Tennis Prose




Oct/19

4

Osaka vs Andreescu Epic Clash in Beijing

The two best players in the world collided today in the Beijing quarterfinals but this match was more suited to be a major final. For certain, Andreescu and Osaka will contest major finals and semifinals in the future years.

Today’s clash of WTA titans exceeded our glorious expectations. Both desperately wanted to win today and both played superb tennis to prove their desire.

Andreescu was better early, breaking Osaka from a 40-love hole and then raced to a 5-1 lead that eventually became 5-5 after a sudden Osaka fight back. Osaka led 30-love in the 5-5 game also but then Andreescu reeled off eight straight points (I believe) to take the opening set.

Andreescu again achieved a break for 3-1 but Osaka rallied again by raising her level and cutting down errors. Osaka won it 6-3 and her superior phsyicality and serving seemed to be the narrow margin of difference between the two champions.

What Andreescu lacks in size and serve power she compensates with more variety in her shots and perhaps slightly better movement. Both are wondrous defenders. Osaka broke at 4-4 and served it out, saving one break point.

Osaka seemed extra motivated by the threat of Andreescu who without a doubt is the biggest obstacle that stands in the way of Osaka winning many more majors. Osaka knew she had to subdue Andreescu’s soaring confidence and put her in her place and that’s exactly what she did today, summoning the best tennis we have seen from her since Australia.

Andreescu also got a taste today of her main challenger to WTA supremacy. The Canadian powerhouse has been so dominant winning 17 matches in a row she confidently said she had forgotten how to lose. Osaka gave her a valuable lesson today – and a reminder that the journey to tennis glory and superstardom must pass through the dominion of the Japanese juggernaut.

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114 comments

  • Andrew Miller · October 5, 2019 at 7:11 pm

    At least young Agassi made slam finals!

  • Scoop Malinowski · October 5, 2019 at 8:09 pm

    I believe he was favored to win all three. Could be wrong. Higher seeded.

  • catherine · October 6, 2019 at 12:56 am

    Coaching carousel – curious that Julia G dumped her coach Sabastian Sachs after barely 4 months and one tournament final (B’ham) and 4R at the USO. I wonder where Sebastian will pop up next ? Seems an unstable time for German coaches.

  • catherine · October 6, 2019 at 7:35 am

    Osaka bts Barty in 3 – Naomi’s serve and forehand dominated. She’ll be very hard to beat in the foreseeable future.

  • Scoop Malinowski · October 6, 2019 at 7:51 am

    Andreescu threat awakened Osaka from a six month slumber. Kirilenko comeback.

  • Hartt · October 6, 2019 at 7:59 am

    I only saw the last half of the Naomi vs Ash match, but Naomi did dominate in the decider.

    Her title means a sushi treat! 🙂

  • Hartt · October 6, 2019 at 8:16 am

    Thiem vs Tsitsipas is an entertaining match so far. Lots of good rallies and tough shots, with the crowd often going “Ah.” On serve in the first set, Stef at 4-3.

  • catherine · October 6, 2019 at 8:23 am

    Hartt – you’d better stock up on the sushi – Naomi won 8O% 1st serve points and although she dropped a set I didn’t think she was in danger of losing.

    If I were Serena I’d retire now. Osaka v Williams won’t even be a contest on a hard court. Or anywhere else probably.

    Bianca will most likely be her closest rival – with a little more experience, maturity etc, mainly because her game has the potential to be different. Anyone who tries to outhit Naomi will be mauled.

  • Hartt · October 6, 2019 at 8:36 am

    Catherine, fortunately I love sushi. 🙂

    Bianca was Naomi’s toughest opponent at this tourney. Because she is so young, and so ambitious, Bianca will continue to improve. I am looking to the Naomi vs Bianca rivalry.

  • Scoop Malinowski · October 6, 2019 at 8:51 am

    Serena is not done, she can still mentally bully elite WTA players, who are afraid to beat her. Osaka even lost to her this year. And she can lose to her again.

  • catherine · October 6, 2019 at 9:02 am

    Scoop – nope. Serena can’t run any more. Naomi’s out of her losing mode and she won’t be bullied. And I doubt many ‘elite’ players are afraid of a 38 year old. Patrick can talk his head off.

  • Andrew Miller · October 6, 2019 at 9:04 am

    Serena Williams will be fine. She keeps making slam finals regardless of the rise of whoever. Most players on tour would mark two slam finals as a good year or a great year.

