Tennis - Wimbledon - All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club, London, Britain - July 11, 2024 Croatia's Donna Vekic reacts during her semi final match against Italy's Jasmine Paolini REUTERS/Paul Childs
LONDON (Reuters) - All a sobbing Donna Vekic could feel after the greatest performance of her career was pain, pain and even more pain --and there was nothing anyone could do or say to make her feel any better.
Her arms were aching, her legs were sore all over but the most damaging of all was the mental torment she was left with after coming within two points of reaching a maiden Grand Slam final at Wimbledon on Thursday.
Unfortunately for the unseeded Croatian, her body and mind let her down just as the finishing line was in sight and after two hours and 51 minutes of heavy-duty action, she swiped a forehand wide to leave a jubilant Jasmine Paolini roaring and skipping around the court in triumph.
As a joyful Paolini blew kisses to her mother in the players' box following the 2-6 6-4 7-6(8) victory, which made her the first Italian woman to reach a Wimbledon singles final, Vekic could barely register what was going on on the other side of the net.
She broke down in tears and started the long, lonely walk towards the Centre Court exit.
Vekic was given a rapturous standing ovation by the 15,000-strong crowd - with even Paolini applauding - for playing a massive part in an enthralling contest that turned out to be the longest ever women's semi-final at the All England Club.
But such was her anguish, and with tears still streaking down her face, no one was sure if Vekic even registered the cheers coming her way.
'SO MUCH PAIN'
An hour later, the emotions were still so raw that she could barely get any words out of her mouth when she turned up for the press conference tennis players are obligated to attend - win or lose.
After a long pause, she slowly said: "It was a tough, tough match. I believed that I could win until the end. She played some amazing tennis. All congrats to her. She definitely deserved it."
Having survived three successive three-setters to even get to the last four of a slam for the first time in her 43rd major appearance, late bloomer Vekic knows the graft she has had to put in to even get this far. Now aged 28, she was also bitterly aware that opportunities like this are unlikely to come by very often.
It was little wonder everything was hurting so much. After all, she had never played so much tennis in such a short space of time before.
"I thought I was going to die in the third set. I had so much pain in my arm, in my leg. It was not easy out there, but I will recover," said the Croatian, who is coached by 21-times women's doubles champion Pam Shriver.
"My tears were not because I was ... I mean, I don't know. I was more crying because I had so much pain, I didn't know how I could keep playing. But somehow, I don't know ... I'm sorry."
Considering Shriver knows what it is like to come off second best in a Wimbledon semi-final, with her best singles performance here being three appearance in the last four, the American was among those trying to cheer up the heartbroken Vekic.
"My team tells me that I can be proud of myself. It's tough right now. It's really tough. For sure I will need to take couple of days to see everything," she said as she started to break down again.
"I don't know, it's tough to be positive right now. It was so close. I had a lot of chances."
(Reporting by Pritha Sarkar; Editing by Alison Williams)
