Weeks 12 & 13 - WTA1000 - Miami, USA - Hard

indiana · Tennis legend

Weeks 12 & 13 - WTA1000 - Miami, USA - Hard

Doonan · Intermediate Club Player

I read it against kundalini rather than sheddie but could be wrong. And the insinuation of the slam was that it wasnt suited to Raducanu. Which I kind of agree with but is up for debate (and I thought the summary of Raducanus week was a tad harsh given what came before).

Var · Satellite level

indiana wrote:
That was my immediate reaction, CD, re both kundalini's and Sheddie's posts. Though I had been leaving it to them to respond if they wished.
Just because they didn't go into wider context while commenting on his apparent coaching style is not slamming.

-- Edited by indiana on Thursday 27th of March 2025 05:17:07 PM

Sorry if slamming was a bit strong. I have read a few posts in other threads where when I have suggested Cavaday has did a good job it has been greeted with some disparaging remarks on his coaching ability. I suppose I just think he deserves a fair press for the sterling work he did with Emma as noted above.

Sheddie · administrator

For the record, I think Cavaday did a sterling job. When I watched Emma in Fed Cup action last year and on the grass, it was the best I'd see her play since USO 2021. The level on display really made me feel that she was capable of getting back to the top 10, top 20.

9vicman · Satellite level

Just like Twitter (although am not suggesting for a second that we are the cesspool (!) that Twitter is), we seem to get more animated about Emma than all the other players combined.

What would Jack have to do to get similar interest - win Wimbledon? And even then...

indiana · Tennis legend

Sheddie wrote:
For the record, I think Cavaday did a sterling job. When I watched Emma in Fed Cup action last year and on the grass, it was the best I'd see her play since USO 2021. The level on display really made me feel that she was capable of getting back to the top 10, top 20.

Thing is that I have always felt she had that capability ( as I think have many ), Nick or no Nick, and ultimately maybe rather more likely to achieve these heights with alternative coaching emphasis.

But he certainly did seem very important in bringing some stability, a reassuring presence, and helping her to push forward again and display the levels she did, and as you indicated show that she had it in her, even if the strategy was often questionable. And who knows, she might even have drifted away without him. Thank you, Nick.

-- Edited by indiana on Thursday 27th of March 2025 06:45:38 PM

kundalini · Specialist Reporter + Intermediate Club Player

indiana wrote:
That was my immediate reaction, CD, re both kundalini's and Sheddie's posts. Though I had been leaving it to them to respond if they wished.
Just because they didn't go into wider context while commenting on his apparent coaching style is not slamming.

-- Edited by indiana on Thursday 27th of March 2025 05:17:07 PM

On Nick Cavaday:

- he did a good job getting Emma back into the top 100 in her first year back after injury.

- he lasted longer than any of her other coaches since her A levels, which says something

- I struggle to understand why a young woman who won the US Open in straight sets playing glorious attacking tennis, has chosen to adopt a more cautious approach, given that three of the Slams are currently played on surfaces that favour attacking tennis.

- Having watched the Boulter match at Nottingham, it was difficult to understand her approach against Lulu Sun at Wimbledon, then Badosa in Washington, and utterly bewildering by the time of the Kenin match at the US Open.

- Emma has been playing "Cavaday tennis" long before she appointed him but most of her coaches departed so quickly that it is difficult to know quite what their intentions were. In the case of Nick Cavaday, the evidence suggests he was content with a safety first approach, at least during that first year. My impression of Sebastien Sachs, was that he was guiding Emma towards a more aggressive approach before the decision to have surgery on her wrists.

- It could well be that Emma is the driving force behind the decision to play passively/safety first tennis. She employs the coaches. She is free to ignore their advice, or do the opposite in matches to what they were working on in training. I did watch one or two practice sessions prior to the US Open loss to Kenin, which I struggled to understand in the context of preparing for a serious match against an opponent who was likely to blast the ball.

