2018 Indian Wells - WTA Premier Mandatory

Who will be the Indian Wells champ?

  • Serena

    Votes: 7 30.4%
  • Halep

    Votes: 4 17.4%
  • Wozniacki

    Votes: 1 4.3%
  • Muguruza

    Votes: 5 21.7%
  • Svitolina

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Pliskova

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Venus

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Kvitova

    Votes: 3 13.0%
  • Kerber

    Votes: 2 8.7%
  • Other?

    Votes: 1 4.3%

  • Total voters
    23
  • Poll closed .
Kasatkina was a shadow of herself in that final...I think the intensity and length of her 1/2 took a toll on her..

Osaka demolished halep in barely an hour.

Dasha needed 2 hours 48' vs Auntie V.

The queen is dead ( Sugarpova ), long live the queens !

But Naomi played 1 more match compare to Kasatkina.
Hopefully more to come for this mini Serena and mini Hingis.
 
Well done both players, Baby Ree and WTA Rios
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I don't think energy was an issue. Both did have a day rest. If she had won, it could be argued that Kasatkina had the tough Venus match to prepare her, and Osaka wasn't fired up with the easier match. I think the point was mentality in these big finals.

Great tournament from both!
 
Let’s not forget that Simona has a more physically demanding style of play than other players. She runs down shots that most players would not get to. It is little wonder that her body is breaking down in the late rounds of a tournament. She played 2 very long matches, after sustaining an injury in an early round, to get to the AO final. Marathon match against Davis in 3R and another long match for her SF against Kerber.

Given the climate conditions at Melbourne, it is no wonder she ended up in th hospital after her 3-set final vs Caro.

She does have a more physically demanding style but she's not the only player to have that style. Kerber has that same style and has won two slams. Wozniacki has that style and won a slam. There seems to be some sort of disconnect in Halep's make-up that accounts for her ability to make it to slam finals where she has the huge edge, only for her to choke the matches away. That's her special talent. ;) I mean that FO loss to Ostapenko was a disaster. Halep was a set and a break up! There are other players who are stepping up it seems and maybe Halep's best chances to win a slam have passed her by? We'll have to see.
 
Kasatkina and Osaka both need to improve their serves, that is the main thing I would like to see. Osaka's got much more upside in that department, she can have a serve near Serena's, but Kasatkina can also improve her serve plus return game to counter Osaka.

Oh and drawing Osaka and Serena in the first round of Miami is totally ridiculous.
 
Osaka has more UE in her acceptance speech than Daria. :D

yeah unfortunately Osaka is truly awful in interviews and speeches.
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Mirai Nagasu is really fluent in both Japanese and English, she is even a commentator for a Japanese TV channel.

well Osaka is a 20 year old, and she will get much better (in talking) in a couple of years.
 
so when Kasakina said during her final trophy ceremony,,,,," guys,, never give up,,, Believe in your jeans ?? or believe in your genes ??" I am confused.
 
She does have a more physically demanding style but she's not the only player to have that style. Kerber has that same style and has won two slams. Wozniacki has that style and won a slam. There seems to be some sort of disconnect in Halep's make-up that accounts for her ability to make it to slam finals where she has the huge edge, only for her to choke the matches away. That's her special talent. ;) I mean that FO loss to Ostapenko was a disaster. Halep was a set and a break up! There are other players who are stepping up it seems and maybe Halep's best chances to win a slam have passed her by? We'll have to see.

At 5 1/2 feet tall, Simona is a few inches shorter than these other players. And she has a bit less fire power than many other top players. Simona has to make up for this with her foot speed. She runs down shots that Caroline (4” taller) and others cannot get to. Kerber, who is 2 to 3 inches taller than Halep, is pretty quick as well but her measured top speed (21.4 kph) is somewhat less than that of Halep (23 kph). I would think this would tend to take a bit more out of Simona.

Whereas Simona is a sprinter, Caroline is more of a marathoner.
 
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@tennis4me
so when Kasakina said during her final trophy ceremony,,,,," guys,, never give up,,, Believe in your jeans ?? or believe in your genes ??" I am confused.

