Tauson’s Dark Secret: The Agonizing Truth Behind Her Historic WTA 1000 Final Appearance… read more

After her defeat against Mirra Andreeva (17) in the final of the WTA 1000 tournament in Dubai, Clara Tauson (22) revealed that her performance had been greatly affected by her physical condition.
“I have been fighting with my body every day, but today every inch of my body was in pain, except my head. It’s hard to play tennis like that, especially against someone who gets so many balls back in play.”

“I tried to give it everything I had, and of course there was no possibility that I would withdraw in such a final, no matter what”, said Clara Tauson to TV 2 Sport.

Tauson came into the tournament in Dubai after having been forced to withdraw from her first-round match of the WTA 500 tournament in Doha the week before against Elise Mertens where she felt extremely sick and threw up on the court.

Having played six matches in six days for the first time in her career, it wouldn´t have taken much for her to miss the final, she said.

“I wasn’t quite sure that I would be able to play my second-round match (against Svitolina), so that I reached the final is just an even bigger achievement. I’ve put a lot of hours into it with the physiotherapists all this week to keep my body ready for play.

“If you could look underneath my clothes, its not so pretty. But they have really done an insane job”, she said.

Tauson lost 6-7(1), 1-6 to the 17-year-old Russian, Mirra Andreeva who, like Tauson, was in the first WTA 1000 final.