After playing a couple of loose games and appearing to lose control of the second set in her quarterfinal with Petra Kvitova, Sorana Cirstea called one of her coaches, Darren Cahill, to the court. The Aussie’s words helped turn things around for Cirstea, who won in three sets.
“He came at 4-3 in the second set, and he pointed at the little girl in the stand and said, ‘Where does she want to be?,’” Cirstea said. “I said, ‘Here in my place playing.’ So he said, ‘Okay, so that’s why you are here for. That’s why you have been doing all the work. That’s why you have been sacrificing everything for these moments. There is no other place in the world where you’d rather be.’
“That speech had nothing to do with tennis. It was just motivational. From then on, I was like, ‘That’s it.’ You know, like I took the weight off, pressure off my shoulders. I’m here to play, here to enjoy. I’m here to give my best. She’s better than me, she’s going to beat me, but I’m not going to give it to her. I’m going to fight till last point. I have to give a lot of credit to Darren for that today. He was amazing.”