[ColoradoTree]

ColoradoTree, it seems like Lord still isn’t back to 100% and even if she does get back to 100% I doubt Lele shakes up the lineup at this point in the year. Putting that aside, how do you think a fully fit Lord matches up against Gordon?

Hmmm, fun hypothetical.  I assumed that Lord, based on experience and her improved game that we saw from her as a sophomore last year, would have started the year at #1, and had she been healthy the whole time, I really don't think Lele ever would have forced the issue and put Gordon at #1 over Lord absent the injury.  But if they were both fully healthy and at similar levels of match fitness?  I think they'd be very close, but I'd give Lord the edge (for this year), due to the fact I think her ground strokes are slightly more powerful and she's a better athlete than Gordon.  Both move around the court so well, though, and both anticipate their opponents' shots and use angles so well.  So much of tennis is mental, though, that I don't really know how they'd match up until we see it.  Next year, though?  If both are healthy, they will absolutely battle it out in practice for the right to play #1, so whoever is #1 for the first dual of the year is presumably the winner of that internal battle.  That won't be the final word, though--last year, we saw movement at the top of the lineup, based in part on Davidson's not-up-to-her-usual-standard play at #1 and then an illness that forced her out of the lineup for a few weeks.

[ColoradoTree]

ColoradoTree, it seems like Lord still isn’t back to 100% and even if she does get back to 100% I doubt Lele shakes up the lineup at this point in the year. Putting that aside, how do you think a fully fit Lord matches up against Gordon?

Hmmm, fun hypothetical.  I assumed that Lord, based on experience and her improved game that we saw from her as a sophomore last year, would have started the year at #1, and had she been healthy the whole time, I really don't think Lele ever would have forced the issue and put Gordon at #1 over Lord absent the injury.  But if they were both fully healthy and at similar levels of match fitness?  I think they'd be very close, but I'd give Lord the edge (for this year), due to the fact I think her ground strokes are slightly more powerful and she's a better athlete than Gordon.  Both move around the court so well, though, and both anticipate their opponents' shots and use angles so well.  So much of tennis is mental, though, that I don't really know how they'd match up until we see it.  Next year, though?  If both are healthy, they will absolutely battle it out in practice for the right to play #1, so whoever is #1 for the first dual of the year is presumably the winner of that internal battle.  That won't be the final word, though--last year, we saw movement at the top of the lineup, based in part on Davidson's not-up-to-her-usual-standard play at #1 and then an illness that forced her out of the lineup for a few weeks.