Last year’s Cinci winners are out
Cinci Open has already uncovered some desperate losses. Coric on the men’s side and Garcia on the women’s have both said goodbye to keeping their title. Why do defenders keep getting knocked out, they won it once before, shouldn’t it be easier to win again?
The tennis guarantee
No player is the same as last year. You hope they improve and that might be the case but sometimes “today’s good” isn’t good enough.
The story in the game
Caroline and Sloane brought two important ingredients to the table. Desperation and a point to prove. For Garcia she’s been living with this point to prove and having splashes of success. I’m pretty sure the up and down ride bothers her. For Sloane, same issue.
With Sloane, most would agree, she doesn’t seem to let her downs affect her as much. When she goes on a rip, she’s the only one pushing herself. She seems to have the ability to accept whatever happens before she hits the first ball. One of these players has a point to prove to the fans, the other only has a point to prove to herself.
Watching Sloane become a little more aggressive is a fun watch. She is a one-more-ball type player who gets scrappy if it means keeping the ball in play. On her current comeback, she’s added a side of aggression to her wonderful court coverage and athleticism. Her selectivity of shots means when she goes aggressive you won’t miss it. I almost hit the roof when I saw her go down on one knee to send a backhand down the line two nights ago. Woooooo! Sloane! The alarms went off in the stadium- aka my head.
On the other side, Garcia played the reality more than the dream. It’s extremely difficult to defend a title in tennis. Mainly, the culprit is pressure and expectation. It’s something we consider a lot in life and we know it affects us. In tennis this reality is waiting at the baseline if you won the title last year like Garcia.
You have to find a way to live with the pressure and deny any expectations on your shoulders for every performance in the tournament. It’s not easy to do. In fact, ask Djokovic. He, as we all know, is striving for that elusive title that will in perpetuity mean that he is the GOAT. He made it to the final of Wimbledon and lost to Carlos Alcaraz who is a STAR but inexperienced compared to Novak Djokovic’s resume. It’s not easy defending a title.
Billie Jean famously said,
Pressure is a privilege
That may be the case but if you manage pressure in your life in anyway you know it also isn’t so idyllic as that 4 word sentence suggests. The highest level tennis players own countless Doctor rates in Pressure. They are masters at it. For the rest of the pro tour pressure is a problem.
The explosion of therapy as a new norm is very related to regular human beings needing to learn how to manage pressure and expectations. So how does that translate to a match.
I think my therapist would say something like, breath and stay positive. One foot in front the other will get you where you need to go. I can’t imagine doing this well in front of a crowd who either is cheering for me or for my American opponent in an American tournament. Would you like to be Garcia facing that? I can think of worse things to do personally, we can’t all be Djokovic after all.
If you watch tennis you know Sloane is known more for her placement than her power. It’s not that she’s not powerful, she is, but her magic power is her placement. With Garcia’s return stance deep inside the court I marvelled to watch her send so many balls out on the return. A year ago, she would have smashed those returns and the point would be over.
It’s hard to watch Garcia find her form again. So much of tennis is losing yourself and finding yourself in front of an audience. I hope she can find progress in the US Open.
For now, I’m proud of Sloane Stephens. The mindset of driving in your own lane is high risk in tennis, but that’s what she’s doing. The competition compels you to push yourself to unrealistic degrees so her willingness to take her time and do things on her own terms is impressive. We can see she wants to win and as she pushes herself, let’s hope she keeps getting good results.
Little side note: Sloane has ties to the Caribbean. I remember seeing a clip of her calling her late grandpa in the islands when she won the US Open. This has always warmed my little heart and my secret tennis pro aspirations. Another north star in my dreams!
Life lesson from Sloane and Garcia
Make sure you are the source of your pressure. Accepting outside pressure can mess up your mental acuity.
If you have any suggestions on the best ways to manage pressure, leave it in a comment for me. Please and thank you!
lOVE All, dEUCES
