Donna Vekic couldn’t keep her emotions together during a grueling three-hour match against Jasmine Paolini at Wimbledon, which the Italian took 2-6, 6-4, 7-6 (10-8).
The dramatic third set saw Vekic react heartbreakingly to every point she lost and openly cry, even with the match still very much in reach.
After Vekic had sent a shot wide to put Paolini ahead, the Croatian tennis player began to sob as she looked over at her corner, The Express reported.
Despite the emotional moment, she regained her composure and was able to win the next game to force a tiebreak, which Paolini took to move on to the Wimbledon final on Saturday at the All England Club.
Vekic was dealing with an arm injury that seemed to play into the emotional outburst during the third set.
“I thought I was going to die in the third set. I had so much pain in my arm, in my leg. It was not easy out there,” Vekic told reporters following the match, according to AFP.
Thursday’s match became the longest women’s semifinal in the history of Wimbledon and Vekic had six of her matches through the tournament end up going three sets.
During Thursday’s loss to Paolini, she made 57 unforced errors throughout the epic.
“I was more crying because I had so much pain, I didn’t know how I could keep playing,” she said.
Vekic had been considering retirement earlier this summer after she was eliminated from the French Open in the third round, indicating a lack of motivation on her part.
Though where she goes from here is hard to say and she became emotional when trying to find the bright side of how she’s played.
The press conference moderator had to step in when she began to tear up, The Express reported.
“My team tells me that I can be proud of myself,” Vekic said. “It’s tough right now. It’s really tough. For sure I will need to take a couple of days to see everything. Yeah, I don’t know, it’s tough to be positive right now. It was so close. I had a lot of chances.”