Osaka vs Andreescu Epic Clash in Beijing

Today’s loss stings and the win is resounding. Osaka, her dad Francois, prove I know nothing. Maybe the issue always is whether the player listens and adjusts or not, rather than if the coach is the mom, the fan, or the TP board poster. Obviously I’m totally wrong here.

Yes this match was as enormous as Scoop made it, and a win by either player would be historic and seismic and it is. Osaka ripped the match from Andreescu and threw down the gauntlet, as if to express: two slams beats one, kiddo, and welcome to our rivalry.

Had Andreescu won, this would have also shattered the WTA and ripped down the idea that it’s a tour with an any given day vibe – it would have been “Andreescu and everyone else who’s supposed to be better”. That’s no longer the case.

Shenzen TBD or see ya in Shenzen, fine. But Osaka had to win this one and she did.

As for Andreescu, win or lose she would be fine. The pressure wasn’t on Andreescu even if she put it on herself. The pressure was on Osaka to show that the end of 2018 and beginning of 2019 wasn’t a fluke (it wasn’t but the half life of a slam win is short). She showed she is as tough as ever on a hardcourt.

It will be interesting to see what the Canadian press says. Remember Andreescu has been on a sugar high, and even as she takes nothing for granted this loss pops the balloon. It’s a good loss for any ambitious player.

Andrew, so far the Canaidian press has been using a CP account that has a headline saying that Bianca’s winning streak has come to an end. I don’t think the media will be too upset. Her USO win is still a big deal.

“Per Andreescu:

I said, Congrats, you played amazing.

She said, You’re amazing.

I said, We’re going to have so many more matches like this. I can’t wait to see what the future holds.

She’s like, Yup, I’m excited.” (WTA Insider)

Jon King, yes I was totally wrong. Look at Osaka – two very good tournaments in a row, leveling competition or getting tough wins and playing courageous tennis. And with her father in whatever role. Some tennis parents don’t help, but my swipe at Osaka dad has shown me that maybe the Osakas do know better. Clearly they are doing something right.

Yeah, got to call a spade a spade. Even if it’s calling myself out on it!

Wish the DelPo gear worked. The Medvedev USOpen comeback looked DelpoIsh.

Catherine’s point, Osaka matches up well with Andreescu. It’s a little hard for me to see why other players aren’t able to do so, but maybe best to keep it simple. Andreescu has a fine return of serve and also serves well, and her movement is under-rated. She has good combinations and a nice strategic sense. Good stuff from the teenager.

Osaka found her level and peaked beautifully. Hard to do that.

We should definitely note her dad’s help here. Osaka was floundering, not flourishing, since January and her great Australian run. The Bajin no more thing was a distraction and her hitting partner coach in Jenkins wasn’t connecting. In short order she plays well in front of friendly crowds and even takes out the best player of 2019.

Granted Andreescu gave Osaka pace on an indoor court, and Osaka ate that up. But Osaka would have lost this match a month ago. She didn’t. That’s good coaching.

I understand we want to give all credit to the player and the player owns the credit. But there’s a lot that goes into tennis. And coaches have been denied credit forever. I don’t know how long this will last. But so far so good. I was lobbying for Osaka to fire him this morning!!!

Andrew – your point is a good one: ‘ the Andreescu game isn’t that much different from games we’ve seen before’ because that’s true of most tennis most of the time but it isn’t something you’ll find many people saying, probably because they think it’s too obvious. Fact is, you take a sport, tennis, you tweak a bit here and a bit there there and A’s a champion, B is not.

Also true – Bianca’s thinking. That’s exceptional. And why opponents come off the court after losing to her wondering exactly what happened. Osaka – serve could be in the Serena bracket if she keeps improving.

Barty bts Bertens in 3. Barty/Osaka final most likely. Unless Woz finds her inner……Osaka ?

Bianca’s thoughts on the match.

