Another disappointing loss yesterday happened. but it's not just for the loss, it's not for the serve movement coz it takes time to work perfectly.
its more her fitness on court, her foot work. damn she looks like really a cow when she runs
what I was wondering during all those matches where the serve was just one of the problems (the old Maria could beat them even using only the powerful strokes, thing she's not using anymore) was: damn, what did u do during the off season? supposed to train ok, but why so slow? why so tired?
Probably she took wrong choices during her managing the off season, maybe something different, I really dunno.
What I think it's clear is that now she has some training problems and not only with her serve, her foot work sucks a lot, she got slower then Davenport on court
her breaking up with the father from some points is just positive but now she needs someone who stands over all her preparation
Someone needs both a sports psychologist and a good serve coach to help her save her career as an elite tennis player and that someone is Maria Sharapova. Her losses in the 2011 French Open semifinal to Li Na, 2011 Wimbledon final to Petra Kvitova and the 2011 U.S. Open third round were crushing losses where she just didn't fire partly because Maria is scared of her own serve. She knows her serve problems will do her in and they do. Will that ever change? I doubt it unless Masha gets help. Her effort during matches is commendable as always but Sharapova needs help from outside her circle of friends and team to help her become a grand slam champion again. I would like to see Maria hoist a grand slam singles title again. But that seems to be a long way off even though she made the semi's of the French Open and the Final of Wimbledon this year. Her serve is such a huge hindrance to her game. What a shame. I really don't think Maria can recover from her major double fault issue unless she hires a serve coach. Thomas Hogstedt can stay on as Maria's main coach but Hogstedt like Michael Joyce before him and Maurecio Hadad before him had weak serves as players so how could they really help Maria's serve? Sharapova needs help from a serving expert and it's high time she realized that and actually did something about it. And she most likely needs help from a sports psychologist because of her monumental double fault problem that's hampering if not ruining her once great career. Masha carries fear of her own serve into every big grand slam match she plays and it shows when she serves to try to stay in a set or match. We know what's coming (double faults) and there is really no stopping it. Only Maria can stop it if she gets the help she needs. But bbecause she is so stubborn I doubt she will get the help she needs.
Someone needs both a sports psychologist and a good serve coach to help her save her career as an elite tennis player and that someone is Maria Sharapova.
Her serve problem can't be solved by if there's such a thing called 'serve coach'. Partly is because she's not having a shoulder that she used to serve freely anymore and she has no control over that. Majority is due to the pressure to hold service games in a tight match. Let's face it, she can't serve when it matters most. That's why she's going for her second serve more than she used to now to force something to happen on her service game.
But leave that serve issue aside as I don't think it's gonna change. What I think Hogstedt should work on now is her return game if she really wants to rely on it. Nowadays she's going for too much and her opponents realized that and sometimes they just put the ball in and Maria would commit errors misfiring. She should know when she should/can go for more and when to back off. Many times she said she could have stepped in more but how come she couldn't do that at that time? She needs to construct points more smarter than before. And her forehand, well always her forehand, where is the consistency and reliability?
Part of it is her motion too though...her take back is not as free-flowing anymore and is prone to completely being mis-timed because of the wrist rotation she does. And this might just be me, but it seems like, despite her high ball toss, she actually hits the ball fairly low as it's coming down.
its not only the serve that was off. the groundies were 10 times worst. And maria is not even going after the serve again though she just hitting a 3/4 serve most of the time. Poor placement also.
This coach surprised me, at the beginning seemed like he turned Maria in a undefined player but now all the work they are doing seems to be showing up.
The only thing I'm afraid is that these was an indoor tourney and with wind the problems with the serve will (at least partially) restart
we will see, wind seems her biggest challenge anyway
Maria would have won RG last year if not the gusts of huge wind on center court - simple as that.
If elements are kind to her, she should complete the task this year.
the only thing that really surprises me is why such kind of problem? this is not completely shoulder related or not?
but Id tend to be very careful about expectations for Roland Garros, there are still 3-4 players out there that she really struggles with and the score is unpredictable
Its same as last year. She was in LA training for a month with her dad and Cecil Mammit. The longer she stays on the road with Hogstedt or should I say the more time spent with hogstedt the worse she gets. Its easy to see.
It seems odd to me that after Pova's most successful tournament in four years, you want to hang her coach out to dry in the hot california sun. You know, the guy who obstensively got her into this position.
If Pova or Yuri, for that matter, thought Hogg was doing her harm, he would be tarred, feathered and run out of tennis on a rail!
But what we saw after this amazing tournament was Pova scampering to her box for hugs all around, an especially big hug for Hogg. Doesn't seem like Pova has any doubt about Hogg.
Seems to me you are honing a fabricated story for consumption by the English Papperrazzi in a couple of months.
but last year the conditions were amazing, except for windy days in the end. I know because I was there
so thinking of how usually weather is in Paris I'm extremely doubtful about it this year too
She needs to improve herself, count on her own strenght
Yeah with the altitude in Madrid it can be pretty windy so a few wins there might give some confidence about serving in wind. I know she was really banging down the serves this week but she's showed she's been more willing to add a bit of spin to the second serves.
Im resuming this not because theres not coach in her box but just to talk about her form and training.
we all saw Maria in a very good form playing this AO but still theres a complete lack of a plan B in her game. I was wondering if hitting cross balls with more top spin would have changed at least the score of her semis (its what for instance in this AO final Azarenka did in the final of the first set), instead she kept hitting flat balls with no sense.
is her coach training her well atm? Im thinking of ROdriguez and Nanà for instance