Rank: Advanced Member
Groups: Registered, everyone, registered users
Joined: 1/10/2011(UTC)
Posts: 99
Was thanked: 11 time(s) in 9 post(s)
|
Philli;314418 wrote:Ipo2. No, you are wrong. Maria's game is not Positive...or Negative. It's Indecisive.
You have to go back a few years...2004 thru 2006 to be precise. Back then there were two other players who played the same style as Maria. Lindsay Davenport and (the younger, back then) Serena Willams. All three had a massive serve which, if it wasn't going to be an Ace, the best an opponent could do was defensively block it, and send it back over the net at which point the Server moved one or two paces into the court and hammered it past the opponent before they had time to regain their composure from the serve. That was their game..One serve and one return. It used to work well. It was how Maria beat Serena the one and only time at Wimbledon in 2004 by playing her at her own game. We saw it yesterday too, it worked a few times against Agnieska. Unfortunately, if it doesn't work, Maria has no back up plan and she finds herself scurrying around back and forth on the defensive when in fact she should be on the offensive.
I find THAT a boring game.. serve and return, point over, that's not what I call entertaining Tennis. Agnieska said that she will never be able to serve like Maria so she 'mixes it up' to keep the opponent guessing. And it works too; she had Maria running all over the place trying to get balls. Whatever it takes, players have their own ideas about how to tackle opponents. Maria never goes to see other players play...she sends her trainer instead. Serves her right for not preparing herself mentally for the game. There's nothing wrong with wearing your opponent down to the point of frustration and forcing them to make errors, it's all part of the stategy of Tennis. If this was the case then how come MARIA has done well ON OTHER SURFACES, INCLUDING CLAY in Paris and Rome? she also has beaten Williams since and had her match point down in the Aussie final.No, the real problem is ,as somebody previous pointed out, her lack of accuracy against steady baseliners, or being beaten by players who, to be fair, are just more accurate in what they do (kvitova, azarenka, and to some extent williams are examples). Maria does need to sort out more of a 'gameplan' in finals. It is no longer the case that other girls fear playing her. We have to remember her shoulder injury has gravely affected that serve as a weapon, her throw up has never looked 'right' since, but she had williams running all over the place on return of serve at wimbledon too!! At times she goes for outright winners that maybe she shouldn't. When they fly out she loses confidence. I would agree that maybe another coach with fresh impetus is needed to get maria's game up another notch. To maybe develop a plan B. But on the plus side Philli (and where did YOU dissapear to again before the final result, lol)....four finals since wimbledon, number 2 in the world....we would have settled for that in january 2011 when she didn't look like winning a FIRST ROUND match again!!
|
