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Seoul F: [1] Swiatek def. [2] Alexandrova 1-6 7-6(3) 7-5

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15K views 209 replies 103 participants last post by  mauegd  
#1 ·
The carbs from that first set breadstick must've energised Iga, as she recovers to win both a close match and the Seoul title!
 
#70 ·
That match gave me somehow Ostrava final 2022 vibes against Krejcikova. But this time with a better ending for Iga. Bad things from this match: the serve overall (but in some moments it saved her) and bad timing. She was too late in too many occasions. Good things: her fighting spirit.
 
#80 ·
Igatha is the type to try everything to win. So this means Igatha will be more frustrated if she doesn't end up with a GOAT career.

Sabalenka is a great winner in her own right and works very hard as well, but she also plays for the love of the game and loves to entertain the crowds.

She doesn't mind having fun even if it means that's not optimal for winning. 6GA doesn't care about any of that. It's all about winning. Obsessed about perfection...
 
#84 ·
Igatha is the type to try everything to win. So this means Igatha will be more frustrated if she doesn't end up with a GOAT career.
If Iga can keep her level up for 4-5 years she'll be comfortably ahead of Seles/Henin/VWilliams, but also comfortably behind Graf/Evert/Navratilova/SWilliams. She needs to step it up a bit.
 
#81 ·
#25 title. :hearts: So happy Iga is able to win those long, competitive matches, being far from her best, because you can't play close to your peak all the time. And in the past, Iga had a lot of problems when things weren't going her way and she was losing those matches quite quickly.



Iga 'Coco' Świątek

Sport can be brutal.
 
#82 ·
As an Iga supporter' I'm happy for the result' but this was truly a heartbreaking loss fot Alex; in fact' I was finding rooting for her as the match progressed' and it strikes me as extremely likely she'd've managed to close it out like she did vs. Yastremska in Linz. But at least she fought her heart out' unlike some other headcases are wont to do..
 
#83 ·
I don't know what happens with her in Slams, but it needs to be studied. She clearly has the game to challenge anyone.
 
#86 · (Edited)
What is going on with Iga? Some of her performances recently have been so bad... she was the worse player in all three sets.

Wim might actually be a fraud. Iga peaked in the grass season as she was finally able to play with freedom - there was no pressure, no points to defend and she looked like she finally put the doping scandal behind her. But her serve has looked inconsistent since and often just plain bad. I'm not sure if her game looks any better than it did before & I'm not convinced he will be the one to fix it unless they hire a technical consultant.
 
#88 ·
What is going on with Iga? Some of her performances recently have been so bad...

Wim might actually be a fraud. Iga peaked in the grass season as she was finally able to play with freedom - there was no pressure, no points to defend and she looked like she finally put the doping scandal behind her. But her serve has looked inconsistent since and often just plain bad. I'm not sure if her game looks any better than it did before & I'm not convinced he will be the one to fix it unless they hire a technical consultant.
Technically she just won a tournament.Again.
Not to bad if you ask me.
 
#119 ·
The only moment when I felt someone here is close to gift a title was at 1:1 3rd set when Iga made 3 DF and Drova broke her by doing nothing. It felt like this because Iga has made a good comeback in the 2nd set. Again since 5-6 15-30 Iga has won all her service points in that set including the TB. Alexandrova never had a MP. The 3rd set was a close one. From both. But still it didn't feel Ekaterina is choking. If she had played Joint in that final, she would have won easily. It was more like Iga didn't let her go. No matter what Drova would do. And let be honest, Drova knows how to win a 500. She's a specialist in those 500 tournaments. She might choke at slams but not there.
 
#113 ·
Alexandrova having a good year, 10 in the 2025 race, 11 in the 52 week rankings, but finishing is a long term issue
 
#117 ·
Of course, Kayta choked in yet another important match. I expect nothing else from her. At least she made Iga play for it a little bit.
 
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#118 ·
I added little text, it's more likely "shut up, I beg you" but this has better ring to it, imo.

Image
 
#124 ·
Don’t see how people can say that Alexandrova choked when she never had a huge lead in the 2nd or 3rd set and was never close to winning. If anything Iga made this harder by not stepping on the gas on the 3rd set after gaining momentum in the 2nd set TB.

Serve needs to stabilize but it’s good that she is capable of looping in the FH just to rally. I feel though that her BH has become loopier too which is not good.
 
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#142 ·
Do you want her serve to be good for 3 weeks or reliable for the entire year?

Where are the stats that show Iga’s serve is better this year? Again, your are making a logical fallacy by assuming that because Iga won Wimbledon, that she has a good serve. When in reality, those weeks have proven to be something of an anomaly.

I remember saying how Iga needed to adjust her game before the US Open series of 2022. And all her fans thought that this opinion was wrong because she ended up winning the US Open that year. She hasn’t won a GS on hard courts since and everyone finally accepted that there was a problem. You’re too obsessed with outcomes.
You clearly don't want to understand, that the change in player's game doesn't happen overnight. And that's okay, you don't have to. But the simple fact is, that for Iga this actually is a work-in-progress year, during which she wants to adjust her tennis to fit more difficult surfaces and opponents. And that was the plan all along.

Also, you seem to forget how everyone was saying Iga "can't serve" and especially how her second serve is "pathetic". I don't see too many people saying that now. In fact, it was specifically serving that got her out of trouble even today at multiple pressure points in the second and third set.

Did her slow HC and clay season suffer because of those adjustments she was making? Sure they did, but then with all that work-in-progress she already managed to win two of the titles people were saying she would never win.
 
#145 ·
I don’t think her poor performance in the start of the year had much to do with making her game more fast court ready, I think it had everything to do with pressure (first half of 2024 was her next most dominant run after 2022), a mix of a lot of personal things and the hang over of the doping ban and coach change.
 
#148 · (Edited)
Igs FH was all over the place in the first set and her return on that side was almost a free point for Alexandrova, but unlike other times in the past, instead of bashing herself out of the match she kind of stabilized her game just enough to stay close to Alexandrova, who as expected, caved in at crunch time. Not her best tennis, but it did the job.

Alexandrova has a good and clean game, with pace that she generates easily, and she should do better, but she has such a negative attitude, moping and looking miserable even when she is leading. A shame, but I doubt she is going to change now,
 
#167 ·
Alexandrova has a good and clean game, with pace that she generates easily, and she should do better, but she has such a negative attitude, moping and looking miserable even when she is leading. A shame, but I doubt she is going to change now,
And yet in this match I saw her smile more than in probably the whole of the rest of the year put together, instead of being her usual SulkyDrova self. THAT must be why she lost! :LOL: