Had to have a peek at the score even though I won't see the match until I get home later.

Yes I was shocked, but then again Ivanovic has generated a lot of buzz lately.

What I will take away is that Martina made the Finals, saved the Tournament when most of the big guns dropped out, and drew a crowd of 8,000 on a Monday!!! That says a lot about her continued popularity

My take on the whole thing is this yes Martina lost, but she lost to a very good player, even Martina in her speech recognized Anna was just too good. But look at it this way also Martina will now be ranked number 8 at the U.S. Open so she won't have to face any of the really big players until at least the quarters. That's a huge advantage. And hey she's already ranked #9 after only 8 months not many players can say that . Plus I have no doubt Martina will come back next year and beat Ivanovic's butt in Toronto .

Its funny that some people are getting such strong reactions as above. Don't get too upset by these word guys, if the writer is really a martina fan and is trully disappointed... atleast they fill like s**t!

Had to have a peek at the score even though I won't see the match until I get home later.

Yes I was shocked, but then again Ivanovic has generated a lot of buzz lately.

What I will take away is that Martina made the Finals, saved the Tournament when most of the big guns dropped out, and drew a crowd of 8,000 on a Monday!!! That says a lot about her continued popularity

But what is most important here as John said is that she is now #9 in the world, she has reached that goal much sooner than people expected, and I'm very proud of her for this.

March on Martina and show them all up at the US Open!!

Well ... seems I can't stop writing now ... I wanna say so much things, share so much thoughts, and somehow I know I can't ...

I'm still too sad, but I'll try ... well ... I'm really happy to know that Marti finally is in top 10, she deserved to be there, she worked so hard whole year for this, and I really dont' care what will say all these stupid maximalists, who are only able to judge in a selfish way Marti's achievements. She is a great player, a great person with huge will, I think, I'm saying it for a milion time, but we all should be thankful that she just decided to come back to this sport. Tennis is a huge part of her life, we aren't even talking about the money, prizes and so on ... it's a life passion, it's not a momentum caprice, it's her job, like my father is an engineer, Marti is a professional tennis player, a living legend, great person with great name all over the world. And we should remember that she is having that name, because she worked very hard to achieve all her successes, vicoties, trophys, not riding her horses, or spending money on a parties, but working so many hours every day, every single day ...

And I'm really angry seeing so often here stupid commentaries, judging her as a person, I wonder why all these "fans" aren't saying anything negative, when Marti wins, but when she is loosing, they just appear from nowhere, and are writing shits ... we must learn to loose, life is a real battle, we have successes and wastes, great days, and bad days, nice moments and unpleasant moments. We have to knwo it's pretty normal.

I was so angry 1 hour ago, that I even used obscene words, but I know I'm wrong, because I love too much Marti to be able to be angry too long, she's my biggest source of inspiration, since I'm ever interested in this sport, and it'll always be like that, I'll never stop supporting her, because she's a great example that really in this life impossible is nothing, wneh you want and wish something so much you finally have it - she wanted to be a top 10 player again, and she is now, yes she lost today, but everyone can loose sometimes so important matches, she got more advantages than disadvantages from this tournament, and I'm glad she made a couple of great victories there. Soon comes US Open, she'll play there well I'm sure, Ana was wonderful today, and someties we have to accept the reality as it is, it'll always be better, I'm sure

Marti, I'm with you, you are the best and will always be !!!!!!!!!!!


Josi

I am shocked and disappointed ~!

I thought martina would obviously win ~!

At least she broke into the top 10 ~!

I kept on checking if the 41 singles titles changed into 42 singles titles on her

record on her Wikipedia page ~!

Well,,, I live in England and don't have cable/satellite TV,,,,so i couldn't see it,,,,

but by the looks of all your guys' opinions,,,,

Martina played less than average and Ana played like Roger Federer or Navratilova at their best !

I'm so sad and frustrated right now,,,, I def. hope she makes it into at least the semis this US OPEN ~!

So many awful fans, I hope we will get rid of them soon.

