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February 12, 2022,
Grand Slams are very special because they tend to raise questions.
Or answer them.
The 2021 US Open raised far more questions than it answered.
How good is the brand new and incredibly young US Open Champion Emma Raducanu? Is she a one hit wonder or will she play consistently and continue to beat the top ranked players?
How good is Leylah Fernandez, the runner up? What kind of year will she have in 2022? Will she consistently play at a high level or crash back down to earth?
What is wrong with Coco Gauff? She keeps flaming out in major showdowns where she completely falters in the final set.
The deciding set. Second or third, doesn’t matter.
Naomi Osaka had a complete meltdown against Leylah Fernandez. We’ve never seen this before in Naomi. That being said, will we ever see the dominant version of Naomi again?
The 2022 Australian Open appeared to answer a lot of questions including some of those above.
Coco Gauff is not a top player. She just isn’t. She fell in the first round. Easily. Handily.
As reported by au.sports.yahoo.com, “American teen sensation Coco Gauff has been sent packing at Melbourne Park after suffering a shock straight sets defeat on day one of the Australian Open. The 18th seed had no answers to an inspired Wang Qiang as the 110th-ranked Chinese player sealed a 6-4 6-2 boilover on Margaret Court Arena.”
So, the 110th ranked player catapulted Coco out of the stadium, head first, complete with 38 unforced errors on the young American’s part and not in a three set prize fight.
This was over in two and we suspect even Coco was relieved to see this disaster end.
Can Coco get back to the top, and certainly after once being 18th ranked in the world, it is possible, but for now, the answer appears to be maybe.
It is an answer.
Two major things have to change since Coco has great shots.
The first is that she needs to stay mentally focused on every point. We will be careful with dime store psychology but since we did built a female high school champion from scratch, we taught her that every point counts.
Keep the ball in play.
Grind it out tennis 101.
In our experience, whenever a player starts making myriads of unforced errors, especially going for big shots and taking unnecessary risks, they seem to be under the impression that they are greater than they are.
They have also forgotten what got them there.
Grind it out 101. Stay in the fight. Make your opponent earn every point. Don’t give the shop away.
The other major issue with Coco is she needs to build her confidence when there is a massive need to come from behind.
When it really matters. When she gets down in the final set and falls behind, previously, it is over early.
A question was answered about Naomi Osaka and there is good news and bad news.
Let’s start with the good news first.
Here is what Femcompetitor Magazine stated, in an AO 2022, previous article, “So while Amanda is the real story in the third round, Naomi is always “the” story wherever and whenever she competes at a Grand Slam and we would say that even though Naomi lost, we are a little relieved.
In watching portions of the match, even when things were not going well, she didn’t throw her racquet or have a major emotional meltdown.
She lost fairly quietly. Fairly. With maturity. And dignity.
The traditional Naomi in demeanor that we have come to admire and completely love.”
Good. Naomi is emotionally stable.
The bad news is, that passive demeanor, will not be enough to play at the highest level again.
She indicated in a post-match press conference that she is not God and can’t expect to win every time.
That is true, but that is not something we’ve heard from Serena Williams, Steffi Graf and certainly not Justine Henin.
They expect to win, every time. They are incredibly upset when they don’t.
So, the 2022 Aussie Open answered the question, is Naomi emotionally stable again. Yes.
Let’s be content with that for now.
Jessica Pegula raised a lot of questions in our minds before the tournament began.
The American has been a steady riser and along with fellow American Danielle Collins will be the highest ranked American female tennis players in the world.
We have watched Jessica for years and it took her some time to crack the top 100.
Recently she began to make her move, even achieving entry into the 4th round at the mighty 2021 US Open.
She played well early here Down Under and had a massive win over a hard hitting and passionate Maria Sakkari.
Now for the question.
Can Jessica really become a top ranked player and consistently stay there?
Her results at the 2022 Australian Open says no.
When she met Ashleigh Barty in the quarterfinals, she got completely flattened. At least Amanda Anisimova made Ashleigh sweat a little.
Not Jessica.
She doesn’t seem to be able to match the hard hitting player’s power nor does she appear to be as mentally tough as we had hoped.
Her game has absolutely upgraded and she appears to be able to move through the first three rounds with respective wins but twice now we have seen her reach the quarters at a Grand Slam on the hard courts and she was easily defeated both times.
If there was ever a hard court Grand Slam that she had a chance to win, at or at least make it into a final, it was this one.
Serena Williams was not there.
Naomi Osaka was not fiercely there.
If there was ever an opening, it was now.
If Jessica can develop more power, she has a chance because she strategically moved Maria around the court and out thought her.
Time will tell, but for now, we don’t see her holding up the trophy on the Grand Slam hard courts.
Every Grand Slam tells a story. That is why they are so special. Historic ones. Career making ones.
Career ending ones as well.
Danielle Collins is one to watch. She has the power. Her passion can be a double edged sword but for now it is working for her. It is never great to be too high emotionally, too often, because the too low is coming.
Life is about right now. Stay in the moment.
Danielle spun a fascinating yarn Down Under.
The passionate American reached the finals and absolutely earned it. There were no walk overs by a better player nor did she have an easy draw to the finals. She beat the best available to get there.
Once there?
She put an incredible scare into the current best and number one player, Ashleigh Barty and more so to the Australian crowd on what proved to be a historic night.
If there was ever a question who is the number one player in the world, it was absolutely answered by Ash who put on a masterful performance in coming back from being down 1-5, in the second set to a fierce Danielle Collins, to seal the deal in two sets.
That is what we mean by giving your best performance under great duress in the concluding set.
That is what top players do. That is what great champions do.
Ash reached the finals losing only one service game, and defeated Danielle Collins to become the first Australian woman since Chris O’Neil in 1978, to win the Australian Open.
Under the Australian stars, in an audience filled with stars, like Russell Crowe.
Many important questions were answered.
Truthfully, the 2022 Australian Open is like none we’ve seen before.
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OPENING PHOTO fcielitecompetitor.com, fciwomenswrestling2.com, femcompetitior.com, grapplingstars.com, fciwomenswrestling.com Editorial-credit-lev-radin-Shutterstock.com photo credit
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ashleigh_Barty
https://www.fcielitecompetitor.com/
https://fciwomenswrestling.com/
