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'Country' slump?

887 views 10 replies 11 participants last post by  phelbyn 
#1 ·
Whilst most countries wuold be envious of the depth of French talent (try us poor Aussies!!) , I must say the strength of women's tennis this year has dropped a bit this year. Sad for me as I have loved and still love many of there players.
Amelie had a roaring Paris Indoor win but had injury & motivation issues and seems likely to retire.
The delightful and former Top 20 Natalie Dechy became prgnant and announced her retirment
The last member of Project 1979, the crafty former top 30 player Emilie Loit had a great final fling at the Paris Indoors and then retired. (the other members being the long retired Sidot and Cochteux)
Tatiana Golovin & Mary Pierce remained injured.
Although they have has flashes of good form, Sev Beltrame, Steph Foretz, Cammy Pin, Parmentier & Mathilde Johansson have all fallen from the Top 100.
Steph Cohen hasn't been able to force her way into the Top 100 again.
Olivia Sanchez-who as a late bloomer cracked the top 100 has sadly plumented out of the top 300
Two 'hopes' Pavlovic and Fedossova have never evolved.
Alice Cornet had a a let down (maybe due the the 'melt down' against Safina in Oz?)

The good news stories came from two players estranged form the system- Bartoli- who still seems aloof and Rezai- an outsider who seems to have more support from the FTF and who has had a warming of relations with other french players- mainly Razzano. Razzano it seems is the only player to have a relationship with Bartoli.
Razzano herself has finally had a mostly injury free year and has been able to grow into the massive shoes her steller junior career gave her. Weather she can climb into the top 15 seems to be a big question France will be asking of her.
Finally, the late blooming Coin also pleased with a solid- not spectacular folow up year to her coming out party (def ana @ US Open)
Mladenovic made strides fomr the juniors posting indiffernet results over alll.

So still 2 players in the top 20- which is great. 4 in top 50. 5 in top 100.
So the Austraian Open will see probably see 5 Direct entries (unless Sev Beltrame, Steph Foretz, Cammy Pin, Parmentier, Cohen & Mathilde Johansson ) have remarkable Novembers in the chellengers) and a WC- which is a drop from previous years.

I really hope those who have fallen form the Top 100 can come back and ideally, Tatiana can overcome her ongoing injurues- form what I read here- unlikely.

Are there other juniors who show promise and can get France back to the levels we have seen from say 2000-2008 with awesome talents like Amelie, Pierce, Tatiana, Julie H, Sandrine, Nasty Natalie, Nat Dechy, Em Loit, Sidot, Razzano& bartoli?

For thoise that know the system, has anything chnaged in the jnuior prgrams (prob not, looking at the phenon talent the men have at the moment)?
Was the women's program affctted at all by the Demongeot/Reggie incident? Given her wasn't FTF I assume not? BTW, what is the status of that?

Anyway- anyone else notice this slump?
Thoughts?
 
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#2 ·
Yeah, the other day I was thinking about who will play in Fed Cup ;)
I'm sure they'll bounce back though :p
Greece is much less recognized in the tennis world, but we had a big slump from Eleni's injury in Miami 2008 until basically right after US Open 2009 ;)
So glad it's over :D
Anyways, it's possible but it's kinda rare :lol:
Also look at Ana, Novak and JJ ;)
 
#3 ·
I worried about the future of Chinese tennis besides the current top 3 Golden Flowers :shrug:

earlier this year we had 2 top 20 (Jie and Na) but now Jie's ranking fall after her Wimbledon 2008 points drop

at least Na is career high top 15 and has chance to go higher

Shuai Peng is a headcase who always choke close match against top players


Zi Yan was top 40 player but now ranked outside top 300 :help:

TT Sun was top 100 and had MM title to her name but is now limit to only doubles

next generation has promise ... Shuai Zhang with her win over GOATFINA, looks best
 
#4 ·
I think Australia has been rather unlucky.

Dokic was out with her emotional state, after reaching TOP 5.
Now, TOP 65 again.

Molik was out with her inner ear infection, after reaching TOP 10.
Now, TOP 400 again.

Stosur was out with lymes disease, after reaching TOP 30.
Now, TOP 15 again.

Dellacqua was out with shoulder injurt, after reaching TOP 30.
Still out.

Couple that with the inability to give Rodionova and Groth citizenship, and players like McQuillan, Dominikovic, Adamczak and Ferguson floating within the TOP 200.
Plus our current juniors are the best in a long while. Rogowska, Moore, Holland, Wejnert.

Just bad luck really.
 
#6 ·
The French are really a mystery. They have produced such flashy flamboyant players on both the ladies and men's sides but none have been able to win anything big (with the exception of Mauresmo). I always thought that Dechy would make the top 10 and that Grosjean would win a slam, but nope.
 
#10 ·
The French are really a mystery. They have produced such flashy flamboyant players on both the ladies and men's sides but none have been able to win anything big (with the exception of Mauresmo). I always thought that Dechy would make the top 10 and that Grosjean would win a slam, but nope.
you forgot Mary Pierce;) , I know her name doesnt sound "french" but she IS french.
I think the illness of tatiana was very tough to handle especially for the transition between the experienced players and champions as amélie,mary and nathalie and the upcoming french talents (virginie razano,alize cornet)
yes the girls are not doing as good as the men but it is about periods.
We have great formation and big depth in france, our young players seem promising so there still some big hope for the future.
 
#9 ·
Marion is not friends with Razzano :eek: The only other top French players she seems on good terms with are Momo and Alizé.
 
#11 ·
On the flip side... Canada is experiencing it's best season in 20 years! Sounds sad in a way compared to other countries, but to have 6 players in the top 170 is incredible!

Aleksandra Wozniak at #31 is phenomenal
Stephanie Dubois is a consistent #105
Sharon Fichman is fast on the rise at #130
Valerie Tetreault is also rising at #132
Heidi Tabakh at a career high at #158
Rebecca Marino doing well at arounf #170.

Canada has almost as many top 170 players as Australia! That's unheard of in tennis! :)
 
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