That was tight....... not easy to watch for the faint-hearted .... but great to see Freya continue to play better, more positively, more on the front foot (overall)
Can't help thinking that some of the girls might benefit from a service coach. In the Blake Raina match for example there have been 8 games that went against service and only 2 went with service.
-- Edited by Peter too on Wednesday 24th of August 2022 12:59:15 PM
Can't help thinking that some of the girls might benefit from a service coach. In the Blake Raina match for example there have been 8 games that went against service and only 2 went with service.
This is a constant problem and poses many interesting points
Firstly, women's service problems are true right up to the very top end of the game - the last stats I saw when working was that top men hold serve about 77% of the time, whereas top women hold serve about 65%
If you go further down the rankings, the difference is more marked - women generally in ITF 25ks are about 50%, I believe.
Women who are shorter often (but not always) have trouble with holding serve. Height and arm length help a lot with pace and trajectory. Strength comes into it too.
Also, women have a far better return game than serve - the return is very like their normal, driven ground shots, and hence is something that is more mastered (unlike serves which have so many quirks, and unusual actions).
It doesn't necessarily mean that the serves are weak or that service coaching will help - indeed, one argument in coaching is to work even more on the return, because that's easier to improve even further. Similarly, women work hard on the third shot of the rally i.e. they serve, the return comes, and they work on that next shot - being ready to move, using their legs to absorb the pace etc etc - they know the serve is not strong, they know they'll get a strong return, so work on the return of the return
Not saying they shouldn't work on their serve too, of course
A 5ft 6in woman is never going to serve as fast as a 7ft man but some can benefit. Naomi Broady who was admittedly 6ft tall for example, got some coaching on her service and it was enough to take her into the top 100. You would think that it should at least be possible to win the same percentage with service as against service but there are a surprising number of matches where it comes down, not to who can break service, but to who can hold service.
Oh, I agree that all can benefit from serve coaching - but all players who have a coach will obviously already be working on their serve and all decent coaches can coach serve for a normal player (Naomi was a little different because (a) she didn't really have a coach in the first place - she had some of the worst technique ever - so it really made sense to try and maximise her best weapon - if she'd had coaching on other stuff too, she could have been top 50).
What I meant was that, in terms of bang for the buck, many coaches would say it might be time better spent to make the return even better, to make the third shot even better
Don't know who or what the MTO was for in the third set but Angie has been playing well, and this is her first MD win, I believe, for this stretch of events, so a big well done to her
Bad day at the office for Beth. She was *0-5 30-40 in the first set before recovering two breaks, but not the third so lost that 4-6
And *0-4 30-40 in the second - but no comeback, so 1-6