2021 WTA Madrid Open - WTA 1000

Who will win Madrid?

  • Total voters
    15
  • Poll closed .
volleyandfun

volleyandfun

Hall of Fame
Jason Swerve said:
If someone asked me to explain to them why good flat shots are, on average, more effective than good topspin shots, I'd direct them to this video. Goes double for women who don't put as much forward spin on the ball as men, for whatever reason you might pose, making the topspin much easier to tee off if you have the accuracy and will to attack that Sabalenka did. Even when she missed, she was missing on her own terms. Kasatkina could only hope for Sabalenka to make more errors. Her aggressive pace dominated the match.
Click to expand...
Sabalenka hitting looked very good because of Kasatkina was not hitting, she was pushing all balls right to the middle of the court. Anyone can hit winners from those.
 
flyingboris

flyingboris

Legend
Rybakina goes from set point in the second at 5*-4 to to having to serve to stay in the match at 5*-6. Two impressively bad UE did her in in her service game. Let's see if she can reach the tie break.

Edit: Mertens takes it, 7-6(4) 7-5. Great defense and some smart play. Rybakina will be kicking herself for letting that second set go.
 
Last edited:
N

Neurosis

New User
Jason Swerve said:
If someone asked me to explain to them why good flat shots are, on average, more effective than good topspin shots, I'd direct them to this video. Goes double for women who don't put as much forward spin on the ball as men, for whatever reason you might pose, making the topspin much easier to tee off if you have the accuracy and will to attack that Sabalenka did. Even when she missed, she was missing on her own terms. Kasatkina could only hope for Sabalenka to make more errors. Her aggressive pace dominated the match.
Click to expand...

I am loving Sabalenka at the moment. Aggressive and single minded. You can tell that a lot of players aren't used to that and are hoping to extend the rallies. She's having none of it. As you say, everything's on her racket.

I also love Gasparyan, but haven't seen much of her, of late.
 
NaomiKonjuhPotapova

NaomiKonjuhPotapova

G.O.A.T.
volleyandfun said:
Sabalenka hitting looked very good because of Kasatkina was not hitting, she was pushing all balls right to the middle of the court. Anyone can hit winners from those.
Click to expand...

Very disappointed with how Kasatkina turned out. She has better game during her teen year like that match against still good Venus at Wimby.
 
HarveyPitnik

HarveyPitnik

Professional
NaomiKonjuhPotapova said:
When Naomi lift that French Open trophy, she's gonna stomp on your fave!!!
Click to expand...
YUO CAN NOT BE SERIOUS?!?

I actually have also thought that you are a nice person despite some insane views... (or at least one) :whistle: ;)
NaomiKonjuhPotapova said:
Although I don't actually know who's Harvey' fave. Is it Belinda who's perfect in every way?
Click to expand...
Sure Belinda is attractive, stylish in both looks and playing (and a kind of spoiled brat) but major favorite of mine... hmm... well, maybe she is as there's at the moment so few players that I REALLY dig. :unsure: There's much I like in Andreescu, Kvitova, Alexandrova, Krejcikova, Collins, Strycova, Cirstea, Siegemund, Kovinic, Gasparyan and even Sabalenka and many others, but in the past I had some players closer to the heart. But also I only REALLY dislike Osaka, Ostapenko, Sheriff, Hercog and Venus.

Ok, I promise I write something about the tournament/matches the next time... :whistle::D
 
Jason Swerve

Jason Swerve

Hall of Fame
volleyandfun said:
Sabalenka hitting looked very good because of Kasatkina was not hitting, she was pushing all balls right to the middle of the court. Anyone can hit winners from those.
Click to expand...
Very few people 'want' to push. Even walls like Murray 'intend' to attack. You have to ask why Kasatkina didn't have the power her opponent had when she had more margin for error on every stroke she hit. There were many successful counterpunchers who loved flat shots (the young Hingis/Chang being two of them). There's a fundamental difference, here.

And it's not about hitting winners on every shot. It's about pushing the opponent back to open up the court, and continuing to do that without the opponent's recovering. That's something many recreational players never take into account in match-play.

Neurosis said:
I am loving Sabalenka at the moment. Aggressive and single minded. You can tell that a lot of players aren't used to that and are hoping to extend the rallies. She's having none of it. As you say, everything's on her racket.

I also love Gasparyan, but haven't seen much of her, of late.
Click to expand...
Right- it affects the mental too. You hit the weak topspin and find yourself thrown back, but you're now too wary of your opponent's power to try going for more, and you fool yourself into wanting to believe your topspin can suffice if you just 'hit it better'.
 
