Bartoli Back

It seems Marion was forced out. Rumors of a ban are out there. She was happily talking about practicing on hard courts and the summer hard court swing then all the sudden quits. Fishy.

‘Great’ to me means reaching No 1 in the world and winning GS tournaments year on year, not just once.

I’m curious to see this comeback, it’s always intriguing to see how a player who has been away from competition for a significant length of time, does on their return. Borg, Muster, Seles, Baker, Date Krumm, Capriati were all intriguing cases and now Bartoli adds to that list. Good luck to Marion!

News on Murray front: Simon Briggs in DT considers Andy will be struggling to make AO, leaving his future unclear. He returned early from training in Florida.

And feeling seems to be growing that Serena isn’t going to be ready. A bad loss would not begin the year well for her. So I doubt she’d risk that.

Yes, Rob Steckley is Canadian. I don’t know why they split – Lucie was successful with Rob as her coach. He is known for giving good technical info while keeping a light atmosphere, and that seemed to suit Lucie. She often spoke about how he could keep her loose, and that helped her play her best tennis. He worked with a couple of the Canadian young girls over the past year, but don’t know what else he was involved with.

He and Lucie showed the two of them back as a team with, what else, a video, having been famous for their funny videos. It shows Rob arriving on a tennis court, Lucie saying something like you’re back and Rob replying, yes, he was stuck in traffic for the last year.

Yes, I hope Lucie has good results next season. She went through such a tough time with that lingering illness, and then her doubles partner, Bethanie Mattek-Sands, having that horrendous injury that she is due for some good things. Safarova, along with being a good player, is such an appealing individual that you want to root for her.

I guess London is looking a lot like Miami, if Murray returned home

https://www.facebook.com/andymurrayofficial/posts/10155155546356966

Hartt- bad news about Felix. Did he pick up the injury practising with Federer ?

Felix seems a bit injury prone.

Hartt-
Milos is the latest player (male) to go on about shortening the season because of injuries etc but I really think his comments are nonsense. He wants a 3 month break at the end of the year, the ATP finals before US Open (!!)and he thinks that will solve the problem.

3 months is ridiculous. The season would then become so concentrated, with DC and Laver Cup etc to cram in , that there’d probably be more injuries, not fewer.

It’s ok for top players to take long breaks but not for those lower down who need the matches and the money. And no player has to enter every single tournament.
If there’s a vacuum of 3 months then I’d bet heavily that some promoter would rush to fill it.

Injuries are part of high level competitive sport. In Britain there’s a lot of talk about football, cricket, rugby – but I think it’s up to individual players to manage their workload, with help from coaches and physios.

Milos is injury prone, as you’ve pointed out, maybe because of his body build. He has to live with that.

The women have around 2 months. I think that’s enough.

Given that Kyrgios is not exactly setting the tennis world on fire these days, I doubt others will follow his lead in this. Ranked No. 21, he is well behind peers such as Sascha at No. 4 and Thiem at No.5. He is even behind Pouille, ranked No. 18. He said something about getting to No. 13 without a coach, but that was in the past.

Fed was a rare player who had considerable success without a coach, but then he is the exception to all sorts of rules. And he has 2 coaches on board now.

I think Kyrgios is right, however, in saying that there is no point in having a coach unless he is willing to listen to that coach.

Re Marion Bartoli.

I think she has a lot of fans because she was always/often the underdog, and ended up winning a single grand slam, but the one she most wanted to win from age of 8 or whatever.

My wife and I watched her on the practice courts that year and since then have felt an (entirely false, obvs) connection with her!

That film Battle of the sexes. There was some discussion here but mostly about the real life events, in advance of the release. On the big screen the film in 35mm print looked fabulous. Emma Stone as BJK was luminously beautiful. The tennis scenes were very well done, so rare and hard to do. Despite the match outcome being well known, the film still ratcheted up considerable tension over the outcome.

Dd anyone else here see it?

Happy Christmas to Dan and Scoop, and to Catherine, Harrt, Duke, and all the regular comment people here.

Aussie Open 2018 in 3 weeks now! I am hoping Denis Shapovalov will go deep.
Prediction for Dimitrov as likely men’s finalist?!

Thanks Michael and Happy Christmas from Catherine (also in UK).

No predictions for AO because mystery currently surrounds who exactly is going to show up and what state they’ll be in if they do 🙂

The ATP tour is “lucky” from a marketing standpoint and more to have had a stable of bankable champions. On the wta tour there’s either a “I’ll be number one and that’s good enough” ethos or an “I’ll win a slam and hang up the racquet” ethos, neither of which make for compelling storylines.

I’ll call the wta the Falling Star tour.

Depending on how you see it that could be fine.

Andrew – how has Kvitova ‘lost the thread’ ? Seems to me she’s doing pretty well, all things considered.

You’re always on about how the WTA is somehow failing because because they don’t have Fed/Nadal. And you know I’d be careful mixing up the the WTA publicity blather with how the players really feel. We actually don’t have a clue. I’m sure many players want multiple slams etc but that’s never been the pattern.
You seem to have a contempt for them all.

