After dropping the last five games of her 6-4, 1-6, 7-5 loss to Zheng Jie in the second round of the Australian Open, former U.S. Open champion Samantha Stosur, who has never been past the fourth round in Melbourne, says she flat-out choked.
“I think it’s a hundred percent [mental],” she said. “I got tight and then you start missing some balls. You probably think a little bit too much. You do it over and over and over again, and then you start not wanting to miss rather than wanting t. make the winner. Instead, it’s I don’t want to make the error. … At 5?2 up in the third, double break probably is a bit of a choke. … You obviously want to play your best. I know I haven’t been playing my best. I’ve been trying to get to that point. Now, unfortunately, the summer is over as quickly as what it started again.”