The 2014 In Between Grand Slam Thread

TICKLE_ME_ELMO

Personally I think Woz is a classic example of a player who didn't make the break from their father soon enough. Given the nature of the tennis tour it's perfectly understandable that a young girl will be coached by her father. There's so much travelling and it's so intense it makes sense. But, there comes a point where they have to make that break and get in a proper full time coach who has no vested interest in the player other than doing their job.

Sharapova had her father with her when she was first on the scene, but he soon took a step back and then was gone entirely from her coaching set up.
Radwanska was coached by her father up until a few years ago and then made the decision to get a proper full time coach in.

Wozniacki is still relatively young but it really seems like she's too dependent on her relationship with her father, or indeed he's too invested in his role as coach to actually step aside when they do hire someone new. They can make all the excuses they want but the number of coaches she's been through in the last few years and the lack of any progress, in fact she's getting worse results wise, shows that the set up they have is not working.

I know there was always arguments over her being number 1 without a slam and she was only there for a year because Serena and Sharapova were both missing for long periods of time but that's only 2 players. Fine, she shouldn't be number 1 anymore but she's barely clinging on to the tails of top 10 anymore.

Floppybits

Gasquet destroying kyrglos in the Davis cup match between France and Australia.

John.Icy

Floppybits wrote: »

Gasquet destroying kyrglos in the Davis cup match between France and Australia.

That backhand was a joy to watch today. Wonder where'd he'd be if he could keep it up on a consistent level and tie up a few other things about his game, worked out well for Stan anyway!

TICKLE_ME_ELMO

John.Icy wrote: »

That backhand was a joy to watch today. Wonder where'd he'd be if he could keep it up on a consistent level and tie up a few other things about his game, worked out well for Stan anyway!

Like stop being as mentally strong as a wet tissue?

John.Icy

TICKLE_ME_ELMO wrote: »

Like stop being as mentally strong as a wet tissue?

Also nice to see Federer taking part in the first round of the Davis cup. Him and Stan could take Switzerland far into it.

Beasty

James Ward takes Sam Querrey to a 5th set in Dan Diego. If Ward can win it would take GBR to 2-0 after the first day ...

Currently live on BBC 2

bing3

Beasty wrote: »

James Ward takes Sam Querrey to a 5th set in Dan Diego. If Ward can win it would take GBR to 2-0 after the first day ...

Currently live on BBC 2

Been dipping in and out of this. Thought he was dead and buried but a break up now in the fifth. Amazing what the DC can do for some players.

Beasty

Ward takes it 6-1!

With Murray to play again in the return singles GBR have got to be very strong favourites now

bing3

Beasty wrote: »

Ward takes it 6-1!

With Murray to play again in the return singles GBR have got to be very strong favourites now

Done deal. Murray not going to lose whatever else happens but fair play to Ward. Real match play tennis and seems like a real decent guy too.

Beasty

They've got to wrap Murray up in cotton wool though. Can't see them risking him in the doubles now

bing3

Absolutely. Dont think Murray fancied the doubles much anyway but definitely not now.

TICKLE_ME_ELMO

Murray was down to play both singles and doubles but I'd assume that will change now that Ward won.

I'd assume he'll still play the doubles to try and wrap it up today, or maybe he won't.... tough ask to beat the Bryan Bros..... maybe he'll sit doubles out and just do singles?

Beasty

They've got to save him for the singles where he will be a massive favourite. GBR won't even be favourites against the Bryan brothers with Murray playing, so why risk him in that match when he may pick up an injury which could completely blow it for GBR

Having said that the way Ward played yesterday you would probably fancy him in the return singles if the match were to be critical

yerwanthere123

Doha turning into a shambles this year. In addition to no Sharapova, Vika and Serena have now pulled out.

yerwanthere123

Keep an eye out for James McGee, will be playing qualies in Memphis over the weekend.

WaterLily.

Watching Monfils vs Istomin at the moment and Monfils at his best is just a joy to watch. Istomin hasn't done a lot wrong but is a game away from losing 6-4 6-3.

Monfils hasn't stopped grinning since he stepped on the court, he is loving every second of this

I hope he gets himself together mentally this year because he has the natural talent of a slam winner, no question about it.

Rjd2

WaterLily. wrote: »

Watching Monfils vs Istomin at the moment and Monfils at his best is just a joy to watch. Istomin hasn't done a lot wrong but is a game away from losing 6-4 6-3.

Monfils hasn't stopped grinning since he stepped on the court, he is loving every second of this

I hope he gets himself together mentally this year because he has the natural talent of a slam winner, no question about it.

