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  1. #1

    Understanding Serena Williams

    Serena Williams domination in women's tennis over the past decade has left players and tennis pundits wondering if she has a secret formula for success.

    There is a little bit of emotional element to Williams' victories in the past decade. Her sentimental meltdown after the 2003 Roland.........

    Read full article....!

  2. #2
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    Quote Originally Posted by Lovely23 View Post
    Serena Williams domination in women's tennis over the past decade has left players and tennis pundits wondering if she has a secret formula for success.

    There is a little bit of emotional element to Williams' victories in the past decade. Her sentimental meltdown after the 2003 Roland.........

    Read full article....!
    Welcome to TennisW.Com. Glad you could join us

    I think Serena's secret formula so to speak is picking & choosing her commitments wisely. She's clearly not interested in ranking points as much as the others. If Serena were to chase the points like so many others do, she would regain the #1 spot once again but her health and reducing the strain & stress the Tour places on the body & mind is not worth it in Serena's eyes. If she should win the US Open title this year, she will have 3 of the 4 Slam titles this year although she will still be #2 on the charts but clearly #1 on the minds of most.

    With the inclusion of all the new leading Tournaments that offer not only nice prize money but quality points, it's very hard for the Players to over-look these events not to mention, it gives Fans those rare opportunities to see the Players they follow. So what we have is a situation where the Players are faced with serious decisions. Do you chase the money & points or do you consider the wear & tear on your body?

    If you're at the level of a Serena Williams, who has plenty of money, that diminishes as a motivator. And as for the Ranking points, well if you're winning Major titles, that alone will keep you high in the Rankings. But they're all not sitting in a comfortable spot like Serena & Venus. So points & money is very important to them. Therefore the injuries mount which impacts the quality of their game.

    The WTA & ITF truly needs to sit down and think seriously about how best to approach this dilemma. The Players need the money in order to pay for travel and all of the other services they use. As for the points, look at Kim Clijsters, who is without doubt a top ten player. With her current ranking, you can have her meeting a Top 5 Seeded Player in the 1st Rd of a Major. This is not good on so many levels and I'm not just referring to the Players. But for ticket sales as well. Let's say according to the Draw, Kim is scheduled to meet Dinera Safina in the 1st Rd of the Australian Open 2010. I would tend to think, Kim would win that match. Now we have the #1 Ranked Player going out in the 1st Rd. Sure it's happened before but it's not good for business. How about Maria Sharapova who is still one of the more popular Players on the Tour. For her to lose in the 1st Rd is a nightmare for Promoters. Yes, it's all about the money and so it should be. Without the Promoters providing sponsorships to these events, there wouldn't be an event. People want to see Maria and sure they like Kim C. as well but right now, even with Kim's popularity, Maria is still a heavier draw.

    So when you think about Serena & Venus playing such a limited schedule, you begin to understand the reasons why and it pays dividends at the end of the day. Last year, Venus played a heavier schedule than Serena did and we have a Player who is not 100%. Would she still have lost to Melanie Oudin if she were 100%? Who knows but I'm willing to bet if Venus was 100%, the 3rd Set might have gone differently. At one point, it appeared as though, Venus became more concerned about her knee than whether she would win or not. She started relaying on her sheer ability to hit winners and end points quickly but Melanie didn't cooperate.


    Coach


    .
    The only acceptable loss is when your opponent was better than you on that given day.
    It is never acceptable to lose when your opponent was not.

  3. #3
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    Quote Originally Posted by Coach View Post
    Welcome to TennisW.Com. Glad you could join us

    I think Serena's secret formula so to speak is picking & choosing her commitments wisely. She's clearly not interested in ranking points as much as the others. If Serena were to chase the points like so many others do, she would regain the #1 spot once again but her health and reducing the strain & stress the Tour places on the body & mind is not worth it in Serena's eyes. If she should win the US Open title this year, she will have 3 of the 4 Slam titles this year although she will still be #2 on the charts but clearly #1 on the minds of most.

    With the inclusion of all the new leading Tournaments that offer not only nice prize money but quality points, it's very hard for the Players to over-look these events not to mention, it gives Fans those rare opportunities to see the Players they follow. So what we have is a situation where the Players are faced with serious decisions. Do you chase the money & points or do you consider the wear & tear on your body?

