slams as she showed again in Australia vs Serena. Unless Kim has a day like she did vs Petrova in Australia, Vika wont be beating her in a slam anytime soon. Jankovic is a threat I agree, though her head to head history vs the Belgians isnt promising.

Henin of course is better than Kim on clay but if they meet at the French it is possible the demons from those two close losses on hard courts for Kim this year will begin to creep in again. It depends if Henin regains some of her old swagger atleast on the clay before the French.

[NLBwell]

Anybody else notice/agree with me that Azarenka's problem is she doesn't move well to her backhand side? She doesn't get behind the ball quickly enough and doesn't get her body in a position to power the ball. If she isn't made to move much her backhand is fine.

[soyizgood]

Originally Posted by NLBwell

Anybody else notice/agree with me that Azarenka's problem is she doesn't move well to her backhand side? She doesn't get behind the ball quickly enough and doesn't get her body in a position to power the ball. If she isn't made to move much her backhand is fine.

I don't know about that part. At least I haven't noticed that. She tends to hit open stance off her backhand wing which is good for going on the offensive but you sacrifice some control in the process. Her backhand is her best shot though. Her forehand can be hot or cold while her serve is not much of a strength. She's a good lateral mover but her vertical movement can improve a bit.

[Love Game]

What's wrong with Vesnina?

[soyizgood]

Originally Posted by Love Game

What's wrong with Vesnina?

Nothing new with Vesnina. She always loses to top players. She's still never won a WTA singles event. Wozniacki is a MM event queen anyway that wreaks havoc on small events, but always get bullied in the big events.

I really want Vesnina to win at least one WTA singles event. Heck Kleybanova AND Pavlyuchenkova got it done. Even Stosur and DULGHERU snagged one last year...

[jamesblakefan#1]

Originally Posted by soyizgood

Nothing new with Vesnina. She always loses to top players. She's still never won a WTA singles event. Wozniacki is a MM event queen anyway that wreaks havoc on small events, but always get bullied in the big events.

I really want Vesnina to win at least one WTA singles event. Heck Kleybanova AND Pavlyuchenkova got it done. Even Stosur and DULGHERU snagged one last year...

I think you should re-evaluate your label of Wozzi as a "MM queen who always gets bullied in big events" - I mean she did make USO final, YEC SF, IW final, and Miami QF putting on a good display against Henin. She usually wins the matches she's supposed to win in these smaller events - is that such a bad thing?

[soyizgood]

Originally Posted by jamesblakefan#1

I think you should re-evaluate your label of Wozzi as a "MM queen who always gets bullied in big events" - I mean she did make USO final, YEC SF, IW final, and Miami QF putting on a good display against Henin. She usually wins the matches she's supposed to win in these smaller events - is that such a bad thing?

Wozniacki played 24 events last year (including 6 MM events), 12 of which she failed to make the QF of (including 3 majors). Of course if I even mention the word "Woz" the wolves come after me. Hence my reasoning for calling her a bully at small events, but bullied in the bigger events.

[jamesblakefan#1]

Originally Posted by soyizgood

Wozniacki played 24 events last year (including 6 MM events), 12 of which she failed to make the QF of (including 3 majors). Of course if I even mention the word "Woz" the wolves come after me. Hence my reasoning for calling her a bully at small events, but bullied in the bigger events.

LOL @ "the wolves" being out to get you. You've already admitted you don't like Wozzi's game, so you can't be expected to be objective about her. But so far this year she's been the most consistent player. You say she gets bullied at big events - the USO and YEC aren't big events anymore? She acquitted herself very well in both of those events. She's still only 19, yet she's #2 in the world and her results are improving in those bigger events you say she only gets "bullied" in. Like I always say, you don't have to like her game, but you should give her credit where it's due for being consistent and not being a headcase like 90% of the tour is these days. Including your main squeeze Vika, but that's neither here nor there.

[NLBwell]

Originally Posted by soyizgood

I don't know about that part. At least I haven't noticed that. She tends to hit open stance off her backhand wing which is good for going on the offensive but you sacrifice some control in the process. Her backhand is her best shot though. Her forehand can be hot or cold while her serve is not much of a strength. She's a good lateral mover but her vertical movement can improve a bit.

