World No. 1 Caroline Wozniacki will meet 15th-seeded Marion Bartoli for the Indian Wells title. We asked senior editor Peter Bodo four questions about the final:
1. What does Bartoli have to do to win this match?
Bartoli?s game can best be described, in terms that are meaningful today in a more deadly context, as ?asymmetrical warfare.? In contrast to many of the marquee names?Wozniacki, Kim Clijsters, Francesca Schiavone, the Williams sisters?she is not a physical specimen. Her game is akin to darts; she hits hard, fairly flat, and goes for the lines. When a player cut from that cloth (think of her idol and role model, Monica Seles) catches a wave, she can be dangerous to anyone.
But by the same token, Bartoli?s relatively poor movement and so-so athleticism leave her vulnerable to any woman who can track down her lasers, and even to run-of-the-mill pros when she isn?t firing those precise darts. Wozniacki is the top player in the world; it?s unlikely that Bartoli will just push her back and blow her off the court. But each and every time the ball is put into play, the longer the point goes, the better you must like Wozniacki?s chances. With a full 14 seeding positions between the two, the underdog has every reason to just step in and let it fly, hoping that she?ll end points quickly and put Wozniacki under enough pressure to make her cave. Bartoli has a terrific service return?building an attacking strategy around it is the most obvious way she can make Wozniacki feel uncomfortable.
The head-to-head is 4-2 for Wozniacki, an impressive advantage given that, at 26, Bartoli has over a half-a-decade advantage in age and experience. But one of Bartoli?s wins was a 6-4, 6-1 blowout (Cincinnati, 2010), although Wozniacki avenged that the last time these two women met, just weeks ago in Doha, with an even more impressive one-and-one win.
2. Wozniacki?s game plan is rooted on consistency. Should she alter it in any way?
Not at all. Wozniacki is No. 1 in the world for a reason. The consistent game she plays carried her to the summit, while Bartoli?s aggressive game has taken her to?No. 17.
It?s hard to imagine that Wozniacki will be up all night before the final, wondering, ?What on earth can I do to beat this woman?? Their head-to-head record shows that what the world No. 1 does best is usually more than good enough.
But let?s face it, Bartoli can be very dangerous, and there?s little than can be done when she catches fire, as she did at Wimbledon in 2007, when she belted her way all the way to the final. Wozniacki needs to be prepared to take more chances and play a little more aggressively than she might need to against a more conventional player. My one word description for how Wozniacki ought to play is ?positive.? Step in and take the initiative; attack Bartoli?s serve while protecting your own by making a high percentage of first balls and moving the ball around in the box. The body serve is always a good tactic against a player like Bartoli, who uses two hands on both sides.
3. This match will be broadcast on national television in the U.S. What?s the best possible outcome for the WTA, considering the marquee men?s final that will follow?
Wozniacki is a very attractive advertisement for tennis and the WTA, although I wish they would do something about her bizarre ?glamour? photo that passes for a headshot in the media guide and at the WTA website. It really is inappropriate and looks terribly forced; look at me, I could be a supermodel! Wozniacki is attractive enough without having to resort to that kind of stuff.
Where were we, anyway? Oh, yeah. I think a good, close match combined with an artful narrative about Wozniacki?s rise and hopes for the future would be enough to captivate television viewers. But I hope ESPN can avoid excessive hype, or the temptation to oversell Wozniacki as the next big thing. I?d really work the crafty, dangerous veteran versus the fresh-faced and earnest ingénue angle, and stress the way opportunity abounds in this post Serena-Justine-Amelie era.
4. Would you consider a win at Indian Wells a significant stepping stone for Wozniacki, or is she already at Slam-or-bust level?
Absolutely, a big step. At 20, she?s still young enough for the air at the top to seem awfully thin at times. The more time she spends there, the more acclimated she will become. Wozniacki has played pretty well at the majors, and hasn't lost in enough of them, or lost in a sufficiently disappointing way, for this ?hasn?t won a major? theme to have a really corrosive effect on her mind. This is no Elena Dementieva, or even Dinara Safina, here. This is a young player whose trajectory hasn?t flattened out, so every win in a big tournament theoretically makes her a stronger, better, fitter competitor. That major title, when Wozniacki wins it, will be the logical end of a process in which a title at Indian Wells will be seen as a natural stepping stone. And this orderly ascent seems just about right for the kind of player and person Wozniacki appears to be.
Source: http://feeds.tennis.com/~r/tenniscom-features/~3/JJ3xXZsycNg/
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