Only Internationals in the first week, but maybe now that she made some time for a proper grass preparation she'll play one anyway, would have to cancel her Halle exhibition though.
With Eastbourne I guess she doesn't want to overplay before her potentially best slam. Could always get a WC there, too, one would assume.
That's good. Exho --> Birmingham --> Wimbledon is a good schedule who is a top player and excellent grasscourter but ALSO needing a bit of matchplay and confidence.
This thread will be dead for a little while though. Wonder if she'll req a first week international WC?
Angie will be low on confidence right now but usually her grass game is still good enough to get wins and to get some confidence back before Wimbledon starts.
Well, after that outdoor clay court disaster I have no expectations for grass. Who knows what's there for Angie. Hopefully she will bounce back. But losing in a R1 of a slam is never good. After last year AO R1 exit her slump became even bigger. So I don' know.
I watched the whole match against Serena before RG started to get into the right slam mood but you just could feel that not even she believed in her chances here in Paris.
Hopefully the pressure is off Angie and she can fully recover from her shoulder and whatever else is holding her back. Watching Vika playing Knapp right now you can see how much more pace Vika is hitting the ball with versus Angie's groundstrokes earlier today. Part of it is Angie being able to feed off the pace of her opponents give her when she's playing her best, particularly on hard courts, but also Angie wasn't hitting the ball as hard against Kiki as we've seen her in the past. Oh well, onward and upward!
TC ran a very cute promotional piece (commercial) for the FO with Angie, sort of like ESPN with AO (although Angie needed to get far for ESPN to show it IIRC) but TC did run it for her one match. first time they've used Angie to promote TC afaik :shrug:
Finally one minor positive with TC. :lol: Too bad it won't be shown again
Borna Coric will then become her boyfriend, Laura Robson will invite mass media scandal by calling him a manslut, and Coric's results will fall off as he'll basically spend most of his season travelling with Angie.
If Angie isn't 100% okay physically, it's only going to compound her confidence issues. Angie's ball striking this past month was nowhere near her Aussie Open level, or her best during Fed Cup in Romania and Stuttgart. How much of that is due to injury versus her mental fortitude, who knows.
Moreover, shoulder injuries for a tennis player are no joke. I wonder at her manager completely writing off her need for "ideally six weeks rest". While I admire when players such as Vika are so mentally tough they fight through the pain and try to will themselves to win despite injury, it's also a fine line and could end up "costing" their bodies more than if they had just shut it down to begin with. Or maybe her management is just giving Angie some cover for her poor results; even my all-time fav, Steffi, at her peak would sometimes cry injury after losses despite not seemingly hampered during matches.
Gotta hand it to Kiki, though, for backing up her upset of Angie and extending her hot streak to the fourth round against Maddie. If she was going to be dismissed in the first round of a slam, at least it wasn't to an absolute scrub who'd lose in the next round.
is this the longest amount of time that she's had to play between tournaments, at least recently? I know if you lose early at a GS, you won't play again too soon.
I remember last year, she lost in the 3rd round of Wimbledon, and it felt like forever to see her play again. This hiatus is reminiscent of that.
I wonder how that zebra outfit is going to look like on grass. :lol: At first, I thought it was for RG only but Mladenovic is currently wearing hers in 's-Hertogenbosch so I guess Angie will wear her dress in Birmingham, too?
I also want to see her competing again. Feels really like a long time. :lol: But it's even longer when we think of her last win (vs Siegemund in Stuttgart )
I wonder how that zebra outfit is going to look like on grass. :lol: At first, I thought it was for RG only but Mladenovic is currently wearing hers in 's-Hertogenbosch so I guess Angie will wear her dress in Birmingham, too?
I also want to see her competing again. Feels really like a long time. :lol: But it's even longer when we think of her last win (vs Siegemund in Stuttgart )
Indeed. It's a long time until Angie's next match. We're getting used to it though... and don't forget that she probably still has shoulder issues! I guess that she needs this time to get back to 100% (maybe even more than 3 weeks as her management mentioned). I seriously hope that she is fit for Birmingham. There are pretty much all top players (bar Serena, Mug and Azarenka). This is a great field which should serve as a perfect preparation for Wimbledon.
I am not a fan of her zebra outfit either, but since she won one title with each of her last two outfits this year, I hope that this trend continues
Indeed. It's a long time until Angie's next match. We're getting used to it though... and don't forget that she probably still has shoulder issues! I guess that she needs this time to get back to 100% (maybe even more than 3 weeks as her management mentioned). I seriously hope that she is fit for Birmingham. There are pretty much all top players (bar Serena, Mug and Azarenka). This is a great field which should serve as a perfect preparation for Wimbledon.
I am not a fan of her zebra outfit either, but since she won one title with each of her last two outfits this year, I hope that this trend continues