Quote:
Originally Posted by Strange Brew
Serena could certainly choose her word differently, but she is not wrong. She did play terribly until that mini comeback. First serve % of 43%, some big double faults and some very sloppy groundstrokes.
That doesn't take anything away from Bianca's accomplishment, who was just relentless and that's why the result was so lopsided. Serena playing at that level got crushed.
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Exactly. I am no fan of Serena's, but if she had played the final the way she did her match against Svitolina, that could have gone very differently. Part of it is Bianca not folding, but a lot of it is just Serena playing poorly, for her. You can blame that on the pressure of the final or whatever you like, and it doesn't take away from how Bianca played because you can only play the person in front of you, but she's not wrong.
This however is very wrong:
Quote:
Originally Posted by DeluxeMoustache
The stats above put Serena and Bianca hitting at the same speeds as Nadal and Medvedev.
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The topspin speed was about the same. Regardless, that does not mean the women were hitting the ball at the same speeds as the men. They're not. The AO actually did a study, and the only WTA player whose forehand compared to the men's in terms of average speed was Madison Keys, and she was a massive outlier (like 5mph faster than the 2nd place player).