CHRISTINA McHALE…WHO?
Unseeded American Christina McHale scared the bejabbers out of Serena Williams yesterday (07/01/2016) at Wimbledon.
Who?
Never heard of her.
Serena knows her, believe you me.
The 24-year-old native of Teaneck, NJ currently ranked #65 in the world (but as high as #24 in August of 2012) has slain many dragons in her 6-year professional career including two-time Grand Slam champions Svetlana Kuznetsova, Victoria Azarenka and Petra Kvitova along with 2008 French Open titleist Ana Ivanovic, Caroline Wozniacki (#1 at the time), former World #3 Nadia Petrova, 2013 Wimbledon champion Marion Bartoli and this year’s French Open Queen Garbine Muguruza — a second-round Wimbledon casualty as the #2 seed — among others.
Not too shabby for an “unknown.”
And with a career singles record of 230–185 and “only” a couple of million bucks in prize money, perhaps Serena could be expected to look past her unheralded second round opponent.
Number #1-seeded Serena, a six-time Wimbledon champ, had to scratch, bite and claw her way to a 6–7 (7–9), 6–2, 6–4 victory, losing a set for the first time in this year’s gala.
In fact, she had to rally from a break down in the third set as well as a changeover beat down of her racquet to do it.
She authored a great escape punctuated by 3 consecutive aces to seal the deal.
In fact the quality of the tennis in the third set was stratospheric, its signature being a 25-shot rally won by McHale in the eighth game which is unlikely to be duplicated in the tournament.
McHale saved no fewer than 14 breakpoints and bullied Serena into 40 unforced errors.
So let’s give McHale her just dessert.
She fought like mad and very nearly pulled off an upset of grandiose proportion.
Mixing her serves and demonstrating an eagerness to go toe-to-toe from the baseline — tantamount to giving Ms. Serena that healthy hold-the-nose taste of her own medicine — was a prudent strategy.
Not bad for someone with a professional career marked by fits and starts rather than by smooth and consistent ascension.
After all, as Samantha Coffey noted in her September 2011 expose entitled, Christina McHale Courts Greatness, “five years ago Christina McHale was the valedictorian of her middle school in Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey. Today, she is the youngest women’s tennis player in the top 100 of the world.”
Now if she can elevate her killer instinct to that level which Serena has made famous and incorporate this key attribute into a developing package which includes her high IQ in general and a high tennis IQ in particular, the sky truly will be the limit for Christina McHale.
[Editor’s Note: This piece was written by Mr. Kaplan in July 2016.]
ADDENDUM: Now 28, Christina McHale has earned $4,187,527(US) in prize money. As of 16 March 2020, she is ranked #88 in Singles and # 143 in Doubles.
