[CareerSlamPova]

Maria pls win a tournament.

[nelsondan]

I gotta wonder...would a ten pound weight gain slow her up, or would it increase her focus and power? She looks about as thin as she usually does, but I have seen her a few pounds more. Not sure if it affected her play, one way or the other. She missed a lot of shots, not because she could not get to them, but because she seemed to lose focus on where she was trying to send them.

[Trih]

She's not physically powerless, she's just been mentally weak.

[Cherry.]

Originally Posted by Trih

She's not physically powerless, she's just been mentally weak.

Exactly. There's nothing wrong with her physically. In matches vs. Vika you can still say there's the match-up problem etc etc but a loss like this is just purely a mental letdown. Nowadays she always seems nervous as hell in a final even if she was facing somebody who's far less experienced and has never been to the final before. She needs to find a way to get over this mental hurdle.
Also I can't see how a weight gain can help her improve her focus? Focus has nothing to do with weight.

[Trih]

The italian commentators on Eurosport which are in my opinion very good, were just saying those things. I remember things like:
"She's rigid when she has to go for the winners, she's missing with BH DTL, which is her best shot. She must stay with her feet much more inside the court, she's doing that sometimes but she instantly goes back to the baseline 'cause she's nervous and afraid to make mistakes."
I think that also Hogstedt said that to her, to stay more close to the middle when Aga was serving, specially when she was serving 2nd serves...

[Cherry.]

Also she really needs to choose to serve first if she won the toss (that won't happen though cos she said herself that she's more stubborn than anyone could imagine). I mean it isn't the most important thing in most circumstances but in matches like this it really makes a huge difference. At least when you got broken you still have a chance to break back to stay in the match, instead of just lose straight away. She was holding pretty comfortably bar that 2 most critical games. Had she served first she would be leading through both sets and that way she would have less pressure and could do better in those return games.

[Jamrock,20]

Come on guys be strong! This is when she needs her fans the most. The fighter we love is still in there and she's not giving up!

[CareerSlamPova]

Originally Posted by Cherry.

Also she really needs to choose to serve first if she won the toss (that won't happen though cos she said herself that she's more stubborn than anyone could imagine). I mean it isn't the most important thing in most circumstances but in matches like this it really makes a huge difference. At least when you got broken you still have a chance to break back to stay in the match, instead of just lose straight away. She was holding pretty comfortably bar that 2 most critical games. Had she served first she would be leading through both sets and that way she would have less pressure and could do better in those return games.

Yes, she was serving so well today, just not at pressure games.
If she would have served first, that big, it would have given her a lot of confidence to break Aga, and not pressurize her on her serve at like 4-5 or 5-6 where she completely blew away.

[Cherry.]

Originally Posted by BridesMaidPova

Yes, she was serving so well today, just not at pressure games.
If she would have served first, that big, it would have given her a lot of confidence to break Aga, and not pressurize her on her serve at like 4-5 or 5-6 where she completely blew away.

Absolutely. I understand that she chooses to receive because since comeback she's more confident in her returns than serves. But if your service game is gonna get broken at some point in the match, it's better be sooner than later. I mean she didn't give out any BPs in any other services games expect those 2 games at the end of each set.

[doomsday]

I'm really sick but sick of this, I was not that crushed over those losses against Vika because it was Vika against whom she always had trouble but Aga of all people, that pathetic pusher and 1 winner per set. I just can't.
Bring on clay season, I have no more expectations on others surfaces except clay and fast HC and I have accepted that she will NEVER win Miami it's never good when she feels home on court, NEVER.

[CareerSlamPova]

Originally Posted by Cherry.

Absolutely. I understand that she chooses to receive because since comeback she's more confident in her returns than serves. But if your service game is gonna get broken at some point in the match, it's better be sooner than later. I mean she didn't give out any BPs in any other services games expect those 2 games at the end of each set.

These are just one of the 755829 things that went wrong yesterday.I guess we should just forgive and forget. I missed that Maria who used to fight for every point on the return and not just give away games like gifts(SantaClausPova ). Well hopefully this loss will work as a motivation for the clay season.

[killerqueen]

Originally Posted by killerqueen

* First are foremost, stay fit, healthy, injury free and happy for the whole year. Aww

Must Do's!
* Win some nice titles. I don't mind how many or which ones, but something nice that we can boast about!
French Open anyone?
* Improve on her serve stats, even if just a little bit. I can more than live with the fact that it'll never be perfect, but any improvement would be nice.
She actually has a serve again
* Do her best to defend Cinci and Rome titles. If she doesn't win it's fine, but don't let them go without a fight!
Rome retained, looking forward to a good summer!
* Solid performance at all slams. QF and above would be nice if possible!
So far so good!
* Qualify for YEC and improve on performance there. It's tough because she was injured, but it was very hard to cope with defeats to her pigeon and the slump queen!
YEC qualification guaranteed. Better performance certain if she continues like this!

Would love, but excusable if it doesn't happen
* End the four year wait and win a Grand Slam title. Any one, any way. It'd be amazing!
Thank you!
* Complete the career Grand Slam - came close last year, go one last step!
Omg.
* Beat. Serena. Williams. It's been far to long!
I believe this is the one I want the most now!
* Become #1 in the world. Even for a week. Again, it's been far to long!
Awesome!
* Olympic medal would be nice. Gold medal would be bliss.
She totally could do this!
But again, all I really want is a happy healthy Maria trying her best to succeed.

June the 9th, and she's done virtually everything I wanted for her.

[Monzanator]

Originally Posted by Monzanator on 12th November 2011

Another Grand Slam, don't care which one.. just anyone

I can die now

[claypova]

Originally Posted by claypova

i want Maria to win a GS before she retires

Originally Posted by Cherry.

This. Anyone, anytime will do. Just one more.

YES

[FakeMashabator]