Mauresmo Wins the Women's Singles Championship at Wimbledon

Earlier today, Amelie Mauresmo of France captured her first Wimbledon title, defeating Justine Henen-Hardenne of Belgium 2-6, 6-3, 6-4.

I really like the game Maurismo plays. Good to see it in the women's draw on Centre Court.

A key factor in this win was the old "letdown" again. Winning a set always causes the winner to let down, to take a mental breather, at the beginning of the second set. As I explained before, this is biological -- the way the nervous system reacts to the passing of a pressure-packed moment. And, for the winner of the first set, this letdown occurs at the most important part of a best-of-three set match.

Justine Henin-Hardenne didn't combat this natural letdown effectively enough, and Amelie Maurismo capitalized on it to reverse the momentum. Good for her. That's what winners do. The next thing you knew, the first set was ancient history and Maurismo was up in 2-0 in the second.

I always tell players: "If you lose the first set, remember that points are on sale at a discount in the first two games of the second set. That's the time to get ahead. Try to take advantage of that to go up 2-0. If you do, you have reversed the momentum."

You have to hand it to this 27-year-old Frenchwoman. She never got down on herself, never got superstitious. Just because you choked yesterday doesn't mean you have to choke tommorrow.

Q. When you were criticized for your nerves and everything, were there times that it hurt? How did you deal with that?

A: No, it didn't hurt because I was, I think, realistic and I could see that sometimes the nerves got involved. So that's how I am, that's how it is. That's, you know, why I've been maybe why it took me longer than others and why I've been working maybe in different areas of this aspect.

It can be done. Ask Tomaz Mencinger: You can learn to make your mind your best ally. There's no magic in it: it's just a skill like any other.

Congratulations to the first Frenchwoman to win the crown since Suzanne Lenglen did it 81 years ago.

For more details on the match, see here and here and here.