To the match. Almost nothing to do, you have to say too good.
Martina should have not made some silly mistake but she was pressured all the time. Even when the serve was good she got in troubles. One suggestion; please Martina when you are in command in a rally go a little bit for the line, not too much but a little bit.


Now waiting impatiently for the open.

Ana had nothing to lose, and that helped her immensely. Hingis, tough luck and good luck at the US Open!

Ivanovic played strong today and really pushed Martina around. She came up big in the final.

As for Martina, anyone who's upset or disappointed must have been watching a different tournament than I have. She had a great week, she got to #9, will be #8 at the US Open and made the final of a Tier 1.

I prefere to think about what she accomplished. Some improvement needed? Sure, but I am sure 2 very bright tennis mind will now be looking to get ready for New York. That's work for M&M, not me!

JOANNA,

As long as Martina has fans like you, she'll never lose.

It's strange. but I am not dissapointed. Ana was perfection today, Martina was at a fairly low level and she lost....that's that. She had a great week, and I like her match toughness and prep going into NY. Congrats on another final Marti, good luck in NY!

I agree, great post Josi. I, myself, ignore Martina Talk on the board when Martina loses. Some guys really piss me off. I am on the side of people who prays she's back instead of being hard on her. And it's great to know there are those type people here

Life goes on... Maybe next time, ha? Thanks for the beautiful week Princess. It is enough for us to see you back!

Martina did not play her best in her last 2 games, but her comeback accomplishments have been outstanding, and she is having a great time and great experiences, and I will continue to support her as long as she wants to continue playing.

10x, John, I am disappointed, but I'm not ever gonna dare to judge Marti the way some people did this night ... she lost, but this is not world's end, it's not of course nice, but if your game isn't working, and the opponentis taking the opportunity, and shows her skills this way, you really can't do anything, I thought Marti was able to win the 2nd set, but Ana played really strong, Marti couldn't handle it, bad luck, bad day, always possible




Your posts are great, too, Pelin, I like to see more fans like you, life really goes on, we have to concentrate now on US Open start, it was a great week, great Marti ranking now, and of course nice emotions

While I understand most fans will want to support her....blindly refusing to critise (constructively) Martina will not help. She needs people to push her forward.

I understand why people say she has done great things since she has come back etc etc....but this is not enough for Martina. She wants to win Grand Slams and right now she looks along way from it. Early next year will be hugely important for Martina. I do not expect to see any big tournament wins from here on in this season but big decisions will have to be taken by her in the off season along with alot of hard work. I suspect that if we do not see massive improvement in Australia we might not see too much more of her.

So she didn't play all that good today,big deal, I just hope she plays better in the US Open. Im going to be positive and just be happy she made the final.

I'll give it a week. Maybe by then everyone would have gotten over the loss. I have enough people and negativity to deal with at work, and I don't need more of it. Having said that, I do understand why people are dissapointed by the result. Let's try not to be our own worst enemy and argue with each other, which seems to always happen after a loss.

I think Martina had a good week, not playing her best, but still got to the finals. The whole thing is she hasn't peaked too early, which I think has been a problem for her in the past. She'll play stellar up to the Grand Slam, then struggle in the second week of the Grand Slam, because she's physically knackered. The US Open is going to be extremely tough conditions, so its important to go into it without any injuries. Touch wood, that she stays in good shape, because the tour is starting to look like the walking wounded. Which explains why the young players are doing well, we could be witnessing the start of the changing of the guard, even if some of the young players are also getting injured, their injuries are not long-term types like Davenport or Cjisters. Hingis is still hanging in there physically, despite of all the matches she's played so far this year, so she's proving that she'll still be around for a while yet, if the mind is willing. Frankly Cjisters' body and mind must be starting to waver, as is probably the case with Davenport. I think Henin-Hardenne and Mauresmo will be around for the next few years, as will the Williams, but none of them look terribly durable do they? Sharapova will have extensive shoulder problems if she doesn't fix that forehand of hers, and Vaidsova and Jankovic, are already showing signs of fatigue prior to the US Open, having pulled out with 'iffy' injuries.

