Well done to Sarah and Jade on great weeks ! I didn't think Jade would push Sarah that close, shows how dangerous she is on grass, looks like there wasn't much in it.
Sarah's playing the La Coruna 25K this wek along with Mel. According to Mervatron, Jade is heading to Canada soon
Jade is a great girl, I love her work rate, she is very small but hits big and is far from affraid to go for her shots, she is also in great shape and really works hard on the physical side of her game, very good attitude and a solid professional.....a real credit to herself, Jason and her team!
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Its Not Who You Know But What You Know.........Or Is It???
Jade is a great girl, I love her work rate, she is very small but hits big and is far from affraid to go for her shots, she is also in great shape and really works hard on the physical side of her game, very good attitude and a solid professional.....a real credit to herself, Jason and her team!
Jade's results have really improved big time since April, out of interest what do you think's caused that change ? Has she made some slight alterations to her game or her mindset in the rallies or was it just that she'd been going through a bad patch. It's been quite a change as she was losing to some low ranked players earlier in the year and now on the grass she's given top 150 girls close matches. She was down under for about 3-4 months and had been struggling in the States before Christmas, do you think that's due to the conditions over there not suiting her game ?
Hopefully she can make top 500 by the end of the year
I guess so, someone from WTAworld watched her in one of the Aussie 25Ks and said she wasn't being outplayed, just losing the matches through too many ues. Maybe she's found her rhythm more since returning to Europe in April
I think alot has to do with the fact that on grass, generally the first strike stays hit or is alot harder to get back than on other surfaces, so it will enable Jade to win points quicker/earlier. On a slower surface she will need to hit at a high tempo for more than most due to her size in order to be able to win points & stop opponents attcking her, of course playing this type of tennis can promote errors & can effect confidence, generally these types of player need confidence in bundles, if they have it they are tough to be...if they dont, they will generally beat themselves. I don't know a huge amount on what Jade has been working on but I would say the change is more a confidence/mental thing rather than any specific training point.
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Its Not Who You Know But What You Know.........Or Is It???
Speaking after her 6-4, 1-6, 6-3 win over Jade Curtis in the final of the Frinton 10K, Sarah told the LTA:
"I was very confident and very relaxed all week. Overall I played well. I had a game plan and stuck to it.
The final was tough because the wind was horrendous, which basically removed my biggest weapon my serve.
Mentally it was very difficult as well, first because the wind made it difficult to serve and second because the match was a bit stop-start because of the short rallies so it was tough to get into a rhythm. Jade and I gave a pretty good account of ourselves, considering!
Winning is a great confidence boost, especially coming into a run of three $25Ks. I played Frinton to get some matches under my belt and it paid off.
By September Id like to be back or close to the top 200 in the world, which is do-able. After that Ill hopefully play more WTA events in September and see if I can take my game to the next level.