Tuesday, July 1, 2008

Tanasugarn finally has a case of nerves

Tamarine Tanasugarn has plowed her way through this year's Wimbledon, with her beautiful grass court skills and her winning attitude. Today was different, though. Tanasugarn was visibly nervous at the beginning of her quarterfinal match against defending champion Venus Williams--she double-faulted several times and had all kinds of trouble with her serve. She eventually settled down and corrected that problem, however, and once again delivered her slice serve, making it difficult for her tall opponent to return it easily.

But Tanasugarn had another mental issue: She could not break Venus Williams. She repeatedly set up break point situations, then was unable to make the conversion, usually because she made unforced errors. Only once in ten times did Tanasugarn break the Williams serve. Her inability to break Williams gave Williams more an more confidence, and the match ended with a Williams victory, 6-4, 6-3.

This could have been a great match. Williams had an easy draw until she got to the quarterfinals, and if Tanasugarn had settled her nerves, we would have seen three sets. I was hoping for a nice, long match with some momentum changes, but what I got was Tanasugarn wilting under the occasion.

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