Sudacafan
Bionic Poster
Not too shabby for a world no. 2. She usually knows how to get away with all that, but it seems that she forgot how to do it today.
2026 Australian Open - Women's Discussion
- Thread starter Mark-Touch
- Start date
I was hoping muchova would do this by moving up on returns and putting pressure on coco serve but instead she stood way back on returns. If you put pressure with returns on Coco serve she will crack with doubles
PlaysInAviatorShades
Rookie
heck naaaahhh beating a hypejob like coco doesn't mean anything about your chances against The Sebmeister
JJGUY
Hall of Fame
I doubt it. If Sabalenka implodes somehow, Svitolina might be able to win, but Sabalenka is much better at controlling her frustrations now, so a total collapse seems unlikely.
Fabrivitx
Hall of Fame
I always forget that sabalenka hate her too and enjoys beating ukranian crying players
Fabrivitx
Hall of Fame
Gauff did that to herself, she seemed sleepy and not reactive whole match
ScentOfDefeat
G.O.A.T.
Good, at least we won't have Chokalenka gifting Gauff another major.
Svitolina really exposed her today. Could this be her year?
Svitolina really exposed her today. Could this be her year?
Larry Duff
G.O.A.T.
Tough day for the U S and A.
flyingboris
Legend
Just reading up on this. Apparently Coco hit 3 winners and 26 UE. I think I've seen worse totals, but that's not a great ratio.
tennis24x7
Hall of Fame
I think her back hand is top class. She will improve that more and has a good serve too.
tennis24x7
Hall of Fame
I like the new proposal the PTPA has submitted to a NY judge. It is high time the fragmented tennis orgs came together and paid a fare share.
AM75
Hall of Fame
It's a lot of money but less impressive in USD – $ 330 000 and then Australia will take a huge piece of it in taxes.
AM75
Hall of Fame
I ask myself did Gauff and Jovic had a game plan for their respective matches? It didn't look like they had. Gauff looked totally lost, Jovic didn't do anything to disrupt Sabalenka's game. At the same time Sabalenka seemingly had an idea how to play Jovic and Svitolina also knew what she should do and how to do it.
bluetrain4
G.O.A.T.
Not that surprised by the Coco loss, but am surprised by the score. This AO has had a lot of beatdowns in matchups I thought might be closer.
I read the stat sheet and what really stood out to me is that Coco had a first serve percentage of 74% but only won 41% of those points - which means her first serve is fairly ineffective. Granted if she's spraying errors on routine rally balls, then I guess you can't just blame it on the serve. But still, those two numbers together are rather shocking. I watched the highlights and she simply couldn't do anything that bothered Svitolina.
I read the stat sheet and what really stood out to me is that Coco had a first serve percentage of 74% but only won 41% of those points - which means her first serve is fairly ineffective. Granted if she's spraying errors on routine rally balls, then I guess you can't just blame it on the serve. But still, those two numbers together are rather shocking. I watched the highlights and she simply couldn't do anything that bothered Svitolina.
GhostDog
Hall of Fame
I'm really surprised by the Coco match results, it wasn't even competitive. Kudos to Svitolina who's off to a great start this season.
I would have much rather seen Sabalenka vs Gauff in the SFa as I think Svitolina will probably get crushed. Honestly, no one is beating Sabalenka on her current form.
I would have much rather seen Sabalenka vs Gauff in the SFa as I think Svitolina will probably get crushed. Honestly, no one is beating Sabalenka on her current form.
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bluetrain4
G.O.A.T.
Gauff SHOULD be pissed at herself and lose it. She knows it's a pathetic performance and she's understandably venting. I think it's a good thing.
ibbi
Talk Tennis Guru
Svitolina's rage hate with the woman who personally invaded her country has been in place for 4 years, and in 4 years and 4 meetings she's won 1 set. Not sure how much has changed, but it's certainly an entirely different matchup to the two fellow pushers she's played these last 2 rounds. She is on a 10 match win streak or whatever it is, but the closest match she's had so far here was with Shnaider, who likes to hammer the ball much like Sabs does. She's also 0-3 in major semis, so she's got being a choker to overcome too. Sabalenka can do that too, of course, but it's not quite as much of a problem.
THUNDERVOLLEY
G.O.A.T.
Although I like Svitolina's game, Sabalenka--at present--has the focus, and you do not want to be her opponent when she's in that mode on top of her incredible talent. If Svitolina plays with any unchecked, non-tennis emotions about Sabalenka, she will lose quickly. I doubt Sabalenka will even care about Svitolina's attitude when she's so close to returning to her natural place at the AO.
medieval_remnant
Rookie
Gauff's upper body collapse on her serve. Even when she gets it in it looks lucky and is probably easy to read. May be poor athleticism
Mark-Touch
G.O.A.T.
