This week’s also been interesting in that in some ways this tournament mirrored Guadalajara but with a much better outcome. Both tournaments Emma hadnt played for about a month and decided to go to the event with the weaker field in order to boost her chances of getting a number of matches under her belt.
In Guadalajara this strategy didn’t work and she left with no wins and an injury - aside from a few minor blisters, in Washington she remained healthy and got three matches under her belt. 🙂
Yes, I think we shouldn’t give Emma a hard time about this loss. Sad about the 4 SPs, but it wouldn’t have been worth it to batter her body after losing the first set, to (MAYBE) win in three in a silly 250 and be too exhausted in Toronto. It was after a 3h battle in 36 degrees celsius, and very late, way past Emma’s bedtime, after a long wait. Honestly it wasn’t worth it to exhaust herself for this and not be up for the task in Toronto. Sure, if Emma had taken those SPs, she could have won the next set (still not 100% convinced, she could have also lost in 3) but I’m not sure if playing a SF (and possibly a F) in DC would have really helped her for Toronto. Imho it wouldn’t, it would have just tired her out in a 250. You don’t want to peak in a 250, you want to peak in the big tournaments.
This time last year, she lost in R1 in San Jose. This year she won 2 matches and played 3. Much better. And still last year she won the USO! One month later, her match with Zhang was the opposite of the San Jose match. she was overpowered by Zhang in San Jose, but Emma overpowered her in New York. I think this tournament has served its purpose. Emma got the match play she needed, got a good training for the Giorgi match, and had back to back wins. Imho that’s it, I’m fine with this.
This was just a warmup tournament (with shitty weather and scheduling) and served its purpose of getting Emma a few matches. She will take plenty of lessons from this match for the Giorgi match (similar playing style)
She can’t win all the tiebreaks she plays. She still won 2 tiebreaks out of 3 this tournament. And when she lost the tiebreak in RG R1, she DID fight back to win in three sets. But was it worth it this time? In the late night in a shitty 250 with two 1000s and a Slam defence coming up? Probably not.
I’m not that bothered by this loss tbh. I would be much angrier if she won but picked up an injury.
She’s still building her stamina and that is a process that takes time. Still, plenty of positives on that department as she didn’t have MTOs for physical reasons (like back / hip / abdominal, etc), and seemed fine physically (the blisters are not at all related to conditioning).
She is getting stronger but it’s a process that will take a lot of time. She is doing it though. I see plenty of positives from this tournament. The Osorio match is one she would have lost a few months ago. Honestly if she reached the final here I would be a bit worried about her ability to be up for it in Toronto and Cinci. But those are more important, way more than a silly 250.
