Week 6 - WTA500 - Abu Dhabi - Hard

PaulM · Tennis legend

Week 6 - WTA500 - Abu Dhabi - Hard

Peter too · Tennis legend

Emma 3-6 4-6

kundalini · Specialist Reporter + Intermediate Club Player

I thought Emma had patches of good play, plenty of winners but some awful spells, including first 3 points of the last game, losing 4 points in a row to get broken for 3-5* and from 3-3 in the first. I'd like to see her approach the net when she has control of the rally but she almost never does. There were a few good first serves in the game in which she held for 3-3 in the 2nd set but otherwise her wide serves were miles below the required standard.

-- Edited by kundalini on Tuesday 4th of February 2025 03:45:10 PM

Var · Satellite level

I thought that was a pretty poor performance by Emma, who was well beaten by someone just returning to the game. I think must get more matches, even some qualifiers like Sonay would have helped. Not good enough yet for WTA 500, needs to drop a level.but she wont!

korriban · Challenger level

Ive been a huge Emma fan since those incredible few months back in 2021 (well over 3 years ago, can it really be that long already?). I dont care what the naysayers have suggested - that she got a very lucky draw - I believe that the way she was playing back then, she could have and probably would have beaten anyone she faced those 3 weeks in Flushing Meadows, including the very best. Game style, aggression, depth, clutch serving, nerveless precision - she had it all. Then it all changed..

So Ive been very patient. But even I am starting to lose the will to live at times with the off court coaching dramas, the constant injury niggles, medical timeouts and retirements. The serious injury probably just bad luck, but the radical change in her game style - more reactive, lots of shots dropping short, lack of power - that seems like a completely different player. The fact that she receives and takes up so many valuable wildcards made sense at first, but at this point I feel sorry for the other players. I dont have any answers - its a mystery to me why she is a shadow of that 18 year old phenom - but IMO she is now losing to almost every player who plays at 50 ranking or better on any given day - and beats those who have a bad day at the office. Im frustrated because, obviously, the potential is there for something special - but I dont see a stampede of coaches rushing forward to offer their services, so perhaps theres something behind the scenes we dont know about.

What I love about many of our less talented players is their striving to get better, and that paying off - Katie, Sonay etc. Im not seeing it so much here with Emma - or perhaps something is getting in the way, but theres been no discernible and sustained progress for a long time. Glimmers. But no more. Id consider stepping down a few levels and building back up.just to try something different

-- Edited by korriban on Tuesday 4th of February 2025 05:18:48 PM

dodrade · Futures qualifying

I think Emma might have been better off in Cluj this week.

Peter too · Tennis legend

Emma started off playing more aggressively in the first few games but then she lost her 1st serve and retreated into her defensive game. Vondrousova's drop shot and lob caught Emma out repeatedly and may have added to Emma loss of confidence.

Coup Droit · Tennis legend

Peter too wrote:
Emma started off playing more aggressively in the first few games but then she lost her 1st serve and retreated into her defensive game. Vondrousova's drop shot and lob caught Emma out repeatedly and may have added to Emma loss of confidence.

Yes, I agree.

She needed a coach (dare we say) in the stands to tell her to stick with it - she was the better player for about 4-5 games, more front foot, more dangerous, and then lost her way

the addict · Tennis legend

L16:- Luisa Stefani (BRA) / Heather Watson (GBR) CR110 (30+80) def Bethanie Mattek-Sands (USA) / Lucie Safarova (CZE) CR427 (18+409) (Both with CH=1) [WC] 6-4 6-4

Good win for Heather and Luisa. But Heather was runner-up last year so still work to do to defend those 325 points. This win should keep her in the top 100 though.

the addict · Tennis legend

QF:- Luisa Stefani (BRA) / Heather Watson (GBR) CR107 (27+80) v Kristina Mladenovic (FRA) / Shuai Zhang (CHN) CR51 (28+23) [4]

9vicman · Satellite level

Today Vondrousova comfortably beat Putintseva. Different day, different opponent, but a sign of how good she is when fit.

9vicman · Satellite level

the addict wrote:
L16:- Luisa Stefani (BRA) / Heather Watson (GBR) CR110 (30+80) def Bethanie Mattek-Sands (USA) / Lucie Safarova (CZE) CR427 (18+409) (Both with CH=1) [WC] 6-4 6-4

Good win for Heather and Luisa. But Heather was runner-up last year so still work to do to defend those 325 points. This win should keep her in the top 100 though.

Results don't lie, but I'm amazed that Heather is as far down as GB doubles No. 5. Have always considered her an excellent doubles player.

the addict · Tennis legend

QF:- Olivia Gadecki (AUS) / Olivia Nicolls (GBR) CR138 (97+41) v Shuko Aoyama (JPN) / Eri Hozumi (JPN) CR96 (49+47) 7-5 4-6 10-8

Very competitive and entertaining match. The Japanese girls are so quick about the court and have quick reactions so very hard to beat.

the addict · Tennis legend

9vicman wrote:
the addict wrote:
L16:- Luisa Stefani (BRA) / Heather Watson (GBR) CR110 (30+80) def Bethanie Mattek-Sands (USA) / Lucie Safarova (CZE) CR427 (18+409) (Both with CH=1) [WC] 6-4 6-4

Good win for Heather and Luisa. But Heather was runner-up last year so still work to do to defend those 325 points. This win should keep her in the top 100 though.
Results don't lie, but I'm amazed that Heather is as far down as GB doubles No. 5. Have always considered her an excellent doubles player.

I don't think she plays enough doubles to accumulate the points. She played about 16 events last year and with a few first round losses in the bigger events it means she has three 10-point counters. In comparison, Liv's lowest counter is 108 and Emily A's lowest is 29 and they both have spares as well. I'm sure that she could be up in the top 40 again if she played more.

indiana · Tennis legend

Yes, both Hev and Harriet play doubles so much less than the specialists that they have to count some low scores in their official ranking.10s for each of them.

Olivia's lowest counter from 27 scores is 108 !

That said, Olivia does still have the best GB average, dividing total points from all tournaments by total tournaments played. But Olivia, Harriet and Heather are well clear on that count from Maia and Emily App.

Average points per tournament played in the year to 03/02/25:
Olivia: 2613 / 27 = 96.78
Harriet: 1613 / 17 = 94.88
Heather: 1082 / 15 = 72.13
Maia: 1386 / 33 = 42.00
Emily: 1105 / 31 = 35.65

That does separate out the 3 players that I think most people would consider our true best 3 in whatever order.

And I would certainly think that both Heather and Harriet would have better average points ( and of course be ranked much higher ) if they played more often and with regular partners.

-- Edited by indiana on Thursday 6th of February 2025 07:08:54 PM