Davenport: mentally disappointing

[ferrari_827]

Although Lindsay is a great technician, awesome strokes, it's her mind that has stopped her from winning alot more slams.

She's improved but there's no way she's going to have the mind of a Sharapova, Seles, Graf, or Henin. Sad to say, this type of tennis mind is something you're born with.

Sometimes, Davenport just really loses it mentally and misses even her routine shots. But when she is on, Lindsay is just breathtaking, hitting winners all over the place effortlessly. In this state, her game is the most beautiful I've seen from a woman.

 

[Coria]

I don't know about that. When Navratilova was at the top of her game, she could hit every shot. Davenport, could never move as well, serve and volley as well, hit drop volleys or display the wide array of athleticism.

 

[bb47]

Respect people for what they are not for what you would like them to be. Davenport with Sharapova's mind? Why? Was she also born in Siberia? Was she a Hungarian tennis immigrant (I mean, no offence)? A German heavy horse ( ups, sorry, that was absolutely unintentional), a Belgian dw.. oh, no no forget it I'll better talk to you later. You've got the idea anyway.

 

[VashTheStampede]

That was crazy when she was serving to stay in the second set. She just rushed like crazy, and double faulted. She's a veteran, and you'd think that she would be a little tougher mentally. She made the right move by taking a bathroom break.

 

[The tennis guy]

Respect people for what they are not for what you would like them to be. Davenport with Sharapova's mind? Why? Was she also born in Siberia? Was she a Hungarian tennis immigrant (I mean, no offence)? A German heavy horse ( ups, sorry, that was absolutely unintentional), a Belgian dw.. oh, no no forget it I'll better talk to you later. You've got the idea anyway.

Agree. Players are different, have different personalities. Respect that.

 

[raftermania]

and Molik: mentally impressive

That down the line return winner facing a matchpoint??? I guess she didn't want to "die wondering" whether she could make it or not

 

[splink779]

I havent watched her in a while, but i caught the Molik match. She was moving incredibly slow! Is Davenport always that slow? Some of the shot she wasnt even trying to reach; shots others could have at least sliced back.

 

[William Bedford]

I must admit I have been disapointed with the quality of play on the womens side. Davenport hit 39 winner in that match and commited 40 unforced errors. In almost every single womens match this year at the open, you will find that in the match as a whole, more unforced errors are commited than winners. Ditto for the Dechy Schnyder match. I dont understand all these coments about womens tennis being "as strong as ever". Funny how most times that comment comes from a former female player.......

 

[raftermania]

..well it was incredibly hot out there

 

[alienhamster]

Glad this thread is here:

(1) Can't agree more about Davenport's brain. Except for her movement, I absolutely love her game. Her groundstrokes are so strong, deep, and clean. Just a beauty to watch. But she's SO frustrating sometimes. Often she'll get ridiculously negative for no reason and just donate points/shots. And YES, she does seem that slow very often, particularly when it's hot and/or late in a match. Part of why she was able to win that match against Molik is because she actually ran down some of the big points and came into net at the right times. She should do that more.

(2) As far as I can tell, it's the norm in women's matches that the errors exceed the winners. At least part of the reason is the absolute lack of net play: whenever you have at least one net-rusher, it depresses the unforced error count and usually bulks up the winners. But that can't be the entire explanation. Is it lots of overhitting? I'm not really sure, but it's part of why the tennis (for me, at least) is so much less appealing on the women's side.

 

[Defcon]

I was thinking of making a thread about this very topic!

Here's what I think of Lindsey and her game -

- one of the cleanest hitters of the ball. In pure ball striking and timing I'd rate as the best woman, almost equal to Agassi. She always seems to middle the ball, which is why even with her flat strokes she gets such accuracy

- she is NOT an athlete. Seriously, she's one of the worst movers ever.

- gives up too easily. Good front runner but doesn't have a lot of fight or focus. I was happy to see her win a close match

- one of the few women who plays doubles, has tons of doubles titles, and can actually volley. Reminds me of Hingis in that regard. Its a pity she never tries SV, it'd be perfect with her big serve

- this has been said many times, but she's too nice for her own good. Killer instinct means having a healthy disregard for your opponent and she doesn't.

- like most 'big' women, doesn't seem to play with any strategy except hitting big shots and winning with power. But unlike most, due to her doubles play she has the skills to try somethgin else.

I think a lot of this can be attributed to bad coaching. Guidance in the right direction and more self belief would have led her to a lot more slams.