2024 WTA Finals - General Discussion
- Thread starter Aussie Darcy
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Aussie Darcy
Bionic Poster
Wonder what Goran was thinking when he decided to join her team. Hope he somehow turns it around for her.
Aussie Darcy
Bionic Poster
Double fault by Rybakina gives the first break to Zheng..
Let's see if Elena can recoup or if she bails. She's already looking unhappy but that's not new for her.
Let's see if Elena can recoup or if she bails. She's already looking unhappy but that's not new for her.
Purestriker
Legend
Looks like a breadstick heading her way.
Rybakina is barely half the player she was at the beginning of 2024. Then, she appeared capable of challenging Swiatek and Sabalenka for WTA supremacy. Now it's considered consoling if she can win a single set combined against the likes of Paolini and Zheng. And the decline appears to have been almost entirely psychological, regardless of the frequent injury/illness claims. I don't know what Ivanisevic is capable of, but if Rybakina were a team rather than a solo athlete, 2025 would be planned as a rebuilding year, not a contending year.
Pheasant
Legend
It's a bummer that Rybakina has appeared to suffered from burnout. She mentioned that she's been battling insomnia. Now granted, she had a lot of added stress from her back injury earlier this year. I just hope that she can remain healthy while also fixing this burnout issue. Look, I get it. burnout is real. It's a grind nowadays to remain competitive. The commitment that is required is incredible. I hope that Rybakina can get back to her peak level.
On another note, Gauff drastically dialed down her doublefaults vs Pegula. And look what happened. She absolutely destroyed Pegula. As I said before, Coco has the ability to win it all if she can serve well. Let's see what happens.
On another note, Gauff drastically dialed down her doublefaults vs Pegula. And look what happened. She absolutely destroyed Pegula. As I said before, Coco has the ability to win it all if she can serve well. Let's see what happens.
Dominic & Andrey
Legend
Saba is such a beast atm.
D-Lite
Hall of Fame
Looking forward to seeing a sharper Gauff against a less in form Swiatek. If it doesn't go 3 sets at least then Gauff really needs an overhaul. Would have liked to have seen Sabalenka play then both this tournament but we will see who she clashes with.
Connor35
Semi-Pro
Tomorrow should be interesting. It seems like it's Coco's best chance given Iga's form yesterday.
placebo
Rookie
Sabalenka is the clear favorite but she has her moments where she falters under pressure (like set 2 vs. Paolini). Though it was a slower surface in Wuhan, Coco would have beat Sabalenka without all the double faults. Even with them, it was still a close match. Coco is definitely a dark horse here if she can tame the double fault demons.
robyrolfo
Hall of Fame
As others have said, it doesn't matter. This is an investment in promoting the country as a "normal" and modern place. This is a country that simply handed a couple of billion dollars to Jared Kushner for some political favor. Money is like nothing to them...
I would say Pegula looking AWFUL had something to do with it. She literally couldn't find the court for most of the match, consistently landing balls 6-12 inches behind the baseline and looking at her team as if she had no idea why the balls kept sailing long. She handed it to Gauff.
Honestly, I was watching Rybakina today and wondering how anyone can root for her. Sure, she seems nice, looks nice, and has potential to play well... but more often than not she seems completely low-energy, disinterested, and makes tons of silly and unnecessary mistakes. Must be insanely frustrating to be her fan.
Aussie Darcy
Bionic Poster
Really excited for Krejcikova v Pegula.
I feel JPeg has looked checked out since the US Open final loss, looked woeful during the Asian swing and easily lost to Gauff.
Krejcikova hasn't looked good pretty much since she won Wimbledon although she was so close to beating Swiatek to start this tournament.
I feel Barbora has a lot to prove while JPeg couldn't care less.
I feel JPeg has looked checked out since the US Open final loss, looked woeful during the Asian swing and easily lost to Gauff.
Krejcikova hasn't looked good pretty much since she won Wimbledon although she was so close to beating Swiatek to start this tournament.
