Quote:
Originally Posted by dash_pinched
I'm not going to say Leylah is at a cross-roads here because I thought she played a pretty good match last night. Coco was just in the zone and I think even Iga, Aryna, or Elena would have likely gone down to defeat as well. I do have some concerns though:
1. Leylah's serve - Need to fix that janky service motion which I realize is not going to be easy, but better to do it sooner than later. Pointing her front foot directly at her opponent and then twisting to try to get more coil/body rotation is just no bueno.
2. Camping on the baseline - While it's not a bad strategy to try to take time away from your opponent, you are also taking time away from yourself and against big hitters like Gauff, it just doesn't work because the ball is on you too quickly and leads to unforced errors. Also applies to receiving position when receiving serve.
3. Needs more variation in her game - I'm not suggesting that Leylah turn into a pusher, but she needs to change the height, speed, and spin of her ground strokes to keep her opponent off balance.
Just some of my thoughts.
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You're bang on with the serve improvements and variation. Adding some high bouncers and slices more regularly would do wonders for her game.
I do feel like a player like her with limited power does need to be up on the baseline though. This wouldn't be such a bad tactic if opponents weren't so sure of what is coming all of the time but she needs to find ways to deal with that. It's definitely time to make a change.