Ongoing British Tennis…

hoof_it_up_to_benty said:

PrincessFiona said:

I hope some you caught the Dan Evans match that finally finished just now. Longest match in US Open history - what a come back! 0 4 down in the 5th - never give up, even if you are absolutely cream crackered

Evans has dropped right down the rankings so this win was crucial. Have always loved his fighting spirit.

I do wonder how much longer he will continue for.

iaitch said:

Callumcafc said:

Boulter and Dart through to round 2. Raducanu out in the first round after taking a few weeks off in the lead up to the tournament.

Both Evans and Draper through to round 2 in the men’s draw. Norrie had to withdraw with the same arm injury that saw him miss the Olympics.

Raducanu dismissed Murray as old news last week. At least he cared about the game and gave it some effort despite having injuries.

PrincessFiona said:

iaitch said:

Callumcafc said:

Boulter and Dart through to round 2. Raducanu out in the first round after taking a few weeks off in the lead up to the tournament.

Both Evans and Draper through to round 2 in the men’s draw. Norrie had to withdraw with the same arm injury that saw him miss the Olympics.

Raducanu dismissed Murray as old news last week. At least he cared about the game and gave it some effort despite having injuries.

Are you saying she doesn't? I don't think any of us on social media are in a position to comment on how much she does or doesn't love the game. Although she could take up the place at Cambridge instead if she doesn't want to continue playing tennis - oh to have the choice! Her Russian coach said he couldn't fault her work ethic. She should have taken time out before or cut back on her training earlier. Ironically it was training too hard too soon after she broke through at Wimbledon that caused the injuries.

Like some other sports people, she may have to manage her game time carefully. And getting it right isn't always easy

PrincessFiona said:

LenGlover said:

PrincessFiona said:

iaitch said:

Callumcafc said:

Boulter and Dart through to round 2. Raducanu out in the first round after taking a few weeks off in the lead up to the tournament.

Both Evans and Draper through to round 2 in the men’s draw. Norrie had to withdraw with the same arm injury that saw him miss the Olympics.

Raducanu dismissed Murray as old news last week. At least he cared about the game and gave it some effort despite having injuries.

Are you saying she doesn't? I don't think any of us on social media are in a position to comment on how much she does or doesn't love the game. Although she could take up the place at Cambridge instead if she doesn't want to continue playing tennis - oh to have the choice! Her Russian coach said he couldn't fault her work ethic. She should have taken time out before or cut back on her training earlier. Ironically it was training too hard too soon after she broke through at Wimbledon that caused the injuries.

Like some other sports people, she may have to manage her game time carefully. And getting it right isn't always easy

Emma is the tennis equivalent of a female Chuks so has to 'manage' her matches.

similar, yes. Not sure he's won the equivalent of a grand slam though!

thickandthin63 said:

Sadly,I think we have seen the best of Emma,how could she not play any tournaments up to the USA open,and expect to do well.
Unlike many of the other young players,she will not have to depend on Tennis for a good living.She has already earned a  great deal of money through modelling,and this is a damn sight easier than spending hour on a tennis court running your guts out.
I would love to be proved wrong,as she could be ,with dedication,a serial tournament winner.

Covered End said:

Radacanu still lives with her parents in Bromley, so she's far from extravagant (not sure this means anything).

Addick Addict said:

Three years ago all the stars aligned for Raducanu - good draw, relatively unknown in world circles, injury free and less expectation with the associated confidence to play with relative freedom. So much so that she didn't have to overthink things. Her history of injuries, number of different coaches, drop in confidence etc have all contributed to what then followed. However, the one things that champions have is that they have that touch of arrogance. "That's old news comment" about Murray is typical of that as is the way that she can sometimes come across in media interviews. That strength overdone, can undermine success which is what appears to have happened in the decision as to what was best for her preparation for the US Open. 