  • Andrew Miller · October 6, 2019 at 9:07 am

    Papa Francois is 10-0 in coaching Osaka. This is to express I continue to eat my words and be wrong about what works best for Osaka. Clearly her dad gets through. Osaka has her fun and also is relaxed enough to play fantastic ball. She’s won two tournaments in a row and is in nice pole position to finish out the year strong.

  • Andrew Miller · October 6, 2019 at 9:10 am

    Afraid to beat Serena? More like “not capable of beating Serena. Unable to read her serve. Who cannot adapt as Serena changes her tactics. Who also would lose to other players that think on court such as Andreescu. Who fail to find emotional reserves when needed. Who take their foot off the pedal because they think that winning a set is the same as winning a match. Who underestimate the challenge of beating great players in high stakes matches.”

  • Andrew Miller · October 6, 2019 at 9:18 am

    Osaka hits winners from pretty normal court positions. From what I saw she got players to move a little closer to the center of the court to open up more space, then the opponent made the mistake of stretching Osaka wide so she exploited that.

    Nothing we haven’t seen in tennis before. Possibly that Osaka can win from a defensive position, the formidable defense to offense mindset or capability, where on the run you can do something with the ball.

    She’ll need to keep firing on her serve and will also need some combos to end points more quickly. She’s on court too long.

    All that said great great two weeks for Osaka. Rescued her season and did so without Bajiin, without her hitting partner coaches. Dug deep. Did so on favorable courts but that’s tough too, if you’re expected to win because a surface favors your game you still have to go ahead and do it. Beat excellent competitors all slam champs except Simo who lost to Alexandrovna!!!

  • catherine · October 6, 2019 at 9:50 am

    Andrew – the time will come, and it’s not far away, when Serena won’t be fine because she just won’t be able to move fast enough. Like Wimbledon. She’s also had fairly easy draws in GSs. Her serve’s ok but she’s becoming static, waiting for the ball to come to her.

    Naomi doesn’t do anything new. She just plays a little better and she’s got confidence. And a big serve.

    The WTA is changing. I could make a list of players 30+ who’ll retire at the end of next year. They’re just hanging around for the Olympics. Like Serena.

  • Scoop Malinowski · October 6, 2019 at 9:52 am

    Andrew you’re going to get fat eating your own words, you can stop now, you have atoned for your sins. Still not sure if it’s his coaching or her decision to dig down deep and play her best to repel and subdue the enthusiasm of the formidable challenge of Andreescu.

  • Scoop Malinowski · October 6, 2019 at 9:53 am

    Wang and Svitolina were beaten before the warm up. Svitolina already booked her flight. If they tank it vs Serena, imagine what the far lower ranked players do. Serena gets a lot of handout wins.

  • Hartt · October 6, 2019 at 10:27 am

    It’s great that the WTA has several younger players who are doing well. As Catherine said, it’s likely there will be a few retiring players after the Olympics.

    In other news, Thiem lived up to his “Dominator” nickname and dominated the decider, in what was a very entertaining final against Tsitsipas. This should be a fun rivalry.

  • catherine · October 6, 2019 at 10:31 am

    There are a few WTA players who do just so much and no more. They are quite comfortable where they are. Svitolina is one of them. Still get richly rewarded so why should they change ?

  • Scoop Malinowski · October 6, 2019 at 10:41 am

    Tough loss for Tsitsipas, now he has to gear up for Felix in Shanghai. Tsitsipas is 0-5 lifetime vs Felix, huge mental match for the Greek.

  • Hartt · October 6, 2019 at 10:43 am

    For the WTA I was thinking of Osaka, Andreescu, Barty and some of the youngsters like Anisimova. Plus players like Sabalenka. I don’t know what to think about Svitolina. She seems ambitious, but does she have the skill to defeat players like Naomi and Bianca?

  • catherine · October 6, 2019 at 10:45 am

    Well over 1000 comments on Osaka/Andreescu YTube highlights. Haven’t seen that many since Serena was winning. People really appreciate rivalries, and the new element Bianca’s brought to the game this year.

  • Andrew Miller · October 6, 2019 at 11:19 am

    Yes Scoop I have a stomach ache over eating my words.

    Osaka, Andreescu, Barty, others playing well. This is all good. Osaka gave Andreescu something to think about, Barty showed again why she can do special things on tour. Because of Andreescu, Osaka playing better, variety, the WTA tour proves it’s healthy. May even have the rise of the next great players right now, depending on what they want to do, how healthy they can stay. They have some qualities that are very formidable competitive advantages.

    As for Serena Williams, she should be able to maintain her level from this year. I worry about her serving – seems off. But what can anyone expect and what more do we want from a twenty three time slam champion?! I think she’s holding out for a good draw and some luck. And if you keep making slam finals your chance of playing well the final goes up or of good luck or good fortune.

