In a result that should not and probably does not shock anyone, JJ lost to Kaia in straight sets. That's two wins for Kaia over JJ in a month. I don't watch enough JJ matches to know what's going on with her but I did find one comment from the British Eurosport commentators interesting. Sam Smith was saying (at least, I think it was her) that JJ just straight up has no gameplan these days. She wants to be more aggressive from the baseline but more often than not she's pulling the trigger too early or on shots she has no business trying to hit for winners. It's a combination of no tactics and poor shot selection. People talk all the time about "mindless ball-bashing". This is mindless counterpunching. And it's just as bad.
The girl needs a coach. But apart from that, she needs to allow herself to be coached, and I just don't think she's willing to do that in a meaningful way. I can't blame her, really. I mean, she gave herself over to Ricardo and Etch and they derailed her big time. But she also has to remember that with Ricardo in her corner, she made her only Slam final and she made a four week run that got her that year-end #1 ranking that she so loves.
She's got the movement. She's got the shots. There's no reason to think she can't get herself back into the realm of relevancy. But right now it's just ugly to watch.
