[Abuttons]

I had to leave at 3-3. Until then, it looked like Maria was heading to give Serena a good run for the money. Sadly, and once again, it did not happen.
Why is it that Maria finds herself incapable even to force Serena to a tight, battling match, I don't know. She has the talent, the will and the shots to give her a hard time. But when they meet, all this seems to almost disappear, and I'm afraid this might be a very difficult issue to solve (let alone figuring out how).
Hopefully, there will be better days ahead.

[Tennisvampire]

Aza wearing some tape on her calf, apparently she is extremely injured again

Anyway she broke Serena with Rena's 2 DFs and 2 very bad UEs

[WarrenK]

Just great. Why am I watching this? It's gonna piss me off most likely.

[dsanders06]

Originally Posted by Chrissie-fan

Well, I agree with dsanders that Maria's problems are mostly psychological. Not that Serena isn't the better player because she is, but for Maria to be so totally dominated by her is not normal. Although Federer owned Roddick at least Andy won sets and was in some competitive matches with Roger. Roddick's problems weren't mental. Federer was just a better player. The only way out that I see for Maria is beating Serena on red clay. IF she would be able to do that (and it's a big if) perhaps that mental block she's suffering from might disappear.

Originally Posted by Yoana R.

I agree with dsanders that a sports psychologist would do her good I was actually about to post that too because especially in this match if it wasn't for her brain getting in the way she had some solid chances However i don't understand why so many of you are so negative and it's not like the Serena phenomenon is something new. She couldn't even get a win against her in 2008 when she was arguably playing the best tennis of her career so that's nothing new really and even though the score didn't show it I thought it was really close it's not like she couldn't do anything against Serena but like Maria'd say she didn't take her chances when she had them. About Vika they haven't played yet this year so we don't know how that match-up will go but she beat her at the YEC and I think it'll be a lot closer this year. Also I think there are a lot of improvements to her game this year especially the serve and ROS and she isn't playing worse than last year so no need to lose faith i'm positive that the results will come in the near future.

I mean, I don't think it's JUST a case of her having a mental block against Serena specifically (although I'm sure that's an element of it), I think it's also part of the general pattern over the past 2 years of her wanting something too much. I mean, I don't mean in a perfect world she would NEVER be suffering blowout losses -- for such a relatively "one-dimensional" player as her, it's inevitable that atleast occasionally her A-game would be off and thus she'd have nothing to rely on. It occasionally happened in her pre-surgery career (obviously those beatdowns from Hingis and Davenport stand out as TOTAL outliers in their head-to-heads), and it also happened to Seles, who was as mentally tough as they came but like Maria, didn't have good movement or variety, so when her ballstriking was completely off, she was on the wrong end of some VERY grisly scorelines. So even in a perfect world, some losses of this nature would occur occasionally.

But that should only be happening if her game is off from the start of a tournament. As Chrissiefan has said, it's really not logical for her to be playing so great and winning so easily, only for her game to completely evaporate in the later rounds, as it has done so many times against Serena, Azarenka, and especially Radwanska in that Miami final (it really was so bizarre to see a big-point player like Maria hit gimme returns well wide everytime she held a breakpoint in that match). Tbh, in retrospect part of me is actually amazed she was as calm as she was and played so well in that Roland Garros final.

I mean, this is an issue that can potentially be overcome -- Serena herself really blew some matches in 2008 in particular, where she'd be playing great in the early rounds and then want it so bad in the later rounds that she couldn't get out of her own way...but she eventually overcame it. Murray too managed to learn to relax a bit in big matches after starting work with a sports psychologist (I don't mean all of his big-match losses were because of him choking, because the Big 3 at their best are better, but there were definitely a couple of Slam semifinals against a 'meh' Nadal in 2012 which were Murray's for the taking). I do believe she as such a mentally tough character in general can overcome it, but she needs to be brave enough to step out of her comfort zone and admit she needs 'help', because what she's been trying up til now isn't working and isn't going to start magically working ("insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results").

