Beth Rifkin Status
wow, big win for Dimentieva!!
August 22 at 2:49pm
Piyush Bhargava
oh she beat serena? cool... looking forward to fed vs djo tomorrow!!!
August 22 at 8:06pm
Beth Rifkin
She did!
Me too but I think the women's final will be the better of the 2 - sharaporva & dementieva have both been playing great this week!!
August 23 at 7:21am
Don Wright
I saw Sharapova this morning on TiVo and liked her new serve motion which I have been saying she needed to do for years to save her shoulder.
August 23 at 7:39am
Beth Rifkin
yeah though she's still getting used to it - what was it, 12 double fautls? Must be difficult to change after all these years. Her backhand was right on though!
August 23 at 7:56am
Don Wright
she will get used to it... I had to change to a similar motion years and years ago due to a rotator cuff that looks like hamburger meat and after a month or two I didn't even know the difference.
August 23 at 8:01am
Beth Rifkin
oh yeah, totally mental! Karina, tennis channel, was saying some interesting things during last night's match about how your arm feels after shoulder surgery.
August 23 at 12:49pm
Piyush Bhargava
gilbert said he could fix sharapova's serve in one day.. haha
August 23 at 2:49pm
Beth Rifkin
How? With his 'wrist assist'? :)!
seriously, with the power that they hit the ball through those long matches it's no wonder it gets fatigued this soon back on the tour, i think they've been a little harsh on her - some have already decided whether the rest of her career will do or die.
August 23 at 5:40pm
Piyush Bhargava
o yaaa.. it was almost was fed was giving djo a tennis lesson in the first set :)) damn its good to see federer back to his usual self! they say sharapova's serve had a lot of extra-unwanted motion before which caused her injury.. now she's serving with an abbreviated service motion.. gb feels something's still quite not right.. go figure..
August 23 at 10:20pm
Beth Rifkin
well, the motion wasn't really extra-unwanted - it built momentum for power and speed when striking the ball, but it is tough on the shoulder and did lead to the problem. Now she does have an abbreviated motion, but again, imagine changing your entire service motion at her point in her career - she's been serving the other way her entire tennis life. She just needs to get used to it and build strength back up in that shoulder. they are making such a bigger deal than it is. some say she's done w/good results - it's ridiculous.
August 23 at 10:39pm
Piyush Bhargava
i think what's making sharapova less effective is that her strokes seem to have lost some of that killer instinct that they had before.. it's not just her serve that's problematic..
August 24 at 7:20am
Beth Rifkin
yeah, she doesn't have the confidence in her serve so that translates to the rest, though her backhand has been incredible - in the qf and sf she hit some amazing winning shots. I think also, the shoulder is still gaining strength so it tires easy, which affects all of her shots, especially the forehand. that sf was long and late the night before..she was exhausted for the final.
August 24 at 8:31am
Piyush Bhargava
beth.. did you read this? http://tennis.com/features/general/features.aspx?id=182550
August 24 at 8:40pm
Beth Rifkin
Thanks!. I still say it's early - I think she has to work it out in tournaments b/c they can't replicate a match in practice so I would think she's got to tinker w/it along the way. Interesting that they said the two motions aren't much different since so many believe they are...i will have to investigate that more.
August 24 at 9:08pm •
