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FakeMashabator · May 1st, 2012, 11:20 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bradbury

Let them have their little celebration

. Maria finally won a title and beat Vika; its obviously a HUGE deal for her fan base.

NID

you would finally come out of your hole at last to come to this thread...can't wait for your predictions for RG, like how you predicted her to lose at R4 at AO

dsanders06 · May 2nd, 2012, 12:35 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bradbury

Let them have their little celebration

. Maria finally won a title and beat Vika; its obviously a HUGE deal for her fan base.

Quote:

Originally Posted by young_gunner913

Revenge for Stanford!!

Didn't take you guys long for the bitterness to start seeping through

Do you really think Maria's fans are happy JUST because she won Stuttgart?

The main reasons people are happy is that (a) she smoked the world #1 who had had her number of late, and (b ) she played amazing. But if she'd won the Stuttgart title just by beating Safarova or some other non-contender in the final, we'd've been pleased she broke her finals losing streak, but we wouldn't've been partying anywhere near as hard. No-one is under the impression that a Stuttgart title in itself is a huge achievement, it's more that we hope it's signposting success at bigger tournaments in the weeks to come.

Sharapowerr · May 2nd, 2012, 01:20 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dsanders06

Didn't take you guys long for the bitterness to start seeping through

Do you really think Maria's fans are happy JUST because she won Stuttgart?

The main reasons people are happy is that (a) she smoked the world #1 who had had her number of late, and (b ) she played amazing. But if she'd won the Stuttgart title just by beating Safarova or some other non-contender in the final, we'd've been pleased she broke her finals losing streak, but we wouldn't've been partying anywhere near as hard. No-one is under the impression that a Stuttgart title in itself is a huge achievement, it's more that we hope it's signposting success at bigger tournaments in the weeks to come.

No, because Maria's serve is allmost as it was before the injury and Maria beat 3 top 5 players in a row including Vika.

stromatolite · May 2nd, 2012, 04:23 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by $uricate

Its worth noting I boldly predicted this before Maria beat Petra and Vika.

Its just a vision that came to me, is all

It's cool, really, and who knows, you may turn out to be right. For the record, based on how well she played against Sam I wasn't surprised that Maria beat Petra and Vika. The next few weeks are going to very interesting for all of us.

Светльо · May 2nd, 2012, 07:26 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bradbury

Let them have their little celebration

. Maria finally won a title and beat Vika; its obviously a HUGE deal for her fan base.

Thank you, your Grace! It is so nice & gracious of you to let us - the Americanized Russian peasants of Belorussian descent have our long-awaited moment of joy. I know that we might be too wild & loud in our celebrations considering how humble Martha's achievement is but you must forgive us such moments happen to us once in a blue moon. And in the end of the day we still know our place:

vixter · May 2nd, 2012, 10:04 AM

I think Maria has a good chance too. She is one of the favourites.

Maria is about to have a career resurgence, big time! Her game and her serve looked so THERE last week.

StoneRose · May 2nd, 2012, 10:15 AM

~5 serious contenders with roughly equal chances. Maria one of them. Right now i think she has about 20% to win it, we'll know more after Madrid/Rome.

Steven. · May 2nd, 2012, 10:31 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by StoneRose

~5 serious contenders with roughly equal chances. Maria one of them. Right now i think she has about 20% to win it, we'll know more after Madrid/Rome.

at the moment there's 4 people with odds <10 with Vika and Petra clear faves, and Serena and Maria lagging a bit behind. That said, there's still 2 big tournaments to go and that'll make or break things.

TNT2009 · May 2nd, 2012, 10:41 AM

She's 25 now. Maybe it's her last chance. I don't see her winning at the age of 26-30 years old. She's no Schiavone.

Steven. · May 2nd, 2012, 10:45 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by TNT2009

She's 25 now. Maybe it's her last chance. I don't see her winning at the age of 26-30 years old. She's no Schiavone.

idk it's pretty rare for a proven champions to just fade away like, for example, Amelie did after 2006. Most of them last for their entire career being a factor in slams and tournaments so odds are Maria will still be at least top 10 for a few more years to come bar something drastic.

vozas · May 2nd, 2012, 10:57 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Steven.

idk it's pretty rare for a proven champions to just fade away like, for example, Amelie did after 2006. Most of them last for their entire career being a factor in slams and tournaments so odds are Maria will still be at least top 10 for a few more years to come bar something drastic.

Maria is an odd case, as she has been improving her fitness as she gets older. She's a much better athlete nowadays than during her prime years. That's the one positive coming from her serve and groundgame deteriorating after the injury; she had to work on everything else.

Steven. · May 2nd, 2012, 11:03 AM

yeah I gotta say her defense has become impeccable, much better than people give credit for. You can no longer catch her off balance unlike before and she hits amazing shots on the run on all surfaces! Her movement on clay has also improved. No longer does she move with awkward little hops but actually sliding even if they're only small slides.

Matt01 · May 2nd, 2012, 11:50 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Craigster

It is

TNT2009 · May 2nd, 2012, 11:59 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Steven.

idk it's pretty rare for a proven champions to just fade away like, for example, Amelie did after 2006. Most of them last for their entire career being a factor in slams and tournaments so odds are Maria will still be at least top 10 for a few more years to come bar something drastic.

I just don't see her as fit as Schiavone or Na Li to win RG in the last stages of her career. I think she's physically capable of winning by now, not when she turns 26 or older. But no doubt that she's still the contender of any other slams until she retires.

madmax · May 2nd, 2012, 12:04 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by TNT2009

I just don't see her as fit as Schiavone or Na Li to win RG in the last stages of her career. I think she's physically capable of winning by now, not when she turns 26 or older. But no doubt that she's still the contender for every other slams until she retires.

what is the big difference from being 25 and 26 in your opinion?

Maria is also a power player and doesn't need to work for her points by running all day long like grinders have to - this way she saves her joints and avoids leg issues too. So unless she gets another serious injury, I just don't see why she should decline so badly in just 1 year