WTA 500 Stuttgart 4/14 - 4/21 2025

[ponchi101]

I agree, Serena was simply a much better player than Sharapova..Ostapenko vs swiatek is more about how their games match up. I don't believe much in anybody being inside anybody's head .these are all seasoned pros and can overcome these things sooner or later.

Remember Federer - Nalbandian

And Sampras - Chang.

[JTContinental]

paolini's footwork is delightful.. watching her give Sabalenka a tough fight.. more tough than I expected. Sabalenka is being cute at the wrong time as usual, and not moving all that well, but just too powerful ..I wonder if Ostapenko can make her pay ..

Paolini, to me, is like Radwanska with a better serve.. brilliant footwork, great footspeed.. she did well at Wimbledon last year already, should do again. Very impressed with how well she has kept up her level of play from last year, I was pretty sure she would drop off to nothing.. but that hasnt happened.

She has not really kept up the level of play outside of this tournament

[ashkor87]

paolini's footwork is delightful.. watching her give Sabalenka a tough fight.. more tough than I expected. Sabalenka is being cute at the wrong time as usual, and not moving all that well, but just too powerful ..I wonder if Ostapenko can make her pay ..

Paolini, to me, is like Radwanska with a better serve.. brilliant footwork, great footspeed.. she did well at Wimbledon last year already, should do again. Very impressed with how well she has kept up her level of play from last year, I was pretty sure she would drop off to nothing.. but that hasnt happened.

She has not really kept up the level of play outside of this tournament

Did well at Miami...lost only to Sabalenka

[ashkor87]

well well well.. Ostapenko really is better than I thought.. beat Sabalenka easily. Saw the highlights.. Sabalenka looked to be slow and overpowered..

[Suliso]

If only Ostapenko could keep it up, but 7+ years of history shows she can't...

[ponchi101]

She is the patron saint of the loonie players. The ideological daughter of Henri Laconte, Xavier Malisse, and all those other players that have never thought one single point.
Just go out there and hit.
Of course, she has been more successful. But as Suliso says. She maybe will do nothing more for the rest of the year.

[ti-amie]

I only saw part of the first set but it looked as if Aljona actually had a game plan. She was keeping Sabalenka off balance and out of position, rushing the net, and totally frustrating Sabalenka.

As has already been said this could be the only time we see head on straight and thinking Aljona on court though. Today, from what I saw, she was impressive.

[ti-amie]

[ti-amie]

[ponchi101]

Nice set of wheels. Don't like the actual wheels but the color is rather different. Although it is one of the three official BMW colors.
And. The most reckless player on tour got behind the wheel and immediately put on her seatbelt. Nice.

[jazzyg]

I watched the entire match. Ostapenko played very well and was not simply going for the lines on every shot, which is a bit of a misnomer anyway. Her problems come when she can't keep the ball in play regardless of whether she is going for the lines. She also served better than she normally does, which is a good thing because Sabalenka was killing her second serve.

Sabalenka did not move or play well. That helped.

Ostapenko, to me, is one of the great underachievers of anyone who has won a slam. I'm not asking her to contend for No. 1, but she goes through stretches on every surface where she struggles to win any match. I don't get it. She is capable of hitting the ball as cleanly as anyone who ever lived.

One other thing. She seems to have matured in the past year, and I'm not talking about her game. Maybe the electronic line calling (which, ironically, they did not have at this tournament) has kept her from questioning a thousand calls per match and irritating her opponents, and she is more gracious pre- and post-match than she used to be. This is all relative, but I've noticed a big difference there.