A few observations about this match, it was actually really high quality and I was impressed with how well Iga served throughout.
It's the kind of match I was hoping for in Dubai.
That 3rd set was very winnable from Iga's perspective. It came down to couple of key points towards the end, the 30 all point with Mirra serving to make it 5/3 where Iga made some errors on the backhand and the 30-0 and 30 all point on Iga's serve where she had a chance to put pressure on Mirra by making her serve it out.
In all those points Iga just lacked a little something, she described it as guts in her post match interview with the Polish media.
Said that lately when she is in pressure situations and she tries to go for it it just hasn't worked out and it's something she needs to work on.
All credit to Mirra who was more solid when it counted, but this definitely feels like a lost opportunity.
Iga was actually doing a better job all match dealing with the windy conditions, so much so in fact that you could tell it was visibly frustrating her opponent had Iga managed to hold her serve to make Mirra serve it out I really think she would have gotten back into the match.
The match did seem to unravel a bit early on in the 3rd where Iga got so upset she hit a ball high trying to make it go on to the stands where her team was sitting.
Which I think occurred after a double fault, and it escalated into an argument with the umpire.
It was quite uncharacteristic.
There's a lot of discussion online regarding her relationship with her psychologist and whether Iga should keep her on (which is actually nothing new and happens every time she loses) so I never give it any weight.
But there's no denying now that Iga is lacking problem solving skills under stress and instead gets quite frustrated and angry.
Whereas before she was able to keep it all in check despite the occasional panic when things weren't going her way.
Keeping a cool head under pressure is something you could always count on with Iga especially in the penultimate stages of a tournament
Lately that ability is just not there, you could also make the argument (as many have) that she still hasn't quite come to grips after everything that happened with the doping ban.
Some keep referring to her loss at the Olympics as the thing that really changed things on a subconscious level.
Personally I think she's processed all that, and it's more about lack of confidence (guts as Iga mentioned) when she gets to the final stages.
Not winning a title since mid last year would shake anyone's confidence really.
Iga has her own very high standards and right now the frustration of not meeting them is losing her matches. She just needs to keep working to get back on track.
I think for all of us Iga fans it's a bit hard to reconcile what we're seeing right now because we're so used to her winning all the time.
At the moment it's her opponents who are improving and evolving and Iga just hasn't caught up.
Given time I think she'll get there and whether that involves some more changes with her team or something else only Iga truly knows.
I'll only start to worry if we don't see any results on the clay till than I'm going to give her the benefit of the doubt.
Let's see how things go in Miami.
Keep your head up Iga, your tennis is still there you just need to trust it more.
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