Although the Kutznesova match took it out of her legs, and every other match was pretty tight, I think Martina will recover in time for the US Open, provided she skips Pilot Pen. Its a catch 22. She could play more matches to get match fit, but at the expense of her energy levels going into the US Open. Frankly I think she has to think about her stamina first at this stage. She got her match practice. She'll get more in the early rounds provided she does not play a wild card player, which I think every player wants to avoid.

I thought Ana would have a good chance to win, after her relatively light week, where she had Jankovic pull out of their match (that is one match up I would like to see - Jankovic may be the better player in the long run). After that, she easily handled Safina, and I expected Safina to play a lot better, but Safina may have been affected by the number of matches she had to play in singles and doubles (seems everyone is struggling in the match fitness area). Also Ana's coach knows Martina's game better than most opposition coaches. Which was one reason I thought Hingis would have had a better chance against Safina. That and Hingis' game matches up better with Safina. I have heard Ana sort of plays like Lindsay, which is not a good match up for Martina. Having said that Martina has worked out a way to win against Lindsay on several occassions, so expect a better tactic from her, the next time they meet. Congrats to Ana, for the victory. Congrats to Martina for saving the tournament, and being a good sport. We can't win them all, and while she's out there competing, I will suporting Martina 100%. I still have not found another player I want to support above Martina. Sometimes I wonder if I'll ever follow tennis the same way, when she does finally hang up the racquet. That makes me sadder than today's result by a country mile, and reminds me to keep enjoying this second career, this second chance, for as long as it lasts.

Overall a dissapointing finals, but a good week's work. Looking forward for the US Open draw on Wednesday.

It seems her goals aren't quite as high in the intermediate term as you suggest. This is from her post semi-final interview:

"I just made the top 10, so calm down. To get to No. 1 you have to win a Grand Slam. So far, I've made it to the quarterfinals. Now I have to get to the semis."

A lot earlier in the year, her goal was just to make the top 32 and be seeded for tournaments.

Yeah, but what canwe do? Tell me what can we do, how can we help Marti, we're just ordinary fans, fans who love her, who wanna see her progressing, winning, having nice moments on courts, but it does not depennd on us in any way, we may only show our support in such moments as today match was ... what can I do to make Marti play better, I may only show her my support, thew problem is not that we are always claiming her zchievemnts, the main problem is that there are people in this community who are born to criticize and judge, they hate any kind of loss, and they are too imatient.

So.. the only player who cannot lose lost.. so everything is again a disaster for some ppl... for them I have to say --> Get a Life.

Ana made a perfect match, absolutely perfect, I don't remeber to see anyone holding so good the serve as she did, she had 80% of points won in the 1st set and in the second it wasn't different.
This match was equal to the match against Elena in Tokyo (the other final she lost this year), her opponent just made a perfect match. Elena on that day would beat everybody, and today Ana would beat anyone too, and I do mean ANYONE.

Some forget the great things martina did this tournament, beating Hantuchova after having the 1st set almost lost, and gave Kuzzy no chances at all.

Some forget that she reached the top 10 just after less than 8 months after a 3 year break, please name me ONE player who would do the same...

Yes, Martina did not play at her best today, but Ana was too good, and put everything on question just because of this loss is foolish.

By the way, I think this loss has some good points, Martina said after the match she has things to improve before US Open, and maybe this match made her realize which things she has to improve.
Othe thing, this made her know how Ivanovic plays, so in a next match she will now what to do.

Helder

I'm acutally watching the match and I must admit that Ana hits the ball really with unique way, very powerful, even her serve is very powerful, what can Marti do, her serve was weak, Ana's forehand is very effective, she's even playing nice dropshots ... so there's no reason to judge Marti, Ana is wonderful in this match, she's giving no any chances for Marti, so ... I hope it was just a bad day, and nothing else

When I followed the live scoring in the chatroom, I was extremely disappointed by this loss. Now, 3 hours later, and after watching the replay on TV, I feel much better.

Ivanovic played unbelievably well. Her forehand, her pinpoint accuracy with those groundstrokes, her confidence.... it's scary. If she plays like that all the time she'll be a top 3 player very very soon. But can she play this well consistently? That's the question. Only time will tell if she's a streaky or consistent type of player, but she really impressed me this week.