[Tennisvampire]

Serena managed to lose 12 straight points Playing atrociously bad so far

[PimpMePova]

Originally Posted by dsanders06

I mean, I don't think it's JUST a case of her having a mental block against Serena specifically (although I'm sure that's an element of it), I think it's also part of the general pattern over the past 2 years of her wanting something too much. I mean, I don't mean in a perfect world she would NEVER be suffering blowout losses -- for such a relatively "one-dimensional" player as her, it's inevitable that atleast occasionally her A-game would be off and thus she'd have nothing to rely on. It occasionally happened in her pre-surgery career (obviously those beatdowns from Hingis and Davenport stand out as TOTAL outliers in their head-to-heads), and it also happened to Seles, who was as mentally tough as they came but like Maria, didn't have good movement or variety, so when her ballstriking was completely off, she was on the wrong end of some VERY grisly scorelines. So even in a perfect world, some losses of this nature would occur occasionally.

But that should only be happening if her game is off from the start of a tournament. As Chrissiefan has said, it's really not logical for her to be playing so great and winning so easily, only for her game to completely evaporate in the later rounds, as it has done so many times against Serena, Azarenka, and especially Radwanska in that Miami final (it really was so bizarre to see a big-point player like Maria hit gimme returns well wide everytime she held a breakpoint in that match). Tbh, in retrospect part of me is actually amazed she was as calm as she was and played so well in that Roland Garros final.

I mean, this is an issue that can potentially be overcome -- Serena herself really blew some matches in 2008 in particular, where she'd be playing great in the early rounds and then want it so bad in the later rounds that she couldn't get out of her own way...but she eventually overcame it. Murray too managed to learn to relax a bit in big matches after starting work with a sports psychologist (I don't mean all of his big-match losses were because of him choking, because the Big 3 at their best are better, but there were definitely a couple of Slam semifinals against a 'meh' Nadal in 2012 which were Murray's for the taking). I do believe she as such a mentally tough character in general can overcome it, but she needs to be brave enough to step out of her comfort zone and admit she needs 'help', because what she's been trying up til now isn't working and isn't going to start magically working ("insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results").

This! But the problem is Maria is so fucking stubborn. That might also be a reason why she's so mentally tough and probably helps her brush off tough losses but on the other hand so many times she refuses to try something new. Last year during the USO she was asked if she'd try something different when playing Serena because Henin had said that she did that when playing the Williams but Maria was like of course not I'm not changing my game for anyone and that's another reason I think she doesn't have a B plan. And also she's really proud you can tell from all the comments she's made during her career. I mean the Monica Seles comment was so cool and I laughed so hard but it's obvious she didn't want to admit the Serena problem, so that's why I think she'd be reluctant to talk to a psychologist because that'd mean admitting even to herself that she has this mental block. It's always really hard to accept something like that especially for such an ambitious and proud person like Maria is.

[Tennisvampire]

Originally Posted by dsanders06

I know you like to pound away with this theory that Maria's game is at about 30% of its peak level, but it doesn't explain why she managed to even make it competitive against Serena in 2010, when she was playing a fraction as well as 2012/13. Nor does it explain why she completely fails to put away the type of midcourt balls she was getting routinely against Serena yesterday, that she was slaughtering without fail the day before against Stosur.



Yup. I've said it before, but I really think she should see a sports psychologist. Even though she is as mentally tough as they come in certain aspects (fighting spirit, and her day-to-day resilience at shaking off setbacks), it's beyond clear at this point that she has a problem of wanting it so desperately and putting way too much pressure on herself in big matches, that she lets that pressure/anxiety suffocate herself and completely overwhelm her thinking processes.

I've NEVER understood why tennis players don't see sports psychologists more often -- they're common in most sports. Jessica Ennis, who is considered one of the most mentally tough women in sports right now, was openly chatting to her psychologist in front of the cameras right before she started the heptathlon at the Olympics last year. But for some reason, with tennis players there's just a stigma surrounding them -- and tbh, I can just see Maria being exactly the type of person who'd be too proud/stubborn to admit that she has a mental "weakness" that she needs help with.

I completely agree with both this post and the later one. I actually really like reading your posts overall, they are pretty objective and down to the point

Anyway, I gotta say I'm impressed with Vika. She was serving to stay in the set twice, it was 30 all and 15:30 and she salvaged those games (where I think we as a whole fanbase could bet our lives Maria would fold against Serena ). Then she blew off 5:2 in the tie-break majorly due to her errors, faced a set point on Serena's serve, and won the set. Of course she had huge help from Serena not hitting first serves on that set point and the next one, but still, you've gotta give her credit for the attitude. That's my major problem with Maria. She never changes anything and is so stubborn to seek help like all of you already pointed out. And she clearly needs it.