Nostradamus

Nostradamus

Bionic Poster
Winners or Errors said:
Didn't see it, but she runs hot and cold and obviously today was a cold day.
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i have the answer for you. its got little to do with Hot or Cold. that's what a average joe would say. Smart Genius answer is this. Ostepanko likes to hit everything big and in this high altitude of Madrid, if her timing is just a bit off, balls will fly and fly out. So she had no control today. You say then ,, well, she was cold. No. She was made to be cold by super heavy topspin shots by her opponent. Very heavy big topspins shots by her opponent made those big groundies very very tough to control. and Elena also had NO game plan B. She just kept on swinging big, hoping it would go in but it didn't because of high altitude and opponent's topspin shots pushing her racket back
 
Winners or Errors

Winners or Errors

Legend
Nostradamus said:
i have the answer for you. its got little to do with Hot or Cold. that's what a average joe would say. Smart Genius answer is this. Ostepanko likes to hit everything big and in this high altitude of Madrid, if her timing is just a bit off, balls will fly and fly out. So she had no control today. You say then ,, well, she was cold. No. She was made to be cold by super heavy topspin shots by her opponent. Very heavy big topspins shots by her opponent made those big groundies very very tough to control. and Elena also had NO game plan B. She just kept on swinging big, hoping it would go in but it didn't because of high altitude and opponent's topspin shots pushing her racket back
Click to expand...

Oh, I agree. She has no plan B.
 
R

Ruark

Professional
Little Miss Boo-Hoo Osaka needs to spend more time focusing on her tennis, and less time buying mansions, sports teams, cosmetic lines, etc.
 
N

Nuclear Warhead Sinner

Guest
My two favourite WTA players :love: :love: Iga and Ashleigh!!
 
Harry_Wild

Harry_Wild

G.O.A.T.
Shock that Paula Badosa, former NYC native has now made it into a quarterfinals of a WTA 1000 tournament. She has not won her, match but it 5-0 in the 3rd!
 
HarveyPitnik

HarveyPitnik

Professional
NaomiKonjuhPotapova said:
What did Mayar Sheriff did to you?
Click to expand...
* Notification: this message is mainly out of topic because of the fore-mentioned poster!!! *

Miss Sheriff broke my eardrums and my nerves in Feb'20 while she was playing Fed Cup in my small home country and that was Euro-African mud series. I have never before witnessed such insane screaming on tennis courts - nor anywhere else- and the person as a whole was like she is totally out of her mind - calling her "crazy" is total understatement. :oops: Character is another phenomenon and mental disorder another! :laughing:

But obviously my disliked five haven't all done something bad to me! :laughing: Only Osaka, Venus (only about half a match) and Sheriff I have seen live.

Barty vs. Swiatek wasn't quite as great and even match as I expected! :confused: Barty probably now sails on to just another tournament victory. On the bottom half Sabalenka and Sakkari slams their winners almost as they please but once again won't win the whole thing...
 
graycrait

graycrait

Legend
Old man's observation.

Watch Iga's serve, I may be wrong but there appear a couple of "hitches" in and if it isn't perfect there is trouble. If Iga gets a smooth serve motion from start to finish ... well, who knows. Iga's serve reminds me of someone who learned to serve after she learned everything else and just threw it together because she is so good at everything else. Too robotic for her talent. Dad might get a couple of baseball gloves or a football and just start tossing around with her.

I like Ash's serve, looks like she is pitching, smooth and efficient for her size from her toes to fingers.
 
volleyandfun

volleyandfun

Hall of Fame
SeeingDusk said:
wonder what changed
Click to expand...
Seems like all that fame and expectations made her game really up tight.
Service is one think but also her ground strokes had only few moments of what she used to do in Paris.
No more wicked top spin f/h down the line, one drop shot in the whole match, really bad shot placement selection
and this funky f/h shots cross court landing outside. Refuses to play in smaller tournaments and gets knocked out
early in larger ones. Said that is "very busy" in between tournaments to satisfy her other obligations.
 
Yoneyama

Yoneyama

Hall of Fame
What are you guys on about? Swiatek played really well this match... Barty was just too good though. There wasn't a great deal of difference between her level in this match vs. her level in the French Open last year if you purely look at her strokes and gameplay.

I do agree though her serve can be improved and I think it will with age... remember shes only 19.
 
S

SeeingDusk

Hall of Fame
volleyandfun said:
Seems like all that fame and expectations made her game really up tight.
Service is one think but also her ground strokes had only few moments of what she used to do in Paris.
No more wicked top spin f/h down the line, one drop shot in the whole match, really bad shot placement selection
and this funky f/h shots cross court landing outside. Refuses to play in smaller tournaments and gets knocked out
early in larger ones. Said that is "very busy" in between tournaments to satisfy her other obligations.
Click to expand...

Good points. But barty probably put a lot of pressure on her too since one break and you’re probably done against barty. She’s pretty much the biggest serve bot on wta.
 
volleyandfun

volleyandfun

Hall of Fame
SeeingDusk said:
Good points. But barty probably put a lot of pressure on her too since one break and you’re probably done against barty. She’s pretty much the biggest serve bot on wta.
Click to expand...
Definitely, but on this level you'd expect that, and this is exactly why she cannot afford not just losing, but wasting her own service games.
Not to mention wasting so many break opportunities
 
S

SeeingDusk

Hall of Fame
volleyandfun said:
Definitely, but on this level you'd expect that, and this is exactly why she cannot afford not just losing, but wasting her own service games.
Not to mention wasting so many break opportunities
Click to expand...

yeah, holding your own serve is a minimum that you need to even have a chance against barty. If swiatek cleans up her serve and starts hitting like how she used to, she should be good.
 
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