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*Vika Azarenka Cheering Thread* - Vikalume 4.

327K views 5K replies 133 participants last post by  Pova 
#1 ·
Go Vika!!:bounce:
 
#5,030 ·
She did admit to feeling like a spectator in the match; sounded almost like she was having an out of body experience. :lol:
She admitted she played like crap and was predictable though gave credit the Agatha. But she definitely knows that she was the catalyst to her own demise out there. She finished the interview saying that she'll have to do something she "doesn't like to do" whatever the hell that means.

She can't rest on her laurels, she's not Serena who even at 10% can 99% of the time serve her way out of shit. She had a shit night that culminates her shitty form she's been dragging around with her for a year. Agatha went out and played all junk, all push and waiting for Vika to implode and implode she did. Honestly, I'm hoping that this loss hurts her ego more than anything else, maybe that will get her to realize she needs to start working harder again.

Regarding the rest of the tournament: If Na doesn't win it this year, she's NEVER going to win it. It's perfectly set up for her now. And Baby Jesus knows I'm staying out of GM if she does, I am not going to watch RandomChineseScrub-GOAT make 900 threads about the glory of China. Personally, I feel that it would be more fitting that this goes down like 2006. No one really wins the title just someone gets the trophy.
 
#5,032 ·
She did admit to feeling like a spectator in the match; sounded almost like she was having an out of body experience. :lol:
She admitted she played like crap and was predictable though gave credit the Agatha. But she definitely knows that she was the catalyst to her own demise out there. She finished the interview saying that she'll have to do something she "doesn't like to do" whatever the hell that means.
I wonder if she's about to fire someone :confused:, when someone says they are going to do something they don't like to do it usually means someone is going to be fired!. I wonder who it will be?.. Sam? Meilen? one or all of the 3 new people she just hired? :unsure:
 
#5,031 ·
Fuck it. Give it to Bouchard. I'll go insane ranting about my Canadian grandmother and jump on the bandwagon.

But I won't forsake Vika (or more inexplicably, Larsson).
 
#5,033 ·
Well Genie is blonde...

I wonder if she's about to fire someone :confused:, when someone says they are going to do something they don't like to do it usually means someone is going to be fired!. I wonder who it will be?.. Sam? Meilen? one or all of the 3 new people she just hired? :unsure:
It could me that, it could me she'll start sacrificing her personal life to train more, it could mean she'll stop partying, it could mean she'll stop eating snickers. :shrug:
 
#5,036 ·
:sad::help: !!!
That was not the plan..How the hell could this actually happen?!? I mean 1 and 0.. :smash:
So glad i missed the match, the score alone ruined my day, but to have witnessed it would have been much more worse, i guess!!
No doubt this loss will hurt for a while, but we and Vika will get over it! :hug:
Please Vika, be stronger(and fitter) from now on!!

I guss it's recommended to avoid GM for a while.. :help:
 
#5,039 ·
Just for comparison:

2012 Australian Open Radwanska vs. Vika /2014 Australian Open Radwanska vs. Vika

69% 1st serve percentage /59% 1st serve percentage

143 km/h 1st serve average / 142 km/h 1st serve average

116 km/h 2nd serve average / 114 km/h 2nd serve average

Vika broke her ten times in 2012 (compared to twice in 2014), when Aga had 10% more 1st serves in play and higher averages on 1st and 2nd serve. :tape:
 
#5,040 ·
Thought some comic relief might be nice :angel:.
 
#5,041 ·
This loss is a reminder that we should try to just not expect anything. 2012 was amazing and she CAN play that way, but it's also such a struggle to maintain that form, so the best mindset as fans should really be not hope for anything and just appreciate what comes. This wasn't a lost opportunity, but instead another Grand Slam quarterfinal, which is better than many of her rivals achieved in Melbourne!

Despite her huge opening, I somehow had the feeling that something would go wrong (didn't expect it against Lady Aga though :help:) so it still doesn't feel like a missed opportunity so much as a hard loss to swallow. Things can change quickly though (for better or worse) so I guess we'll see in Doha how she deals with it.

Also, he's done amazing things for her and hopefully still can, so I don't want to write this, but the way things are going maybe she needs a new coach… It's clear that Vika has so much faith in Sam that I think this would only happen if things either get so bad there's no alternative or so good that she can end it on a high, so it wouldn't happen soon. It also would need to happen on her own terms so she's ready for a new coach. Nevertheless, it's possible that this relationship has run its course.
 
