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Tuesday, November 13, 2007

Vandeweghe at La Quinta; Susie Babos Feature


The Palm Springs Desert Sun's Leighton Ginn has been following Coco Vandeweghe's junior career very closely and with the Women's Pro Circuit in La Quinta this week, he wrote this story on her Monday qualifying win over Kelly Liggan, the No. 3 seed and 277th-ranked WTA player. Ginn also added an interesting tidbit that Michael Chang was there with Amber Liu. The cousin mentioned might be James Wan, who, like Liu, attended Stanford. Vandeweghe lost in straight sets today to Hilary Barte, who is also connected to the school in Palo Alto. With her qualifying victory over Vandeweghe, Barte earned a matchup with Madison Brengle. Julia Boserup, a wild card, had a big win in the main draw today, taking out Bethanie Mattek, the No. 6 seed, who is ranked 111. For complete results, see the Pro Circuit page at usta.com.

The Daily Californian profiled Cal's Susie Babos last week and it's a very interesting look at her relationship with her father, who, like so many young girls in Eastern Europe, was also her coach. This comment struck me as one I rarely hear from a college player:

“When I came in as a freshman, I thought I knew everything,” says Babos. “I thought I had experience and training before and so I was not open to anything, whereas right now if I don’t get coaching or feedback, I’m really upset and can’t function. So I think I’ve opened up now and it’s helped my game.”
It puts a rather ambivalent spin on coaching, doesn't it?

The story also mentions briefly in passing her younger sister, Timea, 14, who just won the Grade 3 ITF tournament in Malaysia. Her CoreTennis bio page is here.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

When I read the article I was struck by exactly the same comment.
Sounds very much like the player's independence and resourcefulness have been broken down by a process whereby they second-guess their training and natural instincts and replace them with an unhealthy reliance on the coach and other support staff.

Makes me one wonder if building that type of reliance - to the point where the player doesn't want to think for themselves (which should be a liberating experience) has held a lot of players back (or stunted them completely) when they hit the pro tour.

Anonymous said...

I interpreted it differently. I take it as Babos came in very stubborn. Basically refused coaching. Most college coaches can related to having players like this. Then, she finally realized that, wow, I don't know everything. Now, she loves the discussion about her game because she wants to keep getting better. Believes there is always something to improve on, which I think is a good mindset.

But, that's just my take.

Anonymous said...

I might have read it that way except Babos said, "if I don’t get coaching or feedback, I’m really upset and can’t function." That equates to a need for verbal reinforcement, acknowledgement and approval but not simply 'loving the discussion'.