The matchup with Cornet was more like a semifinal. Cornet was on fire and was a virtual backboard for the entire match. Cornet has been a giant killer this year and ended Swiatek's win streak at Wimbledon and has a long list of top seeds that she has upset.
Emma has struggled with blisters and clearly had issues during the match. There were a lot of very long rallies with Cornet returning shot after shot that would have been winners against many other players. You could tell that the longer the rallies went on, the more pain Emma had from her hands as she would blow easy shots late into the rallies instead of hitting winners.
Emma still has it, but the blister issues have been a big issue that is holding her back in a big way. Strangely, she seems to have found a good match with Dimitri Tursanov as her coach. I think if she settles in and keeps working Tursanov, she may surprise everyone with a run in Australia this winter, assuming she can find a solution for the blisters.
I have seen Cornet play over the years and in her twenties she was nowhere near as good as she is showing now. In her thirties she is way faster, hits harder and is tireless. I suspect the usual reason.
Disagree. Cornet was way better in her first few years on the tour. She was top 20 in 2008-09 and in 2014 when she found her form again after a lot of problems. She even beat Serena back then.
She does not have more power today and was never a power player. Her recent runs in the majors seem to be due to a very mature style of playing tennis. Her first serve % is consistently above 60%. Her unforced errors are always lower than her opponent's. She may have the best return of serve in the game right now. But above all, she is really good at keeping her cool and staying in points longer than her opponent can.
Her runs at the majors this year are really just about her maturity as a player. In other tournaments this year, she has shown her age. Sloane Stephens took her out 6-1 6-0 in Cincinnati. And at Wimbledon she just ran out of gas against Tomljanovic in a three set loss.
I don’t know but Emma is a teenage girl so I would think it would be premature to write her off. It is always odd to have middle aged men pontificating on these teenage girls as if they have a clue.
I have seen Cornet play over the years and in her twenties she was nowhere near as good as she is showing now. In her thirties she is way faster, hits harder and is tireless. I suspect the usual reason.
Disagree. Cornet was way better in her first few years on the tour. She was top 20 in 2008-09 and in 2014 when she found her form again after a lot of problems. She even beat Serena back then.
She does not have more power today and was never a power player. Her recent runs in the majors seem to be due to a very mature style of playing tennis. Her first serve % is consistently above 60%. Her unforced errors are always lower than her opponent's. She may have the best return of serve in the game right now. But above all, she is really good at keeping her cool and staying in points longer than her opponent can.
Her runs at the majors this year are really just about her maturity as a player. In other tournaments this year, she has shown her age. Sloane Stephens took her out 6-1 6-0 in Cincinnati. And at Wimbledon she just ran out of gas against Tomljanovic in a three set loss.
Her unforced errors being so low is easily attributable to an increased ability to get to every ball. At 32. That is what doping enables. As I have said, I have watched her over the years and she hits a better ball now and is a better athlete. Tireless. Ranking is not the determinant of whether or not she has improved as the physical level of the game has gone up over the last decade. For the same reasons. Doping is in all sports; it's certainly in tennis, which has one of the weakest antidoping programmes of any major sport. When I see the way she plays, that's what I am seeing. It's ironic because when I first saw her play I liked her. But when I see someone become a physical machine as they get older I see the same old same old. It isn't merely coincidence that the player she most admires is Nadal, who is likely the most juiced tennis player we have ever seen (followed closely by Djokovic). He wrote the formula for that kind of game.
The matchup with Cornet was more like a semifinal. Cornet was on fire and was a virtual backboard for the entire match. Cornet has been a giant killer this year and ended Swiatek's win streak at Wimbledon and has a long list of top seeds that she has upset.
Emma has struggled with blisters and clearly had issues during the match. There were a lot of very long rallies with Cornet returning shot after shot that would have been winners against many other players. You could tell that the longer the rallies went on, the more pain Emma had from her hands as she would blow easy shots late into the rallies instead of hitting winners.
Emma still has it, but the blister issues have been a big issue that is holding her back in a big way. Strangely, she seems to have found a good match with Dimitri Tursanov as her coach. I think if she settles in and keeps working Tursanov, she may surprise everyone with a run in Australia this winter, assuming she can find a solution for the blisters.
I have seen Cornet play over the years and in her twenties she was nowhere near as good as she is showing now. In her thirties she is way faster, hits harder and is tireless. I suspect the usual reason.
I agree, and I like Cornet. But she was a perpetual also-ran until a couple years ago. Look at her now vs when she was young. T where's the ToTheGills guy?
no surprise to see the usual LetsRun incels hating on an attractive, successful woman.
What is successful? She’s won under half her matches inter last year!
This is very true. Money is not the definition of success.
Surprised at all the commenters saying we shouldn't expect her to win everything, that isn't the point. The point is she shouldn't be crashing out in the early rounds of every tournament.
What is successful? She’s won under half her matches inter last year!
This is very true. Money is not the definition of success.
Surprised at all the commenters saying we shouldn't expect her to win everything, that isn't the point. The point is she shouldn't be crashing out in the early rounds of every tournament.
I suspect she has mental issues on court. She often rides an extreme emotional roller-coaster that affects the consistency of her game. She may outgrow it. Or she may not. As Osaka also seems to show.
This is very true. Money is not the definition of success.
Surprised at all the commenters saying we shouldn't expect her to win everything, that isn't the point. The point is she shouldn't be crashing out in the early rounds of every tournament.
I suspect she has mental issues on court.
Everyone does. So this is not exactly saying anything of substance.
