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Daria Saville in startling $147k admission after brutal scenes for Aussie at the US Open

Saville destroyed her racquet after a heartbreaking first round defeat.

andrew reid
·4-min read

Daria Saville has made the heartbreaking admission that she's contemplating her tennis career after a crushing first round defeat to Japanese qualifier Ena Shibahara at the US Open. Saville squandered a 2-0 lead in the third set against the her 26-year-old opponent and then furiously destroyed her racquet after serving a double fault on match point to hand Shibahara a 6-3 4-6 7-6 (10-6) victory.

Saville was on track to post her first win in almost two months after fighting back from a set down to lead 2-0, 30-0 in the decider. But the Aussie's nerves got the better of her and an inability to close out matches came back to bite the 30-year-old as the Japanese qualifier took full advantage.

It was the second straight grand slam that Saville has been knocked out in heartbreaking fashion, with the Aussie losing her way in the deciding set after going up an early break. Saville narrowly missed a backhand that allowed her Japanese opponent to get the deciding set back on serve and could be heard berating herself just about every time she made an error.

Even still, the former junior World No.1 did well to put herself on the cusp of victory after winning a marathon 16-minute game to hold serve and take a 6-5 lead in the decider. But after Shibahara forced the decider into a super tiebreaker, it was the Japanese that raced out to a 9-6 lead to set up three match points.

Fighting to stay in the contest, Saville was left shattered after dishing up a double fault to hand her opponent the victory, before slumping to the court and smashing her racquet five times in disgust. The Aussie also suffered a brutal second round defeat at Wimbledon last month after letting a match point slip against Marta Kostyuk and revealed after the US Open exit that she was still battling a battling plantar fasciitis issue in her foot and questioned whether she had the desire to keep playing.

“(I have had it) since the first round at Wimbledon. I have been managing it,” she said. “The pain was seven out of ten to begin with, and it is more sore when you are losing as well. It is a bit easier when I am up in the score. I will regroup maybe. I really want to play the Asian swing but sometimes I maybe feel like I don’t even want to do this thing anymore.”

Saville has overcome two knee reconstructions and an Achilles heel injury to return to the top 100 but admitted she was “totally fed up” with her current predicament. And the 30-year-old made the startling revelation that she was only really competing at the US Open because of the guaranteed $US100,000 ($147,000 AUD) cheque that all first-round loser's receive.

"That is the truth. Where else will I make money? I lose money anywhere else if I bring a coach," Saville said. "Mentally, it was tough because I felt that I didn't even deserve it because I didn't put in the work. It is just a cycle. I have had it before when I was playing injured and it is just a horrible cycle. (I'm thinking), 'Do I even want to do this anymore?'.

"I'm really negative right now. I don't know how I will feel tomorrow and probably I won't feel that way in a few days, but it is not fun playing injured." Saville is expected to drop to No.97 in the world rankings but will need to put her latest setback behind her as quickly as possible if she hopes to stay in the top 100 and secure direct entry into the Australian Open in January.

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There was better news for a host of Saville's fellow Aussies, with Thanasi Kokkinakis the biggest winner after knocking out dual grand slam runner-up Stefanos Tsitsipas 7-6 (7-5) 4-6 6-3 7-5 for the biggest grand slam win of his career. Alex de Minaur also made a successful comeback from injury to down American Marcos Giron 6-3 6-4 5-7 6-4, while fellow Aussies Jordan Thompson and wildcard Tristan Skoolkate also scored impressive wins to continue Australia's superb start to the year's final grand slam.

with AAP