Eugenie Bouchard

Kvitova like Serena Williams - as slow as a boat.

Players like Bouchard and Halep proving much smarter than the previous generation and know they just have to move them around the court to nullify their power.

Agree that Bouchard can beat Kvitova. Halep another story though, think will be very close

The above post doesn't make any sense when Bouchard and Halep don't have a big win between them.

The main reason Kvitova is favourite is on history. On paper she's the best grass court player left. It's hard to disagree tbh, she plays well, she will win, neither Bouchard or Halep have the firepower to live with an on Kvitova.

It's Kvitova so this isn't guaranteed to happen of course, but the price takes that well into account, given she's a bigger favourite than her price if you can guarantee she won't go walkabouts. But of course you can't. In general though Kvitova has been pretty consistent over the years at Wimbledon. The only bad loss is to Flipkens last year, in which she was supposedly under the weather.

Halep already has experience of a GS Final, though, and put in a very decent performance against Sharapova.  Genie, obviously, doesn't have Finals experience, although she has generally risen to the challenges well, and is clearly rising in confidence and getting closer each time.

And a lack of Finals experience certainly isn't a bar to victory. Plenty have won GS Finals on their first attempt, including (obviously) Kvitova herself.

Neither can we take it for granted that Kvitova won't suffer from Final nerves. She hasn't had much success in Slams recently, and the occasion might mean more to her now. When she's off her game, she's easily beatable by any of the SFs - even Safarova!!

Kvitova doesn't mind being on the run providing she can get her strikes on it. If you give her an angle, you are creating a big risk that she blasts a winner straight past you.

The problem I see is both will do too much defending vs Kvitova, and grass isn't a surface that tends to reward defending. If that's what happens, you rely on Kvitova being sub-par.

Bouchard won't compromise her court position which will result in her getting forced into lots of errors by Kvitova's power and weight of ball.

Halep will get forced further and further back behind the baseline, where it's hard to be effective on grass.

Halep's rise only started in May last year

Though only 2-1 last time they met, I thought Simona beat Bouchard comfortably.
Went on her familiar walk-about in the 2nd set, but at the business end Simona has more power and more speed around the court.
Prediction: 2-1 to Simona again.

Halep being backed for this and the outright. Wondering if there is some sort of injury concern for Bouchard?

She knows she's there not to have fun,

agree with most you say, Joe, though that's a little bit strong. Get the impression she certainly enjoys her tennis..... and winning.

Not sure I agree with you there Pedro. I'm not saying she doesn't enjoy what she's doing. But some athletes (usually the more successful ones) treat their sports careers more like a business. When they're training, they're there primarily to train.

Most athletes, though, like to find a halfway point between 'work' and 'pleasure'. They'll hit some hard balls, but they also like to keep it light and relaxed, and have a bit of a lark while they're doing it.   

Rather like human beings in general really. Most employed people like to think that they do 'well' at their jobs - if you ask people in a workplace, nearly all of them will rate themselves as above average in terms of their contribution, even though, by definition, a good number of us must be average or below compared to our colleagues.     However, most people aren't prepared to push themselves that yard further in an attempt to sprint ahead of the competition. 

From what Bouchard says, and given the speed with which she's advanced, I suspect she's exactly the type who constantly pushes herself. She might lighten up a bit when she's off-duty, but training for her will essentially be about pushing herself to excel. She may well derive a certain enjoyment (and almost certainly satisfaction) from that. But that enjoyment will be incidental rather than her primary focus.

7-6 6-2 score looks good on paper but I don't think the match came close to living up to expectations. Without doubt Bouchard played much better tennis in her previous matches. She was more nervous than I expected, didn't move that well and her forehand was too often mistimed and lacked any real penetration. Even the backhand was no better than solid. That won't be good enough in the final so although I hadn't expected to have now backed Kvitova to take a smaller profit whatever happens in the final.

the likes of Bouchard and Sharapova leave me limp


Sabine and Anna on the other hand

Completely agree with you Drum. That was not a champion's performance out there. Her opponent was basically gone for much of the second set, and she still did her best to melt down. Had Halep woken up towards the end, who knows what would have happened.

In fairness to Bouchard, this is probably the first time she's been in a Slam SF that she felt she had a great chance of winning. Hopefully, for her sake, she won't be so nervous next time she's in a similar situation. And if she can somehow come out of the final as the winner, then you'd think she would cope with the pressure better in the future.

I was surprised, though, at how brittle she was. If she's similarly nervous tomorrow, and Kvitova brings anything close to a decent game, it should be fairly one sided.