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Post by sasha on Jun 20, 2007 19:05:13 GMT -5
Indeed. ALG is a mess.
But, what do you expect when you get a coach like him...
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Post by janie on Jun 20, 2007 20:33:53 GMT -5
Just saw this more-detailed article which was posted later. Another German article, translated by a German poster @ wtaworld:
Losing balance again
Roland Garros’ court # 2 is a small, intimate stadium. The players discern “who” sits “where” at first glance. Who is cheering for you, and who is not. So Anna-Lena Groenefeld exactely recognized where her friends were sitting: coach Dirk Dier, his partner and fed-cup-coach Barbara Rittner, who tried to cheer her up with shouting “keep going! Aggressive. Your game. Come on!” Once Dier was shouting “Come and be mad!”
She should be mad to her opponent, to French woman Mathilde Johansson. But Groenefeld was just mad about herself. Again and again she was looking for a conversation with her coach. Her blonde hair strict to the back, desperate looking face.
The reason sat at the other side of the court, behind her opponent’s coaches. “He”, as Groenefeld is calling him: her former coach Rafael Font de Mora. He sat at the enemy’s box, laughing commentating the German errors – pure provocation. When she saw him she knew: she couldn’t win.
A bizarre, humbling spectacle which was going on there at the first round of the French Open, in Paris, where Anna-Lena Groenefeld likes to play most. In 2003 she won the junior-title here, the year when she went to Font de Mora’s tennis academy in Arizona, being absolutely determined to go all the way, whatever the cost.
In 2006 she reached the quaterfinals, losing to tournament-winner Justine Henin after a hard fight. The teenager from Nordhorn had changed into an ascetic appearing fighting-machine, fulfilling all her coaches instructions. She appeared manipulated.
Already in September 2006 she couldn’t take this minority anymore and split with him. 9 month later, again in Paris, with almost 22 years she reached a new low. Mathilde Johansson, the world’s # 126, had not to do too much for winning the match 7-5 6-4. It was Groenefeld ex-coach who won. In a frightening way she still feels dependent on him.
6 month after the separation things seemed to go into the right direction, with the victory over Croatia in Fed-cup. She found a new home in Saarbrücken and a new sensitive coach. Got advice from a psychologist and got used to different feeding. She lost weight and seemed to feel free after some weeks off from tournament-tennis.
But at her home tournament in Berlin she met Font de Mora again, the man who controled her life for more than 3 years for almost every second. Sitting in the stands in Berlin, then in Rome and now in Paris and each time Groefeld lost in round 1. :red:
Persistently he is spreading that he will sue Groenefeld, because she was breaking their contracts. While they are negotiating about removing contracts, Font de Mora is capable of black mailing the other side with sitting at the stands while Groenefeld is playing. He made her losing balance again.
“It is not about tennis” said Dier after the match. Depite her weight Groenefeld actually had to beat the elegant just as much as harmless French woman. But always, when she gained momentum, her game completely broke. Strokes flying into nowhere, drop shots touching the ground before reaching the net, one DF followed by another. He couldn’t blame Anna-lena said Dier, “except, she could tell a bit more”.
At the decisive point, the dependence on her former coach, even he could not reach her. Barbara Rittner proposed another time off after the loss to Johansson, until negotiations about Font de Mora’s contracts were finished.
Anna-Lena Groenefeld herself did not want to hear anything about that after the loss. “It is getting critical.” She said, responding to the crisis. “There cannot be worse to come”. Her entire career is at stake now. She insists on her pride and joy, her great victories in Paris in the past. “It was ME who was on court, not HIM” she said. On the other hand she wasn’t willing to pay such a heavy price of success again. The nearness of her family and her self-deciding life give her pleasure these days.
But her entire courage, her self-esteem is completely falling apart as soon as she is beholding him. “When he is demonstratively sitting in the 2nd row in the opponent’s box...” she says “that’s not helping”. Asked whether she couldn’t shake off this. “No” she answers, and there were tears in her eyes.