No, I’m pretty sure she said, “... believe in your BEANS”. Daria often eats kidney beans but, apparently, skipped them prior to her final match. It’s been reported that Naomi had edamame prior to the match.

Or was it, “... believe in your GREENS”? “... believe in your CREAMS”?
 
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@tennis4me


No, I’m pretty sure she said, “... believe in your BEANS”. Daria often eats kidney beans but, apparently, skipped them prior to her final match. It’s been reported that Naomi had edamame prior to the match.

Or was it, “... believe in your GREENS”? “... believe in your CREAMS”?
I thought it was a shoutout to Nike - "... believe in your SEAMS".
 
I went back to the videos as well, and finally cracked this puzzle. She has a little Tweety in her, "never gives up, believe in your dweams".

She was very composed and incredibly poised on the stage during her acceptance speech. Remarkable young 20 y/o. Wish her the best in Miami and her career.

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BTW anyone know if men and women get to keep a full sized trophy and how the heck do they lug that thing around all year
 
BTW anyone know if men and women get to keep a full sized trophy and how the heck do they lug that thing around all year
Hehe. Only Delpo dared lift it :)
I guess the trophies they get too keep are couriered to the destination of the players choice.. all part of the service.
 
She does have a more physically demanding style but she's not the only player to have that style. Kerber has that same style and has won two slams. Wozniacki has that style and won a slam. There seems to be some sort of disconnect in Halep's make-up that accounts for her ability to make it to slam finals where she has the huge edge, only for her to choke the matches away. That's her special talent. ;) I mean that FO loss to Ostapenko was a disaster. Halep was a set and a break up! There are other players who are stepping up it seems and maybe Halep's best chances to win a slam have passed her by? We'll have to see.

Right now Halep wasn't probably recovered properly after her injuries or trained/conditioned. She said that she "wasn't prepared"...
 
Kasatkina and Osaka both need to improve their serves, that is the main thing I would like to see. Osaka's got much more upside in that department, she can have a serve near Serena's, but Kasatkina can also improve her serve plus return game to counter Osaka.

Oh and drawing Osaka and Serena in the first round of Miami is totally ridiculous.

Their serves are fine dude, especially Osaka's...In terms of power she was serving 120 mph. Kasatkina has a beautiful serve technique, needs to work a bit on her power though.

Osaka was hitting like a male or a young Serena (due also to Sacha probably), kudos to her and with her improved conditioning she is a force.

Kasatkina actually should improve her movement. Power later.
 
Great videos -- thanks for posting. They are both so lovely in very different ways!

Yeah, no problem. I love sharing these types of videos, allows you to get to know player better. It will be good to watch these two especially considering they are pretty down to earth and don't grunt.
 
Yeah, no problem. I love sharing these types of videos, allows you to get to know player better. It will be good to watch these two especially considering they are pretty down to earth and don't grunt.

Bellis not a grunter either. But that could change for any of them. I don't believe that Halep made much noise at all when hitting when she was their age. Probably other examples as well.
 
Right now Halep wasn't probably recovered properly after her injuries or trained/conditioned. She said that she "wasn't prepared"...

It could be that Halep is not as much of a night owl as Osaka is.

It must be tough for players to adjust to different time zones to play various tournaments. They need to adjust their sleeping, eating, practices & warmups, resting, etc. In this case, Simona and Naomi had to wait several hours past their expected start time for their SF match. They ended up starting sometime after 10 pm (local Calif time). That appeared to affect Simona much more than Naomi. The latter seemed fresh/alert whereas Simona appeared flat/off and was struggling from the start (and got worse as the match wore on).
 
Perhaps it's a New York thing for the Macs. In BG`s case, it seems to be a part of his personality/charm rather than an intent to disrespect -- heck, for that matter, he even mangles English names & often uses nicknames.

It deliberate intent to disrespect.

How do you pronounce Djokovic?

McEnroe likes to pronounce Djokovic's name as JOKE, that is JOKE-KO-VITCH, strongly emphasising the JOKE bit. That is just plain WRONG. Given his snideness, there is no way to mistake his real intent.

