Monica’s Great Disappearing Act
Its like a train wreck. At the end of last year, it looked like Monica Webb was going to be a dominant force in the WPBA and a regular on ESPN broadcasts. She followed up her win in the 2008 Tour Championship with a win at the 2009 San Diego Classic. Then, the train went off the rails. Since her win in San Diego, she’s made it to the redraw once. At the Pacific Coast Classic, she quit, err, forfeited to Veronique Menard (for reasons which have not been made public).
Let’s take a look at the last year of Monica Webb:
2008 Pacific Coast Classic: 3-4th (loss to Vivian Villarreal)
2008 Tour Championships: 1st Place
2009 San Diego Classic: 1st Place
2009 Great Lakes Classic: 17-24th (loss to Kim Shaw)
2009 US Open: 5-8th (loss to Gerda Hofstatter)
2009 Colorado Classic: 17-24th (loss to Yu Ram Cha)
2009 Pacific Coast Classic: 25-32nd (forfeit to Veronique Menard)
Based on this pattern, we should expect to see Ms. Webb once again miss the redraw in the Tour Championships next month.
It seems like the crown of “world class pool player” gets thrown on far to many heads nowadays. In my estimation, there are a grand total of four players on the WPBA tour that should be considered “world class”: Kelly Fisher, Allison Fisher, Ga Young Kim and Xiaoting Pan. If you’re wondering why Jeanette isn’t on the list, its because J-Thug is not a world class player. She’s a personality that plays good pool and knows how to get in the head of her opponents, but she hasn’t won a tournament since 2001, making her anything but world class.
Sure, there’s lots of up and coming talent and yes anyone on the tour is capable of beating those four players, but none of them are consistent enough to be called world class. As for Monica Webb, in a couple of weeks we’ll see if she can regain what she had last year or if she’s just going to be another flash in the proverbial pan.
In Jeanette’s defense, she has won several tournaments since 2001: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeanette_Lee_%28pool_player%29
She also had a child in 2004 which requires that one refocus a lot of their attention. She used that time to refocus her career on the business side of the game and is doing quite well. She’s a great talent and an asset to the sport. It also seems that she is starting to refocus on playing. I look forward to seeing how she does over the next couple years.
You forgot one MAJOR event in Monica’s career in 2009 …..
http://gailglazebrook.com/2009/07/14/bitch-slapped-by-a-donut/
No Jasmin?
I think that a great many men with sore asses would be surprised to see Karen Corr on that list. Not to mention the people who write the checks at Mohegan Sun
Not to mention that she is #2 in WPBA victories. Um, can you tell that I am an ardent Karen fan?
Don’t know how to edit comments. My previous comment should have read “I think that a great many men with sore asses would be surprised _not_ to see Karen Corr on that list.”
Karen is tough. I’m gonna take my lumps on this one and agree with you that at one point she was a world class player, but at this point in her career she’s become the ultimate bridesmaid. Even though Allison is past her prime, she is still a threat to win every tournament she plays in. Karen on the other hand is only a threat to almost win. She hasn’t won since 2007 and as good as a player as Karen is, I don’t see her winning many if any WPBA tournaments moving forward. She’s always gonna be.
As for Jasmin, when she decides to play to her potential instead of playing to the level of her opponents, I’ll call her world class. Right now she’s a great player with tons of potential that can’t consistently put it all together. In 18-24 months, its going to be a very different story, but she needs to bring it more consistently before she’s truly world class.
Monica was sick as a dog at the last event. She barely made it through the match previous to her forfeit. I think she had food poisoning.
Meh. I’ve heard this as well. Food poisoning, swine flu, etc. Her game has been spiraling for months now, this is just the latest example of that. I fully expect her to get bounced again before the redraw next week. From what I’ve heard, the issue has a lot more to do with priorities, but only Monica Webb really knows why her game has gone into the crapper. That being said, I’m wrong far more often than I’m right. By the way, I’ve got nothing against Monica, she seems like a nice enough lady. I’m just calling what I see and what I see is a player who’s missed the redraw 3 of the last 4 events.
I’ll wager a virtual coffee with you that Monica makes the redraw in Florida.
have to include Jassy as one of the top women players being world class – after 3rd place last yr 14.1 world tournament.
As for Monica being ill — SJM – Steve Mattana at the Challenge of Champions had a good time at the bar drinking with some of the WPBA members – Monica included.
http://forums.azbilliards.com/showthread.php?p=2091054#post2091054
Barretta, you’re so going to owe me a virtual orange mocha frappuccino. I don’t even need to see the brackets to know that she’s finishing 17-24th.
As for Monica throwing a few back at the CoC, maybe she just had a case of the brown bottle flu… who knows.
I’m good for it, but I’ll so enjoy my virtual grande soy latte when she gets to the redraw.
I gotta go with my girl J-Bar on this one. Monica was extremely ill at the last event. As a matter of fact…I don’t think she has EVER forfeited a match in my 9 years of playing on tour with her.
And Monica is a force to be reckoned with…no matter what anyone says. Sure…her focus may have wandered slightly over the past few months…but opening your own business tends to do that to a person.
I am so confident in my girl that I am willing to wager a virtual pastry to go with Jen’s virtual coffee. Muffin, scone, danish…whatever your pleasure.
Mmm… I can always use some virtual danish to go with my orange mocha frappuccino!