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Post by janie on Apr 11, 2008 18:35:44 GMT -5
Mirjana will play British School of Motoring in the first round of qualifying for Charleston!!!!! I don't get the reference, but I'm excited to see Mirjana in the qualy draw here. PLEASE WIN THIS MATCH!! (no offense to Big Brenda, but Mirjana needs this more than BB does)
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Post by janie on Apr 12, 2008 13:58:29 GMT -5
Mirjana wins her biggest match in years, dominating Big Brenda 61 64 in under an hour. She's ready for prime time! (Or at least, she's ready to beat the Big Brendas of this world. Too bad there aren't more of them on the Tour!)
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Post by janie on Apr 29, 2008 11:10:20 GMT -5
After a miserable outing in Prague, Mirjana returns to action next week in the Florence 25K, thanks to the gift of a MD WC. I hope she can win a few matches there. For one thing, her 10 Italian Open points from last year will be falling off soon.
Apparently, Dokic has also received a WC here, but for qualies. Would be interesting to spy on any conversations between those two once-prouds.
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Post by janie on May 9, 2008 5:42:29 GMT -5
In her match with Dokic, Mirjana lead 63 53 40-15 and then fell apart. I hope she can start getting the hang of closing out matches soon.
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Post by janie on Jun 4, 2008 14:20:41 GMT -5
Mirjana qualified for the Rome 75K, but then fell in R1 to Giulia Gabba 46 67. This 2008 comeback is really, really slow in getting off the ground. Mirjana did win her 3 qualy matches here easily, but she has not beaten one quality player this season. And it won't help her confidence knowing that Jelena Dokic, in contrast, rolled over Gabba recently, and will be in the top 250 when the next rankings come out. Mirjana still has a ways to go to hit the top 500.
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Post by Brinyi on Jun 4, 2008 14:45:47 GMT -5
Mirjana qualified for the Rome 75K, but then fell in R1 to Giulia Gabba 46 67. This 2008 comeback is really, really slow in getting off the ground. Mirjana did win her 3 qualy matches here easily, but she has not beaten one quality player this season. And it won't help her confidence knowing that Jelena Dokic, in contrast, rolled over Gabba recently, and will be in the top 250 when the next rankings come out. Mirjana still has a ways to go to hit the top 500. GG! The loss to Dokic was a fluke.
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Post by janie on Sept 21, 2008 7:19:50 GMT -5
Lucic hasn't played since July, but is now signed up for three US challengers in a row. She starts her latest campaign in 50K Ashland qualies, against Nanda Alves. I hope this time the comeback will finally take off; it would be pretty discouraging to end the year still ranked in the 400's after actually trying.
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Post by janie on Oct 20, 2008 12:08:15 GMT -5
Today in Augusta qualies, Mirjana clobbered the college player who beat her last week. This was a good recovery from the 3-set win she squeaked out against a junior player yesterday. Just 2 rounds of qualies this week, so now she moves to the main draw and I hope for once she can go far there. Her record number of wins in a week this year is 3; it's going to be a shame if she can't change that sad story by the end of this season. Of course her whole season has been extremely disappointing, but good for her (I guess) for hanging in there with so little of the encouragement a player gets from winning. I'm still stunned that she has finally gotten herself into good shape and played pretty regularly this whole season -- yet still finds herself stuck at a pathetic #441.
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Post by janie on Oct 21, 2008 13:02:23 GMT -5
Lucic def Somewhat Rampant Moulton Lava 75 61. Now burst through that barrier and get that 4th win!
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Post by janie on Oct 21, 2008 13:06:37 GMT -5
This is so silly, talking to myself on this thread. It's like "My Own Lucic Diary" around here. But maybe someday soon Mirjana will catch fire and then a whole bandwagon will form and this thread will be THE place to be, and like 5 or even 6 people will post here! It could happen! I want to be ready.
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Post by Brinyi on Oct 21, 2008 13:14:56 GMT -5
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Post by janie on Oct 21, 2008 15:01:26 GMT -5
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Post by GoDom on Oct 21, 2008 16:09:03 GMT -5
I think the problem with Lucic is that she has never been consistently good.
She has had 5 good tournaments. That's all. Bol 1997, Strasbourg 1997, Bol 1998, Rome 1998, Wimbledon 1999. Her best ranking was 46.
That's pretty mediocre and wouldn't normally be worth remembering. So why do we still care (a little)? Because Mirjana was so young, and because she was so scary good in these few tournaments.
But in retrospect these results and performances have to be called flukes. Note where she achieved these: in her home tournament (Bol), and the greatest tournament of all (Wimbledon). In Wimbledon, she beat Erika de Lone 3-6 7-6 7-5 in the first round, after that she was put on show courts and went on this incredible run. What I'm trying to say is that she had extrinsic motivation in these events and that obviously helped her a lot. During the regular season, she didn't have this, and that led to sucking.
