Klara Zakopalova must have said to herself, "Enough is enough." Before today, she had last won a title in 2005. Last week, the Czech player lost the Rio final to Karumi Nara, and today, she was down a set and 2-5 to Garbine Muguruza in the Florianopolis final. To make matters worse, 3rd seed Zakopalova had already lost to Mugaruza in a final this year--in Hobart.
In that Hobart final, Muguruza put up a 6-0 final set. That's what Zakopalova did today, after coming very close to lifting another runner-up trophy. She defeated the Spaniard 4-6, 7-5, 6-0. So there.
Anabel Medina Garrigues and Yaroslava Shvedova won the doubles title. They defeated Francesca Schiavone and Silvia Soler-Espinosa 7-6, 2-6, 10-3.
Finally. Zakopalova is better than her record indicates. The same goes for Zahlavova. It's the Czech self-doubt. All to common. Could it be leftover damage from growing up within the residual psychological damage from life under communism? My Czech friends say, "Yes." To be pondered.
ReplyDeleteThere has also been quite a bit of self-doubt among the good Russian players--Safina, Petrova, Zvonareva, Kuznetsova, etc. (Melanie Oudin's famous U.S. Open run suddenly comes to mind).
ReplyDeleteAs someone who believes that every human interaction has a cultural context and overlay, I find your question very interesting.