‘Falling Star’ tour ? Who puts the ‘stars’ there in the first place ?

It’s the figures. Simona’s No 1 but I’m betting she might not be for long. Doesn’t mean she’s failed as a player or that she doesn’t deserve to be there.

Just accept it’s more of a level playing field without a dominant player. Who cares ? And like London buses,maybe there’ll be another along in a moment.

And Bartoli was ok but I’m betting she won’t be doing much now.

Scoop, Serena wasn’t even on tour after January! I guess all the players are stumbling in the dark. Maybe Ostapenko will discover she has an unlimited appetite for slams and big tournaments. Dunno.

Maybe this was just a messy year for the wta and that’s par for the course when the sharks are slowly but surely departing the sport.

Catherine, I agree that these players are committed. You don’t go through everything they must do to get to the top without big commitment. They are human, and can’t play their best, or find a way to win when not at their best, for every match.

And I agree that not trying is the worst thing. That is why I can’t be a Kyrgios fan until he proves that those days of tanking are behind him. And why I admire the players who give it their all until the last shot, even when things look pretty hopeless in a match.

Guess I am old school in thinking that results and commitment work together. Kerber was a shell of her 2016 campaign, delightful as that was.

What if these are the cats? That the mice are now the cats and this is the era of everyone is the same player and last week’s slam champ can take a year off or forever off because they don’t owe anyone anything, not the same level of effort or anything remotely close to the level of play from last week, month, etc.

Nah, I don’t see it. I’m amazed by parity and how opportunity freezes some players and those who seize it then give up in some ways.

That’s why Nadal, Federer, former champs Navratilova etc, Williams even Sharapova, they took up the champions challenge. They assumed the throne and then invited their competition. I don’t sense the same motivations today on the wta tour.

No I cant speak for players, I don’t pretend to. I wonder why they can’t will themselves to better results. I’m not sure why every tournament seems to take place in an entirely different year, why players can’t sustain even modest momentum.

It is fascinating. I am a bit worries the ATP will deteriorate and become the wta of today. But I think the ATP has different champion molds. On the wta it’s true, players look at Serena Williams success and know in their hearts they don’t match up and don’t try.

Maybe that has taken place on the ATP Tour. I’ve faulted the ATP players before for giving up too early against Federer, Nadal. Of not chasing them to the ends of the earth like Connors did with Borg.

Evert, take up the pen!!!

Andrew – you really misunderstand. Or are you saying that Kerber had no committment in 2017 and therefore didn’t get the results ? She’d have every right to sue you. It’s more than possible that she was completely exhausted after 2016 and however hard she tried, it just didn’t work. That’s not the same as lacking committment. Or are you just saying that she didn’t bother trying ? Sounds like it. How many of her matches did you see this year ? Did you listen to what she said or take in the way she looked ? Not someone who was having fun, hardly ever.

And who are these players taking ‘a year off or forever off because they don’t owe anyone anything’ – names, dates, places please.

Hartt’s right. No players can play at their best for every match, or win when when they’re not at their best.

And a funny thing – if the same players start winning all the time everyone would be complaining about the boredom of it all. It’s better for the game, and the players, to have a kind of perpetual competition.

Connors chasing Borg ? Nice legend, but what were the other players doing in the meantime ?
Just playing the circuit in the usual way.

I’ve been around the game, on and off, for a very long time, and I’d say the competitive level of the women’s game, allowing for various technical advances, is pretty much the same as it’s always been. After Serena, someone else will come along. Doesn’t mean there’s nothing worth watching in the meantime.

And no-one, men or women, goes through all that training and preparation and work and competition just so they can float along, unmotivated and uncommitted, sliding slowly down the rankings.

Nadal sucked up to Federer and in so doing owns their head to head. Scoop, Nadal repeatedly spoke about how he wasn’t better than Federer and in so doing was very careful not to disturb the famous Federer ego!

Masterful.

Catherine, suing me? Please. This is a message board where fans express their opinions. No need for me to talk about a player who retreated back to a comfortable level of play, as if last year never happened. A player that is suddenly famous can no longer manage expectations and defeats themselves in the process, or that doesn’t prepare for the big X on their back, I mean sheesh, why are we giving a pass when, with zero competition this year and no Serena around for the overwhelming majority of the year and zero competitors, last year’s consensus top player puts up mediocre results, lets go of coaches, everything?

Chris Evert very explicitly wrote about her expectations for champions. That was a while ago. The current era has coincided with a period where players are paid tons more per match, so the calculus is changed. A very good, great player even no longer has to play tons of tournaments. They can even tank a tournament or two (as Muguruza seems to have done).

For what it’s worth I love the sport. But I don’t think a top player cares much about what I think – I’m about the tennis. I’ll sing praises and rain down critiques (see: thoughts on B. Coric). I’m too lenient on the Aussies like Tomic, probably because the guy is honest that he likes the rewards of the sport but resents the sport, which seems to have stolen his dad.

I even like last year’s consensus top wta player. I think Ms. Kerber truly underperformed under reasonable expectations that, without competitors, she’d be on the hunt for more titles and firm up her first ballot hall of fame career.

Not what happened.