Badger Boy
Mr Badger
- Jan 28, 2016
- 3,656
I watched the McEnroe comments live and knew there was going to be a backlash. But I think in the full context of his comments, he isn't wrong. You can probably take a quote or two out of context but in the full context of what he said, I agreed with him. It was an awful lot of pressure on her shoulders, last match on Court 1 (with the excellent capacity of 12,345 - it might not be full but it's still huge for someone playing just their 5th WTA level match), home favourite, favourable opponent... She had the whole day to wait around the lockerroom or wherever she spent it. She knew that her match was last on and would likely be the only match being played, so the world was watching. I have no doubt she developed some kind of abdominal injury and maybe a more experienced player would have left the court after the first set (which ended really abruptly, by the way - she wasn't behind until the final point of the set) to get the medical treatment she needed and to reset. She looked more and more jaded at the start of the second set and maybe the reality of the situation did start to sink in, it certainly seemed like she was overwhelmed and in the end they kept her on court longer than they should have considering she was really struggling to breathe at all.
It all comes with the territory of elite level sport. It's a massive learning experience for her. She clearly has the game to compete at this level and hopefully we'll see her at Wimbledon in 2022 having played plenty of tour level matches around the world, learnt the craft a little bit more and be a more well-rounded person for the experience. Which was also a point made by McEnroe, she's only 18! What an enormous thing to put on a young person's shoulders. It was a horrible night for her and it's much worse than Andy Murray's equivalent, which was to lose from 2-0 up at his first Wimbledon. It did him no harm and longer term I assume it'll do her no harm either.
It all comes with the territory of elite level sport. It's a massive learning experience for her. She clearly has the game to compete at this level and hopefully we'll see her at Wimbledon in 2022 having played plenty of tour level matches around the world, learnt the craft a little bit more and be a more well-rounded person for the experience. Which was also a point made by McEnroe, she's only 18! What an enormous thing to put on a young person's shoulders. It was a horrible night for her and it's much worse than Andy Murray's equivalent, which was to lose from 2-0 up at his first Wimbledon. It did him no harm and longer term I assume it'll do her no harm either.