#5,046 ·
Nah, it is a missed opportunity, and I'd be thinking that even if Serena had still been in the tournament. At the same time, if Vika steps on court and suddenly loses the ability to destroy aga's puffball serves, its hard for her to do much about it other than suck it up and go back to practising.

And as fans all we can do is complain a bit on the internet, get over it evenetually and get ready to support her in Doha.
 
#5,042 ·
I would like to hear what Sam says about this loss. No one expected it and the worst part was how clueless she showed on court.

I thought about the coaching thing before AO, Thought 2013 is someday a regress but then cannot take away the time of injury. She needs to get to next level but I don't see her trying. Sometimes I hear her interviews saying there will not be major changes as she has a good game, I scared a bit cos that sounds like caro 2 years ago. The rest of the tour is improving fast , she might get behind if she doesn't . Probably to command on her fighting spirit to scrap the matches but her game itself is not stronger. Imagine she gets the mental toughness and her game together.

I think Sam came in the time when she was always restless and too impulsive. These few years she calm down but sometimes I feel she was too passive to other extreme. I think it's fair to see how the rest of year develops without injuries then we will know. She desperate need a serving coach though.
 
#5,049 ·
The day Cibulkova has to show Vika how to beat Aga. Never thought I´d see that day. Brilliant performance from the little annoyance. That´s why I´m always in full blown crisis mode, when I see her in Vika´s draw and if she now starts to use her brain it only gets worse. :lol:
 
#5,051 ·
I think she truly is the definition of a big match player. The focus and consistency just isn´t there from week to week. Probably also an issue of sustaining it physically at her size. Never in the top 10, not even with the AO title, but reached the QF at all four majors already. She gets up for the big matches and she is a bitch (in a positive sense) to play, when she has confidence. She has a lot of wins over top players.
 
#5,054 ·
I felt like I got the revenge seeing aga lost. Vika just had too many errors and played herself into shit. Oh well at least I don't need to see aga in final. Cibu believed in herself and went for her shots. Sometimes it may not work week after week, but these 2 weeks she is on fire. Who would have known. It's the same she has nothing to lose against aga like aga had nothing to lose against vika. Wearing expectation is not easy.
 
#5,056 ·
And cibu was solid, aggressive but defends very well too. All vika has to do us to cut down unforced errors and have a up at her shots. What she performed would not have passed Li's flat balls as well. From what I saw vika doesn't place the balls near baseline anymore, but the rest of players do.
 
#5,057 ·
A year ago cibulkova got double bageled by radwanska in the final of sydney. Big game player indeed. I just think she has such low margins technically that small changes in court speed, opponent shot trajectory etc easily knock her game off stride. And the fistpumping is fine, as vika might say if the opponent has a problem with it then theyre a weak person.

And cibu was solid, aggressive but defends very well too. All vika has to do us to cut down unforced errors and have a up at her shots. What she performed would not have passed Li's flat balls as well. From what I saw vika doesn't place the balls near baseline anymore, but the rest of players do.
She played one bad match and suddenly everyone is better than her? Her rally shots were deep and heavy against stephens, it looked like against radwanska she came out and suddenly the shots that were landing a foot inside the baseline were going wide or long. So she took something off them, just to hang in match and hope her timimg came back.
 
#5,063 · (Edited)
What a bad joke of a final. Also want Li to win then since she did get unlucky in last year's final.

Radwanska bowing out 1 and 2 really shows how off Vika was. Everybody is rubbing themselves over Agatha's usual junk (her great trickster shots aren't even in display anymore for years now), but for every magical shot (*barf*) she landed, Vika granted another 10 errors.

 
#5,064 ·
That is GM for you. No discussion about the actual matches possible anymore. It´s all GIF madness. If I ran this place, pictures/gifs would be banned from results threads. I didn´t bother to read more than two pages. And although it would probably make for a good laugh 24 hours later, I still don´t care.
 
#5,066 ·
Vika officially withdrew from Fed Cup. You guys were right that she wouldn't play. I still think it's too bad - it's not like she's going to be too tired after the AO and I think the low-pressure matches could've been great for her to practice new things/gain some confidence. See her in Doha :).
 
#5,067 ·
All I can say is she better never knock off my beloved Jo-La and then go stink up the joint like she did against Radwanska ever again. :(

I mean I'm not sure how I'll back that threat up or anything, but she just better not.
 
#5,068 ·
Guys please vote for Vika!!!!!!!!!! Empress will win but we could help Vika get second place :inlove:!!!!!!
 
#5,069 ·
A couple of days after reflecting, and perhaps it was needed. QF in a slam is not really bad but losing two sets like that to Radwanska is really a bad sign.