Martina didn't play her best tennis, but those who said she sucked should get a grip. She did miss a few more overheads and volleys than usual, but while she didn't play nearly as well as she did against Kuznetsova, there was not much she could do today. Yes, she can improve many things, but come on, this loss is not as embarrassing as the score seems.

I'm mainly disappointed because this was one opportunity for Martina to win another title. But on a day like this, what can you do, eh? Not much. I only hope that Martina continues to keep her head up and peak come US Open time. If she meets Ivanovic again, I don't think Ana will play as well as she did, and Martina will have a few more answers to her game.

Cheer up! Martina is now ranked #9. She is guaranteed a #8 seeding in the US Open. She reached her 3rd Tier 1 final. She avenged her loss to Kuznetsova. She's healthy. I, for one, am happy about her results this season!

Well, it is disappointing and i did want her to win...but oh well, there is always a next time. Look at the bright side.. Marti is in the top ten did pull out some good matches... I am more optimistic now about the US Open than I was a week ago.

I know most of you are unhapy, angry and dissapointed to say the least but hang in there... it hasnt even been a year since her comeback and she is climbing up the ladder as we speak. The titles, Grand Slams and top 5 are yet to come... be patient alright!

Uhm, Seles, when she came to the Tour in 1995 after more than 2 years off? Also, Clijsters did pretty well after nearly a year off due to injuries, rising from #133 to #2 in the rankings in a span of, what, 8 months?

Anyway, congrats to Martina for a good week. Hopefully she can go deep at the US Open. And hopefully, she can start seriously challenging for the slams again by next year. Lots of room for improvement still, I know we're all hoping that she's willing to make them.

nearly 1 year isn't 3 years.. in which 2 of them were completely off tennis...

And Seles was 2 years off and in the first year just won in Toronto, like Martina just won Rome, but this year isn't over...
Seles' comeback can be compared, but Martina's absence was bigger than Seles' one...

Martina look very Frustated today... something you dont get to see a lot... but today Ana was perfection.. and Martina was not having her best day...

We all really sad in forum .. we just need to keep the cheers and the support

She is been doing great !!! she is in the TOP 10 of the world!!! so dont you guys forget that...

Well, after watching the match you have to hand it to Ana, she played brilliantly. Her heavy-hitting whack the ball style reminds me a little of Capriati. Thoroughly deserved the win and I think Hingis didn't play her best but I think it was because Ana didn't allow her to play her best!

Which makes me wonder if Hingis can get back into the top 5 to be honest. Not impossible of course, but today it was painfully obvious that she's just too weak against the power hitters. She had no weapons. Maybe she needs to use her brain more like she did when she beat Sharapova in their first match. In that game she seemed to absorb all the power coming at her, but in today's game she seemed like she didn't know how to handle it.

In any case it will be interesting to see what happens over the next months.

Usually I'm a "doom and gloom-er" but I don't mind this loss. After all it's a loss to an up and coming star, now if Marti lost to say, Kimmy, or Sharapova then I would be doing the doom and gloom and I will be extremely and royally pissed. However since the loss is to Ivanovic, I don't mind, I'm happy for Ivanovic, I mean of course I wanted marti to win but it's all good, she's now a Top 10 player, and it's amazing what she has done. Congrats to Ivanovic for the win.

Right, Nanso, don't be so sad, people, it's gonna be ok, and Marti knows it, it was just a bad Hingis day ... no luck, no desire to fight, no variety, no smart shots, almost nothing, except several nice dropshots and powerful shots, but it wasn't enough, each Ana' s game component was perfect today, this day was hers, however Marti didn't said the last word, there will be a revenge I'm sure, sooner or later, they'll mett again, and this time Marti will have more clear vision how to beat her

SteffiFan she did beat Kuzzy, Shara and other "power" girls, so she can beat them.
One thing that some might not see is that she continues to adjust her game, in this tournament we saw some improvement of her serve, saw also more risk on the forehand...

