The Neha Uberoi thread ...

[jayakris]

As I said in the Shikha thread, the sisters are not in the greatest health right now, and I was sad to see them struggle a bit today, with the temperature change making it worse for them too.

Neha went down 46 46 to #199 Vanina Garcia-Sokol.

Neha is not fully recovered from her rib cage thing, though she said that it did not bother her much. I could see that she was not able to play her natural game though. She had a first serve percentage that was definitely not more than 33%; more like 20 or 25%. I only remember about 7 or 8 first serves that went in, actually.

In addition, apparently Rick Macci (actually another top coach, who got Rick's concurrence on this) is working on a correction on her forehand motion, that they know would take a little time to get working well.

Anyway, Neha missed a whole lot of forehands in the net, and added to the serve problems, again, it was clear from the beginning that it would be an uphill task. It is actually to her credit that the #297 ranked Neha kept two sets close against a top-200 player.

She was broke and went ahead 2-0 at first, but dropped serve twice to fall to 5-3 .. Pulled off one break to bring it to 5-4 and then dropped serve to lose the set .. A similar story in the second set too. Broken twice, and got one of the breaks back.

Probably there were about 25 unforced errors from Neha, mostly for the above reasons I mentioned - but when she was not making mistakes, you could see a lot of the positives in her game. She has the shots, serves and athleticism. Probably needs a little bit more time and some more coaching corrections etc, to start playing up to her true potential, which is very very good.

As for the earlier rib cage problem, the prognosis is that some pain etc will return a couple more times, but it will heal fully in a few weeks, with a few matches and icing.

Hopefully after a few days of rest, she too will be ready at Miami, I hope.

Jay

[gvhvhg]

hmm...considering she was struggling 6-4 6-4 is not bad at all.

Hopefully Neha will just take it easy for a few days and then get ready for Miami...

[Sandeep]

Badluck. Sad that their campaign ended so soon. But you can do little when you are not feeling well. Hoping for a good performance at Miami.

All the best Neha.

[jaydeep]

In her not best health Neha gave good fight to Top 200 player ... Hopefully before Miami she will be well rested and ready to make some damage ... Good luck Neha.

Jaydeep.

[Red_Indian]

With so much going on (her health and changes in her game) it's credible she took her to 4 and 4 like gvh said.

I have always wondered why don't players take a complete break when working on their game. But I guess playing side by side gives them instant "feedback" on how the changes are working out for them.

Good work R_I - asked a question, answered it as well and now self praise!

[BSharma]

Thanks for starting a thread for Neha.

Go girl, Neha.

[jayakris]

When I left from there yesterday, Neha and Shikha were planning to ask for a wildcard together. I suppose they decided that it was better for Shikha to take rest and recover by next week for Miami.

Go Neha!

Jay

[meyyis]

Neha lost the R1 doubles in the Orange Tournamnet partnering Arpi Kojian(USA). The wildcard pair lost to Alyona Bondarenko(UKR) and Galina Voskoboeva(RUS) : 4-6, 5-7

[jayakris]

I think Neha is still troubled a bit by that rib cage problem. She had been told that she would have a few weeks when she would feel good, like at Acapulco, but then the problem would return a couple of times before it goes away permanently in hopefully a few weeks. That is the word I had. So, hopefully next week would be a good week.

For the record here, (wc) Neha Uberoi (USA,298) lost 46 26 to qualifier Galina Vokoboeva (RUS,137) today in the R1 at the Miami Nasdaq-100 WTA.

Jay

[BSharma]

Hopefully Neha will be back on track once her injury is fully healed.

Go Neha.

[PKBasu]

No disgrace in the type of fight she put up against a much higher-ranked player, especially in the first set (which I was following in the chatroom) -- and particularly when she wasn't 100% healthy. She is young, and will learn and grow from the experience. Go Neha!!

[jaydeep]

True PKB this loss she should take as learning experiance ... She will get lot more opportunities to produce desired results.

Jaydeep.

[jayakris]

At the $25K Augusts qualies,

[Q1] (6) Neha UBEROI (USA,298) vs Amanda JOHNSON (USA,810)

I am not sure if all the Q1 matches got done yesterdaty (Sunday) though ..

Jay