I think many of us sort of seen it coming, i actually think her quality dropped a bit already at the start of 2013, but when she won AO and then Doha over Williams i guessed i imagined it.

I just want her back at that level when she beat top 20 opponents 6-2 6-1, moved well around the court. And trashing Radwanska and Sharapova hardly losing games. Last time i seen that level was Beijing 2012. She also won over Li Na every time they played (5 in a row). And it would be no three setters vs Ivanovic or Cornet. Also think she was quicker between points back then, kind of just moving with tempo between points not wanting to stop.

Yes i know she had bad matches back then as well, but not at all that common.

Well, i will keep hoping all the best for her, and if this turns out to be just a temporarily bump, im happy to be wrong. Otherwise im afraid we will at best see her at a great level again in time for the clay season. (Where she has a disadvantage to start with).

I will bump this post when she wins Wimbledon. Vika low time and then a win in the (arguably) biggest tournament. This year or later.
 
#5,070 ·
This post :bigcry:

I thought GOATKa was here until she retired. I believe she can get there again (Fix fitness first, then serve, fuck off foo) and she is arguably unarguably second best after Serena. And after playing such great tennis, i can see her beating Serena regurly and winning slams (Including RG).

Also, i think IGoat mentioned her hiring a new coach. Altho Sam has done wonders, i just cant help but think someone like Rodriguez, Hogstedt or a former player like Hingis, Mauresmo, Navratilova or some man. And Piotr Wozniacki is always free (Vika, All i need you to do is push the ball back in the court :oh:)
 
#5,071 ·
Sumyk isn't going to go, and I don't think he should go either. You can't just change the coach at the first sign of problems in years.

It's not like they aren't aware of her problems. Someone in her team, or maybe her herself initiated getting a new fitness team in the off season.

I have faith in Sumyk. Having seen interviews with him, he strikes me as a good coach.
 
#5,072 ·
First she has to get back into physical shape (at least 2012) before we can really judge whether her game has regressed. The inability to improve her serve and also her clay game (still no sliding ability) is a bit disappointing.
 
#5,073 ·
I think vika first needs to play more matches to get back to match toughness. Even if the result is not good which I am not placing hopes in doha. She needs to get her reflexes and feel back on the court.

Second , she needs to work harder for improvement. Her serve. Her groundstrokes, since 2013 she is losing longer rallies to others which was never the case earlier.

Example LI NA has improved so much of her physical conditions on past 1.5 years with Carlos coming along. I remember reading her first off season was so tough that she called her husband and said she wanted to quit after 3 days. Now she has changed her serve motion, she added topspin to stabilize her forehand. And she can run and defend well against anyone.
 
#5,080 ·
I agree with all of this! Haha I wish she'd read some of these posts :p. One more thing though is that clearly her motivation isn't at it's highest right now, because she's played significantly better against Reehanna than against anyone else, which shows that she's capable of it when she wants it. She was huge in the Cincinnati final, not great at the US Open but fought harder than almost anyone ever, then beat her in Hua Hin, and was a bit messy in Brisbane but also played extremely well at times. After the Brisbane final I felt quite confident (she really could've and even should've won that match, and Reehanna wasn't playing poorly) but then her level dropped a lot at the AO. Also, I think she has a lot of dejection from the US Open final, because that obviously affected her last fall, but also the Lady Aga match was very similar in that she fought really hard to win the second but then completely lost that when she failed to take the lead in the third set, just like at the US Open.
 
#5,074 ·
I also agree that Sam isn't the problem here. I was probably one of the most vocal criticizers of him during early 2011 when Vika played like crap and I threw Sam under the bus. At the end of the day, the form Vika is in right now is a combination of injuries and poor fitness, the two of which go hand in hand as once costs her match toughness and the other costs her effectiveness on the court. While it shows incredible mental toughness to win when you're out of shape, out of practice, Vika's game and its mechanics aren't designed for always winning ugly. She doesn't have a huge weapon to bail her out of crappy games (a la Serena's serve). Vika dominates players and beats Serena by virtue of being able to control the court with speed and aggressiveness. Without either, she's subpar.

Anyways, although I'm not an optimist, I would like to hope this loss is enough to beat some sense into Vika. She's way to competitive to not try. She needs a good spring (a title would be lovely), a solid clay court swing (points defense is all I would expect), a solid Wimbledon (semifinals), and she needs to hands down dominate the living shit out of the US Open Series. There is no reason, other than Peak Serena, for her not to let alone win the US Open.

Oh, and I'll say this in here so I don't incur the wrath of RandomChineseScrub-GOAT: Na only won the title because the draw collapsed. :p
 
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