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Danish Delight - Caroline Wozniacki thread - vol 6

419K views 5K replies 83 participants last post by  James 
#1 · (Edited by Moderator)
The last volume has passed 5000 posts, time to start a new one.

 
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#313 ·
Let me clarify one component of the post above: My thinking is that Piotr and Caro made the changes ON THEIR OWN,NOT because they were capitulating to someone else's desires.To offer a simple analogy,let's imagine that I had a psychedically-colored hippie van that my neighbors hated...and they would periodically badmouth the van and express their wish that I replaced it......Then,at some point,the van has major engine problems and it's no longer cost-effective to repair,so I get a new vehicle which happens to be rather normal compared to the hippie van.The neighbors might THINK that I did it for them,yet their previous comments had no bearing on my final decision.

Likewise,I'd call Piotr and Caro two strong people who tend to stand by their principles.They wouldn't go against what they believed just to placate some media asswipes.Heck,Ana is EXTREMELY weak,and yet she has never relented to media advice that she should get a mental coach even though the entire world,including herself,can see that she desperately needs it.Piotr and Caro are almost immeasurably stronger than the Serb weakling.

They simply came to the conclusion,grudgingly,that Caro could never win a late-round Slam match by waiting for a Serena,Clijsters,Henin,etc. to make UEs on key GPs or MPs---and improving the serve was inarguably necessary.As for whether or not Caro should've tweaked her defensive style,that's debatable...but the case for doing so goes far deeper than pacifying critics who,fundamentally,have no desire to help her at all and are merely blabbing their preferences on style of play.It's hard to even fathom that Piotr and Caro would allow popularity with critics to dictate how Caro proceeded with her career.....I just wish that they'd given more thought to how they implemented the changes...such as bringing in a respected coach who had overseen similar changes.He/she would've done so more gradually and effectively,I suspect
 
#314 ·
I agree that Piotr and Caro are not silly to worry about what journalists have to say. I think that when they decided to try something new in 2012 they did consider some of the ideas that were repeatedly mentioned by the likes of Hingis, Navra etc. It's not a sign of weakness when you consider an opinion of someone who excelled in your field,IMO. However, as those experts were always biased against Caro's game and did not give much effort to even analyse her defensive style it was obvious that their ideas probably wouldn't work.
I think that over this season they'll need to work out what is a right balance bwt defense and offense which can help her win. Right now it's more about her heart and fighting spirit. She does not outplay her opponents but 'outwills' them. But that won't work all the time.
 
#321 ·
You state things very well in seeing that Caro and team would appear hardheaded to not even listen to what legends had to say.....and yet some of those legends haven't done any detailed analysis of Caro's situation;they simply spout off at the mouth sometimes just to let others hear their voices.Maybe some of them miss the sport so much that they feel the urge to shout a bit just to remain relevant.

In Petra's case,Navrat has stated an unequivocal interest in taking part in her career,yet I doubt that most of the famous talking heads have Caro's welfare in mind when they criticize her game
 
#317 ·
I don't think that the drop in Caro's game was due to any pressure of being #1 without a slam either. I do think Caro and Piotr just lost direction what to do. They sure were sending out contradictory and confusing signals what exactly they were doing after IW in 2011. And one of my biggest gripes in 2012 was how it was all supposed to be about focussing for the slams. And poor perfomances at the regular tournaments were dismissed as "Don't worry. This is not the priority - it's the slams we are preparing for". I think they took their eye off the ball as to some worrying things that were happening - poor performances at regular tournaments, the increase in UEs....

The increase in UEs was too easily dismissed as teething problems when going for her shots more. But I think UEs crept into her whole game and many of them weren't because she was going for her shots at all. Just bread and butter errors where she simply broke down before her opponent and she hardly ever used to do that, She was just leaking too many and it looks to me as if not enough attention was given to that and they were dismised as "Don't worry - it's the price for trying to be more aggressive". The trouble is - when they go up - there was no advantage she had in any area of her game against other players in a whole host of her matches.
 
#319 ·
I don't think that the drop in Caro's game was due to any pressure of being #1 without a slam either. I do think Caro and Piotr just lost direction what to do. They sure were sending out contradictory and confusing signals what exactly they were doing after IW in 2011. And one of my biggest gripes in 2012 was how it was all supposed to be about focussing for the slams. And poor perfomances at the regular tournaments were dismissed as "Don't worry. This is not the priority - it's the slams we are preparing for". I think they took their eye off the ball as to some worrying things that were happening - poor performances at regular tournaments, the increase in UEs....

The increase in UEs was too easily dismissed as teething problems when going for her shots more. But I think UEs crept into her whole game and many of them weren't because she was going for her shots at all. Just bread and butter errors where she simply broke down before her opponent and she hardly ever used to do that, She was just leaking too many and it looks to me as if not enough attention was given to that and they were dismised as "Don't worry - it's the price for trying to be more aggressive". The trouble is - when they go up - there was no advantage she had in any area of her game against other players in a whole host of her matches.
The key part is that she was heading into the summer hardcourt season and the year before she won Rogers Cup, New Haven, Tokyo, Beijing, and YEC final.
Why they would make a change right before this time of year makes no sense.
So I also agree that her game was starting to unravel mentally.
Which is why she needed a coach to figure out what was happening and slow the drop off.

None of it made sense. How do you lose in 2 sets to both Vinci & Mchale at hardcourt premiers when you & Kim dominated less than 1 year earlier.

It was a mess from many angles.
 
#326 ·
Some Tsurenkoa stats from her last match

Ws/UEs: 17/42
Aces/DFs: 0/6
Fastest serve: 164 kmh

Doesn't seem too scary.
 
#328 ·
She may also be a bit tired from her many matches. This will be her 6th AO match and before that she played 6 matches in Brisbane (4-2).
 
#329 ·
Its still depends on Caro. If she can get the mental toughness back, she will be hard to beat.
Even last year you saw that in Miami. 64 in the 3rd vs Sharapova or Caro would have made that final.
But she needs to hold serve. That hurt her bad vs Maria, down 2 breaks in all 3 sets.
It hurt her in the final vs Nadia.
Same here. Focus, compete, and serve well, play well, every service game
 
#330 ·
As you can tell from Friday's schedule, there isn't room on the three major courts for all 16 singles matches, some of them (4) are relegated to outer courts. It makes me wonder where Caro will be playing Saturday? In the first two rounds she was guaranteed a spot on a major court because of her relatively high ranking coupled with interesting opponents: Lisicki was considered the toughest of the non-seeds and Vekic is a star of tomorrow. But from a spectator point of view, Tsurenko isn't a very interesting opponent.

So, what matches are probably guarenteed a center spot?
Azarenka - Hampton, because Vika is the defending champion and the top seed
Serena - Morita, because she's Serena
Robson - Stephens, an interesting teen clash and Robson is the closest thing to an Aussie woman left
Krumm - Jovanovski, because Kimiko is a sensation
Kuznetsova - Navarro, because Sveta is a double GS winner and comeback players are always popular
Federer - Tomic, because you know why!
Murray - Berankis, because Murray won the Olympics and USO
Del Potro - Chardy, because Del Potro is a former GS winner
Tsonga - Kavcic, because Tsonga is a popular player and a strong outsider
Simon - Monfils, because Monfils is this year's comeback man and a very entertaining player

These 10 matches are guaranteed a center spot in my opinion, as well as any doubles matches involving Aussies.
The remaining matches are: Cilic - Seppi, Gasquet - Dodig, Raonic - Kohlschreiber, Kirilenko - Wickmayer, Vinci - Vesnina and Wozniacki - Tsurenko. If Saturday is similar to Friday, four of these six matches will be on outer courts. Is Caro's match more interesting than four of these other matches from a spectator/organizer point of view?
 
#332 ·
I think Kuznetsova's, Date Krumm's, and Monfil's matches may end up on an outside court.

I think Caro will end up playing on Margaret Court Arena and not an outside court due to her popularity, her looks, her former #1 status, and her current top 10 ranking.
 
#331 · (Edited)
Despite Caro's overall return to a more defensive style of play, I hope she still plays on grass like she did with Johansson (allbeit without a first round loss at Wimbledon). She played arguably her best match on grass ever last year and her overall level of play on grass was pretty good.
 
