Marketa Vondrousova

Jabeur’s Day Spoiled By Ons And Marketa

July 16, 2023 by tennisbloggers Leave a Comment

BY JAMES BECK

Poor Ons Jabeur.

I don’t think it was as much Marketa Vondrousova winning Wimbledon’s women’s title as it was Jabeur losing Wimbledon’s final.

Jabeur can hit some of the prettiest shots you’ll ever see on the grand stage of Wimbledon. All of her fans back home in Tunisia must have been celebrating Saturday morning when she took a 4-2 lead in the first set.

But so quickly, she was facing three break points. Five straight games went much that way, and Ons was down 6-4, 1-0.

The second set was much like the first as Jabeur practically gave away the match by again losing the last three games of a Wimbledon final with an avalanche of errors.

NO GREAT DAY FOR ONS FANS

Saturday would be Ons’ day, her fans thought, wiping out memories of her previous two appearances in Grand Slam finals. Or so, as her fans probably crossed their fingers.

An hour or so later, Jabeur would be crying at the awards celebration as she told her audience it was the most painful loss of her career. It was a 6-4, 6-4 loss to a Czech left-hander who looked far taller than 5-8 on this day.

Yes, Vondrousova stood tall on this day.

JUST ANOTHER RELATIVE UNKNOWN TO STEAL THE GLORY

It was just a repeat of Jabeur’s loss to Elena Rybakina in the 2022 Wimbledon final. But this one was even more hurting than that loss. Jabeur will always be known as the other player on Wimbledon’s famed Centre Court when Vondrousova became the first unseeded player ever to win a Wimbledon women’s singles championship.

The 5-6, 146-pound Jabeur is an amazing player, with a full bag of tricks, until she plays in a Grand Slam final.

After this one, her fans might now not expect as much from Jabeur.

BIG QUESTION? WHO TAKES OVER THE GAME

Here it is now that no one really knows what to expect next on the women’s tour.

All of a sudden, still world’s No. 1 Iga Swiatek, No. 2 Aryna Sabalenka, 2022 Wimbledon champion Rybakina and new star Vondrousova all look capable of taking over the women’s game, with Jabeur looking in from the sideline.

This wasn’t a great or exciting final in terms of caliber of play.

But wait until New York when the green grass turns into a hard surface.

— James Beck was the 2003 winner of the USTA National Media Award. A 1995 MBA graduate of The Citadel, he can be reached at Jamesbecktennis@gmail.com

Wimbledon Women’s Final Pick – Will Ons Jabeur Take The Title?

July 14, 2023 by tennisbloggers Leave a Comment

Ons Jabeur vs. Marketa Vondrousova

This feels like it’s a bit of a destiny run for Ons Jabeur. The trailblazing Arab woman was one set away from history last year in the Wimbledon final against Elena Rybakina. Armed with new confidence and the increased influence of her sports psychologist, Jabeur is the solid favorite against the unseeded Czech Marketa Vondrousova. While Czech lefty doesn’t have a number by her name on the draw, she is certainly accomplished and it’s not a fluke she is in the final, after playing the finals previously at the Olympics and Roland Garros. Czech lefties have fared very well in Wimbledon finals. Just ask Martina Navratilova and Petra Kvitova as well as a Czech named Jaroslav Drobny, who, ironically when he won the Wimbledon men’s title in 1954 was the only player representing an African nation (Egypt) to win a Wimbledon singles title. Vondrousova played incredibly well to beat Elina Svitolina in the semifinals, but nerves and a cooler hand will play a part in this final and Jabeur will win in two tight sets to raise the Venus Rosewater dish.

Day Four Roland Garros Picks – Why Is Vondrousova The No. 5 Women’s Favorite?

May 30, 2023 by tennisbloggers Leave a Comment

Daria Kasatkina vs. Marketa Vondrousova

Tennis Channel showed on the first Monday of Roland Garros the live odds to win the Roland Garros women’s singles title, courtesy of its sponsor FanDuel and surprisingly Marketa Vondrousova was listed as the No. 5 favorite (at +2600) despite being ranked No. 60 in the world! Only Iga Swiatek, Aryna Sabalenka, Elena Rybakina and Barbora Krejcikova are listed as bigger favorites. As people often say when they see a surprising line or favorite, that the gambling houses or Vegas know something that the average person doesn’t. Another thing that also isn’t wrong often is a Universal Tennis Rating (UTR) and Vondrousova is currently at 12.88 against her tough second round opponent, the No. 9 seeded Daria Kastkina, who has a 12.58 rating. Let’s go with what FanDuel and UTR says and pick Vondrousova here.

Diego Schwartzman vs. Nuno Borges

Both Schwartzman and Borges won five-set battles in the first round, Schwartzman coming back from 0-2 down to beat Zapata-Miralles of Spain and Borges surviving an 11-9 fifth-set match tiebreaker against John Isner. Schwartzman is ranked No. 95 and Borges is ranked No. 80 but there is more of discrepancy in their UTR rankings, Schwartzman is a 15.18 and Borges is a 15.39 so we will once again go with Borges here to break through and reach the third round.

Carlos Alcaraz vs. Taro Daniel

Our picks this week have largely focused on matches that are not on the larger courts and avoiding matches where certain players are big favorites. That would be too easy, right? However, several of our picks have lost in tight five-setters so we need a pick to pad our winning percentage so we are picking the world No. 1 Carlos Alcaraz to take out Taro Daniel.