Will she be competitive enough after her absence - that is reach the QF or better? - Does she have a chance in the Aussie Open? - We will know soon! - Good luck Masha!!
maria probably must serve very very well and mix the directions to keep serena guessing
also she need to go for it on Serena's second serve to put her under the pressure
i know this is hard to do, but i have confidence in maria and i believe if she want something she won't stop untill she achieve it come on masha
Am looking forward to the SF. Maria did not play fabulously against Kaia, but she improved in the 2nd set and by the 3rd she was in total control. Maria has beaten Serena before, and I am very hopeful that she will beat her again by the time either of them choose to retire.
It's a new year, she has tweaked her coaching team and I am feeling positive for this season. Let's (hopefully) enjoy what's to come
No expectations for tomorrow :shrug: and not going to get up in the middle of the night to watch because (#fakefan alert) I've been burned one too many times when I expect something good to happen with Maria-Serena matches. Just do your best, Maria and I'll probably see you next at the AO.
And something tells me the winner of the other SF (probably Ms. Foo) is going to win Brisbane.
No expectations for tomorrow :shrug: and not going to get up in the middle of the night to watch because (#fakefan alert) I've been burned one too many times when I expect something good to happen with Maria-Serena matches. Just do your best, Maria and I'll probably see you next at the AO.
And something tells me the winner of the other SF (probably Ms. Foo) is going to win Brisbane.
I can't even remember the last Maria/Serena match I watched live, and yeah, that includes the Roland Garros Final
I'm not expecting anything from Maria, but like always, I hope she doesn't give up without a fight.
I was almost the only one posting in the live score thread......I felt like I was doing a fairly good job anticipating the flow of the match.....does anyone know if Maria figured it all out....how to change the momentum.....or did her new coach offer any suggestions or advice.
I saw the you tube on court interview.....Maria kind of bristled at her coach getting too much credit on advice about how to turn things around....she was joking, kind of, claimed it was fifty fifty.......I like the guy. He might be doing some things right.
I have this feeling that Maria really went out there against Kanepi knowing that she has no match practice and maybe pushed it intentionally to a third set ?
No way, during the changeover between the first two sets, she looked to me like she had no idea what to do while she was listening to Sven. Like she couldn't believe that she was missing as much as she was early on. But maybe it was just her sheer focus, who knows...
I still remember vividly the disappointments when Maria lost to Petkovic at 2011 AO. Thanks Hogstedt, for rescuing Maria from the oblivion during 2011 and 2012.
However, he overstayed the welcome by one year; he was totally useless in 2013.
The Sven Groeneveld era will formally start when Maria plays Serena tomorrow; let's hope for the best.
He was the one who made ClayPova :shrug:. I don't blame the guy for Maria's downfall sort of (Indian Wells and Stuttgart are both great tournaments), but what I do blame him for is his lack of effort I guess when it comes to how Maria approached her matches with Serena.
I really hope Maria can challenge Serena, but going on both of their previous matches I can't say I am not worried that this might be a potential disaster. I really hope Maria can win but with Serena not dropping a single point in the first set to Cibulkova I really don't fancy her chances. It would of course be amazing if Maria could win, it would do wonders for her confidence and ease a lot of tension she has about playing Serena in the future.
However I think considering this is only Maria's third match back I would be happy with a 3 set defeat once she doesn't have a big lead and then loses. We still have Melbourne to look forward to and Maria will be much more match ready if she were to meet Serena there. Good luck Masha! It still feels like yesterday that I saw you beat Serena in Wimbledon, its so strange to think it was nearly ten years ago! Just stay calm and have belief in your game. Don't let Serena get inside your head. You don't have much to lose so try and enjoy yourself