Tennis Under Difficult Conditions

I'm moved to write a post on finding out that Conchita Martinez has tested positive in Qatar and has been moved to quarantine in a hospital. 😪 My thoughts and best wishes are with her. Can't wait for her to return to the tournament to continue coaching Muguruza. 

Tennis 2020 did see 2 Grand Slams after tour return: US Open August 31-13 September and Roland Garros 27 September-11 October. (AO took place as normal despite the forest fire crisis)

The only thing I remember about the US Open is the kerfuffle over Djokovic accidentally striking a lines woman when he hit a ball nonchalantly to the back of the court when going to sit down. He was perfectly calm and not looking at where he had struck the ball because he didn't hit it hard. It was just a normal returning of the ball to the back of the court. I watched the video a few times and he seemed concerned that he had inadvertently caused this mishap. Therefore, defaulting him, taking away all his points thus far in the tournament and so losing any prize money won was, to my mind, excessive. Unfortunately, he's not allowed to appeal a default. There have only been 5 default notices since 1963 one of which was Djokovic's present coach, Goran Ivanisevic in 2000, in Brighton, UK. In terms of Grand Slams there have only been 2 other defaults. One, 1990 4th round AO, McEnroe, two, 1995 Wimbledon Championships, Tim Henman.  Djokovic was a potential winner at the US Open so by getting rid of him the results are skewed. Nevertheless, Djokovic ended the year as number 1. Sweet revenge!

French Open/ Roland Garros, was won by Nadal.👍 I was delighted with this result! And a relatively unknown Swiatek won the women's trophy. For some reason, RG decided to change the make of ball to a heavier one. But this would only serve to exacerbate the already heavier conditions due to holding it later in the year when the weather is no longer hot and dry. So what were they thinking?! Nadal did struggle with the conditions at times (QF match) but then came through it. It illustrates an important point. You can prepare all you want but the surface and balls used make a huge difference. For instance, I play better with old balls because I can't afford to keep buying new ones and at tournaments they gave me old balls to practise with. So, since matches start with fresh out of the can balls I struggle to control the ball more at that stage, especially, if I haven't worked out what tension my strings should be. In lower ITF tournaments, the balls aren't changed as the match progresses so, by the second set, we've knocked 7 bells out of the balls. Now they've become old balls, I'm more in my comfort zone.

Post RG, the ATP tour carried on longer and the players had more options which tournaments to play. Nadal played on. The WTA did very little after RG.

So to 2021. The AO was overshadowed by the 70 or so players who were in quarantine for 2 weeks because someone on their flight tested positive. Kuznetsova gave us a behind the scenes video diary of what it was like. Thank you, Svetlana, we need to know these things. Djokovic won the title again which puts him in a good place. He can now choose his tournaments more carefully. And focus on Grand Slams as he chases Nadal and Federer for having the most GS in history on the men's side. 

Osaka won both US and AO. I watched the semi- final between Serena and Osaka and something seemed wrong with Serena's racquet strings. The strings seemed unresponsive and she was puzzled by this. Serena was bouncing the ball rapidly with her racquet before serving which she doesn't do. Her balls seem to fly too far out of court which is uncharacteristic for her, hence, she played safe to cut out unforced errors. This didn't help because it gave Osaka easy winners. Stuck between a rock and a hard place, Serena lost. In the post-match conference her confusion showed. In previous matches, Serena had been hitting freely and cleanly with control and rapid racquet head speed. This allowed her to dominate points. And made use of her power game. Her angles were shorter and sharper. She didn't have racquet string problems earlier in the tournament. I know how frustrating it is when your racquet strings don't do what you are telling them to do! 

Serena is as skilled as the top men so her game won't break down under pressure just as their game doesn't. They might lose on occasion but not repeatedly and not because their game has broken down. Serena needs to maybe check out external causes rather than blame herself. There's nothing wrong with her game or technique. So, for example, it might help to have lots of racquets with different string tensions then you're ready for variations in the ball or court/weather conditions. Nadal had technical problems when there was ball variation at RG. So, it can happen to top players but he changed something, possibly his racquet? The change in his play was remarkable. Same guy, same day, same court, same match but different player! Serena needs a chat with Nadal! 👍