2023 WTA Finals - General Discussion

[Enceladus]

We welcome this year's WTA Finals participants:

1. Aryna Sabalenka, winner of the Australian Open, Adelaide International and Madrid Open.

2. Iga Swiatek, winner of the French Open, Quatar Open (Doha), Stuttgart Grand Prix, Poland Open (Warsaw) and China Open (Beejing).

3. Coco Gauff, winner of the US Open, Auckland Classic, Washington Open and Western & Southern Open (Cincinnati).

4. Elena Rybakina, winner of the Indian Wells and Italian Open (Rome).

5. Jessica Pegula, winner of the National Bank Open (Montreal) and Korea Open (Soul).

6. Ons Jabeur, winner of the Charleston Open and Ningbo Open.

7. Marketa Vondrousova, winner of the Wimbledon Championships.

8. Maria Sakkari, winner of the Guadalajara Open.

 

[Enceladus]

Barbora Krejcikova and Madison Keys are alternate players.

 

[Enceladus]

Groups composition and schedule for the first day of play:

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1718074315772408014

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1718194822115156064

 

[Dominic & Andrey]

Very cool to have a GIF for every player !

 

[Pavla]

Terrific GIF selection. Well done!

 

[albertobra]

Jesus, Swaitek urgently needs a dressing advisor.

 

[coolcamden]

Great job @Enceladus . Best thread start evar.

 

[Baseline_Bungle]

Is this even happening? I heard they were still building the stadium 24 hours before the first match...

https://x.com/ptpaplayers/status/1717890906022408376?s=20

 

[Mark-Touch]

Jesus, Swaitek urgently needs a dressing advisor.

Boris?

 

[Pheasant]

I picked Sabalenka here. I think that she will catch fire and slug everybody off of the court.

 

[Mark-Touch]

I picked Sabalenka here. I think that she will catch fire and slug everybody off of the court.

As far as I'm concerned she still hasn't rid herself of her mental demons.
Her loss to Coco proved that.
But then, this isn't a slam, so she still might come through.

 

[coolcamden]

Iga’s group. Really??!!!

1-8 going 1-9 ?????
Jabeur gonna do another Halloween prank then disappear again like last year?
Marketa is so volatile….

 

[JJGUY]

Is this even happening? I heard they were still building the stadium 24 hours before the first match...

https://x.com/ptpaplayers/status/1717890906022408376?s=20

That was about a week ago, don't know what it looks now, but based on the information the players only get to practice on court on Saturday (24 hours before the first match), so either they barely finished the stadium or still some construction ongoing, most likely the latter.

 

[JJGUY]

That was about a week ago, don't know what it looks now, but based on the information the players only get to practice on court on Saturday (24 hours before the first match), so either they barely finished the stadium or still some construction ongoing, most likely the latter.

Wait a sec, from the timestamp of tweet, it was from yesterday, gee, they really have not completed the stadium!!!

 

[Aabye5]

Jesus, Swaitek urgently needs a dressing advisor.

Ya'all are so mean to Iga. Everyone knows the pulled down baseball cap is Polish for hip. Hubi rocks it, too.

 

[Baseline_Bungle]

Is this even happening? I heard they were still building the stadium 24 hours before the first match...

https://x.com/ptpaplayers/status/1717890906022408376?s=20

Well it seems like they managed to install the seats, just in the nick of time.

After a quick look at the stands, I wonder why they even bothered.

 

[spystud]

Hell, remember how empty FW was last year in a freaking state-of-the-art facility?

 

[Moose Malloy]

Guadalajara 1000 had packed stands this year for matches like Trevisan-Dolehide, if that's worth anything in predicting attendance in Cancun.

 

[Bill Lobsalot]

Ryba stinkin' it up. Pretty dress though.

 

[spystud]

Not the most inspired court color combo either.

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1718768350166467042

 

[Aussie Darcy]

Great start for Pegula, beats Rybakina 7-5 6-2.

 

[Bill Lobsalot]

Great start for Pegula, beats Rybakina 7-5 6-2.

Yep. I like JP. Hard worker. I like Ryba too, but she's not strong mentally.

 

[Aussie Darcy]

Some (including myself) may have forgotten the absolute shocker that both Coco Gauff and Jessica Pegula had at the WTA Finals last year.

Both players qualified in the singles and doubles which is very rare. However....