Since she cameback in January I always thought, and I continue to think, that this year would be for her to adjust her game to the tour, and the next year would be a great year, or at least her game would be at its peak or almost at its peak...

Look there is just one way to beat the power player: to be aggressive.

If you look at the match Martina was many times passed by a winner. But how many times during a rally has she had the opportunity to go for a good shot close to the line but refused to do so hitting a safer shot? Would she have done that the match would have been much closer.

http://www.swissinfo.org/eng/front/detail/...y=1156190385000
The above link tells it all!!!!!!!

Yeah this is THE ARTICLE ... everything said, true ... hope it'll be better, nothing more has to be, than better

Guys it is not just about power....She played really a aggresive tennis in the first 5 games of the second set, and presented a really good style of power play. If u trust your self, u had the energy and soul, u hit the ball as hard as possible....That's all..........The problem with Marty is, she can not go on her aggresive style more than 3-4 games, because she does not believe in her self......Women's tennis is becoming simillar to men's tennis.2-3 years ago..Just hold on your limitations, keep going, if u have a little bit chance you can win A Slam.... Marty has a very big advantage from other power hitters, she can win great matches although she is not playing hunderd percent!!! I believe that Ana would win another tournament 3-4 years later.... She played her perfect tennis, she was lucky, she concantred well....Well done! But she could loose to Shaar Peer or any other ordinarty player in U.S oPEN......

I've seen ana play many times,but have never seen play anywhere near as good as today- not even the two times she beat world no 1 Mo.

Hingis won in Rome but lost in Paris, petrova grabbed quite lots of titles before French open, but she got kicked out in the first round. So sometimes, it's much better to lose something before Grand slam, in other words, players have to save their luck for the grand slam. compared with the upcoming Us open, a loss or a victory in a tier 1 tournament is not that important. i am not sad over her loss today, i simply care about how far she can go in the grand slam like US OPEN.

Are you mentally distorted????Hingis just lost in a common tournament before grand slam , which shouldnt have made you so furious. I want Hingis to have her good day in the us open but not here. you are supposed to know what you said has revealed how ignorant and childish you are. it's you that should retire from the forum and never appear here again!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! everybody here hates you and thus forgets about you!!!!!!

Wow, hate is a pretty strong word dont ya think? Anyway, sometimes you just run into players who are just too good that day. Ana just played out of her mind. Hingis ain't a dummy, she'll be ready for the Open!

guys i think many of u'll forgot that ana's coach was hingis training partner not to long ago.
he knows th nook and corners of hingis game, where to attack and stuff like that. i was mentioning it since yesterday which is why i was not too confident of the final. hingis was just caught off-guard, didnt know how to attack her as the game went to fast.
i assure you the next time it would be a totally different affair.
besides lets not forget, ana also trashed amelie right before Australian Open.
ana and few youngster like nicole have some great days where they appear unbeatable. so there is nothing much to worry about.

His posts were OTT, but like everyone else here, he wants Martina to win, and is upset that she didn't. When you see results like today's, is it any wonder that people react in such a way. She had everything for her going into it, and while Ivanovic is a good player, she is not the type of player that Martina isn't used to. She usually faces at least one such player every week. Very rarely she wins.

People are on here giving Ivanovic credit, but at hingis.org, we should be looking closer to home to find out why Martina lost. Giving the other player credit is just passing the buck. Martina makes the same mistakes every week, and doesn't learn from them. She gave up after 3-4 in set 2, and I want a player to show some fight when up against it. Imo, Martina gives up far too early, and far too easily, and that's another week's work ruined.

It's all very well that she has reached the top 10, but that is more an honour for the player herself than for her fans. The facts show she has only won 1 tournament in that time, and to fans in whatever sport, (be it tennis, golf, motorsport, football or whatever), that's what matters to them.

i dont like such powerful hitters as nicole, ana , i hope they will be eliminated in the early round in US Open. bY the way, pls dont grade Ana too high, if i am not mistaken, she almsot lost to Chinese girl zhengjie in the second round. so sometimes, they can play their best tennis, but they cant do always, which is the difference between them and Hingis.

this is something i agree. Sometimes i feel hingis gives up quite easily in the second set.
i know she came up well 1-4 in her second round match against maria and save 3 set points against daniela, but i think against better players, she doesnt really fight back much.
the second set against clijster in RG and recently also shows it.

however, maybe it is easier said than done

People mentioned that Martina's groundstrokes against Kuznetsova had more pace and depth than usual lately. I haven't watched the final yet (I hate to watch her losses so soon afterwards), so did she continue hitting her groundstrokes like in the previous match?

