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The Amazing and Remarkable Monica Niculescu (Cheering Thread)

264K views 5K replies 124 participants last post by  Michael! 
#1 · (Edited)
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. :worship:
 
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#2,055 ·
Re: The Amazing and Remarkable Monica Niculescu

Just childish overreaction.

Most fanboys/girls are super pissed when their faves are losing and hate a certain player the next couple of time. It's just that some players are easier to be bashed than others.

Monica with her unorthodox game is giving haters a free pass to hate, approved by so called tennis experts trying to save the dignity of the sport. She is als not the most beautiful woman - dislike reason #2, she is very vocal on court - dislike reason #3 and comes from a country that isn't popular on GM by any means - dislike reason #4.

Anyway, Monica isn't that kind of woman to care about such shit at all. Just look how she dealed with the crowd yesterday, no biggie. I think she never had it easy with her youth coaches playing like this, so she is more than used to odd reactions.
 
#2,057 ·
Re: The Amazing and Remarkable Monica Niculescu

Monica is as far away from a clay specialist than sun is from the moon.
It's just that some 'experts' on this board think that clay is always the best surface for any defensive minded player.

Monica doesn't play a claycourt game at all. Dulgheru - she is a clay specialist who is going for the topspin shots on both wings, crueling rallies, wide angles try to get your opponent out of position and then make a step in when there is the chance to do so.

I don't know where this 'pusher' = clay specialist myth comes from.
I know a lot of defensive minded players who suck badly on the dirt, because they are hitting the ball rather flat and it's easier to return them on slower surfaces when they set up and they don't get the pace of the opponent to counter attack. It also exposes the lack of depth on their shots.

Did you see Radwanska in Brussels last year? Even though she ended up winning, her strokes are a complete joke on clay, there is nothing on her game.
 
#2,059 ·
Re: The Amazing and Remarkable Monica Niculescu

She is playing someone who got double bageled in her last final.

So, I expect them both to be very shaky out there for different reasons.

Pouchkova is also really inconsistent. For example she only won 5 games against Tomljanovic a couple of weeks ago in Midland, also got bageled by Cohen in Baku last year.
In general, most of her scorelines against defensive minded players are rather underwhelming to be honest.
 
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