- My criticism is really aimed at Emma

emmsie69 · Top national player

kundalini wrote:
indiana wrote:
That was my immediate reaction, CD, re both kundalini's and Sheddie's posts. Though I had been leaving it to them to respond if they wished.
Just because they didn't go into wider context while commenting on his apparent coaching style is not slamming.

-- Edited by indiana on Thursday 27th of March 2025 05:17:07 PM
On Nick Cavaday:
- he did a good job getting Emma back into the top 100 in her first year back after injury.
- he lasted longer than any of her other coaches since her A levels, which says something
- I struggle to understand why a young woman who won the US Open in straight sets playing glorious attacking tennis, has chosen to adopt a more cautious approach, given that three of the Slams are currently played on surfaces that favour attacking tennis.
- Having watched the Boulter match at Nottingham, it was difficult to understand her approach against Lulu Sun at Wimbledon, then Badosa in Washington, and utterly bewildering by the time of the Kenin match at the US Open.
- Emma has been playing "Cavaday tennis" long before she appointed him but most of her coaches departed so quickly that it is difficult to know quite what their intentions were. In the case of Nick Cavaday, the evidence suggests he was content with a safety first approach, at least during that first year. My impression of Sebastien Sachs, was that he was guiding Emma towards a more aggressive approach before the decision to have surgery on her wrists.
- It could well be that Emma is the driving force behind the decision to play passively/safety first tennis. She employs the coaches. She is free to ignore their advice, or do the opposite in matches to what they were working on in training. I did watch one or two practice sessions prior to the US Open loss to Kenin, which I struggled to understand in the context of preparing for a serious match against an opponent who was likely to blast the ball.
- My criticism is really aimed at Emma

Or maybe she has been trying too hard to follow their instructions and losing her instinctive game.

I don't think she needs the 'best' coach, it's clear she plays her best when she has a team around her that she knows well.

Anyway apparently Mark Petchey will be coaching her part time until Wimbledon.

-- Edited by emmsie69 on Thursday 27th of March 2025 08:11:45 PM

Peter too · Tennis legend

Emma's ranking on Monday will take her inside the top 50 for the first time since 2022. To look at it a different way, if Emma had not entered the US Open in 2021 her ranking on Monday would be at a new career high. She has been moving up the rankings since her return on January last year and clearly has further to go. If we had reset the dial after the points from US Open 2021 had dropped off and considered her as a young player with lots of potential on the way up it might have been more realistic.

She has a permanent fitness coach and work with him seems to be paying off with more still to do. At this stage his presence may be more important than a conventional coach.

-- Edited by Peter too on Thursday 27th of March 2025 08:17:36 PM

emmsie69 · Top national player

Peter too wrote:
Emma's ranking on Monday will take her inside the top 50 for the first time since 2022. To look at it a different way, if Emma had not entered the US Open in 2021 her ranking on Monday would be at a new career high. She has been moving up the rankings since her return on January last year and clearly has further to go. She has a permanent fitness coach and work with him seems to be paying off with more still to do. At this stage his presence may be more important than a conventional coach.

She's the top Brit in the live race.

Agree with the bold.

She doesn't need the fashionable 'coach of the moment' she just needs someone to guide her a little and make sure it's fun. I suspect Platenik was way too intense for her.

emmsie69 · Top national player

indiana · Tennis legend

The argument continues to be that with Cavaday, for whatever reasons, she was generally markedly more passive than she is when at the best we have seen from her so far.

So while great, an environment was created in which she was happy, and importantly fit, and played well ( she's a ruddy good player who will still get results more passively and so she moved up the rankings ). She could and can do better, as has looked the case here post Cavaday.

I do think she is best more on the front foot and the ideal is a coach she can work with and they are both happy to follow that path.

-- Edited by indiana on Friday 28th of March 2025 10:02:44 AM

Peter too · Tennis legend

It sounds as if the type of coach she wants is not one who tries to dictate but one she can go to when she has a problem and ask for suggestions/help to tackle it.