If Capriati and Graf had that approach, Martina would have claimed another 2 GS titles. Unlike Martina, they took her all the way when facing defeat, and ended up winning. Yet again today, Martina lost the match on her own serve. What Martina needs to understand is that even if she is 1 set down, 0-5 down, and 0-40 down, the match is NOT over, until the last point has been lost. I cannot remember Martina ever pulling back a match from matchpoint to win it. It may have happened before, but I can't remember any. I admire the players who grit their teeth and pull it back, it is some achievement to do it. Martina on the other hand just gives up, and for a leading player as Martina is, such an approach is inexcusable.

She fought back in the 2nd set against Sharapova in Dubai and both sets against Sharapova in Indian Wells. There was also the first set of both of the last two matches against Kim. Does recovering from a bad second set count? If so, there's the match against Lindsay at Indian Wells and Kuznetsova in Miami. And who can forget coming back from being bageled by Venus at Rome?

right the rome semis against venus was incredible.
and the first sets against Kim is also good(both the matches), but the second set is a bit of a letdown.
anyway, there is nothing much to worry about. ana just knew how to attack hingis whereas hingis was a bit unprepared.
i am sure hingis would have a good run at US Open.

Not really surprised Ana won, I had a feeling last night that she would win. Very disappointed, but it's over now so what can you do. Hopefully Martina has a good week of trainin and is prepared for the US Open.

Couldn't watch the match as there was no coverage here in Aus, but by the sounds of it, Ana just hit the ball in the court way too much, hit way to many winners and not that many unforced errors.

Let's hope Ana is not in Martina's quarter of the draw, because there aren't many other players going around who are really in form.

Here is the way I look at this.

Ivanovic played at a level that is hard to beat but also hard on the body. Many who have reached that level have faced long injuries, so play big, win big, then big injuries... Ivanovic is not there yet on a regular basis.

A player who hits big and goes for her shots can cause Hingis some problem we all know that, but that is if Martina is not playing her game (or not allowed to like today). Because when she plays her game, the opponent is not able to.

So Anna had a superb performance, starting really quickly amd strongly, (hard to debate that) and Martina was not at her best. There is also that coaching sub-plot that could have had an impact, who knows. Big deal when you look at the whole week, when many times she actually refused to give up and did close 3 tough matches. Ran out of steam? More like she hit the Pong, like she was refering to after her match with Kuznetsova.

Ruined week? Really? Not for Martina, imo. I think Ivanovic would have outplayed anyone the way she played today. No shame loosing to a promising youngster who puts up a brilliant performance. It happens to the bests of the game all the time.

Also, I am really thrilled about her results this year, all the quarters, the semis, finals and Rome. I enjoy having the opportunity to witness another kind of tennis and I hope that she helps swing the pendulum away from the power game and back to the finess game. So I enjoy the impact she has on all these young players with her work ethics and dedication to the sport. All these things honestly matter to me, not just winning tournaments. Top 10 makes me as happy as Rome. I am sure many fans also feel the same.

She saved match point against Seles at the Hiltonhead final in 1997, against Serena in Miami in 1998, against Sanchez-Vicario in Philly semis in 1997. She won against Serena at the Australian Open 2001 quarterfinals even though Serena was serving for the match in the 3rd set at 5-3 30-0. She won against Lindsay in the 2000 Zurich final even though Lindsay was serving for the match in the 3rd set.

she was probably physically and or mentally tired/exhausted in the second set. At the French it seemed more a physical thing due to her food poisoning, the end games of the first set seemed mentally draining in San Diego, at least that's how I interpreted her post match comments.

yah, I think she can have a good run there too