2019 Rogers Cup (Toronto) – Women's Singles

Who gets the title?


  • Total voters
    16
  • Poll closed .

Aussie Darcy

Bionic Poster
Where does apprehension cross over into overrated, though? That's almost like resenting her success and wanting her to drop back to her 'true' level as divined by TT pundits.

One big difference between her and the players you mentioned is she has great defence. That allows her to play a high percentage game and not give away easy points. What I am more concerned about is what her fitness is going to be given she is already so heavy.
Well there's a fine line, calling her a flash in a pan is definitely harsh, but not wanting to declare her a future multi slam champ probably is ok. Her game is fantastic yes, but like I said, often players games can just vanish out of nowhere.
 

Dolgopolov85

G.O.A.T.
Well there's a fine line, calling her a flash in a pan is definitely harsh, but not wanting to declare her a future multi slam champ probably is ok. Her game is fantastic yes, but like I said, often players games can just vanish out of nowhere.
Yeah, was referring to the former. She was out of competition due to injury and suddenly she is a one tournament wonder. Lol what?
 

Aussie Darcy

Bionic Poster
Yeah, was referring to the former. She was out of competition due to injury and suddenly she is a one tournament wonder. Lol what?
I'd love to see her play the more stronger top 10 players like Barty, Kvitova, Halep and a non injured Serena. Of her top 10 wins they've been against the sort of more inconsistent top 10 players of late (Svitolina, Bertens, Kerber, Wozniacki). Not trying to take away from her two title runs as they've been awesome but i'd love to see her play the original names mentioned at the US Open.
 

SystemicAnomaly

Bionic Poster
Funny how Halep hasn’t withdrawn from Cincinnati though isn’t it? Truly interesting.
.

I noticed that Serena has not pulled out of Cincinnati yet either. It's been more than 10 hours since she retired from the Canadian Open finals match earlier today. She indicated that she knew during and after her SF match with Marie on Saturday that she was having a hard time and the finals on Sunday was going to be a problem for her.

Truly interesting. Serena is scheduled to play onTuesday in Cincinnati so she needs to make a decision soon if she will still play.

Simona retired from her match on Friday and is not scheduled to play in Cincinnati until Wednesday. So she actually has 5 days to take countermeasures and to recover. She will likely make a decision on Monday or Tuesday if she is ready to play her Wednesday match. It would be a shame for Cincy if both Simona and Serena pulled out

This is not the first time that Serena has retired from a match. The previous time was just earlier this year against Garbine at IW, Retired after losing the 1st set. Probably with good reason (virus cited). This wknd it was back spasms.

Simona's retirement in 2017 and last year that you cited were no less legitinate than Serena's match retirements. We should not be dismissing these incidents as frivolous or capricious decisions.
 
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Aussie Darcy

Bionic Poster
I noticed that Serena has not pulled out of Cincinnati yet either. It's been more than 10 hours since she retired from the Canadian Open finals match earlier today. She indicated that she knew during and after her SF match with Marie on Saturday that she was having a hard time and the finals on Sunday was going to be a problem for her.

Truly interesting. Serena is scheduled to play onTuesday in Cincinnati so she needs to make a decision soon if she will still play.

Simona retired from her match on Friday and is not scheduled to play in Cincinnati until Wednesday. So she actually has 5 days to take countermeasures and to recover. She will likely make a decision on Monday or Tuesday if she is ready to play her Wednesday match. It would be a shame for Cincy if both Simona and Serena pulled out

This is not the first time that Serena has retired from a match. The previous time was just earlier this year against Garbine at IW, Retired after losing the 1st set. Probably with giod reason (virus cited). This wknd it was back spasms.

Simona's retirement in 2017 and last year that you cited were no less legitinate than Serena's match retirements. We should not be dismissing these incidents as frivolous or capricious decisions.
Halep said the same thing that she knew she couldn't keep up with Serena in the SF so she retired but she's gonna play Cincy? Fascinating.

And i'd expect Serena to withdraw, she'll probably head to Cincy and hit the practice court and check it out and withdraw. Plus she's 11 years older than Halep so I have a little more leeway for her injury than Halep who didn't even call a MTO after dropping the set and retiring.

I stand by what I said. Halep's retirement was abrupt, now she's not withdrawing from the next event. Serena at least you could tell was impacted by her injuries with her slow serves. Halep fought from 0-4 down to level at 4-4 only to retire after dropping the next 2 games.
 