What I noticed is if she has to move backwards some when moving laterally (forcing shot to her) vs. moving just laterally (not as forcing). Or maybe it is just moving laterally when she should move backwards and laterally and so is late or hits a weak shot - not getting behind the ball. It is a very good backhand when she only has to move a little.

[soyizgood]

I wonder if the WTA should have an end of year event to pit the top 8 players that have never won a WTA singles event just to get that money off her back. Players that come to mind:

Vesnina
Cibulkova
Makarova
Govortsova
Suarez Navarro
Oudin

[soyizgood]

Cirstea has a new coach. Van Grichen, the same guy that coached Azarenka for 5 years and Zvonareva for maybe 3 months. Ohhhhh-kay.....

[davey25]

Originally Posted by jamesblakefan#1

LOL @ "the wolves" being out to get you. You've already admitted you don't like Wozzi's game, so you can't be expected to be objective about her. But so far this year she's been the most consistent player. You say she gets bullied at big events - the USO and YEC aren't big events anymore? She acquitted herself very well in both of those events. She's still only 19, yet she's #2 in the world and her results are improving in those bigger events you say she only gets "bullied" in. Like I always say, you don't have to like her game, but you should give her credit where it's due for being consistent and not being a headcase like 90% of the tour is these days. Including your main squeeze Vika, but that's neither here nor there.

I like Wozniacki but she needs more power in her game, more point finishing weapons. Right now when she plays Venus, Henin, Serena, Clijsters, or even the top players not as good as them, the match is not in her hands with her current game. Look at the U.S Open final, Kim played a bad 1st set and still won it, then cruised in the 2nd. I think at the WTA Championships she was playing Venus and Venus was making alot of errors and still won easily. To credit Wozniacki she forces alot of those errors with great consistenty, defense, and smarts. She is like the new Hingis in that regard. However she is never going to win a major title with her current game. It is amazing she even make a slam final with her current playing style. She is talented and young enough to improve, but she has to take a close look at her current game and realize that this defense-only approach is not going to even get her any further than she currently is, in fact she wont be holding her position for long at all without some major changes.

[soyizgood]

I started a thread on another forum called "Matches that were equal failure". Here are some of the memorable matches from 2009 to now that come to mind.

Sharapova vs Oudin USO
Dementieva vs Jankovic Cincinnati
Li vs Venus Australian
Clijsters vs Henin Miami
Kuznetsova vs Serena French
Sharapova vs Kirilenko AO
Clijsters vs Kleybanova Indian Wells

[davey25]

Originally Posted by soyizgood

I started a thread on another form called "Matches that were equal failure". Here are some of the memorable matches from 2009 to now that come to mind.

Sharapova vs Oudin USO
Dementieva vs Jankovic Cincinnati
Li vs Venus Australian
Clijsters vs Henin Miami
Kuznetsova vs Serena French

Henin vs Serena in Australia wasnt great either. Henin didnt play well at all execution wise or tactically and was unable to take her multiple chances in that match of beating even a fatigued and injured Serena. Kuznetsova vs Serena at last years Australian Open was not much or any better than their French Open match either. Sharapova has been involved in a number of other doozies which she either narrowly won or narrowly lost, battling through crappy play and her opponent choking her way down to Maria's shaky level in those matches.

[soyizgood]

Originally Posted by davey25

Henin vs Serena in Australia wasnt great either. Henin didnt play well at all execution wise or tactically and was unable to take her multiple chances in that match of beating even a fatigued and injured Serena. Kuznetsova vs Serena at last years Australian Open was not much or any better than their French Open match either. Sharapova has been involved in a number of other doozies which she either narrowly won or narrowly lost, battling through crappy play and her opponent choking her way down to Maria's shaky level in those matches.

I forgot to throw in Clijsters vs Kleybanova Indian Wells. Maybe it was because I was trying hard not think about that one again. Clijsters was a total headcase in that one while Kleybanova looked like she was running without a head all match long.