[Хлоэ]

Originally Posted by rucolo

Serena leads Head To Head 11-2. Last time Maria won was 2004

thanks for informing

[Mexicola]

Can the start of this year go any worse? Vika repeats in Melbourne, repeats in Qatar, and gets her breakthrough against Serena a day after another Maria meltdown.

I was steadfast in my belief that Maria was still a better player than Azarenka. And I think, in terms of raw talent, she is better. But you can’t deny what Vika’s done over the past year and she’s clearly superior now. She is displaying belief, confidence, attitude, consistency, and movement that Maria can’t touch. So much more mentally tough. And she takes advantage of every opportunity she sees in matches. Serena played as sloppy today as she did yesterday. But while Maria gagged with every chance, Vika embraced them. She is a tremendous big point player now. Unlike Maria, you don’t see her beat herself anymore.

The gap is widening. Even though I saw it coming and predicted she would win today, it’s still hard to stomach.

[SilverSlam]

Originally Posted by Mexicola

Can the start of this year go any worse? Vika repeats in Melbourne, repeats in Qatar, and gets her breakthrough against Serena a day after another Maria meltdown.

I was steadfast in my belief that Maria was still a better player than Azarenka. And I think, in terms of raw talent, she is better. But you can’t deny what Vika’s done over the past year and she’s clearly superior now. She is displaying belief, confidence, attitude, consistency, and movement that Maria can’t touch. So much more mentally tough. And she takes advantage of every opportunity she sees in matches. Serena played as sloppy today as she did yesterday. But while Maria gagged with every chance, Vika embraced them. She is a tremendous big point player now. Unlike Maria, you don’t see her beat herself anymore.

The gap is widening. Even though I saw it coming and predicted she would win today, it’s still hard to stomach.

See you need to stop comparing Serena v Maria to Serena v Azarenka. The simple matter of fact is, the game-styles are a lot more in favour of Vika than Maria.

[Craig.]

Originally Posted by Mexicola

Can the start of this year go any worse? Vika repeats in Melbourne, repeats in Qatar, and gets her breakthrough against Serena a day after another Maria meltdown.

I was steadfast in my belief that Maria was still a better player than Azarenka. And I think, in terms of raw talent, she is better. But you can’t deny what Vika’s done over the past year and she’s clearly superior now. She is displaying belief, confidence, attitude, consistency, and movement that Maria can’t touch. So much more mentally tough. And she takes advantage of every opportunity she sees in matches. Serena played as sloppy today as she did yesterday. But while Maria gagged with every chance, Vika embraced them. She is a tremendous big point player now. Unlike Maria, you don’t see her beat herself anymore.

The gap is widening. Even though I saw it coming and predicted she would win today, it’s still hard to stomach.

Nah, I agree. I'm starting to think that Azarenka's a better player than Maria as well. This version of Maria anyway.

[yashwanth]

Originally Posted by Craig.

Nah, I agree. I'm starting to think that Azarenka's a better player than Maria as well. This version of Maria anyway.

Now WTA is divided into 3 tiers Tier - I --- Consists of Serena and Vika, Distant Tier - II ---- Aga and Maria Tier - III --- Close to Tier- II ---- Others.

Serena is Queen, Vika is Princess of WTA.

[Wonderwall.]

Originally Posted by Craig.

Nah, I agree. I'm starting to think that Azarenka's a better player than Maria as well. This version of Maria anyway.

Well, yeah.
This has been repeated so many times it's getting tired but pre-surgery Maria's best looked definitely better than anything Azarenka has shown so far.
Ever since AO last year though, Vika has been the better player. Doesn't their respective success speak for itself anyway?
Without this meaning that Maria can't keep the H2H balanced and of course we can't know who will go down as the greater one eventually.

[Icky80]

There's hardly a great divide between Renka and Shar, but there's no denying that the former is currently the better player. Beating Serena does not give her great separation from Sharapova, especially a Serena who was not at top form. Tennis is all about match-ups. And Renka matches up better with Serena. They don't have as much history as Serena and Maria do. And in order to beat Serena, even a Serena not nearly at her best, you gotta be able to move. Shar can't. But before the WTA becomes all about the "big 2" Shar has got to get it together. I'm fearing that her lack of confidence against Serena and to a degree Azenrenka will bleed into her other match-ups and we might see her ranking slip further.

[Asherahpova]

It is only the start of the year, there is no 'Big 2'.