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A few words about the women’s side of the tourney
9 Comments · Posted by Scoop Malinowski in Articles, Scoop
Ana Ivanovic played one of her best matches in a long, long time to beat Stosur. She blew set points and lost the first set tiebreak but she regrouped and won the next two sets overcoming plenty of adversity. It’s easy to forget Ana was once the world’s best female player. She certainly looked it against Sam.
One of the most impressive occurences I’ve seen so far is the support the Aussie fans are giving Eugenie Bouchard. A group of about a dozen males are dressing up in Canada white and red and singing and dancing for their tennis queen. They sang Oh Canada and also did a dance routine for ESPN before her interview with Chris McKendry and Killer Cahill. It’s just fantastic to see a player arouse such passionate, colorful, boisterous and inspiring support from a group of fans. It matches anything I can remember seeing in tennis before.
Simona Halep is busting through the draw. Keen an eye on that future champion.
Quite an impressive win by Li Na bouncing back from match point down to beat Safarova. And the wide eyed reaction by the normally stoic coach Carlos Rodriguez was unforgettable. Rodriguez usually sits there almost mannequine like, such as other reserved coaches Paul Annacone, Brian Barker and David Nainkin.
Question: With all the ATP players hiring legends, do you think that dynamic will follow over to the WTA side, such as hiring coaches like Mary Pierce, Monica Seles, Jennifer Capriati or Iva Majoli?
Martina Navratilova and Tracy Austin were questioning Serena’s habit of taking a bathroom break after the warmup and before the first game. They said on Tennis Channel that Serena and Venus have been doing this for a while now and suggested in might be gamesmanship. Austin and Martina both pondered the idea of questioning Serena about it but Martina seemed tentative about that idea, expressing desire that such a question to Serena be filmed.
It looks like a blatant display of gamesmanship by Serena, an attempt to make the opponent wait for her. We’ll see if any players or media personalities have the guts to challenge Serena on this.
Eugeniemania has officially begun
Andrew Miller · January 17, 2014 at 8:11 pm
Ivanovic played like a champ! She brings that brand of tennis, it will be hard to beat her – especially if she serves bigger. Offense, defense – she looked like the women’s equivalent to Fedalovic (Federer, Nadal, Djokovic) out there. A few missed volleys that she should have made but other than the discomfort up at net and somewhat predictable serving, really was shocked by this Ivanovic. She looked like the French Open champ that she is.
Bouchard plays inside the lines. Can’t say I love her game!
One other shocker for me is this:
Seems many players that win a slam match that I’ve seen at the Australian has been celebrating as if they won the tournament! Is it the heat or are these players displaying more emotion than we’ve ever seen in matches? I lost track of all the Ivanovic fist pumps, come-ons etc – Cornet after beating Giorgi was downright delirious. I thought it might be because of the heat. I just don’t recall this level of celebration after early rounds.
Andrew Miller · January 17, 2014 at 8:13 pm
Bouchard may go farther than Raonic, but neither will equal Canada’s best player: Quebec-born Mary Pierce!
Scoop Malinowski · January 18, 2014 at 8:25 am
Regarding the emotions Andrew, I think the players are taking a cue from the leaders Serena and Maria who use emotional adrenaline and passion to propel them. Emotions make the difference. It’s even helping Stan now, Gasquet is doing it a little more now too. Venus plays very contained and reserved and look at her singles results….mediocre. Venus needs to get in touch with her emotions and use that source of energy.
Scoop Malinowski · January 18, 2014 at 8:29 am
Speaking of Mary Pierce, she was on the ballot for induction to Hall of Fame this year I think she will get voted in. I heard from a friend down here in Bradenton that she lives here and is very religious, she goes to church like seven days a week. She is coaching a junior girl here full time, I think the family is based here and Mauritius. Will try to learn more. A lot of former players have kids in USTA tourneys here – Martin Damm, Hana Mandlikova, Petr Korda. I like Bouchard a lot, she plays power tennis, she looks very big and strong and solid how she squares up and digs in and just drives the ball. Perfect form, I can see her getting to the top. She’s a HWT and made Lauren Davis look like a welterweight.
Andrew Miller · January 18, 2014 at 10:26 am
DY lost 5-7 1-6 0-6 to Nishikori. On one hand Nishikori should win this match easily. On the other hand DY needed to make it hard for Nishikori to do that.
DY did well to be last u.s. man standing similar to Smyczek last year at u.s. open.
But winning one game in final two sets – did DY get injured?
Andrew Miller · January 18, 2014 at 10:33 am
Dy was up 5-2,first set. Wheels came off.
Harold · January 18, 2014 at 11:14 am
Wheels came off? More like going over the cliff
Bryan · January 18, 2014 at 7:33 pm
Glad to see the Aussies support Eugenie Bouchard. I’ve been on her bandwagon since she turned pro, she’s an emerging star.
Also pleased with Dominika Cibulkova’s play. Saw her at Stanford when she won her first title in awhile last summer. She’s been playing with controlled aggression ever since.
Scoop Malinowski · January 19, 2014 at 8:03 am
Bryan I thought you were on Jovanovic’s bandwagon?:)