A Star Is Rising Among Women Tennis Players - part 1
Some days ago I was arguing about tennis and I wrote that no new rising champion was insight especially among women players.
Suddenly yesterday I saw the US Open final staging at Arthur Ashe Stadium, Flushing Meadows in the Queens, New York.
Serena Williams, the last, aged 37, true champion of a fading era, met for challenging the Championship title a very young girl, Naomi Osaka from Japan, aged only 20.
It was a shock from the beginning to the end.
Osaka won her first Grand Slam title and it was a stunning and clear victory altought the happenings on the court that disappointed Serena Willians. She had a warning for coaching, then one for racket abuse with the loss of a point and as she yelled to the match’s chair umpire that he was a thief she's got a penalty game.
Serena throughout her career has lost 8 matches like this one, meaning Grand Slam finals, like just to remember the more recent one, the last Wimbledon final. She, by the other side, has won 23 finals just a win behind Margaret Court. She lost 3 finals in the last 3 years before this one but when those defeats happened I saw she wasn't in a very good shape or physically or mentally or both. By the way it's always an upset when she loses.
Osaka victory was an upset too but this time it was not a Serena fault, what I thought the other times she was defeated, it was Naomi Osaka’s superior play to lead to an inevitable march to victory.
Not only did Osaka demonstrate tecnical skills but she was steady on her nerve facing the pressure coming all around for what was at stake, for being in front of her childhood idol, for the hostile environment, for the strenght of Serena Williams and for everything but that mental attitude to be focus on what matter the most: win!
I didn't see these quality in any previous women players that were at some point in time ranked number 1 or promising to become number 1.
She started the 2018 with a ranking position very low, 68, and tomorrow she is going to enjoy the 7th place and she's projected to be number 4 by the end ot the year if she will be consistent.
In 2018, she won 37 matches as today and lost 17 but if you have a look at her defeats you're going to find she was defeated by very good players and most notably she won Indian Wells tournament beyond this US Open.
Search from various English teachers...
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Salve Andrea. I enjoyed reading your recent post about no new young players playing at a high level, the way Federer, Nadal, and others did in their early twenties. Yesterday's final was quite something, wasn't it? I was also surprised to see how poised and steady Osaka was playing. She played that way against Madison Keys as well, who I have also enjoyed watching. In Keys' case, she hits the ball with incredible force (perhaps more so than Osaka), but unfortunately she tries to hit winners too often, and has not found consistency yet. One of the English commentators during this semi-final was saying that Osaka has grown up playing very competitive tennis, having to qualify for events through tough, and very competitive tournaments, whereas Keys has grown up playing in a much more protected environment (through a prestigious academy, for example). I find Halep to have a similar consistency to Osaka, though of course she's a bit older and hasn't perhaps developed her full potential, for reasons I don't know (health maybe?). On the men's side, I enjoy watching Kyrgios, though of course, there is the question of how committed he is. While his talent is unquestionable, he seems to be unsure how much he loves the game. (If he was fully committed, I have no doubt that he would lead the next generation, and would perhaps be winning grand slams already). I mention him because I find his situation very telling. Elitism, and perhaps even obsession, is of course present in most professional sports, but I think there is a particular kind of 'rigidity' in tennis, if that is the right word. This probably has to do with the elitist association the sport has, for reasons, again, that I don't know. My point is that I find Kyrgios' attitude a healthy one. Prestige, to my mind, is something that doesn't belong in sports. There is no moral value to 'winning', though that is a different discussion. It will be interesting to see how the sport develops.
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