A devastated Dasha Saville demolished her racquet in a fit of frustration after an excruciating opening round loss at the US Open on Tuesday and will head back to Australia as she contemplates whether she wants to continue on with her career.
In her first singles match since enduring a heartbreaking loss at Wimbledon after holding a match point against Marta Kostyuk, the Australian rallied after a slow start against Japan’s Ena Shibahara and looked the better player at stages in a marathon deciding set.
But the Melburnian, who is on the cusp of slipping outside the top 100 and has been battling plantar fasciitis, struggled with nerves late in the outing and then suffered a horror end to the match tiebreaker when beaten 6-3 4-6 7-6 (10-6) in 3hr 16min.
Trailing 8-6 in the match tiebreaker, Saville moved into a commanding position in the point but then mangled a bid to hit a drive forehand volley when finding herself in an awkward position.
Facing three match points, she double-faulted after clipping the net cord with her second serve to lose the match, with both combatants crumbling to the ground after the ball bounced wide of the service box, the victor in triumph and the vanquished in despair.
A dejected Saville, 30, then thumped her racquet into the court five times — the latter a double-handed hammer blow — in obvious disappointment and said later that she was only decided to play in New York because of the $150,000 prize money on offer.
“That result, I will not think about it too much,” she said.
“Mentally, it was tough because I felt that at some point, I felt that I didn’t even deserve it, because I didn’t put in the work. It is just a cycle. I have had it before when I was playing injured and it is just a horrible cycle. (I’m thinking), ‘Do I even want to do this anymore?’.
“I’m really negative right now. I don’t know how I will feel tomorrow and probably I won’t feel that way in a few days, but it is not fun playing injured.”
Asked if she felt “totally fed up” Saville, who has overcome two knee reconstructions and a serious Achilles heel issue to return to the top 100, responded: “At this point, yeah.”
The Billie Jean King Cup stalwart said she came to a press conference immediately after losing because if she allowed the injury to “cool down, I wouldn’t be able to walk” and she was planning to “ice the shit out of it” for the rest of the day.
“(I have had it) since the first round at Wimbledon. I have been managing it,” she said.
“The pain was seven out of ten to begin with, and it is more sore when you are losing as well. It is a bit easier when I am up in the score.
“I will regroup maybe. I really want to play the Asian swing but sometimes I maybe feel like I don’t even want to do this thing anymore.”
Saville touched on the difficulties of travelling while injured, stating that with her current fitness level, she would lose money if playing in regular tour events. She was due to play in Seoul but feels that is unlikely, and will weigh up events in Beijing and Wuhan next month.
“That is the truth. Where else will I make money? I lose money anywhere else if I bring a coach,” she said.
“I will regroup, maybe. I really want to play the Asian swing but sometimes I maybe feel like I don’t even want to do this thing anymore.”
“The tennis is there but on some big points, I missed some shots that I would not have missed if I had some matches under my belt. That is not the level anyway. It was not a good level from me.
“There were some glimpses of good level, but overall I was so frustrated that it was that long, because I have probably made it worse. That is the thing, you can’t make it too much worse unless it snaps, which is not too bad.”
Saville was not the only Australian woman to suffer a disappointment on the second day, with wildcard entrant Taylah Preston falling 6-2 6-0 to 25th seed Anastasia Pavylchenkova in just over one hour.
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