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C. W. Fields · Dec 30th, 2012, 04:19 AM

Ula beats Paszek 2-6, 6-0, 6-2, making her Caro's opponent in 2R (assuming).

Serena seems ready to continue where she left off last season, brushing aside Lepchenko in 59 minutes with a loss of just 3 games and her 32nd win in her last 33 matches! And it's not like Lepchenko is a bad player, she's ranked 21 and remember what a tough match she gave Caro in Montreal.

marineblue · Dec 30th, 2012, 11:58 AM

Ula will be a test

,Caro needs to prepare well. Serena´s win is nothing surprising, I wonder why people in GM underestimate her. She may be older than most but she still owns all of them.

Chrissie-fan · Dec 30th, 2012, 12:31 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by marineblue

Serena´s win is nothing surprising, I wonder why people in GM underestimate her. She may be older than most but she still owns all of them.

31 is not that old. Besides, she's a young 31 year old because she has rarely played a full schedule. There are 26 year olds that have played more tennis than Serena. And since she started dominating again she's looked fitter than has been the case in many a year. The woman takes better care of her body than ever before.

Protoss · Dec 30th, 2012, 01:06 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Chrissie-fan

31 is not that old. Besides, she's a young 31 year old because she has rarely played a full schedule. There are 26 year olds that have played more tennis than Serena. And since she started dominating again she's looked fitter than has been the case in many a year. The woman takes better care of her body than ever before.

I'd say 31 is old in tennis though.

Plus she's played 662 singles matches in her career. A lot of players start to decline after around 600 matches played.

Chrissie-fan · Dec 30th, 2012, 02:51 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Protoss

I'd say 31 is old in tennis though.

Plus she's played 662 singles matches in her career. A lot of players start to decline after around 600 matches played.

Well, the average age of players in the top 100 is going up (or so I hear). And Serena played her 662 singles matches spread out over a very long time, giving her body plenty of time to recover.

sweetadri06 · Dec 30th, 2012, 02:58 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Protoss

I'd say 31 is old in tennis though.

Plus she's played 662 singles matches in her career. A lot of players start to decline after around 600 matches played.

31 is not that old in todays game. There are atleast 4 30+ players in the top 30 and a couple 29 year olds too. Some include Na li, Vinci and Petrova, all are playing the best tennis of their career at this age.

TennisFan66 · Dec 30th, 2012, 06:45 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by marineblue

Ula will be a test

,Caro needs to prepare well. Serena´s win is nothing surprising, I wonder why people in GM underestimate her. She may be older than most but she still owns all of them.

I am people not in GM, who's expecting the simple fact of aging to creep up on Serena Williams. With a power game, stamina and a declining body will take it's toll.

While a marathon runner can perform relatively well at an 'old' age, sprinters peak young. Serena Williams is a sprinter, not a marathon runner. But we'll see, when she hits the (age) wall.

terjw · Dec 30th, 2012, 07:09 PM

I think injury is Serena's biggest obstacle. And a very real obstacle at 31.

But I've seen no evidence at all of her game being in decline - the opposite in fact. And she seemed very fast to me whenever I saw her. And even if she wasn't - she can breeze through matches playing badly simply all the time she has that serve.

Chrissie-fan · Dec 30th, 2012, 07:21 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by terjw

I think injury is Serena's biggest obstacle. And a very real obstacle at 31.

I agree, but she compensates for that with a higher level of fitness. And she's so good that in quite a few matches she can play within herself and still win reasonably comfortably. She doesn't need to go eyeballs out in each match.

Chrissie-fan · Dec 30th, 2012, 07:26 PM

BTW - Kvitova also played well today, even though she still doesn't look fit to me. If she loses a pound or two (or three or four, or five or six) she'd be even better.

marineblue · Dec 31st, 2012, 09:19 AM

Yes, I think that her current shape hinders her quite a bit. It will be interesting to see how will she do in 2013 after failing to take the tour by storm as i was predicted for her.

Also, youngsters are scoring some good results in Australia ( Bertens,Puig, Stephens etc).

Protoss · Jan 3rd, 2013, 02:45 AM

Pavlyuchenkova seems a lot improved this year.

Kerber's attitude sucks.

marineblue · Jan 3rd, 2013, 06:21 AM

Yes, Pavluychenkova woke up. What's up with this Kerber girl? Everyone seems to dislike her. Have to see the highlights of the match.

CWTennis · Jan 3rd, 2013, 10:52 AM

Zakopalova beats Bartoli 3 & 2, which means Caro stays in Top 10 but for how long?!

Protoss · Jan 3rd, 2013, 11:03 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by CWTennis

Zakopalova beats Bartoli 3 & 2, which means Caro stays in Top 10 but for how long?!

The ranking doesn't matter that much to me. It's been quite awhile since she played at a top 10 level the majority of the time.