I went to see a bit of the quarter finals today but, to be honest, it was not a great deal. I managed to watch the third set of two girls’ matches: the one between Alexandra Eala, the Philippine girl i most liked in the first round, and the Belgian Sofia Costoulas; and the match between Croatian Marcinko and the American Clervie Ngounoue (who is just 14). The two matches had the same trend, as both Eala and Ngounoue won the third set having lost the second: Eala won 6-4 and Ngounoue won 6-3. More, the two matches ended basiacally at the same time. I managed to watch both matches (without, thus, being able to follow any of them) as they were played on courts standing one the side of the other.
Actually the four girls played exactly the same tennis, i.e. “hit everything as hard as possible”: Clervie Ngounoue, even if only 14, definitively has won this side competition, as she hits as hard as a man: the “little” girl is 6 feet tall and owns shoulders bigger than mine. She has indeed the most powerful tennis, but also the most repetitive one; this allows the opponent to fairly often be able to rely on Ngounoue power to hit back equally hard shots. To be fair, though, Clervie has displayed form time to time unexpected delicacies in hitting drop shots, something that shows that in the future the American girl may develop a game less predictible than the current. It’s anyway amazing how a girl who is only 14 is able to hit as hard both her forehand and backhand.
All the other three girls played the same tactics as Clervie, without being able to hit as hard as the American: of course they all play very well, but there is no chance to see a variation on rythim, or a slice bouncing low; and not even think about a proper volley. Girls tennis is becoming more and more uniform also at junior level, and less interesting; is is now as physical as males tennis, but without the players being able (of course) to hit as hard as men. For the first time since i am following junior tennis i had the strong temptation to leave before the matches finished. Even Eale, who i liked in the first round, played pretty badly today, serving countless double faults; though, i must say that within the four girls i saw, she was the player who tried most often to at least open some angles.
I even attempted to find new inspiration watching 2 matches (again at the same time) of the males (Mensik vs. Blanch and Florig vs. Perez Pegna) but the situation didn’t improve a lot. One doesn’t even know what to write, because the whole game has become “who misses the lower number of forehands after their own serves, wins”, as everybody is playing the same game.
Though I have a hope: Andreeva, who again today won her match by a convincing 6-4 6-3. Andreeva, as Ngounoue is only 14, but I saw her walking around and she is a small girl: I mean she is fairly tall for her age, but she owns a small frame, typical of her age. I have heard tha this girl is a very intelligent player, who can counter girls much bigger and stronger than her by playing a greatly varied game. I will check if this is true tomorrow, in the semi she will play against Eala. I hope what they say is true, otherwise i think i’ll go to work or to the pool.
