Miami Open Media Tournament

Good idea! Varied content would be welcome. Eddie Herr, OJ bowl, etc. Theres a load of photos on my facebook page but no video.

Cool story Scoop.

Unrelated, but I was wondering what’s been up with Tommy Paul, and he is a total enigma and nowhere to be found since January. Here are some of the players he beat last year: Pouille, Chung, Muller, Fritz, Ebden, Jaziri, Young. He made it to the QF in Washington DC and lost a close 3 setter to Nishikori. He also made it to the QF in Atlanta. He looked so good in certain matches but also had some really bad losses in challengers. When is he going to reappear?

Catherine, I had not read Myles’ piece, so read it just now. Talk about a lot of possibilities of where to play! I don’t usually watch Genie’s matches, but people were talking about what she and Errani were wearing, so out of curiosity had a look at the match and saw the last few games. Actually, she did play badly in those games, it was more a matter of Errani playing very well – getting the ball right in the corner sort of thing.

It sounds like Bouchard has two big issues right now, keeping a team together, especially retaining a coach, and dealing with pressure. She needs an excellent sports psychologist to help sort out whatever is holding her back mentally. Louis Borfiga, head of high performance development at Tennis Canada, said a few months ago that Genie was practicing well, but was thinking too much on the court. He is probably right.

I don’t see her retiring from tennis. Despite what many people think, she is committed to the sport. And am not sure what taking a break would accomplish. When she came back she would be facing the same problems she is dealing with now.

Anyway, she has no choice but to play smaller tourneys. I don’t know if that will take some of the pressure off or not. But that seems to be key for her now – finding a way to deal with pressure.

Thanks Catherine. Bouchard played well in spots but awful when the pressure pts came. She hits every ball the same speed. Hard. Too predictable. Must add variety and guile. Cant recall seeing less intelligent tennis. She choked in the end. The effort and intensity are there but she must add dimensions to her arsenal. And overcome this choking.

The Kasatkina vs McHale match was interesting. Dasha is the defending champ. She got off to a slow start and told her coach that she was so nervous that she was shaking. He said there was nothing he could do and she had to clear her head. She turned the set around and won it. But McHale played well enough to win the 2nd, before Dasha ran away with the third.

Hopefully she is over her nerves and will be able to play her best tennis for the rest of the tourney. She has a real shot at winning it again.

Why is Kasatkina so nervous ? She’s won plenty of matches. I saw some uncomplimentary comments about her weight – maybe comfort eating 🙂

Now Dasha is a player with potential to dig out a bit of variety, but won’t happen if she’s nervous. She’ll just hit conservatively and send everyone to sleep. She’s got to believe in her talent. CBT might help.

Scoop – I’m sure Ahn’s very good, but honestly anyone can beat Stosur these days. I seriously wonder why she doesn’t retire gracefully. Same with Petko. What can they get out of playing tournaments now except more time to admire the scenery?

Ahn took Julia Georges to 3 sets – although Julia’s far away from the player she was a few months ago. So I agree, Ahn’s worth looking at.

Julia made 60 UEs v Ahn – and led 4-0 before winning the tb by virtue of her serve. She’s in a nerve wobble and clay is not her best surface.

But take nothing away from Ahn.

Stollar resembles a young Sharapova but she has a more attractive game IMO. Had Konta on the ropes in many points.

Dismal crowds in Charleston. Looks funny when the winning player goes around after the match blowing kisses etc to 3 or 4 people.

Interesting Scoop, I couldn’t find out much about her. Of course it did occur to me that Konta is Hungarian too by parentage and still has family there.

Fanny’s only 19, which these days means she has a fair number of years ahead to mature and improve.

Hartt – yes I think it must be very difficult in the low levels of the game, particularly if you have been a promising junior – with so much offered to you and so little delivered if you’re struggling. It’s a hard lesson in life, to find out how quickly people can lose interest – sponsors etc, so having a good family around can be a big help. Or like Ashleigh Barty, you have the strength and support to allow you to take a couple of years away from the game.

I noticed Denis lost to Coric in DC – not sure when that was. Did you see it ? Looked straightforward from the score.

I had another look at the NY Times article, and it did mention some of Stollar’s coaches. Her father was her first coach, but at the time of the article (June 2017) she had also worked with Federico Rodriguez and Adam Altschuler. She was represented by the Creative Artists Agency, so she did have an agent.

She had endorsements from Nike and Babolat, and a token financial contribution from the Hungarian tennis federation. Outside of her prize money, her family made up the rest. Her parents would contribute what they could until she could turn a profit, or at least break even, but did not know how long they could manage that. Her mother said: “We have to survive this period and hope it is short.”

The Hungarian female tennis player who I remember had a short career (due to recurring back injuries) was Agnes Szavay (#13 in 2008). I liked her game; she had a very good serve, but those injuries doomed her — without them, I think she’d have been a Top 10/20 stalwart.

In my day Balazcs Toroczy was a good clay court player and he also had a doubles partnership with Heinz Gunthardt.

They once won a doubles only indoor tournament in Birmingham Eng)at the National Exhibition Centre – a grim arena – bankrolled by Lamar Hunt of all people.

Can’t recall anything much else about Toroczy, whether he stayed in Hungary, went into coaching etc.
(I only remember the Birmingham event because a photo of Taroczy and Gunthardt was included in a tennis picture book the photog and I did together)

Hungarians had more freedom to travel in Communist days than players from some other Eastern Bloc countries.

Gunthardt coached Steffi at one time didn’t he ?

Gunthardt coached Graf for yrs. He’s around now doing tv commentating. I see him at us open each yr.

Scoop – Pavil Slozil coached Steffi from 1986 to ’91 so he’s the only one I knew much about. Heinz came after. When he was young Gunthardt was touted as the next Borg but that didn’t work out.

Apparently Naomi was in tears after the first set, saying she ‘didn’t want to be playing’. If that’s true then she should have retired from the match then and there. Or she should have w/d Charleston. What’s her team up to ?

Lots of clean hitting from Julia – 9 aces, no df, some great dropshots, all over the court. A convincing display. Julia must have one of the best dropshot techniques in the WTA.

And great embrace at the net.

Dasha shouldn’t be too cast down – Julia’s played her before, she knows her game, she’s 10 years + older and more experienced and her serve is currently firing. Dasha would not meet many women who can serve with Julia’s consistancy.

As I’ve mentioned before re Julia, I find her a clever and articulate player – she can analyse clearly what she had to do to beat her opponent, and how she did it.

Unfortunately she has this thing about GSs – just can’t get through more than a couple of rounds.