American tennis player Samantha Stosur has revealed how choking almost made her quit the sport she loves last year after she lost the first round of the WTA Portugal Open to Swiss qualifier Timea Bacsinszky.
Stosur, who nearly walked away from the game in April 2014, admitted that she lost the first round of the WTA Portugal Open to Bacsinszky and was devastated from that lost.
However, she believes that she had been more worried about what she was feeling outside of that match because she felt like she is trying her hardest and doing everything that she should be doing and it's not coming off, the Daily Star reported.
So, the veteran American tennis ace admitted that that was probably one of the hardest weeks she had of her career so far. She admitted that that was her one moment, she had never thought that before and it was really confronting to ask herself those questions.
The US Open champion admitted to choking in her home grand slam, the Australian Open, and revealed details of her mental battles for the first time. She said that it's a really horrible feeling because one feels so in control of what's going on and then things can just turn like that.
And then she said that one might miss a shot, and the opponent hits a good one and then all of a sudden they are a little bit closer, they start coming back in a couple of games and for whatever reason it's very easy to think the bad side of what's then going to happen instead of the good side of it.
Stosur added that it feels like a downward spiral and things start happening really quickly and one cannot stop it.