Eastbourne 2013

[Correspondent Kiu]

Two and half hour match between Yanina and Petra, it is now 6-5 in the third set, Yanina is leading and serving.

 

[kskate2]

hope fabulous Laura can waste old horse face Caro.

Dial it back Borg. No need to make derogatory comments about a player's appearance.

 

[Hoergren]

Congratulations to Caroline for a rock solid win. 5 aces, o df, 74% first serves in and a minimum of unforced errors. This was a good win for Caroline adding a mile to her confidence. A precision-oriented performance from Caroline, as she served beautifully whenever required and kept a check on unforced errors. Robson played some massive shots, but in the end she committed too many errors like two df in the same play. Robson is a good player and we'll definitely hear a lot more from her. We'll see what happens next, but today I'll have a Carlsberg

This must be my 100th post - hurrah to me As usual you can see the results in my posting on page 1. Here are the stats from the match:

 

[tented]

hope fabulous Laura can waste old horse face Caro.

Dial it back Borg. No need to make derogatory comments about a player's appearance.

Exactly.

"Hope fabulous Laura can waste Caro" would have conveyed your point, without being insulting.

 

[tented]

Congratulations to Caroline for a rock solid win. 5 aces, o df, 74% first serves in and a minimum of unforced errors. This was a good win for Caroline adding a mile to her confidence. A precision-oriented performance from Caroline, as she served beautifully whenever required and kept a check on unforced errors. Robson played some massive shots, but in the end she committed too many errors like two df in the same play. Robson is a good player and we'll definitely hear a lot more from her. We'll see what happens next, but today I'll have a Carlsberg

This must be my 100th post - hurrah to me As usual you can see the results in my posting on page 1.

That's definitely a good win for Caroline.

Congrats on your 100th post, Hoergren!

And thank you for using a smaller picture.

 

[Correspondent Kiu]

"Hope fabulous Laura can waste Caro" would have conveyed your point, without being insulting.

Caro must have heard the Brits, so she wasted the fab!
6-4 6-4 was the final score.
The Russian on-slaught continues, Elena is about to get rid of the other Brit.
Kerber may fall to another Russian, Makarove is ahead a set.

Petra got knocked out.
:nono

 

[kskate2]

Great win for Caro. Only saw some of the 2nd set. She was steady and Hoergren was right, she served very well. 33 UE from Robson is way too many for a straight set match. She needs to clean that up right now. Things happen quickly on grass and you can get blown out of a match in a matter of minutes giving away all those free points.

 

[Hoergren]

Quarter finals Thursday - here is the schedule:

CENTRE COURT 11.00
not before 13.00
2.E.Vesnina (RUS) v N.Li (CHN) [2] 76 63
3.E.Makarova (RUS) v C.Wozniacki (DEN) [5] 64 06 36 another Carlsberg on the way - well done Caroline!

COURT 1 11.00

1.J.Hampton (USA) v L.Safarova (CZE) 36 76 64
4.M.Kirilenko (RUS) [6] v Y.Wickmayer (BEL) 26 61 57

OK nice matches ahead and all shown on TV See if there's another Carlsberg coming up

Sorry for Petra - saw some of her game, and believe me it's just like a roller coaster - exceptional winners followed by exceptional errors. Sorry Petra you're not going to win another slam in that way, but cheer up and get back to a solid play you deserve that.

 

[Correspondent Kiu]

Some interesting H2H records for these matches:
Caro has not lost to Makarova, ever, she is 5-0
Elena has 1-0 record against Li Na but no matches since 2009
Maria 1-0 Yanina
Jamie 1-0 Lucie

---

Surprise head to head numbers, me thinks!

 

[kskate2]

That Jamie/Lucie match is a rematch from RG last month. Jamie took Lucie out in 2R and then Petra in 3R. That could be a barn-burner. SF will be Caro, Li, Maria and Jamie

 

[tossip]

Hampton has been playing well in Europe and she is standing out amongst the younger Americans..

 

[rubydo]

Great win for Caro. Only saw some of the 2nd set. She was steady and Hoergren was right, she served very well. 33 UE from Robson is way too many for a straight set match. She needs to clean that up right now. Things happen quickly on grass and you can get blown out of a match in a matter of minutes giving away all those free points.

