[Trih]

Korea is around Xmas right? With who?

[JoPova]

Originally Posted by Trih

Korea is around Xmas right? With who?

It's Caroline again!

[Trih]

They're going to become BFF if they continue like this

[SilverSlam]

I think the main difference from Istanbul to now is her ball toss and her weight transference on her serve, the toss is more to the right and she jumps that way a little more making it easier to hit the outwide serve (but she's going to have to work on disguising it a bit better because it's easy to see where it's going) and her wrist work on her strokes. FH looks like she's using a lot more snap (similar to Ivanovic's almost) to generate more pace and spin, and also I've noticed the grip change is a lot bigger now from FH-BH. I think maybe she's taken the BH a little more flatter and also changed her takeback a little on that side too.
In short I think 2013 will be more about her serve and FH than her BH as has been most years since her shoulder surgery.

[Fighterpova]

Another exho with Woz

Maria is the ultimate exho-whore ExhoVulture

They played 4 exhos so far if I remember correctly:

2008 Hong Kong- Maria won 6-2 6-2
2010 Hong Kong- Maria won 7-5 6-3
2012 prior to IW(I forgot where )- Maria won 6-3 6-4
2012 Brazil- Maria won 6-2 7-6

Am I missing any?

[JoPova]

Originally Posted by Fighterpova

Another exho with Woz

Maria is the ultimate exho-whore ExhoVulture

They played 4 exhos so far if I remember correctly:

2008 Hong Kong- Maria won 6-2 6-2
2010 Hong Kong- Maria won 7-5 6-3
2012 prior to IW(I forgot where )- Maria won 6-3 6-4
2012 Brazil- Maria won 6-2 7-6

Am I missing any?

Madison Square Garden exho at the beginning of the year!

Great analysis Silver BTW!

[SilverSlam]

2012 was at Madison Square Garden (NYC)

EDIT: oh i see I was beaten to it, and I think there's a few other changes like her net aggressiveness but that could be a mental thing (eg its an exho so she's more confident/comfortable there) whereas these are technical changes so I feel more confident we'll see them in 2013.

[JoPova]

Originally Posted by SilverSlam

2012 was at Madison Square Garden (NYC)

EDIT: oh i see I was beaten to it, and I think there's a few other changes like her net aggressiveness but that could be a mental thing (eg its an exho so she's more confident/comfortable there) whereas these are technical changes so I feel more confident we'll see them in 2013.

Maria is so scared of the net in real matches! She always backs off and ends up losing so many points because of her refusal to attack the net! She is very well able of doing so, but lacks the confidence

[Cosmic Voices]

^ tbh she only enters close to the net to finish points off with [drive volleys ] - its just not her natural gamestyle to rush to the net - but i liked what i saw vs caro
anyway most of the girls these days are scared of the net

[JoPova]

Originally Posted by Cosmic Voices

^ tbh she only enters close to the net to finish points off with [drive volleys ] - its just not her natural gamestyle to rush to the net - but i liked what i saw vs caro
anyway most of the girls these days are scared of the net

Petra and Fran are two of the few top 30 players who are able to attack the net consistently!

[OlympianPova]

How do exos work? Do they get to choose who they want to play against? Caroline is fun loving. I don't mind seeing her exos with Maria as brings out the playfulness in Maria.

[Trih]

Originally Posted by JoPova

Maria is so scared of the net in real matches! She always backs off and ends up losing so many points because of her refusal to attack the net! She is very well able of doing so, but lacks the confidence

Originally Posted by Cosmic Voices

^ tbh she only enters close to the net to finish points off with [drive volleys ] - its just not her natural gamestyle to rush to the net - but i liked what i saw vs caro
anyway most of the girls these days are scared of the net

Yeah it's true, but hopefully she's going to be a little more aggressive to the net. She doesn't have to completely change her gamestyle but coming a little more to the net would only be good for her imho. I remember when she's half way to the net but then she backs up to the baseline instead of closing the point, ending up in just having to rally more and get tired.

Originally Posted by JoPova

Petra and Fran are two of the few top 30 players who are able to attack the net consistently!

Roberta too I just wish she could play volleys like she does! I remember during the Milan exho when Maria played a quite decent volley during the doubles match, and then she laughed at it like "OMG how did I do that!!"

[Mexicola]

Originally Posted by JoPova

Maria is so scared of the net in real matches! She always backs off and ends up losing so many points because of her refusal to attack the net! She is very well able of doing so, but lacks the confidence

I agree. I think Maria doesn't trust some of her own abilities in tournament matches. Look how many times in recent years she would be in perfect position to move forward in a point and put pressure on her opponent, only to back away or end up in no-man's-land between the net and baseline. You can almost sense Maria experiencing a mini panic attack the closer she gets to the net. When things get tight in the bigger matches, you always see her pin herself on the baseline and just wail away. All strategy or thought out the window.

That's why I always get a kick watching video of her older matches because you'd see her occasionally just serve and volley out of the blue. Or come in on a groundstroke. And it worked many of the times, so you know she has the capability. I like these exhibitions because you can see the possibilities with Maria. Some great shotmaking and a little variety. A complete player.

[JoPova]

Originally Posted by Trih

Roberta too I just wish she could play volleys like she does! I remember during the Milan exho when Maria played a quite decent volley during the doubles match, and then she laughed at it like "OMG how did I do that!!"

How could I forget Roby? Her volleys are insane!

[Chrissie-fan]

Originally Posted by OlympianPova

How do exos work? Do they get to choose who they want to play against? Caroline is fun loving. I don't mind seeing her exos with Maria as brings out the playfulness in Maria.

I'm sure they like each other or at least get along. Otherwise they wouldn't play so often against each other in these things. And Maria is very popular while Caroline probably also ranks in the top five of most popular (though not at TF obviously) or well known players, so it's a good match-up from a business perspective.