LONDON – Barbora Zahlavova Strycova accomplished the biggest upset of Wimbledon so far. She defeated second seed Li Na 7-6(7), 7-6(7). Strycova lacked aggression on the court.
“I waited too long,” she said. “I wait and wait until the opponent made a mistake.”
Na never gained her footing on Court One and made many amateur mistakes. She only won 47% of her net points and broke Strycova two times. She could not finish a set point in the second set. On the second to last point, Na’s hit was called out and Strycova celebrated. However, a review showed it was in and Na received one more chance.
She lost it on a double fault. Next up for her are hard courts.
“Finally!” Na said enthusiastically with a big smile. “Back to the hard courts!”
She won the 2014 Australian Open. The last Grand Slam of the season is the US Open in New York on the hard courts.
Strycova is very excited to head to the second week of a grand slam. She broke Na two times and won 72% of her net points. In previous tournaments, she made remarks before about her emotions, but managed to keep them under control for this match.
“I told myself before the match I’m playing on Court One I shouldn’t be grumpy because this is why I do this sport,” she said. “I think I did great mentally.”
She lit up the room when a reporter asked her about the three Czech Republic players still in Wimbledon.
“Good, right?!” she exclaimed. “We’re great! We’re good on grass. We work hard and train well.”
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