[bertisonline]

Originally Posted by stromatolite

I actually think Sam's mini-whoring in Asia was a disaster that she'd do best never to repeat. It's the only time I can remember ever seeing her play tournaments mainly for points, and by the time she got to Istanbul she was paying the price for that big time.

You are right but last year, two unfortunate elements lead to that: her result at RG and the massive point loss generated, and her 9th ranking in real danger in the second part of the year. She had then to chase for points in an unusual way, that's right. The second point is her left foot injury: we didn't know it was the case, but during that Asia race, I'm sure she was suffering a lot, until the end of Istanbul, i.e. the end of the season itself. She was also close to some burn out, but her left foot I'm sure was more than a pain. So I wouldn't be too definitive of classifying it all as a disaster. I'm more in She did what she had to do, without complaining. And She finally secured her ranking while playing at Istanbul - even if it was only as replacing someone, and the result was partly ugly. Not so bad for me regarding the situation, Sam.

[aussie_fan]

I'm assuming Sam's schedule is normal now? So fed Cup, Doha, Dubai, Indian Wells, Miami?

[stromatolite]

at Vika taking a leaf out of Sam's book and admitting she (almost) choked trying to serve out her SF against Sloane.

^I haven't seen a definitive schedule for Sam, but yeah, pretty sure it'll be the standard tournaments. She's not on the entry list for Paris, but is for Dubai, and I'm pretty sure she'll want to defend her final points in Doha (couldn't find an entry list). She wouldn't skip IW or Miami unless she was injured.

[SilverPersian]

Originally Posted by aussie_fan

I'm assuming Sam's schedule is normal now? So fed Cup, Doha, Dubai, Indian Wells, Miami?

I think NA-MUG normally does a top 25 scheduling thread for each section of the year, hopefully it'll come out a bit after the AO final. I agree with stromatolite that it will probably be the same series of tournaments as last year - especially given she's already confirmed at Dubai.

GM is a mess at the moment. Every time I look my eyes start to bleed with all of the annoying thread topics

[Ollie_R]

Indeed, it's almost impossible to find actual relevant tennis threads in GM now.

I hope Sam has a good year.

[stromatolite]

^Towards the end of last year I actually thought that GM was becoming half-civilized, but it's a mess right now for sure. I'm hoping its just the frustrated rage of fans of the two big pre-tournament favorites for the title, and will die down once everybody's used up their supply of hate-gifs, but that might be wishful thinking.

[Ollie_R]

Originally Posted by stromatolite

^Towards the end of last year I actually thought that GM was becoming half-civilized, but it's a mess right now for sure. I'm hoping its just the frustrated rage of fans of the two big pre-tournament favorites for the title, and will die down once everybody's used up their supply of hate-gifs, but that might be wishful thinking.

I agree completely. I enjoyed reading some of the threads there at the end of 2012, but now it's just awful.

Indeed, I hope they all run out of those gifs!

[bertisonline]

Originally Posted by stromatolite

^Towards the end of last year I actually thought that GM was becoming half-civilized, but it's a mess right now for sure. I'm hoping its just the frustrated rage of fans of the two big pre-tournament favorites for the title, and will die down once everybody's used up their supply of hate-gifs, but that might be wishful thinking.

I don't know what to figure out!

B.

[aussie_fan]

Anybody watching the Fed Cup match? Sammy has taken the early break. Pretty standard start, a few nice shots mixed in with some shockers (and another shank serve)

[aussie_fan]

3-0* Sammy, She's really moving around the court nciely

[stromatolite]

2 aces in a row, 4-1 Sammy!

Bugger that she squandered all those BPs in Lucie's last service game, but she didn't lose focus on her own serve.

Hope she can keep it up

[Huntress55]

I'm here watching trying to stay away. Sam playing well is helping.

[bertisonline]

Nice start indeed. Yes She is moving well and is not impressed neither by the crowd, not the event by itself. B

[stromatolite]

Lucie breaks

Somehow I could feel that coming. Sam really needs to regroup fast, because Lucie is starting to hit the ball a lot better now.

[Adomoose]

Yep im watching. Some promising signs but the double faults are still a problem