WTA Stanford (Tier II, July 2005)

[Varma]

http://sports.yahoo.com/ten/news?slug=a ... &type=lgns

"Sania is nursing a pulled stomach muscle?" Hope it goes away in a day or two. I badly want her to be 100% fit when she plays in S.Calif the next couple of weeks

Get better soon Sania. S.Calif is waiting to welcome you !

- Varma

[completelyconked]

Here is a brief report from someone who watched the game. Sania didn't play her best tennis but wasn't disgraced. Venus said that Sania played really well and it is tough to play an up and coming player. We supported Sania as much as we could. I missed the first two games of the first set. The whole match lasted 73 minutes. First set was well fought as Sania came back from 3-0. I didn't do the scoring in the first set but I have some basic stats for the second set (which I shall post later). Sania has to improve her first serve percentage. She has to be more patient with her strokes and be willing to play slightly longer rallies. Double faulting whenever you are facing a break point is not going to help. She lost two games in the second set like that. But the potential of Sania was there for all to see. When we thought all was lost, Sania broke Venus at love by hitting some incredible shots. She won a total of 25 out of 56 points in the second set. That is a lot closer than the 6-2 margin that the scoreline suggests. As Sania herself said in her post-match interview, Venus played all the big points well. Venus' serve got into high gear in the second set and she served 6 aces. Sania lost her first service game in both sets. When you go down against a top player it is very difficult to come back. She tried her best and gave the crowd some breathtaking moments. I got the scoresheet signed by Sania after the match. I shall scan it and upload it sometime. My friend has taken some pictures which will be uploaded also.

Thanks a lot gana.I don't think there's anything for her to feel disgraced about.She's very inexperienced,and she was playing a reigning GS champ on top of her game.Lasting 73 minutes against Venus even on an off day for Sania is not bad at all.I don't think you can blame her for being impatient on rallies.Venus is an intimidating figure to face,and you have to take some chances when as inexperienced as Sania.I think in general she is learning to be a lot more patient from what i've seen of her recent matches.How was the atmosphere by the way??

[jaydeep]

Gana and Sandep thanks for nice updates ... It would be luvly to see gana's stats and scanned sign scoresheet ...

Sania wasn't in the game but she still tried to do her little bit ... She must be taking mental notes of what missing and her coach help her to come out of these deficiencies ... Lets hope she will be fit from stomach muscle pull.

Jaydeep.

[gigado]

I watched the match yesterday as well and didn't think that Sania played bad at all. Her game is such that she goes for her shots irrespective of the situation and as Venus said, some go in and some dont. The difference yesterday was that she was playing a far superior athlete who was able to get some scorchers back with depth and be ready for a few more.

In the qualies, in the couple of matches that I watched, Drake and Lee were just pushing the balls back and lacked consistency when handling all the pace that Sania generates. I think some of the errors yesterday were due to Venus and Sania played as well as she could at this stage in her career. Period. I thought she surprised Venus with her ability to pull the trigger and go for outrageous winners on some of Venus's deep shots on both flanks. Any time that Sania had drawn first blood on the points and kept the ball in play, She was winning the points. Only that she could not do that with any degree of consistency due to the quality of her opponent yesterday.

I wrote after the Aussie Open, when I got to watch her match against Serena and thought that Sania had a long way to go, but after watching her matches at Stanford, I think she is for real. She definitely has something special, her ability to generate amazing amount of pace with some sublime timing of her strokes. This is a huge advantage and she catches her opponents by surprise as they cant comprehend where the power is coming from and have been sluggish to respond. Yes she makes tons of unforced errors, but thats her game. She also wins truck loads of points because she goes for it pretty much on every shot and from spots that her opponents have no sense of what to expect. It is exhilirating to watch, no question about that. She was going for returns on both flanks off of solid, wide serve hit at 105 and skidding, for short angle, full blodded returns which pretty much found the bottom of the net every single time against Venus. It is a very low percentage shot to make, no matter how much of a genius you are, consistently. The same returns were scorching winners against Drake and Lee, who didn't hit the serve with accuracy and pace. It was amazing the kind of returns and groundies that she was hitting against typical 'pushers' on the tour.

