[ColoradoTree]

Any idea or theories why Ma seems to have digressed in her play? Is it just others physically catching up to her, a loss of motivation, finding out there is more to Stanford than just tennis?

I mean, I have no idea what the issue actually is, but all of those are plausible theories. 

It's funny, you sometimes see some stagnation when a player can no longer be on court constantly because they have a demanding courseload and other responsibilities. But if any player seemed set up well to work around that, it was Ma, given that she played fewer matches as a junior player and lived a normal high school student life. She was the rare player who would actually be playing more matches and having more training in a college atmosphere than before. And heck, she went to the NCAA singles final as a freshman.

And I could be putting too much stock in one loss here. We could see her back at #1 in the first dual match of the spring season, and it wouldn't be all that shocking. But I was expecting a step forward in her game last season, and it didn't materialize. She came into her freshman year playing like a dominant force, and that force was lacking last year. Anyone's guess as to why. And maybe she's worked through all of that, and this match against Scotty could just be a hiccup where she was a little sore. She hasn't been playing this frequently for a while, so we'll see how she does next time out.

[ColoradoTree]

Any idea or theories why Ma seems to have digressed in her play? Is it just others physically catching up to her, a loss of motivation, finding out there is more to Stanford than just tennis?

I mean, I have no idea what the issue actually is, but all of those are plausible theories. 

It's funny, you sometimes see some stagnation when a player can no longer be on court constantly because they have a demanding courseload and other responsibilities. But if any player seemed set up well to work around that, it was Ma, given that she played fewer matches as a junior player and lived a normal high school student life. She was the rare player who would actually be playing more matches and having more training in a college atmosphere than before. And heck, she went to the NCAA singles final as a freshman.

And I could be putting too much stock in one loss here. We could see her back at #1 in the first dual match of the spring season, and it wouldn't be all that shocking. But I was expecting a step forward in her game last season, and it didn't materialize. She came into her freshman year playing like a dominant force, and that force was lacking last year. Anyone's guess as to why. And maybe she's worked through all of that, and this match against Scotty could just be a hiccup where she was a little sore. She hasn't been playing this frequently for a while, so we'll see how she does next time out.