Almost everyone I've spoken this week has been talking about Petra Kvitova. "She's got the game and the draw to win this." Now, I think Petra is very very very good. I think she's capable of beating anyone on any given day. I do think that she can win a Slam.
But I also think she's 21 years old and has major consistency issues. I mean, she won Madrid and then lost a week later to Rybarikova in the finals of Prague, a $50k ITF tournament. That raises questions to me as to (1) whether she can sustain her game over two weeks and seven matches, and (2) whether she can deal with the pressure (ITF or not, it's still a final in your home country).
Big games are big games. The bigger they are the harder they fall. We see that with players like Sam, Sveta, Ana, Masha, etc. When they're good they're very good, and when they're bad they are tragic. That's what happened to Petra today. Coming out on court with some kinesio tape on her shoulder, Petra struggled all day with getting the ball in the court. And we're not talking missing by centimeters. We're talking feet. Meters. I think one of her forehands hit the Eiffel Tower and another one landed in London.
Nails wasn't that great either. But she showed some veteran grit after going down 0-3 in the third by reeling off six straight games. Apparently her husband left the court after she dug herself a hole. He should leave more often. The threat of no credit card nearby is clearly a motivator.
“Even myself, I didn’t believe I can come back, you know, because she has a huge big serve. I don’t know what happened. Maybe just my husband left and I can win six games in a row.”
More Nails press conferences please! Even though we won't get to read them. Pffft.
This wasn't a great match to watch, but I'm super happy for Nails. She's now made the quarterfinals of all four Slams and is the first Chinese woman into the quarters of RG. That's quite something for someone so injury-prone and who seems to be blossoming later in her career.
She said in her press conference that she doesn't like the clay. I'm not sure if that matters, honey. It sure does like you.
(Pic: Getty)
