On a dark night in Paris, Alize Cornet and Tatjana Maria fought in a war on the tennis court. Little did anyone know that the battle of strength, will, and desire to win a tennis match would soon become a controversial battle of words as their match ended in a controversial fashion on Court 2.
Alize Cornet, seemingly wilting in the middle of battle, was barely standing on her own two feet due to the fact she seemed to be cramping in her right leg. Having taken a seven minute time out in the second set, she’d successfully go on to win the second set via a tiebreak. Her opponent, experienced Tatjana Maria, was asking for a time violation penalty to Cornet because of how long the Frenchwoman was initially taking between points. Cornet would eventually go on to win the deciding set 6-4, but it was what unraveled after the conclusion of the match that left many tennis aficionados looking on in shock and awe.
Cornet fell onto the red clay in dramatic fashion as Alize Cornet does, while Tatjana Maria walked with her head sunken to the ground. The German proceeded to finger-point in the build up to their hand shake, in which she criticized Cornet for her lack of fair play. Subsequently Cornet walked off raising her arms in the air as she outwardly showed her adoration and appreciation to the French Crowd that realistically pushed her to glory in excruciating circumstances. Excruciating circumstances that seem to follow Alize Cornet wherever she roams on a tennis court–a player that wears her heart on her sleeve.
So following one of the more controversial settings in tennis, not only this tournament but in 2016, who was in the right and in the wrong in this particular instance? Well, after years of watching and admiring professional sport I think it’s important to give the benefit of the doubt to a professional athlete ailing in the middle of a match just like Alize Cornet was experiencing today. Alize Cornet found a way to get the victory under the circumstances she was given and you’ve got to respect that from any professional athlete. Is it always the smartest move to play on through those moments where a player’s body is breaking down? No, but a certain amount of appreciation has to be expressed to someone that goes the extra mile for the sake of the sport.
The World #50 Cornet has spent a long time off the tour through injury, but it’s safe to say many know how Alize Cornet operates on and off the tennis court, which shouldn’t have been a major shock to the system for her opponent Tatjana Maria. Maria has expressed her disappointment at what happened in her Round 2 match today, but it can be argued that the disappointment Maria delivered should solely be to herself and only herself. Maria is an experienced competitor, who’s been a regular feature on tour for years and surely should have anticipated the theatrical nature to not only Cornet’s on-court tennis game, but Cornet’s personality as a whole. The preparation that Maria and her coach would put together in the build up to the match would essentially have acknowledged the unpredictable nature to Cornet and to expect the unexpected in many cases.
At a Grand Slam match, in a 3-hour match on a physically draining surface like the red clay, athletes train for those testing moments and Maria has to look at her own game, her own handling of the situation and more poignantly her handling of similar circumstances against similar exponents of the sport in future matches in her career.
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