And the mental toughness of a player ranked 740 in the world.

yerwanthere123

Rjd2 wrote: »

And the mental toughness of a player ranked 740 in the world.

Indeed. Didn't he skip Wimbledon last year because he just... couldn't really be bothered to play?!

yerwanthere123

Lisicki out of Doha :pac::pac::pac:

WaterLily.

Rjd2 wrote: »

And the mental toughness of a player ranked 740 in the world.

Seems like that is the problem that all the top French players suffer with! They have the game but as someone said previously, the mental strength of a wet tissue! :rolleyes:

WaterLily.

Just saw that Dan Evans is through to the semis in Croatia, great win against Kohlschreiber in 3 sets.

TICKLE_ME_ELMO

Serena NOT playing Indian Wells. No surprise there. The real surprise was how many people thought she was actually going to play.

yerwanthere123

^ Well I guess the fact that she was even considering it was good reason to think she may come back, normally it's just a flat out no. Disappointing I guess, but if she's been boycotting it for 13 years it would seem kinda silly to stop now. Would the crowd even want her back?

It looks as if Indian Wells will be anyone's for the taking this year. I can't see Maria or Vika winning it on current form. Maybe Li Na? Who knows.

Jamie Hampton has confirmed she will miss both Indian Wells and Miami, which is hugely disappointing. She hasn't played a match yet this season. Gonna be hard for her to pickup the momentum she had last season.

yerwanthere123

James McGee is the #8 seed in the Memphis qualifying draw, faces the unseeded Scott Lipsky. Never been ranked higher than 315, so this is a match James should win. Lipsky has won the 2011 French Open mixed doubles with Casey Dellacqua though!

James may have to play David Goffin for the qualifying spot.

yerwanthere123

David O'Hare, another Irishman, has been given a wildcard into the qualies. I can't find much info on him, and it seems that he's not ranked anywhere inside the top 1,000.

TICKLE_ME_ELMO

yerwanthere123 wrote: »

David O'Hare, another Irishman, has been given a wildcard into the qualies. I can't find much info on him, and it seems that he's not ranked anywhere inside the top 1,000.

He's 23 or 24 (born 1990) and is the cousin of Irish rugby player Luke Fitzgerald. Played Davis Cup last week. That's all I got.

TICKLE_ME_ELMO

Irish Fed Cup team just won promotion to Group 2 of the Europe/Africa zone. It's not quite the heights of World Group but a good result none the less

yerwanthere123

Great win for James, 6-3 6-0. Next up Dennis Novikov, currently ranked 610, highest ranking 457. Another match James should be confident of winning. Really hope he can get a crack at David Goffin!

David O'Hare lost 4-6 4-6.

yerwanthere123

Another win for James, this time in three sets. One game away from the main draw in Memphis, David Goffin next. Goffin has been in such poor form of late that this is a match James could actually win. He'd be the first Irishman to make the main draw on the tour since Conor Niland in Houston 2010.

TICKLE_ME_ELMO

yerwanthere123 wrote: »

Another win for James, this time in three sets. One game away from the main draw in Memphis, David Goffin next. Goffin has been in such poor form of late that this is a match James could actually win. He'd be the first Irishman to make the main draw on the tour since Conor Niland in Houston 2010.

James did really well last week in Dallas, soundly thumped Alex Bogomolov Jr, who was top 30 not that long ago. As you say Goffin hasn't done much lately, he's been really disappointing since that run at RG last year or the year before. Would be great to see James in the main draw, even just for the little bit extra prize money he'd get. So hard on the tour for these guys at that level and with zero support from our own sporting bodies it'd be great to see him get to an ATP level event main draw.

yerwanthere123

TICKLE_ME_ELMO wrote: »

James did really well last week in Dallas, soundly thumped Alex Bogomolov Jr, who was top 30 not that long ago. As you say Goffin hasn't done much lately, he's been really disappointing since that run at RG last year or the year before. Would be great to see James in the main draw, even just for the little bit extra prize money he'd get. So hard on the tour for these guys at that level and with zero support from our own sporting bodies it'd be great to see him get to an ATP level event main draw.

Exactly, I want him to qualify for the money as much as I do for the experience. The guys at that level work so hard and have very little to show for it. I wonder does James get anything at all from Tennis Ireland?
Unfortunately, he lost to Goffin, but he does at least reach a new career high. He's inching closer and closer all the time though, perhaps qualification for Wimbledon this summer is an achievable goal?

Pironkova has beaten Vinci in Doha. This week will be interesting to see whether winning Sydney was a fluke or not. She's off to a good start anyway, and she's in an extremely soft part of the Doha draw, with Errani, Halep and Bouchard her toughest opponents. Vinci now 0-5 in 2014.