There's a tremendous level of equality in women's tennis right now. Without Serena and Venus (who were for years head and shoulder above the rest) there's very little to choose from in the top twenty (especially since the unexplained retirement of Ashleigh Barty). Many seem to be head cases who hit the ball hard, but have unexplained lapses that make them vulnerable to anyone else in the top 20. This year Osaka exited early to pit bull Danielle Collins, but Collins herself hasn't won much of anything since losing to Barty in the Australian Open. In last year's Open Raducanu and Fernandez sailed through the field as the top ranked players were felled by other lower ranked, or unranked, players. This year several of the top seeds have already exited in the first two rounds. It seems to be a good year for Americans. Right now my favorites would be Williams, the Pole Swiatek, Jessica Pegula and Collins. Swiatek is the most talented, but least consistent. Williams seems to be recalling her days of glory. The last two are gritty competitors who might grind down the more talented but less consistent opponents they will be facing. Leyla Fernandez, by the way, is playing very well and could go deep into the tournament. Madison Keys and Coco Gauff are talented long shots, but have track records of inconsistency that have prevented them from winning in the later rounds.
You are right, there is a tremendous level of equality but herein lies the question - does that point to the level of tennis being strong and state of the womens game being strong?
I think the answer to that lies with what happened the other night with Serena vs Kontaveit - the 2 seed and the current world number 2. Let's be honest here, Serena is the best womens tennis player ever and is in the discussion for greatest player male or female ever, but she is 40 years old and tennis is hardly the focus of her life anymore. She's really a part time player which is completely fine - she's even said she's got nothing lose and just seeing what she can do out there which is clearly not what peak Serena would have said about her participation in a grand slam.
And yet she was able to close out the world number two 6-2 in the final set, where going 3 should really not be suiting her...
So back to the question, does equality make the game "strong" or does the level of your best layers dictate it. For me it will always be the latter. Sports like tennis and golf need their pinnacle players to be a degree separated from the field. The field needs something to aspire to, we need to be able to marvel in the stars overcoming each players best shot and conversely be astounded if they lose. When the heavyweights clash multiple times over the period of 5-10 years it sets up a legacy of rivalry that quite simply is interesting and leads to the most compelling spectacle.
Womens tennis has none of that right now. Serena is by FAR the biggest draw on the womens side and the gap of interest is too large. God forbid she loses before the final because similar to the last year the womens draw will then be about as interesting as piece of dry toast bread.
You are right, there is a tremendous level of equality but herein lies the question - does that point to the level of tennis being strong and state of the womens game being strong?
I think the answer to that lies with what happened the other night with Serena vs Kontaveit - the 2 seed and the current world number 2. Let's be honest here, Serena is the best womens tennis player ever and is in the discussion for greatest player male or female ever, but she is 40 years old and tennis is hardly the focus of her life anymore. She's really a part time player which is completely fine - she's even said she's got nothing lose and just seeing what she can do out there which is clearly not what peak Serena would have said about her participation in a grand slam.
And yet she was able to close out the world number two 6-2 in the final set, where going 3 should really not be suiting her...
So back to the question, does equality make the game "strong" or does the level of your best layers dictate it. For me it will always be the latter. Sports like tennis and golf need their pinnacle players to be a degree separated from the field. The field needs something to aspire to, we need to be able to marvel in the stars overcoming each players best shot and conversely be astounded if they lose. When the heavyweights clash multiple times over the period of 5-10 years it sets up a legacy of rivalry that quite simply is interesting and leads to the most compelling spectacle.
Womens tennis has none of that right now. Serena is by FAR the biggest draw on the womens side and the gap of interest is too large. God forbid she loses before the final because similar to the last year the womens draw will then be about as interesting as piece of dry toast bread.
Serena is not in discussion for the greatest player male or female.
Federer, Nadal and Djokovic have won their fairly even split of 60+ grand slam titles in the same era as Serena Williams. No one in the womens game from this current era has close to 20 grand slams apart from Williams. Really she should have 30 or 40 grand slams given the lack of competition.
You are right, there is a tremendous level of equality but herein lies the question - does that point to the level of tennis being strong and state of the womens game being strong?
I think the answer to that lies with what happened the other night with Serena vs Kontaveit - the 2 seed and the current world number 2. Let's be honest here, Serena is the best womens tennis player ever and is in the discussion for greatest player male or female ever, but she is 40 years old and tennis is hardly the focus of her life anymore. She's really a part time player which is completely fine - she's even said she's got nothing lose and just seeing what she can do out there which is clearly not what peak Serena would have said about her participation in a grand slam.
And yet she was able to close out the world number two 6-2 in the final set, where going 3 should really not be suiting her...
So back to the question, does equality make the game "strong" or does the level of your best layers dictate it. For me it will always be the latter. Sports like tennis and golf need their pinnacle players to be a degree separated from the field. The field needs something to aspire to, we need to be able to marvel in the stars overcoming each players best shot and conversely be astounded if they lose. When the heavyweights clash multiple times over the period of 5-10 years it sets up a legacy of rivalry that quite simply is interesting and leads to the most compelling spectacle.
Womens tennis has none of that right now. Serena is by FAR the biggest draw on the womens side and the gap of interest is too large. God forbid she loses before the final because similar to the last year the womens draw will then be about as interesting as piece of dry toast bread.
Serena is not in discussion for the greatest player male or female.
Federer, Nadal and Djokovic have won their fairly even split of 60+ grand slam titles in the same era as Serena Williams. No one in the womens game from this current era has close to 20 grand slams apart from Williams. Really she should have 30 or 40 grand slams given the lack of competition.
I actually agree with you I was just trying to be politically correct by saying she is in the discussion. Either way the womens game is and has been of terrible standard since the mid 2000's
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