Kolek planning to go pro
Not a big upset here. And that’s credit to Penko. Ostapenko had 31 winners. Ultra Aggressive, big hitting, early in points, isn’t the best matchup for Swiatek.It’s her 2nd major quarterfinal this year. She’s a slam champion that is a top 15 player annually. She’s good. She plays high risk high reward tennis. When she’s on she can defeat anyone. That includes if she is serving well, and picks and chooses her spots wisely.
No American man will win this year's U.S. Open IMHO, but it's nice to at least see some life there.I know that Djokovic, Nadal and Federer built kind of an impregnable wall for just about everyone - not only U.S. players - but it's still stunning that American men are 0-for-2-decades in majors.An entire generation of American tennis without a sniff of a grand slam title - most years, not a single U.S. player even was a serious contender. Only 4 appearances in a major final these last 20 years, and none since 2009. That's wild, especially given the success of U.S. men in the decades prior: Sampras, Agassi, Courier, McEnroe, Connors.
But Swiatek still fell apart midway through the 2nd set. Penko can absolutely throttle the ball but Iga was not herself after a decent start.
And why do you think Swiatek wasn’t herself? She didn’t magically self destruct on her own. You actually have it backwards. Ostapenko upped her game a lot after the first and second set. Penko cut her errors in half. And she improved her serve almost 30% in the 2nd set. Penko gave herself slightly more margin because she knew she would win the rallies. And she beat Swiatek in down the middle neutral ball rallies. She also is very good at creating angles from the middle of the court that many can’t. Few players play faster than Swiatek. But Penko is one of them and that gets into the head of Swiatek. The frequent body serve of Swiatek became predictable and Swiatek side stepped it and hit an aggressive shot.Swiatek was very consistent in the first 2 sets. Served 68 and 69 percent, winners and errors were similar each set. What changed was the level of Ostapenko.
I watched the end of the 2nd and 3rd set. She played terribly and this is just a fact. Penko is tough but Iga was nowhere near her top level or mentally sharp.
Bizarre that you have an unwillingness to credit a player for playing well and taking the other player out of their game. The notion that Swiatek lost mostly because she self imploded doesn't pass the personal bias test.
It's bizarre you're refusing to acknowledge the truth and I'm taking nothing away from Penko. Iga was beyond bad and you know this full well.
Lol. I watched the match, so no. I already explained what happened in the match. It’s 4 straight wins for Ostapenko over Swiatek. At some point it isn’t self imploding or luck. This also isn’t the only player in which Swiatek has trouble with on hard courts. They all have similar styles of play too.
We'll agree to disagree. I watched what happened.
There isn’t a both sides here. If you read your own post above, you admitted that you didn’t even watch two thirds of the match. That’s a pretty strong opinion and a lot of posts of something you didn’t even see. Swiatek was outplayed by a better player. It happens. The specifics as to why were even referenced for you. Ostapenko, Sabalenka, Rybakina, Garcia, Krejcikova, etc…are all players that play Swiatek well.
Can you please stop saying “mentally sharp” when evaluating a player or team performance? It’s a weak argument at best. You do this with Marquette basketball, too, yelling about focus.
That's because it's noticeable when people lose focus.
You use it every time a player or team is losing.
It's a common problem and should be reiterated.
I watched half the match and you clearly don't want to admit the truth.
Sometimes, the other team or player is simply better, regardless of focus
Ostapenko deserved the match. She played significantly better the last two sets, imposed her will on Swiatek. And Swiatek also didn't play well, above and beyond the mistakes Ostapenko forced her into. Both can (and were) true.I do wonder how many legit tennis experts would say that Ostapenko is a "better player" than Swiatek, though. Body of work strongly suggests otherwise.