If anyone deserves a thread in the new Romanian Forum, it is this girl. Monica Niculescu is currently ranked 205 in the World but will be very close to her career high of 188 when the rankings after Wimbledon come out. She is not yet 20 years old and so she still has plenty of time to get that ranking up and become a fixture within the top 100.
Personally I for one hope very much that she does. Monica is an exceptional unique talent in the tennis world as anyone who has seen will attest. Almost certainly she has the most unusual game with the top 200 (okay she 205 right now but I'm quite sure she won't be out the top 200 again for a very long time).
Describing her playing style is not easy but I will try. Both her forehand and backhand are played sometimes with one hand and sometimes with two. When she hits with two hands it usually means she is going for more pace whereas when she hits with one hand it usually means she going for an offpace shot of some kind often with underspin. She hits some very strange slices that I really couldn't begin to describe. She is also an exceptional volleyer with amazing improvisational skills and has great touch on dropshots and a nice lob. Quite simply she has so many shots at her disposal that one never knows what is coming next. It must be very hard indeed to get any sort of rhythm against her. This is just one attempt to describe the strange unusual play of Monica Niculescu but it would certainly be fun to read other descriptions of her game within this thread.
Monica is a player who should have the support of everyone who loves Women's tennis but gets tired of loads of women with the same style just wacking the ball back to each other as hard as they can. For fans who love slice and touch shots, who prefer the artistry of Fabrice Santoro to the ball bashing of most of the modern game, Monica Niculescu is the girl for you.
Lets support her in this thread, because tennis will be so much richer with someone with her unique and special skills in the mix.
I don't think all second round doubles matches are on tomorrow. Didn't see Black/Mirza scheduled, either as an example.
eta: I see they played today. Dellacqua and Jans-Ignacik just won their first round, though, so maybe that's why their second round match with Niculescu/Zhang will be delayed by one day?
i was disappointed when i first saw she randomly partnered with this Zhang instead of reuniting the fed cup dream team or even calling up Raluca, but figured she needed better ranking. this stinks...
i was disappointed when i first saw she randomly partnered with this Zhang instead of reuniting the fed cup dream team or even calling up Raluca, but figured she needed better ranking. this stinks...
It wasn't random because she knew from about 2 weeks ago so they talked.
Begu was scheduled to play Prague ITF, so no way she would've played only doubles in Rome. And with Olaru, she partnered only 2 times , a long while ago. *they would have made it with their ranking.
unless stars align again for Nara. I don't know what was happening in Rio, but it's hard to ever see her repeat such a week on clay, yet alone winning an event.
Here's hoping. Am sure there will be plenty of fingers crossed and pumni strânși for her. If any kind soul has access to a farm, might I suggest sacrificing a small, flightless animal to appease the tennis gods?
Looking fabulous. She has great taste in clothes. She could have done better with the hair though (like in that interview for Romanian tv earlier this year, she looked SICKENING!)
Looking fabulous. She has great taste in clothes. She could have done better with the hair though (like in that interview for Romanian tv earlier this year, she looked SICKENING!)
Those spiral curls take some time to get done. Most likely, she didn't have that much time on her hands to get tiffed this time around, but she's always put together very nicely off-court. Dresses with A-line skirts
While at it, could she help out Kookie with her outfit -is that seriously animal print in a pastel palette?
Eurosport advertised showing 7 courts simultaneously on their eurosportplayer thingy, but now have on air only 5. So it's clear no stream today for us.