It is no secret that Sania's mobility is below par, no ifs or buts. She hardly runs on the court, especially side to side. Up and down movement is slightly better, She did get to a few lame drop shots that Maureen Drake tried. Her points are quick, 2 to 3 shots pretty much max on every point. Thats it. So far, either her opponents can handle her pace and spit it back to her and force her to play longer points, in which case it will be difficult to win with low percentage going for the lines every single shot style or her opponents cant handle the heat and the match is over in 40 mins. I also watched Jelena Jankovic's match yesterday against Frazier and I can see why a player like Jelena gave trouble to Sania at this point in her career. Same with Shahar Peer, these types of players can handle the pace and force a longer rally which Sania totally dislikes, also they can take care of their service games fairly well.

I personally would prefer a bit more variation to her game and better shot selection, but she has been so successful playing her natural game, you probably dont want to curtail that as well. I am sure experience in these types of events would help her a great deal and that good results will keep coming.

[Kumar]

Thanks Gigado for the Analysis..

[Sandeep]

I am surprised with gigado and gana's reports in which they mentioned Sania did not play badly. I thought she played pretty bad tennis. Sania yesterday missed some of the shots which on her day surely would have been winners. I was kind of dissapointed with her performance yesterday. Am I expecting too much?

[BSharma]

Did Sania play badly or did Venus not let her hit winners?

I get the impression from gigado's report that Sania would have beaten Maureen Drake and similar players with the type of game she displayed yesterday, but great players like Venus are hard to beat when their "A" game is on. Not only that, but these great players can often make their opponents look quite ordinary.

We are expecting too much from Sania at this stage of her career. Let her get used to players like Venus, Maria, etc, get some good tips from her new coach, improve her serve and add variety to her strokes, and then we can start expecting her to play like a top 10 or 20 player.

[Sandeep]

I wish there was some video of that match. Sania with the kind of game she played yesterday would have definitely beaten Drake (she is in 200's). Ofcourse she did play badly against Drake too.

But the game she played against Lindsay Lee waters was missing yesterday. 6-3 6-1 was a massacare (that was the scoreline against Leewaters). I bet Venus wouldn't have beaten Lee waters so easily. If Sania would have played the same game yesterday I bet the match would have been closer if not an upset. I thought Sania played much better against Serena in Aus open than what she played yesterday. Sania matched stroke to stroke with serena at that time (in second set) . I don't expect sania to dive and hit winners, but she definitely misssed some of the easy shots yesterday.

[Varma]

Here's The Hindu's report on Sania's match against Venus.

http://www.hindu.com/2005/07/29/stories ... 092100.htm

The headline reads "Sania Mirza FALTERS against Venus Williams" and the opening lines are "Sania Mirza's LUCKY RUN was cut short by Wimbledon champion Venus Williams in the second round of the $585,000 WTA tournament at Stanford (USA). Sania, who entered the tournament as lucky loser, CRASHED OUT 3-6, 2-6 against the second-seeded American in front of a sellout crowd of 4353, in her second hardcourt tune-up for the U.S. Open."

"Falter/Lucky run/Crashed out"....what kind of words are these? Such ludicrous vocabulary and negative reporting can only bring disgrace to the rich tradition of Tennis coverage Hindu had and the numerous poetic reports by one of my favorite reporters, Nirmal Sekhar.

Hope they mend their ways and restore their image.

- Varma



http://www.hindu.com/2005/07/29/stories ... 092100.htm

[jaydeep]

Good analysis by gigado ... Thanks a lot.

We r really expecting too much from Sania ... She is improving and thats showing in her results ... Now a days she is playing comfortably with below 50 players ... Gie sometime to her with her current progress she will be definetly match top 20 also.

Jaydeep.