The feeling I'm getting is that most people in the game do not believe that it was a good thing for her to not play competitive tennis for four weeks. To play in any of the competitions in between, she would have had to qualify as she wasn't offered wildcards. Was she prepared to do that? Katie Boulter, who didn't need to qualify, played three matches in the National Bank in Toronto before losing to the number 3 ranked Sabalenka and then went out in the first round of the Cincinnati Open. It's a chicken and egg situation - until Raducanu gets her ranking up she won't automatically qualify but she won't do that until she starts doing well in comps - which won't happen all the time she's limiting her appearances. Lulu Sun had to qualify for Wimbledon and was playing her 7th match in the tournament when beating Raducanu in the last 16. Sun was ranked 135st at that time and Raducanu was 123rd. They are now 41st and 71st respectively.

Raducanu spent that time back home at the National Tennis Centre at Roehampton. That is not an adequate substitute for playing matches in competition - not even Serena Williams who, as her career went on played fewer and fewer tournaments, would do that, unless she was injured, in the lead up to a Grand Slam. The good news is that she has, more or less, admitted that this was a mistake albeit she has said that it was a collective team decision to head home after Washington on 2nd August. The tears might well have been partly due to that realisation because she probably felt, physically and mentally, beforehand in the right place to do well. At that level, though, matches are won by the player that is sharpest and hitting practice balls in a non-pressure environment really isn't the best prep for that. Nor is hoping that you can turn up and beat someone ranked 45 places above you without match practice beforehand - both her wins against top 10 ranked players this year were preceded by a number of easier games. When she won the US Open she played 11 matches in three tournaments in the weeks before that and then 10, because she had to qualify, in the tournament itself.

The talent is still there. It's the decision making that is missing. I'm not convinced that the modelling and sponsorship duties are the real distractions but perhaps that desire to do the hard yards that travelling, staying in hotels away from home, moving from city to city etc etc involves isn't there. Nottingham, Eastbourne and Wimbledon isn't the same as Washington, Toronto and Cincinnati and the greats of the women's game such as Martina Navratilova and Billie Jean King would have taken that as a given. The next 12 hopefully injury free months will tell us how much Raducanu really wants it. She's been through a hell of a lot with her injuries but, assuming that they are a thing of the past, she has no excuse for not giving herself that best possible chance. Only Raducanu knows if she really has the hunger to do all of what top class tennis entails.  

Addick Addict said:

PrincessFiona said:

Addick Addict said:

Three years ago all the stars aligned for Raducanu - good draw, relatively unknown in world circles, injury free and less expectation with the associated confidence to play with relative freedom. So much so that she didn't have to overthink things. Her history of injuries, number of different coaches, drop in confidence etc have all contributed to what then followed. However, the one things that champions have is that they have that touch of arrogance. "That's old news comment" about Murray is typical of that as is the way that she can sometimes come across in media interviews. That strength overdone, can undermine success which is what appears to have happened in the decision as to what was best for her preparation for the US Open. 

The feeling I'm getting is that most people in the game do not believe that it was a good thing for her to not play competitive tennis for four weeks. To play in any of the competitions in between, she would have had to qualify as she wasn't offered wildcards. Was she prepared to do that? Katie Boulter, who didn't need to qualify, played three matches in the National Bank in Toronto before losing to the number 3 ranked Sabalenka and then went out in the first round of the Cincinnati Open. It's a chicken and egg situation - until Raducanu gets her ranking up she won't automatically qualify but she won't do that until she starts doing well in comps - which won't happen all the time she's limiting her appearances. Lulu Sun had to qualify for Wimbledon and was playing her 7th match in the tournament when beating Raducanu in the last 16. Sun was ranked 135st at that time and Raducanu was 123rd. They are now 41st and 71st respectively.

Raducanu spent that time back home at the National Tennis Centre at Roehampton. That is not an adequate substitute for playing matches in competition - not even Serena Williams who, as her career went on played fewer and fewer tournaments, would do that, unless she was injured, in the lead up to a Grand Slam. The good news is that she has, more or less, admitted that this was a mistake albeit she has said that it was a collective team decision to head home after Washington on 2nd August. The tears might well have been partly due to that realisation because she probably felt, physically and mentally, beforehand in the right place to do well. At that level, though, matches are won by the player that is sharpest and hitting practice balls in a non-pressure environment really isn't the best prep for that. Nor is hoping that you can turn up and beat someone ranked 45 places above you without match practice beforehand - both her wins against top 10 ranked players this year were preceded by a number of easier games. When she won the US Open she played 11 matches in three tournaments in the weeks before that and then 10, because she had to qualify, in the tournament itself.