TICKLE_ME_ELMO

yerwanthere123 wrote: »

Exactly, I want him to qualify for the money as much as I do for the experience. The guys at that level work so hard and have very little to show for it. I wonder does James get anything at all from Tennis Ireland?
Unfortunately, he lost to Goffin, but he does at least reach a new career high. He's inching closer and closer all the time though, perhaps qualification for Wimbledon this summer is an achievable goal?

I'm not sure what they get from Tennis Ireland but then I'm not sure what Tennis Ireland get from the government. There's a new website that's kind of like a kickstarter for athletes. I haven't had a chance to look at it properly yet but I think doubles player James McClusky is signed up for it. Could be a good way for them to get funding.

yerwanthere123

Li Na lost to Cetkovska, I hope this isn't a sign of things to come for the next few months. Disappointed that both Ana and Pironkova lost early. Also Serena has taken a wildcard into Dubai next week. She may as well I guess, it'd be a long wait until Miami.

yerwanthere123

Another title for Simona Halep, and the biggest of her career thus far. First Premier 5 title, and beats three top 10 players to do so. Incredible. If she keeps rolling like this I reckon she could be a contender at Roland-Garros, as long as she can avoid Serena & Sharapova. She's defending hardly anything until May and is only about 700 points away from the top 5.

RosyLily

Top 5 is a definitely achievable for Halep, provided she doesn't pick up an injury or illness. Really impressed with her game the past 8 or 9 months!! It's cool that her titles have come on a variety of surfaces....she's a danger at every tournament she plays.:)

TICKLE_ME_ELMO

Bouchard lost in last round of qualifiers for Dubai. She's top 20 now but the cut off point was 6 weeks ago. Funny old game, one week Grand Slam SF, next week can't qualify for Dubai.

yerwanthere123

We could actually be heading for a Serena-Venus final in Dubai, which is surprising. Last time was YEC's in Doha, 2009.
Venus will play Caro in the semi's, their first meeting since 2008.

yerwanthere123

15 year-old Tornado Black will make her tour debut next week in Acapulco.



Meanwhile, more drama between Serena and Jelena today!

Pighead

Venus makes short work of Wozniacki to reach the Dubai final. Glad to see her so happy after her victory. she's not had a whole lot to smile about in recent years. I actually thought she might retire after she was knocked out by Zheng in the second round of the US Open.

Could be up against her little sis in the final. Think she's back in the top 30 now whatever happens.

Pighead

Wow. Cornet beats Serena to reach the final. Biggest win of her career to date. Watched the last set and she played really solid and the collapse which I was expecting never materialised.

yerwanthere123

3rd year in a row that Serena's year gets off to a ****ty start. Expect her to come storming back in Miami.

Cornet is interesting, she's ranked in the mid-twenties yet always seems to be able to rise to the challenge of facing a top player. Took sets off Azarenka at both the French & US Opens last year, gave Sharapova a tough time in Melbourne last month and now beats Serena.

yerwanthere123

Interesting stat, only Cornet's second win over a top 10 player since 2008.

Pighead

yerwanthere123 wrote: »

Interesting stat, only Cornet's second win over a top 10 player since 2008.

That's very poor. She has a pretty dismal grand slam record as well (has she ever got past the 3rd round even?) Always known to be mentally fragile and weak when things started to go against her. Wonder is this the start of a decent year for her or is it just one of those tournaments where everything goes right. I would guess the latter.

mickmackey1

Fair play Venus, thought her winning days were long over.

yerwanthere123

Francesca Schiavone hasn't won a match yet this season, 0-7 after losing to Strycova. Same for Roberta Vinci, she's 0-6.

yerwanthere123

Del Potro retires after losing first set in Dubai. Not looking good is it. He probably needs a long layoff to allow his wrist to recover fully. Although I think I read that it's his other wrist that's playing up now.

TICKLE_ME_ELMO

Yeah, Delpo should probably have done like Murray and don nothing after the US Open last year, get whatever surgery he needed and then stay off until he'd recovered.

WaterLily.

Oh no It does look like he should have taken a long break before this, it obviously isn't a once off twinge that just needs a week or two rest. This is so disappointing, I finally thought during the indoor hardcourt season last year (I think it was Shanghai in particular) that things were finally coming together and he would be pushing into the top 3-5 in 2014.

yerwanthere123

James McGee will play Indian Wells! He's gotten into what I assume is the qualifying draw.

TICKLE_ME_ELMO

Yep, he says he starts on Tuesday, main draw starts on Thursday. Fingers crossed he gets a good draw in the qualifiers.