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MADRID 2013 Mission: Snatch That #500!!!

67K views 1K replies 79 participants last post by  heelsrule1988 
#1 · (Edited)
I see nobody has bothered to open a thread for this yet... :spit:

Title suggestions more than welcome...if you care for this tournament.


Good Luck Masha. :cheer:
 
#1,030 ·
During Stuttgart and Madrid, Maria gave me the feeling that she had reached a level of self-confidence that I had seen only during her previous peak times. And this is both professionally and personally.
She looked like "I'm going to win this match. 2 sets? 3 sets? does not matter, I'll win. Am I facing one, 2, 3 break points? I'll save them and if not I'll break back" Or "Did they catch me and Dimitri kissing? I'll make some fun out of it".
It's really just my impression, but I really felt that Maria had got to a state of mind that would get her to handle pretty much everything that would come her way.

This was not yet making me 100% sure that she could beat Serena yesterday, but I was convinced that this was an opportunity to give her a real hard time, and - with a bit of luck - perhaps even win. Therefore I was really surprised when she handed the 1st set over in half an hour. She seem to have made a good effort in the 2nd, but once again it did not work.

It is not unlikely that we will have another 4-5 finals this year where Maria and Serena will clash. Maria's got to get over whatever blocks her to display a solid, consistent performance against Serena. Serena is overall the better player, but Maria's gap is definitely not the one that emerges from the scores.
 
#1,035 ·
Its taken me longer than I expected to get over this loss hens me not posting. I really thought she had a great chance to get that second set and I was getting so into it. Its just so disappointing to see her go down pretty routinely on Serena's worst surface. I was very proud though of how she didnt give up and really fought hard in that second set. I dont really have a lot to say. Its not like she can take anything from the match.
 
#1,036 · (Edited)
Serena is a better player than Maria so she won. Surface wont make any difference whether it is slow or fast because in every aspect movement,variety,power,mental strength and the list on goes Serena is better. She presented an opportunity to Maria in Miami final(Considering how she played before day against Aga), but Maria could not capitalise the opportunity to drop both monkeys Miami curse and Serena fear from her back. That automatically gives confidence to Serena that even she is not at her best she could beat Maria. The bagel in the last set wont help either to Maria's confidence she got after winning a set that she can compete against Serena. If somebody considers her record against Serena from 2004 - 2010 except a couple of matches many were 3 set battles and Close 2 sets. From 2010 - 13 every defeat was a demolition. Shoulder surgery happened in 2008 and after that she faced Serena She faced Serena in Wimbledon 2010 where she lost 7-6,6-4 after holding 3 set points in first set. Now a days can anybody expect the same scoreline atleast, if they both meet again in this years Final or Semi Final at Wimbledon.Now from 2010-13 she won a grandslam at French, but pre 2010 Maria would have won 3 more Grandslams one at Wimbledon - 2011, beating Kvitova and two at 2012 and 2013 AO both times beating Azarenka (Most dissapointing that she ate a bagel in the hands of Azarenka in 2012).

She became so defensive in this period and those fearless ground strokes that gave her Wimbledon at 17 were completely gone in her game. Many a time I have seen in this SS forum fans fear if her prospective opponents in later rounds of a tournament were Kvitova, Azarenka, Na even Aga, Sabine, Ana, Dulgheru(LOL), needless to say about Serena because we know that she has her work cut out if any of those have their best day. So she should atleast try to bring back that fearless Maria of 2004 -10 rather than improving in the present direction. That Maria would be enough to send packing any of other 126 contestants in a Grandslam and atleast to make life difficult and an eventual win against this Serena
 
#1,037 · (Edited)
I agree, at this time I'd rather see Maria trying to play a brainless power tennis against Serena than the one she is playing currently. I'm sure she would win more than 5 games every time :rolleyes:
Her game is simply not big enough these days, she is rallying too much and exposing her movement like i've never seen her yeah she worked on her movement and moves a lil better but against Serena that's never gonna be enough :help:
 
#1,041 ·
One thing that's both sad and funny was that before last year's Olympics, Maria actually still had a winning 2-1 record in finals against Serena. And I know there were Maria fans clinging to that stat for the longest time.

But now it's a 2-5 career finals record. Then you can add the disgusting 1-5 record Maria has in finals against Azarenka and you realize that nearly half of Maria's losses in championship matches are to 2 players.

I didn't think it was even fathomable, but I'm actually starting to wonder if Maria will end her career with a below .500 record in finals. When you look at the landscape of the WTA, it's not hard to imagine 10-15 more title matches combined against those 2 in the next few years if everyone remains healthy. Maria is dominating everyone else, so she's going to make deep run after deep run in tourneys and there's a good chance one of those two will be waiting for her. I'm confident Maria can get the upper hand in her rivalry with Vika, but given her record against both at the moment and her continued helplessness against Serena, I'm concerned about what Maria's win/loss total will look like by 2016 if things don't change.

I hate to demand even more from Maria because she's been so consistent over the past 2 years and she's doing the best she can. But when it comes to her 2 biggest rivals, it's still not good enough. She needs to get better mentally and physically if she wants to reach the goals she set for herself, like winning Wimbledon and the US Open again.
 
#1,042 ·
Obviously they both are the best returners in the game along with Maria. Given their returns and Maria's slow reaction after she serves it is difficult for her to construct the point, and Maria's game now very much dependant on clay court like point construction rather than first strike tennis she used to play from 2004 - 2008. Vika is not as powerful as Maria and Serena so Maria somehow manages to beat her but Serena is too powerful she overwhelms her with her power.
 
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