BRITISH STAR ACHIEVES A WIMBLEDON FIRST BY BREAKING DOWN IN DESPAIR MOMENTS BEFORE ONE OF HER BIGGEST EVER WINS
Harriet Dart has revealed why she broke down in despair at Wimbledon moments before celebrating one of the biggest wins of her career.
Local hero Dart outlasted Katie Boulter to edge the Battle of the Brits in a three-hour thriller on Court No1, 4-6 6-1 7-6 (10-8).
But not before crying floods of tears as she fell so far behind in the final set tiebreak that it seemed arch-rival Boulter would beat her for the seventh time in eight meetings.
“I wear my emotions on my sleeve,” said the British number two after turning round a seemingly hopeless position at 2-6 in the first-to-10 tie-break. “You see everything that I am thinking.
“My head to head is absolutely woeful against her, but even though I was down in that tie-break I thought, ‘let’s give it everything I’ve got’.”
Boulter, seeded for the first time at SW19 and fresh from beating Dart en route to retaining her Rothesay International title at Nottingham, admitted her late collapse would stay with her.
“We all go to the office sometimes and not have a good day. That was me today,” she said.
“But these are the kind of losses that sting a little bit. It’s always great to have motivation. I’ll be using this for a long time.”
Boulter, with two titles to her name already this year and ranked 71 places above Dart in the WTA rankings, had done the hard work by overturning a 2-4 deficit to lead 5-4 in the decider.
She looked to have broken the spirit of her opponent with Dart, who lives just round the corner in Southfields, wiping away tears on court.
“This is where Harriet has struggled,” said watching former British number one Johanna Konta. “She gets really involved emotionally in the negative parts of the match.
“The more you can keep your distance from it the more energy you can give to the areas that will benefit you.”
Dart earlier needed a bird flying around the court to provide a much needed distraction by delaying play after she had served three straight double faults during a second set wobble.
She came through that and somehow stayed in the fight at the end for long enough for Boulter to cap a forgettable day with her 75th unforced error.
“I am human, I had a tough day,” said the Leicester-born star. “But one match doesn’t define my career, as (boyfriend) Alex (de Minaur) said to me after.
“I wouldn’t say this is a missed opportunity because she was better than me today. This time next year I’ll be a better player and it might be because of this.
“I’ll use this tough moment to spur me on. It’s tough to take but I’ll improve and come back better.”
Dart next plays China’s Wang Xinyu, who upset fifth seed Jessica Pegula in three sets.
2024-07-04T17:27:47Z dg43tfdfdgfd