On the bright side she gained 5 points and has another chance next week to gain pts. I'd still take the Bartoli win last year and trade it for a couple of collapses she's had since then. It's funny how her killer instinct and mental toughness were fully in tact for that match.
Does she get to keep the 5 pts.? Is that one of her best-of-16? Anyway, she'll get dubs tennis workouts with Czink.
She had a total head-crap case like this last year against annoying De Brito ... 2 matches she was totally ready to win, and gagged on both. Then she waxed de Brito 2 and 3 in a Challenger. Hopefully the 3rd time will be lucky against Cepelova.
Still, time is running out for her in terms of really making the next level. Getting crap-draws and losing to Top 20 stars is one thing; failing to capitalize against Cepelova when you have the match in-the-bag is another.
As long as she is happy and enjoying her tennis, I couldn't give a rat's ass about her ranking.
Mirjana is never going to win a Grand Slam. Too late for that, and mentally she just doesn't have enough -- her development was criminally arrested on that count.
But: Do I believe Mirjana could win a WTA event like Birmingham, the way crappy Melanie Oudin did last year?
You better believe I believe she can do that. Especially with streamlined coaching and fitness.
I would like to see her "go out" with a WTA-level singles title. But she needs to make her move soon, because I just don't see her in the game next year if she can't finish a season Top 100.
(A doubles-specialist career, of course, is another thing ... But no guarantees there and Mirjana, unlike many robotic athletes, actually has a rich, fulfilling life off-court.)
She could get something like that. Birmingham or Rosmalen. But she needs to play Rosmalen this year and not Eastbourne.
I think 2 years ago in Rosmalne final Oprandi beat Dokic. Mirjana can handle such players on grass
Exactly. I have always admired the ambition of her scheduling (circa 2011 and beyond) because it shows ... well, ... ambition.
That's awesome. But the fact is (and please, fellow Mirjana-fans, correct me if I am wrong), Mirjana does not have enough "precedent" from her early pro career (ranked Top 40-60) to carry into a scheme for the re-boot.
At first glance, it would appear that this player is a gifted "momentum player": ie. Always dangerous but especially troublesome if she gets on a winning streak. I believe Mirjana's junior results give the same evidence.
In this second half (2008 and beyond) she stayed under the radar with mostly ITFs until her 2010 surge after Jackson, MS, and then fighting into the Wimby main draw (on Centre Court, no less) to lose very respectably to Azarenka 3-6 3-6.
In my opinion she ought to have played far, far more 25 & 50K events after that, instead of so many WTA qualifiers that she *just* had enough points to enter.
But I also see a champion's pride and respect it. I guess my point is that she could have built a better "ramp" for strategically assaulting the Top 100.
I don't want to blah blah blah anymore.
I know tennis, quite well, like many of you. Mirjana has the power and heart and talent to win MANY key WTA matches and actual events.
I guess I am amazed that no one has helped her get all three of those dynamics working in-sync, yet.
Rosmalen is a must. Eastbourne has screwed her two years running.
Gosh, I miss her as well. The loss of Dokic was a loss for the tour itself, like Miki ... although, I think that Mirjana (under world-class guidance) would have eclipsed Dokic.
I only heard one rumor about Dokic despising Lucic -- to bring it up again: I wrote for and edited a significant tennis rag in the late '90s-early aughts -- but much of that comes from the underlying rancor to be found in that part of the world, which was always a "prize" to be yanked this way and that since the days of Atilla. The alleged scoop was that their fathers actually went to fisticuffs in juniors and scarred the girls. No corroboration ... Just a scoop that filtered through after Lucic's 99 Wimby run -- one of the few "side notes" of a press that ignored Mirjana and descended upon Alexandra Stevenson as if she were the Birth of Venus (the Botticelli ... NOT the Williams).
I also love(d) Dokic for the "cleanliness" of her flat strokes, which are very comparable to the strokes of Mirjana, except for Mirjana's trademark "whip-it" inside-out forehand from a foot behind the baseline.
Maybe someone else here watched, as I did, when Miki stank to heaven in her 2011 second round match against Schiavone. Admittedly, Miki looked horrible -- like a total wretch -- in the face of Francesca's hoops & loops & bops & boops.
But commentator Tracy Austin said that day that Mirjana "simply doesn't know how to play tennis ... Her strokes don't fit-in with world class tennis. It's something she's doing ... they're too linear. Reminds me of a Dokic match."
Again, I've never seen Mirjana play so shitty as that day, but Austin failed to grasp, I think, the transition in her own sport. She didn't do justice to Mirjana (and why should she? Seeing as Mirjana was only "just" appearing in Slam draws after so long).
I thought her comparison with Dokic was notable. Tracy seemed to have a "thing" against girls even remotely from that corner of Europe.
In any case: Miki has worked MUCH harder than Jelena D ... I hope she can make a surprise run to a Slam quarterfinal, like Jelena.
Yeah. I still have the creeps over that match. I do think Mirjana would have reached the quarters, or at least even odds, had she squeezed past that Vinci stregatina.
But Mirjana is also a talented clay court player ... and we have to hope she gets a round or two in Paris.
But she needs to win these shitty matches in places like Midland and Memphis or ... what's the point?
No revision to the MD in Memphis. But Mirjana doesn't exactly deserve a lucky break in this particular event when she served twice for the match that would have qualified her.
I hope she bounces back and plays like a woman on fire in doubles.
Brasil could be the tournament that breaks everything open.
We have to keep believing ... we have come this far. Why not? LOL
The upcoming week in Brazil is going to bring wonderful things, fellow Lucic-Baroni admirers.
Hopefully Mirjana has had a long talk with her coach and they have isolated the exact problem with the Cepelova match, and she has new ways to address the issue when closing against players like that.
We're still proud of her ... I hope she's not beating herself up too much.
The sexiness and sensuality of Brazil will bring out the superlative qualities of her game and we shall see some fabulous things very soon.
Lindsay Lee Waters is a very good doubles player these days. Don't know about Pegula but her singles results suggest she's a solid if not amazing prospect.
TBE's rankings have Miki projected to be #106 on Monday. Ideally positioned for an assault on the top 100 if only she can connect in Brazil.
She needs to be ranked high enough for automatic entry into Wimbledon and not have to play qualies , which cause her to miss a good points scoring opportunity at the other grass court tournaments like last year. Hopefully that will happen this year.
Uhh also a couple of last minute wd.
Now there are many beatable players in the draw. She needs some luck for a change. In memphis 1 out of md,last year in beijing q 1st alt, in dallas carlsbad, wimbledon 1 out of MD.
They could have played also: Gonçalves/Pigossi, Molinero/Pérez, Glushko/Kania, Honcova/Hsu, Bratchikova/Kalashnikova, Keothavong/Savinykh, Forte/Haddad Maia, Auroux/Irigoyen.
Knowing there are only 16 teams in draw (and one win brings 70 points) this is quite unlucky, just like in Memphis.