Clan-Members » advice from Woods over the past ye

NEW HAVEN, Conn. -- Top-seeded Agnieszka Radwanska completed a dominating week at the Connecticut Open on Sunday, beating Elina Svitolina 6-1, 7-6 (3) in the final then spraying her coaches and friends with champagne.The Polish star didnt drop a set during the tournament, her 19th WTA championship. She took control of the final from the start, winning 20 of the first 27 points, jumping out to a 5-0 lead.She ran the 21-year-old Ukrainian all over the court, chasing down shots and placing her own with pinpoint accuracy. Svitolina held off two set points in the sixth game, but Radwanska was able to serve out the set in 29 minutes.I was really feeling good this week, Radwanska said. Everything was working. I was feeling very confident on that court.The second set was much closer. It included three service breaks for each player and a 37-shot rally in the ninth game. Radwanska broke serve in that game to go up 5-4 and seemed to be in control, especially after Svitolina turned her ankle chasing a lob shot.But the 10th seed rallied, breaking back and going up 6-5. Radwanska saved two set points to force the tiebreaker, and took five of the last six points to win it.Svitolina committed 36 unforced errors, including a backhand into the net to end the match.Set points, they come and go in five seconds, Svitolina said. She served two big serves. She placed it really well.Radwanska had never before made it past the quarterfinals in New Haven, but had a relatively easy trip this year that included a first round bye and straight set wins over Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia, lucky loser Kirsten Flipkens of Belgium and a 6-1, 6-1 semifinal victory over two-time champion Petra Kvitova.She becomes the first top seed to win since Caroline Wozniacki did it in 2011. The title is Radwanskas second this season after taking the Shenzhen Open in China in January.She takes home just over $130,000 for winning in Connecticut, but also earned enough points to clinch the U.S. Open Series bonus challenge. That means a chance for up to an extra $1 million, depending on her finish in New York next week, where she will be the No. 4 seed.So now its everything in my power to do good in the U.S. Open, she said with a big grin. It will be worth it, right?Svitolina, who beat Serena Williams in the third round at the Olympics, is now 4-1 in WTA finals, but this was her first at a Premier level event. She was playing this tournament for the fourth time and had never before made it out of the first round.She said it was a disappointing first set, but an otherwise encouraging week.There is no time to be sad because U.S. Open is just on Monday, she said. Nike Free Online Australia . 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CARMEL, Ind. -- One way for Tiger Woods to temper expectations as he makes his return to competitive golf is to lower his own.And that typically has not worked too well.Woods might rather share a day on his yacht with Sergio Garcia than admit he would show up to a golf tournament with anything less than winning on his mind.But considering the two back surgeries he underwent last fall (and three overall), the year he spent without competitive golf, and the issues that were apparent in his game before he shut it down in 2015 ... all of that tends to build up a big heap of perspective.And Woods seemed to show that Wednesday when he announced that he hopes to return next month at the Safeway Open in Napa, California, as well as participate in the Turkish Airlines Open in November and the Hero World Challenge in December.My rehabilitation is to the point where Im comfortable making plans, but I still have work to do, Woods said in a statement. Whether I can play depends on my continued progress and recovery. My hope is to have my game ready to go.Woods hedged, which is unlike him. He let the world know he plans to come back at those tournaments, but with conditions. If hes not yet ready to go, he wont. And the fact that he has acknowledged that he still has work to do is a good sign.Unlike just about any other player in golf, Woods cannot return in peace. He cant show up and hope to just play tournament golf, work his way around, get comfortable again. There are no minor-league rehab starts in golf, no closed-door scrimmages.There are not any tournaments, period, where Woods could go to hone his skills without every shot, every hole, every round being documented.I dont think you guys [in the media] allow for expectations to be lowered, said Mark Steinberg, Woods agent. Regardless of what he shoots or how he plays, itll be analyzed in every way.Steinberg is correct. Undoubtedly, every shot Woods hits in Napa will be noted. Even if he were to return in Turkey, the media would show up and television would show every swing. Its simply the world Woods lives in, the one he all but created with his excellence.But Woods cant worry about any of that. Saying hes looking to build back his game, stroke by stroke, tournament by tournament is the only way to execute this return.Its not going to be a straight pathway to success, said Woods longtime friend and Golf Channel analyst Notah Begay. I mean, lets be honest.The fact that he hopes to play a European Tour event as well as his own World Challenge is also a good sign. The latter event doesnt have a 36-hole cut, so it provides an opportunity to play more rounds. It gives him one tournament a month with plenty of time to rest, recover, reassess.And if Woods is healtthy -- still a big concern -- and able to practice and prepare properly, then playing tournaments is the logical next step in the process of becoming competitive again.ddddddddddddPeople are going to expect him to go out at Napa and play well and its going to take time, said Rory McIlroy at the BMW Championship. Its a process, and sometimes you have to take the bigger picture and take the longer view of things, and thats what Tiger started to do with his injury. And Im sure hes sort of thinking, Play at Napa, but the long-term goal is if he can get himself ready for the Masters next year, then thats where he wants to be.That sounds like a reasonable goal, but even that might be asking too much. Woods needs to first start putting rounds together. He then needs to make cuts, turn 73s into 69s, perhaps even start contending. How long will that take? Depending on his back, his swing, his short game ... the possible answers are wide-ranging.And then there is the other element that Woods brings to a tournament. I think I missed the buzz he creates, McIlroy said. He brings an aura and an atmosphere that no one else in golf can bring. I missed that part of it, for sure.All of that, of course, creates pressure, which not even Woods is immune to. And it is another situation he will need to control.Jason Day has sought advice from Woods over the past year or so and they communicate frequently. Although Day didnt know Woods was coming back before anyone else did, he wasnt surprised.Their conversations suggested that Woods was getting closer.I think the hardest thing for him is just to try and get the rust out and really get back to game-ready sharpness, which is obviously a difficult thing to do, Day said. Although were expecting big things from him, I dont expect too much from him, even though he is Tiger Woods.Its hard to say that, because hes been out of the game for a while. Even though hes one of the greatest of all time, its very difficult to kind of get that sharpness back.The players know that. And deep down, Woods knows that, too. Its just never been part of his makeup to approach tournament golf that way. Perhaps that is why hes won 79 PGA Tour events, 14 major titles and more than $100 million in prize money. His approach has served him well.Hes the one who knows what his body has gone through and to get back to the point of playing competitively, Steinberg said. As a group, we have big-picture talks, of course we do. But hell have his own expectations. And you kind of have to go with that.The hope is that Tiger manages those expectations -- just as everyone else should. ' ' '