The two most risk-averse of the elite. There will be a lot of shots that land in the middle of the court, near the service line. Neither usually is the player that starts forcing the extremes. Neither of them even try the high-difficulty short angle setup for a future winner. They can both DO it. When forced. But neither, when playing well, will ever initiate anything that risky.
Jenn's in a tough spot. It's easy to say that she should 'be more aggressive', and 'go for her shots', but to challenge Kim's range, you have to paint the lines. She just moves side-to-side too well. And Jenn NEVER hits near the lines. If she starts trying now, her number of unforced errors will go through the ceiling. She's got to get Kim on a string, and move her to places that leave easy winners. And then smack the hell out of those 'easy' winners, cause otherwise Kim will run them down. That cerebral stuff isn't Jenn's game. Archtypically, she's more streetfighter than chessplayer.
Kim has an easier time because Jenn is clearly not in the condition that won 3 GS singles titles. If it gets to 10-10 in the third, it's Jenn who will crack this time. What Kim has to do is not get frustrated. With Kim, sometimes she falls into believing that 'be more aggressive' means 'hit harder'. With Kim, the 'be more aggressive' that works best is 'move FORWARD, stupid'. When she's going well, everything she does has an aggressive forwardness to it, even it she's not hitting hard. The trap for Kim is when Jenn gets in a groove and starts to overpower Kim. Kim has to weather the storm, and keep fighting it by continuing to move forward, so she's already on top of every short ball. Too often, Kim falls into a baseline slugging exchange. Look at her last match vs Venus. Venus got Kim into forward exchange and just rallied and Kim started hitting harder and harder and hit more and more errors.
Kim can be pulled out of her game by a clever opponent. 'Clever' is never how I've ever described Jenn's game.
Script 17B, with characters straight out of Centrasl Casting. 'This is savvy vet vs young upstart, on the most elite level in the game. Take one.'
Let's be honest. Kim is the least accomplished of the elite players. Also the youngest. And how much more perfect than she could we cast in the role of 'young upstart/elite'?
You can't cast Venus as 'savvy vet', cause you eventually have to cast a '#1 contender'. (Sports movies mostly being the same plot. Certainly if you get a sequel.)
Lindsay would be fine too, but Jenn comes with a pretty big fan base, important to TV. I'm not sure who's balls at ESPN she's got a string around, if Jenn's in a quasi-important match, they show it.
This could be a good match, but I don't see Jennifer going far enough outside her comfort zone to win.
Jenn's in a tough spot. It's easy to say that she should 'be more aggressive', and 'go for her shots', but to challenge Kim's range, you have to paint the lines. She just moves side-to-side too well. And Jenn NEVER hits near the lines. If she starts trying now, her number of unforced errors will go through the ceiling. She's got to get Kim on a string, and move her to places that leave easy winners. And then smack the hell out of those 'easy' winners, cause otherwise Kim will run them down. That cerebral stuff isn't Jenn's game. Archtypically, she's more streetfighter than chessplayer.
Kim has an easier time because Jenn is clearly not in the condition that won 3 GS singles titles. If it gets to 10-10 in the third, it's Jenn who will crack this time. What Kim has to do is not get frustrated. With Kim, sometimes she falls into believing that 'be more aggressive' means 'hit harder'. With Kim, the 'be more aggressive' that works best is 'move FORWARD, stupid'. When she's going well, everything she does has an aggressive forwardness to it, even it she's not hitting hard. The trap for Kim is when Jenn gets in a groove and starts to overpower Kim. Kim has to weather the storm, and keep fighting it by continuing to move forward, so she's already on top of every short ball. Too often, Kim falls into a baseline slugging exchange. Look at her last match vs Venus. Venus got Kim into forward exchange and just rallied and Kim started hitting harder and harder and hit more and more errors.
Kim can be pulled out of her game by a clever opponent. 'Clever' is never how I've ever described Jenn's game.
Script 17B, with characters straight out of Centrasl Casting. 'This is savvy vet vs young upstart, on the most elite level in the game. Take one.'
Let's be honest. Kim is the least accomplished of the elite players. Also the youngest. And how much more perfect than she could we cast in the role of 'young upstart/elite'?
You can't cast Venus as 'savvy vet', cause you eventually have to cast a '#1 contender'. (Sports movies mostly being the same plot. Certainly if you get a sequel.)
Lindsay would be fine too, but Jenn comes with a pretty big fan base, important to TV. I'm not sure who's balls at ESPN she's got a string around, if Jenn's in a quasi-important match, they show it.
This could be a good match, but I don't see Jennifer going far enough outside her comfort zone to win.
