[MM_1257]

Originally Posted by rucolo

2-6 2-6 loss to Li Maria

Another important match lost to Li. Like FO. Huge chance blown with Serena out. I hate Li

Is Li to be blamed or MAsh? She seems to struggle against Li... Others not so much... I decided not to hate anyone...

[TrollPova]

I like Li Na too much to be bitter about this (whoamIkiddingofcourseI'mbitter)

[AnnieIWillKnow]

I was really bitter during the match towards Li, but in all honesty how can you not like her? She's nice, funny, charming, and plays great tennis when she's on.

[Monzanator]

Li was never one of the "bad girls" Just a shame she started that winning streak against Maria

[Asherahpova]

I realised I was over it when I felt nothing watching the Final.

If Maria continues to improve the Slams will come. To be honest even though Vika won, I'm more hopefuly for Maria's season. A lot of Maria's tennis looked way better, Vika really was exceedingly lucky.

Hoping she can finally snatch Miami, but any one of the next three will do.

[PimpMePova]

I wasn't bitter or hating on Li her job is to win it's not her fault Maria didn't play well I was just frustrated and disappointed of Maria and this huge opportunity she lost (I was really bitter when Azarenka won I've got to admit it ) However I'm over it now because I think it was just a bad day and her lack of serious/challenging matches and I did see improvements in her game during the tournament so I'm confident she'll do really well in the next couple of months. She just need to get in the groove of things, have some more match practice and adjust to the changes she's made during the off season because it's one thing when you do drills and practice and another when you have to execute them in a real situation. Anyways I think that if she had played Brisbane and the circumstances were the same (Serena lost to Sloane) she'd probably be a two time AO champion now...but whatever we should move on this things happen

[istase2000]

We used to be able to count on masha to bring it in the big matches, but now I always have that little double that maybe she will just flop without a fight like the last 2 AOs.
I felt like if she played like she did at the year end championships she would've taken the AO title. Or maybe it's a little mental too, well I hope she becomes a mental giant again like last year during the clay season.
I just want more slams!

Aww na is too cute, she wanted to dedicate the win as a present to her husband and maybe had too much pressure. I think it was their wedding anniversary?

[heavyhorse]

Maria has definitely gained back most of the mentality she once had before the surgery. It's just something that can't happen over night.

Reaching the SF isn't a bad thing. Li Na is great at the AO when she's in form and would have definitely won if not for her injury imo. Maria definitely needs to fix a few things though.

[dsanders06]

Originally Posted by Asherahpova

Yeah even though she's not my favourite player, during USO Final I was actually feeling very happy for Vika when she went to serve for it, I normally always feel really happy for the winner of Slam Finals unless it's who just lost it obviously.

IDK it was just strange watching it yesterday, it honestly felt like watching a R2 match between two unknown ATP players. I've never been more indifferent or emotionally disengaged whilst watching a Slam final. I suppose it didn't help when Li injured herself in the third as well.

I agree, the whole thing just seemed like a blurry mess, have we even one great match to take away from this AO on the women's side? Just hoping we can see more of the positives Maria displayed throughout 2013. Oh and WHY did she wait until the SF to highlight the work she's done with her serve out wide on the ad court?

That's exactly it -- even though the US Open final was also a mess in terms of quality, and even though I didn't particularly like either player, it was still an absorbing watch because there was flow to it and clear changes in momentum (Serena going off at the start of the 2nd set, then her fightback from 5-3 down in the decider). Whereas yesterday's was just weird with no real momentum -- the final set was a total damp squib with Li totally petering out towards the end, not to mention all the stop-starting with Na's injuries and those Goddamn fireworks at the most inconvenient time

Originally Posted by SilverSlam

I was thinking about what I'd call her gamestyle earlier, and she almost is just a aggressive pusher. She has great defence and court speed, and she uses her awareness on the court to manoeuvre her opponents to be stretched out enough so the big hitters can't get big cuts on the ball. She's also aggressive enough to beat the lesser girls easily. In 2009 I saw her as a BBB, but she's changed herself to become essentially a powerful Wozniacki.

