Kerber is awful on clay, especially outdoor clay. She won't ever win the FO unless she makes major changes like Sharapova did. Her movement is too exposed on the surface.
Can you explain that? Angie has incredibly movement on hard, why is it a problem on clay?
This year she was injured at FO and lost 1st round to a semi finalist...
Oh, i missed Sylvia Hanika's FO Final of 1981 against Mandlikova. It simply shows how far ahead Kerber is of any other German player in history of the Open Era, except legend Graf. Imagine in january 2016 Kerber was nowhere near this little list and now she'll probably go down as Germany's 2nd most successful female tennis champion in the history of the sport. #unthinkable.
Kerber is a good clay player. I wouldn't rule a possible FO win out only because she sucked this year. 2015 she won Stuttgart and Charleston on clay, 2016 she won Stuttgart again... so she does know how to play on clay.
Madison 2946
Konta 2675
Kuznetsova 2532
Bacsinszky 2124
Venus 2096
God that's close for those final spots
I feel like top 6 is guaranteed, Madison has been consistent with deep runs since basically Rome, she's only lost to Bertens, Halep (x2) Kerber and Wozniacki since then so I'd expect her to make it. Cibulkova has been a mess since peaking against Aga on Wimbledon, CSN is always in QF/4th rounds and then flops against a better player, Konta hasn't really done much since that AO SF apart from winning Stanford and Sveta is pretty much unpredictable. So I'd say these 4 will battle it out for the final spot
Can you explain that? Angie has incredibly movement on hard, why is it a problem on clay?
This year she was injured at FO and lost 1st round to a semi finalist...
She even said so herself that it is hard for her to move on clay. And if you look at her movement on hard you see she can easily stop-start and change directions while absorbing pace and redirecting it. The surface also is faster so it gives her more firepower to work with
The clay takes away so much pace so you have to be a powerful hitter (like Serena, Garbine, Maria) to hit through the court or you have to slide effectively and change the pace and use angles to get a strong opponent off court. She almost always loses to a big hitter who can keep the ball in court for a few shots. And it's not just this year she's had pedestrian results. All of her past results on clay aren't good as well either (well they're good but they aren't up to her standards)
Look at this match, you can take any outdoor clay event (Stuttgart is indoors so I shall not count that) and look at how a hitter with weapons can dismantle her. Ana kept hitting behind Kerber who couldn't stop for the ball, it's almost impossible to do what she does on hard court on clay
Overall she has the potential with the new aggressive game so she doesn't have to play defense as much but even this year she's failed to win one match on outdoor red clay. And her pedestrian serve is even more exposed on the surface so if she wants success here she'll need a better serve, better sliding ability, and needs to hit through the court more often.
Speechless about this year for Angie! So happy for her. I've been a big fan since 2012. I love her game style so much. She is like a powerful reflective wall but with a stellar forehand down the line
Quote:
Originally posted by stevyy
Kerber is a good clay player. I wouldn't rule a possible FO win out only because she sucked this year. 2015 she won Stuttgart and Charleston on clay, 2016 she won Stuttgart again... so she does know how to play on clay.
Stuttgart and Charleston are very different to Roland Garros and Rome
Angie lives off of pace that her opponents generate. And on clay the balls are slower
Also to me she is an "aggressive" power mover. On clay you have to make lots of foot adjustments and be agile. Angie has tons of power and speed in her legs. She can fix her movement on clay though.
I need Aga to win AO or Wimbledon next year... If she ends up being slamless I'll always be salty when some one hit wonder wins a GS
I'm losing belief in her. There always will be a ballbasher who will destroy her puffballs. Maybe if the stars aline at one slam, she could win, but it's a big reach. She can't cope with the power of the modern game on a consistent basis.
It's not many changes she has to make to be great on clay, she has the foundation. She just needs more raw power (same problem as Aga) and she'll be a threat everywhere. It sounds easy but it's tough to do. But a hard worker like Angie I have no doubt she'll put in the miles and will be a threat in every slam either next year or the year after
Post 30 I'm not so sure but if Serena can do it then why not Angie you know! She works hard too
Poor Sabine!
