Friday, August 16, 2013

Sweeping the Court

Agnieszka Radwanska withdrew from the Cincinnati quarterfinals today so that she could attend her grandfather's funeral. Li Na received a walkover.

Here's what top WTA and ATP players had to say about Marion Bartoli's retirement.

Maria Sharapova has fired new coach Jimmy Connors. Who is surprised?

More significant, Sam Stosur and David Taylor have called it quits. Many thought that the two friends would remain in their coach-player relationship for the extent of Stosur's career. The Australian star says she will start looking for a new coach after the U.S. Open.

Sharapova has decided against taking a wild card into the New Haven tournament.

Marion Bartoli makes a final visit to the gym as only she could.

7 comments:

Todd.Spiker said...

Marion... sheesh! :D

The Stosur thing is a bit puzzling, especially considering her success in Carlsbad.

Hmmm, Stosur going into a slam without a coach... not sure that portends very good things.

Diane said...

I was surprised by the Stosur-Taylor split, but you know Sam isn't going to say much.

Think Petra noticed?

Todd.Spiker said...

Somehow I doubt it... though there ARE so many free agent, high-level coaches out there right now, the time IS ripe for a change.

Karen said...

The Stosur/Taylor separation should have happened a long time ago. What I don't understand is that he ditched Tennis Australia and Fed Cup to focus solely on her this year and all of a sudden he is no longer part of her team and she is going to be working with Molik. Now that is a huge surprise to me seeing as Stosur for all intents and purposes has been more successful than Molik. I don't get it at all. Something must have happened.

Petra is getting fitter. Whether her head will get more focused remains to be seen.

Diane said...

The Molik thing is just temporary. Why Stosur split with Taylor before the U.S. Open, I don't know.

August 17, 2013 at 3:49 PM

Doug said...

Agreed, Petra is indeed fitter, but oh that head... She's lost a lot of the baby fat and her thighs and arms have some definition. That's new and good.
I watched the video of her 174 clean winners in Dubai. It's more impressive than the 222 at Wimbledon. Dubai averaged 34.8 winners per match. Her opposition was more impressive than Wimbledon 2011's. To wit, Hantuchova, Woznicaki, Ivanovic, Radwanska and Errani. She can do it, and she's fitter. So, when?

Anonymous said...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XMk0vRZAARQ
174 clean winners= 34.8 per match
The Wimbledon average was 31.7 winners per match.