Of course - we know that if A beats B, B beats C then it does not mean A will beat C, else sport would be very boring.
But how many times has someone lost in the first round to the tournament winner and you hear 'I feel better now, at least (s)he lost to the eventual champion'
Conversely how does it feel to be beaten by someone who loses the next match to someone who loses the next match etc etc etc ?
Even though Zakopalova has lost the last four matches she's played there's no such thing as a good draw for Laura at the moment unless it involves someone outside the top 100! (and even then )
This season needs to end ASAP.
Only true highlights were Madrid, and Wimbledon to a certain extent.
Anyway good luck Laura for what is the last? tournament of the year for her.
If you want omens, I am away on holiday from tomorrow. The last time I went away I missed a top Laura performance when she had the run and beat Radwanska in Madrid.
It's destiny :lol: Or according to todays performance she could get whipped by Kerber. Unless Kerber's exhausted from her Tokyo run...
Laura def looked a bit under the weather, all the nose blowing and sneezing. But she did what she's been failing to do this year and won a TB AND a third set. So what's there to complain about? :lol: C'mon giiirl.
I think it an 50/50 chance she can win this match even with Kerber great run at Tokyo I think we need too keep in mind that beside that run in Tokyo Kerber year has been pretty bad her only other good run in event this came from IW SF & Monterrey F. I think if Laura can raise her game for this match she could have in beating Angie
Today's match was really weird because she could have been 4-0 up in the second set. Also she was one shot away from finally winning the point many times but she sent it long/in the net (maybe due to fatigue). I'm probably one of the only people to think her performance in this match was promising for the future in a sense.
She hit off both wings much harder than I've seen in a long time. I thought her backhand was becoming weaker since the match against MJMS way back in Hopman Cup where it was so powerful but it looked almost as strong as the forehand. She hit a few good volleys too which is something she wanted to add to her game and that slice/dropshot thing she did was amazing. Haven't seen that short slice move for a long time generally and the fact that it stayed so low on a hard court Don't know why more players don't slice dropshot in the middle because it takes away the angles.
She has so many shots in her and I think it has instilled more confidence in me about her talent. With everyone calling her hypeson I do think this showing does display all the things she can do.
The fact that she wants to develop a kick second serve is something I've been waiting for. All of the best servers have a kick second serve and it truly is the most effective second serve you can play. If it works the number of DFs should go down and she should be more happy to go for her serve without as much pressure because she has a reliable serve to fall back on.
Unfortunately I did want it to at least be closer because she let herself down on the big points. She needs to be a matchplayer and bring her A game on the decisive points. Also I don't think Kerber is necessarily a bad match up and its not an excuse. Kvitova didn't seem to mind playing her! If she was a little more consistent in every point she could have made it much more competitive. Laura was unable to rally consistently in back to back points and the fact that she was going all out for every shot was a bit silly. She didn't need to especially since she was hitting it really really hard but straight back to Kerber.
A big thing which if improved would make her like 20 ranking places better (maybe more) instantly is speed but that's an ongoing issue. There are so many other things to work on as well in the off season (see above ) which she has already picked out to do but I have a bad feeling she won't be bothered to do it
Umm anyone hear that stuff in commentary about her having chronic bronchitis? Apparently Annie K mentioned it on BTsport. Would expalin her chest infections earlier in the year and would not be good news...
Umm anyone hear that stuff in commentary about her having chronic bronchitis? Apparently Annie K mentioned it on BTsport. Would expalin her chest infections earlier in the year and would not be good news...
Well I think the thing with chronic bronchitis is that its chronic...it is what it is. You have to try and deal with it and get on with it. Must be tougher to play through tho. Hopefully they can work out how ot manage it.
I thought she had a chance against Kerber she really was the one in control of most of the rally but mad some bad error and had some bad line call Also she seem too have a cold so she wasn't 100% but also Kerber has found some form last week. Anyway Osaka is Laura last event
I'm actually still so confused how Laura beat Radwanska 3&1 this year.
Maybe because it was on Clay.. Aga's worse surface. But she just bullied Aga on the court. She really went after her second serves and gained a lot of return winners.
So many big hitters have struggled against Aga. Will be interesting if they get to play on Hard and see how the outcome is then.