    If you're at the level of a Serena Williams, who has plenty of money, that diminishes as a motivator. And as for the Ranking points, well if you're winning Major titles, that alone will keep you high in the Rankings. But they're all not sitting in a comfortable spot like Serena & Venus. So points & money is very important to them. Therefore the injuries mount which impacts the quality of their game.

    The WTA & ITF truly needs to sit down and think seriously about how best to approach this dilemma. The Players need the money in order to pay for travel and all of the other services they use. As for the points, look at Kim Clijsters, who is without doubt a top ten player. With her current ranking, you can have her meeting a Top 5 Seeded Player in the 1st Rd of a Major. This is not good on so many levels and I'm not just referring to the Players. But for ticket sales as well. Let's say according to the Draw, Kim is scheduled to meet Dinera Safina in the 1st Rd of the Australian Open 2010. I would tend to think, Kim would win that match. Now we have the #1 Ranked Player going out in the 1st Rd. Sure it's happened before but it's not good for business. How about Maria Sharapova who is still one of the more popular Players on the Tour. For her to lose in the 1st Rd is a nightmare for Promoters. Yes, it's all about the money and so it should be. Without the Promoters providing sponsorships to these events, there wouldn't be an event. People want to see Maria and sure they like Kim C. as well but right now, even with Kim's popularity, Maria is still a heavier draw.

    So when you think about Serena & Venus playing such a limited schedule, you begin to understand the reasons why and it pays dividends at the end of the day. Last year, Venus played a heavier schedule than Serena did and we have a Player who is not 100%. Would she still have lost to Melanie Oudin if she were 100%? Who knows but I'm willing to bet if Venus was 100%, the 3rd Set might have gone differently. At one point, it appeared as though, Venus became more concerned about her knee than whether she would win or not. She started relaying on her sheer ability to hit winners and end points quickly but Melanie didn't cooperate.


    Coach


    .
    If there is one thing I know about the Williams sisters, it is that they will look for an excuse when they lose or are losing. It's funny how they never favor their hurt knees when they are winning and when they are losing, here comes the trainer and it is the first thing they mention in the interviews. Melanie has the fight of Justine Henin in her and she is the type that can beat the Williams sisters consistently with some time and experience. Henin had a very strong hold on the #1 position for a long time even when the Williams sisters were playing lots of tournaments.

  4. #4
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    Quote Originally Posted by tennisking1 View Post
    If there is one thing I know about the Williams sisters, it is that they will look for an excuse when they lose or are losing. It's funny how they never favor their hurt knees when they are winning and when they are losing, here comes the trainer and it is the first thing they mention in the interviews. Melanie has the fight of Justine Henin in her and she is the type that can beat the Williams sisters consistently with some time and experience. Henin had a very strong hold on the #1 position for a long time even when the Williams sisters were playing lots of tournaments.
    I believe gamesmanship has been used by many players on the tour at one time or another. When Jennifer Capriati so called beat Serena Williams at the USO before Hawk-Eye was established, it was clear that Serena got ripped off on three very horrible calls which one was a game changing event. And if that were not bad enough, the Umpire over-ruled the Lines person's In call from the opposite side of the court furtherest away from her. Every person in the Stadium including the Commentators and Jennifer knew Serena's shot was not even close to being out but what got me is, instead of Jennifer standing up and doing the right thing, she allowed Serena to get ripped off given it was in Jennifer's favor.

    Australian Open - Serena against Justine Henin just before Justine ws about to serve, the crowd was making so much noise that Serena held up her hand to Justine to wait a minute, which Justine clearly saw but served the ball anyway, Serena didn't even make a move to the ball and it was called an ace. Again, I'm not necessarily a Serena fan over others on the Tour but I've witnessed Serena get the crappy end of bad decisions a few times and I begin to wonder sometimes what is going on.