Same with Brad Gilbert's sneering, arrogant tone when talking about players while mangling their names.


(oh and look at that vid on youtube and read the comments. I'm not the only one who notices)

If you still want to make silly excuses, go ahead. End of discussion.
 
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Their serves are fine dude, especially Osaka's...In terms of power she was serving 120 mph. Kasatkina has a beautiful serve technique, needs to work a bit on her power though.

Osaka was hitting like a male or a young Serena (due also to Sacha probably), kudos to her and with her improved conditioning she is a force.

Kasatkina actually should improve her movement. Power later.

dude, Osaka's first title could have been Premier Tokyo 2 years ago. Raw power doesn't mean much. Lisicki served 130, her serve is a paper tiger. Goerges is a much better server than her. Of good WTA servers, I don't list Lisicki. Osaka was serving big at Tokyo, she was a big server and good power rallier already, but lost in the final (to Woz) because she was hurting herself with her serve. Her progress had been set back by a whole year. She doesn't have this problem now, but her technique and accuracy still need more work. Her serve should be getting her even more points. Her biggest progress with Sascha has been her whole tactical outlook and movement.

This is what I wrote back in 2016 RG :

Osaka takes the first 6-4. She was down 4-2.

Osaka is 18. Her ufe's are a lot like the kind of ufe's Serena was making when Serena was 17. Serena nowadays is very good at making micro adjustments on that power dial and would never make the same mistakes she did in 1999.

I get the feeling Osaka, if ever or whenever she is a finished product, would really blow Halep away.

She was far far away in 2016 from anything resembling a workable product. In 2017 she was just floating around in the rankings, losing here and there. Now she is moving to where she should be.
 
In that vid, if Djokovic felt he had to personally correct Courier, it must have been unacceptably bad. Courier was still pretending he didn't get it. Of course he did. He was just going to say whatever he wanted.

It isn't like Courier or Mac will mockingly refer to Federer as "Fred" in their commentary. Particularly not Courier.

Gilbert likes to be aggressive and annoy people. His fights with Wheaton, Becker etc.
 
It deliberate intent to disrespect.

How do you pronounce Djokovic?

McEnroe likes to pronounce Djokovic's name as JOKE, that is JOKE-KO-VITCH, strongly emphasising the JOKE bit. That is just plain WRONG. Given his snideness, there is no way to mistake his real intent.

Same with Brad Gilbert's sneering, arrogant tone when talking about players while mangling their names.


(oh and look at that vid on youtube and read the comments. I'm not the only one who notices)

If you still want to make silly excuses, go ahead. End of discussion.

Much ado about Nothing. Believe whatever you want but, to my mind, it's just their personality and their sense of humor.

Where are you from? Perhaps, because of a cultural difference, you see disrespect where not intended. I do not perceive any disrespect. None whatsoever.
 
Bellis not a grunter either. But that could change for any of them. I don't believe that Halep made much noise at all when hitting when she was their age. Probably other examples as well.

Yeah good point, they could be persuaded to incorporate that into their game but that is a cheesy tactic and definitely won't work against Duck Hee Lee :D.
 
It deliberate intent to disrespect....


(oh and look at that vid on youtube and read the comments. I'm not the only one who notices)

If you still want to make silly excuses, go ahead. End of discussion.

In that vid, if Djokovic felt he had to personally correct Courier, it must have been unacceptably bad. Courier was still pretending he didn't get it. Of course he did. He was just going to say whatever he wanted...

Seriously, I would not use YouTube comments as a measure of anything meaningful. YouTube comments, in large measure, tend to be juvenile and clueless. Some of the most misguided & vile (disgusting) comments I’ve seen anywhere have been on YouTube. The lack of civility is truly appalling. I generally avoid reading them or put any credence in them these days.

I have seen other interviews of Jim Courier with Novak. Have also seen other comments that JC has made about ND. They appear to have a good relationship with each other and often joke with each other at times. I have seen/heard some high praise from JC regarding Novak. Do not see a lack of respect there at all.
 
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