    Tennis sometimes is a cast of the die. Sampras probably had another two slams in him! He quit because he decided he’d had enough. If Serena quits tennis that’s kind of it for her, she’s guaranteed a guest commentator role on TV and the chance to hand trophies to future slam winners.

    Once you’re out of the game as a competitor you’re out of the game. Serena Williams still has something left. And the WTA is also fortunate is has a future beyond some less thrilling players – now the WTA is exciting with hungry players. We can all thank Serena Williams for this!!!

  • Hartt · October 6, 2019 at 12:47 pm

    Catherine, good news! In an excerpt from her press conference Bianca said her mother will be in Shenzhen, so maybe Coco will be there as well.

  • Andrew Miller · October 6, 2019 at 1:45 pm

    Andreescu woke Osaka up. I’ll buy Scoop’s argument. Possibly she woke the whole tour up.

  • Hartt · October 6, 2019 at 1:55 pm

    I like the way Naomi’s father is encouraging her to figure it out for herself in this OCC.

    “Osaka lost first set 6-3 to Barty.

    Osaka’s Dad: “You have a problem out there that needs solving… if you stay calm you can work it out.”

    Safe to say she worked it out, winning next two sets 6-3, 6-2.” (Tennis Podcast tweet)

    Just like in 2018, Osaka has now won a Slam and Premier Mandatory in 2019.”

  • Scoop Malinowski · October 6, 2019 at 6:53 pm

    Hartt, the father didn’t offer Osaka any specifics to solve it?

  • Hartt · October 7, 2019 at 8:05 am

    Shapo had an easy win over Tiafoe in SS – 6-4, 6-2. But the tennis gods aren’t doing him any favours, he gets Novak next. His doubles does seem to help his net play, he won 8/9 points at the net.

  • Scoop Malinowski · October 7, 2019 at 8:22 am

    Tiafoe regressing now, from potential star to mediocre journeyman? Hiring and sticking with an unqualified coach and snubbing a friends wedding due to skin color are the kind of judgements that send a player in the wrong direction.

  • Hartt · October 7, 2019 at 8:49 am

    Tiafoe wasn’t great in that match, but a lot of that was because Shapo played so well.

  • Andrew Miller · October 7, 2019 at 9:09 am

    Shapovalov is a better player, just as Zverev is a better player. Tiafoe is now out of the top fifty, mostly because his results have been lackluster and he has one notable win, Karlovic, which was a retirement after Tiafoe was beating him badly over two sets at the US Open. If Tiafoe wants to beat his peers, he will need to become a better player.

    There’s no way around that. Some players feel their time will come etc as other players retire. Or they believe that if they were neck and neck with a top player, as Tiafoe was with Zverev and with Federer at the US Open (both five setters) then he’s “close to a breakthrough”. This isn’t how the tour works.

    I hope he gets some better preparation or something. He’s a much better player now than when he was a junior, and sometimes he shows some excellent tennis knowledge and instincts. But since the big leap from good prospect to good player, he hasn’t gotten beyond that.

    Shapovalov has, Zverev has and was woken up by Nadal and Federer at Laver Cup, as he wasn’t acting like a favorite. A serious player does serious stuff, like hiring a complete team, get good advice, get good coaching. His move from Florida back home seems to have hurt him too.

  • Hartt · October 7, 2019 at 9:30 am

    Pospisil won against Diego in SS. Vasek had to get through qualies, so this is 3 matches in a row. He is working his way up after back surgery in Jan. and is No. 218 in the live rankings.

  • Scoop Malinowski · October 7, 2019 at 9:31 am

    Andrew, Tiafoe stopped improving. He hit a wall. He has a coach with zero pro experience or of any notable college achievement. I don’t know what more this “coach” can tell Tiafoe more than Young’s mother can tell Donald. We have seen it time and time again, a player with major potential employing a coach with a strong vocabulary but zero track record of even coming close to developing and producing a top 100 professional player. I know a junior girl player who made the mistake with her parents for falling for a “coach” with a good vocabulary but absolutely no record of any success of developing and producing a pro player. Sad to see a player like Tiafoe go the wrong direction.

  • Andrew Miller · October 7, 2019 at 9:38 am

    Scoop, you take this Harrison wedding thing personally. I wouldn’t. Harrison isn’t looking well right now. He didn’t look fit or strong and his game was in a state of meltdown. We don’t know the personal history between the two players. We do know that when it comes to things like social media, the social media stuff actually ruins the relationships between the players.

