I've been wondering what the hell has gone wrong with her in the last season & I finally got my answer today. First, her serve has always been a problem but today it was a basically a point-giver, almost a double fault per game! Next her ground game is so mediocre compared when I first saw her (against Kuznetsova), she keeps hitting crosscourts that are have no angle and no depth, rarely changing play by going down the line. She does not even look as fast she was when she was in the top 100 & winning WTA matches.
I don't know what has caused such a decline in her game but she needs to do something fast.
What happened to Michelle last year? Well, I think that she was suffering from burnout. She made the comment below during the Midland tournament back in February:
I lost a lot of motivation. I used to have a lot of fight in me, but this past year I haven’t been fighting at all. I don’t know what happened, but I’m getting over it now.
She certainly wouldn't have been the first, young phenom to end up in a slump due to being overstressed and overworked. If she was burnt-out, taking a break from tennis would have been the best solution. Of course, that is easier said than done when you play tennis for a living. We, the fans, are on the outside looking in. We don't know what sorts of pressures she may be facing either on or off the court, and we need to keep that in mind.
Even if she isn't burnout, I still believe that she has been pushing herself too hard. Why did she play Wimbledon last year when she had that shoulder injury? Reportedly, the doctors had advised her not to play. In all honesty, players play hurt all of the time, so there's nothing unusual about that. However, you always run the risk of making an injury much worse and ultimately having to go under the knife. Maybe that's okay for somebody like Sharapova, who has already won Grand Slams, but Michelle hasn't even cracked the Top 40 yet. Anyway, I'll say it again. We are on the outside looking in.
All said and done, I'm not giving up on her anytime soon. She's young, and she's got time on her side. Once she makes the right decisions, things will work out for her in the end. I just really hope that the people around her are helping her to make the right ones...