Dolgopolov85

G.O.A.T.
I'd love to see her play the more stronger top 10 players like Barty, Kvitova, Halep and a non injured Serena. Of her top 10 wins they've been against the sort of more inconsistent top 10 players of late (Svitolina, Bertens, Kerber, Wozniacki). Not trying to take away from her two title runs as they've been awesome but i'd love to see her play the original names mentioned at the US Open.

Sure but she was a qualifier when she made her IW run. So for people to claim she was overrated so prematurely was so laughable. I am glad I kept the faith in her and was vindicated.
 

ScentOfDefeat

G.O.A.T.
Considering Serena is almost 38 while Halep is 27.... also if you’ve read any of my posts in this thread I’ve said how Serena needs to play more tournaments in the future so not sure where you’re getting that from that I’m ok with her playing 6.

Yeah, but you start this reply with an excuse for Serena (her age), which is something you're not willing to give Halep.
If Serena is too old, Halep could be said to be too short, which is why she needs to run more and why her shots aren't as powerful, which makes her prone to long, exhausting matches and injuries, etc.
I prefer not to rely on excuses though: I accept Serena playing 6 tournaments per year (I hope she gets that Slam she's missing and retires a happier tennis player than she seems to be at the moment), just like I accept the fact that Halep - given her record and what she's shown throughout her career - is not doing anything devious or unsportsmanlike, and that it's clearly a coincidence that you're trying to turn into a controversy.
All it seems to come down to is that criticising Serena always seems to be softened with a convenient excuse, whereas criticising Halep, for some reason, seems to be a much more unforgiving exercise.
 
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THUNDERVOLLEY

G.O.A.T.
Halep said the same thing that she knew she couldn't keep up with Serena in the SF so she retired but she's gonna play Cincy? Fascinating.

She was likely having problems, but its not uncommon for players to reduce schedules right before a major if they believe they need to get in time on court, but remain fresh.

And i'd expect Serena to withdraw, she'll probably head to Cincy and hit the practice court and check it out and withdraw. Plus she's 11 years older than Halep so I have a little more leeway for her injury than Halep who didn't even call a MTO after dropping the set and retiring.

Good point; at Halep's age, her ability to recover and respond to therapy is greater than a player Serena's age, hence not calling for a MTO.


Yeah, but you start this reply with an excuse for Serena (her age), which is something you're not willing to give Halep.

...because Halep is over a decade younger than Serena. Not that facts ever get in the way of your hatred of Serena.


If Serena is too old, Halep could be said to be too short, which is why she needs to run more and why her shots aren't as powerful, which makes her prone to long, exhausting matches and injuries, etc.

No one in ther right mind would ever use such an excuse because short players are still strong and not lacking in energy, as in the case of Michael Chang, Justine Henin, and others. You fail again with your false equivalency BS.


All it seems to come down to is that criticising Serena always seems to be softened with a convenient excuse, whereas criticising Halep, for some reason, seems to be a much more unforgiving exercise.

As opposed to your regular stand: attack and demean Serena to no end, and will dream up any idiotic notion to continue said attack,
 

SystemicAnomaly

Bionic Poster
@THUNDERVOLLEY
Halep said the same thing that she knew she couldn't keep up with Serena in the SF so she retired but she's gonna play Cincy? Fascinating.

And i'd expect Serena to withdraw, she'll probably head to Cincy and hit the practice court and check it out and withdraw. Plus she's 11 years older than Halep so I have a little more leeway for her injury than Halep who didn't even call a MTO after dropping the set and retiring.

I stand by what I said. Halep's retirement was abrupt, now she's not withdrawing from the next event. Serena at least you could tell was impacted by her injuries with her slow serves. Halep fought from 0-4 down to level at 4-4 only to retire after dropping the next 2 games.
I guess you've never experienced the "runner's high". The brain releases endocannabinoids, endorphins and adrenaline when engaged in exercise for many athletes. The brain can subdue the feeling of pain during the heat of battle. I've been able to play with moderate pain quite a few times as a result of the runner's high. Only slight degradation of performance while playing. Yet, when I stopped moving for a while, the pain becomes quite apparent again. Sometimes I have gotten away with this. Other times, it was a mistake and I end up injuring myself further..

