[stromatolite]

^Second time in 3 weeks now. Came pretty close against Goerges in Beijing as well.

[petey_pan]

Thank god. I had my puke bucket ready, it's safe for at least another round. Anything but a title here will be a major disappointment.

[stromatolite]

^Agreed. Sam will not gain much in Osaka if she doesn't win the title. Even if she loses in the final she won't gain enough points to lock the 1st alt spot in Istanbul, and she won't qualify for Sofia.

[Territory]

Nastya still plugging away. She's into the final qualifying round in Moscow and just fed Puchkova a yummy yummy bagel in the first set

A MD would be great. Especially considering Moscow is live on Eurosport all week Sam is top seed.

Keep going Nastya!

(PS. I won't mention Sam's result last week )

[ozfan44]

Fingers crossed Rodi can win her match in the main draw here....an opening round win would give her 60 extra points and a much needed boost....if she could play a couple of 100k challengers before the end of the year and do quite well I still hold out hope of her pushing for a top 110 finish....but she must win at least one main draw match in Moscow this week for a stack of points...maybe even beat Sam (never thought i'd say that) and get 120 which would push her right up there in the mix...

Ozfan....eternal optimist haha

[TS]

^ I can't believe you said that either

I'd rather Sam beat her and hold out Maid Marion for 9th spot and YEC 1st alt. That's way more important than a grumpy journeywoman making the cut off

[ozfan44]

Originally Posted by TS

^ I can't believe you said that either

I'd rather Sam beat her and hold out Maid Marion for 9th spot and YEC 1st alt. That's way more important than a grumpy journeywoman making the cut off

I feel bad now Id love Sam to finish 9th....my thought process was all about trying to avoid giving grumble guts (Rodi) a wildcard for the Open so we can expose one of our other aussies into the draw and give them the R1 losers cash bonus for the year....

[louloubelle]

^^ I might be wrong but it might not be the strongest priority for Rodi to get inside the top 110. She's probably aware that she'll get a w.c to AO anyway... She's probably not the patriotic type to work her butt off for the w/c to be available for someone else.... lol

Getting back to Sam..... what i find frustrating is that in the 3rd sets it's not like she gets totally owned, she usually has a shot to win. She just doesn't seem to step up at the crucial stage and give the impression that as a top player she should handle a close situation better.

Unfortunately it comes down to a lack of execution when it counts (is it due to nerves???). She invariably will miss first serves at crucial points and the same for the backhand. Im wondering if David Taylor has truly analysed the close matches she has lost or do they class it as 'one-of-those-days' and that 'it-will-all-come-together'.

[TS]

^ Her attitude after a loss needs to change. It's always "I'm actually quite happy with how I played, and didn't do too many things wrong out there, it just came down to a few points here or there". She said something like that after she lost to Kirsten Flipkens, FFS.

She needs a killer instinct, and sadly she doesn't have it. She also has too much respect for her opponents. She needs to stare these bitches down! I've said that of all top 10 players, past and present, she is easily one of the worst when it comes to 'clutch' moments.

Ah well. Stiff shit. She has a US Open

[stromatolite]

I kind of agree that Sam's attitude needs to change, but that can only happen within realistic parameters. Personally I don't think Sam will ever have the killer instinct of a Sharapova or a Serena, it's just not in her nature. From that point of view getting pissed off with herself after bad losses could hurt her as well as help her.

I do think she needs more of a plan B for matches where some young fearless thing decides to chance her arm, which unfortunately because of Sam's reputation is just about every low ranked youngster with an aggressive game. She needs to be thinking all the time, this girl doesn't usually get away with playing like this against top players, why am I letting her get away with it now? What can I do that she won't like, that will make her play badly like she usually does? The crux is that she's letting these girls dictate the terms of play. She's the one who should be doing that.

[Allez-y]

Most tennis players are perfectionists, sometimes good as a driver sometimes not so good. Sammy has the weight of a nation also on her shoulders and so much expectation on self and for others to win all the time. Swing freely Sammy and just be yourself to play your game.

[binky-GOAT]

Originally Posted by stromatolite

I kind of agree that Sam's attitude needs to change, but that can only happen within realistic parameters. Personally I don't think Sam will ever have the killer instinct of a Sharapova or a Serena, it's just not in her nature. From that point of view getting pissed off with herself after bad losses could hurt her as well as help her.

I do think she needs more of a plan B for matches where some young fearless thing decides to chance her arm, which unfortunately because of Sam's reputation is just about every low ranked youngster with an aggressive game. She needs to be thinking all the time, this girl doesn't usually get away with playing like this against top players, why am I letting her get away with it now? What can I do that she won't like, that will make her play badly like she usually does? The crux is that she's letting these girls dictate the terms of play. She's the one who should be doing that.

In my opinion it's a technique thing as well, Sam struggles when opponents attack her or move her around the court. Well it's true for most players, but more so for Sam because she doesn't have the feel when defending. Basically she commits heaps of forced errors. She likes getting easy balls that sit up so she can dictate play.

[petey_pan]

Totally agree with everything that everyone has said here pretty much. For a chunk of 2011 she was still winning quite a few matches in which she wasn't playing very well, which is the difference between last year and this year..... there's been a few matches that I've watched this year that in the last few games of the third sets her intensity was nowhere near what it should be for a top 10.

[stromatolite]

Originally Posted by Asadinator

In my opinion it's a technique thing as well, Sam struggles when opponents attack her or move her around the court. Well it's true for most players, but more so for Sam because she doesn't have the feel when defending. Basically she commits heaps of forced errors. She likes getting easy balls that sit up so she can dictate play.

True, at least partly. She doesn't always have heaps of errors, there are matches where she defends really well. She probably enjoys those matches more than the ones where she just slams winners all the time. But it is true that she has too many FEs in most of her really bad losses.

[Territory]

Sam's going for her first title of the year in the last tournament of the year! Hope you're all watching

http://www.frombar.tv/v-4/6/26/v-462728.html