[Tennis Fool]

I watched the 15 minutes of tennis they showed on CBS between Elena and Jenny. Everyone has said Elena was going to be an easy opponent for Jennifer because she had no weapons that could hurt Jennifer, plus both her 1st and 2nd serves are liabilities.

Now, I have a question. Wasn't Elena always spoken so highly of as a potential Russian champion? Especially after her silver medal performance in Sydney?

Did something change? Is she not as good as the tennis community original thought, or just not a danger on hardcourts?

What do you say?

 

[Dava]

VERA DEMENTIEVA!

Thats what happened.

 

[smarties]

She was injured last year for most of the season but played anyway but not to the level expected and she lost during this year one of her best quality: mental toughness but she's slowly getting back to where she was.

But IMO she has to drop her mom and hire a real coach who can help her with certain aspects of her game like the serve cause her mother is not qualified for this.

 

[Hewitt225]

shes got one hell of a ground game, but that serve is just embarrassing. How she wins matches I'll never know b/c the serve is absolutely ridiculous....you can't possibly tell me she thinks its good.

 

[Tennisace]

I thought she dropped off because after 2000, she hit the gym to bulk up and because of that she lost some of her quickness

 

[mexicotrip]

shes got one hell of a ground game, but that serve is just embarrassing. How she wins matches I'll never know b/c the serve is absolutely ridiculous....you can't possibly tell me she thinks its good.

I was standing text to her mom at an even (on one of the outside courts) and her coaching consisting of yelling 'closer to the court...closer to the court)

 

[Tennis Fool]

Not good for a potential champion to be blown away by JCap in under an hour. Embarrassing.

Back to the chalkboard, Demen. Come back strong in 2004.

 

[Steffica Greles]

If you ask me two things have held Elena back...no....three!

Her injury in 2001 when I felt she was establishing a top 10 place for herself, ahead of players like Clijsters, Dokic, Hantuchova, Henin and Myskina. Even Venus Williams rated her extremely highly.

Secondly her serve - it's disastrous.

Thirdly her intensity. When she gets it right, it's a great strength.

Elena has immense desire, you can see it burning in her eyes. But sometimes - all too often, in fact - the fire burns out of control and we see capitulation.

 

[Tennis Fool]

But wasn't her serve a liability even in 2000?

I'm watching the scoreboard for this match. Amazingly, it's over an hour, only because Demen. has the groundies to break JCap, yet can't hold her own serve.

 

[TheBoiledEgg]

what can you tell from watching a scoreboard ??

her serve in 2000 wasn't as bad as it is now.

she's had alot of foot injuries.
last yr she had problems with her shoulder.

 

[Doc]

Elena's FIRST serve is actually quite good. It's over 100 mph and very penetrating.

If you look at the stats for this match against Jennifer, you will see that the BIG problem is her 2nd serve. She is winning only about 20% of points off it (compared to Jen with over 50% off hers).

Elena had a lot of trouble with Double Faults because of poor 2nd serve technique. She has started to solve this by slowing down her 2nd serve. But now at around 60-70 mph it is a sitting duck for her opponents. And because she lacks variation, they know where it's going...

The reason Elena wins so many matches despite this, is that she IS such a good all-court player. She is very fast about court and hits some amazing groundstrokes. She has beaten Hantuchova, Davenport, Henin and Mauresmo this year.

 

[Tennis Fool]

what can you tell from watching a scoreboard ??

ALOT. See Doc's reply.

 

[tenn_ace]

I hope she dumps her coach/ball girl (Vera Dementieva) and finds a real coach. Any club level coach is better for Elena than her mom.

Same goes to Lina Krasnorutskaya. I watched her practice with Marina Krasnorutskaya (mom and coach) and it was embarassing.... A woman hasn't seen a racquet and couldn't hit a ball over the net from 3 feet... what kind of coach is that???????

 

[JLDementieva]

I'm going to say this, Elena will never ever beat the top players consistently, if she doesn't do anything about that serve!! I mean God, how many double faults did she hit at the crucial points! I mean it was 40-30 and she double faults (Damn the person whose cell phone rang).

 

[oddkayla]

That serve is absoltely horrible. I had not seen her matches in a very long time until this US Open, and I was struck by how horrible that serve is. When she played that Tatiana girl, she was just feasting on it, and I can only imagine how contemptous of the serve Jen had to be.

 

[IIOoIaMaGirLoOII]

VERA DEMENTIEVA!

Thats what happened.

:haha:

 

[Beat]

when demtieva serves 2nd serves, you can actually feel the crowd going . thing is, it's so akward, a lot of players don't know what to do with hit. i was completely astonished when lindsay didn't do anything with those 2nd serves 2 weeks ago.

 

[DEETHELICK]

As said already:

Post 2000, Elena changed her racket at the Aus Open 01, where she lost in the 2nd/4rd round. The year didn't start too brightly. She worked her way up to No. 9 in the world and during the clay season suffered an injury that didn't allow her to play FO. By this time, her confidence was a bit low, people were gunning for her, etc.

She hit a slump. 2002 had another foot injury during the clay season and shoulder problems. I think the new 2nd serve was to compensate for this problem.

2003 started with more of the same. Then she won her first title and the passion started again. Then she retires from Berlin after injuring her foot again (I mean how many times can it happen!!).

Slowly but surely, she has built up her momentum from the grass season into the hardcourt season. She is No. 9 in the world now!!!!

So is she highly-overrated?? NO! Does she have to improve that serve? YES!!

Elena can move all around a court and hustle extremely well, she can hit with power and her forehand is huge. She does think when she is playing and I believe that her hunger is coming back.

I just hope she works on her serve and/or hires a serving coach to correct her motion.

Good luck Elena!!!

 

[Tennis Fool]

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