“I did not expect all of this to come so quick, so hopefully I can keep it up.” On what made a difference in her three-set loss to Naomi Osaka in Beijing, the Canadian concluded: “Some points here and there. We both played really, really well.

If you really want to look at things in a match that you think you can do better, you’ll always find something. Not every match is perfect. There’s always going to be points here and there that you’re going to lose.

Maybe I could have made less unforced errors. Maybe my serve could have been a little bit better. But I think I was returning well. Points were really long. Naomi played really, really well. It was a tough battle.”

Scoop, Brad Gilbert was famous for simplifying Agassi’s multidimensional game so that he used a more limited set of combos for every situation and player. Eventually Agassi settled on a general strategy of a war of attrition, aka body blows, which Andreescu also decided works for her (in mixing it up, Andreescu has a nice return game similar to Djokovic and to Agassi, she looks for that forehand down the line, it’s nice to see a player do this).

But no I don’t see “so many differences”. Having that many shot combinations can also be debilitating. Novotna kept it simple I think, betting on intimidation off a fearsome serve and volley game even though she could do more than that. Graf could roll over her backhand and there’s no question she could have turned that into a Henin kind of shot if she wanted to. She just didn’t need more variety, her slice was and remains as good a slice as has ever been hit in the history of tennis.

Anyways out of respect for other TP commenters I won’t go further into how some players games look like other players few want to talk about. Your jaws will drop as I name player and player and player and player. But if you watch videos of them you’d say yeah when they were on top of the tennis world those shots DO look similar! Because they are.

If today’s champs played ambidextrous tennis then I’d say you know what, that Murphy Jensen style of play is totally new here. Or, hey that was nice how they pulled that shot off like Patrick Rafter and hit the next one like Marcelo Rios. But that’s not what’s in front of us. It’s great tennis anyways and it’s also not a whole lot different than the tennis we’ve seen at this level over the past twenty ok years.

Stephanie Myles has a fun piece about Bianca’s hair band. She did not have it on her arm for this match, although she did win her match vs Wang without it. The real issue is no Coco the pup! I think Catherine and I should start a petition for Coco to be at the WTA finals! 🙂

“What was the most noticeable extraneous detail from the match between Bianca Andreescu and Naomi Osaka Friday night in Beijing?

(No, not the fact that darling good-luck charm Coco Andreescu wasn’t there. But yes, that, too).

For the first time in recent memory, there was a significant accessory missing from the 19-year-old Canadian’s on-court kit.” (Tennis.life)

Hartt – yes, Coco should be at all Bianca’s big matches, but she’d need a carer and if Bianca’s parents aren’t travelling that might be just one more thing to deal with.

I agree re Bianca’s tactics v Naomi – didn’t expect her to drop shot often because Naomi’s speed would make that risky, but I don’t think there’s much future in trying to play the same game. Bianca’s strength is her variety and that’s something Naomi lacks, at present. She plays to her strength, which is power, and Bianca needs to reply to that with her own strength.

Tsitsipas just beat Zverev and will meet Thiem in the Beijing final. Commie said this is Dominic’s first final in Asia.

In this match, Sascha had too many UFEs and Stefanos was much better at the net.

Shapo has played doubles with Bopanna in a few tourneys now, and they have had some success. I think it makes sense for Denis to play with an experienced player like Bopanna, whom he can learn from. And it would be unfair to Bopanna to end the partnership now. Bopanna had some flattering things to say about the youngster. My big concern is that Denis, once again, is playing a lot in the fall. Last year he was so worn out he had to withdraw from the Next Gen finals, and I think he may be wearing himself out again this year.

As for FAA, he could use some match play, so doubles makes sense for him.

One TP commenter, can’t recall, made a point about racquets, and that could be why a player like Agassi was able to shake up the tour as a teenager. Nadal’s shakeup was more substantial, mostly because he was a better player (which is incredibly amazing).

Arias was sore on this point and Borg too, as both I think felt that if the do hadn’t gone graphite that they’d have been collecting some or even more big trophies.