There were more tears than winners at Wimbledon for Sabine Lisicki as she lost to Marion Bartoli in the Women's Singles final. It was truly a tough game and for one of the tournament's dominant players through the first six rounds, it was a very frustrating outing as Lisicki could not find her stroke in the beginning of the match.
Lisicki showed emoiton on her chair as she wrapped up the first set. The first seven games of the final were her worst of the entire tournament. Credit has to be given to Bartoli, who went the entire tournament without dropping a set, but Lisicki didn't do herself any favors in the first set.
The German started both sets with 1-0 leads. However, in the first set, she committed 14 unforced errors. It was truly frustrating. Her serve, which was her biggest weapon throughout the tournament, failed her and she couldn't get balls to fall in the court. Her emotions truly poured through in the second set, down 1-3 and serving in the fifth game, she was simply incapable of effectively serving. Lisicki yelled at herself and after a couple of faults, she could no longer hold her tears back and she let it all out on the court.
The crowd rallied behind the favorite of the match and they rallied her as the German attempted to make a comeback. She eventually lost the following two sets, but she showed flashes of why she was a finalist. Down 1-5, Lisicki rallied back to win three straight games. The crowd was excited, Lisicki was cool and she was winning.
Unfortunately, it was too big a hurdle to surpass and Bartoli returned to form in the 10th game of the second set, putting away the match with an ace.
Lisicki is only 22 years old and she made plenty of noise in this tournament. The next step will be advancing further in a tournament other than Wimbledon where she has at least made the quarterfinals four of her five years playing at the All England Club. If she becomes solely a Wimbledon specialist, then we can expect to see Lisicki in the finals a couple of times before she hangs up her racket.