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Post by Grarliner on Jun 20, 2007 21:12:39 GMT -5
Sounds like an ex-lover, yes ...
Although we haven't heard from him?
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Post by sasha on Jun 20, 2007 21:33:21 GMT -5
Yes. He had sexual relations with Shaughnessy when she was 13, somewhere around there... then, they married recently. Sounds extremely creepy.
Geez, I don't know how any parents could let their talented kids go to some tennis coach...
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Post by janie on Jun 21, 2007 5:57:53 GMT -5
The threat to sue her sounds to me like one of those "the best defense is a great offense" things. Even the stalking might be a tactic to intimidate her against charging him in the courts. For Meghann to stay with a guy who's acting like this is . I really can't root for her any more.
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Post by janie on Jun 21, 2007 6:00:05 GMT -5
Meanwhile, Akgul's getting thrashed out there.
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Post by janie on Jun 21, 2007 6:57:59 GMT -5
Su-Wei has qualified. And so has Pair o' Beanies, taking full advantage of her QWC. I was very wrong to question her selection!
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Post by corswandt on Jun 21, 2007 8:40:31 GMT -5
Meanwhile, Akgul's getting thrashed out there. Freaks are fun and everything, but not at the expense of Szavay. But look on the bright side: Kookie lost to one of your Latin Americans.
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Post by Brinyi on Jun 21, 2007 9:06:49 GMT -5
Su-Wei! The Zak. Akgul the Giant. Brandi.
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Post by janie on Jun 21, 2007 10:23:03 GMT -5
Meanwhile, Akgul's getting thrashed out there. Freaks are fun and everything, but not at the expense of Szavay. But look on the bright side: Kookie lost to one of your Latin Americans. She's not a freak. She's barely taller than Bovina. But yes, Jorgelina pulled out another tough 3-setter! What a great surprise she's been this week.
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Post by janie on Jun 21, 2007 10:39:15 GMT -5
Ayumi Morita def. Paola Suarez 7-5, 7-5
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Post by Brinyi on Jun 21, 2007 10:49:12 GMT -5
Ayumi Morita def. Paola Suarez 7-5, 7-5 -- at least it was Ayumi (LIT).
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Post by DevilishAttitude on Jun 21, 2007 11:20:39 GMT -5
The problem for Groenefeld is, despite Font De Mora being insane, is her best results were with him, and she has never been anywhere near the same since they spilt.
It's funny, it all started going pear-shaped around this time last year when she choked away her match against Kuznetsova at Eastbourne.
Shaughnessy has gone back to him hasn't she? Although her days as a Top 30 player seem to have finished quite a while ago.
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Post by janie on Jun 21, 2007 11:21:23 GMT -5
Ditty and Kops-Jones qualified! Julie Ditty living her dream, man oh man this must be exciting for her.
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Post by lexpretend on Jun 21, 2007 12:54:14 GMT -5
The problem for Groenefeld is, despite Font De Mora being insane, is her best results were with him, and she has never been anywhere near the same since they spilt. That might be because he's harassing her, and she seems to be scared stiff of him, rather than because he was the best person for her tennis. Su-Wei, Zi, Tatiana P, Ayumi Akgul, Andreja, Alinka (how on earth does anyone lose to Snorova??) Is Cravero actually, like, one of those players who's best on clay and grass, or did Gojnea and Kookie just completely blow?
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Post by DBBN on Jun 21, 2007 13:49:39 GMT -5
BarbOra qualified!! Agnes, Ayumi, Pair O'Beanies, Zi, Su-Wei
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Post by janie on Jun 21, 2007 14:51:18 GMT -5
BarbOra, are you kidding me? :eek:
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Post by Pamela Shriver on Jun 21, 2007 15:51:49 GMT -5
Shaughnessy has gone back to him hasn't she? Although her days as a Top 30 player seem to have finished quite a while ago. She's not only back with him as her coach, she married the guy. Meghann had the same dilemma that ALG does: her best results were with Font de Mora. When she left him, her career went to hell. Since she went back to him, it looks like she's finally starting to rebuild.