Maybe she is just not that good, and/or not really loving tennis enough to do better. Which makes you wonder why she's still trying after all those years. I just don't see how she could ever get back to a decent level, there's just no indication for that happening.
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Post by Maeby Fünke on Oct 21, 2008 16:22:32 GMT -5
32!
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Post by GoDom on Oct 21, 2008 16:51:54 GMT -5
Yeah sorry. I thought it was in the 30's but I foolishly went with ITF info.
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Post by janie on Oct 22, 2008 8:32:00 GMT -5
I think the problem with Lucic is that she has never been consistently good. She has had 5 good tournaments. That's all. Bol 1997, Strasbourg 1997, Bol 1998, Rome 1998, Wimbledon 1999. Her best ranking was 46. That's pretty mediocre and wouldn't normally be worth remembering. So why do we still care (a little)? Because Mirjana was so young, and because she was so scary good in these few tournaments. But in retrospect these results and performances have to be called flukes. Note where she achieved these: in her home tournament (Bol), and the greatest tournament of all (Wimbledon). In Wimbledon, she beat Erika de Lone 3-6 7-6 7-5 in the first round, after that she was put on show courts and went on this incredible run. What I'm trying to say is that she had extrinsic motivation in these events and that obviously helped her a lot. During the regular season, she didn't have this, and that led to sucking. Maybe she is just not that good, and/or not really loving tennis enough to do better. Which makes you wonder why she's still trying after all those years. I just don't see how she could ever get back to a decent level, there's just no indication for that happening. Good point, she never was consistently good at all. But the reason I still have minor hopes for her is that her life with her abusive dad was apparently pretty horrific back then, and that *may* be one reason she never was able to get anywhere near what seemed to be her huge potential. I just don't think she's intrinsically hopeless like Alexandra Stevenson, who can hardly move at all yet is completely unaware of that being a problem. Okay, maybe too many years have passed and maybe Mirjana's mentality is not capable of getting her back to top 40 even if she could/can afford top coaching and training. But I honestly believe she ought to be able to get back to top 50-75 and should be able to beat some quality players now and then, and even have the odd fantastic WTA tournament again. Maybe something like an Iva Majoli, minus the Slam title.
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Post by R. Black on Oct 22, 2008 9:38:29 GMT -5
Her game is very hit and miss. When you have personal problems and other issues, that's a recipe for disaster.
At this point of her career, a return at the top 100 would be miraculous.
It's hard to judge her talent when we haven't seen her play much the last decade or so. Her game was certainly lethal, but without consistency it's useless.
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Post by janie on Oct 22, 2008 10:52:50 GMT -5
Can't consistency be learned/gained? Clijsters, for example, seemed to gain it over time.
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Post by GoDom on Oct 22, 2008 11:58:07 GMT -5
Clijsters is a better tennis player.
All we know about Mirjana is that she can hit the ball very hard and flat. And that it doesn't work most of the time. She's playing a very low-percentage game. She could maybe become more consistent, but only at the expense of htting hard and flat. Then she would be a different (more mediocre) player and even more uninteresting.
Also, she's 26 and hasn't done shit for a decade now. There must be reasons for that.
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Post by janie on Jan 19, 2009 12:21:58 GMT -5
Mirjana won a match in 25K qualies in Florida yesterday. Who needs Melbourne, anyway -- LUTZ is where it's at!
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Post by janie on Jan 21, 2009 14:07:21 GMT -5
For the first time in God knows how many years, Mirjana has won 4 matches in a row. The courts in Lutz are like her backyard, to borrow a Becker/Sampras quote!
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Post by Maeby Fünke on Feb 8, 2009 11:42:11 GMT -5
I was away and missed this. The last time she won 4 matches in a row it was drug-assisted.
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Post by janie on Apr 14, 2009 19:55:52 GMT -5
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Post by leelee on Apr 14, 2009 22:37:48 GMT -5
Janie, it's so unlike you to be smitten with a brainless bashing Barbie like Mirjana.
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Post by janie on Apr 15, 2009 6:54:40 GMT -5
I know! I don't understand it, either.
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Post by freudo on Apr 17, 2009 9:14:12 GMT -5
thanks Janie, I remember her. Hoped for her, too. Who were the other two Cinderellas at Wimby in 1998. Was Dokic one? The third eludes me still.
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Post by GoDom on Apr 17, 2009 10:31:39 GMT -5
Dokic and Sexy Lexy, of course! (1999 it was)
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Post by Edna Krabappel on Apr 17, 2009 10:39:23 GMT -5
Granville is only 27? I could have sworn she was 35 or something.
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Post by janie on Apr 29, 2009 13:11:33 GMT -5
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Post by janie on Oct 2, 2009 16:03:03 GMT -5
For the first time since Wimbledon 1999, Mirjana Lucic has reached a semifinal . Sure it's only a 50K, but she had to qualify just to play it. Congrats, kid! Hope you can go straight up from here.
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