I feel Barbora has a lot to prove while JPeg couldn't care less.
Aussie Darcy
Bionic Poster
Krejcikova is one of my favourite players when she’s on but man she’s just been so inconsistent it’s been hard to watch her matches. She hasn’t had a top 100 win since Wimbledon and here she is at the WTA Finals almost beating Swiatek and now up a set on JPeg.
Aussie Darcy
Bionic Poster
JPeg continues to look checked out, this’ll be over quickly i think.
Moose Malloy
G.O.A.T.
she beat Sorribes Tormo, Wang and Svitolina at the Olympics, I think they were all top 100 at the time, maybe even top 50.
zvelf
Hall of Fame
Ivanisevic is a great choice for coach for Rybakina. He improved Djokovic’s serve, and while Rybakina has a great serve, her first serve percentage is way too low. Her service motion just looks technically awkward. If Goran can smooth that out and she can raise that by 5-10%, it would take her to another level from where she is currently. I don't know that her movement can be fixed, but Elena's anticipation is poor and she is too reactive. A coach should be able to make improvements for her on tactics. Also, her forehand is a mess. When she's on, it's a weapon, but when she's off, we get forehand errors galore. Hopefully, Goran can steady that forehand.
On a different note, Hsieh Su-Wei at nearly 39 years old continues to be really fun to watch. Yesterday, Kichenok hit an overhand slam near the net right at Hsieh's feet while she was standing in no man's land, and Hsieh does her usual nonchalant sticking out of her racquet and the ball goes down the line for a winner. Hsieh may be the most unorthodox women's player ever.
D-Lite
Hall of Fame
6-3 6-4 in Gauff's favour.
So glad to see Gauff finally get another W in the lopsided H2H.
Hope we see Sabalenka v Swiatek and Sabalenka v Gauff this tournament. Gauff was playing well in Wuhan, I think if her serve produced half the number of DFs she could have done the China 1000 double.
So glad to see Gauff finally get another W in the lopsided H2H.
Hope we see Sabalenka v Swiatek and Sabalenka v Gauff this tournament. Gauff was playing well in Wuhan, I think if her serve produced half the number of DFs she could have done the China 1000 double.
zvelf
Hall of Fame
For someone who typically plays with so much topspin, Swiatek's control was completely missing today. Swiatek was trying to play too much like Sabalenka, going for winners when she hadn't properly set up the point and ending up with low-percentage shots. Swiatek has been playing like that to some degree for a while now, but it's not tactically the best for her game, at least not against the top players. All that said, outside of Gauff's horrible double faults, she played well.
Im(moral) Winner
G.O.A.T.
Haha
Dunlop300g
Rookie
Coco "No Choke-O" nice job in working over Swiatek! It's a step in right direction for Coco and hopefully she can put together many more wins in this matchup!
robyrolfo
Hall of Fame
Seriously, Swiatek was just horrible. Even in the post match interview, Gauff admitted that she didn't play particularly great, but she just needed to stay solid and let Swiatek implode.
The level of play so far in these finals has been really bad. These are the top WTA players, but most of them are playing like the rest of the current tour: just try to hit harder rally balls than your opponent, and see who misses first.
Seems like Muchova is the only one around right now actually trying to construct points, and maybe Sabalenka as well if you just count hitting hard from side to side. The rest just bash and wait for something to develop, which plays very well into Gauff's game.
AM75
Hall of Fame
The level in doubles is much higher honestly. The only players who are really bad in doubles are Penko/Kilchenok. They show disastrous tennis, it‘s mindblowing that they won a Slam this year.
NaomiKonjuhPotapova
G.O.A.T.
Gaufff own Muchova
ScottleeSV
Hall of Fame
He's in better sporting health than Jabeur to be fair
ScottleeSV
Hall of Fame
Starting to wonder if Swiatek is heading for a Hingis style freeze on the Grand Slam Trophy count. Looks vulnerable all of a sudden against most players who would qualify as 'good'. That collapse against Zheng from 4-0 up on clay has done a lot of lasting damage, I think.
