French Open Women's Draw

[davey25]

Woz has done nothing this clay season to indicate she will be a factor here. In addition to needing a bigger game she apparently needs to be smarter about how she schedules. How silly to keep playing endlessly with an obvious injury and ending nearly every event in retirement, yet still playing every week and making it worse. I have no idea what kind of coaching team would ever allow a young player to do that. Well I know what it is probably all about, her new #2 ranking at the time, and her obsession about that overcoming any sense of logic about protecting her body and giving herself a chance to make a full recovery which might have just taken a few weeks and already been completed had she actually been patient.

It seems the WTA tour has become obsessed with the rankings in a bad way. Safina playing with a serious back injury late last year in a desperate attempt to keep a truly hollow (without a slam title to her name) #1 ranking, and ending up missing a whole bunch of time this season as a result and now with her ranking, confidence, and momentum all shot her entire career in danger of plunging to the depths. One reason it is nice to see 2 players who dont take the "be all and end all" approach to the rankings, and care much more about the big events with rankings secondary, are actually to two to be ranked #1 and #2.

 

[jamesblakefan#1]

She's pretty overrated, and some (not meaning you) sold her as the next, big, slam-winning thing in tennis, but the current view does not seem like the fan-chatter had much merit.

She's still only 19. Don't you think it's a bit early to be doing the eulogy of her career? As far as being overrated - 90% of people on here term her as a pusher. Go see for yourself.

http://tt.tennis-warehouse.com/showthread.php?t=328913

That's being overrated?

As far as being a future slam winner - who knows at this point. She's 19 as I mentioned, and the next wave will come along eventually once WS Henin and Co inevitably fall back in 3-4 years. If Wozniacki develops her game more (not out of the realm of possiblilty at only 19), plays less (dear god please), and can stay healthy, she certainly at bare minimum should be a top 10 player for the forseeable future.

And with a slam final under her belt it's not like she's total hype. Though I do agree she probably won't do much damage here do to injury, she shouldn't be written off completely just b/c of a few bad months, when before that she'd been one of the most solid players on the women's tour and earned her #2 rank.

 

[MotherMarjorie]

She's pretty overrated, and some (not meaning you) sold her as the next, big, slam-winning thing in tennis, but the current view does not seem like the fan-chatter had much merit.

Woz has an ankle injury which has hampered her recent results. Mother Marjorie sees her future in future GS events much brighter than some in their late 20's, especially in Paris.

 

[vortex1]

Woz has an ankle injury which has hampered her recent results. Mother Marjorie sees her future in future GS events much brighter than some in their late 20's, especially in Paris.

Unless she acquires a functional forehand, she can forget about winning slams. She's called pusher for a reason. I see her body breaking down by the time she's 24 from playing everything in an attempt to keep her undeserved position in top 5.

 

[MotherMarjorie]

I remember there being alot of talk of Rezai as a big up and comer at the start of the decade but she really hasnt lived up to expectations.

Some people think that making it to a Tier I final (Madrid) validates a #2 ranking. Some people think that winning that same Tier I final (Rezai) is somehow underachieving.

Makes Mother Marjorie wonder about the logic of some individuals.

 

[THUNDERVOLLEY]

Unless she acquires a functional forehand, she can forget about winning slams.

..and I doubt that will happen, since it is clear she (and her coach) believe she's "arrived" as a serious slam contender.

She's called pusher for a reason. I see her body breaking down by the time she's 24 from playing everything in an attempt to keep her undeserved position in top 5.

Exactly...but at least one in this thread is too defensive to see this.

 

[soyizgood]

I remember not too long ago the Woz fans were bashing and howling me for criticizing her. With generation suck (Azarenka, Wixkmayer, Wozniacki, Radwanska, Pavlyuchenkova, Kleybanova, Oudin, etc.) some of them will likely win a slam. But I don't think it will happen until 2012. I had high hopes for Azarenka, but she needs a brain transplant.

In Woz's case, her game only works when her opponent plays as lousy as possible. She lacks initiative to finish off points, seems content to playing 25 events a year just to keep her rank up high, and has no killer instinct. She's at the moment the Davydenko of the WTA, but even then Davydenko has won 4 big events in his career while Woz has NO answers for when her opponent is playing well.

I don't expect Woz to do well at the Franch. Clay is her worst surface, she played 6 clay events leading up to the French, her game will be studied and taken apart by the bigger hitters, and unless she evolves you can forget about her winning a slam anytime soon.

 

[soyizgood]

Oops, posted in wrong thread. I can say there should be a lot of WTF moments here given how flaky folks are coming into this event.

 

[MotherMarjorie]

I don't expect Woz to do well at the Franch. Clay is her worst surface, she played 6 clay events leading up to the French, her game will be studied and taken apart by the bigger hitters, and unless she evolves you can forget about her winning a slam anytime soon.

Aside from Monica Seles at Wimbledon, how can any 19 year old have a "worst" surface? Woz hasn't been around long enough to figure that out yet. So how can you?

 

[soyizgood]

Aside from Monica Seles at Wimbledon, how can any 19 year old have a "worst" surface? Woz hasn't been around long enough to figure that out yet. So how can you?

You think she can only get better. I think her current game as is has no real room to improve short of smarter scheduling and having guts when facing top players (0-15 vs active former #1s.. come on even her fellow peers have a few scalps).

I once thought Chakvetadze was only going to go up, but that didn't happen. Ditto for Vaidisova. And look at Ivanovic having to work from scratch.

As it is, I see Woz as being a more successful version of Dulko and Radwanska, but not as successful as Jankovic. Jankovic actually has the mindset to play tough against the top players, even if she doesn't have much for weaponry herself.

How often have you seen successful juniors players struggle to evolve when playing pro? It happens all the time. She's done pretty well in the past two years, but she hasn't (at least not now) shown she's consistent in big events. She doesn't seem to care either because if she loses, she's playing in another tournament the next week ala Kafelnikov.

 

[jamesblakefan#1]

We'll see. 19 is still young. Like I said, if she starts scheduling better and worrying about her health more I think she can improve, and if you saw her match v Henin in Miami (which you didn't soy), you'll see that she can play more offensively when necessary against certain opponents.

 

[Greenfin Beta]

sharapova wins a grand slam on even numbered years. so far she has won one of each of the majors. the only one she hasn't won is the french.

2004 - wimbledon
2006 - u.s. open
2008 - australian open
2010 - french open???

 

[Underhand]

sharapova wins a grand slam on even numbered years. so far she has won one of each of the majors. the only one she hasn't won is the french.

2004 - wimbledon
2006 - u.s. open
2008 - australian open
2010 - french open???

No. .......

 

[Raiden]

sharapova wins a grand slam on even numbered years. so far she has won one of each of the majors. the only one she hasn't won is the french.

2004 - wimbledon
2006 - u.s. open
2008 - australian open
2010 - french open???

You do realize that in order for that to happen at Roland Garros, Pova has to (most likely):

• beat Juju in the 3rd round,
• bang Stosur in the 4th,
• then Serena in the next round, i.e. quater final
• then knock Jelena Jankovic out in the semi,
• and finally prevail over either Kuzzy Venus or Rezai in the final

 

[callmethedoctor]

^yeah, that ain't gonna happen anytime soon.