Your wish is my command.
I have added Elena to the mix.
I do think adding one-slam winners to the chart is instructive. Particularly those who are unlikely to win another.
We tend to downplay the careers of players who never managed to win a slam. I don't think that's fair.
Mark-Touch
G.O.A.T.
I'm not saying that Sab won't take out Svito, but if Coco could have made Sab cough up 40-50+ U.E.'s in a match
why can't Svito do the same?
Or put another way, which player Sab or Svito is more likely to get flustered when things aren't going right?
Mark-Touch
G.O.A.T.
Really?
So are you saying that Australia will tax the money and then the U.S. will tax what remains?
I never heard of that.
Moose Malloy
G.O.A.T.
I find the cameras everywhere thing, even the locker room(or whatever the room is where they warm up etc is) kind of pathetic. All this clickbait footage(Sab's making crude gestures with her team after losing AO final, many players sobbing as they walk down the hall after losing - "aw, isn't that a shame" from commentator on air while the producer in truck is probably cackling with glee)
Can you imagine Sampras, Courier, Agassi ok with this nonsense? Not to mention Mac and Lendl. Does any other sport do this? I remember Sampras hid in the TD's room right next to Ashe entrance so no one would see him leave locker and walk down that corridor(or maybe he didn't want other players to see his prep).
I'm surprised they haven't tried to get cameras in the crapper, fans today MUST see everything!! Coco clearly tried to find a place with no cameras, but sadly failed. And then the reporters who have virtually no interesting questions most of the time now have a gem of a question.
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Mark-Touch
G.O.A.T.
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Mark-Touch
G.O.A.T.
Moose Malloy
G.O.A.T.
true. I read the YouTube footage of this on the AO's channel is worth half of the year's prize money! Wonder if an unpaid intern has to just stare at a screen of this hallway all day to see if anything happens lol.
God our sport must be so boring to tv executives that any time is wasted on this.
bluetrain4
G.O.A.T.
Totally agree about the cameras.
AM75
Hall of Fame
Nope. I'm just saying that AUD is cheaper than US. The sum seems impressive (and is impressive) but it's AUD. And she will be taxed in Australia. USA has nothing to do with it, she's not an American resident.
Bill Lobsalot
Hall of Fame
The best forehands Coco hit all night.
Fabrivitx
Hall of Fame
Love that from the big belurussian valchiria
Fabrivitx
Hall of Fame
Thats a good one hah
Mark-Touch
G.O.A.T.
Not if Coco can't get by the 'Svitos' of the tour.
bw114
Professional
That’s what I meant. The more Coco is exposed as a good-but-far-from-great player the worse Sabalenka’s two slam final losses to her will feel
ibbi
Talk Tennis Guru
I think Zverev is the perfect comparison really because her issue is almost exactly the same one he had at the height of his problems. DF's galore, and a forehand you couldn't swat a fly with.
elkwood
Hall of Fame
Damn Sinki/Townsend vs Danili/krunic should have been a final... I like both teams and hate to see one knocked out before the final.
robyrolfo
Hall of Fame
Oh, she worked on it. She even hired a specialist (the same that helped Sabs)... It's just that the work didn't work!
I'm still impressed at the way Sabalenka turned it around, and it's pretty amazing that Coco seems nowhere near finding her way out of it.
And I love all those people that talked trash about Brad Gilbert after she fired him. How dumb do they look now? Brad was actually the best coach for her. Winning ugly is just about the only way she can win something big with all the issues in her game.
Yeah, that moment was incredible. She was nowhere near respecting it, and the umpire just looked the other way. What a joke.
Gauff never has a game plan other than getting to every ball and hoping her opponent misses, or some court opens up for her based on how her opponent tries to construct the point. When she plays really weak players, she also tries to overpower them a bit, too, but not in any particular way.
But then Sabalkena isn't some tactical master either. She just hits as hard as she can, left and right, usually alternating. That's it.
The current tour is all just who is hitting harder on a particular day. A rare exception like Muchova is too fragile, or not consistent enough to actually make her good tennis work. Graf and Navratilova would walk through these fields like butter.
robyrolfo
Hall of Fame
This! Why are people complaining? As soon as they leave the grounds, they are out of the spotlight, and they are VERY well compensated for the time in the spotlight.
Offer them less prize money for fewer cameras, and see what they say...
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