In the end, the tank was just empty.
Even before the second week of the US Open begins, number one in the world rankings, number one of the tournament and favorite is no longer there.
Despite leading 5-2 in the third set and serving twice, Ashleigh Barty lost to Shelby Rogers (United States) in round three.
But if there's someone who, after defeat, never gives the impression that the world has just ended, it's Barty, and in this case that was especially true. The hug between the two of them on the net was extremely long and warm. Barty later said, “With some people, you don't mind defeat. And Shelby in her whole personality and character is one of them for me. I could see how much fun she was having and that was the most important thing for both of us. "
Shelby Rogers, who had previously lost to the Australian five times, returned the appreciative ball.
“I can't say how much I respect her and what a great representative of women's tennis she is.
I'm talking about what she's done this year and I think people take it for granted.
Folks, she hasn't been home since February, that's crazy.
She's been injured and has won five titles and she's still number one.
This girl is what everyone wants to be.
In all honesty, I could go on for another 20 minutes;
she is simply one of my favorite people. "
Worse than the end of the world
If your heart doesn't get warm there, you can probably not help. It was a stark contrast to the scenes that had happened the day before in the same place and which illuminate the other, lonelier side of life on the tennis tour. There was Naomi Osaka after a game in which she served to victory against an outsider from Canada in the second set, but then completely dropped the thread.
Scared and insecure, she finally lost to 18-year-old Leyla Fernandez, but that was nothing compared to the sad impression she made afterwards. Usually she is a guy who likes challenges, said the Japanese, but lately she's been scared when things aren't going well and she feels like everyone can feel it. “I was kind of like a little child.” When she was asked in the Japanese part of the press conference how things would go on, she tried very hard, but could not hold back her tears.
She then said, “I want to finish this. I feel like I'm at a point where I have to figure out what to do and I don't know when I'm going to play my next match. I think I'll take a break for a while. ”It is evident that the depression and anxiety she made public over the summer have not gone away. It wasn't that Naomi Osaka's world ended because of defeat; it was worse. It looked like she couldn't see the sun anymore.