As I'm starting this article, there's a ton of things I want to talk about, and I'll be lucky if I have the time to get into 2 of them. First, Simona Halep's amazing win against Serena Williams, then I'd like to talk about Romanian accomplishments, education, verbal aggression, debating skills, and Sfinx / Dan Andrei Aldea. Let's see how far I manage to get.
"It was my best match of my life," Halep said. "I played unbelievable shots. It means a lot this match. At an important time I played really well, and after today my confidence will be more high.”
“I’m really happy as it was a dream of mine to beat one of the Williams sisters one day. I’m sure it wasn’t her best tennis today but I played aggressive, opened up the court really well and fought for every point. It’s crazy! I feel unbelievable right now but I have to quickly forget this and finish the tournament before I can party.” (interview, ro, pre)
In interviews after the game, Serena Williams was inclined to blame her poor game, rather than Halep’s prowess, but recovered well (see also her pre).
- “Yeah, my forehand was off today again. I guess it went on an early vacation,” a sombre and downbeat Williams told reporters. “Lord knows my serve was as well. My serve, I don’t even know. My serve was at best in the 10 and under division in juniors. It was actually embarrassing I think describes the way I played. Yeah, very embarrassing.“
- Characteristically, she didn’t blame the knee ailment, which had required extensive rest, for Wednesday’s meltdown. “I’m definitely not 100% okay. I’m just here playing, but I’m not nowhere near 100%,” she said. “That has nothing to do with today’s match. I think Simona played really well and the best match of her career. To be quite frankly honest, I’m looking forward to our next meeting because she is making me going to go home and work hard and particularly train for her.”
- “I’m obviously frustrated and I wanted to do better. I wanted to win more than two games. I was trying for three,” she said. “At one point I was like, If I can just get three games. But that didn’t work out for me. But it’s okay. You know, things are going and I’m still going to come back and I’m going to be better.”
It is incredibly hard to switch from the focus required by a competitive game to the sports(wo)manship and nuanced PR required in interviews, and furthermore, Serena sent even a congratulatory tweet. Still, we think she could have lost more serenely.
Serena had at the time of her loss 18 Grand Slams (vs Halep’s 0) and had won all 3 previous encounters with the Romanian star; Serena was Number ONE, Simona was #4 and was #47 only 2 years ago.
Serena seemingly has, nonetheless, not only knee problems, but she is also not at her mental best, crumbling under pressure.
- “It’s difficult to understand,” her coach, Patrick Mouratoglou, said in New York of Williams’s hot-and-cold season in 2014. “The only explanation we have is that after the year and a half she spent winning so much and playing so much, she had a moment where she dropped a bit in terms of her nerves and her mental game and then lost matches. In the losing matches, she lost a bit of confidence.”
- There was also her mysterious performance at Wimbledon, where after losing early in singles, she staggered around the grass during a doubles match with her sister Venus, cried during an on-court medical exam and eventually retired after three deeply troubling games. She attributed her disorientation to a virus, though Mouratoglou later said in an interview with a French tennis magazine that “there were complicated things and it is true that Serena is in a difficult phase, but I’ll leave it there.”
Additionally, she had to endure the “brothers Williams” remark – which although not a crime, came on top of her existing issues and created needless turmoil. As a plus for Sharapova, she weighed in Williams’ defense.
Was this win a harbinger of more to come for Simona Halep or was it the peak of her career? Was it attributable strictly to Serena’s “bad knee” / mental state, or was it the normal, expected result of a constantly improving game, years of training and massive sacrifices? I do not know the answer, I wish both players the best (though would rather see Simona Halep rise to the top), but what interests me is the kind of choices and sacrifices Simona had to do in order to get where she is right now.
Continued in bye-bye boobs.
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