[caros defender]

She better hope she doesn't play masha. Pova is unbeatable on clay.

[FiliNobrega]

Last year Caroline Wozniacki didn't defend her 2011 title in Charleston because Serena had already confirmed her presence.

2013 Caro will play Charleston so Serena may back off this one.

I think Rena should just play Rome and Madrid and then go to Paris, imo

(Lets hope Serena doesn't play Masha on any of those tournaments because she looks so GOOD on clay now )

[TennisArt]

Originally Posted by FiliNobrega

Last year Caroline Wozniacki didn't defend her 2011 title in Charleston because Serena had already confirmed her presence.

2013 Caro will play Charleston so Serena may back off this one.

I think Rena should just play Rome and Madrid and then go to Paris, imo

(Lets hope Serena doesn't play Masha on any of those tournaments because she looks so GOOD on clay now )

I REALLY wish Serena would not play Charleston. It's bad luck

[gbenga]

I am of the opinion that you don't need any particular set of skills to perform well on red clay than you need on other surfaces and Sharapova's success there has proven that. You face the same players as a top player so all you need is to be as confident that you can beat them wherever and whenever. Unfortunately Serena over the years has been brainwashed by tennis 'experts' into thinking that she is not good on red clay that this become a self fulfilling prophesy for her every time she steps on red clay court. Then she begin to take pace off her serves and shots, spin the ball back and generally get defensive. She need to get her confidence back and go go for her shots. Very tricky but not impossible.

[doomsday]

Originally Posted by gbenga

I am of the opinion that you don't need any particular set of skills to perform well on red clay than you need on other surfaces and Sharapova's success there has proven that. You face the same players as a top player so all you need is to be as confident that you can beat them wherever and whenever. Unfortunately Serena over the years has been brainwashed by tennis 'experts' into thinking that she is not good on red clay that this become a self fulfilling prophesy for her every time she steps on red clay court. Then she begin to take pace off her serves and shots, spin the ball back and generally get defensive. She need to get her confidence back and go go for her shots. Very tricky but not impossible.

She just tries a different tactic on red clay cause her offensive tennis won't always work, even the winners she was hitting against JJ in the final wouldn't have been winners on red clay.
Since when Serena listen to that bunch of experts, she knows damn well she needs to improve her footwork and her consistency off the ground to succeed on red clay again, work on points' construction a lil more than that.
To not be afraid to rally and not go for the winner too soon, but tbh I feel like after 3 or 4 matches on red clay, Serena's legs won't be effective anymore, playing on the red dirt tires her more than you want to admit.



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[UNCLESILAS]

Originally Posted by StoneRose

Agreed.
You have made dumb remarks like this that have no basis in fact whatsoever > 1000 times already. You probably believe it yourself . But last year summed up: Serena >> Vika == Maria is what really happened.

I agree StoneRose, but I'll just fix it up a little bit to make it 100% correct:

"But last year summed up: Serena >> Vika > Maria is what really happened"

Now.

[Alarmed]

Serena is sooooo slow on red clay. And even if she manages to fluke a clay event it's obvs the surface just suits her game and this is not actually clay and representative of RG like indoor Stuttgart. Her results at the only legitimate pre RG tourney, Rome, are abysmal too. She just can't do it anymore. She should give up and leave it to experienced clay court players like Masha to duke it out for RG. *sigh*

[gbenga]

Originally Posted by doomsday

She just tries a different tactic on red clay cause her offensive tennis won't always work, even the winners she was hitting against JJ in the final wouldn't have been winners on red clay.
Since when Serena listen to that bunch of experts, she knows damn well she needs to improve her footwork and her consistency off the ground to succeed on red clay again, work on points' construction a lil more than that.
To not be afraid to rally and not go for the winner too soon, but tbh I feel like after 3 or 4 matches on red clay, Serena's legs won't be effective anymore, playing on the red dirt tires her more than you want to admit.