Simona had mentioned that her Achilles had been bothering her from the very first match last week. And, even tho she didn't have too much trouble besting Svetlana, she did call for the trainer for an MTO in that match on Thursday. Twice, I believe.

In her match on Friday, against Marie, Simona did call for the trainer at the end of the set. She then sat down and pulled her socks off while she waited for the trainer. You can see that her feet and ankle had been taped up prior to the match. After and inspection and discussion with the trainer, Simona decided to call it quits.

There were 2 or 3 shots I saw in that set where Simona normally would have gotten to, but did not do so in that match. Marie hit 3 drop shots in that one set. I believe that Simona expected Marie to continue moving her around and hitting drop shots like that if she were to continue the match. Even if she were to make it thru that match, she expected to do more running than she could handle on Saturday against Serena. Given the pain and condition of her Achilles, she feared increased pain and the risk of further injury, was not worth jeopardizing her chances in Cincinnati or New York.

Even in her 20s, Serena was making decisions like this as well on more then one occasion. One case that comes to mind... in 2008, Serena was the top seed at the BOW Classic at Stanford. In her third match there, she was down a set and a break against qualifier, Aleksanra Wozniak and decided to retire after a few games in the 2nd set. Yet she was able to play a subsequent venue. She ended up winning the US Open a few weeks later.
 
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SystemicAnomaly

Bionic Poster
@THUNDERVOLLEY
Halep said the same thing that she knew she couldn't keep up with Serena in the SF so she retired but she's gonna play Cincy? Fascinating.

And i'd expect Serena to withdraw, she'll probably head to Cincy and hit the practice court and check it out and withdraw. Plus she's 11 years older than Halep so I have a little more leeway for her injury than Halep who didn't even call a MTO after dropping the set and retiring.

I stand by what I said. Halep's retirement was abrupt, now she's not withdrawing from the next event. Serena at least you could tell was impacted by her injuries with her slow serves. Halep fought from 0-4 down to level at 4-4 only to retire after dropping the next 2 games.

More than 24 hrs after the Toronto final and Serena has still not withdrawn from Cincy. She has even indicated today that she plans to play Tues. Note that Rafa and Bianca, the Canadian champions, both have already announced that they are withdrawing from Cincy

So "grandma" Serena can bounce back to play 2 days after retiring, yet you find it suspicious that, given 5 days to recover, youthful Simona has not yet pulled out.

And you failed to establish that Simona has a recent history of capricious retirements. In her match against Makarova in 2017 in the brutal heat of DC, Halep was not being outplayed. She retired because of heat exhaustion. She has been hospitalized because of that condition. For her retirement last year, she had been plagued with both back problems and her ongoing Achilles issue. 3 days after that match, an MRI revealed that she had a herniated disc. She retired for the rest of the year after that
 
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insideguy

G.O.A.T.
I like Riske but she has got to have one of the top 5 most unorthodox games in the WTA. I can see why it works on grass. But her strokes are so stiff.
 

SystemicAnomaly

Bionic Poster
Halep said the same thing that she knew she couldn't keep up with Serena in the SF so she retired but she's gonna play Cincy? Fascinating...

Not actually Simona had said. Given the condition of her Achilles and the way that Marie B was running her (3 dropshots in the QF 1st set). It sounded like Simona felt it would be too hard on body, possibly risking further injury, if she had pushed herself to win that QF (in 3 sets) and, possibly, a SF match with Serena in order to reach a Final to play against Romania-Canadian, Bianca. Simona was not asked how she would fare against Serena. She was being asked about playing a match against Bianca. She informed the interviewer, that she would have had have to play Serena in next round before playing against Bianca A in the final


From Tennis World USA:

Simona Halep retired against Marie Bouzkova after losing the first set 6-4. In a press conference the Romanian admitted she is dealing with Achilles problems. "I felt since the first match here. And today I felt it more, so that's why I decided to retire", explained Halep in a press conference.

Asked if she would have loved to play a potential final against the Canadian hero Bianca Andreescu, Halep replied: "Tomorrow it would have been Serena Williams and is not easy. Serena has been my role model growing up.


 
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one-hand

Rookie
You can tell Bouzkova has played a lot of matches, very comfortable and consistent. The

Saw Bouzkova played a match against Andrescu on YT. Holy cow, for a small statured female player, she hits consistent heavy balls. She's also so talented by the way she moves.
I was actually applauding when she won hard points.
 
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