And Claire Liu is Wimbledon Juniors champion!! AAAAAAAAGH!!! 
When she was up 6-2, 5-4, 40-0 and serving and ended up losing the set, I thought I was going to cry. When she finally got over the line on her 5th Championship Point, I did shed a few tears. I have been waiting 2 years for her to get the international recognition she deserves, and this will do it for sure. Now finally - FINALLY - when I search the news for Claire Liu, it won't just be a bunch of articles about frickin' Whitney Osuigwe.
Her opponent, Ann Li, a 17-year-old Chinese American like Claire, played really impressively in streaks. While Claire gets winners through point construction and movement, drawing out easy balls and putting them away, Ann tends to just obliterate the ball any time it's in her wheelhouse. Mentally, too, she seems to be a rock, as there was no sign whatsoever, to my eyes, that she was at all affected by the occasion. She just seemed locked in the entire time, calmly playing her tennis. Those 3 MPs she saved in the 2nd set, she didn't do anything differently than she had all game. She just played her tennis.
Unfortunately for Ann Li, she doesn't appear to have an overwhelming power on her groundstrokes, so her play style won't work for her as well on other surfaces as it did here. She'll have to add a bit more oomph on those strokes to really become a consistent threat. Speaking of consistent, that's her other major weakness: she was hitting UEs for days out there. And, indeed, on the fifth MP, it was a Li UE into the net that ended the match. So while she'll go on really impressive streaks of UE free play where winners are flying from her racquet left and right, she'll need to somehow balance her need for more power and her need for more consistency. Won't be easy. We'll see what the future holds for her.
EDIT: Turns out Ann Li had never won even a single match at a Junior Grand Slam before this. Now she won 5 in a row. I hope that this isn't just a one time thing for her, but even if it is, what a memory to make.
As for Claire, there's no analysis of her game. My heart is entirely too involved, and watching her was an agony at times. Because of that, I tend to see only the flaws.
But I'll say this: that 3rd set was an incredible example of the power of belief. She never stopped believing she would win, believing in her game, and believing in her training. I fully expected her to have a letdown, but instead she just came out swinging at the start of the 3rd and just kept plugging away. And I am just so thrilled for her and her future in this sport.
Two years I waited. And it will be years more before I get to see her compete consistently on the WTA tour. And even then, who knows if she has the gifts necessary to even be a consistent Top 50? But for today, at least, the world finally belongs to Claire Liu.
Last edited by Arvis (Jul. 15, 2017 11:08am)