    I saw a few tweets sent to DY and they were some of the worst things, such as people hoping DY would die and that he was this or that, just awful stuff. All of this was before the Harrison DY stupidity.

    Whatever it is you can draw a straight line between Harrison’s results before the DY accusation and match and now, and it is a line from a decent ranking to his worst ever ranking. I don’t think Harrison understood that you don’t need a lawsuit to work things out with another player, you just need an apology. Takes five minutes.

    You can also draw a straight line between his engagement and now sadly. It’s going to be a long road back.

  • Scoop Malinowski · October 7, 2019 at 9:59 am

    No Andrew, my source is not social media, it’s a person who more than knows Ryan Harrison, if you know what I mean. Inside information. Harrison just had a surgery on his arm or wrist, he’s been bothered by injury, as his wife told my source after US Open loss to Koepfer. I don’t take it personally but if Harrison snubbed Tiafoe’s wedding invitation because he didn’t want to be around so many black people, he’d probably be in jail or suspended from the sport. Agassi used to let his mouth get him into trouble but he always managed to escape. Remember he said something about “I’m as happy as a faggot in a submarine (whatever that meant)” and “Pete looks like he swung out of a tree.”

  • Andrew Miller · October 7, 2019 at 10:09 am

    Scoop, 100%. Players need coaches they listen to that offer value for their games. They could be an unknown that coaches well, but that would show up in the player’s game and their results. Tiafoe has been sliding and his results have been bad since the Ginepri firing.

  • jg · October 7, 2019 at 10:18 am

    You would think Tiafoe’s coach would see the handwriting and bring in some outside help, Martina N said at the Open that Tiafoe has too much going on in his game, he needs to simplify it a bit. When he plays you can see he thinks he’s gonna blow the other guy off the court, but when his shots come back he just can’t stay in the point and find a way to win it. Look at Fritz, Opelka and Paul, they all have experienced coaches–Paul is now coached by Brad Stine. I think Paul has surpassed Tiafoe for the time being, I could not see Tiafoe beating Paul at this time, Paul is too consistent and Tiafoe would need a game plan–which he doesn’t seem to have against anyone. Hopefully he will get it together in the off season.

  • catherine · October 7, 2019 at 10:27 am

    Tamara Korpatsch bts Gauff SS in Linz qualifying. Wopuldn’t be surprised to see Coco parachuted into the main draw as a LL. I imagine Linz would like a reasonable return on appearance money.

  • Andrew Miller · October 7, 2019 at 10:32 am

    Paul varies his serve, the mark of a player the uses strategy. I liked how he won the NH challenger, his opponents couldn’t out think him.

    What’s sad is Tiafoe used to be a very good strategist! He was better at the game because his groundstrokes were so bad. No that they are better, his strategy is much worse, unbelievably.

    The strategy of just gonna play my game took over, and that’s what you have now. And jg was right, Tiafoe is surprised the ball comes back. He’s admiring his shots too much.

  • Andrew Miller · October 7, 2019 at 10:34 am

    Tiafoe should be top 20. He is as of this week now out of the top fifty and possibly out of the top hundred by January.

  • Andrew Miller · October 7, 2019 at 10:35 am

    Scoop, I said the social media ruins the players. Not that your source isn’t credible.

  • Scoop Malinowski · October 7, 2019 at 10:49 am

    Ginepri out since December. New coach Evenden had no ATP points, tried to get some 2008-2010. Also ranked 800 in ITF juniors. Zero exp working with any successful pros. Suspect decision by Foe.

  • Scoop Malinowski · October 7, 2019 at 10:50 am

    Stine with Paul makes sense. Stine has worked with many top pros, Moyano did not.

  • Scoop Malinowski · October 7, 2019 at 10:52 am

    Gauff suddenly looking like a victim of overexposure too soon. Consult Capriati clan.

  • Scoop Malinowski · October 7, 2019 at 10:53 am

    Get your kernels ready for Felix vs Tsitsipas, episode 6.

  • jg · October 7, 2019 at 11:23 am

    Man, Andy Murray looks good out there! If I ever need a hip replacement (or whatever he had) I want one of those–looks like his movement has improved 100 percent from just weeks ago.

  • Hartt · October 7, 2019 at 11:24 am

    FAA has to get past Bublik first, and that is far from certain.

  • Andrew Miller · October 7, 2019 at 11:44 am

    Toni Nadal’s incredible atp ranking as… c’mon. Not every good coach has a pro record.

  • Andrew Miller · October 7, 2019 at 11:45 am

    Tsitsipas has a lot of pressure to win. Felix owns the guy. As Brad Gilbert would say Felix lives in Tsitsipas head rent free.

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