[boogers]

I wonder why Aileen has such an obvious dislike for Raducanu?

[althusser]

There does seem to be a bit of spite in the mix though!

[Aileen]

There does seem to be a bit of spite in the mix though!

It's got nothing to do with spite, unless of course the ability to see reality comes under that heading in your world, so I still stand by what I said, i.e. that Emma needs a good fitness trainer and a permanent coach, otherwise she's in danger of going nowhere very rapidly, and that would be a great shame after all the promise she showed last year, which itself was the reason why I opened this thread back in July.

[Aileen]

I'm sympathetic to what you say on a coach and I have doubts about the ongoing heavy parental influence. But it is speculative guesswork on our part really, rather than 'seeing reality'. As with Andy's coaches - Lendl, Mauresmo etc we can make impressionistic comments but we have next to no idea about how their relationships are working day-to-day, or whether different choices at different points would have made a huge difference. 

Fair enough but with the benefit of hindsight it does look as though Andy made the right choices at the right time particularly as far as Lendl and Mauresmo were concerned.

What concerns me about Emma is that up until now she seems to think that she can go it on her own.  While a good degree of confidence and self-belief is essential for any sportsperson, even the greatest players realised early on that a little help was required if they had any hope of getting to the top and staying there.

[althusser]

That's a tough R1 Wimbledon draw for Emma.

Alison Van Uytvanck - she just won a grass warm-up tournament.

[Aileen]

^ It sounds as though she might not be fit enough to play.  She pulled out of a pre-planned practice session on Centre Court yesterday at the last minute.  Update expected from her team today.

[Aileen]

^ Well she has now declared herself fit to play and says how much she's looking forward to it, so we'll see.  She did beat Van Uytvanck at the Chicago Challenger last summer but that was long before all these injuries crept in.  Also Van Uytvanck has got two matches on grass under her belt whereas Emma only managed half-an-hour in Nottingham.  Crowd support can do amazing things though!