Aussie Darcy
Bionic Poster
Sweet god.
Swiatek had 15 winners and 47 unforced errors.
Gauff with just 10 winners and 33 unforced errors.
And a straight sets match???
I blame Saudi Arabia for such a woeful result between 2 of the 3 best players in the world....
Yikes.
Swiatek had 15 winners and 47 unforced errors.
Gauff with just 10 winners and 33 unforced errors.
And a straight sets match???
I blame Saudi Arabia for such a woeful result between 2 of the 3 best players in the world....
Yikes.
Aussie Darcy
Bionic Poster
Mm it's her first tournament since the US Open having missed the whole Asian swing. And with a new coach, hard to adjust straight away and she's not someone who jumps coaches often like the Pliskova's or Muguruza's of their day.
I'm not ready to write her off for winning slams, but agree she's not exactly looking threatening at any slam that isn't the French Open.
JJGUY
Hall of Fame
Yeah I watched last night, Gauff didn't really need to do much, after broke Gauff first I thought Iga was going to run away with it, but right the next game it seemed Iga suddenly lost her game, she was hesitant and her shots lacked the conviction, she was broken almost to love with little resistance, I think that's when Gauff realized Iga was clueless, jus put the ball back and saw her collapse.
,
Aussie Darcy
Bionic Poster
Yikes.
Top seeds Ostapenko/Kichenok go 0-3 in the RR stage and are out.
Last years finalists Melichar/Perez beat them 6-1 6-3 and are into the SF.
Top seeds Ostapenko/Kichenok go 0-3 in the RR stage and are out.
Last years finalists Melichar/Perez beat them 6-1 6-3 and are into the SF.
ScottleeSV
Hall of Fame
I'm not writing her off. Talent wise she's probably still the best in the world, but tactically she's been all over the place for a while now, and that used to be a strength. We'll see what next season brings with the new coach.
tennis4me
Hall of Fame
Coco was "losing ugly" with her DF during Brad Gilbert's tutelage with 21 DF and supposedly "serve" was not even a priority "to fix".
Aussie Darcy
Bionic Poster
Zheng obliterated Paolini 6-1 6-1 in 1 hour and 8 minutes.
Zheng hit 12 aces. Impressive.
Zheng hit 12 aces. Impressive.
tennis4me
Hall of Fame
This thread is as empty as the stadium 
.
Zheng completely obliterated Paolini with double bread sticks in just over an hour. Zheng's serves have improved so much. It's now used as a weapon and as a free get-out-of-jail card to save her from breakpoints. She even finished the match today with an ace
It's really quite an amazing transformation from someone that used to be one of the most promising but inconsistent players - both from groundstrokes and serves. It was definitely a good day for her, everything was working extra well today.
.Zheng completely obliterated Paolini with double bread sticks in just over an hour. Zheng's serves have improved so much. It's now used as a weapon and as a free get-out-of-jail card to save her from breakpoints. She even finished the match today with an ace
It's really quite an amazing transformation from someone that used to be one of the most promising but inconsistent players - both from groundstrokes and serves. It was definitely a good day for her, everything was working extra well today.
Connor35
Semi-Pro
vs. Top 5 players, Iga was #1 this year (5+ matches)
vs. Top 10 players Iga was T1 this year (with Aryna at 9-4; 10+ matches).
vs. Top 20 players Iga was #2 this year (Aryna #1).
(thanks tennisabstract.com for the data)
We need to remember that Iga is in a weird coaching purgatory right now, so I wouldn't overthink her current game.
If she still looks lost in Jan-March, I'll start to worry.
tennis24x7
Hall of Fame
The same applies for Rybakina. IF the starts serving well then she can turn around her career. I think she bottles her emotions too much, she needs to let it out scream a little when she misses, and she will be fine.
Pheasant
Legend
Hopefully, she can turn things around. It's more interesting with her in the mix.
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