The benefits of mixed practice between WTA players and ATP players
So much has happened since my
last post. Petra Kvitova won Prague and Madrid. How amazing! Especially given
they were back-to-back tournaments with no break between the two and Madrid is
a large mandatory tournament. So, congratulations to her. Serena Williams sadly
withdrew from Madrid Open and the Italian Open in Rome (Foro Italico). Did the
former have anything to do with the unacceptable comments Tiriac made about her
before the tournament? Hopefully she’ll make the French Open! And then there
was the good news shared by Wozniacki that she has been honoured in Denmark by being
given a Damehood of the Dannebrog Order.
The Italian Open is still
underway.
What I found the most interesting
in terms of clay court preparations was the practice session between Sharapova
and Nadal which Maria posted on her twitter:
It was a long rally typical of
clay court matches which is why one has to prepare for a particular surface
rather than thinking one tactic serves all! Although we all know this, it’s
easy when you start out to underestimate just how important this is which is
why I’d love to know how Nadal prepares for the clay court season. Of course,
there are many great clay court tennis players but Nadal really cleans up trophies
when it comes to this time of year! He has 10 French Open singles titles five
of which were in a row! I love watching Nadal, especially on clay!
Why did I think the practice
session was interesting? What I liked about the practice between Sharapova and
Nadal was the back and forth of their shots because without that sort of
practice it’s unrealistic to ask women players to play men in a tennis match.
It’s rather like playing an opponent you’ve never played before. No matter how
inexperienced or experienced you are, it’s nerve wracking. So, if we apply the
same to women versus men surely it makes no sense for women to jump into
playing a one-off match against a male tennis player without first having
plenty of opportunities to practise with top ATP players and hit with them. I’m
aware that Billie Jean King was awesome in defeating Bobby Riggs. But Martina Navratilova
was less fortunate against Jimmy Connors even though she played really well! However, Jimmy plays do or die tennis so it
was a tall order for her. The outcome may have been different had Martina been
able to practise against the likes of Jimmy Connors before taking him on! So
instead of expecting women tennis players to do the impossible and jump into
competing against ATP players on a one-off, the real invitation shouldn’t be to
play competitively together but rather to practise and train together during
mixed tournaments, such as Madrid, Rome, Grand Slams and even during the
off-season. This way it’ll make up for the deficit women’s tennis has suffered.
In Billie Jean King’s words:
"We are so late in the
marketplace with women's sports, for example,"…"We are so far behind
by the time we even start getting in the marketplace, it's really hard to break
through.”
In other words, men have had a
head start. It’ll take some time before women can catch up. I think women are
doing really well, far better than the constant barrage of negative criticism
they are subjected to would have you believe. Men would struggle if they were
being constantly criticised so why is it, therefore, acceptable to try to
destroy women’s confidence?
This is why I liked the
Sharapova/Nadal session together. It was constructive and conducted in the
right, friendly spirit!
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