TPN Tour Portrait: Once Junior Champ October

[jimlosaltos]

This month's TPN tour portrait features a former junior star that hasn't yet broken through on the WTA level after a major ankle surgery, Anastasia Potapova, a 21 yo from a country with no flag. Potapova is a former junior No. 1, as well as the 2016 Wimbledon Championships girls' singles champion. She won 3 tour doubles titles and 1 singles title and has wins over such high-ranked players as Maria Sakkari, Angelique Kerbber (then #5 at Roland Garros), Barbara Krejicikova (#1), Annett Kontaveit (then #2), Belnda Bencic, Madison Keys, and Amanda Anisimova. She made the Australian Open quarterfinals in doubles.

Tour Portrait: https://www.tennisplayer.net/members...asia_potapova/
Profile: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anastasia_Potapova

Her strength is a forehand that packs a lot more wallop then her size would lead one to expect. Check out her grip in these two images from this month's album.

The second image is a composite, combing the first image with 3 others, which shows her grip detail as well the bent-arm stroke -- and Gen X nail polish that matches her outfit, if you're into that Hope you find it interesting. More at the link.

Photos mine, copyrighted, from San Jose WTA 500 aka Mubadala Silicon Valley Classic

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[doctorhl]

Should she paint the strings a different color on each side so she can know which is the forehand side or backhand side?( LOL).

[jimlosaltos]

Should she paint the strings a different color on each side so she can know which is the forehand side or backhand side?( LOL).

As I once said about Philipp Kohlschreiber with a similar grip, "He uses only one side of the strings for both forehand and backhand so that the strings will last longer. Flips his racket over after the first side wears out." <g>

[doctorhl]

Perfect! Racket face side for some reason reminds me of a club player who stood with his back parallel to the baseline and would quickly pivot to his right or left to serve. He was always guaranteed at least one service winner due to opponent laughter paralysis.