I saw some of that match and agree with you, Laura was her own undoing, but Caro was in control. Got a very fine interview with MK too tired to discuss it now, but will later, she is very sweet and her English is now excellent!
There are some potentially good matches tomorrow, but as I look out the window of my cousin's flat in Hampstead, North London the skies are very ominous!! Friday is a potential heavy rain day. We will just have to wait and see.

 

[ozza]

I guess I will take the unpopular opinion that Robson is overhyped imo. Footwork is poor, only good with the ball in her hitting zone, tactically very poor. From her interviews I don't really think she knows the style to reach the very top echelons of the game. She talks always about needing to shorten the points and taking more risks, this isn't how you reach the very top though, you'll have some good weeks, and some poor weeks if you play like that, consistency will always be a problem though until you learn how to build a rally.

The biggest problem is she doesn't really show any signs of working on her major weakness, her footwork. She needs Sharapova like work on her footwork to reach the very top imo, but you need extreme dedication to put in that kind of work, and Robson's work ethic has already been called into question.

With regards to Caro I will be interested to watch tomorrow. I haven't been fully convinced by her performances so far, her forehand particularly has looked very average to me, and lacked all depth. Tomorrow is the first real acid test for her, she's been able to ease into the tournament, tomorrow she has an opponent she should beat on paper, but she's been losing lots of those matches all year.

 

[Hoergren]

Well you can see on the following that you're in England right now. On the other hand it maybe tells a little about a player who has a lot to learn

A foul day for Laura Robson
LAURA ROBSON crashed to defeat in disgrace yesterday as she swore on court – then stubbornly refused to apologise.
By: Tony Banks
Published: Thu, June 20, 2013

It was a bad day at the office for Laura Robson

On a day when three other Brits in Elena Baltacha, Heather Watson and Kyle Edmund also all lost as British hopes disappeared in Eastbourne, a spiky Robson was a set down and midway through the second against world No9 Caroline Wozniacki when she netted a simple forehand and screamed: “F****** hit the ball!”

BBC television cameras picked up her outburst and, after a spirited but occasionally erratic performance, she eventually went down 6-4, 6-4 to Wozniacki, who had golfer boyfriend Rory McIlroy supporting her among the crowd.

Afterwards though, a frustrated Robson, who also lost to Wozniacki at the French Open, was in a bullish mood, saying: “I will try not to swear so loud next time. I didn’t think I did it loudly. The microphones at the back of the court picked it up. I will try not to do it next time.”

Robson, 19, also denied that she had refused to sign autographs for fans after the match, which brought criticism for her on Twitter. Robson said: “On the way back to the locker room I signed about 200, so I don’t think that is an issue.”

 

[jhar26]

I guess I will take the unpopular opinion that Robson is overhyped imo. Footwork is poor, only good with the ball in her hitting zone, tactically very poor. From her interviews I don't really think she knows the style to reach the very top echelons of the game. She talks always about needing to shorten the points and taking more risks, this isn't how you reach the very top though, you'll have some good weeks, and some poor weeks if you play like that, consistency will always be a problem though until you learn how to build a rally.

The biggest problem is she doesn't really show any signs of working on her major weakness, her footwork. She needs Sharapova like work on her footwork to reach the very top imo, but you need extreme dedication to put in that kind of work, and Robson's work ethic has already been called into question.

With regards to Caro I will be interested to watch tomorrow. I haven't been fully convinced by her performances so far, her forehand particularly has looked very average to me, and lacked all depth. Tomorrow is the first real acid test for her, she's been able to ease into the tournament, tomorrow she has an opponent she should beat on paper, but she's been losing lots of those matches all year.

I guess that one could say that Robson is overhyped, but as a reaction to that there's also a danger that some may 'underhype' her, if there is such a thing. But Rome wasn't build in a day. Laura will get there. She has the raw material to work with. All she needs to do is to finetune it. I agree about the footwork, but this too will improve over time.

I think that Caroline played well against a Laura Robson that was better than the one we saw in Paris. I especially liked her serving and the fact that she was back to making a minimum of UE like in the days of old. I'm not saying that this was 2010-like Caro, but it definitely was an improvement on what we've seen for the last few months. Maybe that racquet (whatever racquet it may be) has something to do with it. If so, she should stick with it.

