'Angry' Wimbledon star explains why she shouted at coach to shut up five times
Donna Vekic explained her back and forth with Wimbledon coach Pam Shriver.
Wimbledon semi-finalist Donna Vekic admitted that she was "angry" in her quarter-final victory over Lulu Sun and shouted at her coaching staff on five occasions during the match.
In-game coaching has been allowed in a recent change over the past few years, but when the Croatian was asked in her post-match press conference whether something that she benefitted from, Vekic vehemently denied that suggestion.
"Probably not," she joked. "I told them to shut up five times during the match. Probably not. But it's also nice when I reach out to them, that I can reach out in case I need help. I know that they're always there."
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Having dropped the first set, Vekic was under no illusions of the importance of the moment when she was serving to take the second, but had been broken by Emma Raducanu's conqueror and faced the prospect of exiting the competition.
"I was so angry," she explained. "I was so angry at myself because even to get broken in the first set at 5-All, then finally managed to break her in the second set, then get broken. I don't know where those double-faults came from. I wasn't particularly nervous. I was surprised that I was just hitting double-faults.
"I was like, No, this is not happening right now. I could hear Pam shouting, Reset, reset. I was like, Reset what? I was already kind of... didn't think I was going to break her again. I was just trying to think how I'm going to play my service game at 5-All."
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Vekic, the last unseeded player left in the women's singles draw, has 22-time Grand Slam doubles winner Pam Shriver in her coaching team, maintains that she is "proud" to have the legendary American on her team, despite frosty moments in the quarter-final.
"Well, Pam is, first of all, a great person off the court," Vekic enthused. "She's had an amazing career. She has so much experience, especially because playing, and then the last couple of years she's been commentating. She knows all the players really well.
"Like I said, she has all the experience, so she can help me in some crucial moments. She's great fun. I'm really proud to have her in my team.
"What I like about her and everyone in my team, they always say it the way it is. They don't try to sugarcoat things. They're very direct, which I really appreciate."
And clearly there was no sugarcoating from Vekic either, who had no issue barking back with her esteemed coaching staff.