#334 ·
Despite Caro's overall return to a more defensive style of play, I hope she still plays on grass like she did with Sanchez (allbeit without a first round loss at Wimbledon). She played arguably her best match on grass ever last year and her overall level of play on grass was pretty good.
You mean with TJ? I think she has great defensive skills, and she has to use them. But when she is in a crosscourt backhand rally, and gets a short ball with her opponent in that corner, the down the line backhand is her best shot to win a point. But she has to wait for the right moments, because you dont want to give the point away, trying to end the points too quickly.
Thats what Sabine & Vekic did against Caroline, they tried to end points too quickly. Caroline spent a year and a half doing that also.
Use her defensive skills, go for winners when they are there.
I still say she was fine after the loss to Cibulkova at Wimbledon. She should have been having her normal practices, but working more with her serve.
If she can get back to that level, she is going to be fine.
Since this is a major, round by round it will get tougher, so we will see where her game is at right now
 
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#335 ·
Caroline into AO R3 ! :D:yeah:

wow She won 2 matches at a Grand Slam. Watched the match until 6-1 4-1. Knew Vekic would be dangerous. She hits the ball so hard. Happy with the way Caro played. Solid performance. Amazing backhand Winners. Vekic is talented, future Top 20 player IMO. Another hardhitter next with Tsurenko. Hope Caro stays focused, fights hard and places the balls deep.
 
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#343 ·
#347 ·
I think Caro should try to improve her game on clay. She has a playing style which should be good for that surface, but she doesn't move as well on clay as on other surfaces. She should try to move better and slide better, probably improve her drop shots and she could have great results at the French Open
 
#348 ·
I think she can if she can get her game back to where it was late 2010-early 2011.
She was in a Madrid final in 2009. Lost a semi to Sharapova in Rome 2011, won in Brussels 2011. She is okay on it, lost to Fran the year she won the FO.
First she has to get her overall game back to where it was. If she can, I think she can make deep runs in Paris.
I'm not sure about Wimbledon ( has to hold serve better), but defense is a good thing in Paris
 
#350 ·
To me, its important that she gets the mental toughness back. These 2 matches look good, but its just 2 matches.
Caroline used to put streaks together. Winning 9 of 10, even 15 of 16.
If she can keep her level high, make her opponents play great to beat her, I think she can get back in the mix at the top.
But thats a long way off. For now, get this 3rd round win
 
#353 ·
She even had a 25-1 streak in 2010! She won all matches from Montreal to 1RR at YEC except the SF loss at USO against Zvonareva.

That seems such a long time ago. An 8-match winning streak would be pretty awesome these days. I'm sure she'll be back, but I don't know when.
Yeah, that was Rogers Cup, New Haven, USO, Tokyo, Beijing 2010. 4 titles & a semi 25-1.
I think the biggest mistake Caro & her dad made was not concentrating more on developing her serve.
I think they should have someone watch tape of Caro's matches & chart every serve. Wide, down the T, to the body. Study the %'s that go in, that win points off her serve.
Her serve seems too easy to attack, and this 3rd round could have been trouble if her opponent didnt hit so many routine balls into the net, or if she had a good serve.
Now comes Sveta in round 4. But to beat Sveta and compete with Vika, she cant be broken like this match
 
#352 ·
For me,the Ladies First principle should apply:);it just seems wrong to me that lovely Caroline has to wait for the men to finish playing.As a matter of fact,who ever said that men's matches had to be longer?Why not SHORTER...say,best 4 games out of 7:p for everyone except the Big Four
 
#354 ·
That's 6 sets in a row where the opponent hasn't gotten past 4, that's somewhat positive. :)
 
#357 ·
This tournament draw worked out well so far.
A big name in round 1, so Caro was ready. Then 2 young players who arent on show courts at majors a lot.
Now comes a real test, Sveta. With a probable match with Vika for the winner
 
#358 ·
Will Caro - Kuznetsova be on Hisense or RLA? Azarenka, Serena, Federer and Murray almost certainly will play on RLA. There's room for 5 matches on RLA so there's a slight chance Caro's match will be the fifth, but I think it's more likely she'll play Hisense fourth time in a row.
 
#362 ·
I think the only other singles match that might make it onto Rod Laver Arena is Tsonga's match. That would be pretty atypical of the Oz Open to have three men's singles matches there on one day though.

It may depend on whether there's a women's singles match they think is worthy of the night spot on Rod Laver Arena. On day 5 there wasn't a Wta singles match at night, so there was only four singles match on RLA that day.
 
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