[Mary Chain]

I don't know what to think either about the Fed Cup thing...

[Tecumseh]

Originally Posted by Indianer Slobo

I Have to agree with you. I hope she doesn't close doors she can't open anymore later. On the other hand I can also understand, that she does want to fully focus on the tour and to work on her career on the tour. Don't know if she rationally picked to leave Fed Cup aside for now or if its some kind of revenge for the lack of support she received by the DTB. I sometimes get the feeling she's on some kind of lonely wulf road(maybe she wants it that way?). Same with her still not having a professional full time coach. Hope she doesn't realize she is wrong when the train has already left the station.(with this I don't want to judge if her decision is wrong or right)

I dont think that Mona is by any means resentful and so she just made a rational decision concerning the fedcup. Given her declining form during the second half of last season she might have thought that it would be better to focus on the WTA-Tour. If she comes up with good results this year she might be a contender for a place in the fedcup team next year, in case Barbara Rittner is not resentful herself.

We will see. I believe her decision is right at this stage of her career and i am not sure if she would be ready to play a decisive singles match in case Julia or Angie got injured at that weekend.

[popinjay]

19.1.: Leider muss ich euch mitteilen, dass ich meine Teilnahme für den Fed Cup absagen musste. Natürlich fühlte ich mich sehr geehrt, dass mich Barbara Rittner aufgestellt hat und die Entscheidung ist mir auf keinen Fall leicht gefallen. Selbstverständlich ist es ein Traum für mich einmal im Fed Cup zu spielen. Für "Außenstehende" mag diese Entscheidung vielleicht etwas merkwürdig scheinen, aber es spielten viele private Gründe mit ein, die ich nicht öffentlich darstellen möchte. Ich bin sehr froh darüber, dass Barbara Rittner meine Entscheidung akzeptiert und ich vertraue Sabine und dem Team in dieser Begegnung 100%ig. Ich wünsche dem ganzen Team natürlich viel Glück und werde die Spiele selbstverständlich verfolgen und mitfiebern. Vielleicht war es einfach noch nicht der richtige Zeitpunkt für mein Fed Cup Debut.

http://www.mona-barthel.de/berichte2013.html

[joy division]

There is no translation on her homepage. So here it is.

Unlucky I must tell you that I had to refuse my appearance at the Fed Cup. I feel honoured about my nomination and the decision came not easy to me. Of course it`s a dream for me to play Fed Cup on day.
Looking from the outside this decision might look a little strange, but there are also some private reasons, about which I don`t want to talk in the public. I`m very happy that B. Rittner accepted my decision and I trust Sabine and the team by a 100% in that encounter. Good luck and all the best for the team and of course I will follow the matches and root for the team. It maybe wasn`t yet the right time for my Fed Cup debut.

[Setsuna.]

Thanks, joy division.

[Viktymise]

Honestly, Mona would shit her pants a Fed Cup type of atmosphere/situation right now. It's probably for the best until she gets a lot more big match experience.

[Setsuna.]

Originally Posted by Viktymise

Honestly, Mona would shit her pants a Fed Cup type of atmosphere/situation right now. It's probably for the best until she gets a lot more big match experience.

True.
Off topic question: Is Mona really your 2nd fav? IIRC you did put her 2nd on the list of your fav players.

[Viktymise]

Originally Posted by Hisagi.

True.
Off topic question: Is Mona really your 2nd fav? IIRC you did put her 2nd on the list of your fav players.

Yas. I love me some Barthel these days. The rocket first serve, silky smooth ballbashing, and the those ocassional crazy clever points that she throws in every now and again =

Such a bad choker though, and her slump last year was bizarre/worrying.

[H0barthel.]

Hello Viktymise Nice to see there another Mona's fan

[joy division]

Some words on her.


As it is pretty usual in Germany for tennisplayers she decided to finish school (btw. on the highest level) and is generally interested in many different things beside the court.

Mona is more a soft-spoken woman, very humble and imo pretty sensible overall when you look for instance at the way she handles(d) the disease of her mother.
In an interview she mentioned on the question what she would do if she had a lot of money she would incorporate a foundation for alternative cancer research.
That does not mean that she`s a new Mother Theresa but she cares for such things and she knows that life is not all about tennis.

When you look on her career and developement so far you have to say that she always had a pretty unprofessional und also unconventional environment. And so is her play.
It`s not yet matured and she`s on her own on the court. Her mum surely is not the professional help she would need at times. Some of her strokes and her readiness for competition still reminds me at absolute tennis beginners, But she`s working on it and her forehand shuffle at least has got some length in the meanwhile.
Of course Mona has still a very long way to go as a tennisplayer.

Mona (and her family) seems not to work excepionally success-oriented and we have to accept that. Things will probably change when she will not improve in the near future

It would be a wonderful story to me if she, as a little different player and person, could find her way and fulfil her potential as a tennis professional.

[Mary Chain]

Awww, didn't know about her mother's illness. Must be tough...

[Schnffy]

Originally Posted by Viktymise

Honestly, Mona would shit her pants a Fed Cup type of atmosphere/situation right now. It's probably for the best until she gets a lot more big match experience.

yeah, i think she should concentrate on her singles carreer now... kerber, lisicki, görges, petkovic looking for a place in the team, it will be hard to get a chance to play anyway until she climbs up the rankings considerably

[heavyhorse]

Mona getting a coach would be a nice start...

[Tecumseh]

Originally Posted by joy division

Some words on her.


As it is pretty usual in Germany for tennisplayers she decided to finish school (btw. on the highest level) and is generally interested in many different things beside the court.

Mona is more a soft-spoken woman, very humble and imo pretty sensible overall when you look for instance at the way she handles(d) the disease of her mother.
In an interview she mentioned on the question what she would do if she had a lot of money she would incorporate a foundation for alternative cancer research.
That does not mean that she`s a new Mother Theresa but she cares for such things and she knows that life is not all about tennis.

When you look on her career and developement so far you have to say that she always had a pretty unprofessional und also unconventional environment. And so is her play.
It`s not yet matured and she`s on her own on the court. Her mum surely is not the professional help she would need at times. Some of her strokes and her readiness for competition still reminds me at absolute tennis beginners, But she`s working on it and her forehand shuffle at least has got some length in the meanwhile.
Of course Mona has still a very long way to go as a tennisplayer.

Mona (and her family) seems not to work excepionally success-oriented and we have to accept that. Things will probably change when she will not improve in the near future

It would be a wonderful story to me if she, as a little different player and person, could find her way and fulfil her potential as a tennis professional.

Indeed a nice and thoughtful post on Mona and her approach to her career. It reminds me that we should be careful about our expectations concerning her development as a tennis player.

[Viktymise]

I really feel like her career can go one of two ways from this point:

1) She continually improves, experiences a shit load of setbacks in the form of losses and chokes in big (ish) matches, but eventually learns from these setbacks, gets better guidance, and realises that she doesn't have to be a great competitor to be a genuine threat to the best in the world.

2) Experiences a continual flow of said horrid chokes/losses, but never gets a stable coach, never really improves, and remains a mid-ranked unknown quantity, who can have a few hot streak during the year, and take it to top players every now and then, but never achieves anything particularly significant or takes her tennis to the next level.

We'll see.