Both players lost all 3 of their singles matches and lost all 3 doubles matches together. Terrible debut

 

[spystud]

JPeg trying to be real nice about the court conditions in her TC desk interview. She was like, “They‘re okay, they’re fine. I mean, I’ve played on much worse.”

 

[Bill Lobsalot]

JPeg trying to be real nice about the court conditions in her TC desk interview. She was like, “They‘re okay, they’re fine. I mean, I’ve played on much worse.”

Pegula is a quality human being.

 

[spystud]

May need some cream cheese or jelly for this bagel.

 

[Aussie Darcy]

6-0 2-0.

Sabalenka showing Sakkari that she does not belong at the WTA Finals and is only here because of Muchova's withdrawal.

 

[spystud]

9 straight for Miss Tiger.

Kinda want to see the double-aught, & I don't even dislike Maria.

 

[Baseline_Bungle]

Pegula is a quality human being.

And a 0.001-percenter to boot!

 

[Baseline_Bungle]

9 straight for Miss Tiger.

Kinda want to see the double-aught, & I don't even dislike Maria.

Did she let her have a game? Or could this be the start of the greatest collapse in sports history?

 

[spystud]

3 MPs saved to avoid the ultimate embarrassment.

 

[spystud]

That was clinical.

 

[Baseline_Bungle]

3 MPs saved to avoid the ultimate embarrassment.

Still pretty embarasslicious.

Ever since Sakkari got off the muscle potion, she just hasn't been the same.

 

[spystud]

Maria did not like the amount of sweat on Aryna’s hand.

 

[coolcamden]

Damn Maria….

 

[Aussie Darcy]

When's the last time we saw a routing like that at the WTA Finals?

I was just posting yesterday about when Stosur thrashed Li Na 6-1 6-0 at the 2011 WTA Finals.

I remember Halep thrashed Serena 6-2 6-0 in 2014.

 

[Aussie Darcy]

Looks like that's the worst WTA Finals scoreline in 12 years, since Stosur pummeled Li Na in 2011.

There's been a few matches where the loser won just 2 games.

In 2017 Wozniacki thrashed both Svitolina 6-2 6-0 and Halep 6-0 6-2.
In 2014 Serena thrashed Bouchard 6-1 6-1.
In 2014 Halep thrashed Serena 6-0 6-2.

But nothing where the loser wins just 1 game since 2011.

 

[ScottleeSV]

Seems like overkill setting this in Mexico so soon after Guadalajara.

The UK timezone doesn't mix that well with Mexico. I doubt I'll see much of this (other than the occasional early match).

Even on a good year, I can never get that excited about group stage tennis. The tournament doesn't properly begin for me until the semi finals.

 

[coolcamden]

Never thought I would say this a year ago, I don’t see how Ons Jabeur can beat Gauff. Astonishing how their trajectories are going… purely on physical, psychological, emotional, confidence, skills, Coco is just better at this time.

Though this is the WTA and the CamdenCurse, Ons will win. Ha!

 

[Aussie Darcy]

Vondrousova led Swiatek by a double break 5-2, served for the set twice but got broken both times. Loses it in the tiebreaker.

Yeeeesh.

 

[spystud]

Forgot this was even on. Whole lot of sports happening tonight.

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1719132376435941570

 

[Aussie Darcy]

Forgot this was even on. Whole lot of sports happening tonight.

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1719132376435941570

Lucky the time zone works out for me for once on this one. But not sure Cancun will be hosting it ever again considering the comments from pretty much everyone involved...

 

[spystud]

I'm in this time zone, 5:00 pm on a Monday just feels weird.

3-0 Iga now.

 

[spystud]

5-0, all over but the handshake.

 

[coolcamden]

Good God! Marketa led 5-2 then lose 10+ straight games.

 

[spystud]

Clearly I hexed Marketa by turning this on.

 

[marc45]

Iga's Bakery open

 

[Aussie Darcy]

Good God! Marketa led 5-2 then lose 10+ straight games.

She had one hold to force the tiebreaker to get to 6 games but yeah lost 10 of the next 11 games after serving for the first set at 5-2.

 

[Aussie Darcy]

It's a bagel kind of day. Gauff feeds one to Jabeur.

6-0 in 24 minutes.

 

[spystud]

This tourney is really embarrassing so far.