Femcompetitor.com, grapplingstars.com, fciwomenswrestling.com, fcielitecompetitor.com, fciwomenswrestling2.com lev-radin-Shutterstock-photo-credit-Editorial-use
September 6, 2021,
They keep talking about you. Sometimes what they have to say is not very nice. Nor accurate.
Bold enough to even put it in print.
You have now become the focus of very high expectations. Many of those, beyond achievable.
Your behavior has induced some to tears.
Don’t feel bad.
You are a doer. It is to be expected. You are out there making things happen.
Sometimes those are tears of sadness when you lose or depending upon your opponent, when you win.
Either way, it is a compliment. They care about what you are doing, even if they want you to lose.
While others are watching. From their homes. In the stadiums. Mostly from their chairs. No one seems to care much about what they do. We should know, we’ve been there.
Watching them. Doers. Is that okay with you?
We absolutely love the fall. Why? It is filled with doers? Where?
The stadiums of the National football league.
The grid irons of the NCAA.
The packed coliseums of Major League Baseball.
And of course, the hard courts of the US Open.
Of course.
We wish we were there. Instead we are at home. Sitting in our chairs. Sometimes shedding tears of sadness, like we did when the crowd booed Naomi Osaka during her loss to an 18 year old Canadian named Leylah Fernandez.
How quickly things change.
Naomi cried tears of sadness, even when she defeated one of the greatest doers of all time in Serena Williams, on September 8, 2018, on Ashe Stadium at the US Open championship finals.
We cried with her.
Now we are crying tears of joy. Why?
The lone American survivor Shelby Rogers rallied from being down 2-5, in the third and final set, came back and shocked the number one seed Ashleigh Barty in the third round at the 2021 US Open.
Shelby Rogers is a doer who just did something incredible.
Especially since she lost to Ashleigh six times previously.
She changed her strategy from times past and instead of going for big shots, kept the ball in play and forced Ashleigh to play mistake free tennis. Very hard to do.
This time.
Ashleigh will adjust. But that’s for next time. If Shelby keeps playing like this, there will be a next time.
Since they are both doers, we’ll be reading about them. Again.
Shelby Rogers has a career-high singles WTA ranking of No. 40 achieved on July 12, 2021 and also a career-high doubles ranking of No. 76.
She has won six singles titles and one doubles title on the ITF Circuit. She won the Girls’ National Championship at 17. Her best results as a professional came at the 2016 French Open and the 2020 US Open where she reached the quarterfinals.
Shelby is noted for her victories against top-ranked players which include Simona Halep (No. 4) at the 2017 Australian Open, Serena Williams (No. 9) at the 2020 Top Seed Open.
Now we can add Ashleigh Barty to that growing list.
She certainly slayed a giant in Ashleigh.
Ashleigh, an Australian professional tennis player and former cricketer is ranked No. 1 in the world in singles by the Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) and is only the second Australian WTA singles No. 1 after fellow Indigenous Australian player Evonne Goolagong Cawley.
She has also been a top 10 player in doubles, having achieved a career-high ranking of No. 5 in the world. Barty has won thirteen singles titles and eleven doubles titles on the WTA Tour, including two Grand Slam singles titles, the 2019 French Open and 2021 Wimbledon Championships, and one Grand Slam doubles title at the 2018 US Open with partner CoCo Vandeweghe.
She is also the reigning champion in singles at the WTA Finals.
Great work Shelby.
We cheered from our chair. The US Open crowd wildly cheered from the stands, in a packed stadium.
Shelby is also undefeated against two-time Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitová, with wins at the 2016 French Open and 2020 US Open, the latter in which she saved four match points.
The girl has got game.
So what has slowed her down? Why is she currently number 43 in the world?
After battling a knee injury for some time, Shelby underwent knee surgery in May 2018.
From the start of the 2018 season, she played only at the Australian Open and Indian Wells Open, but was knocked out in the first round at both tournaments.
Unfortunately she was out of play for the rest of the year.
She returned to action at the Charleston Open in April 2019 and won her first match, defeating Evgeniya Rodina in straight sets and slowly began her climb back.
Doers in life do not give up.
In viewing her first three matches at the 2021 Open, Shelby is a moderate to slow starter but she plays her best tennis in the third set, like blanking Madison Brengle 6-0, in the second and deciding set, in the first round.
As reported by ESPN, “After defeating world No. 1 and two-time major champion Ash Barty in a dramatic third-set tiebreaker, it was 28-year-old Shelby Rogers left as the last woman from the United States triumphantly standing.”
What a 2021 Open.
Take a deep breath.
That is a very telling statistic.
On August 31, 2021, when this extravaganza began, there were a sizable number of American women who made it to the draw. Twenty two to be exact. Among them were rising stars, teen sensations, a former finalist and even a previous 2017 champion.
Having said that, on Saturday night, under the bright lights, on the world’s largest tennis stage, just one American female player remained, and when this tournament started, Shelby probably would not be described in any of those above ways.
Yet here she stands.
A testament to living life as a doer and an incredibly great achiever, despite the odds.
This is why we watch the doers of the world like Shelby.
Sometimes on television. Sometimes in the stands.
They are a reminder to us what we are capable of, if only we are willing to believe in ourselves and pursue our dreams, with a determined purpose.
~ ~ ~
OPENING PHOTO Femcompetitor.com, grapplingstars.com, fciwomenswrestling.com, fcielitecompetitor.com, fciwomenswrestling2.com lev-radin-Shutterstock-photo-credit-Editorial-use
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shelby_Rogers
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ashleigh_Barty
https://www.fcielitecompetitor.com/
https://fciwomenswrestling.com/
