Glad to see Muchova on the mend. We need her back on tour, in more ways that one.
Really, really poor sportsmanship from Kalinskaya against Hunter in R1. It's these things that really turn us off certain players.
Kalinskaya should not have accepted the point, she should have replayed it.
I would reply to Ben Rothenberg on twitter, but that doughnut blocked me for pointing out another one of his ridiculous, clueless "takes" on the sport he covers.
So that means you get the pushback,
@Aussie Darcy. What's so bad about this? Yes, she could have given her the point back, but I don't really think it is expected. The timing of the let call was a sort of insane coincidence (what are the odds of a let taking place on an adjacent court, the very instant that a serve is going over the net on a trajectory that is rather tight to the net. Gotta be astronomical...) That said, this is the PRO tour, Storm Hunter. You may look like one of the moms from the local tennis club, but at this level they are playing for money and playing for keeps. Sure, the let call from the other court was audible, but she should have seen that her own serve didn't hit the net, and she should also be able to recognize the calls from another court as opposed to her own, and with any doubt in her mind (which should have been there for those two reasons) she should have kept playing.
Hunter can also keep her 'holier than thou' attitude while asking her opponent if she was going to keep the point. It's not her fault it happened, and although she could agree to replay the point, if she was aware of what was going on (that it wasn't a let visually, and that the call came from another court), then why shouldn't she keep it? This is nothing like that incident last year with Sara Sorebes-Tormo (spelling) and her doubles partner lobbying for the other team to get DQ'd, and then laughing about it. That was the type of thing that really turns people off.
Who needs a coach? Maria takes the first at 2.
You kid, but I get the feeling that Maria is such a bird-brain that she might actually be thinking this. Novarro is a good player in decent form, and I'm surprised that Sakkari managed to win, but I can also see how this was a good matchup for Sakkari, considering how Navarro plays.
Anyway, firing her coach isn't a long term solution for Sakkari. Her problem is between her own ears, and that isn't going to change.
Interesting to see this player Tatjana Maria, a 36yo player from germany with a one-handed backhand(!). A lot of bh and fh slices from her too. Svitolina, her opponent just won the first set 6-3. Tatjana had her first WTA250 win at Mallorca in 2018, and won last year and the prior at Bogota. It makes me wonder if Henin somehow came back on tour five years ago at 36. But Tatjana has been on tour continuously since 2002.
No need to wonder: if Henin came back at 36 she would dominate this tour. Seriously. It's bad right now. Forget about the inconsistent performances from the top players, just look at how they play. Last week's final was supposed to be two of the very best in the world right now (Swiatek and Rybakina), and so many points consisted of them immediately getting into rallies where they simply bashed the ball at one another straight down the middle of the court, waiting for the other one to create some sort of angle either intentionally (typically not the case) or through a little bit of mis-timing. Any top player from the past with a little tactical acumen and variety would have tied them in knots. Just look at who was dominating the game before she walked away: Ash Barty. A physically unimposing player with nothing particularly remarkable about her game and no real weapons, other than her ability to use her brain and actually play with variety.
I watched only a recap of Sabalenka's match, and after this 2 min I was annoyed for rest of a day. How on Earth people can go and watch her matches? That kind of grunting should be outlawed.
I find that she is actually LESS annoying when you watch her play a full match. I think you just get used to it at a certain point, and start to tune it out subconsciously.
