It's a never ending pressure on Simona Halep, says Nadia Comaneci
The Romania's legend Nadia Comaneci praised the world no. 1 Simona Halep in a great column published on ESPN. Halep was named as the ninth most dominant athlete of the year. The Costanta-native defeated Sloane Stephens in a three-set final at the French Open.
'Whenever my schedule allows, I try to sneak a couple of days to go and see Simona play,' wrote Comaneci. 'This year I wanted to be in Paris. Every Romanian on the planet wanted to be there, to see Simona win that title she wanted for a long time. She missed it the first time at the 2014 French Open final. And she missed it last year; I was there. I almost pulled the Romanian flag out because she was up 3-0 in the second set and I thought, "She's got this." And it just didn't happen. Her win is great for Romanian kids to understand they don't have to be born somewhere else to be the best. Anybody can do it if they work hard. It's good because Simona is active now. The rest of us, we're past.'
Comaneci admitted that there are a lot of expectations and pressure on Halep: 'Simona tries to be a perfectionist, but you can't be perfect on the first try. It takes patience. Now, for her, the hard work starts. Where will she go from no. 1? It takes a lot more work to stay there because everybody behind her is hungry to get her down. The fans will always ask: "When is she going to win the second one?" And then it's going to be the third. It's never-ending. She is the one who needs to find that in her, how hungry she is.'
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from Tennis World USA https://ift.tt/2RUfRQA
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