Once again we got issue in Eastbourne regarding a poor linesman decision on a MP who deeply affected our Sara Errani’s match and signed her R1 loss @ the Aegon International
©Luke Mayes
Our Sara Errani finally gets back on court after taking some time to rest and practice following her unfortunate clay season.
As everybody knows, grass is not Sarita’s favourite surface – to put it mildly – although, given her current situation, she’s now eager to be back on Tour and fight her way back through victory.
Unfortunately, both her expectations and enthusiasm have been thrown off by another upset: following an impressive runner sprint by her opponent – the German Andrea Petkovic – who took the first set in only 25 minutes of play, our Sara Errani eventually got acquainted with the grass under her Nike soles and signed in the match, leveling the score.
The momentum seemed decisively set, as the German cursed everything at her sight during the coach on court break – which showed how much she felt frustrated with our warrior’s resilience. Sarita even managed to boost her advantage, given the chance to go 4-0 up, but Petkovic still found her way to trail somehow and made her comeback. Showdown: the n.34 seed holds her service, gets the lead, and step to he receiver’s spot. Sara tries to hold her position and fights her tooth and nail, but shockingly takes the deathly stroke not by her opponent – who just screamed out loud to celebrate her victory on her 2nd MP even before the judge could make his “IN” call on Sara’s forehand: the line umpire standing on the left side of the court calls a forehand out, even though the ball CLEARLY touched the line. The TV replay evidently validates the point, but – given the lack of official support by the hawk-eye technology – our Sarita still ends up by leaving the court first in tears, unable to hide her disappointment:
“I’m so angry I better hold my mouth and shut it as I would say something very far from polite, and I’m sure I would regret that. Matter of fact, I’m still happy about my performance: playing on grass is always very difficult for me, also considering that I didn’t have much time to practice and get used to this surface because of the rain. Everything has been fine, except for that last call.
I feel good, even though grass usually gets out the best of you, physically speaking, so it’s easier to have some bother. I was ready to play 2 more sets, if I had to.
I felt the need to hit pause and work on my mental grip before coming back. Losing on clay four times in R1 wasn’t easy at all for me to bear. I need to focus more on myself and my game, letting anything else loose.
The Olympics have always been the most fulfilling way to represent my country for me, it is no mistery at all. To win a medal for the National Team is a dream and I thought missing the chance to compete both in singles and doubles would have simply been an unforgivable mistake at this point in my career. There’s no certainty in success, maybe we’ll be out early, but at least I won’t regret not trying my best.”
Nevertheless, our Sara Errani’s stay in Eastbourne is not over yet, as she will attend a “double” meeting along with Oksana Kalashnikova against the Chan/Chan sisters. The match was been initially scheduled last yesterday but the sun was too fast getting off the office, so the programme had to be postponed. In case of victory against the n.3 seeded team of the draw, the girls will take on the winner of Broady/Watson v. Atawo/Spears clash during the afternoon.
