Victories and losses are part and parcel of a sportsman’s life and a tennis player learns to handle them stoically. Yet my loss this week in Florida was one of the toughest that I have ever had to face.Anna Tatishvili is a ‘new kid on the block’ and Chris Evert’s favourite protege. Since I knew that Chris thinks so highly of the girl, I was pretty sure that the wild card from Georgia would be special. After having played her I can vouch for the fact that Anna Tatishvili is a super talent and it is only a question of time before the world hears a lot more of her.Anna played every shot in the book, and a few more. She had an answer for everything that I threw at her on the day and, perhaps, deserved the stroke of luck she had towards the end of the match!I missed a set-point at 6-5 in the first set tie-break and Anna won it with 2 solid points on the trot. I raised the bar in the second and evened the match out.Anna started to draw away in the third set, playing some amazing tennis. She took a 4-0 lead before I came firing back, winning the next 5 games in a row. The game went to the wire and the pendulum swung wildly from one side to the other. I painfully missed a few match-points and then saved a handful of them before Anna had a stroke of luck.At 7-all in the final set tie-break, I hit a winner on the line, which the linesman called out. Under the new rules, I challenged the linesman’s decision and the replay clearly showed I was right. Tatishvili was awarded a re-serve on the point at this critical juncture due to the linensman’s error, instead of me earning another match point. She went on to win 10-8 in the tie-breaker and it was well past midnight when the match finished with both of us emotionally drained.I tossed around in the bed that night, unable to sleep for a long time. I desperately needed the ranking points that I would have got for a win in this match but that was not to be.I have had some awful line calls and umpire’s decisions have gone against me on the most critical points in several matches this season. However, I am an optimist and believe that soon, the ball will roll in my favour!(PMG/Globosport)