 

[ozza]

I guess that one could say that Robson is overhyped, but as a reaction to that there's also a danger that some may 'underhype' her, if there is such a thing. But Rome wasn't build in a day. Laura will get there. She has the raw material to work with. All she needs to do is to finetune it. I agree about the footwork, but this too will improve over time.

I think that Caroline played well against a Laura Robson that was better than the one we saw in Paris. I especially liked her serving and the fact that she was back to making a minimum of UE like in the days of old. I'm not saying that this was 2010-like Caro, but it definitely was an improvement on what we've seen for the last few months. Maybe that racquet (whatever racquet it may be) has something to do with it. If so, she should stick with it.

Of course I live in the UK so get the full brunt of the hype. It's tedious to listen to every publication, commentator label her as the next superstar, the biggest talent in years. I just don't see that, it's way overboard. There are quite a number of youngsters ahead of her in my eyes.

It doesn't help her either. A couple of points, firstly the British crowds think she is a lot better than she is, they are expecting her to win pretty much every match she plays here, this leads to sort of strange atmospheres where the crowd is pretty reserved, because they are in shock when she starts spraying lots of errors, not realising that is how she plays most weeks. The pressure is tremendous.

Secondly it doesn't lend itself to a great work ethic if you build someone into something they aren't too early, you don't want to give young players any opportunity to believe their own hype so to speak. I don't feel out press help at all with regard to this.

The sad thing is Robson obviously has some potential, but if she doesn't deliver grand slams in the next 4 or so years she will get labelled a flop, people will turn on her etc. Just reaching top 10 or whatever won't be anywhere near enough.

The article Hoergren posted shows you how expectations are in this country. The general people in the crowd are expecting her to beat players like Wozniacki.

I am still reserving judgment on Caro for the week, should learn more today.

 

[kskate2]

I guess that one could say that Robson is overhyped, but as a reaction to that there's also a danger that some may 'underhype' her, if there is such a thing. But Rome wasn't build in a day. Laura will get there. She has the raw material to work with. All she needs to do is to finetune it. I agree about the footwork, but this too will improve over time.

I think that Caroline played well against a Laura Robson that was better than the one we saw in Paris. I especially liked her serving and the fact that she was back to making a minimum of UE like in the days of old. I'm not saying that this was 2010-like Caro, but it definitely was an improvement on what we've seen for the last few months. Maybe that racquet (whatever racquet it may be) has something to do with it. If so, she should stick with it.

Of course I live in the UK so get the full brunt of the hype. It's tedious to listen to every publication, commentator label her as the next superstar, the biggest talent in years. I just don't see that, it's way overboard. There are quite a number of youngsters ahead of her in my eyes.

It doesn't help her either. A couple of points, firstly the British crowds think she is a lot better than she is, they are expecting her to win pretty much every match she plays here, this leads to sort of strange atmospheres where the crowd is pretty reserved, because they are in shock when she starts spraying lots of errors, not realising that is how she plays most weeks. The pressure is tremendous.

Secondly it doesn't lend itself to a great work ethic if you build someone into something they aren't too early, you don't want to give young players any opportunity to believe their own hype so to speak. I don't feel out press help at all with regard to this.

The sad thing is Robson obviously has some potential, but if she doesn't deliver grand slams in the next 4 or so years she will get labelled a flop, people will turn on her etc. Just reaching top 10 or whatever won't be anywhere near enough.

The article Hoergren posted shows you how expectations are in this country. The general people in the crowd are expecting her to beat players like Wozniacki.

I am still reserving judgment on Caro for the week, should learn more today.

It sounds eerily similar to the pressure Andy Murray and to a greater extent Tim Henman had to deal with. The difference is Murray was arguably alot better than Laura at that age and has an extremely high work ethic. Unfortunately, Henman was just born in the wrong era.

 

[kskate2]

Jamie comes through in 3 over Lucy. Li continues to be an UE machine on grass too, down 6-7 2-4 to Vesnina.

 

[Correspondent Kiu]

Li went down to Elena in straights.
Good call on Jamie, I didn't think she was going to win.

Caro was behind early against Ekaterina but pulled to even.

I hope Ruby didn't get rained on...

 

[10isfan]

So happy to see Jamie winning. She is my favorite American. Her all court game and fight will get her further than most of the other rising Americans. Just found out she is half Korean. More reason for me to cheer for her. Go, Jamie!!!