The talent is still there. It's the decision making that is missing. I'm not convinced that the modelling and sponsorship duties are the real distractions but perhaps that desire to do the hard yards that travelling, staying in hotels away from home, moving from city to city etc etc involves isn't there. Nottingham, Eastbourne and Wimbledon isn't the same as Washington, Toronto and Cincinnati and the greats of the women's game such as Martina Navratilova and Billie Jean King would have taken that as a given. The next 12 hopefully injury free months will tell us how much Raducanu really wants it. She's been through a hell of a lot with her injuries but, assuming that they are a thing of the past, she has no excuse for not giving herself that best possible chance. Only Raducanu knows if she really has the hunger to do all of what top class tennis entails.  

Great post. Very balanced and considered. Am fed up of reading so many 'one-hit wonder' and 'she's a cr@p' tennis player ones by people who clearly don't understand sport. I think she is also terrified of getting injured again, because the mental scars of the 'difficult' period have affected her. Getting that balance right is key, and they openly admit they clearly got it wrong before the US Open

If anything, she is, to a degree a victim of her success in the sense that her victory in the US Open came too early and too easily. Take by comparison, Andy Murray's journey. From the horror that was Dunblane, to his parents splitting up when he was 10, to being sent away at the age of 15 to Barcelona to study and train but most of all that experience of what it's like to lose. He didn't win his first Grand Slam until he was 25, some seven years after Raducanu. Seven years of hard toil and disappointments but went on to become our undisputed greatest Tennis player. Perhaps it was all those life experiences that made him appreciate his US Open victory and the trophies that followed. No one can say that he didn't do that he what was an era of the greatest men's tennis players of all time - Federer, Nadal and Djokovich. The women's game has not be dominated in the same way with any number of different winners.

Raducanu's journey was different and more sheltered. Yes she had to fit playing and travelling in with studies but she trained at the Bromley Tennis Centre and went to school at Newstead Woods. The two are literally yards apart in terms of distance so she was able to find times during the day when she could train. The LTA even moved their coach into the area to enable that to happen. Most of all, though, I come back to that early success of Raducanu's. I was once told the story of a Kent cricketer who, upon getting into the first team, his game totally fell apart. He could not handle that for one reason. He'd never witnessed failure. Throughout age group cricket and even at 2nd XI level everything came very easily for him. Kent, who admitted this to be the case, had made one massive mistake - they didn't play him up in age group or put him in the 2nd XI as a 16 year old when he was good enough to test himself. That does not happen now for that reason. Youngsters have to know what it's like to fail so they can learn from that experience and also what got them to that success. Raducanu did it in a way that she didn't actually know how she succeeded for the factors mentioned above. She is now having to work that out on the highest possible stage with all those eyes looking at her and that heavy weight of expectation.

Add into the melting pot her injuries, numerous changes of coach and poor decision making (whether that is hers, her father's or her team) and it really does add up to a recipe of failure. I've seen those tears before. They aren't simply because she's been knocked out in her first match. It's because of all those other things and her perception that she had given her all in the run up to the US Open. The problem is that she might have thought that it was "purposeful practice" at Roehampton but that is no substitute whatsoever to playing in competitions. And I think that reality hit her. I feel really sorry for her but the time has come for her to dust herself down, pick one coach that she can trust, ignore the outside noise and start seriously hitting the circuit assuming that she is prepared to make the sacrifices that entails.    

Covered End said:

PrincessFiona said:

Covered End said:

Radacanu still lives with her parents in Bromley, so she's far from extravagant (not sure this means anything).

No she doesn't. I read a while back she had moved to her own flat in west London. Accordingly to those in the know in tennis, her father was exerting too much influence compared to his knowledge of tennis (or lack of) 

My niece lives next door but one and told me a month ago she still lives there.