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Post by sasha on Jun 21, 2007 18:29:37 GMT -5
Ugh, that gives me shivers.
Andy, stop liking her.
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Post by Grarliner on Jun 22, 2007 0:12:37 GMT -5
Yes. He had sexual relations with Shaughnessy when she was 13, somewhere around there... then, they married recently. Sounds extremely creepy. Geez, I don't know how any parents could let their talented kids go to some tennis coach... I agree! Send only the untalented ones!
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Post by corswandt on Jun 22, 2007 8:08:13 GMT -5
Women's draw is out. QF matchups are Henin vs Serena Williams Jankovic vs Chakvetadze Ivanovic vs Mauresmo Kuznetsova vs Sharapova 4R matchups are Henin vs Schnyder [or more likely A. Bondarenko] Hantuchova vs Serena Williams Jankovic vs Peer Hingis vs Chakvetadze Ivanovic vs Petrova Vaidisova vs Mauresmo Kuznetsova vs Dementieva [Golovin is also in there] Safina vs Sharapova [Venus Williams is also in there] Sharapova to play Venus Williams 4R. Bye bye Maria. Jankovic may actually have a shot at #1 with this draw. Many interesting 1R matchups: Bartoli vs Pennetta Vinci vs Harkleroad Hantuchova vs Pavlyuchenkova Safina vs K. Bondarenko Peer vs Tanasugarn (upset?) Dementieva vs Dechy (upset) Pironkova vs Radwanska (again) And some funny ones: Serena Williams vs LDL Schnyder vs Pin Smashnova vs Müller
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Post by janie on Jun 22, 2007 8:46:14 GMT -5
I'm pissed at Serena for not bothering to play and get her ranking up.
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Post by corswandt on Jun 22, 2007 9:09:25 GMT -5
I'm pissed at Serena for not bothering to play and get her ranking up. Awwww, you're afraid that big, scary, shouty, muscle-y thing is going to do nasty stuff to widdle Juju. I'm looking forward to yet another anticlimactic horror show. The rivalry women's tennis needs - yeah right.
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Post by DBBN on Jun 22, 2007 9:13:29 GMT -5
That Muller (SEEDED!) vs. Smashnova match...I literally LOLed when I saw that.
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Post by sasha on Jun 22, 2007 9:29:39 GMT -5
Hey, Maria will make another final and get slaughtered. I already don't care about the women's side.
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Post by janie on Jun 22, 2007 10:32:49 GMT -5
I'm pissed at Serena for not bothering to play and get her ranking up. Awwww, you're afraid that big, scary, shouty, muscle-y thing is going to do nasty stuff to widdle Juju. I'm looking forward to yet another anticlimactic horror show. The rivalry women's tennis needs - yeah right. Hey, it's okay with me if SW and JH make the QFs and play "yet another anticlimactic horror show". As long as it's Justine who's dishing out the horror.
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Post by DBBN on Jun 22, 2007 10:59:39 GMT -5
I'm pretty sure that Justine will win if they meet.
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Post by janie on Jun 22, 2007 13:28:04 GMT -5
Really? I'm glad to hear that, Hurley, because I'm aware that I can't usually be objective when it comes to evaluating JH's chances -- and NEVER when it comes to her chances against her mighty foe Serena. Watching JH implode in the Miami final after racing off to a huge lead confirmed my concerns about the vast real estate that SW obviously still occupies in JH's anxious little head. But hey, if Carlos thinks that loss was a good thing, who am I to think otherwise.
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Post by DBBN on Jun 22, 2007 14:12:15 GMT -5
Well, it's a good thing I control the Earth through my predictions.
I don't know...I just have a feeling.
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Post by Traveling Man on Jun 22, 2007 16:04:07 GMT -5
Well, either Henin or Silliams will not be a semifinalist, which is always good. A Sharapova or Mauresmo victory would be beautiful. A Serbian slam champ would be great too. Anyone but Henin or Williams X2.
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