Barty, Daniel Collins, Collins discussed on The Tennis Podcast
Automatic TRANSCRIPT
Coping mechanisms. They're the mechanisms to deal with what she is feeling. And yeah, that was a massive challenge for her today. She came out. Hitting her forehand pretty badly, really. To be fair, Daniel Collins also wasn't hitting through on the forehand either. It was kind of a battle of Barty slice against Daniel Collins beautiful topspin for back hand and to be honest, in terms of the ground stroke rallies, it was Collins that was getting the better things with that back end of hers and Barty wasn't getting much from this life and it was the Barty serve that kept her in it and the body served was such a difference maker today got her out of so many as she called them in press half chances. You know, half chances that we're snuffed out for Danielle Collins. She just she had that in her pocket and that must be just such a comfort to have what was Nadal's expression about having got a note was confidence Nadal had in his pocket, isn't it? Well, she had that too. Yeah. Serving one pocket, confidence in the other pocket. I felt like there were moments in each set which freed Barty up and in the first set. It was when she saved a break point at two all, and she did so with a brilliant forehand winner because as you said, Collins in the early stages, I thought was looking pretty good. She was sort of controlling the rallies. She was getting the sort of shots she wanted. She was starting to hit sort of really deep returns, like Yorkers down at barthes feet and sort of jamming her a bit. And Barty fended that off, saved a breakpoint with the forehand, and then sort of raced through the opening set really just so it freed her up. She studied him in that forehand a lot better. And then obviously we can talk about the Collins come back in the second set, but the other moment that sort of freed by was being 5 one down in that second set. And she said impressed she was just trying to do things to get some momentum, get some rhythm for the third. And as she did that, she gradually came back into the match and the last 5 or 6 games she played. I thought was pretty much Barty at her top level in terms of finding the forehand when she needed it. Just doing everything she could to get her feet and you know they were sort of highlighted by those red shoes she were wearing. She was wearing just to get her feet in position so she could hit her forehand because we talked so much about the party slice this tournament. It's been the talk of the tournament in many ways, but it wasn't, I didn't think the shot which won her this final. It was it was the forehand, really, which she got into play and then, as you said, the serve as well. Once she had mounted that comeback, there was one hole she found herself in 5 6, 1530 down, and she hit three unreturnable serves. And she was just able to rely on those key facets of her game when she needed them. And then she just played an absolutely dazzling tie break as well. So yeah, there was just these there was a lot of tension, but managed to stay cool and yeah, just loosen up when she needed to and find her best tennis, I felt. My God was there a lot of attention though. I mean that that rod laver arena they increased the capacity today to 85%. It felt full. I mean, I could spot the odd seat here and there, but it absolutely felt full. It was utterly deafening. I mean, it was deafening by the point that Matt and I walked in and the national anthem was being sung, Matt and I were on our feet for advance Australia fair. I think we joined hoisted to our feet if we weren't. No, but I sort of do know a lot of the lyrics because I've just heard it. Lots of Australian opens. Yeah. The feeling I got was the same feeling I had when sitting in the commentary box for Andy Murray against Novak Djokovic in 2013 at Wimbledon. Everybody's been waiting for this moment. And he couldn't be playing better. She couldn't have been playing better. It was all set up. And yet, even though it was straight sets like that was, it always felt precarious. It always felt as though this could turn. And frankly, it did turn dramatically 5 one is a heck of a deficit, and also that deficit was accompanied by Collins, just unleashing danimal as she calls herself for everybody to see and showing that she's not afraid. And I think that it's then that must have been a really big challenge for Barty to not panic to maintain her composure, but also ramp up her own competitiveness. And I think what we saw on match point when she finally won it, it was almost a little bit pointed. I mean, it was a release, but it was almost like she just embodied Collins for a minute and let rip her own come on and showed Australia and showed the world that yes, while she is the most likeable champion imaginable and everybody thinks of her as the woman next door and wants to be her friend, she is such a competitor and she is not letting go either. And it's in there. And then she just unleashed. And I love that about her because I think people can underestimate just as they used to with Federer. These people are desperate to win and they will they will hold on in the tug of war and until they can't hold on anymore. Yeah, nice doesn't equal no fangs, does it? No. She's decent. She's likeable, but she's got absolutely got fangs totally. Yeah. I don't think you win ground slams without fans. We'll check with Mary. On that theory, does Marin Cilic disprove that theory don't know anyway. We'll check. Well, you can lose fangs, right? Maybe you can obtain them temporarily. If you've got coronavirus, you should eat too much. I don't know what's a hard food. Help me out here some one. I don't know. Rock? Nuts. Eat too much of that, you're fine with me. It's been anyway. That was a misadventure. How about that winning moment? And the winning feeling inside the rod laver arena. One of the beautiful things about tonight was that there was just absolutely no no edge to the atmosphere. It was as wild an intense as you can imagine. It actually exceeded my expectations in that regard. I wasn't quite prepared for how intense that atmosphere was going to be tense and intense. And yet there was just no edge to it whatsoever it was just pure joy and goodwill. There wasn't a so to be heard and that was nice. Goodness for that, yeah. And I don't look I haven't lived in Melbourne for the last two years. I haven't been here, so I don't want to pretend to understand what this city has been through. And equally, I don't want to claim that this city has been through a completely different COVID experience beyond anyone else. You know, everyone's had their own COVID experience and everyone is everyone is awful and different in various different ways. But this city has been through it and I have sensed over the past two and a half weeks that there is a collective post traumatic feeling about this city. One of great happiness as well that it is not over, but there's a feeling in a hope that certainly the worst of it is over in terms of all the months the city has spent in lockdown more than any other the world over and stricter lockdowns than in a lot of places extremely strict lockdowns. I do feel that that is a whole part of this victory in this moment, this collective release and relief in this city in this country and for that reason it feels perfectly timed to me. Yeah, and Barty being, as I said, such a non divisive figure. Everyone can get behind dashboard..