[bruce goose]

Originally Posted by marineblue

Well, this is an argument which can go both ways - when Caro was defeated by Maria after she lost her no.1 ranking she was no longer playing at her best neither.
The fact that the elite wasn't able to make it far enough to challenge her is their negative, not Caro's. She was the most consistent player at the time so they had many opportunities to face her. I think they'd lose against her anyway if they weren't able to beat lower ranked players.

You're absolutely right when you point out that it wasn't her fault that the other players didn't meet Caro too often.That simply leaves us with a lack of empirical evidence to judge by.I'd love to give her the benefit of the doubt,but many of us,myself included,tend to be doubting thomases when it comes to sports

[Protoss]

Originally Posted by DownInAHole

So you are putting forth the theory that Caroline's serve is not as strong as it could be. Interesting.

It's her serve or her mentality or both combined.

I've seen players with good to very good serves fail to close out sets or matches. At the OZ Open this year, Stosur, who a lot of people consider to have the 2nd best serve in the Wta, lost after being up a double break in the 3rd set.

[Protoss]

Originally Posted by terjw

Interesting. Well I suppose the positive is that the real dip was 2012 Tokyo and she's on an upwards curve compared to that. It sounds from what I've read in the Live Scoring Thread that she made a ton of those UEs here in Doha at the end of the 2nd set when she allowed Aga to come back and that was the most disappointing part of her last match.

Have you any figures for her earlier matches with Aga when she was just winning tournament after tournament. I think she was already well in decline by 2011 YEC. I bet her UEs in her earlier encounters were way down from all four of the matches you quote.

Here's what I could find. Stuttgart is indoor red clay, Tokyo was a retirement by Aga down 5-0 1st set, and Indian Wells is a very slow hard court (one of the slowest on tour)

2011 Stuttgart: 34 winners and 25 unforced errors
2010 Tokyo: Caro 9 winners and 5 unforced errors
2010 Indian wells: 21 winners and 25 unforced errors

[bruce goose]

Originally Posted by Protoss

It's her serve or her mentality or both combined.

I've seen players with good to very good serves fail to close out sets or matches. At the OZ Open this year, Stosur, who a lot of people consider to have the 2nd best serve in the Wta, lost after being up a double break in the 3rd set.

Still,tennis life would probably be a lot easier for Caroline if she had a more potent serve.Actually acquiring an effective technique is the harder part,isn't it?The choking problem can be controlled by learning the proper mindset

[Protoss]

Tough draw for Caro but oh well. Based on the draw she should make it to the quarters against Serena.

Good luck Caro.

[C. W. Fields]

Nice to even that negative score against Safarova. Tomorrow she can improve another negative score: 1-3 against Zheng (one loss was in 2006, another a retirement).

[bruce goose]

Lucie was in good form in FC just a short time ago,and she's a Top 20 player,so I'd call this a decent-though-not-quite-great win for angelita Caroline

[Protoss]

Here's an interesting comment from Caro in a Sports Illustrated article about yesterday's matches in Dubai:

The Dane, who has returned to the top 10 this year, said she feels her passion for the game has returned.

“For me, I’m just really enjoying the tennis and happy to be out there,” Wozniacki said. “I think at one point it was just a job and going and playing, but I feel like I’ve gotten that hunger back and that enjoyment of the game.”

http://carolinewozniacki.dk/caroline...-championship/

[Chrissie-fan]

Originally Posted by Protoss

Here's an interesting comment from Caro in a Sports Illustrated article about yesterday's matches in Dubai:

The Dane, who has returned to the top 10 this year, said she feels her passion for the game has returned.

“For me, I’m just really enjoying the tennis and happy to be out there,” Wozniacki said. “I think at one point it was just a job and going and playing, but I feel like I’ve gotten that hunger back and that enjoyment of the game.”

http://carolinewozniacki.dk/caroline...-championship/

Her admitting that (I presume) especially last year tennis was just a job for her is indeed interesting. Good to hear her say that she's got the hunger back. Maybe her relationship with Rory was emotionally so overwhelming to her that for awhile it was hard for her to keep her mind fully on tennis, but now she's learned to organize her life and deal with the relationship in such a way that it has less of an impact on her tennis. Let's hope so.

[marineblue]

Originally Posted by Chrissie-fan

Her admitting that (I presume) especially last year tennis was just a job for her is indeed interesting. Good to hear her say that she's got the hunger back. Maybe her relationship with Rory was emotionally so overwhelming to her that for awhile it was hard for her to keep her mind fully on tennis, but now she's learned to organize her life and deal with the relationship in such a way that it has less of an impact on her tennis. Let's hope so.

I think she might have just felt like a machine after some time. There were always annoying questions from the media all the time and probably her sponsors expectations also created some pressure.

I think Rory was the one who helped her to gain her motivation back as he understands how hard it is to be at the peak and how to deal with the pressure.

[C. W. Fields]

If Caro's to repeat her title run here in Dubai, it'll go something like this.

1R: Safarova. H2H: 1-2
2R: Zheng. H2H: 1-3
QF: Serena. H2H: 1-5
SF: Aga or Kvitova, both of whom have beaten Caro the last 3 times.
F: Kerber, who has also beaten Caro the last 3 times.

On paper, winning Dubai will be somewhere just shy of a miracle!

[goldenlox]

Originally Posted by Protoss

Here's an interesting comment from Caro in a Sports Illustrated article about yesterday's matches in Dubai:

The Dane, who has returned to the top 10 this year, said she feels her passion for the game has returned.

“For me, I’m just really enjoying the tennis and happy to be out there,” Wozniacki said. “I think at one point it was just a job and going and playing, but I feel like I’ve gotten that hunger back and that enjoyment of the game.”

http://carolinewozniacki.dk/caroline...-championship/

This is her 5th tournament of 2013, so far she only reached 1 QF, and folded in that when up 5-3 in set 2.
She does need a lot more hunger, more focus.
But she knew that 18 months ago.
She has to do it on court. We've seen this happen to other former #1's.
Its extremely difficult once a player has fallen this far from the top for such a long period of their career with no major injury. Its a mental fight within the player. Like watching Ivanovic's service toss, and the way she over reacts when things go bad.
Its almost like trying to recapture their youth.
Its clear from the last 20 months how hard its going to be for Caroline. She's lost 5 of her last 10 matches at majors. 4 of them terrible 1st sets, the other she had match points

[goldenlox]

Serena & Vika are out. Kerber lost, no Li.
Here is a great opportunity for Caroline this week

[CWTennis]

Originally Posted by goldenlox

Serena & Vika are out. Kerber lost, no Li.
Here is a great opportunity for Caroline this week

But there's Petra, and she's playing better with every match!

[goldenlox]

Its a big tournament for Petra, Caro and everyone besides Aga, who is 20-2 this year (only losing to Li & Vika).
But if Caro can win this heading into IW & Miami, maybe she can step into the top 5 group.
First she has a QF to play