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Jamie Hampton is reminding me of Marcelo Rios
11 Comments · Posted by Scoop Malinowski in Articles, Scoop
Jamie Hampton reminds me of a righty Marcelo Rios. Is anyone watching her vs. Azarenka right now? Her strokes off both wings look like Rios, the bounce in her step, the smooth movement, the pony tail and the slight Asian features, her demeanor between points.
I’m going to do a Biofile with Jamie this year and I’m certain one of her inspirations is Rios.
Hampton is 23, an American from Auburn, Alabama, was born in Frankfurt, Germany, and is ranked at a career high #63 now.
I’ve only seen her play one other time, a few weeks ago she was battling Radwanska on Tennis Channel and I was intrigued and impressed by the very difficult test she was giving the #4 ranked Polish champion. Hampton is not of large stature but she has a solid, graceful game and is a very good competitor. I like what I’m seeing.
Martina Navratilova just said on the Tennis Channel telecast she played in college and she thinks her game will mature and she will become a better player. Navratilova says she likes the way Hampton plays but added she needs a bigger weapon. Martina remarks that she thinks Jamie has a good chance at a “slam semi.”
Lindsay Davenport, is also impressed, saying Hampton has improved from last year and she is a different player now, and she thinks Hampton has potential to continue to improve even more.
Martina: “The score (5-1 for Azarenka) doesn’t reflect how well Hampton has played, she’s playing a good match. I definitely see Jamie moving up the rankings if she continues to play like this.”
Hampton did that and more, she amped up her effort vs. Azarenka and won three straight games, including breaking the #1 seed twice. All the sudden the score is 5-4. Martina says Hampton’s “attitude is fantastic.”
Martina and Lindsay both laud Hampton
Sam · January 18, 2013 at 9:11 pm
Watching her too right now. I think I’ve found the underdog that I’ll follow through 2013.:-) Hope her back survives the match against Azarenka today …
Scoop Malinowski · January 18, 2013 at 9:23 pm
Sam, she looks great, what a match. Her back seems perfect during the point, seems like a possible suspect injury. But there’s nothing suspect about her game. A star was born. She made at least two new fans at tennis-prose.com, welcome to the site Sam thanks for your comment.
Harold · January 19, 2013 at 9:25 am
I guess you dont have to win matches anymore to be labeled a “star”…take a set off a top player and its away you go with all the praise..she’s 23, not 18…ranked 63…where is this star going? top 30? top 20?no way top 10….
Scoop Malinowski · January 19, 2013 at 9:30 am
She had a wrist injury that bothered her for years. Navratilova said she sees Hampton in slam semis someday. If you can make semis you’re only three sets from finals. Hampton, if she can keep playing like last night and keep improving is headed to stardom.
Scoop Malinowski · January 19, 2013 at 9:35 am
Hampton took Radwanska to 67 67 in the final of the WTA event two weeks ago, she won matches to make that final. She won a lot of matches to get to #63 in the world. She played fantastic last night and had the #1 seed looking extremely confused, extremely frustrated, smashing her racquet. Hampton is on her way to stardom. Two legendary stars of tennis – Navartilova and Davenport – both sang high praises of Hampton. Takes a star to know one.
Andrew Miller · January 20, 2013 at 8:19 am
Saw some of the match on youtube after reading this post. Great strokes – to get more “Rios” in there she’d need to perfect the serve, add some more disguise on the shots and need to mix it up earlier in the rallies. Rios at his best made opponents feel like they did not know how to play tennis – Hampton has the right shots but would probably need to practice the Rios style to get it down. What Rios did needs practice to do it, I think Scoop said he began playing like Rios and it’s a deliberate thing to do, someone has to do it consciously and then it becomes normal. Then she could sneak up on more top players. Nonetheless, she obviously shows a lot of grit! I liked the power on the shots, she showed some flashes of an Agassi style or Zvonareva, she certainly belts the ball. That’s part one. Part II is adding creativity.
Scoop Malinowski · January 20, 2013 at 12:18 pm
Andrew, welcome back thanks for commenting, you always make terrific enjoyable comments. I’m trying to connect with Hampton on facebook to ask her if Rios was one of her inspirations. Agree, I think she needs to add some deception and creativity to be more Rios like. She also reminds me of Henin with her forehand and her stature and court demeanor and shark like eyes and concentrated facial expression. I see so many excellent qualites about Hampton. LIke you say she is a work in progress, it will be exciting to see her progress. You are right, I did try to play and feel like Rios on the court, that loose feeling, controling the ball and hitting different shots. Also tried wearing a toupee with a ponytail but it just wouldn’t hold. haha. BTW I tried the style of Rios, with a one hander of course, also incorporated the Hewitt bulldog mindset because I liked it and also I was yelling come ons a year or two before he burst on the scene, so when I saw him play I felt a kind of connection and validation. Hewitt and Rios were big inspirations at the start of my playing competitive tennis. Proud to say I chose them as inspirations long before each became #1.
Mikey · January 21, 2013 at 1:31 am
Yep I agree Scoop, unfortunately looks like she is emulating Rios’s back injuries as well, which is not a good thing at this early stage of her career.
Scoop Malinowski · January 21, 2013 at 8:12 am
Great point Mikey! It seems the players may be very very sophisticated in their methods of using injuries in psychological warfare. Like John McEnroe said, “It’s been scientifically proven that injuries hurt more when you’re losing.” : ) Welcome to the site.
Andrew Miller · January 21, 2013 at 4:13 pm
One thing for Hampton – aint afraid of top players! That is a good sign – she recognizes that the keys to the kingdom, as a lower ranked player, go through the top players, so she wins the matches she should and gets a look in the matches she believes she should win against the best. Any player that is a gamer (like Ferrer – that guy is just dogged – it’s impossible for me to knock him given that he will do everything possible to continue to give himself chances on the court. Sure, it may not pan out, and the scoreboard will say he loses at the end. But he gives everything, every single second and is one of the best players to watch). All good stuff. Yeah some definite power off each wing and like Scoop said, for her size I think that’s about as hard as she can hit the ball. Seems like a fighter too who likes the fight ( that is also an attribute of an elite player ). All my favorites for the WTA are out…Kirilenko, Sabine Lisicki, Flavia Pennetta. Pennetta was training with Nadal, her buddy.
Like Scoop said many good things in Hampton. Probably the best thing that could happen would be to keep taking out the strengths, refining them, add a few more looks and let her loose on tournaments to keep making top players uncomfortable. She seems to have an edge, and that’s what makes an elite player.
Andrew Miller · January 21, 2013 at 4:20 pm
I think Dan would call me on my WTA favorites: none of them have won a slam (and a bit hard to see them do it, but you never know!). And it’s true. They are just good looking, game included. I fell in love with Daniela Hantuchova’s backhand, but her mental frailty in big matches makes her fall apart and shows (very sadly I think) that technique is not what separates the best from the rest. It’s grit.