Double Fault

Chapter 24

ESPN and Tennis Network: Florence Bonsee, a woman on a mission this US Open. Bonsee has not dropped a set going into quarterfinal, how will she continue into week 2 of slam?

DailyMail: Tennis superstar dominating in tournament, but where is the Ferrari driver. Trouble in paradise?

The quarterfinal was the match in my view. Aryna Sabalenka was a friend, but often my Achilles heel on the court. We had grown up playing one another, close in age, and I was 2-13 against her in my professional career.  It was the match everyone was talking about over the entire weekend, and I hadn't come up for air with all the preparation over the weekend. My mind was nagging me that I was missing something, but I could easily push it away and focus in on strategy meetings, practice, and treatment the entire weekend. My dad was pleased with my focus, and most importantly I've felt locked in the last few days.

Then in a blink it was Monday, match day. I got my good luck text from Charles in the morning, the message ending with I'll see you Wednesday. I appreciated the fact he didn't acknowledge that it would only be if I won, it took the pressure off in my mind.

It was time to beat Aryna when it counted, and I chose to ignore any statistics that were being thrown around all day leading up to the match.
Aryna's game was based off power and command, a recipe to ruin my finesse game. I had to rely on consistency and patience. I couldn't depend on my favorite shots because I would be given few opportunities with how she could pin a player down. In the first set I played to my game plan perfectly, resulting in a 6-2 win. While I sent back blocks or shots that were less inspiring, it could keep me in the rally. If I stayed in it long enough, I could make my opponent force an error.

In the second set I lost my focus and tried to play to my game, and I was quickly reminded why I was 2-13 against her. I dropped the second set 4-6, my preferred style of play was completely exposed to sheer force, Aryna easily the most powerful female on tour. When I tried to play net, her shots would come early and I'd be stuck in no man's land hitting an error or giving a retrievable ball she could chase down and find the area of the court I left vulnerable.

Going into the third set I had to completely recalibrate to my original game plan. The second set was my first dropped set the entire tournament, and this moment proved if I could bounce back. I hated playing patient baseline tennis to win a match, but staying in a point and chasing on defense was one of my strengths.

Aryna hadn't been to a final yet and wanted a slam just as much as me, so I understood where her mind was going into the final set with momentum. She would rely on the strategy that just worked, eager to get to the end of the match the fastest way possible. Power would be her number one threat. When you turn your focus to the end of a match and not every point, you forget about the arsenal of threats and focus on what works.

I was mentally telling myself to avoid my favorite style of game, but I would have easily been reminded with my dad's obvious coaching. My dad was a quiet coach, more focused on not giving away his hand or emotional reaction. At this point in the match he didn't care what people heard, he kept yelling don't leave plan U. Plan U stood for ugly tennis, playing the blocking and baseline game.

Knowing Aryna could lose her head thinking too far ahead in the match, I stayed patient while she would pin me back with zipping shots until she would force an error every few points. Midway through the set she tried baiting me to go on attack to the net, but I was set on staying back. She could beat me based off power, by exposing my preferred strategies that most players couldn't, and by throwing in countless aces.

She wasn't going to break me mentally, and she was going to have to go toe to toe with me in a rally. I knew she had lost the second her racket slammed after I forced deuce when she sent the ball in the net. Putting the ball back into play however I could, even after her most dangerous blows, left her sailing more shots wide or long until I finally broke her serve.