4 мин.

Радванска, Шарапова обе могут победить на РГ

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Матт Кронин

Выставил статью Кронина на английском языке. Если кто-то переведет, буду очень благодарный и выставлю перевод здесь.

RADWANKSA, SHARAPOVA CAN BOTH WIN FRENCH

Agnieszka Radwanska says that she was born with some type of instinct that allows her to play thinking women’s brand of tennis, one that is creative and flexible. No one is born is a certain type of tennis style, at least that’s what most social studies instruct is  about how so called talented people pick up sports skills.

So really, some credit must be given to her intense father Robert, whom she gave the boot to last summer as her traveling coach, but whom she still uses  at home and on the phone. She is a more independent woman now at 23, full of a soft-spoken bravado and seemingly ready to take on all challenges.

After somewhat shocking Maria Sharapova in the Miami final, she has now won five WTA Priemer titles in the past eight months and has risen to No. 4 in the world. She is close to No. 3 and outside of her losses to Victoria Azarenka this season, she has looked very close to being the world’s No. 2 player, right next to Sharapova, who has had a very good, but not great season.

It is now high time for her to make breakthrough at Slam. Just image say, if Azarenka got hurt, could not compete through Wimbledon, and Radwanska won Rome, Madrid and reached the semis of Roland Garros and Wimbledon and gained No. 1? What would the tennis world think then, that a woman who (hypothetically as she has even yet reached a Slam semi) did not reach her first Slam final four until 2012 Roland Garros is actually deserving of the top spot? I shudder at the thought of trying to defend how and why that occurred.

Radwanska is not a tall person with strong upper body, but she is terrific mover with ample power off the ground and good first serve. There is no reason why she cannot counterpunch, and even punch, herself to a Slam title at the French Open. There is currently no obvious favorite on clay amongst the women. Francesca Schiavone has really faded, Li Na is way too up and down and while Samantha Stosur has the capability of winning the title, but she has not had a good start to the year and has to work of rebuilding her confidence. And of Azarenka, who has only lost one match this year: she has never had great clay court results and must prove herself on the surface. So at the every least give Radwanska a very good chance to triumph.

I would also give Sharapova a chance at winning her first French crown too (who would have thought that when she first began her career?), as she has been very consistent this year and has been close to playing at the top of her game on many occasions. She is without question a frustrating player to watch at times because when she is off she does not commit to playing enough defense. Yes, on most days she can hit herself out of trouble but on some days, like against Radwanska on Saturday, she cannot. She is also not thinking hard enough on court when she is getting frustrated and should have picked up on a few of Radwanska’s tendencies, like her love of going to right-handers forehand with her first serve.

Anyone who thinks that just because Sharapova gives gracious runners-up speeches that she is pleased with losing three finals this year without winning a set does not know her at all. That’s her public mask, not her private face and she knew she let go of a big opportunity go on Saturday. She is entered in Stuttgart at the end of April and it will be very interesting to see if she actually plays, or just goes and does the Madrid-Rome swing. If she can continue to commit to her swing volley and moving forward, as well as trusting her legs on defense, she’ll be quite formidable on dirt because even though she’s banger, her point construction has improved a ton. She appears to be way overdue to win her fourth Slam, but all the WTA’s Young Big 4 (Azarenka, Radwanksa, Kvitova and Woznaicki) have room to improve so the time is upon her to do so.

 

logoАгнешка Радванска
logoМария Шарапова
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