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January 24, 2020,
Can the wind ever be your ally?
Yes. If it becomes the enemy of your opponent and they make a lot of unforced errors. If that is the case, you just need to play steady.
Very steady.
One of the strengths of China’s Zheng Saisai is that she is steady. Very steady.
Facing two time Grand Slam winner Naomi Osaka in the second round of the 2020 Australian Open, you probably will need a little more in your arsenal than being steady.
Well, at least she has the wind as a factor.
The first two games of the match go back and forth and the two women find themselves at 2-2.
Good for Zheng.
You can see the wind swirling virtually everything that is not nailed down.
The camera pans the sky and the trees, which are swaying backwards and forward.
That seems to describe Zheng’s career.
Presently ranked number 42 in the world, this will be her 20th participation at a major event yet she has never made it past the second round.
Zheng has won one WTA singles title at the Premier level 2019 Silicon Valley Classic and four WTA doubles titles. She also reached the finals of the 2019 French Open in doubles with her countrywoman Duan Yingying.
On August 19, 2018, she achieved her career-high singles ranking of world No. 37. On 11 July 2016, she peaked at No. 15 in the doubles rankings.
Playing for China at the Fed Cup, our star has a won–loss record of 7–6.
Here she in routine fashion eliminated Anna Kalinskaya 6-3, 6-2 in the first round to achieve the opportunity to meet Naomi.
Anna Kalinskaya is a Russian professional tennis player.
Anna reached a career-high singles ranking of No. 96 on October 21, 2019.
At this level, everyone is a champion and a star. In 2016, Ms. Kalinskaya won the girls’ doubles event at the Australian Open.
One of her claims to fame was when she scored her first win in a major, advancing to the second round of the 2019 US Open, defeating Sloane Stephens in the first round in straight sets for her first Top 10 win.
Very impressive.
So praise is in order to Zheng for securing that victory.
After starting off with a 2-2 grind with Naomi, the mentally tough champion began to pull away, moving Zheng from side to side and finished off the first set at 6-2.
Naomi has a lot of endorsements, filming and photo shoots. She certainly has not let that be a distraction, which it can be for many. Naomi has balanced it well. It appears Naomi accepted that she is a global super star and all of the demands that go with it.
Here she is determined not to let the wind distract her.
It is starting to look late early. Will history repeat itself and this will be another 2nd round exit?
The second set starts out promising as well.
Tied at 2-2, Naomi appears to be a little flustered during the windy bluster. She even emphatically drops her racquet and is eventually broken. Well, she also slammed the ball too.
Can Zheng do it again?
She does. Wonders never cease. She breaks Naomi again and leads 3-2.
Serving in game number 6 of the second set she is up 40-0 and Naomi is starting to talk to her camp.
Zheng? That is a good sign.
Naomi’s frustration is evident and she plows the ball into the net.
Zheng leads the second set 4-2.
The next game, as Naomi so often does, she calmed herself and begins to out hit Zheng, keeping the ball in play and wins game number 7.
Now Zheng leads 4-3.
Naomi is getting pumped up and begins to scream and wins the next game.
It is starting to slip away for Zheng at 4-4.
Now Naomi is starting to hit winners waist high and screams “Come on!”
Come on she does and blows Zheng right off the court and wins 6-2, 6-4.
Unfortunately for Zheng, it will be another exit from a Grand Slam no later than the second round.
Naomi would advance and for her prize she would have to face the fierce charging American in Coco Gauff.
She faced her before in 2019, with this result.
As announced at bbc.com, “Naomi Osaka has won hearts all over again. The defending champion consoled 15-year-old American Coco Gauff after beating her 6-3 6-0 in the third round of the US Open.”
That was then.
This is now.
The winds of change are swirling around us.
“We cannot direct the wind, but we can adjust the sails.”… Dolly Parton
This year at the 2020 Australian Open after the two met again, the headline was very different. At espn.com they report, “American Coco Gauff became the youngest player in the professional era to eliminate the reigning women’s champion at the Australian Open, beating former No. 1 Naomi Osaka 6-3, 6-4 in the third round at Melbourne Park on Friday.”
How quickly momentum and careers can change.
When we watched the match, it came across as Naomi playing to lose and Coco being wise and courteous enough to allow last year’s Australian Open champion to do just so.
Naomi made 30 unforced errors compared to Coco’s respectable 17. When it came to that statistic, it was good that the talented teen stayed in the teens.
It was a strange match to watch. A player who previously has played like a gritty champion willing to dig deep when her back was against the wall instead seemed deeply troubled and resigned to defeat. Even played afraid. Very early too.
Naomi just began to spray one ball after another into the net and off of the court.
Where was the “Come On!” after she hit a winner to fight herself back into a match?
The problem here was there just weren’t many winners screaming on the court inside the lines.
There was little to scream about here at all.
Thanks to Coco for just allowing Naomi’s massive meltdown to occur without getting any wax on herself.
We said ourselves in a previous article.
2020 AO First Round, American Coco Gauff Defeats A Legend
Coco Gauff defeats legends and is a slayer of giants.
Today she sleighed another one as the winds of change continue to swirl.
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https://www.bbc.com/sport/tennis/49539902
