DGS49
Diamond Member
Well, Serena has been thwarted again at the U.S. Open, but she remains the best woman player in the world, probably EVER.
It appears that the key to beating Serena is to focus on defense. I know, I know, a big deal was made of Karolina Pliskova's first serve percentage, and her 8 (or so) aces, but she won the match by returning 20-25 fantastic shots that Serena had already chalked up in her mind as points won. Usually, these were balls that Pliskova simply lunged at and managed to get back over the net, but there were excellent returns as well, on balls that it appeared she couldn't even reach. You can see it on her face when Serena feels like she was "cheated" out of a point, and she usually goes into a funk for one or two strokes afterward. It was these mini-funks that cost her this match. And the double-fault at the end, of course.
As always, when it became obvious that the match would likely be lost, Serena communicated to the viewers that she was "injured" - this time by grabbing her hammies and walking with a limp. And again, as always, she SAID that the "injury" didn't affect her play, while implying that the other girl could not have won if she hadn't been hurt. Yawn. This is so tiresome.
Serena's self-designed tennis outfit was possibly the most hideous, inappropriate, and absurd tennis outfit ever devised by a human designer. Next to this, cut-offs, a wife-beater T-shirt, and Converse All Stars with no socks would look stylish. The colors were inappropriate for tennis and they did not go well together. The fabric was the worst possible fabric for a sport where profuse perspiration is the norm, and the cut simply emphasized the worst excesses of her body type. She has been designing her own tennis outfits for years, and it is no wonder that no other tennis player has any interest in wearing them.
Will anyone watch the final? Not good for the advertisers, I suspect.
It appears that the key to beating Serena is to focus on defense. I know, I know, a big deal was made of Karolina Pliskova's first serve percentage, and her 8 (or so) aces, but she won the match by returning 20-25 fantastic shots that Serena had already chalked up in her mind as points won. Usually, these were balls that Pliskova simply lunged at and managed to get back over the net, but there were excellent returns as well, on balls that it appeared she couldn't even reach. You can see it on her face when Serena feels like she was "cheated" out of a point, and she usually goes into a funk for one or two strokes afterward. It was these mini-funks that cost her this match. And the double-fault at the end, of course.
As always, when it became obvious that the match would likely be lost, Serena communicated to the viewers that she was "injured" - this time by grabbing her hammies and walking with a limp. And again, as always, she SAID that the "injury" didn't affect her play, while implying that the other girl could not have won if she hadn't been hurt. Yawn. This is so tiresome.
Serena's self-designed tennis outfit was possibly the most hideous, inappropriate, and absurd tennis outfit ever devised by a human designer. Next to this, cut-offs, a wife-beater T-shirt, and Converse All Stars with no socks would look stylish. The colors were inappropriate for tennis and they did not go well together. The fabric was the worst possible fabric for a sport where profuse perspiration is the norm, and the cut simply emphasized the worst excesses of her body type. She has been designing her own tennis outfits for years, and it is no wonder that no other tennis player has any interest in wearing them.
Will anyone watch the final? Not good for the advertisers, I suspect.