Originally Posted by Asherahpova

I'm just quoting this but it's essentially to reply to all posts about Vika's game.

Yeah, when you watch her, you aren't really WOWED even at her best. She has a great advantage in her consistent level though, lower ranked players are NOT going to beat her unless she has a horrible day and they play GOATly tennis. Her only competition is Maria and Serena really, Serena owns her yes, but still to beat Vika even they have to play pretty close to their best tennis. If they do that they will beat her pretty comfortably but they aren't going to beat Vika if she's playing well and they aren't.

So once Maria and Serena are out of a tournament you may as well hand her the trophy. It certainly does help her that the current 'elite' group of players has 3 members whereas in past year you had Henin, Maria, Venus, Serena, Kim, Davenport ALL to deal with and then you had players like Svetla and Dementieva behind them.

Yeah, I agree that there's nothing about Princessrenka's game that IMMEDIATELY stands out as exceptional -- and I actually think that's a big part of why fans haven't taken to her, because even when a crowd doesn't like the personality of a player such as Serena, Djokovic, or dareisayit Maria, they often still enjoy watching them play because of the explosive winners they hit (in Serena/Maria's case) or some of the seemingly-impossible retreivals they can make (in Djokovic's case). Whereas in Princessrenka's case, because her strengths aren't as immediately obvious, her game can definitely leave casual observers uninspired.

I do personally think her defensive skills are quite remarkable though. Even though it sometimes doesn't LOOK great, because her raw footspeed is only "quite good" at best, she really does read the game and anticipate much better than she's given credit for, and I actually think there's something quite remarkable about the way she can flick back REALLY powerful shots with a minimal takeback and without even moving her feet (the reason why Maria has struggled with her) -- you have to have really great natural wrist-work and feel for the ball to do that, I actually see quite a lot of Hingis in her in that one respect (though her game obviously isn't as dimensional as Hingis, nor is she as creative with point construction).

With all that said, honestly I do think her window is quite a lot more narrow than some people think. Because her game relies so much on defense, and typically defensive skills do start to deteriorate at a much earlier age than offensive skills. I think her potential Slam winning-window is maybe only 2 years more tbh, and even in that time she's still going to have to hope she either doesn't play the 3 players who can beat her (Serena, Maria, Kvitova) or that they're off their game. Honestly, I'm trying to be as objective as I can, but I really don't think there's much chance at all of her ending her career with more slams than Maria. I mean, easy to forget though it is, Princessrenka is only 2 years younger than Maria afterall

Originally Posted by heavyhorse

Maria has definitely gained back most of the mentality she once had before the surgery. It's just something that can't happen over night.

Reaching the SF isn't a bad thing. Li Na is great at the AO when she's in form and would have definitely won if not for her injury imo. Maria definitely needs to fix a few things though.

Imo, Thursday's shitfest wasn't really nerves on Maria's part -- I dunno, I didn't really get the same vibe that I got in some of her matches in 2012 where she was DEFINITELY affected by nerves (AO final, Olympics final). To me it seemed more like she was just FLAT emotionally. Maybe she and Hogstedt just underestimated Li, thought she would play as badly as she did in her recent matches against Maria, and Maria just wasn't mentally prepared to face as high a standard of tennis as Li brought? That's my gut instinct.

[Tennisvampire]

Dsanders, really great post I enjoyed reading it, and I completely agree with everything said And congrats to whoever made the comparison of that final with R2 of a Slam-totally nailed it

[rucolo]

Originally Posted by MM_1257

Is Li to be blamed or MAsh? She seems to struggle against Li... Others not so much... I decided not to hate anyone...

Hate is maybe a bit too strong word. But Li is definitely the WTA player I dislike the most. Even Azarenka is better. I can`t see her annoying face anymore, I can`t see her beating Maria anymore. Enough is enough. The FO loss was really painful, now the AO loss. Maria is the better player, but she often plays so shit against Li, and Li likes playing Maria. Li is so annoying with her fake smile, her lame jokes, I can`t stand her. Can`t wait until Maria kicks Li`s ass at the next Grand Slams

[Icky80]

Li Na is such a glorious hot mess