[completelyconked]

Did Sania play badly or did Venus not let her hit winners?

I get the impression from gigado's report that Sania would have beaten Maureen Drake and similar players with the type of game she displayed yesterday, but great players like Venus are hard to beat when their "A" game is on. Not only that, but these great players can often make their opponents look quite ordinary.

We are expecting too much from Sania at this stage of her career. Let her get used to players like Venus, Maria, etc, get some good tips from her new coach, improve her serve and add variety to her strokes, and then we can start expecting her to play like a top 10 or 20 player.

True.Patience people.Her time will come I feel that probably Sania was going for broke on every point as she was playing a great player like venus,and was obviously constantly under pressure.That was probably why she made so many UE's.From what i have seen of her recent matches she is reining in her go-for-broke-on-every-shot style a bit,and showing a bit more patience and willingness to play longer points.But yes,her fitness has to improve a lot if she's going to beat the top players.I do think her movement is much better than before,but her fitness is not at the level of a top hundred player yet.

[gigado]

Venus would have clocked Lindsay Lee fairly easily if she played the way she did against Sania. Also in tennis, you cant make such comparisons as player A played this way vs player B, so if player A played the same game against C, such and such would happen!. It is all about matchups and one's game(effectiveness) can vary quite a bit depending on the opponent. For example, even Nirupama beat Lindsay Lee 6-0, 6-0 at Mawah a few years back, to say that Sania did not play well in that match is a bit off. I think Sania is by far the best woman player, by a mile, that India has produced so far. Sania is in very good form currently, I would not make major changes to her game right now, while on the US swing. Just keep her on her groove and let her do what she is doing well.

Regarding the volleys, she missed 2 volleys which was inconsequential in the overall context of the match. Both were in games she was already in considerable trouble and most likely she would have lost those games even if she made them. Right now her back-hand volleys are hit with both hands and it is tough to be precise and consistent. Making such technique changes during the tournament swing may make things go south. Also, I did not see Sania hit any slice in the three matches I saw or hit topspin groundies for variety as far as I could see, but what she is doing is working for her now, Why change?. I am sure her team is aware of all this and she seems well managed.

On a side note, one of the few women players who has terrific volleys and slice is Lisa Raymond. Her match against Dechy yesterday was a very well played match with both players showing a lot of variety and class. Dechy's dad used to be in Pondicherry, so she is a bit of an indophile and I am glad she won:-).

[atulra]

The Major Concern or worry or the Fact that Sania was unable to put up a decent fight against Venus Williams revolves around the fact that was SaniaCompletly fit while Playing VenusWilliams?

Sania had a Pulled Stomach Muscle, was it affecting her in her Match?

[atulra]

The Major Concern or worry or the Fact that Sania was unable to put up a decent fight against Venus Williams revolves around the fact that was SaniaCompletly fit while Playing VenusWilliams?

Sania had a Pulled Stomach Muscle, was it affecting her in her Match?

Was it due to the Stomach muscle that Sania was unable to give her best against Villiams?
Can anydody update on this?

[genius]

Venus is considerably superior in service games and mobility.Unless Sania closes the gap on this, she will find it difficult to challenge the williams sisters.

I think one must focus on what's 'strategic'.Obviously service games where you can hold easily is vital.

I see some of the discussions have focussed on net approaches and variety.But net appracohes are hardly 'strategic'(in the overall scheme of things) for a natural baseliner. They are useful on occasions in a match and can make one a compete player but bascially she has has to win from the back of the court more often.Agassi too once upon a time said he has to get better on longer baseline rallies.That may come with experience and more refined shot making.but really don't see why net shud be over emphasised

Variety,yeah maybe she has to work on it to keep the opponent guessing.But again its her 'special' weapons like the forehand that will make the startegic difference more.

I think she basically has to concentrate on making her service games easier.Try to make it more harder and hellish for an oponent.Right now i have little confidence she will hold at a vital time.That is unacceptable and has to change.This i feel shud be the priority no1 for her.