    Maybe you're right about their reluctance to give credit where credit is due. The only time you will hear them make any claim about their opponent's ability to win is prior to a match. But you can tell their comments are geared towards trying to make you believe, just because they are about to beat the crap out of their opponent, they don't want people to think they have the attitude that they are unbeatable, so they'll say something like, "Oh she's a very good player and I'm going to have my work cut out for me"

    Even when Kim beat Venus, her post match comments where something about not being 100% etc. So I'm going to agree with you on this. I don't know which one does it more but I tend to hear it from Venus more than Serena.

    They truly don't think the other girls on the tour can beat them when they are healthy except for Venus on Clay. It really doesn't matter as you know because once they walk out onto the Court, they can claim every excuse in the book but a loss is a loss. And now that they have Replay, they can have a little control over those bad calls.

    There was a time when no one on the Tour could beat them when they were healthy but those days are over somewhat. Serena is still the Player to beat in most situations during a Major regardless of who's in the draw but Venus doesn't intimidate players like she use to. Serena still has that factor going for her and she needs to ride that wave for as long as she can.

    Kim is playing some great ball but I think Serena is still a better player. Unfortunately they won't meet in the Finals which would be an awesome match but their Semi Final's Match should be pretty interesting.
    The only acceptable loss is when your opponent was better than you on that given day.
    It is never acceptable to lose when your opponent was not.

  5. #5
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    Quote Originally Posted by Coach View Post
    I believe gamesmanship has been used by many players on the tour at one time or another. When Jennifer Capriati so called beat Serena Williams at the USO before Hawk-Eye was established, it was clear that Serena got ripped off on three very horrible calls which one was a game changing event. And if that were not bad enough, the Umpire over-ruled the Lines person's In call from the opposite side of the court furtherest away from her. Every person in the Stadium including the Commentators and Jennifer knew Serena's shot was not even close to being out but what got me is, instead of Jennifer standing up and doing the right thing, she allowed Serena to get ripped off given it was in Jennifer's favor.

    Australian Open - Serena against Justine Henin just before Justine ws about to serve, the crowd was making so much noise that Serena held up her hand to Justine to wait a minute, which Justine clearly saw but served the ball anyway, Serena didn't even make a move to the ball and it was called an ace. Again, I'm not necessarily a Serena fan over others on the Tour but I've witnessed Serena get the crappy end of bad decisions a few times and I begin to wonder sometimes what is going on.

    Maybe you're right about their reluctance to give credit where credit is due. The only time you will hear them make any claim about their opponent's ability to win is prior to a match. But you can tell their comments are geared towards trying to make you believe, just because they are about to beat the crap out of their opponent, they don't want people to think they have the attitude that they are unbeatable, so they'll say something like, "Oh she's a very good player and I'm going to have my work cut out for me"

    Even when Kim beat Venus, her post match comments where something about not being 100% etc. So I'm going to agree with you on this. I don't know which one does it more but I tend to hear it from Venus more than Serena.

    They truly don't think the other girls on the tour can beat them when they are healthy except for Venus on Clay. It really doesn't matter as you know because once they walk out onto the Court, they can claim every excuse in the book but a loss is a loss. And now that they have Replay, they can have a little control over those bad calls.

    There was a time when no one on the Tour could beat them when they were healthy but those days are over somewhat. Serena is still the Player to beat in most situations during a Major regardless of who's in the draw but Venus doesn't intimidate players like she use to. Serena still has that factor going for her and she needs to ride that wave for as long as she can.

    Kim is playing some great ball but I think Serena is still a better player. Unfortunately they won't meet in the Finals which would be an awesome match but their Semi Final's Match should be pretty interesting.
    wow that's pretty bad when you can't get fair calls in your own country's tournament the us open. Nadal is a player who takes a loss as a loss. when he left Roland Garros early, everyone questioned his health. Rafa however said plain as day "I was beat" and/or "he was the better player". of the top ten ATP players, Nadal is the most humble. he takes every loss as an opportunity to learn and improve. i remember after Roger Federer won in Wimbledon this year, at the interview, somebody asked him how it wouldve effected the outcome if Rafa were able to make it to the French and Wimbledon finals. Roger went on to state "i beat Nadal at Madrid weeks before the French". Nadal wouldve never responded like that. sure it wasnt a fair question, but ya dont need to point out your wins especially in Rogers case.

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