la!

match play and experience playing through it clearly aren't helping her. i half-think something could click if she got one good win but i'm not sure how she's supposed to get that anytime soon when she's so prone to crumbling. i really hope she's at least working through it with an external psychologist/psychiatrist and possibly exploring medical interventions. and talking to rafa about his experiences with psychiatry would imo be one of the most useful conversations she could have.

having said that, while i think mentality is very much the main factor, having a serve that can consistently perform on a level commensurate with the other top players would do a lot to alleviate that pressure. imo she should be winning a lot more with her current game than she does, but there is more of a disparity than in years past between the level she probably expects from herself and the level she's actually capable of producing. technical and tactical changes made under wim and arguably tomasz, and external factors like the terrible ball production and increasingly unfavourable court and weather conditions have deteriorated her game and left her unmoored in terms of her tennis identity.