[Protoss]

Originally Posted by C. W. Fields

Let's hope drawing Lisicki will have the same effect on Caro as when she played Serena in Miami: she KNEW going into that match that she'd lose if she played her usual patty cakes game, so she had an offensive mindset from the start.

I dunno. There are lots of matches against offensive players where she brings her passive/defensive mindset to them.

I kind of think depth of shot will be more important to Caro than being more aggressive. Plus return of serve will be important: Caro didn't break Lisicki once in their last two matches, that's 19 service games.

[goldenlox]

Lets hope its like Pazsek, where she shows up ready to play reasonably well.
I think its better like this, where she knows going in its like a week 2 opponent.
She needs the mental part, and here she knows she has to be as focused as she can possibly be

[Protoss]

Originally Posted by goldenlox

Its similar to Wimbledon. No reason the winner of this match shouldnt get to Vika.
To me, losing round 3 to Kanepi, or round 1 to Pazsek or Lisicki is the same thing.
You have to beat players like Lisicki, Kanepi, Pazsek to get past the 3rd round anyway.
Its better she plays Sabine in round 1, because she knows she has to be ready and she can enjoy the whole tournament in Abu Dhabi or the whole week in Melbourne.

The much bigger issue is her level of play. Her mental toughness. She wont be any trouble for a player like Vika until she pulls herself together mentally. Its possible she lost the mental edge forever, like Jankovic, Ivanovic.
Thats why she had to be very careful about any technique or style of play changes. It messes with the mental toughness she had, knowing how to win with her old game

But I saw Sharapova change her service motion, then change back, and she won again.
So ultimately, the rest of Caroline's career is a test of her mental toughness, and that determines who is a great player and who isnt

I'd say Pavlyuchenkova is the favorite to reach the quarters against Vika as she's clearly playing the best to start off the year. Kuznetsova is probably the 2nd favorite to the reach the quarters in this section.

Losing in the 1st round of a slam is generally a lot more embarssing than losing in the 3rd round.

I don't think it's a good thing for Caro to be playing a pretty tough opponent like Lisicki at the very beginning of a tournament. Caro is someone who normally needs a lot of matches to get in good form. So by getting such tough opposition at the start of tournaments, Caro ends up getting a limited amount of match play and thus makes the process of finding good form drag on.

In the case of the losses to Paszek and Kanepi, I'd say that those are players that arguably better than Caro on grass and clay respectively. Pre-slump Caro was a lot better on hard court than Lisicki.

I think the state of Caro's shots is as much of the problem as her mentality. For example, even if Caro still had a good mentality, Vika would be taking of Caro's serve and all the short balls she gives.

[goldenlox]

Originally Posted by Protoss

...
I don't think it's a good thing for Caro to be playing a pretty tough opponent like Lisicki at the very beginning of a tournament. Caro is someone who normally needs a lot of matches to get in good form. So by getting such tough opposition at the start of tournaments, Caro ends up getting a limited amount of match play and thus makes the process of finding good form drag on.

...
I think the state of Caro's shots is as much of the problem as her mentality. For example, even if Caro still had a good mentality, Vika would be taking of Caro's serve and all the short balls she gives.

Caroline just had 2 very ordinary draws and lost early. So this is something different. After she lost in round 3 to Kanepi, she didnt win a match for 2 months. So getting a soft first 2 rounds didnt help her. Playing someone who is having an awful day, like her one win this year vs URad, just masks the problems that she's having.

She & her dad have to look at every facet of her practice sessions. The goal is not to work hard in practice then underachieve in matches.
Thats been happening for too long now. Might be for the rest of her career if they dont figure out how to make her practices a way to improve her game

[CWTennis]

you can call me a pessimist but I think Caro's chances to win this match are slim, especially if Lisicki serve is on, Caro isn't a good returner and we know how often Caro gets broken in her matches, plus her 1st serve is inconsistent and she is making too many ue's lately!

[Protoss]

Originally Posted by CWTennis

so true! because physically she can't be in better shape than she is now!

Like C.W. Fields said awhile back, Caro had more oomph on her shots when she weighed a bit more a couple of years ago. I'm not sure that's just a coincidence.

For instance, Ana Ivanovic used to have a lot more oomph on her shots before she lost a weight.

[Saraya00000]

Originally Posted by CWTennis

you can call me a pessimist but I think Caro's chances to win this match are slim, especially if Lisicki serve is on, Caro isn't a good returner and we know how often Caro gets broken in her matches, plus her 1st serve is inconsistent and she is making too many ue's lately!

Agree!! So sad.

[Protoss]

Originally Posted by DownInAHole

So much pessimism! This isn't Lisicki on grass, Caroline has a great chance of winning this.

This type of matchup is somewhat problematic even if Caro were in better form. See Caro's struggles against Goerges and Stosur, for instance.

Caro's gotta do a good job returning and actually get some breaks of serve to have a shot at winning this match.

[DownInAHole]

Originally Posted by Saraya00000

Oh really...doesn´t matter..she lost the last match and she will lose this also. So sad. Could cry.

You really need to consider the surface. On grass Sabine is a much better player than she is on a hardcourt. For whatever reason her serve is extremely good on grass but not nearly as effective on a hardcourt. Obviously Caroline is still very vulnerable but she can win this.

[marineblue]

Originally Posted by Protoss

This type of matchup is somewhat problematic even if Caro were in better form. See Caro's struggles against Goerges and Stosur, for instance.

Caro's gotta do a good job returning and actually get some breaks of serve to have a shot at winning this match.

Well,both players are better than Lisicki,imo. Caro's biggest opponent is her lack of matches right because of a bad start to the season.

[marineblue]

Originally Posted by Saraya00000

Wimbledon 2012 1 st round out

US Open 2012 1 st round out

Aus Open 2013 1 st round Lisicki..it is not funny.

Well, Lisicki is ranked 37; there are much bigger challenges then her in a draw.

[bruce goose]

Originally Posted by DownInAHole

You really need to consider the surface. On grass Sabine is a much better player than she is on a hardcourt. For whatever reason her serve is extremely good on grass but not nearly as effective on a hardcourt. Obviously Caroline is still very vulnerable but she can win this.

Yeah,I can understand the concern and skepticism but,as you indicate,Caro's not facing peak Graf or some other legend.She's certainly capable,in top form,of blowing Caro off the court;however,she's ALSO capable--if past conduct is any clue--of meeting some handsome Aussie male stripper at a bar and staying out until 3am,barely getting a wink of sleep,and then getting destroyed by Caroline(which may have happened ANYway back when Caro was steadier)....or she might drop her tennis bag on her toe and then add to her long list of injury defaults,this time with Sunshine as the beneficiary.

As Goldenlox touched on before,if ass-whuppings don't motivate Caro to improve,then there's no hope at all in the immediate future...and having easy draws didn't seem to help her at all,so we might as well see how she responds to a test

[Protoss]

Caro is practicing with Makarova on saturday which seems an odd choice to me. Makarova is a lefty and I don't think she plays that much like Lisicki.

[bruce goose]

Caroline's multi-time victim,the sweet Elena Vesnina,won her first---and probably only-ever---singles title today after 6 finals losses....So it's time for Caro to break her own schneid at this Slam

[JadeFox]

I'm not a religious person but I think a prayer circle would be a good idea right now.