Disappointed Coco not crying over spilt milk
Unseeded American still not satisfied with last four finish
Coco Vandeweghe revealed her crushing disappointment yesterday at missing out on her first Grand Slam final and said she still wasn’t satisfied despite reaching the Australian Open’s last four.
The unseeded American took a one-set lead before she was sent packing by the vastly experienced Venus Williams, who rolled back the years to win their semi-final 6-7 (3/7), 6-2, 6-3.
Despite the loss, it was Vandeweghe’s best Grand Slam yet with wins over world No. 1 Angelique Kerber, French Open champion Garbine Muguruza and 2014 semi-finalist Eugenie Bouchard. “Straight after the match I was pretty upset. I had a feel-sorry-for myself moment,” the 25-year-old said, calling her loss from one set up a “missed opportunity”.
A big hug
“But what made me feel a lot better was when my team came over when I was in the gym sitting by myself, they came over, gave me a big hug.
“Each and every one of them told me how proud they were of how I competed out there and everything like that. So that kind of picked me up.”
Before her run to the semifinal in Melbourne, Vandeweghe had only ever been to one Grand Slam quarter-final before, at Wimbledon in 2015.
She had earned a reputation for inconsistency, finishing last season with a whimper as she lost seven of her last 10 matches. Twin brothers Bob and Mike Bryan of the United States defeated unseeded Spaniards Pablo Carreno and Guillermo Garcia-Lopez 7-6 (1), 6-3 to reach the men’s doubles final of the Australian Open yesterday.
The Spaniards had a break in the first set, but the US pair recovered to force a tiebreak in which they demonstrated their dominance over their opponents, reports
The US brothers, who recently announced that they will not compete in the Davis Cup again, closed out the game in 91 minutes.
The victory means the twins will play in their 30th Grand Slam final. They have won the Australian Open six times, French Open twice, Wimbledon three times and the US Open five times.
But she has been in brilliant form so far this year with her booming serve and phenomenal groundstrokes suited to the fast and hard courts of the Australian Open.
Making the semi-finals has already surpassed the goal she set for 2017. She is also set to move up to 20 in the world from her current 35, another target for this year.
“I have to actually set two new goals for this year because I achieved two of them in this first tournament,” she said.
Vandeweghe also paid tribute to Williams. “It doesn’t matter if she’s 36 or 18 or anything like that. For me, I appreciate her as an athlete, as a competitor.” = AFP