Tennis Forum banner

Has Sharapova Broke Kvitova Mentally?

17K views 237 replies 85 participants last post by  VeeJJ 
#1 ·
It all started at the AO 2012 semifinal. Petra came in beaming in confidence and unprepared because she and her team probably thought she could cruise through the tournament without fitness and off season improvements. Then all of a sudden, she got a dose of Maria's mental toughness and she broke down in the last game of the match. Eversince, she has not been the same player losing all confidence. On top of that, she got another beatdown at the French Open by Maria. I don't think she expected to lose to Maria especially how well she handled her at Wimbledon 2011 final in straight sets. It reminded me a little bit of the Serena/Maria situation which also all started at Wimbledon in straight set win fashion. I'm not entirely pointing finger at Maria, but surely she at least have something to do with Kvitova's slump of Ivanovic's proportion, no?
 
#203 ·
wikipedia points to this article:

http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/sports/tennis/2011-07-02-wimbledon-womens-final-kvitova_n.htm

"...trained until 16 at her small Czech town of 6,000 residents, which had four tennis courts. She was coached by her non-tennis-playing father and hit with her brothers, usually for only an hour or two after school. Encouraged by the head of the prestigious tennis club at Prostejov, Kvitova began driving to the center..."

If you look at her ITF profile, there are some tournaments in Czech Republic & Slovakia in 2005 & 2006 (the first when she was almost 15), and then a few elsewhere from summer 2006 onwards (but not many until 2007)
 
#210 ·
plus to me Petra isn't a NATURAL competitor...in that she just HATES losing. Sometimes you just see her: 'oh today is not my day, okay too bad. ' Doesn't seem to be type that wanna win ugly, plus her game isn't built around winning ugly.

So to say that Maria broke her mentally is a stretch. Petra never was that mentally tough to begin with.
 
#215 ·
Well, she just beat Stosur, winning ugly. I've seen a lot of clutch play from Petra over the years. The idea that she's mentally fragile is just bullshit.

I'm also confident she will eventually start beating Pova. It's just a matter of getting in shape and fixing her serve.
 
#235 ·
no......kvitty actually needs a match against sharapova to hit back into form......
You know what SDG, I'm with you on this. I actually don't object to this patently false fantasy that Sharpie caused Kvitty's trouble.

As a matter of fact I'm all for it and I want Kvitty to come to this conclusion as well, because maybe that's what she really needs: fire and brimstone and jealousy and anger at someone. And what is better than that someone being Sharap herself? Cause right now, anything that Kvitty can use as a fuel to scurry down to the gym and work extra hard until she gets back in her former blistering form, is a good thing. And if that means getting pissed of at Pova on a false premise - then so be it! :shrug:
 
#234 ·
No. Petra's weight has broken her own self.

I don't think for a second Petra wants to go down the rankings, nor is careless about her rank.

The question is does she really want to be #1.
 
#237 ·
I just think Kvitova is mentally weak at this point in her career and it has nothing to do with Maria. Look at the losses she's having now. They're coming against players she should defeat in two easy sets. I truly believe if Petra is somehow able to pull herself out of this slump she'll be able to compete with the big 3. I just think the Wimbledon win was to much pressure for her and she wasn't truly ready to deal with the competition.
 
#238 ·
You can keep this thread on the front page fo GM for all you wnat and talk about it till you pull your hair out, but NO WAY is Maria enough of a force on tour to be the cause of someones broken mentality.
 
  • Like
Reactions: mac47
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top