That needs some context. The most notable drop E.R took was from about 16th to 80th after the 2022 US Open. This was after a bitsy injury-plagued sort of a season.
She finished the year 78th and then stayed roughly in that same sort of area in the rankings until April 2023 when she was about 70th-75th. At that point she dropped off the tour and went for surgeries....
Blah, blah... stop with the injuries. She also fired a million coaches in the year after winning the USO, and half or her retirements weren't for legit injuries, but just anxiety or good old being out of shape.
Yes, surgeries are a real thing, but if you don't have the body for professional sports, you don't have the body for professional sports. There are many such cases...
The hypocrisy here is that it was meaningful enough for you to cite that she beat no top 20 players in her USO win, but when you find out that she really did beat some top 20 players, then you suddenly dismiss that and say it's not meaningful. It's common when one is losing the argument to move the goal post you yourself initially set, which is exactly what you did here.
So taking the best clay-courter currently playing into a tiebreak is getting steamrolled? Did you even watch the match? It was mostly a close affair with many games going to multiple deuces in both the first and second set. Only near the end did Iga raise her game to another level and take the win from there.
Oh dear, you don't know what "hypocrisy" means, do you? Another trip to the dictionary is in order.
Ok, let's ignore what they were ranked at the time (because that really isn't the point), and simply call them by their names. Bencic and Sakkari. Those were the toughest two opponents she faced... which is to say, not very tough at all.
And "the best clay-courter" just got tossed from the tournament by a decent hard court and grass player. Iga was playing poorly, and simply stopped playing poorly at a certain point, but she was hardly anything special.
has Iga ever lost five games in a row on clay?...Elena doing to her what she's done off of clay...Iga really making a lot of errors though, on balls she's set up for too including an early forehand that would have solidified her early lead...a lot of errors vs. Emma yesterday too...I know this is different conditions than RG but still something to see...let's see if Iga can come from behind
Swiatek has been too error prone for a while now. Usually she can get away with it against weaker opponents (like Raducanu), but Rybakina kept her honest.
Rybakina is becoming Iga's Kryptonite. Iga is 2-4 against Rybakina excluding echo. Rybakina's power game really pressured Iga, preventing her from hitting her usual loopy FH that troubles many players.
Again, Swiatek is a weak #1, and even on her "best surface" her game is actually pretty limited. Where was her plan B? The world #1 doesn't even have a serviceable slice backhand she can use? Geez.
Elena made it look routine playing the #1 player on her best surface.
See above. Players like Hingis, Henin and Graf probably wouldn't drop a single set in the ENTIRE clay season if they were on tour now.
Maketa went out without much of a fight.
She never looks like she is fighting/trying. Even when she wins, it generally looks quite casual. That's just her way...
