[1] Victoria Azarenka
[2] Serena Williams
[3] Maria Sharapova
[4] Agnieszka Radwanska
[5] Angelique Kerber
[6] Sara Errani [/] Li Na ankle injury
[7] Petra Kvitova
[8] Sam Stosur
[9] Marion Bartoli
[10] Caroline Wozniacki
[11] Nadia Petrova
[12] Ana Ivanovic
[13] Maria Kirilenko [14] Dominika Cibulkova calf injury
[15] Roberta Vinci
[16] Sloane Stephens
[17] Lucie Safarova
Looming:
Jelena Jankovic Venus Williams back injury
Re: GOATpova returns to stay undefeated in Doha. Maria has arrived|DRAWS OUT!
So, basically, we need the fitness and stamina of today's Maria to go with the better precision, fight, and, dare I say, variety of 2004-2008 Maria. Then we'd see her go tooth and nail in some back and forth semifinal and final 3-setters with the likes of Serena, Vika, and Li Na, instead of seeing her get dumptrucked in meek fashion.
There's no question Maria is more than capable of going 2 and a half or 3 hours in a match if need be and not look fatigued. But she just errors herself to death before she can get any traction, so stamina and match pressure never even come into play. And, especially against someone like Li Na, extending a match is absolutely essential because she will crumble more often than not in tight situations. I want to see Maria do a MUCH better job at digging in against top opponents when momentum isn't going her way.
So, basically, we need the fitness and stamina of today's Maria to go with the better precision, fight, and, dare I say, variety of 2004-2008 Maria. Then we'd see her go tooth and nail in some back and forth semifinal and final 3-setters with the likes of Serena, Vika, and Li Na, instead of seeing her get dumptrucked in meek fashion.
There's no question Maria is more than capable of going 2 and a half or 3 hours in a match if need be and not look fatigued. But she just errors herself to death before she can get any traction, so stamina and match pressure never even come into play. And, especially against someone like Li Na, extending a match is absolutely essential because she will crumble more often than not in tight situations. I want to see Maria do a MUCH better job at digging in against top opponents when momentum isn't going her way.
:spit: Yeah, really not. Obviously finesse is never going to be her strong point, but she can atleast occasionally hit a decent dropshot these days, which she never could've done in 04-06....she's always had an underrated lob though.
Also, I do think some people are guilty of overstating the gap between the "old" Maria and the current one. Overall I'd say 04-06Pova is slightly better than today's, but it's not as big a gap between them as some say, and there ARE certain things she does better today (movement as well as stamina, and I actually think there's an argument her backhand at times in 2012 was better than it ever was in 04-06). And I definitely don't think it's fair to say she fights less. Even in her worst losses over the past 12 months, it's not like she actually willingly gives up :shrug: She's always been pumping herself up and trying to get herself going right til the end of her matches, even if she's still making mountains of errors. She might have less self-belief than she used to, but her will to fight is and always has been (except maybe a few matches in 2010) at pretty much the maximum possible.
Re: GOATpova returns to stay undefeated in Doha. Maria has arrived|DRAWS OUT!
Wow, interesting schedule tomorrow.
Schiavone-Bartoli 2nd match, followed by Maria and Serena and the german derby in the end on Centre, and Vinci-Wickmayer followed by Robson-Hantuchova on Court 1.
Re: GOATpova returns to stay undefeated in Doha. Maria has arrived|DRAWS OUT!
I'm not concerned about her first match. When was the last time Maria lost to a true nobody early in a tournament? Her early losses last year were to the likes of Kerber and Lisicki who are hardly scrubs. I'm kind of fuzzy on many of Maria's non-major tournaments of 2011 and I'm assuming her last bad loss to a much lower ranked player happened that year. Maria has almost always been money against players she should beat, even if the matches sometimes get ugly.
Re: GOATpova returns to stay undefeated in Doha. Maria has arrived|DRAWS OUT!
I highly doubt Vika/Rena stans worry about scrubs :lol:
Masha has been the most consistent top 3 in dismissing lower ranked players. Like Mexicola said, pretty sure it wasn't until like 2011 until she lost to a random player. 2012 she was uber consistent only losing to Lisicki (on grass) and Kerber (post AO) outside the top 5. I have no worries
Re: GOATpova returns to stay undefeated in Doha. Maria has arrived|DRAWS OUT!
Even as someone who's still incredibly pessimistic about her chances generally this tournament, I'm not atall worried about Garcia :lol: I mean, isn't she a ballbasher anyway? If she was a tricky defensive player of the type that Maria struggles with then maybe there'd be some cause for concern, but she eats all the mid-ranked WannabePova Ballbashers for breakfast. So I'm just assuming their RG match was a fluke.
Re: GOATpova returns to stay undefeated in Doha. Maria has arrived|DRAWS OUT!
It was totally a fluke. Garcia played out of her mind for a set and a half and then shit her pants, and Sharapova was ruthless. Granted I haven't seen much of Garcia since then, but I strongly doubt she's even approached that level in the last couple years.
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