Wicked Witch of the East（Bourne）
ALISHA SULLIVAN
Naomi and I rarely fight, and when we do, it’s over the dumbest stuff imaginable.
For example, when she heard this title, she immediately told me she didn’t approve. I said I didn’t care. We bickered, and clearly, I won (she had to focus on driving).
It’s not my fault we were in Eastbourne and not Westbourne (a comparison she would have NO issues with).
Moving on to the tennis.
If you’ve been following along for a while, then you will know that I never tend to mention expectations for any given tournament. By the time Wyatt took over coaching, Naomi had achieved a lot, and the key for him was keeping tennis exciting enough for her to want to continue playing.
That hasn’t changed.
The focus is to enjoy being on court because a year ago, it didn’t seem possible.
The fact that I’m writing this in a car (Naomi’s driving, Wyatt is subjecting us to his current musical theatre obsession, and Logan is an unwanted radiator against my leg) with the newly minted women’s champion of Eastbourne has exceeded whatever non-existent expectations we had.
I gave the internet (on my phone, because it was a phone internet kind of task) a cursory glance before I opened my laptop to write this, and in amongst the comments, I saw one that asked: ‘How is it possible to come back from so long away and a serious injury and win her second tournament back?’
The simple answer is: because she does the boring stuff.
She took the time to recover from her surgery even though it went against everything her brain wanted to do.
She took her time with rehab, even though she wanted to run before she could walk.
She went back to basics when she returned to the gym and gradually built her body back to the strength she wanted.
She didn’t push herself too hard.
She let herself breathe. Recover.
Even when she knew she was coming back, she didn’t throw everything and the kitchen sink at her training. She did it slowly. She broke everything down and built it back up.
There was still a lot of repetition.
So much repetition.
It’s so boring.
But in the repetition, she finds the confidence to step out onto the court.
Without it, she doesn’t play.
And I cannot stress how boring it is.
So much of being a professional athlete is boring.
But when it all comes together, it’s the most exciting thing you can imagine.
It was fitting that Naomi’s first final back was against Lois.
No one makes her play better, and she unlocked a new level. Or an old level. All that practice let her excavate her way down to it, and she reached it at just the right moment.
Which is already proving to be both a blessing and a curse.
Because next up is Wimbledon, and now, she is going into it with a bigger pressure on her shoulders than before (although if you’re a British player for the next two weeks, you will always carry the weight of a nation on your back, whether you want it or not).
Pressure isn’t anything new to Naomi. It’s been an ill-fitting cloak around her neck for most of her professional career. But it’s been a while since she had it placed on her, which is going to make the next couple of weeks interesting.
Although maybe not as interesting as seeing if the Reed/Sullivan duo is as good on court as they are on paper.
If you’ve seen the two of them on the practice courts, then you might already have an opinion on it. I’m of the belief that they’re going to do great things in the time they choose to stay paired together.
Until next time, from somewhere on the A22.