Coco Gauff admitted she will be thinking about her missed match point for a long time after blowing a golden chance to reach a first Wimbledon final.
The 22-year-old was 9-8 up in a deciding 10-point tie-break against Karolina Muchova and just had to lift the ball over the net into an empty court to win.
But Gauff found the tape, Muchova breathed again and then the Czech 10th seed converted her second match point to win a see-saw semi-final 6-2 1-6 7-6 (12/10).
“Definitely going to think about that point,” said the American. “I mean, there’s one thing to be, like, why play a drop-shot? But then I think how many points I won off the drop-shot.
“Yes, people who don’t watch tennis are going to be like ‘why did you do that?’ At the end of the day, that’s the choice I made.
“Was it the right one in that moment? Maybe not. But then also, if I make it, everyone’s going to say how clutch a shot that was. I think that’s just tennis. You lose some points off margins.
“Honestly, the return came back in a tricky place for me. The bounce kind of caught me off guard. I just panicked a little bit.
“I think it just takes moments like this to learn from, have more of a clear, concise plan of what I want to do.
“At the end of the day, I left it all out there. I don’t have any regrets. I think it’s just obviously there’s points I want to make better decisions on. But that’s how you learn and become a better player.”
Gauff said she was undecided about whether to watch Saturday’s final between Muchova and fellow Czech Linda Noskova.
Depressingly, the former US Open and Roland Garros champion knows she will be subject to abuse from internet gamblers if she goes online.
“Maybe I’ll watch; maybe I won’t,” she said. “I’ll be online. Probably already got some hate comments and stuff. It’s OK. Just makes you stronger.
“Betters who lose who are mad and stuff. It’s the usual. It sucks, but it’s like, ‘whatever’. I’ll come on the winning end next time and I’ll be sure to tag them.”
Muchova also squandered a match point, slipping as she went to put away a volley, but the 29-year-old took her second chance when Gauff’s forehand found the net.
The Czech said: “During that tie-break, it was kind of a roller coaster as well emotionally for me. One point I felt good, I hit a nice winner, and then I did a terrible mistake.
“In my head I was just ‘I have to keep hitting’. I was telling myself if I’m going to lose this, I want to lose on my own terms.”