Wrong. Sharapova won 2013 Rome and RG by playing offensive tennis. She displayed no footwork or any of the so called clay court skills. Serena is tentative on clay, not certain about her game when there is some resistance. In the final in Charleston against JJ she played fabulous tennis the first three games but then at 2-1 and after she tried unsuccessfully to get the break she suddenly lost confidence and was uncertain so she turned defensive and lost the set.

And why won't her legs work after 4 matches on red clay when she perform way better on hard courts which are more grueling than red clay?

[Le Chat]

I totally agree with gbenga . When serena won RG in 2002 , she was fully confident in her game ,she played an offensive hard court game and could not care less what outside people said about her style on clay .
When she began being independant from her father , and above all after the "hand" in 2003 , she started listening to critics .
She just has to play on clay the way she plays everywhere alse because that is her game , no need to denature what she is and she will just be fine .

[doomsday]

Originally Posted by gbenga

Wrong. Sharapova won 2013 Rome and RG by playing offensive tennis. She displayed no footwork or any of the so called clay court skills. Serena is tentative on clay, not certain about her game when there is some resistance. In the final in Charleston against JJ she played fabulous tennis the first three games but then at 2-1 and after she tried unsuccessfully to get the break she suddenly lost confidence and was uncertain so she turned defensive and lost the set.

And why won't her legs work after 4 matches on red clay when she perform way better on hard courts which are more grueling than red clay?

Maria won clay tournaments by playing offensive tennis but she had no problem to turn defense into offense in many matches, she was even sliding.
How can you not see Maria's improvement on her movement during last season on clay, not to mention that she was not afraid to rally, to use top spin when necessary.

HC aren't more grueling than clay courts. If what you're saying was true Serena would have performed on red clay a lot better since 2003.
We've seen many players skipping clay season over the years just because the surface was way too demanding physically (Davenport, Clijsters and WS for a while).
Serena on clay, can't get herself out of trouble with a big serve or a first strike tennis like she usually does on HC.
She needs to accept long rallies but I believe that she can't and she forces the issue most of the time.

I don't understand the comparison between Maria and Serena's tennis anyway, they don't even play the same tennis.
Just because Maria wins on clay, it doesn't mean Serena can and I think we've seen this over the years.
Maria won 5 titles on red clay those last years while Serena didn't reach a single final on red clay.

[Miss Atomic Bomb]

There is obviously nothing she can do. To avoid being humiliated by people like Razzanno, Errani, Sharapova and other scrubs, she should just pull a Clijsters and skip the clay season.

[le bon vivant]

Originally Posted by doomsday

Maria won clay tournaments by playing offensive tennis but she had no problem to turn defense into offense in many matches, she was even sliding.
How can you not see Maria's improvement on her movement during last season on clay, not to mention that she was not afraid to rally, to use top spin when necessary.

HC aren't more grueling than clay courts. If what you're saying was true Serena would have performed on red clay a lot better since 2003.
Serena on clay, can't get herself out of trouble with a big serve or a first strike tennis. She needs to accept long rallies but I believe that she can't and she forces the issue most of the time.

I don't understand the comparison between Maria and Serena's tennis anyway, they don't even play the same tennis.
Just because Maria wins on clay, it doesn't mean Serena can and I think we've seen this over the years.
Maria won 5 titles on red clay those last years while Serena didn't reach a single final on red clay.

Clay courts are much more forgiving on the body than hard courts, especially for a player like Serena, who has a long history (starting in 2003 - imagine that) of knee, ankle, and foot injuries.

Serena moves better than Maria on clay, it's not as if Sharapova has mastered her movement on the surface. Pova developed a nice slide to the backhand, but her poor footwork, agility and footspeed are just as suspect on clay as it is on any other tennis surface. I know it's the highlight of the Povaturds' tennis year, but lets not overstate the surface's relevance. The stars aligned for Maria last year but she is no clay maestro, the surface does more work for her by compensating for her weaknesses than she actually does to work the surface. Thats why its actually kind of pathetic to see her win on clay, playing a game designed for fast surfaces that shes just too weak to translate over. Red clay is simply a crutch for her deteriorated game. You think its by coincidence that she immediately made the RG QF fresh off of her comeback, when her game was at its lowest? I look forward to her during the clay season, she peaked last spring so she has everything to lose now. It will be lovely to see. But don't fret, I'm sure she'll win the AO in 2015 or something.

