Of all the tennis "journos" Matty C is the only one who knows what he's talking about when he writes about Ana. Clearly he's an AnaKAD, but his level of insight into her current game in the context of her entire career is spot on. To wit:
The Serbian’s mind appears to be wandering on court, perhaps because
she lost a little clarity off court, not allowing herself enough mental
breaks and obsessing about her tennis, even when she should be taking
breaks. If you look closely at Ivanovic’s history, there are plenty of
matches that she has gutted out when she hasn’t been clicking. But
those types of wins haven’t been as frequent recently and she realizes
that as pretty as she is, she’s going to have to take a page from
Nadal’s book and win ugly most of the time. As Kardon says, some player
are always “looking for that magic carrot, that uh-huh idea when they
really just need to trust what they have.”
What separates him from the rest? Oh, I don't know, maybe it's because HE'S ACTUALLY WATCHED HER MATCHES OVER THE COURSE OF HER CAREER. Research can be fun, journos. Go with it.
Anyway, my fave parts:
In February, when she met up
with her now coach Craig Kardon (an American who coached Martina
Navratilova) in Dubai to see if the two would mesh, the two traded
personality descriptions. “People who know me say I’m laid back,”
Kardon recalled. “Ana said that’s good because I’m laid back too, and
her mom and trainer started cracking up and said, ‘You’re not laid
back!’ She has the appearance of that and is very nice and laid back in
some ways, but when it comes to tennis she’s incredibly intense and
wants it all. She wants things done right and thinks a lot about it.
We’re trying to get her to think less and try to enjoy the moment and
play in it.”
The image of Mamavic busting out in laughter and calling her kid on her shit is dead money. She must have been really caffeinated that day.
And this pretty much sums it up:
She’s simply not establishing her game like she did in the first
part of ‘08, when she would skip around inside the baseline and launch
killer, unreachable forehands to the corners. She has the most
effective inside-out forehand in WTA history and arguably the best
forehand in the game along with Serena and Sania Mirza. “Its one of the
best shots in tennis,” Kardon said. “It’s natural, powerful and she
has the right feel. She knows which spins to use, can produce short
angles, go corner to corner and it really doesn’t matter if the other
player knows it’s coming because it’s such a great shot.”
But the consistency she showed off her solid backhand side has gone
away, her first serve is no longer threatening and her second serve
lacks bite and kick. She has the best hands at net of any of the
younger set, but she’s often hesitant at approaching the cords, even
though it’s there where she might make a prosperous living over the
next decade.
I'm glad Matty C is well-onboard the "GET TO THE FUCKING NET!!!" train.
Sigh. RG is going to be an Ivanovic clusterfuck. That said, it'll be nice to see her on Chartrier and Lenglen again. Or at least, worse comes to worst, one of them.
Thanks to Curtis for posting the link.