[doomsday]

Originally Posted by LBV.

Clay courts are much more forgiving on the body than hard courts, especially for a player like Serena, who has a long history (starting in 2003 - imagine that) of knee, ankle, and foot injuries.

Serena moves better than Maria on clay, it's not as if Sharapova has mastered her movement on the surface. Pova developed a nice slide to the backhand, but her poor footwork, agility and footspeed are just as suspect on clay as it is on any other tennis surface. I know it's the highlight of the Povaturds' tennis year, but lets not overstate the surface's relevance. The stars aligned for Maria last year but she is no clay maestro, the surface does more work for her by compensating for her weaknesses than she actually does to work the surface. Thats why its actually kind of pathetic to see her win on clay, playing a game designed for fast surfaces that shes just too weak to translate over. Red clay is simply a crutch for her deteriorated game. You think its by coincidence that she immediately made the RG QF fresh off of her comeback, when her game was at its lowest? I look forward to her during the clay season, she peaked last spring so she has everything to lose now. It will be lovely to see. But don't fret, I'm sure she'll win the AO in 2015 or something.

Too weak to translate over She did quite well in IW, Miami, OZ, OG, USO, Beijing, YEC where she reached at least the final just because she lost against superior player at the time doesn't make her pathetic. It's obvious that she is quite sth on HC, Serena and Vika were just a lil better. She lost against the best players on the surfaces, same can't be said for Serena on clay for example.

Pathetic is losing in the first round of a major tournament when we're supposed to win the whole thing if you know what I mean, no wonder Serena didn't leave her apartment for three days after that loss

[bandabou]

Originally Posted by doomsday

Maria won clay tournaments by playing offensive tennis but she had no problem to turn defense into offense in many matches, she was even sliding.
How can you not see Maria's improvement on her movement during last season on clay, not to mention that she was not afraid to rally, to use top spin when necessary.

HC aren't more grueling than clay courts. If what you're saying was true Serena would have performed on red clay a lot better since 2003.
We've seen many players skipping clay season over the years just because the surface was way too demanding physically (Davenport, Clijsters and WS for a while).
Serena on clay, can't get herself out of trouble with a big serve or a first strike tennis like she usually does on HC.
She needs to accept long rallies but I believe that she can't and she forces the issue most of the time.

I don't understand the comparison between Maria and Serena's tennis anyway, they don't even play the same tennis.
Just because Maria wins on clay, it doesn't mean Serena can and I think we've seen this over the years.
Maria won 5 titles on red clay those last years while Serena didn't reach a single final on red clay.

Doomsy, Doomsy...prior to her win at IW, Maria hadn't won a HC title since '10... would you say that she isn't a good HC anymore?!

[le bon vivant]

Originally Posted by doomsday

Too weak to translate over She did quite well in IW, Miami, OZ, OG, USO, Beijing, YEC where she reached at least the final just because she lost against superior player at the time doesn't make her pathetic. It's obvious that she is quite sth on HC, Serena and Vika were just a lil better. She lost against the best players on the surfaces, same can't be said for Serena on clay for example.

Beside pathetic is losing in the first round of a major tournament when we're supposed to win the whole thing if you know what I mean.

She plays the same game on HC that she plays on clay, she just has less time to get to balls so she is not as effective. The clay is a crutch for her, plain and simple.

And pathetic is not what happens when you reach a low point, it's about how you rebound from it. Serena responded from her 1R loss by winning Olympics, 2 slams and snatching the #1 ranking. Maria has yet to redeem herself from the consistent humiliations at the biggest stages of tennis, which you were so kind to outline at the beginning of your post. In fact, she's received 2 humiliations this year already!

And LOL at that edit. You petty bitch